Category: Playing Live

Posted on

SHOULD YOU PLAY A SONG UNTIL THE END?

Of all the many choices that we are faced with when we stand behind the decks and play, a common concept gets brought up time and time again. A concept that is ruminated over by both the new DJ and a seasoned DJ.

SHOULD I PLAY A SONG UNTIL THE END IF PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING IT?

There are quite a few variables to answer this, so I’ll give you my take on it. For me it comes down to the following five points:

  1. HOW LONG IS THE SONG?

If you have a dancefloor full of people rocking out at two minutes in of the track, but it’s a seven minute track, chances are that even though they are enjoying it at two minutes, they might be bored shitless of the riff by five minutes. Then you have a bored dancefloor waiting the last two minutes of the song out.

In my opinion this is a risky move as potentially you will lose their interest and just like that the dance floor halves.

2. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO REPLACE IT WITH?

If you are already on a winner with the track that you are playing, the aim is to keep the energy of that dancefloor at the same level with the incoming track. It doesn’t even matter if you change genre’s (unless you are going from psytrance to slow dubstep, not sure that would be anything but roadkill but prove me wrong).

The trick is that you want the track to energetically meet the D floor at the same level.

3. BE SPONTANEOUS!

It’s always a powerful asset for a DJ to be spontaneous. The majority of DJ’s prepare their set in advance which can be great piece of mind. Personally, when I prepare my set, I will add in extra songs to play in case one of my tracks that I thought might work, isn’t working. Then, I have the extra ones there to creatively mix in so that I can get the track that isn’t working, the hell out of there, even if it’s only 1 or 2 minutes into the track.

Remember, it’s not a personal thing when people don’t vibe with your selected track, sometimes it’s a timing thing but at the end of the day, you need to be masterful at reading the crowd.

4. ARE YOU BORED WITH THE TRACK?

You will come across this quite a bit when you are totally in the zone and immersing yourself in your craft. A track will be playing and people might be loving it, but as you are scrolling through your library for the next track you see something you just have to play RIGHT GODDAMN NOW.

You’re the sorceress, it’s your magic, so if that’s what you choose to do then change whenever you feel, but just make sure you remember point #2 in this list. As much as there are elements about being a DJ that is all about you, it’s also really important to remember about the magic you are creating for others.

5. SONGS YOU WILL BUY SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS PURPOSE

There are songs that I buy specifically to be fillers. What I mean by that is, I’m never going to use them to play the whole way through. Those tracks for me are ones with a great beat that you can play in the background of another track in order to enhance it more, plump up the jam so to speak. For me, I buy these songs just to be able to loop them in with another track for maybe only 32 bars and then BOOM, it’s out the door! It’s great to have these fillers in your library so look out for them and keep them in a folder all of their own. The ones with great bass lines for the party sets or the flowy instrumentals if you are more conscious dance inspired

As you get to know your library more intimately, you will know which songs will sound great together and you can start building crates just around that. The learning potential and creative expression is endless.

Keep up the great work Sista’s!

Peace Out

Lainsta

Posted on

Drunk or sober? – by Lainie

To be (drunk) or not to be (drunk), that is the question!

When Hamlet posed this question, it was purely about the conundrum of whether he wanted to live or not to live and what would be a more preferable option. In the reference above, I of course, am referring to rocking up to a gig and living through your set hammered…. or dying in the ass coz you are a train wreck that got a bit too tipsy turvy either before, or during your set.

Alcohol serves a different purpose for everyone. Some can function quite easily with it in their system and some can’t. At the end of the day, alcohol is a depressant and it’s no secret because I’m sure we’ve all been there, that it affects your brain and can alter your reaction time. That might be fine when you out with your mates heckling hotties on the street, but as a DJ, this is not a good thing!

I have been to some gigs where you can clearly see the DJ is wasted but somehow, they are pulling off probably the best set of their career. On the other side of the fence, I have also seen DJ’s that are so wasted, they are swaying behind the decks, eyes closed, zoning out and just pulling it together while they load another average tune up and start zoning out and swaying again. As amusing as it is to see this on occasion, it’s also terribly tragic.

I get a tad nervous before a gig for these reasons.

  1. I am always hoping the changeover between myself and the previous DJ is seamless, and I don’t fuck it up and look like a dick.
  2. I am praying that I’ve come prepared with the right music and enough variety to keep the crowd smiling.
  3. I am always a bit nervous that I’ve forgotten my eyeglasses coz without them, I can’t see the screen and I’ll look like an old lady squinting close to the screen just to make out the name of a track. (really have to remember to get a pair made and keep it with my equipment)

To combat these and other small (ish) concerns that go through my head before I start, I admit, I do go in for the gin and tonics (maybe 1 or 2), but I cap it at that just to take the edge off.

Once I have started playing and I’m on a roll, I’ll say yes to people bringing me drinks but I’m generally too fixated on the set and what I’m doing and forget to drink them. I’ll have 5 different drinks on the table that people will bring me but won’t get to even drink them much coz I don’t want to take myself off my A game. I think my ego plays a little part in that. Ego is not a dirty word Skyhooks!

Basically, to sum up what I’m trying to say, drink if you need to take the edge off but save the partying for when your set is over and you can relax.

Water is really the key. Stay hydrated. Drink a lot but not that much that you need to go pee every 20 mins, because that’s just a whole other pain in the ass.

Peace Out Sista’s

Lainsta

%d bloggers like this: