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pre planned sets?
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TrippyJohnny
Inactive User
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445
Posted : Jan 8, 2007 15:48
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On 2007-01-08 15:31, Goddess of Chaos wrote:
That can be a real bummer if your a 'planner' like myself & it actully happened to me last weekend at a party where i was all prepared to play a night full-onish set with the clutter & the chaos!! Had my songs short-listed and everything-- timing got all messed up n ended up playing around 4am but then again the audience needs to have a little 'faith' in the DJ coz we dont just spend centuries on research for nothing!! |
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My point in the question was basically that too much planning can mess up things for a DJ.
The example of changed playtime is a classic example every DJ sooneer or later will experience and I feel sorry for a DJ who only have the capacity to play at a certain hour because of a preplanned set and shortage of suitable music for any time of the night/morning/afternoon. A DJ should always be prepeared and flexible enough to meet any unpredictable situation incl. the fact that sometimes one's ide of a perfect set does not match what people on the floor want at that particular party.
There's nothing wrong in planning your set as long as you are flexible enough to throw that planning away and change direction and not get stuck in your A4 sheet of track order.
  http://www.peopleagainstpeace.net/ |
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Goddess of Chaos
Started Topics :
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132
Posted : Jan 8, 2007 15:58
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^^Well said!! I absolutely concur 
"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace" |
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Krell
IsraTrance Junior Member
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33
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Posted : Jan 8, 2007 16:22
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Theres also another danger to preplanning, and that is to stick to your plan just for the sake of it.
I mean, if you spend a lot of time planning something, you might value the execution of it higher than your gut feeling telling you to change the set on the fly.
So, if you have all this perfect mixes lined up, and you have spent so much time on it, you might not be as free (mentally) to let it go to waste.
Therefore, it is really important to appreciate and understand both ways of doing things.
Like I quoted so many times before, definition is limitation, let yourself and your set be defined by your plan, instead of it being the other way around, and you can end yourself in trouble.
Still, you can also loose the crowd without a plan. I heard tales from very decent djs who would try and change their plan on the fly, but it still didnt work.
Its not always music can save the crowd, sometimes they are just tired and need to lie in the chillout 
- Krell
Label DJ>
www.jesterrecords.ca |
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paradigm
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
54
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1098
Posted : Jan 8, 2007 19:07
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my 2 cents on it....
I take pride first and foremost in my mixing skills and consider them to be quite above average, and along with the ability to craft and smooth telling set and story. In order to get the sickest mixes possible i tend to "program" (this is the termanolgy in dj speak) my sets. However it seems i program more for road gigs than i would a home gig.(my locals all ready know what to expect)
Many of the dj's in other edm genres known for insane mixing styles (Mixmaster Mike , Qbert) all program their sets, as to know when to have cut points, drop in or pull out a bassline etc etc.
A proper dj that knows his tracks can tell and read and count and know what 32 or 64 or even 16 that should be done on, but certain counts lend themselves to sounding better than others do based on the values of the particular tracks running at that time.
Just because you nomally mix out of track A at -:45 doesnt mean that you should with the current track its paired with and it might sound better mixed out this time at -1:12 These are things that programming helps with alot.
However that being said no dj.. PERIOD, should lock themselves into their plan. If your playing out, you should be good enough to wing it if you need to. Crowd reaction is the most important and after about 2/3 tracks if your floor is going away, abandon what your doing and do something else. This is where trance differs from other edm genres and the ability to control the vibe and emoition on your floor is paramount
( and dont reapeat tracks. At a multi day fest it can be hard not to, but at a single night party there is really no excuse for this)
When i do make sets i make them with built in "safety switches" Usually every 3 tracks is a very open ended kinda neutral mood track, which will allow me to leave my plan with out a noticble change in vibe of the set, and therefore move in the direction the floor hopefully needs with minimal disruption
Logical Light Music - SF
Straylight Productions -SF
Sound/Mind - Denver
Xcience - Midwest
mixes for dl at :
http://www.thehothouse.net/straylight/paradigm/index.htm
"He who ha-ha's last, ha-ha's best" |
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simon_marklar
Started Topics :
5
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107
Posted : Jan 10, 2007 07:50
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i never used to plan my sets, but then i had a child. All my spare time is spent on her, and whilst i listen to music at every chance i get, i found that my sets started to suffer from not practising and knowing how my tunes fit together. So i started pre planning. At the start i would have a whole set planned, but usually i would change a couple of tracks around here and there. then i started doing "chunks". I'd have lots of 3 tracks that sounded good together, and i'd mix and match from those sets of 3's. Mind you these are just names of tracks, and maybe a warning about tracks that suddenly drop the beat 2 minutes from the end of the track none of this "pitch at 3%, press play at 1:30... that was a bit too much for me..
Now that my daughter is close to 1 yr old i get a bit more time to myself for mixing, and also i know my music better from playing out and preparing for playing out, so im using less and less pre-planning and getting back to my "off the cuff". I much prefer being able to make it up on the spot, sometimes, you get in this zone, and its magical, the right tunes just scream "play me" and the mix happens without thought - i love that - i never got that feeling preplanned. But, I have had some good responses from my preplanned sets too.
http://www.myspace.com/mechanicaldragonrecords |
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fohat
Started Topics :
2
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23
Posted : Jan 11, 2007 18:05
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i found for myself a combination of preparing a set and reading the audience during a gig. as i try to combine tracks as much as i can (mixing them together and/or jumping from one track to the other and back again - best done with tracks with similar keys), i define/prepare for myself "track islands". track islands in my sense are a combination of 2-3 tracks i mix together cause i *know* from preparation they fit perfect each other. throughout a set i use then these "islands" as they come by, so that finally i have 100% control about the direction of the set, but with some prepared things in it.
they way i combine tracks i cannot find it out by inspiration during a gig. it is hard work in advance and it takes me ages to find the "perfect tracks" (similar or fitting keys for example) for a track island. i never had the feeling i do it wrong that way.
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chapodelic
Started Topics :
3
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101
Posted : Jan 12, 2007 01:18
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I never program my sets, altough i have some "must play" tracks, but i agree with someone who said a dj has to be prepared for any kind of crowd and any time of the party to play... |
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Krell
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
33
Posts :
1114
Posted : Jan 12, 2007 14:48
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Quote:
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On 2007-01-12 01:18, chapodelic wrote:
I never program my sets, altough i have some "must play" tracks, but i agree with someone who said a dj has to be prepared for any kind of crowd and any time of the party to play...
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I would like to see how some progressive djs will cope with being put in between two dark psy liveacts during the nighttime then :-P
You can be prepared for anything, with preplanned sets. All just depends on how well you plan them really.
Like I said, its not the method that counts, but how well you are able to use that method.
- Krell
Label DJ>
www.jesterrecords.ca |
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