Reply to The way I plan my podcasts. Come discuss yours!

For those of you who release mix tapes/CDs/sets/podcasts: I'd love to hear how you approach your sets!

I recently started bedroom DJ'ing again. I've been working on some highly-polished, highly-planned podcasts that take my listeners on a nice hour long journey. My process typically includes:

• Digging for new tracks which fit one of my three podcast genres (tech house, deep house, moody house)
  
  
• Once I've got a full BeatPort cart, I'll buy them, drop into Mixed in Key and bring into Rekordbox
  
  
• I'll choose which podcast I want to work on and then search for a nice "intro" track - one that sets the mood and is low energy
  
  
• I'll begin with this track and sometimes try to force a setlist, choosing records I want to showcase. If this just doesn't sound right, I'll refer to Mixed in Key to suggest some potential tracks that can be used as the next song. Part of me feels like this is cheating, but the other part knows that I hand-curated the pool of tracks for these podcasts. If anything it's just a time-saver and helps overcome some "writers blocks"
  
  
• I'll only move on when I find transition that excites me. I'll write down notes so I can reproduce the mix in a week or so when everything is in place
  
  
• I'll choose a series of low energy tracks (I call them "filler tracks") to stagger between those that are energetic
  
  
• When I near an hours-worth of music, I'll run through the entire mix using my notes. I time the exact drop and transition points, and sometimes even have specific notes on how to handle EQ'ing for finicky mixes
  
  
• Once I'm confident in the set, I'll press record and try to one-shot the mix live on my CDJ's. I've never played out, so this is about as exciting as things get in my bedroom (DJ WISE, FELLAS). It's an exciting, nail-biting hour of what need to be perfect transitions. But this is enjoyable for me because when things go well, it's fun mix of music that I like and of value-adding transitions

I'd enjoy hearing anyone else's way they approach "planned" podcasts and such. And for those interested, here's my two most recent sets:

https://soundcloud.com/ever/desert-sunrise-sessions-1
https://soundcloud.com/ever/future-h...tillery-hour-2