30 songs?! Thats enough for like 3 sets?!
30 songs?! Thats enough for like 3 sets?! Posted on: 16.01.2013 by Emerson Crist Heard this the other evening
when going to my friends place to play some tunes. Scenario detail: My buddy calls me out of the blue to play some tunes at his place. About 10-15 people, 4 or 5 of them local DJs, others being some promoters and some being regular club goers. Loaded my USB with about 30 or 40 tunes, mostly new stuff I downloaded, a couple accapellas, etc. One of the local DJs was already playing some tunes when I got there and my buddy told me I could play next if I wanted to. Plan was to switch every 4 or 5 tunes. I make my way behind our makeshift booth to the Technics, plug in my USB and it starts to load up my songs. Some other background info: Guy before me wouldn't call himself new, but hes been playing tunes for about 2 years, but doesn't own any gear . Type of guy that likes to only buy off the front page of Beatport and any tune over a year old is considered "old school". Ive been playing for about 10 years, but its only been the last 2 years I switched to digital format. He sees me coming over, makes some room and lets me plug in. He takes one look at the song list from the USB and starts freaking out. Takes off his headphones and starts yelling for my buddy, wondering why I am going to play such a long set. I explain to him that we're switching every 4 or 5 tunes and that I probably wasnt going to play all of em, just wanted to have enough for any scenario. He scrolls through the songs and asks me why I carry so much music, which prompted the thread title : "30 songs?! Thats enough for like.... 3 sets?!" The rest of the evening was fun, just some beers, talking shop with other DJs, talking about DJ Shadow lol, and trade songs. At the end of the evening , the DJ before me says I played well, but should be considerate when playing with other DJs, as its rude to assume you can play for more than 1/2 an hour. I brush him off, but as im driving back, I start believeing about todays DJs and how 1/2 hour sets are starting to become the norm, hour long sets are frightening to most and 2 hours is an eternity to most everyone except the older guys. I prefer to play at least 2 hours but to each his own What do you guys believe? Do 30 songs = 3 sets or one? | |
| Janyce Henningson 21.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by Karlos Santos
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| Shan Bauerly 19.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by firebr4nd
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| Ulysses Vittetoe 18.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by HigherFi
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| Shan Bauerly 18.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
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| Emerson Crist 17.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by Karlos Santos
Originally Posted by HigherFi
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| Era Roka 22.01.2013 | 1/2 hour set is way to short and you don't bring just the songs you're gonna play, read the crowd |
| Evita Mockel 22.01.2013 | I play prog psy and 30 tracks is about 2 hours for me, maybe a little less than, but in order to play for that 2 hours I would need a bare minimum of 100 to choose those 30 from. |
| Kandra Fagler 21.01.2013 | the last mixtape i did has 21 songs in 68 minutes (did it on serato with the DDJ-SX), and i could have fit a lot more if i didnt feel bad cutting some of the tracks with vocals, probably could have gone up to 25 tracks, and this is mixing electro house, i have seen others mix trap music and hiphop and have 40+ tracks in one hour also depends on genre i guess for example when i mix trance i always feel weird or bad if i dont let MOST of the song play, because it has its own progression and stuff within a song sometimes you wanna leave most of the part song, the same goes with very proggy stuff i guess |
| Golden Faubert 20.01.2013 | i agree totally with what someone said earlier.. the fun doesnt start 'till after the two hour mark, i play minimum 6 hours every thursday & friday evening , i've never actually counted the amount of tracks played but the list is always long!! and i also always carry a wallet full of cd's and memory sticks incase either laptop goes down, or cdj goes down and i have to switch back to an older one without usb |
| Emerson Crist 20.01.2013 | I'm liking the responses to this thread. I agree with most of you on the topic of back to back mixing though. Normally if I'm doing back to back mixing we structure it a bit more, but with this little get together, it didn't really matter. No one was playing a full set and no one really bitches about how long they play. The guy I was describing was a newcomer and only knew a couple people there by association. One little minor detail I left out was the fact that I'm usually the odd man out since I play d&b and liquid dubstep. His genre of choice was electro house and what he calls "chill-out trance", though I'm pretty sure its just modern progressive without the huge drums. His rant was fueled by the fact that he's very anti-d&b, he doesn't seem to get how anyone could dance or listen to such high BPM music. He felt that the "vibe" would be lost if I came in a f**ked it up. My friends at this party love d&b, hence why I'm consistently invited. It also makes for a good change-up, since most of the guys play deep house, tech house and garage. I personally love and almost require a two hour set, but most promoters or DJs talk me down to one hour, because apparently I'm not "the only DJ here" lol. Nah, they love my enthusiasm for long sets but sometimes its just not feasible. I'm good with one hour sets and just love playing out as often as possible. I'm not hurt or anything by this guy's comments, I've been in this game for a little while and at this point its not about becoming the most popular DJ in my town, its just about the music. Thanks for all the replies so far though, its interesting to hear other peoples opinions on duration of sets, how they pack music for the evening and with what people are comfortable with nowadays. |
| Tesha Freudenstein 21.01.2013 | he's probably playing ambient |
| Janyce Henningson 21.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by Karlos Santos
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| Audrey Pinda 20.01.2013 | 30 songs? And he's flipping the shit? What a douchecanoe. For an hour set, I usually prep 100 tracks or so. A lot that are my "goto" tracks, my fresh stuff, and some old school stuff that people love. I have a hard time doing the back to back thing, just because unless it's a really good friend, it's hard getting into that groove. Sounds like that guy has no idea what he's doing. |
| Tera Baragan 19.01.2013 | I pre prep majority of my sets but I must have some gift or something on building up energy and knowing how to hold it at the top. I also rate my songs on energy 1-5. |
| Shan Bauerly 19.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by firebr4nd
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| Ulysses Vittetoe 18.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by HigherFi
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| Brunilda Kora 18.01.2013 | I'm with you, sythet1c. (Some) Young DJ's are trying to avoid all of the "hard stuff" and just skip straight to the the credit, and the Jesus Pose... |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 18.01.2013 | wow shit has changed since I was younger... To say play the right track at the right time insinuates that you are playing off the cuff... but to say the right track at the right time and have a pre-planned set means you are counting on the crowd being in a certain place when you expect them to be, which almost never happens out of the bedroom ...major producers and DJ's can do that because they have played heaps of shows and know what to expect, If you don't fall into that category unfortunately you can't say the same your a noob and you should try to get your skill up. Pre programming sets will never get you to that place you desire! |
| Shan Bauerly 18.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
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| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 17.01.2013 | I believe you learn more about djing if you go track for track rather than mixing for two hours... The reason is that you can't control what the other guy is going to play but have to quickly believe of something that might work... You will suck the first few times but it will push you to know your collection more intimately and be more spontaneous when playing a gig and that's what it's all about ...isn't it? |
| Emerson Crist 17.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by Karlos Santos
Originally Posted by HigherFi
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| Shan Bauerly 16.01.2013 | Seems reasonable to me. 5 songs though... the meds have barely kicked in by then. I like to play at least a hour. |
| nayit ruiz jaramillo 16.01.2013 | Cheers mate. i've missed you guys and this community ... and yeah im still full of shit...!!! |
| Antonetta Wikel 16.01.2013 | Nice having you back Karlos. I've been missing your witty yet intelligent remarks & banter as of late. |
| Jonas Hanway 16.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by Karlos Santos
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| nayit ruiz jaramillo 17.01.2013 | I always over prepare. You never know what mood you, the crowd are gonna be in. If i do a CD set i make loads and I make 2 copies of each CD. I did a biggish show a few weeks back and prepared 18 hours of music for a 1 hour slot. I like to have the choice. The guy is a dick. Next time you see him tell him "Some English guy told me to tell you you're a dick"... i'll handle it from there. |
| Palma Hanslip 16.01.2013 | Shrug the guy off dude. Never had to come across someone like that before but if i did i'd just explain to the guy.. You were right on what you did on taking around 30 tracks.. When i played at Ministry of Sound in December i had an hour set, i played around 12-14 tracks but i had 3 playlists made up on my USB pen... Playlist 1: 5-10 of the tracks i definitely want to try and play. Playlist 2: About 30 tracks that i really love that ranges so i'm not stuck if the crowd isn't liking what i'm playing. Playlist 3: About 40+ tracks or just general tracks that i like that can get a good groove going. So i had about 80+ tracks for an hour set.. Why? Because you never know what you might need even at a house party of 10-20 people. Always carry more. As for the length of sets.. I don't understand why everyone is saying it isn't enough time. Sometimes it's good to do a little back to back with other DJ's. Always makes compition healthy. At my residency i play anything from 2 tracks each right through to 4 hour blocks. Depends what me and the head resident fancy doing. Sometimes we even do half an hour each then an hour each then 2 tracks each. Makes the evening fun. Yeah short sets are not enough time to get a groove on but sometimes you just gotta have fun |
| Lashawn Maycock 16.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
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| Shery Bergson 16.01.2013 | I have a different point of view on this, I play Latin music (mostly Mexican) and songs are typically about 2-4 minutes long each. In those couple of minutes there is like maybe 10 second span of time where it's optimal to mix to another songs. Needless to say I've done like 30-50 tracks in 1 hour since I have to since the songs are shorter. I kinda like that since it keeps me on my toes, and I couldn't imagine doing a half hour set. That would pass by so quickly and you don't even really get going in that time. I'm more partial to long sets, doesn't matter if its electro/trap/moombahton/progressive. Short is sets are wack. |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 15.01.2013 | 30 songs... that's like 15 minutes these days isn't it |
| Latoria Kavulich 15.01.2013 | Obviously that guy has no concept of what a crate is. |
| Wanita Androsky 15.01.2013 | Here is my answer to that. Dat Tracklist. https://soundcloud.com/getcryphy/roc...ousand-maximum |
| Ulysses Vittetoe 15.01.2013 | 30 songs would be a really long tech house or techno set to be fair... |
| Delila Vandommelen 15.01.2013 | Be prepared. For what other djs may throw at you, for how the crowd reacts, for how your own mood might change. When TSP is an option, even though I don't have to worry about a 50ish record limit in the bag I do organize things a bit in the software with smaller crates of maybe up to a couple hundred to make things a bit easier. A tagging strategy you're comfortable with helps with that (Comments, ratings and what have you)... When working like this, of course you won't play everything you set aside but it helps you along the way... The good thing : just export one of those crates to a couple usb sticks and voil |
| Emerson Crist 15.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by Culture_Shock
When we "set-up" its usually just a mixer, turntables and a laptop. No one brings there own gear unless we're showing off some new kit. Its bring your own tunes and headphones.....and beer. Its also not a hard rule of 5 tunes, if someone is really into a mix, we just let em go. Or if they start getting thirsty |
| Charissa Paganucci 15.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by 3heads
Sometimes the crowd just isn't that much into the hardest of hardcore and they want throwback familiarity all evening ...other times they want experimental pushing the envelope stylized grooves that even I'm not so sure about... Learn to read your audience, and go with it. It's almost like having sex with hundreds of people at the same time trying to please each and everyone. |
| Celestine Porebski 15.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by SquireC
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| Tomiko Schellenberger 15.01.2013 | I always carry thousands of songs, incase what i'm playing doesn't work the crowd you have something else to switch to. I dont care how long or short your set is you should be taking as much music as possible, it can't hurt to have more than you need. I often play 3-4 hour sets or multiple 1 hour sets on the same evening in the same room so its crucial to have lots of tracks. |
| Jonas Hanway 15.01.2013 | To each their own. I carry thousands of songs with me. Before I went to digital (USB's & Traktor X1) I carried a CD wallet. Held 360 CD's. 10 tracks on each CD. 3600 tracks with me at all times. Eventually I filled that and could fit a small 40 cd wallet inside that wallet, giving me a total of 4000 tracks. And that was all house music, nothing else. Be prepared. Simple as. And sorry but 30 minute sets? Nah.. They're good for newcomers I reckon, break them in gently. In Liverpool they used to run an event called the Bar Red All Dayer where up and coming DJ's would send in a mix, and the good ones would get selected to come down and play a 30-45 minute set on the evening . Brilliant to break someone into the evening out DJ'ing scene who doesnt know what to expect. I play from 9pm/10pm - 3am/4am almost every Friday and Saturday on my own. Can be hefty. But 30 minutes you can't show jack. I use my first 30 minutes to warm up. |
| Dannielle Dingey 15.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by Janky
I'm all for being friends with fellow dj's but if they start bitchin' then I just blank them out (same goes for obnoxious guests / drunkentards). You are there to do you thing (based on what the host asked/ is expecting), what does he care how much tracks you brought ? Personally, I would not be bothered with a 5 track switch schedual...and pass it up. Not that I'm booked solid, I just have some personal opinions regarding what a good dj / set would be. |
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