beginner DJ tips and tricks. how to
prepare your DJ set? coming up
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anything. hey guys how are you doing I
hope you were doing marvelously well
in this episode I'm talking about preparing
your DJ set. if you are a beginner DJ it
may be somewhat of a challenge. make sure
that you stick around till the end of
the video because on the end of the
video I have a list of seven tips that
can help you preparing your DJ set. there
are two ways of working, three ways of
working
the first one is totally prepare
everything so you selected in front
which songs you want to play you
selected in front in which order you
want to play them so you know in front
which are compatible with each other and
maybe even set cue points or hot cues
where to mix in where to mix out but
there is a second way and that is
totally improvised everything so on the
spot you improvise and you know you want
to select that song with that song and
that song that takes up, in front, the
least amount of time only when you are
beginner DJ you maybe one in front some
pre selection of the songs when you are
starting out that is the way I *would* do
it
but that may be not the case for you
there is a second way totally improvise
everything you bring with your gig your
USB thumb drive plug it in and play the
songs you think at that moment will be
the best fit for the audience but there
is a third way and third way is a
combination of the first two and that's
my preferred way of working I'd like to
have a backbone list of the songs that I
want to play but it is just a suggestion
for me on the spot so I selected in
front which songs I think I would play
that night but I don't have to stick to
that list. in Rekordbox I've also made a
couple of playlist of songs that I know
work really well together those
playlists are songs in the right order
and I can play them in that order and I
know that that will work I can play that
whole playlist or I can take parts of
that playlist and switch to another song
or a whole other playlist but there is
actually a fourth kind and that fourth
kind is prepare everything but in front
in your DAW and have one big music file
that you can play on your gig my
personal opinion is you are the DJ you
were paid to mix at that gig so don't do
that but as an intro or just to start out
your DJ set just to calm down your
nerves and have a premade mix in front
of 15 minutes or so yeah that's just
fine but don't do that for your whole
set you're paid to mix what methods you
choose depends a little bit on the
audience for example if you're playing
on a radio gig then you don't have
really audience to participate on so
choose for the full prepared option
same with a mixtape choose for the full
prepared one so know exactly where to
mix and which songs you're gonna play
but if you are playing in a club you
have the audience use them use them for
the direction in your set improvise to
make their evening so much better but
when you're playing for the first time
yeah,  opt for the full prepared set finding
songs when you're nervous takes twice as
long so prevent that the types of songs
you're gonna play depends also on the
time of the evening or the day if you
are on the beginning of the evening you
play other songs then when you're on mid
evening or at the end of the evening
make sure that there is a flow in your
set so do the bangers at the end of your
set if you are on the end of the evening
but don't do that as warmup DJ don't take
away all the energy for the DJ that is
coming next there's nothing wrong with
being the warm-up DJ they need to be
there and that's a really ideal way to
start out being the warm-up DJ but do
that in a good way be the warm-up not
the bangers guy if you are the warmup.
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a lot of more videos coming up about
DJing and producing. also take into
account that there are different kind of
parties what kind of party are you
playing on are you playing on a techno
party then you don't go and play
eighties music but what is the age of
the crowd for example or if the crowd is
mixed make sure that you have enough
music with you to cover different kinds
of directions if you need to go certain
direction on that evening. how to make a
track selection? you can make a track
selection based on key for example on
tempo on genre that's a big one
but you don't have to sometimes two
different songs of maybe different keys
or maybe different genres have the same
kind of elements and therefore work
really well together so just a
suggestion. did you know that Rekordbox
can help you with that?
in Rekordbox there is an option called
related
tracks when we scooch the screen a
little bit to the left then we see on
the right there are a couple of buttons
revealed the second from the top is
displaying a panel with a couple of
songs and those are the related songs of
the songs you select here those
suggestions can help you to compile a
list for a DJ gig you can set what kind
of songs that are displayed here by
clicking on the gear icon over here and
you can customize the criteria if you
want to know if two songs are compatible
with each other
you can go to the two player mode
In Rekordbox 4 that's over here and
Rekordbox 5 there is a pull down
menu over here and I'm using Rekordbox 4 by the way because in Rekordbox 5
there was a little bug in the
related tracks when I have two tracks I
drag one track over here and I drag the
second track over here now I play the
first song and I try to mix in the
second song I won't let you hear the
music because otherwise I get a
copyright slap on the wrist by Youtube
so I won't do that. but I can now start in
the second song the sync is selected so
I know they will be in the same tempo
and now I can drag slider, this slider
on the left to track A and
this slider to track B and now I can
hear if those tracks are really good
compatible with each other
expect the unexpected a lot of clubs for
example have equipment but not all that
equipment is really as good as what we
have at home maybe sometimes buttons
aren't working or the set up is
different or the music is different the
monitor speakers are way too loud or way
too soft and you can't hear them or the
players are switched make sure that you
practice that at home that you can cope
with those kinds of situations so when
you're practicing at home practice in
different kinds of setups practice for
example with a badly configured booth
monitor or practice with two players on
the left and the mixer on the right
instead of the mixer in the middle
practice with your *players* on the first
and the fourth slider for example or
disconnect your UTP connection from time
to time so you can't use the sync button
to sync your songs make sure that you
can beat match a really important
technique for a DJ I do it my way but
how does someone else prepare his DJ
sets? I talked with DJ Sam Diego about his preparation
because I already play a
long time I manage
my songs in specific way, you
know, like I'm always thinking can I
play it in the beginning in the middle
and on the end it's like energy. yeah but
do you make certain playlists for that
or you write that down? let's say I have
to play for like an hour or 2 hours, then I
like pick like 50 songs or something
like that, 50 or 60 something
like that, and it depends, because you
know if the crowd is reacting to it or
not if they are not reacting to it you
can like switch over to another song so
I also have a backup like for a DJ
also have to have like crowd fillers
songs then you know
that people will come to the dance floor.
So if you see already two people going from
the dance floor then it's a sign
that you have to switch songs. don't wait
until the dance floor is empty. but I
understand you you have a core list you
made a playlist so to say that you don't
have to stick to, you only have a list
as a reference. what I do for example
it's like over where I'm gonna play it's
an urban, hiphop, latin, soulfull party from the
year 1990's to 2000's so I have to like play
songs and what they want is like some
familiar hits or songs or artists from
that area, era, era. and what I did is like
okay I'm going to search for it but also
wanna play and play my ...
your own taste in music and style. we talked
before and you said to me I want to do
my own thing but with their demands so
for example you look for remixes of
certain songs so that you are sticking
to the era they want but also your
style so you you search for a for a
middle in that. yeah that's true so I will
search for remixes but you also
can make your own mashups. yeah.
you can take an acapella and use it and
like make a mashup with another song. so
what I will do I'll take a vocal
I prepare my cue points in advance so you
can do that at home
so what I'd take like a familiar vocals,
let's say Beyonce something like that
in key and the right BPM the right tempo
you can like put it on a cue point and
play with it that's the easy way make a
mashup. it doesn't mean when you have it
in a right BPM that it will
automatically fit to the song
so we have to like make a change in
it, like a spin it, speed it up a little
Use your ear. good example is if you
listen to some old soul songs and it's
live recorded right. it's not always in
the same BPM so when you try to mix, you won't be able to do that
you have to continuesly give it a
spin or adjust speed.
And I have a couple of tips for you
first tip know the music
that you're bringing second tip it's
useful to have a playlist per genre but
also a playlist for energy level third
tip bring an extra USB Drive
first of all for the backup for the
first because it can fail and second
of all if you forget your first one you
also have your second one. numero cuatro
bring an extra headphone. number five
make sure that you have enough music
with you but more music than you could
ever need for example for a one-hour set
make sure that you have for at least two
or three hours of music with you
you never know what's gonna happen for
example the DJ next is not showing up
and then they ask you to play a little
bit longer. number six. make a checklist
of all the stuff you need to bring on
your DJ gig especially when you bring
your own equipment and I know it's
boring it's tedious to go over that list
every time you go on a gig but yeah
there comes a time in your career when you
will thank me for giving you that tip
and thank yourself for doing it and
number seven yeah it's really obvious
but for some people it's really hard: be
on time
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