Throw Down a Dope DJ Set in a Club

Throwing down a dope DJ set is part art, part skill, part craft, and it all needs to happen in the drop of a needle. You can learn to throw down with the best of them, learning to structure your sets, mix on the fly to keep people moving, and stand out among your peers.

Steps

Structuring a Set

  1. Start with a basic theme. Depending on the venue and your experience and style as a DJ, a club may have a specific stylistic request for you, or you may have more freedom to play what you want. But whatever the nature of your agreement, you need to spend some time before the set sketching out a basic theme, with at least your first five tracks laid out.
    • Are you going to stick with straight-up club jams, or are you going to throw any surprises into the mix? Old-school disco fist-pumpers? Rock songs? Make sure you've got any swerves prepared for on your disc drive, or in your record crate.
    • You can always throw the plan away, but at least you'll have something to start with and get a chance to read the crowd. If you drop a trance-beat banger and nobody moves, you'll know you need to switch up the theme. If the place goes wild, you've found your groove.
  2. Watch the crowd. If you've got your head buried in your vinyl crate and your mixers the whole time, you're going to lose them. It's important for a club DJ to pay close attention to what the crowd seems to be responding to, how they're reacting, and what the energy level seems to be in the room. It won't always be obvious, but a good DJ can learn to spot a crowd's needs before they're even aware of it themselves.
    • Watch for bangers. Some songs will get people pouring onto the dancefloor, which you'll need to follow up with at least 2-4 similar songs to keep the party going. After that, you might start slowly transitioning away from that style, but matching beats so people won't lose it.
    • Watch for the exodus. Likewise, keep an eye out for clunkers. If you throw on something with vocals and all of a sudden people lose it, consider dropping back into your straight-up instrumental set. Find out what people don't like.
  3. Pay attention to the charts. If every other DJ's going to play it, you might think you're above that new Top 10 single, but if people want to hear the newest dance jams, you'll be doing the crowd a disservice not to play it. Try to stay abreast of the commercial dance music that people are likely to want to hear.
    • You don't have to play the basic song, consider drop a remix or a mash up, or remix it live. Maybe make a few edits of the most popular songs before you go and drop those.
  4. Know when to drop some old school joints. Every crowd will be different, and crowds can even change over the course of an evening, or over the course of an hour. Some crowds will want to trance out to nothing but heavy-banging house all night, while others will want to hear some Jackson 5. Pay attention to what works and what doesn't, and have a steady stream of old-school dance classics at your disposal.
    • Sometimes a crowd that skews "older" may seem like an obvious choice for wanting classics, but not necessarily. Any time you're DJing for a non-club type of club atmosphere, in which the crowd isn't necessarily dance-music enthusiasts, you're likely to win the dancefloor will some well-timed classics.
  5. Try to keep everybody happy and in the moment. People are out to have a good time, not to think hard about the heady and artistic set of experimental electronic dance music you're curating. Give them the music fix they need, get them to dance, and reflect their energy back into your mixes. That's your job.
    • There's no such thing as "a bad crowd," but there is such a thing as a bad DJ. Good DJs can read the room and supply an appropriate soundtrack. People may dance, people may not dance, but it's your job to do the best you can to read the room and reflect the vibe.

Pacing a Set

  1. Make your transitions smooth. If you Try to cut between some industrial remix of a Led Zeppelin tune mashed up with Biggie vocals and the new Katy Perry song, it's likely that you'll leave some heads scratching, even if the BPMs match. Try to make your stylistic transitions as smooth as possible, matching sounds, styles, energy, and beats.
  2. Make your mixes subtle. Don't do blatantly obvious mixing between tracks, mixing into another track if both are clearly audible. Cut some sound out of one track and slowly bring up the rest of it. Cut the bass and just leave the drums and slowly bring the bass up.
    • Some tracks like Mickey Slim's remix of "Jump Around" change dramatically, so use that to your advantage. If the song slows down, mix a couple of slow tracks between it and then bring it back to where it was.
  3. Maintain a consistent pace with subtle variations. If your set is going fast, keep it that way and only slow down if you want people to chill for a second. If you're speeding up, make it gradual, or surprising, not just some blatant full speed up halfway through a 90 bpm track to 125bpm so you can mix it into a house record.
    • A good idea is to loop a standout line in the song and then slowly speed it up and mix to the next record. Don't confuse people, when it comes to changing speeds it's mainly faster, not slower, and always gradual, or surprising.
  4. Stay sober. Everybody wants to have a good time, including the DJ. But if you're not in a clear-headed place, it'll be too easy to lose track of the room. Save your free drink tickets until after your set is over and celebrate a job well done. Don't get bombed and think you can pull off a set made entirely of weird Finnish TV theme song mixes. That's weird, and sober-you would agree.

Being Unique

  1. Use effects for live surprises. If you have a professional set-up and only cut from track to track with the crossfader and beatmix, that's just being lazy. All turntables and mixers have at least a few effects, and even the most basic setups nowadays have at least three. You have effects, so use them.
    • You can get echo effects, loop buttons, sample record buttons in your set-up, so learn how to add them to your mixes and sets.
    • All mixers have the equalizer knobs, so you can use these for things like cutting off the bass or removing everything except the vocal track.
    • Experiment with every button on your mixer. Even the play/pause button can be used for things, and in the end however you choose to use these it will be all your personal DJ style.
  2. Do more than play music. It's not all mixing tracks. You have to throw your entire self into the mix, using hand gestures to lead the crowd. A few hand waving movements go a long way, but you can utilize hand claps, fist pumps, and other movements to get the whole crowd moving along with the music.
    • Move around. If a DJ seems to be digging what they're hearing, people will get on board. If you look like a scientist tweaking dials, people are likely to be intimidated. Make it seem like you're having fun.
  3. Talk to the crowd. You're the master of ceremonies, so master that ceremony. Talk to people, field requests, chat up cute dancers, shout-out people's birthdays, ask if everyone's having a good time. Be the face of the party and facilitate the good vibes.
    • It's also good to know when to shut up. Talking to a crowd can be cool, but no more than once an hour is a good rule of thumb. If you're talking between every song, you're ruining it.
  4. Study the masters. Uniqueness is important, but it's not the most important thing about being a DJ. Playing a room is a craft. You can put your own spin on things, but it's also important to familiarize yourself with the great DJs of the past, to learn as much as you can about the footsteps you're walking in. This will make you a more humble, talented, and interesting DJ as you move forward. If you want to throw down a dope DJ set in a club, you need to know about and hear the stylings of the following DJs:
    • Chemical Brothers
    • Grandmaster Flash
    • David Mancuso
    • DJ Andy Smith
    • Ram Jam Rodigan
    • DJ Chuckie
    • DJ Cash Money
    • DJ Marky
    • Carl Cox
    • Jam Master Jay
    • Cut Chemist

Tips

  • Change speed gradually.
  • Use your effects.
  • Get a feel for the club by going there beforehand and checking out other DJs who play there.
  • A couple of days before your set, practice.
  • Don't be afraid to test new tracks, or even your own.
  • Classic tracks work well.
  • Read the crowd.
  • Act like you have control over everyone on the dance floor because if you don't already know, you do.
  • Add surprises and suspense to your mix.
  • Stick to remixes rather than original (every other dj will play this version) tracks.
  • Be yourself, play what you want, what you like, however you want to. Be sure to stick to the organizer's guidelines.
  • Keep your tracks at the same average time limit.
  • Always try to mix your tracks.
  • Keep going faster, rather than slowing down.
  • Interact with the crowd.

Warnings

  • Do not do anything stupid that throws the crowd off.
  • Drinking does not help you become a better DJ.
  • If you don't put on a great set, brush it off and keep trying to get better
  • Don't be too cocky before, during and after the set. You may think you're the bomb, but you don't know how true that is.
  • Always stay focused on the music, then the crowd and all of your surroundings.
  • Don't be blatant with your mixing.

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