Can DJing be done on a shoestring?

I'm currently organizing my second tango tea dance and am finding the whole DJing thing increasingly stressful. I want to do it properly. However Im finding that very difficult. I've managed to get together enough music for both of the tea dances (3 hours of music) but only just. So what compromises could and should be made?

First of all, there's the whole business about organizing tandas so that you have 3 or 4 tunes in the tanda by the same composer from the same year and possibly with the same singer. Do the non DJs on this board understand how difficult that is? And how expensive that can be? It's hard enough for me to find 3 or 4 decent tangos by the same composer. Never mind if they sound any good together.

I've tried using tejastango for instance to put together tandas. But time and again I'm short of music. I estimate I have only succeeded in putting together a quarter of the recommended tandas.

I'm aware that this thread could turn into one long whinge. I dont mean it to be. I'm genuinely interested in how people have gone about compiling their playlists without it costing them hundreds of pounds (dollars, whatever). Oh and yes , and I would like to do it legally .

Captain Jep said:

I'm currently organizing my second tango tea dance and am finding the whole DJing thing increasingly stressful. I want to do it properly. However Im finding that very difficult. I've managed to get together enough music for both of the tea dances (3 hours of music) but only just. So what compromises could and should be made?

First of all, there's the whole business about organizing tandas so that you have 3 or 4 tunes in the tanda by the same composer from the same year and possibly with the same singer. Do the non DJs on this board understand how difficult that is? And how expensive that can be? It's hard enough for me to find 3 or 4 decent tangos by the same composer. Never mind if they sound any good together.

I've tried using tejastango for instance to put together tandas. But time and again I'm short of music. I estimate I have only succeeded in putting together a quarter of the recommended tandas.

I'm aware that this thread could turn into one long whinge. I dont mean it to be. I'm genuinely interested in how people have gone about compiling their playlists without it costing them hundreds of pounds (dollars, whatever). Oh and yes , and I would like to do it legally .

Click to expand...

I don’t understand why it’s costing you anything. Just go to your I tunes and create a new playlist then select the music from the 10,000 songs you already have on I tunes. What? You don’t have thousands of tangos …..your screwed

well i think its easier now that when I first started. I must have paid for over a dozen cds that disappeared in the post, from reliable sources and not necessarily abroad. I suggest you go to Mike Lavocah for recommendations; get playlists from other djs> maybe you can do a top 100 of what tango tracks are played in milongas.

Tango compilations were often useless having only a couple of danceable tangos; as they were mixed up with Piazzolla and Gardel
you can look and listen to tango music here:
http://www.imeem.com/magliulos/playlist/303t2znH/tango-de-mi-vida-volume-1-music-playlist/

I try to get tracks I have heard at milongas; ask the dj what is it is and download it as an mp3 from itunes or elsewhere if its not on itunes.

Personally I think it'd be great if DJs were to post some playlists - I think it'd be a great resource for all of us.

But I doubt it'll ever happen.

Dave Bailey said:

Personally I think it'd be great if DJs were to post some playlists - I think it'd be a great resource for all of us.

But I doubt it'll ever happen.

Click to expand...

what and embarrass myself???!!!

Captain Jep said:

I'm aware that this thread could turn into one long whinge. I dont mean it to be. I'm genuinely interested in how people have gone about compiling their playlists without it costing them hundreds of pounds (dollars, whatever). Oh and yes , and I would like to do it legally .

Click to expand...

So basically, you're asking how to get lots of music really cheap (like for free), and do it legally?



FWIW, I've bought quite a bit of music, but I've also done swaps with other DJs.

IMO, you need to just listen to music you have and see what goes together. If you really like it, the odds are that many others will as well. In any case, there's more to building a tanda then just putting some songs together by the same artist.

A few guidelines for building tandas (but these are not hard and fast rules).

• Pick songs that have a similar mood or style (Rhythmic, Lyrical, Moody, etc). Group by attributes that make sense to you. Of course some songs have more than one attribute.
• When possible, have the emotion, energy (or whatever you are building on), increase a little with each song in the tanda.
• Start on a popular song (that gets people on the floor), and end on a very good song (it's the one they'll remember the most). Put the stuff you are less sure about in the middle.
• Have the technically quality of the songs in a tanda either improve or stay the same (i.e. if you have one scratchy song that fits in with some other stuff, play it at the beginning of the tanda).

Hope this helps.

I was going to copy over my last playlist from iTunes but in doing so I have just lost the original order I had the playlist in (argggghhhhhh........)

dchester said:

So basically, you're asking how to get lots of music really cheap (like for free), and do it legally?

FWIW, I've bought quite a bit of music, but I've also done swaps with other DJs.

IMO, you need to just listen to music you have and see what goes together. If you really like it, the odds are that many others will as well. In any case, there's more to building a tanda then just putting some songs together by the same artist.

A few guidelines for building tandas (but these are not hard and fast rules).

• Pick songs that have a similar mood or style (Rhythmic, Lyrical, Moody, etc). Group by attributes that make sense to you. Of course some songs have more than one attribute.
• When possible, have the emotion, energy (or whatever you are building on), increase a little with each song in the tanda.
• Start on a popular song (that gets people on the floor), and end on a very good song (it's the one they'll remember the most). Put the stuff you are less sure about in the middle.
• Have the technically quality of the songs in a tanda either improve or stay the same (i.e. if you have one scratchy song that fits in with some other stuff, play it at the beginning of the tanda).

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Sort of.... but I think you have a background assumption that I have a lot of tunes in the first place. Which I dont have.

How do you get into the DJ "network" in the first place?

I checked out what was showing up on the top 25 on my laptop ( ignoring non-tango muscic):

Espiante and El Gato to lighten the mood
Poema to keep ladies happy; Felicia for a bit of oomph
Obsession:Alfredo Angelis; lovely singing and a great tune
A La Gran Muneca; Di Sarli, drives me nuts I've heard it so many times
El Portenito:Agostino: slow enough for milonga L-drivers but complicated enough for advanced; watch chicho & eugenia dance to it and he picks off the lyrics in his steps
EL Puntazo"Arienzo; I love this; a merry-go-round of a song and I know of few djs (uk) who play it but to my mind its a masterpiece.
Bahia Blanca: Sassone; (Biagi's version is commonly played but this makes a change) again its a "nuts" song
Alice: Las Sombras - Quinteteo Tango nice modern milonga with typewriter and saxophone
el Huracan: not for beginners but good fun
Son Cosas Del Bandoneon Con Andres Falgas: Rodolfo Biagi a singer who is restrained and doesnt come int til about 1.45 and sings like he's part of the orchestra and not a prima groaner
Quien Sera - vals 2:15 Edgardo Donato
Papas Calientes (1937) 2:27 Edgardo Donato; Milonga slow
Ella es asionato: milonga
Son nefes :Ibrahim Özgür Old World Tangos Vol. 1 - Echoes From Afar scratchy beautiful slow like tangoing in Casablanca
Da-mi guritza s-o sarut 2:44 Jean Moscopol Old World Tangos Vol. 1 - Echoes From Afar
or the more moody voice of Da-mi Gurita S-o Sarut; Oana Catalina Chit;Bucharest Tango
and for a really slow jazz canta:
Vrei Sa Ne-ntâlnim Sâmbt Seara 5:04 Oana Catalina Chitu; and if anyone can tell me what this is English I'd be greatful( i have a sneaking suspicion its" dont fence me in"!)

Hey BTM thanks for this - I'll pick through it - looks like there are some gems I need to look at

Captain Jep said:

Sort of.... but I think you have a background assumption that I have a lot of tunes in the first place. Which I dont have.

How do you get into the DJ "network" in the first place?

Click to expand...

OK, bad assumption on my part. Unless you can find someone to suck up to and get them to take you under their wing (and of course give you a bunch of songs to get you started), there's probably no way around buying some CDs to get started.

One thing that is helpful is listening to snippettes on some of the websites that sell CDs.
http://www.tangocd.com/
http://www.tangostore.com/home.php?lang=e
http://www.amazon.com/

Here are some CDs that I would recommend getting (or at least consider buying).

Grandes Del Tango 16 - Calo, Miguel
or
Al compas del corazon - Calo, Miguel

Roberto Maida Canta Sus Exitos - Canaro, Francisco
Sus Exitos con Ernesto Fama - Canaro, Francisco
Bailando Tangos, Valses Y Milongas - Canaro, Francisco

De Pura Cepa 1935-1936 - D'Arienzo, Juan
Instrumental Vol 1 Solo Tango - D'Arienzo, Juan

RCA VICTOR 100 AÑOS - Di Sarli, Carlos

Coleccion 78 RPM: 1933-1941 - Donato, Edgardo

Tangos De Salon - Fresedo, Osvaldo

Tangos Con Armando Moreno - Rodriguez, Enrique
Tangos Con Armando Moreno Vol 2 - Rodriguez, Enrique


--Alternative--
La Revancha Del Tango - Gotan Project
Otros Aires - Otros Aires
Buenos Aires: Paris - Various Artists

Thanks for the tips David.

I guess what I am really looking for is a 5 cent a track online site. Here's dreaming...

Dave Bailey said:

Personally I think it'd be great if DJs were to post some playlists - I think it'd be a great resource for all of us.

But I doubt it'll ever happen.

Click to expand...

I take the challenge. I'll post my list of sample tandas if someone tells me how to add files as attachments here. But I suspect this option has been disabled...

borisvian13 said:

I take the challenge. I'll post my list of sample tandas if someone tells me how to add files as attachments here. But I suspect this option has been disabled...

Click to expand...

When you are making a post, scroll down to the section that says "Attach Files", and then click on the button that says "Manage Attachments". I have attached a picture of the screen where that button is located.

Captain Jep said:

...I'm genuinely interested in how people have gone about compiling their playlists without it costing them hundreds of pounds (dollars, whatever). Oh and yes , and I would like to do it legally...

Click to expand...

Sorry Captain, I´m in a hurry, so only some ideas (without reading the thread throughout..)

1) I dont know if downloading from YT is legal? But it works fine and makes up about a forth of my music. In most cases it´s 160 kB/sec mp3 or ACC standard.

2) Two weeks ago I tracked down two pieces from last.fm. I looked for the source of the streaming server. Last week it did not work any more. So I think they dont want me to do it.

3) Every time I´m going to DJ (not very often), I ask the organizer to announce the event to the Society for musical reproduction rights. For small events you have to pay only a very small fee. So the musicians come to their own and I dont have to mull over the legal thing.

4) (As you) I´m specialized in my music. So everyone that reads about the milonga and the DJ knows that my music is not the standard program.