What are DJs doing wrong

[itwillhappen]

tbh that's what I would recommend new people do rather than telling people to follow my own process, which requires some prerequisite skills and I'm not even sure which ones exactly.

Having the required skills is excellent. And above all, it's effective because all you have to do is sit down with your equipment and play some music.

But there are many situations where someone either has to or wants to DJ. And then I hear some DJs who play "emotionally" - meaning if they're in a good mood, it might be good, but if they're not, it's sure to be bad. Personally, I prefer to be thoroughly prepared, and that's definitely better for my audience.

 

[TTanguero]

And then I hear some DJs who play "emotionally" - meaning if they're in a good mood, it might be good, but if they're not, it's sure to be bad

There is one relatively well-known DJ whose name I won't mention who used to be like that. Other people, you'd ask how their day was, this DJ you just listened to their music ...

 

[opendoor]

...if they're in a good mood, it might be good, but if they're not, it's sure to be bad. Personally, I prefer to be thoroughly prepared, and that's definitely better for my audience.

I did exactly the same as you; I always came with a freshly curated playlist. Sometimes it ran through unchanged, but more often I swapped tracks on the fly. I stand by my method, even though self-made playlists are always frowned upon in the DJ community, similar to playlists streamed from Spotify.

 

[ralf]

I always came with a freshly curated playlist. Sometimes it ran through unchanged, but more often I swapped tracks on the fly.

My usual approach for swing and blues DJing (i.e. no tandas). Draft set slightly longer than the intended play time, plus roughly an equal amount of alternate songs with substantially different tempo or feel that I can swap in. Sometimes the draft set gets played unchanged except for skipping a couple of the later songs, sometimes everything after the second song changes (because reading the floor says the originally intended songs won't work that night).

But there have been a couple of times I've had a last-minute request to DJ (including once recently on arriving at the venue!) and quickly pull together songs from a few previous set lists knowing I'll be doing a bunch of on-the-fly rearranging. When I have time for proper prep, I try to find new songs I haven't played before and often put together a theme for most or even all of the set. Starlight Blues - Music for Dancing

 

[opendoor]

swing and blues.. i.e. no tandas..

Since I learned about the tanda concept in tango, I've been DJing at trad swing events 2-piece tandas. I alternate between slow shuffle, fast stomp, stride, and intermediate, so the couples can switch between Lindy, Charleston, and Balboa.

Starlight Blues...

Thanks for sharing!

 

[David_In_CA]

Since I learned about the tanda concept in tango, I've been DJing at trad swing events 2-piece tandas. I alternate between slow shuffle, fast stomp, stride, and intermediate, so the couples can switch between Lindy, Charleston, and Balboa.

Is Germany one of the countries where Lindy hoppers dance two dances in a row? Do you play something as a cortina, or are the tandas more internal structures to aid you in building your set?

 

[opendoor]

Is Germany one of the countries where Lindy hoppers dance two dances in a row?

Only the well-trained ones.

Do you play something as a cortina, or are the tandas more internal structures to aid you in building your set?

A short jingle or some kind of fanfare.

 

[David_In_CA]

Only the well-trained ones.

A short jingle or some kind of fanfare.

Interesting, thanks for sharing! In the US we rarely dance more than 1 song consecutively with the same partner in the swing dances, but I know that this varies in different parts of Europe.

 

[opendoor]

..In the US we rarely dance more than 1 song consecutively... but I know that this varies in different parts of Europe.

Same here! I just do so rather to cover all styles equally.

 

[Bailango]

Interesting, thanks for sharing! In the US we rarely dance more than 1 song consecutively with the same partner in the swing dances, but I know that this varies in different parts of Europe.

The same difference exists in the USA and parts of Europe when it comes to salsa too.

 

[itwillhappen]

I stand by my method, even though self-made playlists are always frowned upon in the DJ community, similar to playlists streamed from Spotify.

The question is, what exactly do we mean by a "playlist"?

Technically, already my tandas are organized as short playlists.
I know DJs who have created playlists with suitable tracks based on the orchestra and singer, from which they then select tracks. This feels more intuitive, but in practice, it's probably quite limited in the selection.

Spotify is relatively well-suited for playing smaller milongas cost-effectively; and if you download the relevant tracks beforehand, availability might also be higher than if someone unfamiliar with the platform is tinkering with their track library.
And Spotify is something for DJs with exceptional talent, because they don't need precise information about the tracks they're playing. It sounds reasonably good, you remember the track, and you play it when it fits the situation.
A combination of a good DJ player like Virtual DJ or a more suitable streaming service like Tidal, along with local tracks, could theoretically be a good platform, but I've never tried it or heard of any positive experiences.

In practice, however, statistically it is more likely that a moderately talented DJ will fully exploit the weaknesses of their streaming service and the weaknesses of the streaming player (pauses between tracks?!), and such DJ would IMO be better replaced by a playlist or even AI in the future.

 

[pianistamediano]

Spotify is fine as a starting point, and I'd honestly not gatekeep DJing by using the lack of a collection of high quality tango music. I'm of the opinion that, while the quality of music on Spotify does and will suffer, it's not practically noticeable until you have a good enough audio set-up. Even so, the majority of ears are untrained or inadequately attuned to audio, and they will not be able to tell the difference most of the time. I think it's on the DJ to bring as good a version of whatever tango they play as possible, but oftentimes as long as it's good enough, any decrease in overall enjoyment of the dancers will be negligible.

 

[TTanguero]

Spotify is fine as a starting point, and I'd honestly not gatekeep DJing by using the lack of a collection of high quality tango music

A good DJ using Spotify is a thousand times better than a bad DJ using the highest-quality lossless transfers.

 

[opendoor]

..such DJ would IMO be better replaced by a playlist or even AI in the future.

Frankly, the DJ's role has lost its luster. I used to love being the magician who could weave familiar and unfamiliar tracks into coherent tandas. But what was once a privileged skill is no longer so. Today, anyone can pair good audio quality with danceable tandas. Like me, many DJs are disappointed by this development. I know several DJs who are switching to vinyl. Honestly, how ridiculous is that? 90% of these vinyl LPs are compilations of shellac records, but not studio albums recorded specifically in the early 50s.

 

[itwillhappen]

Frankly, the DJ's role has lost its luster. I used to love being the magician who could weave familiar and unfamiliar tracks into coherent tandas. But what was once a privileged skill is no longer so. Today, anyone can pair good audio quality with danceable tandas. Like me, many DJs are disappointed by this development. I know several DJs who are switching to vinyl. Honestly, how ridiculous is that? 90% of these vinyl LPs are compilations of shellac records, but not studio albums recorded specifically in the early 50s.

Definitely! The decline began with the use of audio tapes and continued with bootleg CDs in the backyards of Buenos Aires. Then came the music player programs, internet as an information source and Shazam, then the internet as a source of tracks like iTunes and Amazon and TT and TTT, and then streaming via Spotify and YouTube and so on. The bottom has not yet been reached; the trend will continue!

A vinyl DJ at least shows off with some craftsmanship and often with their gold-plated tube preamp. The quality of the records and the sound is usually a bit worse, but who cares?