'The Vibe' and the '135bpm Zone'

Tips and techniques of the trade

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Swifty
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#16 Post by Swifty » Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:04 am

GuruReuben wrote:
Swifty wrote:Do you ever get tired of the same line?
No.
I guess it was more of a rhetorical question.
"Dance like it hurts. Love like you need money. Work when people are watching."

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Mr Awesomer
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#17 Post by Mr Awesomer » Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:42 am

Sorry, I'm a bit more punchy then usual right now.
Reuben Brown
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Shanabanana
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#18 Post by Shanabanana » Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:57 pm

Even though the broken records will take every opportunity to bash their dancers, what Trev is actually describing is a one-time thing.

I see this situation a lot. Living in uber-outdoorsy Boulder, a powder day or bright summer Saturday doesn't mean that people stay home from dancing, but it does mean that they're looking for music on the mellow side. I wouldn't classify it as a failure unless you don't give them what they want. So the room has low energy...roll with it. Seems to me that what you did was spot on.

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CafeSavoy
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#19 Post by CafeSavoy » Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:38 pm

Shanabanana wrote:Even though the broken records will take every opportunity to bash their dancers, what Trev is actually describing is a one-time thing.

I see this situation a lot. Living in uber-outdoorsy Boulder, a powder day or bright summer Saturday doesn't mean that people stay home from dancing, but it does mean that they're looking for music on the mellow side. I wouldn't classify it as a failure unless you don't give them what they want. So the room has low energy...roll with it. Seems to me that what you did was spot on.
Yeah, that was what i was thinking especially after he noted that the night before was high energy to a live band. On a more general level, it raises the question, do you work with the room or do you dj your agenda?

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#20 Post by mousethief » Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:57 pm

Trev - off night. It happens.

Rayned - Both.

Depends on what your agenda is. I generally turn down gigs where I don't think I'll do a good job.

You can work with the room as is. I think that's generally a good strategy, because I have a lot of faith in people who are doing something goofy like Lindy Hop to try something outside of their comfort zones so long as it's fun. However, I think working with the room means playing with the energy, getting the tempos up, bringing them down when appropriate, etc.

DJing from an agenda can be a very good thing. Usually, it's just pigeonholing. But it can also be a well-needed break from the norm.

I would say that if people can hum your basic set just seeing your name on the announcement, then it's time to take a new tack.

Kalman
"The cause of reform is hurt, not helped, when an activist makes an idiotic suggestion."

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djstarr
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#21 Post by djstarr » Tue Apr 05, 2005 5:00 pm

trev wrote:Don't ge me wrong, our scene can still bust it out when it wants to. There was a live gig the night before that was fast and furious (hmm, maybe that was the problem :)) It was just a one-off flat night. I mean it could be that everyone actually enjoyed themselves, and were having too much fun just talking and hanging out with friends.

Roll on Hullabaloo!
I dj'ed last night; a usually quite popular advanced dancer night, but the dance was at about half of the normal attendees. Since we just had a Frankie/Chazz workshop and Sunday night was live music with a packed floor it made sense to me that it was a slow night, that's a typical pattern.

It took me about half my set to find a connection with the crowd but I finally got there. I also couldn't play too many fast songs; each fast song had about 1/2 the floor sitting out so I sprinkled them through my set. I did get several compliments including someone who really enjoyed all the tempo variation (I also played several <100 bpm) so it's worth throwing some barn burners out there to see what happens.

I'd say on an off-night switching short sets would really make it hard to get the connection going.

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Greg Avakian
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#22 Post by Greg Avakian » Sun Aug 28, 2005 10:31 am

I think switching sets is tough when you're just starting out, but that in time they can be as much fun as anything. I have many fond memories of DJing 1-3 song sets with Shorty Dave, Jesse & Manu (we all played one song each and someone started us playing different versions of "Moanin'" -the crowd booed when we stopped) and most recently with Bill Borgida in montreal. Once you get to know your music better, you'll hear the complimentry -and challenging- aspects of your collection in another DJ's set.

The most important thing is if you can get the room "on your side". Whereas I can't imagine playing different versions of the same song 3 times in a row on my own, it worked with Manu & Jesse because we were having so much fun with the dancers and they were all aware of what we were doing and laughing along. That doesn't mean it will work every time. This is not a formula for sucess.

One thing I would say is that "novelty songs" are only for when the room is on your side. Using them to get the room to like your DJing better is not something I would try. Playing solid music that yopu know people like will probably work better.

Since you asked in another thread about preparing for gigs, I'll suggest coming up with "set starters". This are songs that are high energy that you know people will feel motivated to dance to. I try not to use "classics" for this (see below).

I also usually start with fairly "boring" material (to me), but material that I know the majority of dancers will like and find easy to dance to. Take any of the "mega hit" classics from the last 5 years and play them during the beginning of your sets. LCO's C-jam blues will probably fill a floor forever. Same goes for an instrumental (or Ella singing) "Shiney stockings". You get the picture. However, I would avoid "Fire" and "Wade" for at least another year. :)

BYW, reading your other thread about how you adapted by playing slower songs when it was hot shows that you are paying attention to the crowd. That's awesome because most new DJs don't even look up from the 20,000 songs they don't know on their laptops -so I wouldn't take this too seriously, you already have the most important skill for being a great DJ...
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Serg
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#23 Post by Serg » Tue Aug 30, 2005 9:43 am

Intersting thread. I've been Djing here in South Florida for 6 years now almost weekly. Sometimes it does not matter what kind of music you play and nobody dances. I guess there are occasions people only come out to socialize.

I've been DJing with another DJ for all this time. We usually do 45 to 60 minutes sets. Most of the time we do a great job and people are happy. However, I don't think I will ever be the more popular DJ because I always challenge myself and play different songs. The other DJ sticks to his comfort zone of 30 to 40 crowd favorite songs and people love him. He plays lots of Jump Blues and got the crowd addicted to this music(nothing wrong with Jump Blues as long as you mix it with other stuff). I purchase a lot of new music and don't like to repeat the same songs all the time. I will play lots of Big Band, 60's Jazz, Blues and a few novelty songs. Does this happen to your scene?

Serg

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SweetLowdown
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#24 Post by SweetLowdown » Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:13 pm

Greg Avakian wrote:I also usually start with fairly "boring" material (to me), but material that I know the majority of dancers will like and find easy to dance to. Take any of the "mega hit" classics from the last 5 years and play them during the beginning of your sets. LCO's C-jam blues will probably fill a floor forever. Same goes for an instrumental (or Ella singing) "Shiney stockings". You get the picture. However, I would avoid "Fire" and "Wade" for at least another year. :)
Interesting, I usually take the opposite tack. I usually begin my sets with something that 1. I know the dancers haven't heard before 2. Is notably different than what the last DJ was doing if we're trading sets of any length 3. An A+ list song that I know only the most dense could not be moved by. It's sort of an announcement . . like "okay folks, this is what I've got for you." In general I've found it to be a pretty winning strategy, it gets the audience on my side right away and then I have breathing room if I want to play something that might stretch their tastes somewhere in the middle of the set. My sets tend to be front-loaded, it's been my expereince that if the audience isn't totally with me by song 3, then I've lost them, or at least I'm gonna have to do a lot to get them back. I also try to finish my set somewhat in the same fashion, with something rare, hot and memorable. But that's just my 2 cents, and crowds are different, so our strategies should always be flexible.

I wouldn't take a rough night too personally, it sounds like you did what you could given the situation-- it's tough when people have a very narrow tolerance level for what they want to dance to, it becomes a group-mentality very quickly given the right circumstances.

--Kelly

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