The Role of a DJ

[mark0tz]

I'm the only one, either they come to my night, or they have to dance at home. I don't get any complaints, and i only get a few requests... so I think I'm doing ok, despite being swing-dictator

haha.. Hmm, Swing Dictator. Interesting... I definitely think that's a large piece of what a DJ is, at least a Swing DJ, but at the same time you end up catering to the audience to some extent. Where do you find that balance?

We talked about it for a while @ SODC:
http://www.swingoutdc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1503

[GemZombie]

My balance is usually pretty simple.

In my small scene, there are only a few people who seem to *really* enjoy and understand the music... most of the dancers are using it for a "metronome", as we have heard discussed before. That depresses me, of course, but the few that do listen know what good music is, and they love the music I generally play.

So I'm usually asked to "play a slower, groovy" song from time to time, and I'll do it. I'm also asked to play a westie song towards the end of the night... I'll do that too. Cuz I don't really mind, and people enjoy themselves. I'm lucky to be able to play a night of mostly (around 90%) of music *I* like, and it keeps people dancing. I can deal with that 10% that I just don't like.

And every night, I have someone coming up to me and asking "what was that song, that was great". That's always a plus, especially if it's a "good" song for me, and not one of the requests.

And of course, I don't really analyze all this while I'm DJing. I'm just playing music, and having fun. It's only when I get home, and answer forums such as this when I really think about what I've been doing

[yedancer]

I think you have to cater to the audience most of the time. Otherwise, you won't be a DJ for long. Even playing unique stuff that the audience hasn't heard before is catering to them, as long as you are trying to keep them dancing and having fun.

Of course, if you are in a situation where you are trying to change the taste of the audience over a period of time, then it's a different story.

[VancouverJim]

If you resond to the audience then you're DJing. If you're just playing what you want without paying attention to the dancers then you aren't DJing, you're just playing music. There are a fair number of people in my scene who call themselves DJs but to me they aren't DJing, they're just sitting there playing a few CDs. They aren't feeding off the dancers, they aren't paying attention to the dancers, they aren't taking them on a journey that the dancers themselves point the direction of.