SwingDJs

I am interested to know what ratio of tracks you shortlist for a set?

If you DJ using CDs, like me, how many tracks do you take for each one you plan to play? (For example, if your set is 30 minutes, how many hours' worth of tracks do you take?).

If you DJ with a laptop, it could be more open-ended, but I guess you have an actual, or mental, shortlist - how long is this compared to the length of your DJ set?

I've never really shortlisted as a proportion of set length. I basically bring as much music as feasible. If I'm flying, that's meant at most, a 200CD flight case. If I drive, I basically bring everything that I'd DJ.

I may narrow the selection if I have a solid idea what kind of music is expected. If I don't, I'll bring more breadth in terms of styles or eras of music.

I've just started down the laptop route and find it quite novel that I can fit all my music on a single hard drive.

3-5 hours

I almost didn't understand the question. If you shortlist, why not just pre-record your set at home? Answer: because circumstances arise that reuire you to tap into songs you couldn' predict beforehand. Same answer would apply to a "short-list." Thus, I bring my full set of DJ music anytime I DJ. When I used/use CDs, that means a 200+ CD case of burned CD compilations into the best of genres, styles, or artists.

Sometimes when I have limited space, especially when I'm traveling (all the time) and I can only bring what I can fit into a small messenger bag, I'll bring some audio cords/adapters, a cd player, and a cd case of about 20-30 cds, with mixes of different moods, like cds with high-tempo boogie-woogie (and mid and low), cds of swing, cds of small group new orleans' style jazz, cds of lindy-groovy songs, cds with crowd-pleasers, cds for Jams, etc.
And a notebook to take notes =D.

24*70 is 28 hours?
Versatile enough for most situations and that I can make sure people are always dancing.

I've never really shortlisted music, even when I was schlepping around my CDs. I think the couple of times that I did, I didn't bring something that I later decided I wanted to play.

Some of you say you don't shortlist. So how do you decide which of your thousands of tracks you will start with?

I did an Australian set last week. So that was taken from a short list.

I don't know if this counts as shortlisting, but last weekend I tried a concept I'm calling "mini-sets".

As I don't have a laptop, I pre-burned sets of five songs that worked well together, four such sets to a CD. Over the course of the night my rule of thumb was to play five songs selected on the fly, then play a mini-set, then repeat. Most, but not all, mini-sets had a bit of a theme (i.e. hot blues guitar, songs with "Dark" in the title, crooners, etc). I would select which mini-set to play on-the-fly, depending on what was working in the room, and what would fit with the music before and after it. These mini-sets gave me a bit of breathing room both to start picking out my next batch of on-the-fly tunes, and to get a few back-to-back dances in without worrying about ditching my partner and running up to the DJ booth to start the next song.

Overall I'd say it worked very well. Actually, my impression was that the mini-sets generally went over better than the on-the-fly selections, but I'm still a greenhorn so I'm not expecting to be great at it yet.

Brent

Haydn wrote:Some of you say you don't shortlist. So how do you decide which of your thousands of tracks you will start with?

The same way I decide the fifth and twentieth song to play: read the room, determine a tempo and feeling that would keep the flow or mix it up (as necessary), and find a song to fit it.

Sometimes, I flip through songs in a BPM range; sometimes I sort through an artist; sometimes I sort by Genre; sometimes I look for songs I haven't heard or played in a while. Last week, I played a set of almost entirely of songs I had never played, and not because they stunk.

Lawrence wrote:

Haydn wrote:Some of you say you don't shortlist. So how do you decide which of your thousands of tracks you will start with?

The same way I decide the fifth and twentieth song to play: read the room, determine a tempo and feeling that would keep the flow or mix it up (as necessary), and find a song to fit it.

I understand the principle, but I think my point is - can you really do this from thousands of tracks, or is better to have a shortlist, actual or mental?

Haydn wrote:I understand the principle, but I think my point is - can you really do this from thousands of tracks, or is better to have a shortlist, actual or mental?

I do it every time I DJ, so I guess the answer is yes, you really can. How do you pick which songs from your thousands to put on your short list in the first place?

Some people have a short list, others don't. I think the real answer is to do whatever works best for you.

Persionally I see everything as a shortlist, even if that list is over 1000 songs.
To me a short list is a smaller version of your entire collection in some form.
You are only "not" chosing from a shorlist if you are going down through ever song in your entire collection.
How many people do that?

Brian

I use the technique of shortlisting to help add variety to my DJing (on my PC). For example I am just back from DJing at a dance camp. In preparation I went through my collection and took out a shortlist of material of different tempos and styles. This is a mixture of proven favourites and newer material. I will preview this in detail to be familar with this material. Anywhere from 5 to 6 hours of material. Then in the set I will choose from this material but not limit myself to it. If the situation demands something else eg for a snowball or jam or a particular track I will still go back to my main library. I also choose material that will fit into a particular theme. eg I was DJing on Australia Day so included a selection of Australian jazz to put together an Australian bracket. I think shortlisting helps me explore parts of my collection I wouldn't do in the pressure of trying to find the next track to DJ.