Confessions of a Mad DJ

March 2007
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29
March
2007

dj bakasan - Sexay Sexay

Robin Thicke - Lost Without You India Arie - Simple Pete Rock - It’s A Love Thing Laurnea - Keep Your Head Up Space Hopper - Find Yourself Jibbs - Go Too Far Babyface - For the Cool In You Pretty Rickey - On The Hotline Berris Smith - Daddy Loves You Janet Jackson - Enjoy Yasmeen - Blue Jeans Musiq - musiqforthenight Al Green - L-O-V-E

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Thoughts

This mix starts off with some jazzy beats and neo-soul and eventually transitions over to mainstream R&B. There’s some volume issues though since I was recording fairly late and couldn’t have my studio monitors turned on for fear of pissing off the guy in the apartment below mine. Doing a mix purely in your headphones isn’t any more or less difficult than mixing w/ monitors, but it does present some challenges–with me personally, it leads to ear fatigue as after a sustained session at the decks, your ears start to lose the ability to hear nuanced differences in volume–talk to a DJ who is mid-set and I guarantee you that they’ll only be able to hear in one volume decibel–LOUD.

Weakest point in the mix is the mix in and out to the Berris Smith track. I dig the song and I think it conceptually fits where it is, but it’s the first time I’d ever tried using it in a set. Fairly standard issue when working with a song you don’t know inside and out, you’re flying blind as to how the song is structured, how it sounds, when the vocals come in, the kind of build up is in the song. I’m going to have to try to get my hands on an instrumental for it to make it a bit easier to work with.

One of the most common questions I get, particularly when I give lessons on basic DJ skills, is how a DJ should pick what songs go with what. While there’s a whole technical backdrop that can answer the question (i.e. bpms, key matching, song structures), I’ll focus on the more creative aspects of song selection–at least in how I decide what to play and when.

For me personally, it boils down to a question of venue, demographics, and mood. Any time I walk into a spot to spin, be it a house party, a record store, a bar/lounge, club, I assess what the venue is like. What’s the surroundings communicating to those there? Is it a dark and moody backdrop? Sexy, lounge-y beats subtly playing to add another component to the environment. Energetic, bright, lively bar? Lively, upbeat hip hop, R&B, maybe some indy or old school depending on the demographics of the joint. Demographics–am I looking at an older crowd? Younger? A room full of other DJs and therefore music snobs? Kids around? Maybe I should watch the language and lyrical overtones of the music I’m putting out. And finally, for me at least, the most important of how I build my sets is the mood that I’m trying to establish at any given point in time.

Early in the night, get em vibing, acclimating to the bar, club, party, whatever. Not the appropriate time to bust out the “heat”. Who really wants to walk into a bar at 10PM and the first thing they’re greeted is “FROM THE WINDOWS! TO THE WALLS! TILL THE SWEAT DRIPS DOWN MY BALLS!” Doesn’t exactly exude the sexy, classy vibe that I’d want to go for usually. I want to build out from that warm, welcoming vibe to draw em out onto the floor and then build upon that energy gradually. The dj has to think like an orchestra conductor, knowing what instruments to bring in when, when to highlight one over another to maximize the impact.

With this mix I wanted something on the more soulful but sexy side. I sometimes create an arbitrary scenario or “scene” in my head when I’m formulating what I want to put down in a mix. Once the image of what that scene looks like and the actors in that scene, I go about creating the musical score for it. The scene for this mix? Late teens couple in a nice car (probably the parents’) going for a nice scenic drive, the guy wanting to front and show how suave and sophisticated he is, so he pops in this CD….basically cuz’ he wants him some. (for the SR folks, let’s call him “Barry”)