We've all heard DJs that haven't been so good - either too drunk, bad mixing, wearing sunglasses inside, banging away at 7pm to an empty floor etc... But none of these compare to the ultimate sin in my opinion - playing boring music - there really is no excuse.
The main culprit is tech house, with more modern deep house coming in a close second. The most annoying thing is that most of these tracks are great - on their own, and yet DJ X somehow manages to make them sound completely forgettable when doing a set. Whats even more annoying my last experience of someone doing this was at a major night, with a serious face... at 10pm... WTF???
Get loose and have fun! When DJing becomes all about the anally tight blends and playing rhythmic (codeword for monotonous) music then I'm sorry but you've lost what DJing is all about for me...
Heres some tips if you think you fall into this category (and this is from me being a punter on the floor, not my DJ side):
- VOCALS - have you forgotten what they are??? They can break up the snoozing coming from the dancefloor within seconds - people prick their ears up and start to smile! Finally something is happening...
- What got you into DJing? How did you get to this point? Go back to your old tracks, drag them out and have some fun with them!
- Edits - theres plenty of them about all of varying quality, the edits of older disco stuff - with the full vocal/hooks will guarantee a flood of people to the floor
- LOOK UP! The previous DJ did his set and left the floor half empty, is there anyone still there 30 minutes into your fantastically rhythmic set? If there isn't then DO SOMETHING about it! Don't just carry on as you are...
- Ok, your playing at a night where you know the DJs later on will be playing good stuff later on but might not be sticking to one genre - why do you have to? If you can do it get some funk and soul in there as long as it doesn't sound too out of place...!
I hope people take note of this...
Heres to the next time I hear Sexual Healing in the middle of a house set...
Cheers
totally agree with you!!!! you took the words right out of my mouth! I live in japan and my god, the djs here are ( 99% of them ) soooooo boring..... predictable, bland, just-bought-the-beatport-top10 sound..... totally forgettable...
ReplyDeletemike mckenna
www.discoscience.net
I do not agree. There is just no dance culture today in the western world at least. Thats all. Your set is over an our of boom bom whateverhouse. Dance floor empty or not, folks just dont dance today. How do you wanna dance to this kind of boring machine noise? Folks stand around and attitude is everything. All!! I mean all DJs just dont dance. For years they used to be gearheads, without the relation to dancing at all.
ReplyDeleteit seems difficult enough to find enough good records to fill a set, theres so much out there these days and 90% is boring to me, i wonder why some of them took the time to even produce it let alone release it
ReplyDeleteIt's true, go and watch Ibiza 2013 parties on youtube; nobody dances anymore. 95% of house music has no groove anymore.
ReplyDelete