Bit late on this one... great topic though and some great responses

Couple things really:

When playing out I always get a touch of the nerves, be it a small gig or large, but always had the belief that if you nail that first blend then you're away... got to admit though, a bit of the old dutch courage always helps the butterflies to dissipate that's for sure

On the internet radio side of things, I think the most difficult thing has to be using the mic... the whole concept sounds & is presumed to be easy, but it definately is not. Having to keep an eye on incoming shouts, reply to live msn messages & the like, toggle between internet pages, check your live & having no connection issues, commontate & speak to the audience... and finally having to mix! It's quite stressfull to begin with but like anything the more you do it, the easier it gets.... To be fair I think I sweated my own body weight on my first ever broadcast!

So there's my two pennith on the subject

Hope the MU community is well! Not loving this rain at the moment though... it's supposed to be SUMMER!!!!!

Peace n Respect

Oli P
aka Olsta

d(-.-)b

well to be old chap, i start with the most basic of tracks and jst keep pickin up the bpm thru the transitions as u may call them, when i do me mix cd's now i use ableton then it jst a case of dragging and droppin around the screen untill you get the better sound- cos i play all the track - so there no quick mix- and i jst use that mix for a friday nite somewhere burn it on to four cd's then i can do exactly the same in the club/party but on the decks- download ableton you can do a mix cd quicker than it actualy takes on the decks-
i love the dead long mixes - tunes with a 2 minute 40 intro

I think the opener is the hardest...at least for me. It can make or break a set. It totally sets the mood for the rest of the set. Of course whether its live in a club or n the studio fro a promo...makes a HUGE difference. It also depends largely if you are the opening DJ or mid/closer. Lately I have been opening with an old classic remixed. Orbital, way out west, underworld, etc...something totally old skool but with a new edge. same with the closer sometimes.

when cutting a promo I stick to a pre-determined setlist. but when live...as many of you have already stated...you just have to feed off the crowd for the most part.

For me there are a couple of things that are difficult. If I'm creating a mix for a Radio/Internet non live audience, the most difficult thing is trying to keep the correct flow with imagination. The second thing is trying to stay within one Genre when I submit a set to mixupload. I use a rolodex type style. When I hear something I start flipping through my memory banks. That style works well for a live crowd but... can make an Internet mix seem dis-jointed.

Well this topic gave me food for thought!

I agree with most people on this. The first track, the concept, the flow and the fact that you can be you own worst critic, all what I do when mixing a set
I think when you are a DJ you are always learning no matter how advanced you get. you are always finding new things. That is what makes it so interesting.

Like when I was a Club DJ I learned first what the crowd were into, sometimes the hard way lol! , Then you try to introduce them to something new. Believe me this can be hard, because like a lot of you have said, a majority of the people in the club want to dance to something they know. I find that if you get the crowd in the right mood, then you can try almost anything.

I think when recording a mix at home or in the studio you concentrate on it more. This is where the own worst critic thing comes in (You can go back and change things) I try and make it too perfect. Many a times I have done a mix (say that should take an hour) listened to it, disliked a track or something. Deleted it and started again and again and so on. (So a mix that should have taken an hour to do, has taken me say four hours) and then normally I'm still not 100% happy! Oh! the amount of wasted time lol! But like I say I'm still learning after 12 years and 1000's of gigs.

Thanks for the topic really made me think!

Guys,

I think that you all are missing the key ingredient, which is to stay true to who you are. This whole thing of opening and closing sets is crazy. The point here is that people will listen to you because of your sounds and technique. When you perform on the radio or live at the club, you need to "be yourself" (Danny Tenaglia) because that is what your audience want to hear. In my eyes if the main attraction cannot keep up with you, then maybe they shouldn't be the main attraction in the first place. Now if you like to open, that is a whole different story.