How do you create new set from scratch......

[Vernski]

Hello Everyone,

I'm interested to know how different people go about putting a brand new set together, any little habits or rituals that help you get that flow you're looking for. I have my own way that I will describe shortly, but I would like to know if there are any major differences or things to learn from each other.

My method usually revolves around a track in my library that I've either just downloaded and I'm itching to put into something, or it's a track that has been dwelling on my hard drive that hasn't had a chance to shine yet.

I'll put that track on the playlist and load it on the player, try to find some good cue points to start the next track.

I go through my library and load some different tracks and see what works,(energy, key clash, vibe etc) I'll put some cue points on a track that goes well and build from there.

I repeat the process until I have a set put together.

Once I'm done, I save the playlist and I can always revisit it later - remove something or add another track if required

I must say that the majority of the time it's about instinct for me during the experimentation stage, but it becomes more logical when I'm really trying to work out how to best blend the tracks together.

Looking forward to reading some insightful comments.....:)

[Jimanee]

Interesting post, yes I do something similar: pick a tune and then wrap a set around it. Sometimes I also pick a certain intro to a set and then aim for certain songs as milestones.

Please also see sig for a link to a thread, for more thoughts on set design.

[DJArmani]

I watch a few videos for motivation and I discover what I want the vibe of my set to be. Then I start choosing tracks and build up the energy.

[Baller95]

Vernski, I pretty much do the same :)

[dj daywalker]

I think planning sets are dumb. It takes up time I could be spending practicing some new skill. I used to do it when I first started dj'ing but now that use acapellas ect. planning would take way too long and I would end up with something not as good. Organize your music and you wont need plan. Deleting or moving old tunes helps too

[DJ Difficult]

1: I have well organized library
2: I choose 1st and sometimes last track
3: Let the journey begin :lol:
I've tried to pre-plan my sets but it ended up being totally shit. Not for me.

[myl//hy]

If you know your crowd well, I think pre-planned sets can be much tighter than free-styling. Here's how I do it: Find a few songs you really like and want to showcase. Find a good starter song. Pop open Ableton and start adding songs harmonically, working your way towards the showcase songs, rising energy as you go, agonizing over every measure, every beat, get it really tight. Let that sit for a few days, listen to it in your car, at work, make a few modifications. Then start practicing it on your deck, get all your cheater cue points set, practice some more, and go do it live. The good side about this is that you get to learn your songs intimately and nail the drops & transitions perfectly. This will give you a lot of confidence performing in front of a crowd if you're new and a bit nervous.

HOWEVER, this all assumes you KNOW YOUR CROWD ahead of time -- you know they're into house or hip hop or whatever. And if you do requests, you'll have to be ready to veer off course and find your way back. So you still need the free-style skills to plan and mix on the fly. Also helps if you don't have a full-time job, because this takes a wHile....

There are some gotchas, and it takes a lot of advance planning. But it can be a good way to go, especially when you're first starting out. Or playing arenas.

Ideally, I'd like to have few dozen pre-planned, super tight, 3-4 song "vignettes" in my pocket and then free-style between them. Seems like the best of both worlds. That's what I'm working towards, anyhow.

[JackStalk]

I open up a new playlist, think about the vibe that I want to create, and drag all of the tracks that fit that vibe into the playlist. Then I arrange them around by key/bpm and the places where I think they would fit best (beginning, middle, or end) and group many of them by which ones fit best together (while cutting out borderline tracks). Most of my EDM playlists are different "vibes" arranged by open->afterhours, which enables me to jump around on the fly between vibes/genres/moods depending on where I want the energy to be at a given time of the night. I could play an entire playlist straight-through if I wanted a single vibe, but I mostly jump around on the spot between playlists.

[Vernski]

I'm liking this feedback so far and as always there are different schools of thought in this topic. I should provide a little more context to my original post and how it relates directly to what I'm doing at the moment....

So right now I play for an audience of one (me) at home in my bedroom and I construct playlists as I described earlier. Once I'm satisfied with all the transitions, I record the mix and upload it onto soundcloud. Currently that's all I do, mainly because I'm at the stage where I'm beginning to feel like I know what I want to do and it's a matter of finding it through experimentation.

The way I have been trained/programmed in my working life is to be organised and plan things carefully, but also have plan B, C, and D if required. Mentally I find some security in planning and that's why I wouldn't regard planning as the quote below.....


I think planning sets are dumb. It takes up time I could be spending practicing some new skill. I used to do it when I first started dj'ing but now that use acapellas ect. planning would take way too long and I would end up with something not as good. Organize your music and you wont need plan. Deleting or moving old tunes helps too

However I understand that being rigid when it comes to planning would be quite risky if you're not able or prepared to adapt


1: I have well organized library
2: I choose 1st and sometimes last track
3: Let the journey begin :lol:
I've tried to pre-plan my sets but it ended up being totally shit. Not for me.

The two quotes below for me represent a merging of both methods and that is something that is a real skill to have. Being versatile and knowing that you can veer off your planned set, but still be able to create a flow and perhaps end up where you wanted to originally is something I would aspire to do.


I open up a new playlist, think about the vibe that I want to create, and drag all of the tracks that fit that vibe into the playlist. Then I arrange them around by key/bpm and the places where I think they would fit best (beginning, middle, or end) and group many of them by which ones fit best together (while cutting out borderline tracks). Most of my EDM playlists are different "vibes" arranged by open->afterhours, which enables me to jump around on the fly between vibes/genres/moods depending on where I want the energy to be at a given time of the night. I could play an entire playlist straight-through if I wanted a single vibe, but I mostly jump around on the spot between playlists.


If you know your crowd well, I think pre-planned sets can be much tighter than free-styling. Here's how I do it: Find a few songs you really like and want to showcase. Find a good starter song. Pop open Ableton and start adding songs harmonically, working your way towards the showcase songs, rising energy as you go, agonizing over every measure, every beat, get it really tight. Let that sit for a few days, listen to it in your car, at work, make a few modifications. Then start practicing it on your deck, get all your cheater cue points set, practice some more, and go do it live. The good side about this is that you get to learn your songs intimately and nail the drops & transitions perfectly. This will give you a lot of confidence performing in front of a crowd if you're new and a bit nervous.

HOWEVER, this all assumes you KNOW YOUR CROWD ahead of time -- you know they're into house or hip hop or whatever. And if you do requests, you'll have to be ready to veer off course and find your way back. So you still need the free-style skills to plan and mix on the fly. Also helps if you don't have a full-time job, because this takes a wHile....

Ideally, I'd like to have few dozen pre-planned, super tight, 3-4 song "vignettes" in my pocket and then free-style between them. Seems like the best of both worlds. That's what I'm working towards, anyhow.

The vignettes is a very good idea, definitely the best of both worlds:tup:

This is a great thread and I really appreciate all the bits of info you guys have brought to the table.

[DJ Difficult]

The method that I posted earlier applies only for recording a mix. When I'm at gig (top40, 90's etc) it all about crowd reading and takin requests and putting them into the current set. There's no other way to do it.
But few times in my DJing career I have had a chance to play house, deep house, nu-disco set and those sets have been roughly planned. First track, last track and few others was known before I stepped behind the decks. But still, no strictly pre-planning.

[LALaw]

OP, I do much the same as you when it comes to making a specific mix. At a gig, it's totally different though.

[DJ_GQ]

The only time I really pre plan a set is when I am recording a new mix or something I am planning on posting online. In that situation it is usually either all new tracks or an old school mix so I would kind of try to stay in the same genre and just see what works with what. When live though, its rare anything is planned. I mean there are some tunes I know I am going to play but that's it. Mostly on the fly

[Vernski]

Thank you everyone for your input in this thread, it's good to find out what you guys do and learn a few little things in the process...:tup: