Preparing a set
Hi DJF members,
I am DJing for a year and I can do smooth transitions and I already mastered beatmatching. I'm only fourtheen years old but I really want to prepare myself to take a step further into the DJing life. I want to know how professional DJ's prepare their sets and where to put CUE and MEMORY points.
With kind regards,
Cédric
This is not relative to being pro or not.
Most DJs will either press play after the machine autocued itself at the beginning, or manually set a cue point of their choosing. Where to put cue and memory is entirely down to when in time does the DJ need the track to start. That's entirely subjective, because every other DJ is different, and every other track is different.
I don't think there is one specific recipe to achieve this.
You mentioned MEMORY, without any further precision of what you're trying to do, or the equipment that you use.
I would just add that most DJs have got an overall idea of their set, if they have chosen to do so. And then there are others like myself who do not plan anything for a gig, they just go for what is known as "on the fly", meaning that you just improvise as it comes along, and also using the crowd reaction as a reference point.
Last edited by Manu; 06-08-2019 at 11:32 AM.
So the most important thing to do is to practice alot without putting any CUE points so I can get used to play "on the fly"?
Practice is very important indeed. The more you do that, and the more you will feel comfortable in a live situation.
The real trick is to listen and learn your music a lot, in turn it will help you making decisions regarding where you want to be on the track, and at which point in time.
You also need to master counting beats and bars on the music, this gives you an instinctive way of expecting what comes next. So you know in advance when is the chorus, where is the bridge etc.
Using cur points is just a technicality that comes straight down from that knowledge. Don't worry too much about it, it's more about personal instinct rather than technique.
but please do also practice your cue points, and try setting this and that cue within a track. You will work it out through trial and error. It's always good to make mistakes, because you will also learn from those. You won't get it right the first time. Just try it again and again and again, and you will get it right.
Last edited by Manu; 06-08-2019 at 11:54 AM.
Alright, but one last thing, you say in have to master counting beats (I sure will do that), but in a live set, do you also count them or not?
But thanks for all the given help, appreciate it alot!
Well to be honest, I have reached a point where I do that by instinct and have been doing so for a long time. My brain just does it without me having to think about it. I have to mention that I am also a trained musician since my childhood, that helps too. I have many years of music school behind me.
You're welcome.
Alright thanks alot!!
What kind of music are you playing?Originally Posted by cedricdhaese
EDM, but not a specifiek genre like Progressive house, a bit of all as a bedroomdj
The idea behind a hot-cue is to give yourself quick access to a part of the song you might want the crowd to hear again. So you can really just put one anywhere you like.
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