Advice series

Unveiling the true purpose of a DJ

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 08:11:40 +0100

What exactly does a DJ do? What’s the main objective, and what tools are employed to achieve that goal?

There’s a common belief that a DJ’s primary task is merely to play music. But in reality, a computer can execute that task by streaming tracks in succession, compiling a lengthy playlist.

Conversely, some assert that a DJ’s essential role is to blend tracks seamlessly in a continuous mix. Yet, this, too, can be accomplished through pre-made mixes, leading to the misconception that a DJ’s skill hinges solely on their ability to mix tracks manually. This often leads to unwarranted debates, like comparing a DJ who uses vinyl records to one using a controller, which, frankly, holds no merit.

In essence, playing music and mixing tracks serve as tools, not the ultimate purpose. Surprisingly, mixing tracks is considered one of the simpler skills in DJing.

So, what is a DJ’s primary task?

The core purpose of a DJ is to create a proper vibe on the dance floor, making sure the crowd is having a good time. The definition of “good” varies based on the event’s nature, of course. It might involve providing a fresh musical experience or eliciting nostalgia through familiar tracks. Sometimes, it’s about setting a soft backdrop. But at its core, it’s about ensuring the audience feels good.

An adept DJ tunes into their audience, intuitively selecting the right tracks to suit the moment. It’s about gauging the energy levels—whether to play a chart-topper that ignites the crowd or introduce something novel to elevate the mood.

When viewed from this perspective, endless debates about equipment and sound effects become trivial. However, does this mean a DJ should cater solely to the crowd’s whims? What about personal enjoyment?

Ideally, a DJ’s music aligns with the event and the crowd’s preferences, offering both freedom and a chance to build a fan base. But it’s important to recognize that these perfect circumstances may not occur every time, especially for new DJs.

In essence, if making people feel good on the dance floor is the main goal, then the primary tool is simple: playing the right track at the right time. Achieving this requires understanding the event’s expectations, cultivating musical taste, maintaining a diverse music collection, mastering set construction, and the nuanced skill of reading the crowd. It’s a lot more than merely ‘playing music’.

When to lower or raise energy level of a DJ set

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 16:58:36 +0100

Please explain the theory about energy levels. Why lower it, and when? And when to raise it? How do you know it doesn’t work because it’s boring and needs to be more exciting or because everyone is tired and needs to be calm?

Ilya Birman

I’ll try to make it even harder. How do you know the right energy mix when you can’t see the dance floor? The audience changes in the visibility area with some delay about the playing tracks.

Roman Mantcev

Ilya, to answer these questions, first of all, you need to understand the types of events and tasks of DJs clearly. You would also need to consider the specific behaviour of people depending on the musical genre, psychology, geography, location, age of the audience and a dozen other factors.

In addition, “reading the dance floor” is based mainly on hypotheses: if you do action “A”, then people are expected to respond with the consequence of “B”. With experience, you begin to notice such actions and effects, but even with all the arsenal of skills and tools, it’s still educated guesses.

So I will tell you only a few typical scenarios in clubs and general principles of energy control in them.

Teasing

Let’s say a DJ opens the event. Let’s say it’s a proper DJ who knows that it’s better to play something deep relative to the peak time of the event in his opening set.

About warm-up DJs

A frequent mistake of a beginner in this scenario: the whole set playing at the same energy level. That is generally okay, but such DJ sets can seem boring, and people will remain standing along the walls, as in a school disco.

The whole set at one energy level can seem boring

I prefer when a DJ can raise and then return energy in time. That’s what I call “teasing.” This way, a warming-up DJ says, “Guys, it’s coming!” but not going further, just giving a hint.

A warming-up DJ kind of says, “Guys, it’s coming!” but not going further, just giving a hint

I would advise you to mix the current energy level with the higher energy level at about 5:1, i.e. to put one more intensive track every five regular ones. Of course, this is not the “golden rule”; these numbers are here to illustrate the idea.

The teaser kind of hints that there will be something more banging tonight

Now, on how to understand at what point to increase energy. An indirect sign of this is when people moved from nodding their heads at the bar to a shy stomping leg on the dance floor. And also when the girls came out on the dance floor. I will probably be accused of sexism, but it is true: a group of even a few dancing girls is likelier to involve the guys standing aside than the opposite!

Contrast

Now let’s assume the DJ is playing in the middle of the night. If you’re a headliner and you know that most people are here to hear you, it’s very tempting to “go full blast” or to play the whole set as intensely as possible. And some people build up their energy throughout the DJs set, so it goes something like this:

A set with constantly increasing energy might seem boring

That in itself is not a bad thing. It may be appropriate in some music genres with a particular audience; if the artist’s name is big enough, people likely will listen to the end. But in my experience, you shouldn’t.

Such a set can seem too intense and, consequently, too monotonous. It’s like a manic car chase scene in a blockbuster movie. It’s usually nice because of its intensity, but imagine that intensity during the whole duration of a film; you’ll probably get bored in half an hour.

I advise you to build up your sets in the middle of the night not linearly, but in a kind of sinusoid, like a “serpentine” way:

Serpentine-shape helps to evenly distribute resources and guide people’s attention on the dance floor

How to understand at what moment to lower the energy: if you play the most potent hit tracks, and the people react weakly or move to the bar at all.

The contrast is the key here. The differences in energy levels create contrast, an incredible tool for holding the listener’s attention. You can create contrast not only by energy differences but also by alternating mood and structure) of the tracks.

Energy changes create contrast, and it’s an incredible tool for holding the listener’s attention

According to my observations, phrases like “that DJ held the dance floor for two hours!” usually refer to this kind of DJ set.

The calm before the storm
Usually, during a DJ set, I plan several tracks ahead of time. I also try to think in bundles rather than individual tracks and think like this:

“Okay, it would be cool to play this track in about ten minutes and then go from there to that track. That’s a powerful track, and it’s playing pretty intensely now too. If I play that track now, it won’t have the desired effect. So I’m going to give the floor a little break, and then I’m going to play this one.

For example, listen to my set with JOOF Showcase. You can hear it there when I put the more relaxed tracks before the series of more powerful ones:

Roman, now to answer your question: you don’t have to see the whole dance floor to direct its energy. Usually, I keep my eyes on small groups of people throughout the night. Depending on the size of the venue, the light intensity and the number of people, I try to keep five or ten groups in my head – usually enough to understand what’s happening on the dance floor.

For example, some trio actively danced in front of the stage for the first half hour and then moved to the bar. “Did they go for water, or did that track not work for them? Where did that guy with the glasses go?” – These are all small but significant signs I try to pay attention to.

That said, you’re right to point out that the audience in the DJ’s line of sight changes periodically. I call it rotation.

Rotation is when some people leave the dancefloor (to the bar, toilet, or another part of the club), and others come in their place. A slight rotation is a good sign because more people are actively involved in this way. It’s much worse when some group is standing at the bar and stays there – probably, the DJ still needs to get their attention. So when I’m in the DJ booth, I look at the people standing behind or on the sides of the dancefloor as well.

Perhaps there are extreme cases when the DJ can not see people at all, but in my practice, this has yet to happen, so I can not comment on this situation.

There are about a thousand people on the dance floor, but by focusing on small groups or even individuals, I understand how to build energy further. Izvestia Hall, 2018-2019

Finally, I would say that “reading the dance floor” – the ability to put the right track at the right time – is the most challenging part of the DJ craft.

Bonus video

In 2018, John Fleming gave a fantastic video interview to the Digital DJ Tips channel, in which he talked about how he prepares for his sets open-to-close. It’s a great video with lots of insights – watch the whole thing:

3 tips for opening DJs

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 11:01:50 +0100

The opening DJ is one of the most underrated roles in the club event format. But who are these “opening” DJs? What they should be doing and what things they must avoid?

Watch the video about it on my YouTube channel:

P.S. This is the video version of my advice written in 2016. If you prefer text over video, read the article: the details are slightly different, but the main message is the same.

How to record a DJ set with crowd noise

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 10:26:58 +0100

Recording one of my DJ sets on that tiny little box. Photo © Schneider Family

I try to record my sets during my shows to listen to them later. It’s also great content that’s nice to share.

But I especially like it when the music is supported by the crowd cheering from the dancefloor: it gives a much better sense that it’s actually a real live recording and not just another studio mix.

Here is how I do it.

The recorder

Just recording a set is usually not a problem: some models of DJ equipment have this feature built-in, and if you play with software like Rekordbox or Traktor, it is even a matter of pressing a button. However, to record a set with crowd noise, you’ll need a special device – an external recorder.

Tascam DR-40X recorder, Joby GorillaPod and 2×RCA-2×Jack cable

I use the Tascam DR-40X. It’s a four-channel recorder, in other words with two pairs of stereo channels: one pair of channels records clean audio directly from the DJ mixer through the line input, and the second pair records the dance floor sounds through the built-in microphones.

The recorder uses an SD card as the media. I bought a SanDisk Ultra with 80MB/s and 16GB capacity, and it’s enough to record about ten hours of audio. It powers from AA batteries, as well as via micro-USB. There is a 1/4” screw jack on the bottom, so you can put the recorder on a tripod.

Connectivity

The recorder is connected to the mixer this way: from the mixer via Rec Out or Master 2 using RCA connectors to the recorder via Line In using XLR or 1/4-inch jack connectors. A cable like this would work, for example.

Schematic connection of the recorder to the mixer, scale is approximate

The main difference between the Rec Out and Master 2 outputs is that Rec Out ignores volume changes on the mixer’s master channel. It means that if you change the master volume during the set (I usually do not advise doing so, but sometimes you need to), it will not affect the recording in any way: the audio will remain even, without volume dips. Therefore, if possible, it is better to use Rec Out.

Settings

This recorder has a hundred different settings, but in this context, only three are important: the selection of an external source, the type of recording mode, and the volume level adjustment.

The external source is switched on the side using the slider: Ext In → Line. This way the recorder will know that the incoming signal is line level (and the output from the DJ mixer is exactly that), so no distortion will occur.

The recording mode is selected by a dedicated button of the same name: Rec Mode → 4CH. In our case, we need to use all four channels, as I explained above, so we select 4CH. The corresponding indicator to the left should light up.

The volume level is adjusted in the main menu: Menu → Rec Settings → Level: -48dB. This means that the incoming signal will be recorded very quietly, but this is not a problem since we can increase the volume afterwards during processing. This way it is guaranteed that there will be no clipping and the recording will be clean.

Obviously, if you have a different recorder, these settings may be somewhere else, have some other name or not be present at all. But you need all three for quality set recording, which is why I chose the Tascam DR-40X.

Processing

After the recording, there will be two audio files on the SD card: a clean recording from the mixer and a recording of the dancefloor from the microphone.

It’s worth understanding that the microphone can’t record people’s screaming only; instead, it records everything, including music from the dancefloor, usually with overloaded low frequencies. So don’t be surprised if you hear a muffled “boomy” audio in this file, it’s okay.

Then it’s just a matter of increasing the volume of the mixer recording (since we recorded it at -48dB), lowering the volume of the microphone recording, removing unnecessary low frequencies with a filter, and stacking the two audio tracks. All this I do in Ableton Live.

Processing and mixing in Ableton Live

Here’s how these audio tracks sound individually and together:

Clean audio from the mixer

Audio from the mics

Audio from the mix with a high-pass filter

Both audio tracks together

Well, and that’s about it. From there just hit export and upload it to Soundcloud to make your fans happy :-)

“Ask for advice” form is now on the site

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 13:51:50 +0100

Another nice little thing about the advice section that few people will appreciate (and that’s OK).

Before: the questions were asked through the Google form. Since it’s Google, it wasn’t pretty, and my inner sense of beauty suffered from it.

Now: the form is now on my site, it looks a hundred times cleaner and nicer.

Compare the two:

On the left is Google Form, and on the right — on my website

The best part is that the form on my site is actually the same Google Form, just designed in the site’s style. I didn’t even know you could do that, but it turns out you can! In this case, the good thing about having the Google Form “under the hood” is that I still have access to its features, such as the automatic collection of results in a spreadsheet, email notifications, and synchronization with my to-do list via Zapier (if you curious, I wrote about it here).

Developers will probably laugh because you could do all those things without Google under the hood. But I am not a programmer, so I am happy with what I can do on my own :-)

Advice section on the website

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 14:00:00 +0100

Finally, the advice series got its own separate section on the site.

Earlier you had to go to the blog, find the tag “advice” in the blog, and only then a person would find out that these posts were even there.

Now it became easier: now advice posts are on a separate page with a convenient short address dsokolovskiy.com/advice (all posts there are grouped by topic, a sort of rubricator), and the link to this page is located directly in the top menu.

So, come in to read and show it to your friends:

What music can be used for a podcast

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 20:40:36 +0100

Hello Daniel, I would like to create a podcast with chillout, ambient, and deep house music. What should I do? Can I use any tracks I like without changing them, but just make a single mix of 50 minutes, for example? Let’s say, download them off the internet, mix them up and put them on Apple Podcasts? Do I need to get permission from every label and artist? It’s not for commercial use, right?

Aiya

In short, it’s simple: you take the tracks, mix them, and put them out – that’s it. You don’t need any special permission or anything fancy. But as always, there are nuances.

First of all, some DJs think that if they buy music, for example, on Beatport, they can do whatever they want with these tracks: mix them in podcasts, put them into videos, or play them in cafes. But in fact, this is not quite true: speaking specifically about podcasts (videos and cafes are separate topics), from the legal point of view there is no difference between music that you buy and music that you download for free. I myself am all for buying music legally whenever possible, but you have to understand that in this context, buying music doesn’t give you any special rights compared to free downloaded music. Commercial or non-commercial use also makes no difference in this case.

Secondly, in general, you don’t need permission from artists and labels. However, if you want to put a podcast on YouTube and monetize your channel, in this case, you do need permission from the rights holders (they are usually labels, not artists), but this is a complicated and often unsuccessful process.

Third, you’re free to do whatever you want with the tracks themselves: trim, cut, and layer, or leave them as they are. It’s up to your DJ skills and what you want to do with them. You can do any length you want, too.

Finally, I would like to advise you to watch carefully the sites where you upload your podcast. In my experience:

Soundcloud can block a track in the mix and hide the entire podcast episode from public access. In my ten years of using the service, this has happened once.
Mixcloud accepts DJ mixes and podcasts, but only them: you can’t upload individual tracks or even use several tracks from the same artist in a row there.
Apple Podcasts, according to my observations, are not moderated in any way, that is, mixes can be posted there (or at least not prohibited). Important point: Apple Podcasts is basically a directory of links, but not a repository. In other words, to add your podcasts to Apple Podcasts, your audio files must be stored somewhere – such a place on the Internet is called hosting. But typical web hosting services have a number of limitations and inconveniences, so it is easier and more convenient to add your podcasts to Apple Podcasts via some service – again Soundcloud, for example.
Spotify Podcasts, on the other hand, are designed exclusively for talking podcasts: DJ mixes are not accepted there. That is, you can talk in the episodes, but you can’t play music. It seems like Spotify is working on making it possible to upload music mixes there as well in the future, but that’s about it for now.
YouTube allows you to upload mixes, but with restrictions: you can’t monetize channels that use other people’s music if you want to in the future. Here you can either try to get permission from the rights holders to whitelist your channel (which is exactly what I wrote about above) or just give up on monetization.

I hope it helps.

Energy levels in a DJ mix explained

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 14:21:02 +0100

How to change the dynamics of a set using the mixing techniques

The easiest way to control the energy of a mix is to choose the appropriate tracks. If you want to raise the energy, you play a more upbeat track; if you want to lower the energy, you take a softer track. It’s simple.

How I organise my DJ library by energy, mood, and structure

But what if a DJ needs to stay in a certain tempo range and energy zone? For example, an opening DJ who can’t push the energy too far. How do you pick and mix tracks so the set is still dynamic and interesting? Why sometimes do cool tracks sound boring together in a mix?

I’ll tell you about two techniques that can help you answer these questions: mix density and harmonic mixing.

Mix density

Mix density is how often the tracks change and how deep they go into each other during transitions. A clear indicator of density is the number of tracks per hour.

Let’s say the average duration of the track is 7 minutes. If, in one hour, a DJ plays just 9-10 tracks, it means he plays them from the very beginning till the very end, so this set might seem sluggish. And if DJ plays 13-15 tracks in an hour, it means the tracks change each other more frequently, so the mix appears to be faster-paced.

Here is an example. Let’s take these two tracks:

Here’s the first option on how to mix them together:

Listen to what’s going on here:

2:28	An 8-bar breakdown with a little transition at the end, a handy indicator for starting the next track
2:43	Start of the second track
3:46	Switching bass from track 1 to track 2

Now listen to the second version of the mix:

What’s going on here:

0:38	Start of the second track
1:41	Switching bass from track 1 to track 2

Do you feel how much more driving the second version is than the first one? If not, listen carefully. Take your time.

Both versions have exactly the same tracks, but in the second example, the second track starts earlier, almost in the middle of the first track, so the mix sounds denser and more energetic.

Harmonic mixing

Harmonic mixing is the principle of matching tracks based on their keys. If you select tracks in certain keys, then the transition between such tracks sounds musically pleasant. I wrote about it four years ago, read it if you are interested to know more.

However, in the context of this article, we are interested not in principle itself but in the fact that it allows us to control the energy of the mix. We’re talking about energy here, remember?

For example, I’ll put these two tracks together first:

This is what I got:

Note that the tracks have the same key – Em, so switching the bass from the first track to the second track at 1:10 is as seamless as possible.

Now I’ll mix that same track, ‘Driver’, but this time with another track, ‘Delirious’ by Matan Caspi, which is in key Bm. Here’s the track itself:

This is what transition I got:

Here, the transition occurs at 1:10 too, and as the second track has a different key – Bm, this time the bass change immediately seems more energetic, or noticeable at least.

Now comes the most important part. Notice that I didn’t say that any example is better than another. Mix density and harmonic mixings are just tools and nothing else. Sometimes playing several tracks in a row with the same key is good. Sometimes playing just 8 tracks in an hour mix is good. And sometimes, changing the energy using these techniques is good. There is no right and wrong as it’s all situational; however, knowing these tools is crucial for playing good sets.

Mix density and harmonic mixing are the tools in a DJ’s arsenal. They don’t make the sets better or worse on their own, but knowing and using them at the right time is important

Music listening routine

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 09:56:19 +0100

Tell me how you organize the process of listening to music: demos coming to the label and just new releases in different genres. Do you listen on the speakers or on headphones? Do you multitask it with other things (like replying to emails and doing social media stuff)? Do people around you complain about the constant “boom-boom”? How do you manage to stay focused on the music to listen to all the tracks thoroughly?

Nikolay Glazyrin

Thanks for asking. I honestly don’t know how it could be helpful to anyone, but I’d be happy to share.

Listening to demo recordings

First let me tell you about the demos. The demos come in an endless stream of about 30 to 100 emails a week to the label. To reply to all of them at once as they appear in the inbox means to be constantly distracted and waste attention, and I try to work in a concentrated way. Moreover, some tracks are so bad that I can’t listen to them just in the background :-) That’s why for some time I put emails into a special pile and then answer them all at once – it’s more productive that way.

Read about A&R duties

Speaking of email, I use HEY. There you can literally click “Reply Later” on emails and then respond to them all at once in “Focus & Reply” mode. It really helps. HEY is cool in general, maybe I’ll tell you more about it later.

Listening to music

Now about listening to music in general. I have two listening modes, as I call them: passive and active.

Passive mode is when I listen to music in the background, doing my own thing. I used to listen to Soundcloud, Apple podcasts, radio stations, and YouTube, but now 95% of my background listening happens on Spotify because everything is more convenient and there’s a better chance of finding something good.

Usually, I turn on some suggested playlist on Spotify or a “Song radio” based on a track I like and go about my business in comfort. I don’t concentrate on the music in any special way, which is exactly why I call this kind of listening mode “passive” – something is playing, and that’s fine.

As soon as I notice something cool playing, I press ⌥+space and <3 – this is the system-wide shortcut I made to automatically “like” tracks, i.e. to save them in my collection. And then it’s also broadcast to the Telegram channel. It’s faster than switching between applications and clicking on the tiny “heart” next to the track’s name.

A heart, kind of. Alfred app

The automation is set up with Alfred app and the Spotify Mini Player script. Alfred is fantastic, maybe someday I’ll tell you about it too.

This way I listen to music for about ten hours a day, so I happen to find quite a lot of interesting stuff. I usually play background music through my speakers.

Of course, not all music suits the background, especially if you need to work thoughtfully: for example, I find it hard to do with hard techno, but I’m okay with progressive house or chillout.

Active mode is when I’m purposefully looking for something: a track with the right tempo and key, a new release from a particular artist or other releases from a particular label. It’s important to hear the details, so I often listen with headphones while actively searching.

I used to use the Beatport Pro desktop app for this, but since the beginning of 2021, it has been discontinued. Now I use the Beatport website, even though it is much slower and more limited than the app, plus old-good Spotify.

I only need to listen to a track for about five seconds to know if it’s a good fit. This is a very highly concentrated listening mode in terms of the amount of new musical information per unit of time, so I can’t listen like that for a long time – two or three hours at the most. It’s important to take breaks, otherwise, my ears get soaked and I might miss something interesting. During the breaks, I either go back to background listening or get away from the computer altogether and switch to something else: running (also with music, of course), eating or sleeping.

Luckily, I don’t cause any trouble for the surrounding people, not anymore :-)

A new studio!

Fellow readers, where and how do you listen to music?

Goal matters. Understanding why are you making music is important

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 21:00:00 +0100

When people ask me how to start making music, I answer with a counter-question: “Why do you want to do that? What is your goal?”.

The answers vary, but more often than not they can be divided into two groups: to make music “for myself” (just for fun, to show my friends etc.) and “for a career” (to turn music into a profession, to make a living on it).

It would seem, what is the difference? Here some dude does something at the computer, pressing buttons and spinning knobs. Why should anyone be bothered with this goal question?

But there is a big difference.

Imagine that you like to cook food. You haven’t had any special training, but you love to eat good food and treat your loved ones. You can make ratatouille, chilli con carne, or pad Thai. Or you can not cook anything if there is no necessary products or you just feel lazy today, and just order a pizza. In this sense, you have complete freedom, and your loved ones will likely enjoy whatever you cook.

It is quite another story if you are a chef. Before you get a job, you must learn culinary science, food chemistry, food processing, stock management, delivery, and much more. While cooking, it’s also important to follow the recipe, keep the yield of the product, and watch the serving, because the restaurant has certain standards and the customers have expectations. About fourteen years ago I was thinking about a career as a chef, so I know a little bit about it.

Well, in music, it’s the same.

Making music “for yourself” means being like a free painter: if you want to write it, you write it, if you don’t want to write it, you don’t write it. If you want to write something super unusual, even if it seems like bullshit to others, no problem, you can always say that it was “the author’s idea”. There are no standards. There is no external deadline. In short, do whatever you want.

On music standards

It’s quite different if you aim to be a professional producer. You need to know the production, sound design, acoustics, arrangements, composition, and mixing – and that’s just the basics to make a high-quality track. Then there is more: you need to know the industry, know how to market yourself, bring the music to the audience, negotiate, plan the budget, understand the contracts, organize yourself, play DJ sets and do many, many more things. After years in my music career, I know a little bit about that.

To summarize, to do something professionally, you have to know more related disciplines, understand the market, and work hard. A lot. And if you generalize even more, for a hobby, the process is important, while for a profession the result is important. I think that’s the main difference.

In a hobby it’s the process, in a profession it’s the result

I want to end with an important point: You don’t have to become a professional. Don’t have to build a career. Cooking a meal for loved ones or making music for yourself is fine. If you enjoy the process, just enjoy it.

How to grow as a DJ after learning the basics

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 14:00:20 +0100

Beginner, advanced, and expert depending on the learned skills

I took a basic DJ course in my hometown, learned how to mix tracks in several ways (bass switch, Echo, Filter, Loop) and understand in general what you need to do with the mixer to make the music play. But after I uploaded a couple of mixes on SoundCloud I have a question – what’s next?

I understand that I have a 100% very compressed understanding of this industry right now, but it’s not clear where to get new knowledge to improve skills and how to grow. Here I mix music in standard ways, but I feel that it’s just a drop in the ocean. I tried to send my mixes to a couple of places where I would like to perform for the first time in front of an audience, they said they will listen and write back but they didn’t.

I really want to grow, but after the basic course, it feels like a huge ocean of information and I just drown in it. If you can help with advice, I would be very grateful.

Nikita

Nikita, that’s an excellent question, thank you. And it’s great that you’re asking it.

“What’s next” – the answer to this question depends primarily on your goals and ambitions. You mentioned that you would like to perform in front of an audience, so I would assume that’s what you want to do. But even here, there may be variations:

For example, a DJ wants to become a resident at a local club to work there every Thursday. Or a DJ wants to become the best DJ in his town, playing in different venues. Or a DJ wants to travel all over the country giving shows. Or a DJ wants to become famous outside his country so that foreign promoters invite him on international tours.

These are all very different goals with different means to achieve them. Note that neither option is better or worse than the other – it’s just that they are different, and some may like one more than the other.

So I can only give general advice: increase your value. This sounds abstract, so let me explain.

In the DJ circles, people like to argue about the right or wrong mixing techniques, the coolness of new equipment, the”true spirit” of vinyl, live vs not live sets, and fake or not fake. But the truth is that the technical side of DJing is only one aspect of the profession, not even the most important one. It’s easy to push the buttons, but it’s a real challenge to become and remain in demand.

Vinyl vs sync button

For example, here are some disciplines and skills in which a DJ can grow:

DJing	Education of taste, a constant search for new music, work with DJ collection, knowledge of equipment, understanding of the ”phrases”, learning the advanced techniques and gear, harmonic mixing, MIDI mapping
Work on stage	Understanding the types of sets and roles of DJs, programming the set with energy levels, switchover with other DJs, switching, “reading” the crowd
Music production	Synthesis, processing, composition, notes, rhythms, arrangement, sampling, layering, mixing, sound design
Marketing	Spreading awareness about you as a brand through releases, podcasts, radio stations, blogs, vlogs, conferences, magazines, mailing lists, social networks; working with an audience
Negotiations	Building relationships with promoters, labels, designers, photographers, and other people in the industry
Economy	Understanding of financial models of clubs, events, labels, streaming services
Management	The ability to manage projects and yourself, so as not to get bogged down in routine and not to go crazy

The list is by no means complete, and only an example, but the main idea here is this: the more skills you master and the deeper you understand each of them, the higher your value as an artist will be.

I emphasize that even knowing all of this doesn’t guarantee success because the music industry is much more complicated than the typical career ladder on a “regular job”. But it will definitely give you a better chance than someone who has never in his life been interested in anything but mixing two tracks with each other.

Learn and develop skills to increase your value

I also want to comment further on this part:

“I tried to send my mixes to a couple of places where I would like to perform for the first time in front of an audience, they said they would listen and write back but they didn’t.”

I can understand the promoters who didn’t answer you. Everyone who has ever hosted an event and invited a DJ has understandable fears: what if this DJ has never seen the equipment and will shamefully play with trainwrecks? What if the DJ we invited to warm up the event will be blasting Beatport’s top 10 hits? What if he burns the hell out or floods the club’s equipment? What if he doesn’t show up at all?

On warm-up DJs

The fact is that despite the seemingly huge competition, there are very few decent DJs. And even if you are decent and able to work well, the promoters don’t know about it. Your task is to help calm their fears and tell them why they can trust you.

On decent DJs

For example, pictures from gigs are one way to show a DJ to potential promoters that he has the experience and other people trust him.

Hire photographers

But what if there are no gigs? There are options here, too: wait for promoters to invite you; seek out performance opportunities yourself; organize events on your own, even if it’s a private event for friends. These are all big topics, so let me know if you’re interested and I’ll try to talk about it someday next time.

I hope this gives you some vector.

Music standards

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 09:42:12 +0100

Every music genre has its own substandard. And it is very important to understand that there are no abstractly “good” and “bad” individual sounds or tracks, but there is a matching or failing to meet the standards.

Listen to these two audio examples:

Kick-1

Kick-2

Which one is better?

The answer is: it depends on what we’re trying to do and what problem we’re trying to solve.

Speaking from the point of the nature of sound, the second kick sounds excessively distorted, flattened, clipped and formally unusable. But suppose a producer has set a goal to release a techno track. In that case, that rough and formally useless kick is potentially more suitable for this purpose because in some subgenres of techno it is so accepted. In general, we often make the sound objectively worse so that subjectively it seems better to us and meets certain standards.

It is also essential to understand that such standards always change over time. The sound design, production techniques, and character of tracks that were relevant ten years ago are hardly the standard today.

Listen to a few examples:

In Techno:

Adam Beyer — Compressed A1 (Original Mix), 139 BPM [Drumcode, 1996]

Wehbba — Coup Of Doubt (Original Mix), 128 BPM [Drumcode, 2020]

In Progressive House:

Shmuel Flash ‎– Chilling Moments (Bedrock Vocal), 128 BPM [Bedrock, 2002]

Sugarcoat - Knives Out (Sasha Remix), 124 BPM [Bedrock, 2019]

In Psytrance:

Bitkit — Burn Out (Original Mix), 145 BPM [Yellow Sunshine Explosion, 2011]

Outside The Universe — Another You (Original Mix), 144 BPM [Sacred Technology, 2019]

Notice how the timbres of individual instruments have changed and how the tracks sound as a whole. Of course, music is produced now for all tastes, including music that sounds like it was ten or twenty years ago. Making ‘oldschool’ music on purpose is also fine if you understand what the musical standards were at the time and why you need to do it in the first place.

Does this mean that a young producer has to follow certain sound standards? Not necessarily at all. Anything is possible, including ignoring the standards at all, especially if you just make music for yourself.

Nevertheless, it is handy to observe the existence and change of these standards, both in order to follow them, if necessary, or vice versa, to know what to move away from.

Anything is possible

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 21:23:56 +0100

Sometimes I get questions in the advice series that boil down to, “Can I do this or that?” or “Can I not do that?”.

For example:

Can I send a demo track to a few dozen labels at once?
Can a DJ not post anything on social media?
Can I not use equalizer?
Can I come to the club ten minutes before the start of my set?

That is, a person has probably heard that something should be done, but is looking for a way to refute it: “Are you sure it should be done? Maybe it’s not necessary? Can we do it differently?” And that’s okay because it’s good to ask questions.

And the answer is very simple: anything is possible. Anything at all. But every choice has consequences that are worth bearing in mind.

For example:

Can I send a demo track to a few dozen labels at once?
Yes, you can, but be prepared that your demo will either be ignored or signed to some third-rate label. Here’s the best way to send a demo.

Can a DJ not post anything on social media?
Yes, you can, but then it will be harder for people to hear about you, and your audience will grow slower. Because social media is important.

Can I not use equalizer?
Yes, you can, but then don’t be surprised if the bass in your track is sluggish and dull. If you at least check and cut the extra low end, it will be cleaner already.

Can you come to the club ten minutes before the start of your set?
Yes, you can, but then you won’t have much time left for “plan B” if something goes wrong – and a lot of things can go wrong. I recommend arriving early.

Anything is possible, but it’s worth bearing in mind the consequences of the choice

Note that in the examples above, I didn’t call any of the outcomes bad. Maybe you write music purely for fun, so you don’t care about releases on credible labels, audience growth, or performances? Well, that’s fine, because those things are neither good nor bad in and of themselves.

But if you have certain career goals in mind, then you have to consider the possible consequences of any of such “yes, you can”.

Pros and cons of releasing music directly via a distributor

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 08:57:46 +0100

Websites of popular artist music distribution services

What are the pros and cons of releasing a track directly through a distributor, without a label? What are the pitfalls of this process?

Vlad Zabolotsky

What we’re talking about
First, let me explain a little bit for those who don’t know. The concept of a “release,” or digital release of music, means making that music available for listening on streaming services and DJ stores. The biggest ones are Spotify and Beatport.

The difficulty is that, unlike regular services like YouTube or Soundcloud, where anyone can create an account and upload music, streaming services and DJ stores don’t work that way.

Spotify and Beatport only accept music through special intermediary services — distributors. When music is traditionally released through labels, it is the labels that take care of all the distribution work. Like this:

producer → label → distributor → services and stores

However, what Vlad is asking about is the release of music directly, that is, without the label’s involvement. Like so:

producer → ~~label →~~ distributor → services and stores

That’s what I’m going to talk about.

Vlad, I’ll tell you right away that I personally didn’t release music directly through distributors. All my releases are signed on the labels, so I didn’t deal with distributors. What I do know on this subject is my general knowledge of the music industry, so take it with a grain of salt.

Why release music on your own

I see three main reasons why someone might want to release music on their own, without labels:

Timing control. With labels it’s usually like this: you send them a demo, and wait. You wait a week, two weeks, sometimes three. Then the label says: “Sorry, your track doesn’t work for us.” You send it to another label, you wait again. If you’re lucky, they accept the track, and then you wait again – for the release date. Some labels have dozens of releases in the pipeline, so sometimes you have to wait for your release for half a year or more. With self-releases, you don’t have this problem – you release as much as you want, whenever you want.

How to send a demo to a record label

Financial control. All the labels I know have a rather complicated, non-transparent, and slow reporting system. As a rule, the sales report comes either quarterly or semiannually, reflecting the previous reporting period. That said, some labels put a minimum threshold on royalty transfers of $100 to simplify accounting, meaning they withhold anything below that amount for themselves, and thus aspiring producers may not see any income for years. To be fair, sales and streaming really don’t bring in much, so it’s not the labels’ fault here. Anyway, by releasing music on your own, you see all your pennies earned and can withdraw them at any time.

Creative freedom. Usually labels release music in a certain style, concept, and sound – it’s called a format. But sometimes they follow their own format so literally that they release tracks that are almost no different from each other. They say they are looking for originality, but in fact, they accept only the same-sounding tracks. The independent release of your own music allows you not to adjust to any format and make whatever you like.

Now I suggest we look at the specifics of distributor work.

Without a label, you can release whatever you want, whenever you want, and have 100% income from it

Cost

First, I think it’s important to understand what distributors are like and what their financial models are. Two of the most famous and popular ones are DistroKid and CD Baby; Spotify also recommends them.

Spotify: recommended distributors

These distributors have two fundamentally different payment models:

Subscription. DistroKid charges $20 a year for an unlimited number of releases. For that amount, you can have a release every week like Stan Kolev, but the key here is “per year”: if you don’t renew your subscription after your last paid period ends, all your music will be pulled off from the streaming services. In fact, if you choose a distributor with a subscription, you’ll basically be committed to paying every year for the rest of your life. DistroKid doesn’t take a commission, which means that 100% of your income goes to you.

It’s also worth noting that $20 a year is the minimum basic version with a limited set of features. For example, if you want to choose the exact future date of your release, that costs $36 a year.

One-time. CD Baby charges $10 for a single and $30 for an album, but only once for life. They take an additional 9% commission from the income, which leaves you with 91%.

CD Baby also has advanced versions which cost $30 for a single and $70 for an album respectively. The main difference between the regular and the “pro” versions is the publishing administration included in the price, we’ll talk about that below.

You should also have in mind the mastering and cover artworks cost, which in the case of self-release you also have to do yourself: either with your own money or with your own time.

For a self-release, you have to pay with your money and your time

Publishing

The main functions of a distributor are to put music on streaming platforms and then collect royalties from them, i.e. income. But income from music can come not only in this form, but also in other, less obvious ways: from the use of music in videos, from playback on Internet radio stations, and so on.

There are three main types of royalties: mechanical, synchronization, and public performance. I’ll write more about it someday

Now, by default, almost all distributors don’t collect these kinds of royalties. For example, some vlogger used your track in his video, and that video got millions of views. If you don’t worry about it beforehand, you won’t get anything out of that million views using your track, even though you could.

For example, DistroKid doesn’t collect royalties from anywhere except the platforms where it delivers music. The exception is YouTube: for an extra $5 per single and $15 per album per year, plus a 20% commission on revenue from YouTube.

CD Baby has a royalty fee collection included in the “pro” versions I talked about above. If your tracks get played on radio stations, clubs, or anywhere else, CD Baby will collect royalties to you as the author.

Those who work with DistroKid and other similar distributors usually have to use separate royalty collection services. For example, one such service is Songtrust. It costs $100 for a one-time registration, and then takes a 15% commission on the royalties collected.

Platforms

Every distributor has a list of platforms they deliver music to. As a rule, they all work with major streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, and others.

So, all such distributors don’t deliver music to Beatport, because you have to have a label to be placed on Beatport. For example, DistroKid technically does it, but your music ends up on their label page, where all the music they’ve distributed that way is mixed up, which isn’t great in my opinion. The only exception I’m aware of is the distributor called Record Union: for $60 a year, it will deliver music to many platforms, including Beatport, though publishing administration is not included.

Some producers create their own labels with the sole role of putting their own music on Beatport, but that’s another story.

To release directly or not

Everything I wrote above is distributor features that are important to consider. But whether they are pros or cons depends solely on your goals, plan, and strategy.

For example, some people can’t imagine releasing music without being on Beatport, while others care only about streaming services and don’t care about Beatport. Or someone releases a single a year, so it’s okay to pay $30 for distribution through CD Baby, and someone releases a single every few weeks, so DistroKid might be more suitable for them.

Whether or not to release music directly depends solely on your personal goals, plan, and strategy

Personally, I think that whatever distributor you choose, an independent release, unlike a label, won’t give you the most important thing, which is your name’s affiliation with the brand. It’s like a quality mark that others say, “Oh, that producer’s from Anjuna!” Well, or Drumcode, Armada, Toolroom, you name it — any credible label in their genre. When your name is associated with a label like that, it gives you extra value, credibility, and an audience, which in turn can help to open up new possibilities.

What record labels do

What’s more important to you is up to you.

DJs: hire photographers for your gigs

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 11:48:04 +0100

A few thoughts on the pictures from DJs’ gigs and advice based on my own failure

First of all, the most obvious: photos are a good thing. They’re personal memories that feel good to revisit and share with others. Who doesn’t love pictures?

Now the slightly less obvious: Pictures of DJs’ gigs are your work assets. If a DJ has good pictures from his gigs, it’s easier for promoters to work with him: to run an advertising campaign for the upcoming event, to sell tickets. Also, photos from performances help to remove fears of potential promoters: when you see a DJ behind the club gear in front of live people, you know that at least he has such experience, which means less chance that he will screw up (remember that decent DJs are pretty rare). And, of course, photos are great content for visual communication for your blogs and social media.

Read what about social media John Fleming and Ace Ventura

Finally, something that would seem unobvious or even wrong to many at first glance: making sure that a DJ gets photos of the gigs is the DJ’s own job. I’m not talking about how to get those gigs (that’s a big separate topic), but about the photos from them.

It’s the DJ’s job to get pictures of his gigs

When I was young and inexperienced, I used to think something like this: “Since the organizer is doing the event, he most likely hires a photographer. And since there’s going to be a photographer at the event, that means I, as the DJ, will have some great shots from there, especially when I’m an international artist in the lineup. Right?”.

With these thoughts in mind, I flew to my first international gigs in Switzerland in 2014, then to Hungary in 2015, then to Switzerland again in 2017, and soon to Greece. Events in different countries with big lineups of international artists; big clubs and festivals. Guess how many pictures of me are from there? The answer is zero. None. At least I’ve kept the posters, or else it was like there were none. Wonder how that’s possible?

See all my posts about the shows: posters, photos, mixes and other snippets from the tour

Well, the thing is, when organizers hire photographers, they do this for a very different reason. For the organizer, the main goal of the photos is to make people want to come to their next events. To do that, they usually try to show a good mood, people, vibe, location, deco, and all that that typically catches people’s eyes. And that’s not necessarily DJs at all.

For example, this is what one of such shots can look like:

Shankra Festival, Lostallo, Switzerland, 2017. The photo is cool, but not about me

I ended up having great gigs, but there’s not a single shot of me from there to use as my asset. Don’t be like me.

After realizing it was a complete failure, I’ve since made it a rule to hire photographers myself — not for the entire events, but specifically for my sets.

When you hire a photographer, you can explain to him what angles to shoot and from what not to; he certainly will not be late for your set; you probably won’t have to wait for the photos for weeks; the files will be in high resolution and thus they can be used even for posters, or anywhere. With this approach, I now have several hundred good pictures that I use for promotional needs, social media, podcast covers, and other uses.

I add the best shots in high resolution to a special page for promoters and press

Of course, I’m not the first to think of this. I remember in 2018 noticing that Boris Brejcha is touring the world, yet almost all the photos on his Instagram are signed by only a few photographers. In other words, Brejcha doesn’t rely on local photographers from the organizers (who, of course, are certainly present and take photos of Brejcha anyway), but he flies with his own, trusted guys.

Boris Brejcha on Instagram

Boris Brejcha in Moscow, 2018. Photo: Ruben Schmitz. The pictures like this “sell” well very

At the time, I thought it was a great idea and started doing the same thing. As an artist, I don’t gather stadiums of people like Brejcha, but even if there are only a hundred people on the dance floor, you can still ask the photographer to take at least a few close-up shots of the DJ — shots like that are useful and important too.

Me at a gig at Gorod Club, Moscow, 2018. Photo: Pavel Tzimisce. A nice, working shot even without the stadium of people

All in all, DJs, a word of advice: don’t rely on the luck of the draw, but hire photographers yourself. These investments are worth it.

Laptop clock

Sun, 02 Aug 2020 12:53:40 +0100

During my DJ sets, I try to put a laptop next to the decks when possible. But it’s not there to run a DJ program like many people think whether it’s Traktor or Rekordbox or something, but for a clock. A big and bold clock on a dark screen that shows the current time:

For me, the clock is a kind of anchor to reality, a reference point in time and space, which helps me to better plan the tracks during a set.

I don’t pre-plan my sets in advance, but once I get in the DJ booth, I kind of understand how I’m going to build a set: which track I’m going to put next, what vibe I want to come to in half an hour and on which note I want to finish my performance.

With standard shorter sets, it’s relatively easy. You just play a dozen tracks, and it gives you an indicator that half of the set has already passed. Although, I still worry ‘Do I have time to drop that awesome tracks before my set time ends?’. But playing 5-6-hour open-to-close sets without clocks seems impossible to me at all.

Of course, there’s a clock on the phone, but I don’t like staring at the phone during the set. It doesn’t seem to be very respectful of people on the dance floor, as if I was checking my email or social media there. Wristwatches do not fit either because you need to twist the wrist, which is almost always busy on the deck or mixer, and on the small screen is not so clear. The big screen of the notebook on the side but in a constant field of view is ideal in this regard.

Also, the clock helps to finish the set on time. I’ve never had a problem with it, but I know a lot of times when the next DJ comes for a switch-over and the other DJ says, “YEAH, SURE! JUST ONE MORE TRACK!”. And then there’s more. In the end, the next DJ starts ten minutes later and gets nervous, the timeline of the event shifts, and it’s not good. Sometimes there is the promoter or a special stage manager who watches over strict timings, but I think that’s the DJ’s area of responsibility to respect the timing.

Anyway, DJs, please watch the clock.

Ready check

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 10:43:42 +0100

At Skazka Festival two hours prior to the doors opening. Photo: Schneider Family

No matter when my set time is, at 1 or 4 AM, I always try to arrive at the venue prior to the doors opening, especially if it’s the first time.

Is all the equipment functioning properly? Is the volume of the DJ monitors controlled by the Booth Monitor knob? Does it have sufficient overall volume, or should I ask the sound engineer to turn it up? How does the acoustics sound in this room? Won’t that spotlight over there hit my eyes?

Does LINK work? Is the USB port for the USB stick broken, or should I play from my SD card today? Is this the right deck model for me, or is it better to get a controller out of the backpack? Is there room on the table for a laptop, and if it isn’t enough, how can I move everything to make other artists feel comfortable too? Where should I put the recorder?

Are sound guy and stage manager here? What do they look like, and where to find them in the middle of the night if necessary?

What’s the audience like tonight and what’s they up to? What tracks do other DJs play? How do people react to them?

And it is only a tiny part of the technical and organisational questions. Of course, you can’t think of everything, but if you know at least these moments in advance and not five minutes before your set in the middle of the night, chances for a successful performance slightly increase.

How I prepare my DJ playlists

Sun, 19 May 2019 09:29:13 +0100

Organising playlists by energy levels, vibe, and flow

It would be interesting to know how you prepare your DJ sets, how you decide which track will be mixed well with the previous one, how on stage you choose such tracks that were not included in your planned tracklist, etc.

Vlad Zabolotsky

How to organize your music collection in order to quickly pick the right track at the right moment out of tons of material?

Dj Nerva

Preparing for the performance includes a lot of things: negotiating with the promoter, visiting the venue (when possible), agreeing on a technical and domestic rider, researching the lineup and communicating with other artists, thinking through and launching an advertising campaign, recording a video invitation or a promo mix, working on social media and much more. Maybe someday I’ll tell you about it, but today is all about the “creative” part, the music.

I don’t think of DJ as a creative profession, hence this word is quoted. I’ll write my thoughts on this later

Vlad, to answer the question of how I decide which track will be mixed well with the previous one, I have to explain the structure of my DJ collection first. A similar question was sent by Dj Nerva, so I will combine them into one.

Rekordbox and playlists

DJs play on various media, apps, and gear: laptops, disks, flash drives, vinyl, smartphones; on Pioneers, in Ableton, Traktor, Serato, and many more options. Speaking of myself, I use three things: Recordbox, USB sticks, and Pioneer media players.

On audio formats support

Here is how it works. First, I add music to Rekordbox on my laptop. Then I carefully tag the tracks so that they are automatically distributed among the ‘intelligent’ playlists, and sync these playlists to the USB sticks. Then in the DJ booth, I connect my USB sticks to the Pioneer players, and inside I see all the playlists exactly as I structured them on my laptop back home. And this is the key moment because thanks to these playlists I can easily find that very track I want to play next within a few seconds.

Now I’ll tell you about the key playlists that make up the structure of my collection.

Energy levels

First of all, after adding tracks to Recordbox, I assign them the energy level. This is the main criterion. The most important thing here is that the level of energy is how I feel the tracks and not a formal thing like the tempo or anything like that.

How DJs usually do

Here I want to make a little detour and tell how DJs usually do. Most DJs pre-select the required amount of tracks in advance and arrange them in the order in which they plan to play. So that is complete predestination. Of course, such pre-planned sets can sound great at home, but they might be completely inappropriate on the dancefloor.

It may seem that only newcomer DJs do this, but no: even those who have been performing for more than a decade are doing this, so it’s really common. Some DJs even record the whole mixes in advance and during the performance they basically fake, but this is just so wrong so I won’t even discuss it.

More proficient DJs don’t prepare sets in advance in such a way but select tracks right during the set looking at the crowd in front of them. Most often, they use tempo as a plain simple criterion for choosing the next track.

So it turns out about the following. Let’s assume the following track is playing on the dancefloor:

Dylhen, Paul Thomas — Diablo (Original Mix) 122 BPM, Em

A DJ thinks: “Aha, 122 BPM. The dancefloor is going on well, everything is fine, let’s not slow down the pace.” He is looking for the next track in his digital library of hundreds of tracks, scrolling and scrolling that rotary knob, and he finds this — a track in the same key and even two BPM faster:

R3cycle, Roy Lebens — Babylon (Rise & Fall Remix) 124 BPM, Em

Obviously, the energy on the dancefloor went down; people going out. Lowering the energy during a set down is fine if you know why you are doing this. But if the DJ from the example above wanted to keep the driving vibe, then this is a failure.

Or here’s the opposite example. Suppose a DJ is playing such melodic progressive:

Tim Penner — Oceans Between (Original Mix) 125 BPM, Gm

He does not want to speed up the tempo, so he finds the track in the same key and even one BPM lower, and in addition also from the same record label:

Aaron Cullen, Tommy Conway — Glack (Original Mix) 124 BPM, Gm

Do you get it?

It is clear that the energy is partially correlated with the genre, and as a result — with the tempo. However the relationship of energy level and the tempo is not always that obvious, and it is not always predictably linear.

This is why relying simply on the tempo of the tracks and thus mechanically selecting the next track for mixing is clearly not worth it, and hence I organise my tracks by the energy levels instead.

So, now going back to the energy levels I use in my Rekordbox. In total, I make five levels:

★	Opening
★★	Build-up
★★★	Driving
★★★★	Peak-time
★★★★★	Banging

Experienced guys might have noticed that these names resemble a type or time slot of a DJ set: opening, warming, “peak-time” and so on. Indeed, speaking of the energy level, I immediately think about the scenarios for using a particular track. In other words, I ask myself: “At what point of the event would it be appropriate to play that particular track?”.

For example, I can easily put a driving track in the middle of a warming-up set if I realise that I need to cheer up the dance floor a bit, or vice versa – put a warming-up track in the middle of the night, if I decide to give the crowd a little rest.

energy level is how I feel the track

Update from February 2024

I’m now sharing my entire DJ collection and all of its 80+ live-updating playlists as one of the exclusive benefits for my Patreon subscribers. It’s a great material for learning and inspiration to see how I organise my playlists, a real behind-the-scenes peek into the mind of a DJ. If it sounds interesting to you and want to get access to it, consider joining me on Patreon (and have many more goodies besides this DJ collection). For more details, visit dsokolovskiy.com/patreon.

Inside the energy level playlist, I make four more sub-playlists nested according to what I call vibe and the flow:

Dark Hands-up

Dark Heads-down

Melodic Hands-up

Melodic Heads-down

And here the most interesting part begins.

The vibe

“Dark” and “melodic” are more or less intuitive terms, although the names are very nominal. This is the emotional ‘colour’, the mood of the track.

First, a couple of obvious examples. Here is the “melodic” — think of rainbow, butterflies, flower meadow:

Ivan Nikusev, Platunoff — Aura (Original Mix) 121 BPM, Cm

And here’s the “dark” — twilight, anxiety, hypnotism:

Don Argento, Paul Angelo — Final Sentiment (Alfonso Muchacho Remix) 122 BPM, Cm

Please note that these tracks even have the same key, but how different their mood is.

But there is also a less perceptible difference. This is especially true for Techno, where a pronounced musical part is not always present.

Listen to this:

Section One — Arcadia (Roby M Rage Remix) 132 BPM, Gm

Is it “dark” or “melodic”? Someone can say, “what are you talking about, there are just a kick, bass, and hi-hats, how can you understand anything?”. For me, the answer is clear: if while listening to the track I’m smiling like an idiot, then this is “melodic”.

Now listen to this track. I specifically chose a similar style and even the same artist to shift the focus of attention only to the vibe:

K-Hate, Roby M Rage — Floating (Original Mix) 130 BPM, Am

To me, this track is colder and more aggressive, hence clearly “dark”. And if you think there’s not much of a difference when listening at home, there is a huge difference on the dancefloor.

The flow

“Hands-up” and “heads-down” are pretty unique entities, and I didn’t see anyone using these terms for their music libraries.

To me, this is all about the structure of the tracks: build-ups, breakdowns, pitch-rising effects, big drops, climax etc. In other words, how the tracks flow.

If the track goes smoothly, and you can just dance and keep dancing without being distracted by the breaks and big drops every minute or so, then this is the “heads-down”. In a sense, we can say that the heads-down tracks are more monotonous. This is not very accurate, but sufficient for a general understanding.

What is Progressive

If there are constantly some breaks, new leads, intense breakdowns and all those big things where people literally put their hands up, literally, then it’s “hands-up”.

Below are a few examples:

Filterheadz — Synergy (Sisko Electrofanatik Remix) 128 BPM, Fm

Pay attention to the breakdown in the middle and drop at 1:30. This is “hands-up”.

Another example:

Proff — What It Feels Like (Original Mix) 127 BPM, Dm

You probably realised by now that this is “hands-up” too.

From the two examples above it may seem that the hands-up is always something melodic and cheesy. But for the vibe, we have another criterion, and here we are talking only about the structure. Just both of these tracks are “melodic hands-up.”

Here is another “hands-up”, but this time it’s “dark”:

Dylhen — The Upside Down (Extended Mix) 124 BPM, Fm

And now let’s take a listen to “heads-down”, for contrast:

Chris Sterio — Zen (Matter Remix) 121 BPM, Fm

Can you feel how much smoother this track is?

If it seems to you that heads-down is necessarily something slow and deep, here’s a driving Psytrance example:

Sonic Species — Smashing The Veil (Original Mix) 142 BPM, A#m

Note how this track just is going and going without interruption, you can close your eyes and just dance without the breakdowns.

Speaking of breakdowns, listen to this track:

Union Jack — Cactus (Jonno Brien Remix) 125 BPM, F#m

Here the breakdown is stretched for a minute and a half, but notice how smooth and even monotonous it is, again, if we compare it to breakdowns in the hands-up tracks.

Therefore, knowing the energy level, the vibe, and the flow of the track, I can fully control the direction of the set. And thanks to the playlists, I know exactly where the next track is. This classification of all the tracks and new arrivals in my media library is the main work on the preparation of my DJ sets.

On audio formats support and DJs

Sun, 03 Jun 2018 08:01:45 +0100

CDJ-2000NXS2 plays everything on anything, but you probably won’t see this player on every venue

I’m wondering, do DJs play MP3s? As far as I know, there aren’t many models that support FLAC or WAV?

Is there any point in playing music with a higher bitrate than 320kbps? Does it make a difference at all? Or it’s up to the gear?

Sergey Khivuk

Sergey, let’s go through your questions and statements in order. At first, we go on the formats support, then what DJs play, and then about the bitrate.

Audio formats support

Let’s find out what DJ players support WAV. To do so, just go to the PioneerDJ official website and look at each model’s specs.

Pioneer.com

I’ll put it here at a glance and also add archived products as some of them still might be used at some venues:

Model	Plays	Sources
CDJ-2000NXS2	MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC, FLAC, ALAC	USB, CD, SD, Mac, Win, iOS, Android
CDJ-2000NXS	MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC	USB, CD, SD, Mac, Win, iOS, Android
CDJ-2000	MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC	USB, CD, SD, Mac, Win
XDJ-1000MK2	MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC, FLAC, ALAC	USB, Mac, Win, iOS, Android
XDJ-1000	MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC	USB, Mac, Win, iOS, Android
CDJ-1000MK3	MP3, CDA	CD
CDJ-1000MK2	CDA	CD
CDJ-1000	CDA	CD
CDJ-900NXS	MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC	USB, CD, Mac, Win, iOS, Android
CDJ-900	MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC	CD
CDJ-850	MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC	USB, CD
CDJ-800MK2	MP3, CDA	CD
CDJ-800	CDA	CD
XDJ-700	MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC	USB, Mac, Win, iOS, Android
CDJ-400	MP3, CDA	USB, CD
CDJ-350	MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC	USB, CD
CDJ-100S	CDA	CD

We can make two conclusions by looking at that table.

First, you shouldn’t really worry about WAV support: even among the archive lineup, only three models playback MP3 by doesn’t support WAV: CDJ-1000MK3, CDJ-800MK2, and CDJ-400. All the rest are either newer hence and support several file formats, either older and hence playback audio CDs only.

Second, your audio source of choice is what you should be aware of the most. Let’s say all your music is on SD cards, but there are no CDJ-2000s at the venue, you screwed. Or if you have all your music on a flash drive, but there are CDJ-1000s in the club, you screwed too. Or if you have all your music on CDs, but at the venue you see any model of the XDJ range, you screwed again.

always have your music on several media sources

A simple rule that every professional DJ should know about: always have a backup. Even if you have CDJ-2000NSX2 in your tech rider and the promoter said it’s no problem, still bring some alternative media source which you could quickly plug and play in case some shit happens. And yeah, shit happens!

What format DJs play

I’d like to make a serious face and say, “all DJs play WAVs only for sure” or “the majority of DJs play MP3s”, but the truth is, I don’t know. Seriously, I don’t have such data, and pointing out a random fact is not what I consider right.

I can, however, speak for myself. Personally, I prefer AIF: it has the exact same sound quality as WAV but supports extra ID3 tags and a cover artwork — which is very handy when dealing with a large media library or browsing tracks on a DJ player’s display.

I do use MP3 too, but more like an exception for bootlegs, promos and all that kind of unofficial music.

Is it worth using WAV

In short, the answer is yes. Uncompressed audio obviously better than its compressed comrades, and if you want to go deeper in tech and nerdy stuff, read articles on one of trustworthy sources like Sound On Sound magazine.

What Data Compression Does To Your Music. Sound On Sound, 2012

But I’d like to talk about something different.

You see, the audible sound quality is a very tricky thing, especially in clubs and larger venues: the sound goes through a lot of processing before reaching our ears, and it’s very easy to mess it up on every stage it passes through.

For example, if a DJ plays 192 kbps MP3s, the sound will be shitty despite the top-class PA system. Or if a DJ screw the gain control on the mixer and plays in the red zone, the sound will be shitty again despite the audio engineer’s efforts.

And it works the other way around as well. For example, if a drunk sound guy messes up the PA equalization and calibration, the sound will be shitty even with a professional DJ playing lossless formats. Or if a greedy promoter saves some money on the gear rent and puts the “100s” CDJs in the DJ booth. Or if a venue has no proofing whatsoever. And so on.

good sound at a party is the result of teamwork

The point is, making a good sound at a party is teamwork that relies on many people and things involved. Now, answering your question on whether it’s worth using WAVs, I think it’s up to a DJ whether he wants to work as a team and ensure the best sound quality. To me, the answer is obvious.

Feedback for Chemical Sunday by Aranyo & Edessey

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 17:12:23 +0100

We just finished our track and I will be very appreciated if you can give a slight feedback.

Edgar Zbucinsky

Edgar, technically speaking, this track is great: it has a decent sound design and quality production. Mixdown is fine too. Mastering is probably a bit overcompressed, but it’s a matter of taste.

I’m going to comme onnt the content part only, and I have to warn you that it’s very subjective.

The first thing I’ve noticed is the too repetitive pattern. You can especially hear it if you navigate through the track by a 8-bars long intervals. Here’s a short screen capture to just to demostrate this:

Notice that sound on a strong beat that comes along with the crash cymbal. The repetitions are too obvious, it gives a feel of a draft: it seems that either this is a ground for something more or the author was simply too lazy. Try to make variations, somehow catch the attention of the listener.

Because of such monotonous sound and smooth build-up, the track seems old-school: such a Psychedelic Trance that was done in 2005’ish. It’s not bad itself, it’s not good either. For example, in Progressive, such monotony and smooth development is a feature of the genre, so it’s rather good. I do not know here, but maybe it makes sense to ask yourself whether there was such an idea here.

I also think that there is not enough drive in the track. This is Psytrance, after all, it should make you wanna dance! Perhaps it’s a rhythmic picture, perhaps an emotional fullness. There must be a contrast between “dry” and “wet” parts, but here it is not.

Here are a few tracks from other cool guys, listen for comparison (also with the same tempo and key, 145 F #m):

Pogo & Djantrix — Rejoicer (Original Mix)

Tristan & Outsiders — 2000 Light Years (Spectra Sonics Remix)

Imaginarium & Earthspace — Glitches Of Perception (Original Mix)

I repeat that all of the above is my subjective opinion, not mistakes that must be corrected. Keep making music!