Daniel Sokolovskiy’s Blog: posts tagged DJing

My entire DJ collection: I’m sharing all of my 84 playlists

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 13:53:31 +0100

Back in 2019, I published an article ‘How I prepare my DJ playlists’ (which now has over 21K views), providing behind-the-scenes into the structure of my DJ collection. Since then, my collection has evolved, as it’s an ever-changing process that reflects my DJ needs.

And today, I’m sharing my entire DJ collection with my Patreon subscribers. This is something that sane DJs probably would never do!

So, here’s the thing. I have my DJ collection with over 7000 tracks on iTunes (‘Music’ app on macOS), which I use as the main hub for all my music. To keep all of the music sorted and to find tracks during my DJ sets easily, I keep all those tracks in over 80 playlists, neatly organised by energy levels and mood. This collection and the playlists are mirrored in Rekordbox, which is the main DJ software that I use to export music to USB sticks which I then plug into the DJ decks on my gigs.

I also have that music collection and playlists mirrored on Spotify, and this is what I am sharing with my Patreon subscribers. While I can’t share the physical audio files from my music library for copyright reasons, even Spotify playlists are a pretty big deal.

First of all, that’s a lot of great music. A lot. Secondly and most importantly, this is my real DJ collection that I am actively using and keeping up to date – so 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. I’ve also recorded a video walkthrough to provide more explanation of my playlists.

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): patreon.com/daniellesden

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:

Fleming on genres, naming, and energy levels

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 01:22:33 +0100

In 2020, John 00 Fleming gave an interview with the Finish More Music YouTube channel, and I wrote out some interesting parts from it.

On stepping away from genres

What I’ve learned recently is to step away from genres because if you get tied up in a genre, there’s a thing that you had to be part of it. Stepping away from any genre gives you more freedom and it allows you to venture into different [musical] worlds and not being tarnished from the Internet people, like I was associated with Trance, for example. They expect me to play Trance but where Trance was originally in the underground world it’s very mainstream now and then you just letting Trance people down because I think I’m playing Trance and they call it something else. It just adds these layers and layers of confusion. So step away from it, people accept it plus they’re discovering new music by accident, so it opens you up to more audiences.

On renaming Global Trance Grooves to JOOF Radio

My old show was called Global Trance Grooves, I think it was 17 years old when I let it go. I should’ve let it go years before but I wanted to get Edition 200, it was so special to me. And it was like this switch from when the name change, the next month we saw the plays fly up, we saw it on DI.FM, on Soundcloud, Insomniac Radio came in straight away and took it on board which is a really big deal.

Go and ask 16-year old kids, what is Trance to them. Even if you click through the Beatport 100 top-selling Trance tracks, that’s their introduction to Trance music and it’s predominately very powerful, uplifting, vocal, big arpeggiators, 138 BPM and it’s that sound, whereas I remember and you probably remember Trance for something completely different years ago. So by letting go off that, this is a generational shift, the sound evolved to what this sound is now, a big euphoric main room festival sound. Whereas Progressive House for example reminds me what Trance used to be, the Progressive Trance great days, Hooj Choons, Platipus, that stuff. So having the word ‘Trance’ was confusing. The old generation got it, singing appraisers for me ‘Yay John’s hanging onto that true spirit’, but the next generation would confuse, so I was losing the next generation. They’d see the word ‘Trance’ in a radio show and not even click through it just presuming it’ll be that vocal epic kind of sound. So just that simple realignment, getting rid of that genre tag, it just opened the doors.

On energy levels

Some of the DJs just want to start off with an impact, but if the energy is up here an hour or half an hour in, where do you go from there? You’re already there, so then it seems to go flat. If you’ve just been punch-punch-punch for an hour, that impact of that high energy does wear off. That’s why to me it’s like a journey, like watching a movie: if there’s a massive manic car chase scene with gunshots and everything going for an hour, you just lose interest in the film. It has to be broken up, so when the chase comes you’re like ‘Wow, I wasn’t expecting that!’, so you’ve impacted with the energy again.

There is a lot more on the studio sessions and music industry, so definitely watch the whole interview.

Extreme tempo change

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 11:54:32 +0100

I usually try and recommend playing tracks more or less close to their original tempo, not to speed up or slow down the tempo by 20 beats per minute, as some DJs do.

But Dax J is the only one who does such extreme tempo changes in an awesome way! Check out how he played the track in Boiler Room and how the same track originally sounds.

Dax is great, there’s a lot to learn.

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.

Cleaned up my DJ collection

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 08:21:13 +0100

I made a big thing: I cleaned up my music collection, reducing the number of tracks from 11084 to 7559. Minus three and a half thousand tracks and about two hundred gigabytes. Some tracks I moved to some remote storage, and some tracks I deleted completely. This is the most ruthless music cleanup I’ve ever done.

The point is simple: to have in my media library only those tracks that I can and want to potentially play at gigs or at least on a podcast. All the tracks that I haven’t played once in years (and some I haven’t even really listened to) or that stopped resonating with me have gone down the drain. It seems logical that this is the only way it should be, but when you have been actively searching for new music everyday for over a decade, then as time passes, you inevitably end up with some morally outdated and non-working tracks in your collection.

The whole process took me almost two months. Phew!

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 :-)

“What are you going to play?”

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 21:00:00 +0100

When I announce a new show, people sometimes ask me in the comments or private messages: “What are you going to play?” It’s an understandable question, considering the musical diversity of my DJ sets, mixes and podcasts, with tempos ranging from 120 to 150 BPM!

The short answer is — I don’t know :-)

I don’t plan exactly which tracks and in what order I play, and I usually go with the flow instead. I’ve talked a little bit about this before, for example, in the post “How I organize my DJ playlists”.

That said, I have a sort of “wishlist” – a playlist where I throw in tracks I’d like to play at an upcoming event. It could be some hidden gems I recently dug in the depths of Beatport, or some hot promos I’ve recently received and am now eager to give them a road test, or just some cool old tracks that seem appropriate to play at this particular event.

Typically, there are many more tracks on that wishlist than I need for a set. For example, I can put a hundred tracks on a playlist, even though I only need about thirty tracks for a two-hour set. There were times when I played almost the entire set from my wishlist. And sometimes I played almost nothing from it, and that’s okay.

The key here is that it’s not a plan but rather something like “it would be nice to drop some of these tracks”. Just my own feeling and educated guess, given the lineup, place, and time.

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

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.

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.

My music library editorial standards

Sun, 24 Jun 2018 19:10:40 +0100

I have quite a large music library, and I care about keeping it nice and clean a lot. To do so, I use editorial standards — a set of few simple rules that help to make all titles accurate and informative.

Organizing music library

Today, I’d like to share some of these standards.

Words capitalising

I write all words with a capital letter. This way, all titles look cleaner, and it makes them easier to read on CDJ small screens:

No	Yes
A night in botanic gardens	A Night In Botanic Gardens
The Last of our Kind	The Last Of Our Kind
We come in peace	We Come In Peace

Artists with a comma

When the track has several artists, I used to split them with an ampersand. Then I realised that if there are three artists (and sometimes even more), then things start to get messy. So now I simply use commas instead and put artists in alphabetical order regardless of how “big” their name is:

No	Yes
Relativ & Yestermorrow	Relativ, Yestermorrow
Vini Vici & Avalon & Tristan	Avalon, Tristan, Vini Vici
John 00 Fleming ft. Sascha Cooper	John 00 Fleming, Sascha Cooper
Liquid Soul & Zyce feat. Solar Kid	Liquid Soul, Solar Kid, Zyce
Xerox & Illumination & Sandman	Sandman, Xerox & Illumination

Look how the right column is easier to read. The bottom row on the right in an exception because Xerox & Illumination is a project name as a whole.

Version is mandatory

After the track title, I always add its version, whether it’s an original mix, remix, bootleg, mashup, radio edit, extended mix, dub, vocal, etc. When I see another DJ playing before or after me has some track with the title “Rmx”, I can’t stand it:

No	Yes
Model Reality (Rmx)	Model Reality (Nerso Remix)
Scorchio (Bootleg)	Scorchio (Activa Bootleg)
Existence	Existence (Original Mix)
Indigo	Indigo (Dub Mix)
Freakuencies	Freakuencies (DL Edit)

Note the last row: DL Edit is my edit. It means that I cut the breakdown off, adjusted the structure to make it more DJ-friendly, or somehow edited the track to make it better fit the mix.

Live Q&A with John 00 Fleming and Tim Penner

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 18:44:09 +0100

Livestream highlights

The live stream’s banner

Two of my favourite artists, John 00 Fleming and Tim Penner, hosted a fantastic Q&A live stream yesterday that was full of insightful information and motivational speeches that every producer (myself included) should know. Seriously, go watch that video if you missed it live. It’s 2-hours long, but it’s worth it.

For those who don’t have two spare hours, I’ve written a quick summary to highlight some of the most important quotes from these two masters. And in such way, it’s also easier to come and read this again at any time.

On social media

I feel sorry for the next generation. Running a specialist label you definitely get to work with super talented producers and DJs, but they can’t make a career because they don’t know how to handle social media or they not doing it whatsoever. And it pains me because that person should be on main stages on the festivals and have a fruitful career, but they haven’t because they don’t understand social media and not doing what they should be doing.

Ace Ventura on social media

Music is used to be first, and if you were a good DJ, you’re good to go. Now it’s the other way around. If you good at social media, your career will take off regardless of what you got behind you, the music comes afterwards. Nail the social media, and then worry about the music afterwards. It pains me to say, but that seems to be the way it is today.

Nail social media, and then worry about the music afterwards

On organising music

I can only answer from me personally. I organise playlists as the tools that I need in hand. I never pre-plans set at all, I woke up to every single gig whether I playing an hour set or a 10-hour set, I never know what I’m going to play until I step up to the stage. But the way I’ve got my playlists it’s the musical tools that I know, let’s say ‘Progressive’ which is deep and melodic, you got ‘Progressive’ which is dark and driving, you got ‘Trance’ which is driving, ‘Psychedelic’ which is deep.

Organising music library

I must have to have about thirty different playlists, but the key to me is learning the tracks. It’s identifying by looking at the track exactly what it’s gonna do as soon as you start playing it.

Sometimes I secretly spy on other DJ’s playlists, when they come along playing before or after me and they got the USB connected to the players. It just pains me that some DJs will have just twelve tracks and nothing else on the USB. I couldn’t play like that!

When you first get tracks you don’t really know how good is gonna be until you play it in a live situation. It might sound quite driving at home but when you play it a club it’s not driving, so when I get back from the gig the first thing I do is spend an hour just going through memorising what I played and adding the extra notes.

What makes a good warm-up set

John 00 Fleming: The short and sweet answer is basically what you [Tim Penner] do. You got a respect the person that you warming-up for, you got to do your homework. And this is a big moment. What a lot of newbies think is their head is “Wow, this is my gig, this is my moment to shine, this is the moment my career going to take off!”, and they just want to play a headline set in that warm-up set. But it does the opposite, you just really upset the DJ you suppose to be opening for.

The importance of proper opening DJs

The point is you’ve got to get people in the room, you got to keep your levels down. You don’t want to walk in a club when everything is just screaming at you and you can’t go to the bar, get a drink and hang out with your mates.

You want to warm-up slowly, but then when everybody standing around the dancefloor that’s the magic moment — it’s knowing exactly when to drop a track that has a bit more energy or familiar track, and that’s when your levels come into play.

You got a respect the person that you warming-up for, you got to do your homework

Tim Penner: It is a really important job to be the most humble artist in that room: you’re setting the mood and you’re setting the vibe for the night. And the thing is that people are too smart now. They may not know that you are the best DJ in the world but they know that fit that motive perfectly for the night, and you set what that whole night is supposed to be about, people know this.

On productions skills

When new artists come into it, there is something that cool and hot at the time and that’s what they wanna make. So it takes time to become a skilled producer, and they’ll start to make that genre. So what you see now is all those artists starting to get better, they started to sound like that generic sound from four years ago. And when I listen to such music, I’m like “it’s not current anymore, it would’ve been four years ago”.

So the best turning point that also was for me is the hardest, is staying true to yourself but also looking ahead of the curve and seeing where the trends are going.

Keeping close to what you wanna make and expressing yourself through music while becoming more skilled as a producer, but not going by trends and trying to cut them off. Those artists that are cutting edge and trying different things, they are the one that stands out now.

On balancing production and life

This balancing production is a battle that every artist faces whether you touring or not, balancing life, in general, can be really hard. That could be one of the biggest hurdles for an artist to get over. You know, you have a family, a spouse, you have emergencies, and other things you want to do to fill your time with.

And wheater it’s touring or Game Of Thrones, there’s a balance between life and work. And you need to find that balance. Everybody faces this battle, and I think it’s a number one reason why people give up.

You need to find a balance, it’s a number one reason why people give up

On the mixdown

There are certain misconceptions about what makes a good track in the end. Mixdown and mastering, I think there are misconceptions about what that is, you know, a lot of artists will put sounds together and try to make a track and be like “well, we’ll fix it in the end”. But mixdown and mastering start at the very first sound that you put down, it’s very important to understand the physics of the sound and what you are trying to accomplish.

What is sound

One of the tricks with figuring out how to make music is how to make sounds sound full. A lot of people will just load their Ableton with a lot of sounds to make it sound full, when in fact the whole goal of making good-flowing music is to give each sound it’s own space to move.

So that is actually a backward concept where you make a sound and you need to let that sound work its magic in its own space. It’s not fighting with other sounds, and that’s the key.

On sharing the knowledge

A lot of people keep things in secret, and if anybody knows me that followed me over the years, I’m an open book. And I think being an open book, sharing your knowledge and helping people is the best way to strengthen our industry, as opposed to keeping it sheltered behind your own wall.

Advice series

We want to be around for as long as possible, that genre and our feeling, and the way to that is to embrace young artists, help them to get over the hurdles so they gonna be there decades down the road.

sharing your knowledge is the best way to strengthen our industry

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.

Reflecting on my CDs DJ past (glad that’s over!)

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 09:56:07 +0100

Oh, check this out! This picture is intriguing—not just for my baby face or the Stanton CD players (Stanton!), but also for that folder filled with disks.

I remember having to manually “burn” each disk, creating covers for all of them: typing titles and tempos into a Photoshop template, printing, cutting, and carefully inserting them into the CD folder. It was quite a laborious task. Fortunately, the era of CDs in the DJ market didn’t last too long.

This photo dates back to September 2011, taken by Alexey Druzhinin. Huge thanks to him for capturing this moment!

Key Lock, Master Tempo, and the sound quality

Wed, 27 Dec 2017 18:04:05 +0100

I mix using Traktor and a MIDI-controller, and often I play a track faster or slower than its original tempo. And while I’m doing this, I hear a very noticeable distortion especially in the low-end area, it’s like the bassline loses all the juices. Technically, I realise there is some interpolation happening or something. But as far as I remember, when I mixed on a Pioneer mixer DJM-800 and 2000NXS, there was nothing like this. So, my question is: how to avoid this? Should I mix in Ableton instead if there is no such stretching issue? By the way, I’m using Key Lock to keep the original pitch of the track.

Sergey Khivuk

Sergey, it’s all about the Key Lock function you use. Pioneer calls it Master Tempo, but it works the same. I’m going to call it Master Tempo too, just to avoid confusion.

You see, tempo and pitch are two physical properties that bent together. Slowing down the tempo lower down the pitch, and increasing the tempo raises up the pitch.

Let’s listen to a few examples with a vocal song to get a better understanding of what’s happening. Here is the original song:

Lana Del Rey — Video Games (Original)

If we significantly increase the tempo, the voice will sound like a hamster on steroids:

Lana Del Rey — Video Games (Pitched-up)

And if we significantly decrease the tempo, Lana will sound almost like a man:

Lana Del Rey — Video Games (Pitched-down)

Notice duration of these samples: it’s the same fragment, but in its original tempo it’s 29 seconds long, in the increased tempo — 18 seconds, and in the decreased tempo — 46 tempo. So the tempo and the pitch does bend together, indeed. Nothing fancy so far.

Now let’s turn on the Master Tempo function. I’m using Ableton to emulate this, but on Traktor and Pioneer gear it would be the same:

Lana Del Rey — Video Games (Master Tempo)

On a higher tempo, we certainly hear that Lana sing faster whilst her voice timbre remains almost clear. Well, at least not a hamster-like in the pitched-up example above.

Now let’s do all the same but with Psytrance. Here’s a track from Lyktum, 140 BPM, D#m:

Lyktum — Machina (Original Mix)

Here’s the same fragment, but at 150 BPM:

Lyktum — Machina (Re-Pitched)

It’s got about a semitone higher and the energy has changed, but still quite alright.

And now also 150 BPM, but with a Master Tempo emulation to keep the original pitch:

Lyktum — Machina (Master Tempo)

This is awful. The bass is fuzzy, and mids and highs aren’t clear — it’s like listening to a 64 kbps MP3 (FYI, the samples uploaded here are in 320 kbps). I guess this is somewhat what you are experiencing?

Let’s recap:

For vocal and non-dance music like Ambient, the Master Tempo feature might work, potentially.
For all electronic dance music, including Psytrance, the Master Tempo is certainly a no-no.

Keep in that that Master Tempo always altering the sound and decreasing the quality, sometimes it’s just more audible, and sometimes less. Even Pioneer states this:

“The sound is digitally processed, so the sound quality decreases”. Pioneer CDJ-2000 User Manual, page 15.

To avoid quality loss, simply don’t use Master Tempo and try to mix tracks with roughly the same tempo. If you mix a 140 BPM track with a 142 BPM track, that’s fine. If you mix a 140 BPM track with a 148 BPM track, the pitch change will be noticeable.

On average, every ±6–7 beats per minute lowering or raising the pitch for one semitone. For example, a 145 BPM Cm lower down to 138 BPM would Bm. Or, a 140 BPM D#m increased to 146 BPM would Em. Hence why it’s a rule of thumb to mix the tracks within the 2–3 BPM difference tops.

I hope it makes sense.

Playlist or tracklist

Sun, 12 Nov 2017 06:14:54 +0100

What’s the difference, or why you probably use the wrong word

Rekordbox 5. Example of software that lets you create playlists.

Quite often I see DJs posting their mixes with a list of played tracks, and they call those lists a “playlist”. Well, that’s wrong. A proper word for this is a “tracklist”, or “tracklisting” if you will.

Here is the difference between these two.

A playlist is a list of audio or video content that can be organised and played back in any order. The point is you as a user have control over the playback of individual items. You can playback it sequential or you can shuffle it, or you can add more items — like adding songs to a playlist on iTunes or adding videos to a playlist on YouTube.

A tracklisting, on contrast, is a list of tracks appearing in a particular given order. In the case of DJ mixes, it’s set in stone, you cannot change it.

So, when a DJ plays a set he may have tracks organised in playlists, but once he recorded his set, the list of the tracks he played become a tracklist.

Perhaps, I sound like a nerd (and I am, indeed) but I hope it’ll help to make things clear.