Well guys being a Dj Myself i fugured out this might come in handy coz we all play songs wether its a party or jus for enjoying it.
Know your audience
I had never been to the venue and from what the outside looked like, I figured inside was a bunch of dusty overweight 30-year-olds with massive facial hair. I took a weekday evening trip over and had a beer inside, scoping out the clientele. I learned that from the balcony dj booth (!), I'd be playing for an affluent, educated set of 20- and 30-somethings that weren't necessarily music nerds, but seemed receptive to different sounds.
Determine the theme
I thought about what music has moving me lately. While I wanted to do an all out electro-rock-dance-indie set with jams like Wolfmother's "Woman (MSTRKRFT Remix)" and Madonna's "Hung Up (Diplo Remix)", I instead took influence from the very summery flavors of Global Deejays and Ministry Of Sound.
Select your songs
I went through my entire music collection picking out the best tunes that fit the afrobeat/tropicalia/soul/funk vibe. If your audience won't be earnestly dancing, don't pick vocal-heavy tunes. Keep a mental picture of the venue inside your head as you listen to your potentials
Narrow down your picks
After my first sweep, I ended up with 60 tracks, clocking in at 3.75 hours–far more than the one hour I was given. Toss anything that will garner significantly more or less attention than the rest of your set. I had to let go of some classics like abba's dance tracks like gimme gimme gimme".
Cut it down to size
After tossing half my selections, I still had nearly an extra hour of music. Time for the surgery. I went in using audio editing software (CoolEdit and Audacity work,sound forge) and cut out extra pieces: extra repetitive choruses, needless verses, instrumental solos. I wanted to keep the song lengths between 2 and 4.5 minutes to keep the energy level moving. [As this takes a bit of know-how and technique, this step is completely optional.]
Put them in order
I used Traktor to help identify the BPM of all the tracks. If you don't have any audio software, just manually gauge the energy level on a scale of 50-150 for an approximation. My set started with my lowest BPM (79) and gradually worked its way up (with a few tweaks) to finish with my quickest song (126bpm).
Configure your crossfade
Using winamp? I suggest the SqrSoft crossfade plugin. Using iTunes? Even easier; if you left the default settings, your crossfade is already working, though you may want to tweak it in Preferences
Play it!
Run through it at least once, in its entirety. Watch your levels, some songs are louder than others. iTunes has a fix for this called 'Sound Check'; try it. Write on a notecard which songs have levels that stick out so you can tweak 'em with your mixer. Otherwise, you're ready to go!
Know your audience
I had never been to the venue and from what the outside looked like, I figured inside was a bunch of dusty overweight 30-year-olds with massive facial hair. I took a weekday evening trip over and had a beer inside, scoping out the clientele. I learned that from the balcony dj booth (!), I'd be playing for an affluent, educated set of 20- and 30-somethings that weren't necessarily music nerds, but seemed receptive to different sounds.
Determine the theme
I thought about what music has moving me lately. While I wanted to do an all out electro-rock-dance-indie set with jams like Wolfmother's "Woman (MSTRKRFT Remix)" and Madonna's "Hung Up (Diplo Remix)", I instead took influence from the very summery flavors of Global Deejays and Ministry Of Sound.
Select your songs
I went through my entire music collection picking out the best tunes that fit the afrobeat/tropicalia/soul/funk vibe. If your audience won't be earnestly dancing, don't pick vocal-heavy tunes. Keep a mental picture of the venue inside your head as you listen to your potentials
Narrow down your picks
After my first sweep, I ended up with 60 tracks, clocking in at 3.75 hours–far more than the one hour I was given. Toss anything that will garner significantly more or less attention than the rest of your set. I had to let go of some classics like abba's dance tracks like gimme gimme gimme".
Cut it down to size
After tossing half my selections, I still had nearly an extra hour of music. Time for the surgery. I went in using audio editing software (CoolEdit and Audacity work,sound forge) and cut out extra pieces: extra repetitive choruses, needless verses, instrumental solos. I wanted to keep the song lengths between 2 and 4.5 minutes to keep the energy level moving. [As this takes a bit of know-how and technique, this step is completely optional.]
Put them in order
I used Traktor to help identify the BPM of all the tracks. If you don't have any audio software, just manually gauge the energy level on a scale of 50-150 for an approximation. My set started with my lowest BPM (79) and gradually worked its way up (with a few tweaks) to finish with my quickest song (126bpm).
Configure your crossfade
Using winamp? I suggest the SqrSoft crossfade plugin. Using iTunes? Even easier; if you left the default settings, your crossfade is already working, though you may want to tweak it in Preferences
Play it!
Run through it at least once, in its entirety. Watch your levels, some songs are louder than others. iTunes has a fix for this called 'Sound Check'; try it. Write on a notecard which songs have levels that stick out so you can tweak 'em with your mixer. Otherwise, you're ready to go!