For some DJs, they play at home the way they play in the club: they get on the decks, pick tunes and mix em together. Not me though. For me, a home-made mix is a special thing, something to be laboured over rather than knocked out on a Friday evening over a couple of ciders. A few of the DJ mixes I've listened to over the years have become bona-fide members of my music collection, with as much credibility as artist albums. The tune selection, the programming and the mixing are all so good that I'm happy to return to listen again and again. I want all my DJ mixes to be that good that people keep them on their hard drives and their phones for years to come.
So when you are playing in front of an audience, you get plenty of feedback, guidance and pointers as to what you should play next. This, together with your own experience all feeds into the decision making process. When mixing at home audience-less you get time to consider all the different tunes that you could play whereas when gigging you get hardly anytime to change your mind. You also get plenty of time to listen back to every transition and, if you are uptight enough about it, to go back to the recording and re-edit it to perfection.
All these factors definitely effect the flow of the home DJ mix and means that its less likely that i'm just going to head out into the mix without giving some thought as to what I might play and when and how I might play it. Instead, I have the time and space to really think about how to programme different pieces of music and to consider how they sound in the context of each other.
Going back to the question, how does a DJ choose which tunes to include, first, s/he will probably have some new music they want to showcase - DJs love new music like cats love catnip so when considering what music to include on their latest mix, it's likely that a DJ will have several new things they want to play. If they're anything like me, they may well have some of their own new production to include too. This might help in narrowing down the field of what music gets included in this month's mix. Once the DJ has picked out a handful of new stuff that might get played, s/he then have to reflect on the thousands of other pieces of music they own - and there is where the magic starts to happen: each new piece of music will trigger ideas of connections -"...this drum pattern sounds like it would go great with that deep moody tune from last summer..." - or "...this feels like that classic old tech-house stormer from a few years back but with a lighter mood..." - and the DJ's huge internal filing system starts to make links and connections between previously disparate pieces of music.
Aside from your actual tune selection which is obviously the most important factor, it's these links and connections and how they work once you're DJing live in the club that are really what DJing is about and what will give you your signature sound - it's about managing the transitions to best serve your purpose. Cut it up back and forth between the two tracks, cut the bass, drop out the mids, slam the crossfader back and forth, project your own energy and enthusiasm through the machinery and out onto the dancefloor... or gently tease and stroke the faders, smoothly introducing first the top end, then the mids, ever-so-gently giving the low end a little tickle... tempting and teasing the dancers, easing them into a new, deeper mood.
Because its all about manipulating mood - about building tension, increasing expectation, allowing a little release, then building the tension some more, holding the audience at a certain level, until they're almost screaming for release. A good DJ can play with these moods at will, just by their tune selection and mixing.
Aside from your actual tune selection which is obviously the most important factor, it's these links and connections and how they work once you're DJing live in the club that are really what DJing is about and what will give you your signature sound - it's about managing the transitions to best serve your purpose. Cut it up back and forth between the two tracks, cut the bass, drop out the mids, slam the crossfader back and forth, project your own energy and enthusiasm through the machinery and out onto the dancefloor... or gently tease and stroke the faders, smoothly introducing first the top end, then the mids, ever-so-gently giving the low end a little tickle... tempting and teasing the dancers, easing them into a new, deeper mood.
Because its all about manipulating mood - about building tension, increasing expectation, allowing a little release, then building the tension some more, holding the audience at a certain level, until they're almost screaming for release. A good DJ can play with these moods at will, just by their tune selection and mixing.
In the spirit of creating and manipulating moods with music, I often like to start a house mix - which obviously is going to be full of house music - with something slightly non-house, just one or two tracks which are around the same tempo as house music but that don't have that 4/4 beat. It catches the listeners attention and is a great way of creating tension as the listener knows that a 4/4 kick drum is going to happen sooner or later but doesn't know when. So this mix starts with another great Shur-I-Kan tune,on the Dark Energy label, a genre-less electronica track called 'Anyone For Love' which I guess if pushed I could classify as something like: half-speed, slo-mo-glow-machinica-but-with-slightly-trap-esque-beats+excellent-use-of-old-school-vocal. It sounds great right? It is, and it mixed nicely into another track that is approximately house tempo whilst not having a house beat.
Personally, I love it when a house DJ abandons the tyranny of the 4/4 for a few minutes and drops a breakbeat or something different. The impact it can have on dancers who have been moving to a 4/4 beat for hours can be huge. Get it right and, for a moment at least, you get to be the DJ hero. Timing is everything when doing this kind of thing live, not only in when you choose to do it, but also in how long you do it for, leave it too long and there's always the danger of losing the momentum. But this also provides another potential opportunity for DJ-hero-dom - because you drop something non housey for five or ten minutes in the middle of a house night, the room goes crazy and then you get to put some house back on and you get to unleash the true power of a 4/4 beat on a room. Never underestimate the power of a simple 4/4 beat over a decent sound-system when it hasn't been heard in the room for a while - its all about context. Get this transition back to house right and it will set the place alight and instant DJ-hero-dom awaits.
Personally, I love it when a house DJ abandons the tyranny of the 4/4 for a few minutes and drops a breakbeat or something different. The impact it can have on dancers who have been moving to a 4/4 beat for hours can be huge. Get it right and, for a moment at least, you get to be the DJ hero. Timing is everything when doing this kind of thing live, not only in when you choose to do it, but also in how long you do it for, leave it too long and there's always the danger of losing the momentum. But this also provides another potential opportunity for DJ-hero-dom - because you drop something non housey for five or ten minutes in the middle of a house night, the room goes crazy and then you get to put some house back on and you get to unleash the true power of a 4/4 beat on a room. Never underestimate the power of a simple 4/4 beat over a decent sound-system when it hasn't been heard in the room for a while - its all about context. Get this transition back to house right and it will set the place alight and instant DJ-hero-dom awaits.
The second track is the uncharacteristically-distinctly un-house 'RP Foolin', recorded by Demarkus Lewis for the ever-reliable Lost My Dog label. Yes that's right, its a record by house music Don Demarkus Lewis that isn't a house record. Playing this of course, gives me a reason to go straight into YSE's awesome re-rub of 'Foolin'. YSE are a pair of UK producers who released one of my favourite UK house records ever in the shape of 'Bounceback'. DJs take note, if you want a tune that will make a dance floor go off, buy this. In the meantime, this remix from a couple of years ago is also a very effective dance floor tool.
My mental map for this mix was to start with a couple of non house warm-ups, then move into house, take it deep and melodic, all drifting pads and warm keys, take it a bit darker, then work in some percussive-heavy tracks to balance out the over-all journey, finishing up on a few new bangers and an oldie. This is pretty much the approach I would take with a live gig, group together a couple of sub-genres, gather together some new stuff, make a mental map of where I might take the music - the difference being with live gigs that the moment I arrive I immediately and completely abandon any idea of a plan and just ride the waves of energy and adrenaline. Honestly, EVERY SINGLE time.
The more percussive heavy tracks that I eventually selected included a great tune from uber-producers Swag ( Chris Duckenfield & Richard Brown), their remix of Afro Mystick's 'Infinite Rhythm', a tune that originally came out in 2007. Eight years on and it sounds as good as it ever did, packed with heavy-duty synths and exquisitely programmed percussion all precisely massaged and mixed to perfection ready for dance floor action. The trouble with playing some records is that they sound so great that you find yourself struggling to come up with something that's good enough to follow it in the few minutes you have until you need to start mixing again. You could call it the 'Duckenfield/Brown' effect. You could, but you' d be missing a trick, when you could call it the 'Swag' effect right?
Obviously I like all the music I play, but standouts for me at the moment are inevitably the newer stuff - we DJs are so fickle, always attracted to the shiny and new: the new Roberto Rodriguiez 'Intuition' on Lazy Days is great : it's a nice tight, clean production with undulating acid/moog b-line and DuBois-esque chords - just when you think you can't play another acid record, something like this comes along. Also on Lazy Days the repetitive, percussive-heavy groove combined with jazzy chords and sax snippets* of 'Coming Back' by Lay Far is really working for me at the moment as well.
Last couple of tunes are Asad Rizvi's firing remix of Brett Vasser's 'SuperBump' which is like all of Asad's productions - another brilliantly put together slice of dance floor destruction from a producer who knows intimately what works. Happily, this mixes perfectly into Funk D'Void's re-rub of Lucca's 2008 'Woodblocker' taking the mood from sophisticated funk to epic deepness via two serendipitous key-matched minutes. Happy Days.
Last couple of tunes are Asad Rizvi's firing remix of Brett Vasser's 'SuperBump' which is like all of Asad's productions - another brilliantly put together slice of dance floor destruction from a producer who knows intimately what works. Happily, this mixes perfectly into Funk D'Void's re-rub of Lucca's 2008 'Woodblocker' taking the mood from sophisticated funk to epic deepness via two serendipitous key-matched minutes. Happy Days.
House Music All Summer Long - Harold Heath Summer 2015
Shur-I-Kan - Anyone for Love - Dark Energy Recordings
Shur-I-Kan - Anyone for Love - Dark Energy Recordings
Demarkus Lewis - RP Foolin - Lost My Dog
Demarkus Lewis - RP Foolin - YSE Remix - Lost My Dog
Milton Jackson - Don’t Worry About The Drums - Dark Energy
Ray Saul - Another Beginning - Deep Site Recordings
Jon Delirious - Believe in You - Giom Remix - Lost My Dog
Alexander Saykov - Lies - Portofino Sunrise
Kollektiv Turmstrasse - Was Bielbt - Jimpster Vocal Remix
Michel Cleis - Hey Lady Luck - Jimpster Instrumental Edit - Crecimiento
Alex Arnout - In My Soul - Asadinho Remix - RVS
Shur-I-Kan - Like Rick Says - Dark Energy
Terry Farley & Mark Cooper pres. Bedford Falls Players - Recall The Morning Time Dub - Unrivalled Music
Afro Mystick - Infinite Rhythm - Swags Found a Groove Dub - Om
Lay Far - Coming Back - Lazy Days
Roberto Rodriguiez - Intuition
Roberto Rodriguiez - Intuition
Brent Vassar - Superbump - Asadinho No Sax Dub - Blockhead
Lucca - Woodblocker - Funk D’Void Remix - Sound Of Acapulco
* Whilst I am perfectly happy to enjoy the music of the saxophone outside of house music - indeed John Coltrane is one of my favourite artists (though not the later weird stuff though right? right.) - for some reason I generally cannot abide the sound of a saxophone jazzing out on top of a house record. To my ears it always sounds wrong, incongruous - a saxophone doesn't belong on a house record anymore than an Akai MPC belongs in a Debussy performance. I am aware that it is an arbitrary distinction and that there's no logic to it, but then that's the beauty of the arts isn't it, we're not slaves to reason and logic. But Lay Far's 'Coming Back' has the sax sample buried so deep and made it so repetitive that it just sounds like a nagging synth and doesn't offend me. I have in the past bought house tunes then later found them to have a saxophone break two thirds of the way through and been so offended that even the thought of editing the sax break out isn't enough to stop me abandoning the track and never playing it again. Because I feel like I've been tricked into buying a tune that is in fact an impostor - I thought I was buying a decent track when in fact, I was buying a house record with a saxophone on it.
