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What makes an exceptional DJ?

What makes for a good live DJ ?

  • What does a good DJ do right or different that makes a live DJ set above average?

  • Answer:

    Would be great if an actual DJ answered, but I'll take a crack at it as a listener and attendee of such sets. Choice of place and audience. Has a bartender ever been able to somehow make everyones night great? DJ can't either. They just serve music. Even the best ones. That's why great DJs try to play in venues and festivals that have all the other ingredients for a great party. Best nights are made by great crowds. This may sound a bit outside the question asked, but a good DJ chooses where to play carefully in the first place. If it's just another gig on schedule for them, it will come off in their performance. If they chose carefully that their music matches the venue and audience, everything below is easier. Understanding of the audience. A good DJ should really somehow take into account things like: how long have people been dancing to warmup/previous DJs, time of night, tiredness level, how drunk is the audience, are people taking other drugs, and anything that makes the audience different from "average". DJing at an underground rave where many are taking psychoactive drugs should influence the music. DJing at an all-ages club night is completely different. This is similar to: Uniqueness. Any concert/DJ set should be somehow unique. DJ  should try a weird thing or two with the sound or track selection. Even if the crowd wants to hear the same old pop tracks, a good DJ would mash them differently. Being pleasantly surprised is a good thing I find. Like one time, I heard interesting Pink Floyd samples on top of a house set, which was cool and resonated with the audience there. This may be just be, but being kind of a brain, I like to almost "learn" from DJ sets. Meaning, if I don't know any of the tracks in the set, it's been a great set. With music being so easy to find and consume, the value I get from a DJ is genuenly hearing music I otherwise wouldn't come across. Thats what they all day. They go to record stores and online to gather unique music that sets them apart.

Anonymous at Quora Visit the source

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Anon covered a few good points but here are the four crucial points (in my opinion) that make a good live DJ: Track selection - A good live DJ will play not only popular tracks that he knows the crowd will love, but also introduce the crowd to some obscure but absolutely awesome tracks that they may never have heard. Like anon said, I like to discover new music from DJs. Also, mix up what you play, don't pigeon hole yourself to one genre, and definitely don't play the same set/tracks gig after gig. Set flow - The set must progress nicely from start to finish, the tracks should be ordered in such a way that the set builds in energy, but also has it's peaks and troughs. The best live sets take you on a seemless journey of sound. Mixing/technical skill - Bad mixing and lack of true live DJing skill can really ruin a live set. The best live DJs show excellent skill in not only beat matching and smoothly/flawlessly mixing from track to track, but also in layering tracks, vocals, samples, doing live mashups, mixing in and out of multiple tracks, looping/re-looping and subtle but effective use of effects. Crowd interaction/crowd reading - When you see a live DJ set, you expect a proper performance. You don't want to see some dude with his head down buried in a laptop or mixer the whole set. The best live DJs are constantly looking at the crowd, making eye contact, smiling, but also dancing, fist pumping, head nodding, it's always great to see a DJ getting into the music he is playing. If it looks like the DJ is having fun and enjoying himself, you know he's loving what he's doing, and he's more likely to be in tune with the music and the crowd, and give a good solid, entertaining performance. With this also comes the skill of being able to read the crowd, it's not hard to look up at the crowd often, and if you see not many people are dancing, then you're doing something wrong; change it up, raise the BPM or drop something unexpected or drop a song you know is an absolute belter that will get the room moving. If you nail these four things, you will be a very successful and popular live DJ, the only thing I would add to this, if you truly want to be respected and liked, is to be a good, humble person, not just when playing gigs, but also outside of this. If you treat your fans, fellow DJs and the media with respect, you will be well liked. Don't be arrogant, stuck-up, rude, petulant, whinging, aggressive etc. They are mistakes a lot of the top DJs in the world make (speaking from personal experience of having met some very well known DJs) and it makes a lot of people dislike them despite their DJing talent. If you can become famous for your skills as a live DJ without giving in to the rock star mentality, then you will be all the better off for it.

Adam Bottega

The answer by Anon pretty much covers most things. The following is vital: The belief in their music taste to take a risk and play a track/style that people won't have heard before but that he/she believes is an oustanding track - obviously this must be relative to the night you are playing at (i.e. don't be a twat and drop some trendy deep house at a wedding)

Simon Quick

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