So you want to be a Dance Away DJ? These guidelines will help you get started. Even if you are an experienced DJ, you should read this because Dance Away is most likely unlike any venue you have played before. If you have never DJed before, you have one advantage over most experienced DJs; you don't have misconceptions to lose and old habits to break. There are three things that come together to make a good night at Dance Away: the DJ, the music and the equipment. Each factor is elaborated below.
To be a good DJ at Dance Away, you have to be aware of what is happening on the dance floor. You have to be sensitive to the mood on the dancers and respond accordingly. This means no hiding behind a closed door. If you keep the door closed, you have no idea how people are responding to the music or even if the music is too loud or too soft. Instead we need our DJ's to notice whether people are still dancing, along with how many people are sitting, talking or going outside. Be aware of who is sitting, talking or going outside. If you know what kind of music they like, play something for them. Be open to feedback. If someone tells you the music is lousy, take a look at the floor to see how many other people feel the same way. At the same time, if someone tells you they love the music, take a look at the floor to see how many other people feel the same way. Listen to verbal feedback but use your eyes too.
To be a good Dance Away DJ, you have to put your ego aside. Dance Away is not just about you or the music you like. One of the worst things you can do, is to come in with the attitude that you are going to teach the dancers or introduce them to some genre that doesn't get played at Dance Away much. Instead, you should be learning from them. If they like what you bring to Dance Away, great! But if they don't, don't keep trying to change them; rather be willing to change what you are playing to better support their experience.
Although you should be open to feedback, one of the biggest distractions for a DJ is people talking to them. Sometimes you just have to tell someone that they have to talk to you when you are not so busy. You may have to deal with someone who wants to argue with you about the music. For example, someone may come in and tell you that nobody is dancing and not leave. If that happens, take a look at the dance floor to see if what that person is saying is accurate. (Some people say, "nobody is dancing" when what they mean is, "I am not dancing".) If you see that everyone else is enjoying themselves, either ask that person to leave, put on the headphones and tune them out or ask the manager for help.
Another big distraction is wanting to dance to your own music. If you can dance and still be focused on DJing, great! But if you don't yet have a CD cued for the next song, you're not ready to be outside the sound room.
When you are distracted, it is easy to forget which CD player is playing and you may eject a CD that is playing or make some oher mistake. An easy way to avoid this is to raise the volume only part way up after you have the next song cued up. Thay way, all you have to do is glance at the mixer to see which CD is live.
When cueing, turn the volum of the CD player all the way down. When cued, turn it up but keep it less than the live CD player. Don't equalize the volumes util right before you start the next song.
Recomended Decibel Levels
It is recommended that new DJs bring a play list but not be bound by it. If what you are playing isn't working, change. Flow with the mood on the dance floor at the same time that you are guiding the mood with the music. Be open to change. You are not required to play all requests but when you get one, consider whether it will work or not, not just whether you like it or not. Music evolves. People's tastes change. Bend with the flow.
Dance Away is not like a club or rave where music is often so loud that it can cause hearing loss. The DJ should be aware of and regulate the volume. (No louder than 95 decibels)
You can't be aware of the volume if you keep the door closed and headphones on. Stick your head out and check the volume every now and then. As more people arrive, adjust the volume up to compensate.
If you have ever been a DJ at a club or radio station, you were probably playing a much more limited range of music than is expected at Dance Away. Clubs usually restrict their music to a single genre and/or single decade. Often, the music sounds like a single song stretched out for three hours or more. At Dance Away, we are not trying to reproduce a club atmosphere with one style of seamless music. At Dance Away, variety is the key. Music should vary in the following ways:
The music at Dance Away varies all the way from what you might expect if you were getting a massage to what you would expect from an aerobics class. Most of the slow music is played at the beginning but you might consider also playing some later so people don't burn out and stop dancing. Waves work best; a cycle of music which starts slow and builds up, hits a peak then eases down again.
Lean towards newer music but play older tunes too.
Even at Dance Away, people now and then like to hear something familar.
Not everybody likes the same artists. Don't play two songs in a row by the same artist. Don't play one artist too many times in one night. Don't play the same song more than once in one night. Experiment. People like variety
People will notice if you recycle your old play lists. Most of the people at Dance Away are regulars. Even if your gigs are eight weeks apart, some people will object if when you play the same songs in the same order.
Don't fall into a narrow rut. The people who come to Dance Away come from a lot of different backgrounds. Try to play a little something for everyone.
Rockabilly, Rock & Roll, New Wave, etc.
Old School, 70's Disco, etc.
Hip Hop, House, Trance, Techno, Electronica, etc.
The USA isn't the only country in the world and many people at Dance Away like World Music. Playing multi-cultural music is one of the things that really separates Dance Away from typical clubs
New Native music from America and Canada. Aboriginal music from Australia.
Artists like King Sunny Adé, Issa Bagayago, Manu Dibango, Angelique Kidjo, Baaba Maal, etc.
Bhangra music, Asian Underground, Tibetan Chant etc.
Calypso, Reggae, Soca, Zouk, etc.
Artists like Capercaille, Clannad, Enya, Loreena McKennitt.
Gitano (Gipsy Kings), Latin Hip Hop, Latin House, Mexican Pop (Thalia, Cristina Aguileria), Brazilian, Cuban. Artists like Gloria Estefan, Rick Martin, Shakira, Santana.
Raï Music, Belly Dance, etc. Artists like Alabina, Natacha Atlas, Cheb Tarik, Gulseren, Khaled, Hakim, Hasna, Mera, Oojami etc.
Selections that mix music from different cultures and/or mix ethnic music with Western music.
Artists like James Asher, Deep Forest, Afro Celt Sound System, Baka Beyond, Banco De Gaia, Dr Didj, Enigma, Mick Hart, Bob Holroyd, Gabrielle Roth, Turbo Tabla, Xcultures.
A sprinkling for variety. Country (Yes, we sometimes play Country Music), Polka, Swing, Waltz, Zydeco.
Easy to use. Just turn it on. Don't touch the knobs.
Similar to what most people have at home.
If you have never used one before, it will be confusing at first but it is easy to use for cueing. When you search through a song, you can pause on a single frame. When you release the button then you can go back or forward a single frame (1/75th of a second) at a time or faster. After you push "Play", you can push "Cue" to return to exactly where you started instead of the beginning of the song. This is good for songs that have non-danceable intros, silent intros or for when ever you don't want to start at the beginning of the song. If you want to change the speed for some reason, you have the option with this CD player. If you accidentally push, "Open" while that CD is playing, it will not open. You must push "Pause" before it will open.
The output from the CD players and turntables go into the mixer where you can control the volumes independently. You can also adjust bass, midrange and treble.
The mixer only has inputs for the turntables and two line level devices. That is why one switch box was added so the cassette player could be switched with one of the CD players. Later, a second one was added to allow for other devices (MD players, MP3 players, extra CD players, computers) and both were wired so that they can be switched with either CD player.
Rarely used or maintained. Check the grounding and speed before use. If you plan on using vinyl, you will have to be trained by a DJ who can show you how to cue these or you will need know how already.
It is strongly advised that you do not use the cassette player. The sound quality of cassettes is far inferior to CDs; they are hard to cue and the machine is not maintained. If you use it, you should clean and demagnetize it every time you do.
It is dark in the sound area. BYOL
We used to keep some in the sound closet but they kept getting damaged or lost. BYOH.
Silence is something you want to avoid. To keep people on the dance floor moving, you need to keep momentum, and silence kills momentum. More than one second of silence and people are either wandering off or wondering if the DJ screwed up. Use the mixer to segue from one song to the next.
A segue is when a song partially overlaps the song preceding it to produce a seamless transition. Beat matching is one way of seguing songs. Although beat matching is not too important at Dance Away and should not be used for long sequiences, it is good to know the idea behind it. For more detailed descriptions do an internet search for "beat matching".
Beat matchingBeat matching is one way of seamlessly segueing one song into another by matching up their beats and tempos. Beat matching works well when the two songs are the same genre, the tempos are very close (or one is a multiple of the other) and the beat structure is similar. That's why club music can sound like they are playing the same song all night long. Most tutorials say something like, "All dance music has a 4/4 beat". This is simply not true. Waltz and Swing do not have a 4/4 beat, to name a few. Beat matching also depends on you're being able to cue your sources exactly and change their speeds. Only one of our CD players has those capacities.
While song one is playing, listen to song 2 on the headphones. Use the pitch control to match speeds. Cue song 2 so that it starts on the first beat of a measure. When song 1 is about 1 second from the end, listen for a point where it is at the first beat of a measure and start song 2 so the beats overlap. Fade out song two so that it ends before the end of the measure.
So how do you make a good segue without beat matching? That is more of an art than a science so the best way to learn is to practice. You can get a basic mixer at Radio Shack for about $50 or on Ebay for about $10. You don't need anything fancy like pitch control because what you will usually use at Dance Away doesn't have that. All it needs is two line level inputs and faders.
Start off with New Age music because it has little or no beat and usually has fade ins and fad outs. As one begins to fade out, ease the next one into it trying to keep the volume constant. New Age music is so easy to segue that sometimes even a beginner can overlap two songs for a minute and no one can tell. Other genres aren't so easy. For them, you should know how each song begins and ends.
Let song 1 fade out. When it is about 1/4 volume, drop song 2 in. If the beats don't quite match up, use the fader to drop out song one a little faster.
If the first song has an abrupt end, you can make it into a fade out with the fader. Watch the countdown timer and start fading about 5 seconds before the end
If adding a fade won't work for a song, start song two about 1/4 volume a little before the first one ends. Be ready to boost the volume when song 1 drops out.
This is the hardest. It is possible to drop the first beat of song 2 right on top of the last beat of the first song but it is usually easier to add a fade out to the first or a fade in to the second.
As mentioned, the people who come to Dance Away are of diverse backgrounds, musical tastes and ages. Don't play a extended set (three or more) of just one genre. If you have played three House songs, try a Middle Eastern or African song. If you have played three with female vocals, try one with male vocals. If you have played two oldies in a row, play something newer. If you see that people are leaving the dance floor in droves, change something!
Although you should vary the speed, don't jump back and forth between extremes too much. If you are going from a Hard House song to Enya to a Middle Eastern Techno song, ease people through at least one of the transitions with an intermediate speed songs.
You may want to play copied CDs or pre-recorded sets. Be aware that you may have problems with copied CDs and pre-recorded sets.
Being a Dance Away DJ is an interactive job so if you are pre-recording your whole night, you are not doing the most important part of being a DJ - reading and reacting to the dancers. If you pre-record your set, you are stuck with what you have. You can't play requests or change if you get negative feedback.
Know your source. If you are getting MP3s from the internet, they may be of poor quality. You may not be able to tell at home but at the volume we play at Dance Away, you can. Go for high quality, not small file size. iTunes, ect. will sometimes clip the end of a song so it ends unexpectedly. Preview your downloads before you play them.
Burned CDs are more susceptible to error. These situations have occurred to DJs relying on burned cds:
