warm up sets

to all you guys who play out in clubs was just wandering how you guys play your warm up sets. I have had a nightmare deciding how to play and have now settled on starting really funky eg deetron miss suave building it in to some dark stuff eg reeko then into some more dancefloor orientated tunes eg mr sliff rippin and dippin.
Never realised how hard it is to sort out a set. I am very consious of how i have programmed my set because i feel it is v importaint to the flow of things so any hints and tips for future would be good

Know exactly where you're comin from...

Putting together a warm-up set to flow and gradualy build can be very difficult, especially when your usual style is bang-bang madness. I can't really give you any tips as i'm experiencing similar probs myself, trying to pick up tec-house and funky techno records, when you don't really know what the f**k to look for, i've spent well over the odds recently, and only have a few decent mellower tracks to show for it...

:doh:

Unfortunately most DJs have no concept of how important the warm-up slot is. They often view it is a poor slot, but in fact it's an integral part of the night that they should take responsibility for. Too many DJs get over zealous about things and can't help playing what they think are all their dancefloor devastators in an attempt to make a bigger impression within what they view as a limited slot. It's a very immature way to play and can hamstring a night from the offset.

What needs to be considered is what you are warming up to. For example, if the next DJ is going to be playing fast hard stuff, maybe aim to end your set with that sort of material, but why not actually WARM UP to it, rather than starting at 10pm with a pummelling noise? It gives you the chance to explore how your other records sound, can allow you to relax as the need to play a new record every few seconds isn't there. Also, if the next DJ isn't going to be really hard, try to add to that yourself. Also, most importantly, you can help the night to have some progression rather than keeping it on one level all night, leaving the party people feeling as if something interesting has actually happened.

One problem with all this is that many DJs are just too narrow minded to see that there is quality music beyond fast banging techno. Why not play ambient or slow spacey stuff for the first half hour and build it up from there, for example? It's not as if the doors open and everyone rushes in and wants to start pogo-ing immediately...give them some time to settle in, get a drink, rendezvous with their friends, find their spot on the floor. Then do something. Don't feel that you are being restricted because you can't play exactly what you want, turn it around and play exactly what you want in the context of your time slot. Take the time and make it your own - there's no need for compromise as long as your priority is quality and not just BANGING.

I love playing the warm up, I'd love to have a residency for this reason.. I only play places as a guest, so generally you have to play pretty rocking..
Totally gives you the space to play deeper stuff....

Feelin that...

:clap:

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Originally Posted by crime

I love playing the warm up, I'd love to have a residency for this reason.. I only play places as a guest, so generally you have to play pretty rocking..
Totally gives you the space to play deeper stuff....

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yeah I've been gagging for some warm up slots.

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Originally Posted by crime

I love playing the warm up, I'd love to have a residency for this reason.. I only play places as a guest, so generally you have to play pretty rocking..
Totally gives you the space to play deeper stuff....

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I'm with you 100%. A couple weeks ago I had the rare opportunity to play earlier for a change and it was cool cause I got to play a ton of my records I usually never would dream of playing during a peaktime set.

It's true though...most DJs don't know shit about setting up the DJ ahead of you.

i think a lot has to do with the fear of being labeled a warm up man. I think some dj's must think that people will think thats all they play and won't ever get the chance to bang it out. Its been a big difference playing as slow and light as i have but i must admit it has made me realise how good some of the funky tunes are

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Originally Posted by death on a stick

Unfortunately most DJs have no concept of how important the warm-up slot is. They often view it is a poor slot, but in fact it's an integral part of the night that they should take responsibility for. Too many DJs get over zealous about things and can't help playing what they think are all their dancefloor devastators in an attempt to make a bigger impression within what they view as a limited slot. It's a very immature way to play and can hamstring a night from the offset.

What needs to be considered is what you are warming up to. For example, if the next DJ is going to be playing fast hard stuff, maybe aim to end your set with that sort of material, but why not actually WARM UP to it, rather than starting at 10pm with a pummelling noise? It gives you the chance to explore how your other records sound, can allow you to relax as the need to play a new record every few seconds isn't there. Also, if the next DJ isn't going to be really hard, try to add to that yourself. Also, most importantly, you can help the night to have some progression rather than keeping it on one level all night, leaving the party people feeling as if something interesting has actually happened.

One problem with all this is that many DJs are just too narrow minded to see that there is quality music beyond fast banging techno. Why not play ambient or slow spacey stuff for the first half hour and build it up from there, for example? It's not as if the doors open and everyone rushes in and wants to start pogo-ing immediately...give them some time to settle in, get a drink, rendezvous with their friends, find their spot on the floor. Then do something. Don't feel that you are being restricted because you can't play exactly what you want, turn it around and play exactly what you want in the context of your time slot. Take the time and make it your own - there's no need for compromise as long as your priority is quality and not just BANGING.

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some good advice there. ;)

the worts thing i wittnessed was a warm up deejay, who looked like a cyberkid, started to play at 155bpm´s at 10 o´clock when people just came in :lol: . there were aproximatly 10 people there and he was dancing like a maniac behind them turntables.....
if you wanna be a good warm up dj don´t do this :nono:

i would bloody kill someone if they left me with a tune 155bpm :lol:

me too :lol:

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Originally Posted by death on a stick

Unfortunately most DJs have no concept of how important the warm-up slot is. They often view it is a poor slot, but in fact it's an integral part of the night that they should take responsibility for. Too many DJs get over zealous about things and can't help playing what they think are all their dancefloor devastators in an attempt to make a bigger impression within what they view as a limited slot. It's a very immature way to play and can hamstring a night from the offset.

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Have to say I don't agree - I wanna be in a club from mid-night with phat hard tunes playing not have to wait until 4-5am when a name DJ comes on to pick up the pace... guess that's why squat parties are so good.

And if somebody left me with 155bmp I'd be very happy you can slam in some acid then rollercoaster it it whatever tempo you want - all the best sets I've heard didn't slowly build in some kinda of uniform way.

If you're talking warm-up to no punters then I'd play some quality ghettotech and a few low-fi beats with lots of analogue.

and harder electro can work very well in bars were nobody is gonna dance anyway.

The warm up is a great slot to play. You get too see the club and the dancefloor fill up and you can see people really appreciating the stuff you are playing as, generally, they're not off their nuts at the beginning of the night.
Have a word with Paul to see who's on after you, this may help you in sorting out your set.

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Originally Posted by jonnyspeed

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Originally Posted by death on a stick

Unfortunately most DJs have no concept of how important the warm-up slot is. They often view it is a poor slot, but in fact it's an integral part of the night that they should take responsibility for. Too many DJs get over zealous about things and can't help playing what they think are all their dancefloor devastators in an attempt to make a bigger impression within what they view as a limited slot. It's a very immature way to play and can hamstring a night from the offset.

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Have to say I don't agree - I wanna be in a club from mid-night with phat hard tunes playing not have to wait until 4-5am when a name DJ comes on to pick up the pace... guess that's why squat parties are so good.

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4-5am, in the context of what I believe we're talking about here, is almost the end of the night, so is way beyond the warm-up. Most clubs in the UK have defined start times (usually 10pm ish) and end times (rarely later than 6am) - so warm up would be until around 1am when things start to get going and people wanna start rocking. The time restrictions on licensed clubs mean that some structure has to be worked out or the night won't achieve it's potential. Squat parties have little or no structure to them. When's the warm up....at the start of the evening? Or was it this morning, or two days ago when the party started? Or maybe it was when the guy who was playing below 150bpm fell asleep and the gabber crew took over the decks?

I'm not really a warm up expert but a recent warm up set i did started with tracks on Trapez, Kompakt, Gadgets [minimal stuff basically], then stuff like deep Sterac & Mark broom records, D1, Kanzleramt, vocal tribal stuff a la Oliver Ho, then stuff like Tim Wright, Framework and on into more uplifting synty stuff from Tony Rohr, Hacker and so on. Then Umek came on and played Recycled loop type records for 2 hours :roll:

A little while back I did a warm up set at Electricity before Oscar Mulero where the lads billed me as 'electro and deep techno set' so in a way I had no choice but to vary what I played, to be honest I was slightly apprehensive but it was a new challenge that I really enjoyed and it made me think a lot more about how I should build my set when I play out rather than just the easy "right there ye go, **** you if you don't like this hard mutha ****a" attitude.

techno's such a far reaching genre, and a good techno night should be as all inclusive as possible... banging it out at 10 o'clock or whatever is boring, where's the night meant to go from there? people lose interest quite fast this way.. they need to groove a bit first.

well this is what i am playin anyway i think
deetron - miss suave
destination - definition of lovetrevor rockcliffe feat blake baxter - visions of you sls mix
christian smith& john selway - excel
brian zentz - d clash slam mix
damon vallero - cr009
resistance - morphology
reeko - psychiatric hospital
takaaki itoh - nightmare continues
reeko - he's coming
reeko - youth violence
alexander kowalski - you think you know bmb mix
christian wunsch - damage done (no rest)
robert natus - chefrocker
tomaz vs filterheadz - sunshine
sebastian kremer - beyond cause
richie hawtin - minus orange
pete simpson - work that booty
mr sliff rippin and dippin pt 2
adam beyer - lost & found ep
jeff mills - the bells
james ruskin - conspiracy ep

what you guys think. Bearing in mind it is a bank holiday special and am on 6-7:30 and i don't normally play tunes i would class as warm up stuff. I normally play play hard as **** eg laker thomas gee kramer ect.

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Originally Posted by Tiptoe

what you guys think. Bearing in mind it is a bank holiday special and am on 6-7:30 and i don't normally play tunes i would class as warm up stuff. I normally play play hard as **** eg laker thomas gee kramer ect.

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Get rid of "Sunshine" for a start anyway, who do you think you are, Billy Nasty ? ;) :lol: