The beauty of playing one track at a time

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

played a local talent night and was impressed with the experience of performing one track (with OT and se02), then stopping and introducing the next song.

it was cool and really showed the different character of the songs, how the vibe of each song effected the atmosphere and then to notice how the crowd would respond.

only played two tracks/songs, and it was easy to note that the first one “worked” in its style within the context so much better than the second song’s tempo and style.

performing seamless progressive mixing style of tracks is most likely more a “requirement” or at least more “regular” if playing a club.

anyway just mentioning that it’s also a great feeling and experience to just play one song at a time with space in between.

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#2

I had an embarrassing moment due to seamless mixing.

It was back in 94 or 95. I was dancing around on stage, whilst the guys from Black Dog were setting up. I walked over to one of them to ask what time they’d be starting. He said we’ve been on for 20 mins. Oops!

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#3

did you ask them if they were playing covers of your tracks?

haha but seriously, seamless mixing does have its benefits.

mixing original content seamlessly is something i’m not quite ready for yet.

researching quality headphones, and still figuring out how to actually mix a “song”. currently trying to achieve a “song” by choosing 7 or 8 prepped audio loops.

in some ways it is enough, and in other ways i need more.
perhaps a couple of sequenced midi tracks to go with the 8 song sections is going to add some variety options.

freestyle playing the se02 really brings quite a lot to the gig performance experience. the live element, something to relate to i guess … or the ‘energy’ of being directly musically creative on stage.

#4

I wasn’t on stage performing music. Just dancing around like an imbecile.

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#5

i forgot the Machiendrum was playing and pressed stop when playing at a club.

that was awkward.

talking of awkward, i have thought about it a number of times and every time have not found a solution: is it possible to dance about enthusiastically behind the decks or behind drum machines whilst performing, and not look overly awkward, for want of a better word?

i just don’t think there is any way around it.

when performing electronic tunes the only recommendable span of movement would be in the range of what a singer guitarist could achieve, while holding a large acoustic steel string. in other words … not much.

it seems painfully stringent and yet possibly prevents the emotional pain of watching video footage the next day of oneself bounce about solo behind electronic devices the night before.

i think the Zoo crew in Ibiza have a cool idea, they have groovy dance people hang out with the DJ and sometimes walk about, slightly tipsy on the table. very laissez faire (direct translation being “let do”).

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#6

Check out Thomas Ragsdale. Man’s got moves when he’s playing.

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#7

I’ve been doing pauses between tracks for some time now, but only through the first half of the set. IMO it is really nice and powerful if the tracks that you play have something else to them that you want to convey but rhythm. It just takes some seconds of fading to start a digestion of the music I believe. But when you really have the energy going up high, my personal experience is that it’s best to keep it there. With that said I haven’t done longer live sets than an hour or two. I do get so bored when bands do their long sets though (you know, the regular pop music. Which I really like! For example folkish band Fleet Foxes). Off topic, but hey! Now I’m off to play a set (only wax this time, no live) on some kind of :ship:

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#8

crowd loves it when i tell stories before each track. 'this one is about bdsm" or “i wrote the chorus to this catchy number on the can” so great

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#9

this is all pretty hilarious to me, cos I come from a ‘band’ background. So playing a track, stopping, playing another track, that’s my default.

so, since I started playing live electronic music, I’ve had to learn how to transition. For me, there are times when it’s good to stop – but I’m learning the value of keeping the momentum going. it’s an interesting psychological thing.

#10

Seamless mixing is really quite genre specific (most forms of dance music). If you are playing tracks with BPM variances of greater than 5 I wouldn’t recommend it except for the occasional trick.

People will probably connect with your performance more with a little stage banter in between as the average person has no idea what you are doing when electronic music is being made.

#11

I’ve had to accept my fate as a dj basically and learn to seamlessly transition. that or play to mostly empty clubs since fans of “song mode” don’t really dig one dude on stage “doing nothing”