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Tópico: Crowd or DJ? - Page: 1

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This is another one of my random ?s

Our moods determine how and what we play, even with that if we still playin a good set and the crowd not really rockin would that be the crowd or the dj at that point?
 
Mensajes Thu 03 Jun 10 @ 7:41 am
I feel that as a Dj you should feel the crowd, read the crowd, and see what they respond to. Unless you are booked to play one specific genre of music, you must be able to improvise and be ready with several genres of music. However, even if you are booked to play a two hour set, and your set is not that great, be ready to improvise on your set, if you are doing a set of trance music per say.

In addition, one thing I learned from doing house parties, it's that house parties, wedding, and such, are always a challenge because you never know what type of crowd to expect. You could be doing an amazing set on top 40's, and people will just not get into it. In the other hand, you can play a mediocre set of mashups, and any other stuff in between, and you'll have the crowd going wild.

Furthermore, not all parties are the same, not all crowds are the same, so make sure you are able to read, feel, and flow with the crowd to see what genre of music they are into, and build it up from that point forward. Many times, you will notice that all it takes its for one brave soul to get the party going, and once you have them, you will be rocking the crowd like you cannot imagine, but always remember, one song, just one song can ruin your whole set, and make the crowd walk away. Just because you love one particular song, and you think it will rock everyone else, does not mean that everyone at the party will enjoy your song. Therefore, think about it twice before ruining your set and upseting the crowd with one song.

It's not the people that are not rocking, nor the Dj that is not rocking them, it's not finding the right song to spark up the dance floor.
 
As a club DJ I couldn't agree with you more about reading your crowd. The same people and same moods aren't always consistent. Then again, you run into situations like this one ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_kzDFj5VwE ) sometimes where you spin a certain genre, and the venue that hires you knows this....yet the crowd is dead. Those situations I really am not sure who to blame, cause on one hand you COULD leave your comfort zone and do something else, but then again the venue should have had an idea of what would work and what wouldn't and should have booked accordingly....but you also have the crowd aspect of it. Honestly a lot of americans, not all, but a lot are picky about music and don't get into the house, dubstep, etc. scene as much as other countries do unless you hit your bigger named clubs. But that again can really fall back to the venue booking agent. However 99% of the time this doesn't happen. It all boils down to reading your crowd and hopefully finding something that works for them.






Michael
 
i think that we dont know what we play when were mad or happy we just play real good
 
I agree with the other jocks... U gotta know your crowd and know what's HOT!!!!! I always have some fail-safes, cuts that will get the dance floor packed for at least that song and then I try to keep em' there. If they leave on the next song..., I try another one, if after that no luck then I figure that they're not ready to dance yet. i.e. need more to drink. But I try to keep the energy flowing in the club or event anyway. Also mic work always helps. I can hype a crowd up with my voice, then let the music take over.
 
Personally I have to be on top of the world and I can-not have any stress before hand, i.e. managers/owners etc

Just let me do my job! Most people don't bother me now, they trust me. If a new manager come up to me and says something patronising like - wind it down before you finish won't you!!! I just look down at the floor with a smile on my face shaking my head. Stuff like that doesn't bother me, I just think to myself - no you don't say
 
@ Mistah P. Its hard to answer your question because we dont know if your at a club or private gig. Second is that, if you ar at a club and you are the first dj to be on the set, its going to take some before you see people dancing. The openning dj is playing music to set the mood and then make people dance. The first thing people do when they go to a club is get drinks.
 
Interesting situation, we've all been there.

Depends on the crowd.
If they came to party, anything works.
If they came to be entertained, a mic jockey or gimmick is needed.
Seen it all, from goof ball acts to puppet masters, to magicians to hypnotists and personally I hate it.

But, you gotta do what you have to and get the crowd up in your own way.

I do one place that just has too many chairs, and the dance floor is too small with lofts above and people don't want to be the ice breakers or be watched.
I am that way myself actually.
Fine behind the console, but a stiff when sober on the dance floor.

A stigma sets in and its hard to break at times.
Sometimes people are tired like on Friday nights.
People attending weddings are usually happy and looking for party and booze, and dressed to kill, the rest is easy.

Sometimes the room is just too big.

Sometimes the dj antics turn people off, for me its mic jockeys.

Blending music seems to be the most successful thing for me, people get turned on by that, more than any effect you can use.

Sometimes the music is too slow or too fast or you are saving the best set for later rather than dropping it and lighting that fuse right away.

I tend to jump around a lot until I find the key to the crowd.

Always look up and at your crowd so they can see you connect with them.

Sometimes its content also.
You play a remix or club edit to a crowd that is looking for the original track and its all wrong.

So its a bit of a science to master or you look like a dope.

But don't be afraid to jump around to find the crowd.
 
@ caliente: it wasnt me at all, the ? came from a spot i was at, the dj was doin his thing he was hitting all the rite songs he was on point he had the right mood he was just doin his thing but there was no crowd interaction, which is where my question comes from, being a dj i knew his pain and im not a dancer so i dont get on the floor period. so thats where i have to say at some point its got to be the crowd at some point the man behind the music does all he can do..you cant tell me you can play every "hit" radio" top" or whatever you want to call it track and they dont move and still tell me the dj is at fault, CAN YOU?

dont get me wrong, i know you have to know about reading your crowd that comes with your job but..
 
Mistah, there's a lot of true on your comment about the people. I have been to endless parties where the crowd just won't dance, they remind of the song by Mc Shy "Shake it", because in many occasions you could see the crowd just shaking from side to side, but none would get up to the dance floor.

In many house parties, people just go to kick it, chill, relax and enjoy the drinks and food, the music is a plus and many will not even dance. At a club, it is true what they say about the opening Dj, not everyone will dance because the opening Dj is setting up the mood.

A lot depends on the crowd, and like many of us in here have stated, every Dj has to be able to read the crowd, feel the crowd, and yes, eye contact with the crowd is highly important, because that could lead the Dj to be in touch with the crowd and thus change the music and get the positive reaction he is looking for in order to spark up the place.

I think all of us in here, have had one of those parties where no matter what we play, the people will just not get into it.
 
Fuskit wrote :
As a club DJ I couldn't agree with you more about reading your crowd. The same people and same moods aren't always consistent. Then again, you run into situations like this one ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_kzDFj5VwE ) sometimes where you spin a certain genre, and the venue that hires you knows this....yet the crowd is dead. Those situations I really am not sure who to blame, cause on one hand you COULD leave your comfort zone and do something else, but then again the venue should have had an idea of what would work and what wouldn't and should have booked accordingly....but you also have the crowd aspect of it. Honestly a lot of americans, not all, but a lot are picky about music and don't get into the house, dubstep, etc. scene as much as other countries do unless you hit your bigger named clubs. But that again can really fall back to the venue booking agent. However 99% of the time this doesn't happen. It all boils down to reading your crowd and hopefully finding something that works for them.






Michael


You would get the same reaction from my club.. they like hip-hop, but you know what.. after about 45 minutes they would get drunk and dance anyways
 
My club I have to start off with the top 40 stuff and work into house remixes of the top 40 (after everyone is good and drunk) if I want to spin house. Which I actually prefer over the basic top 40 stuff cause if I wanted to hear the radio.....I would turn on the radio. But that is neither here nor there. Yes there have been situations that we all have faced somewhere, sometime at some gig where we hit everything on the Top (insert your favorite music chart here) Charts and no one would get up and dance....they would bob and move where they are at.....but not on the floor. I contribute this to people not wanting to be the first "idiot" on the dance floor...unless that one person who just doesn't give a damn gets there (or gets really trashed) and jumps on the floor. There is a thread on here somewhere about "cheezy dance floor fillers", as much as I hate alot of the songs on the list (cupid shuffle and cha cha slide being my two least favorites, I hate songs with directions) they do work....at least around here. Only one side effect, once you play it and they know you have it, you will hear about it all night... If all else fails, play something old school that EVERYONE remembers, like "Baby Got Back" or something like that...chicks will be the first on the floor followed closely by guys.








Michael
 
I have never managed a crowed as of yet, but i think it would be crowed, followed closely by the DJ. If your crowd loves the genre your playing, and so do you, the DJ, i'm sure you'll both feel the vibe and make a great event.
 
The crap I had to put up with last night in my club residency;

We are currently struggling for numbers as are all clubs around this area, due to credit crunch mainly, as well as the added problem of the smoking ban introduced in the UK 3 years ago. Because alcohol is so cheap at the major supermarkets lots of former clubbers now have house parties where they can drink cheaply and smoke. The club/pub scene is on its knees here in the UK. Last night was one of our worst nights for numbers, probably because we're experiencing a mini heatwave and everyone is BBQing at home and drinking cheap beer from the supermarkets. We must have only had a quarter of our possible numbers of punters in last night. Problem with that is, people like to be where other people are i.e. if it's crowded most people would say they had a good night, if its empty, they will say that the venue is crap. Reading the dancefloor in this situation becomes virtually impossible as there are non or few dancers. Best you can do is play all the tunes that you usually do.

I had a situation that really got me mad last night. One of the punters who is a regular (and is friendly with the manager and think they are influential) told the manager that the music was crap but that I was usually excellent. The manager came up to me and told me this (same thing happened with the same person 3 weeks ago) of course in the middle of your gig this can be very upsetting and annoying. I complained that I didn't know what this punter wanted as she would not come and ask me for a request. With one or two requests from a punter I can usually tune in to their "wavelength" and can select several tunes that they will probably like. I play commercial chart music mainly but open to play almost anything. I am all video and have as part of my scrolling messages on SBDJ scrolling text "Any requests ask Les in the DJ Booth". I constantly call on the microphone for requests throughout the night and always have done. I am well known for playing requests in my area, I play what the people want not what I want. Just checked and I had 26 requests last night, last Friday I had 44 which is more the norm.

I told the manager to tell the girl to come and tell me what she wants played. Eventually this girl came to see me and asked for chart music (I was already playing it!). I gave her my printout of the Current BBC Top 40 for this week, she asked for N-Dubz - We Dance On and I played it next for her. Afterwards she came and asked for Alexandra Burke - All Night Long, then later Christina Aguilera - Dirrty and I played them for her. She never stopped dancing all night (by herself). Now then, I play these tunes every night, so, why is she going to the management and complaining that the music is crap??? It makes me look bad when there is nothing wrong. GGGGGrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!
 
Mostly four things (a) The Djs experience and ability to read the crowd (b) The mood of the crowd (c) type of event/venue and (d) the demographic and EXPECTATION of the crowd.

(D) I list the last one in bold because it is really the most important. If the crowd is not coming to a club EXPECTiNG to dance they probably won't . I.e. I Vj a few sports bars and it is mostly guys who want want to sit, drink beer and watch the bouncing boobies in the hard rock or hard hip hop videos all night. Because of the reputation of the venue when the few women come in they also won't dance but as the Dj I can't change to the few women's music or I will run out the core crowd that pays the bills!

(C) Some venues, especially the lounges in Scottsdale the crowd thinks they are too "chic" to dance and many of the venues don't have dancefloors. The people are only their to see and be scene, but dance, not a chance, that's what the club next door is for!

(B) DUring happy hour or the early part of the night most people just aren't in a dancing mood, they want to talk, meet, mingle, enjoy the videos, the buffet, the cheap drinks.....send in a bachelorette party or a birthday party of office workers and instantly the part is on as the mood changes, even though the Dj did absolutley nothing to change anything.

(A) The experienced Dj will know which of the above is the case and adjust his/her show accordingly to keep as many people happy, staying, buying drinks/food,telling everyone they had a great time and returning frequently. You see, that is the Dj's job....assisting people to find their "happy zone" and making the establishment money, the dancing part is only one of the tools in our bag of tricks!
 
DJSoulman wrote :
The crap I had to put up with last night in my club residency;

We are currently struggling for numbers as are all clubs around this area, due to credit crunch mainly, as well as the added problem of the smoking ban introduced in the UK 3 years ago. Because alcohol is so cheap at the major supermarkets lots of former clubbers now have house parties where they can drink cheaply and smoke. The club/pub scene is on its knees here in the UK. Last night was one of our worst nights for numbers, probably because we're experiencing a mini heatwave and everyone is BBQing at home and drinking cheap beer from the supermarkets. We must have only had a quarter of our possible numbers of punters in last night. Problem with that is, people like to be where other people are i.e. if it's crowded most people would say they had a good night, if its empty, they will say that the venue is crap. Reading the dancefloor in this situation becomes virtually impossible as there are non or few dancers. Best you can do is play all the tunes that you usually do.

I had a situation that really got me mad last night. One of the punters who is a regular (and is friendly with the manager and think they are influential) told the manager that the music was crap but that I was usually excellent. The manager came up to me and told me this (same thing happened with the same person 3 weeks ago) of course in the middle of your gig this can be very upsetting and annoying. I complained that I didn't know what this punter wanted as she would not come and ask me for a request. With one or two requests from a punter I can usually tune in to their "wavelength" and can select several tunes that they will probably like. I play commercial chart music mainly but open to play almost anything. I am all video and have as part of my scrolling messages on SBDJ scrolling text "Any requests ask Les in the DJ Booth". I constantly call on the microphone for requests throughout the night and always have done. I am well known for playing requests in my area, I play what the people want not what I want. Just checked and I had 26 requests last night, last Friday I had 44 which is more the norm.

I told the manager to tell the girl to come and tell me what she wants played. Eventually this girl came to see me and asked for chart music (I was already playing it!). I gave her my printout of the Current BBC Top 40 for this week, she asked for N-Dubz - We Dance On and I played it next for her. Afterwards she came and asked for Alexandra Burke - All Night Long, then later Christina Aguilera - Dirrty and I played them for her. She never stopped dancing all night (by herself). Now then, I play these tunes every night, so, why is she going to the management and complaining that the music is crap??? It makes me look bad when there is nothing wrong. GGGGGrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!


Dude, i agree. The UK is down on its knees atm. I personally havn't been out clubbing in a good 6 months.

#1 It will easily cost me over £100 on drinks alone, without buying mates any, then £20 on food and a taxi home
#2 Over priced drinks are a killer
#3 Under staffed bars cause a big problem, you have to wait a good 10 minutes to get a drink, in the end i walk off elsewhere.
#4 Amount of Tw@ts who want to start a fight with you.
#5 I would rather drink at home, a whole crate of beer for £10, with a BBQ and get drunk with Radio 1 on the television?

Whats more DJSoulman, there's going to be higher tax on booze, which means even more of a dead out. Great old government!

As with regards to your question about the girl, you can only assume she's shy, friends with the manager, or she thinks that you wont play her stuff. I've seen girls ask bouncers to ask the DJ for songs, the bouncers say no, but the girls give them a kiss and off they go to do the dirty work.

Where are you from DJSoulman?
 
I've had that happen as well with people requesting the same genre I am already playing saying "this stuff is crap, play some newer radio type stuff", or request the same SONG that is CURRENTLY playing. I have that about twice a week actually. My problem is the club I am at is in a small ass town that unless it is on the radio....they don't hear it or know about it. The town is like 20 years behind the times on music unless it is on the local "top-40" radio station that still plays tracks from 20 years ago (and the same songs over and over again). I get requests for Baby Got Back, Cupid Shuffle, Cha Cha Slide, Tootsie Roll....just to name a few. So basically what I am saying is another factor (which sucks for me cause I really don't want to play old shit at a club, lol) is the area you are in as well. If the people are stuck to the radio and the songs that were popular when they were younger.....you are pretty much stuck. Cause we all know in a 1hr period on the radio you can hear the same song anywhere up to 3 times (I tested this theory once and listened to the radio for 4 hrs just to see). Therefore the patrons of your establishment are going to want you to be the radio essentially....God I can't wait to find a new residency, lol.








Michael
 
dannyboy2005 wrote :


Where are you from DJSoulman?


Consett, Co. Durham......... about 12 miles west of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Luckily we had a pretty good Saturday Night with more than double Friday night's numbers.

Cheers
Les
 
My situation is quite a bit different from you guys, I VJ in a 42 lane bowling center. This has its ups and downs. The UPS are 4 Big screens, with the newest added which is over 17ft wide (Which makes it 5) plus with the new scoring system it puts a 42"LCD at each pair of lanes. These will replace our aging projectors and screens, ok back to it. In this situation they really aren't there to dance (OR ARE THEY)?? It has gone both ways, they could all be bowling with their friends then they are all dancing. This is a REALLY weird crowd to read. Mostly top 40 with more rap as well as oldschool.

Then you get the 3 to 4 idiots that want Alternative all night..... Yea not gonna happen..

Or the girl who requests a song that is ALREADY PLAYING (as above)..

Or I was in the bathroom..

The list is endless, so in my situation the only way to tell if it is good is to see them the next week.
 
I recently lost my residency in a local club because of poor numbers etc. But the reasons are exactly them same as Les has pointed out. Until the government stand up to the supermarkets, the club/pub scene is gonna keep disappearing...

Now I was back at the same club last week for a special, only to find out that the club hasn't picked up with the new DJ's the manager replaced me with and even the owner has told him to get me back!!!

We'll see what happens, if they come to me I'll start the price negotiations. Always better to be in the driving seat for these situations ;-)

Anyway, back on topic - It varies from night to night. I used to get some people come in the club because they knew I was there and what I played (commercial). Therefore "The DJ", most nights however you never know who's gonna walk through the door so you have to read the crowd and then "tune in".

It's different if you're a "named DJ" where you go to a club to play a set. You arrive knowing in advance what you are going to play, play what you've brought and then chill or leave. You don't take requests because you are known for what you do. But then you are only there for an hour or so, so it's up to the other DJ's to work the crowd in that respect...

Cheers,

Roy
 
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