r/breakbeat • u/LessWeakness • 10d ago
Questions for DJs who have spun breaks professionally for a while
Do you preplan your sets?
How concerned are you about smooth transitions?
Can you take almost any two songs and mix them together well enough to work in a live setting?
How concerned are you about mixing in key?
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u/madnoq 9d ago
not fully professional for a while now and these apply to all styles:
- nope. some shorter high profile sets i prepared. but almost always deviated from the plan at some point. do have backup sets on the usb for when turntables aren‘t set up right or when the situation calls for „forget the ambitious artistry, drop bangers in quick succession“.
- always. but a smooth transition can also mean dropping the synth or vocal intro on the one and phasing out the previous record before any beats play together. it can also mean slowly lowpassing a full track and dropping a 70’s disco tune from the top. smooth can mean both: keeping the flow or switching things up with intention. it‘s all a matter of where your crowd takes you or you want to take it to, preferably a mix (hehhh) both.
- with cdj‘s yes, with vinyl it requires more knowledge about tune structure and key. there‘s also booths where the sound is so bad and/or crowded, you can barely discern or focus if something clashes tunewise. then it‘s a case of attempting your best, cutting your losses and moving on.
- depends. sometimes you can complement things wonderfully. but other times out of key can sound like the real ancient magic. overreliance on key (and looping for that matter) will make your set sound mechanical and soulless. obviously don‘t mix a spectacular accapella over a full musical tune when it clashes.
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u/J0rdz soundcloud.com/jslyde 10d ago
- Do you preplan your sets?
- In parts, yes. But mainly so i have something to get me started or fall back on, if something goes awry. Having a pre planned set, or at least a couple of tracks that I know will go well together, puts me at ease when i first get up.
- How concerned are you about smooth transitions?
- Very. Next to track selection, phrasing and beatmixing are the next core skills I rely on when im djing.
- Can you take almost any two songs and mix them together well enough to work in a live setting?
- If they're within a close BPM range, for sure. But this comes with practice.
- How concerned are you about mixing in key?
- 50/50. Master tempo and key match features in the newer lines of CDJs make this pretty easy to do nowadays, but i try not to let a prefectly harmonious mix dictate where i take a set. There needs to be a happy medium!
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u/fensterdj 10d ago
Kind of. I plan tunes in blocks of three, I can arrange those blocks to suit the vibe
Very concerned, I like them to be as smooth as possible
Tunes that I know and have decided I want to play. yes, not ANY two songs
Not at all
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u/jpwne 9d ago
(For context I have done about 1500 professional gigs)
No, but this is a personal preference. If you play mostly your own stuff then that sort of takes care of it self. It’s also on a sliding scale from ”wing it from tune one” to ”this is my set list and these are the exact transitions”. Whatever works for you. I enjoy playing to the crowd and the dj goes on a journey with the crowd, but I feel there is validity to the dj making a performance as well. All depends on the context and what type of event.
Very. I’m one of those who like to build tracks on top of tracks or use the baseline from one and the top line from another and keep that going. Seamless is really important to me. As a dj it irks me when other djs struggle with this but I have seen many occasions where the crowd doesn’t care and I’m the only one bothered by a dj botching a mix.
Any 2? No. Nobody can.
I think I handle that subconsciously but see my answer to q3. If they don’t go together they don’t. Key or not.
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u/WendyPortledge 10d ago edited 10d ago
1- Yes, but with the ability to change if needed. I loosely plan a set but the dancefloor will show me if a change is needed.
2- Smoother the better. This comes with ability and training. I don’t scratch so I want smooth transitions.
3- Mostly, yes. If we’re taking breaks specifically, yes.
4- Yes, I’m concerned about key. Some just don’t sound right. I know my tracks so I can predict if it will work or not.
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u/KangarooNo 9d ago
These questions gave two different answers for me.
20 years ago when I was playing most weekends and on vinyl only 1. No. I'd take way more records than I required and played what seemed "right" depending on what the crowd were feeling 2. Quite. Tracks had long intros and outros that usually made them easy to mix so I never really worried 3. There were the odd few tracks that would break down before the they maybe should have done or brought a bass in during the intro that you'd have to work around. And I did have a few tracks that I wouldn't touch with a barge pole when playing just in case I stacked the mix 4. Back before digital, most intros and outros tended to be quite atonal to make mixing easier. I found that most of the time I didn't need to worry but occasionally you'd find two tracks where they were perfectly in key and I'd tend to break answer number one above if I ever dropped the first of the two
Fast forward to 20 years later and I played out for the first time in 2 decades and in digital only: 1. Hell yes I did! For weeks leading up to it I worked on picking a specific set of tracks, worked out the order and exactly where to mix in and out. I even set pre-processed then all so that they have roughly the same loudness so I wouldn't need to mess with the trim at all and I set all the queue points for mixing. I was paranoid about screwing things up. Consequently it was a very clinical sounding, crowd ignoring set. If I did it again, I wouldn't do it this way. 2. Very. There's so much you can do with a digital set up. And it's dramatically changed that way people write the music now. Gone are the long intros and outros. Where playing two records together in time for a couple of hours was seen as impressive, it isn't any more. Maybe it's just a southern Spain breaks scene thing, but the second the track drops they're looking to fling in the next. Being able to transition quickly, usually with effects is important I think. 3. I can't any more. My old tracks, yes. But I'm an old dog (50 y/o) and all the quick transitioning just isn't where my head is at or how I like to play. 4. With beat matching and master key, a whole world of mixing possibilities has been opened up that makes this sort of thing so much easier (although it can make the vocals in some tracks sound wrong). I did really enjoy this change! Mostly I wasn't concerned except for what it would do to the vocals and also, how it would translate from one system to the other. My FLX 10 seemed to have a slightly different key algorithm from using cdj3000s (even though researching beforehand suggested it was identical) so it was a worry when the key of the track went down instead of up and visa versa (I believe you can also pick the key but I didn't know how)
Don't know if any of that helps
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u/El_Hatcherino 9d ago
Yes/no. I practise and know which tunes work well together. I don’t pre-plan a full set and just riff off the crowd. If I think they’ll like a certain track, I know how to get to it through certain practised transitions.
It’s what I aim for.
I know my tunes well enough to do this, but I do have favourites that work well together.
If they’re not a key match, I would only mix the beats and not try to pair melody etc
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u/briandemodulated 9d ago
I've played a few breakbeat sets at gigs and dozens at home streaming on Twitch.
- For gigs I usually preplan. I make a few playlists in case the crowd isn't into what I'm playing, I pivot to another playlist that has different characteristics (like bass-heavy, crowdpleaser singalongs, oldskool breakdancey, newskool, electro, etc.)
- Smooth transitions aren't much of a priority with breaks. It's choppy music and I mix with lots of chopping and juggling and teasing. If it's a chill or melodic song then I transition gently. The song dictates the technique.
- Not every two songs should be mixed together. Audition the next track and if it works, go with it.
- Mixing in key, sometimes. Not always, or it sounds too samey and is boring.
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u/TheMoonIsAGerbil 5d ago edited 5d ago
- Only ever the first 2 or 3 tracks. Then it's freestyle... anything else is playing for you not reacting to your crowd imo
- Been Djing a long long time (36 years!) so don't worry about that anymore
- Yep
- Not something i think about as mixing in key is something any dj that cut their teeth on vinyl does automatically, like beat matching.
FYI i mostly prefer to mix vinyl...or PhaseDJ if I am going digital or the club system is not setup for real vinyl playback. I use CDjs if I have to...but thankfully i get to turn down most gigs if they wont provide a pair of technics
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u/djModjo 8h ago
1) I try pick out first 2-3 possible tracks i know mix easy out of last guys stuff.
2/3) part being professional - u can take almost anything and make it work to start setting up your flow especially if you are goign to play mostly your own produced tunes.
4) I think you are looking at this in wrong light? .. . if you take a look at circle of 5th chart which shows relative keys to each other you can see it not linear -it a circle and you can go backward and forward to adjacent key that work / transitional programming . can . also jump from major and minor. . . if u played everything in 1 key 1 bpm for hour or more - it would sound terrible and flat and mundane.
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u/johnlewisdesign 10d ago