Planned set or freestyle?

It all depends on what type of dnb you play i recon and how many decks. Most of my gigs are like 1 - 2am, all dancefloor techy stuff so the energy is high all of time. I actually get excited when I know a big mix is coming up haha!
 
haha ive done that before actually, just switched up the order to suit the crowd!

minus the acid bit, ya weirdo
 
I put a load of songs into a folder in traktor and freestyle, I usually pick the first like 3 songs and blends, and go from there.. throughout the set I usually play a set of like 3-4 songs that i know go well then go back to freestyle to keep things fluid.
 
freestyle baby

first 2 or 3 gigs were planned though, because i was shitting myself

now i just like to figure out a few small groups of tunes that go well together and put them in their own Rekordbox folder so if i want to do any of those mixes it doesn't take much searching for the tunes

having small sub-genre playlists in rekordbox helps me, having too many tunes on my USB just causes problems and I can never pick what to play.
 
I can't get into a vibe when I plan it though. I like not knowing what I'm gunna play.
I just go with whatever I feel is right.

100% this.

Everyones got their "killer mixes" that they kinda know they're gonna drop, the thought of pre-planning an entire set fills me with dread on so many different levels.

No disrespect to anybody that does this by the way, its just not my bag at all.
 
100% this.

Everyones got their "killer mixes" that they kinda know they're gonna drop, the thought of pre-planning an entire set fills me with dread on so many different levels.

Summed up nicely.

Played sets where you are about to get on the decks and the guy before has his A4 paper out with a his tracklist ready to roll :rofl:
I always think with people like that, what if the crowd doesn't dig what you're playing and you need to change it up? Got another one of these A4 paper tracklists in ya pocket fam!? Na?! Thought not lets see what other planned tripe you have in store! *clears dancefloor*
 
Summed up nicely.

Played sets where you are about to get on the decks and the guy before has his A4 paper out with a his tracklist ready to roll :rofl:
I always think with people like that, what if the crowd doesn't dig what you're playing and you need to change it up? Got another one of these A4 paper tracklists in ya pocket fam!? Na?! Thought not lets see what other planned tripe you have in store! *clears dancefloor*

I actually saw a guy with a bit of paper with his set list on. His set didn't really have much of a vibe either. He was playing tearout to an empty room.
Last time I played out I had no idea what is was going to play, which meant missing a few cue points and having to mix a tune with 8-4 bars left. I find not really preparing at all slows me to push myself in terms of djing.

Now I try to concentrate on the crowd a lot more. I'll even end up chucking in a few classics that you'd never expect to hear. But yeh, since I've stopped planning sets I've started enjoying sets a lot more and I'm not too bothered if I have a little clang every now and then.
 
Summed up nicely.

Played sets where you are about to get on the decks and the guy before has his A4 paper out with a his tracklist ready to roll :rofl:
I always think with people like that, what if the crowd doesn't dig what you're playing and you need to change it up? Got another one of these A4 paper tracklists in ya pocket fam!? Na?! Thought not lets see what other planned tripe you have in store! *clears dancefloor*

Sounds like dem feels are strong with this one ha! To be fair if you what you're playings not working and you don't switch it up then you're a helmet. But you can't knock someone for putting in some effort before the gig, the fact it cleared the dancefloor should help them in the long run if they adapt their sets (y) I say all this cos i've planned almost all my sets and its done me massive favours being able to mix super fast and tidy, but if its not working then i'll just play whatever and bring em back.

I've just realised this only works if youre a decent selector anyways, cos if your planned set is shit well then there's no hope ha
 
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I've just realised this only works if youre a selector decent anyways, cos if your planned set is shit well then there's no hope ha

That's it bang on, think I already said in this thread i'm a fan of planned mixes, just because, as you say, if you are a good selector, it can make for great blends seamless mixing etc - I think that's all well and good in a studio mix though because when your listening through headphones you hear every tiny imperfection, certainly from experience of listening to thousands of members mixes.

Mixing out you can get away with so much more, slips and slides here and there. When I played NYE for Grooves all I knew was what I was going to open with and just went from there. Of course in your head you know after so much practice what tunes go with what, so in some ways you are pre-planning, but its almost like snooker where they think 3 or 4 pots ahead of the current pot, I try and always think whats next then? then I get digging through my record bag. I was looking for reactions with certain tunes and seeing what the crowd were feeling and take it from there.
 
I prefer freestyle generally.

Usually plan mixes in sets of 3 tunes and throw them in when it feels right. Same with some double drops. Good to have some tricks up your sleeve but if everything's too planned then it really shows.
 
i was going to play on traktor this weekend at a gig I have got.. but i thought fuck it im going vinyl.. you just cant freestlye as well as you can looking at a laptop as you can with a bag of tunes.
 
i was going to play on traktor this weekend at a gig I have got.. but i thought fuck it im going vinyl.. you just cant freestlye as well as you can looking at a laptop as you can with a bag of tunes.

This ^

Nothing beats flicking through a crate. Virtual crates aren't the same.
 
Had a vinyl mix on friday round a mates, was fun not having everyone piss around with cables and laptops all night!
 
I genuinely think my mixing is better on wax too. although Traktor is good it still not quite right for me. might sell up and try serato
 
... but its almost like snooker where they think 3 or 4 pots ahead of the current pot, I try and always think whats next then? then I get digging through my record bag. I was looking for reactions with certain tunes and seeing what the crowd were feeling and take it from there.

I do find this more rewarding no doubt but the more i think of it, the main reason i solely plan stuff is cos i just dont have mixing sessions like i used to, you know 8 hours on end with yur mates till 10am. Time is taken up by life and production now. If i DJ'd all the time in my spare time then I would be much more likely to play off the cuff as standard.
 
i was going to play on traktor this weekend at a gig I have got.. but i thought fuck it im going vinyl.. you just cant freestlye as well as you can looking at a laptop as you can with a bag of tunes.

This ^

Nothing beats flicking through a crate. Virtual crates aren't the same.

All of the above

I genuinely think my mixing is better on wax too. although Traktor is good it still not quite right for me. might sell up and try serato

Strangely I think that about myself too. More to do with the satisfaction I get when mixing on vinyl.
Tbh my pal has Serato and its just as comfortable as Traktor, although being nit picky, the way I have "live input" setup on traktor so I can play records and mix digital stuff together was in my opinion better on Traktor to sort out. And for some reason the vinyl mode on Serato was really quiet? No idea why, sorted it out on traktor with an auto gain preset when you flick to live input and it boosts the internal gain. Easy.
 
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