DnB Warm-up DJ mix tip before liquid drum n bass set

plau889

New Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Hey guys!

I'm more of a multi-genre DJ nowadays (I was focused on d'n'b in my early 'career') and I'm going to do the warm-up for a liquidish drum n bass headliner. I'm talking about Hybrid Minds.

I've done quite a lot of warm-up gigs, but I've never done one before a headliner that plays mellow music. (I expect it will be quite mellow liquid d'n'b)

I am really concerned about the energy levels and the track selection, since I don't want to mess up the vibe by playing stuff that isn't meant to be played before a liquid d'n'b set.

I was discussing with the promoter and the following genres popped up : garage, breaks ... I will try to include some ~120 bpm house too.

I will obviously not play a full-dnb set, but I plan on going into some really drum oriented d'n'b tracks at the end (without fancy breakdowns with a million synths etc.)

Could you give me some tips on what kind of music would be the most suitable for warming up a liquid d'n'b headliner?
 
Thanks for the replies!
I don't want to stick to only one BPM range, so at the start i will probably play some tech, then go into garagey things and then some mellow drum and bass.
 
You never know they may play differently to what you expect...so play to your style and tastes accordingly for the time of the set & event :) Don't overthink it :)
 
If theyre on at 12 or after, they'll probably play some liquid stuff inbetween some heavy tunes. Probably a buttload of the new remixes that came out on spearhead recently, theyre pretty dancefloor friendly.

The thing you should be most focused on is making a set that builds in momentum, start slow/mellow, bring it up so your last tune is a smasher and leaves them with a full dancefloor at 174 bpm.

Dont cane the big tunes so the crowd are tired when the headliner comes on, don't push the pitch too hard, and leave the mixer with a good amount of headroom.

Nothing worse than a warmup DJ playing jump at 200 bpm redlining the system before the rooms had a chance to acclimatize.

and if youre still really are that worried about what to play, ask them! Theyre not rock god divas, theyre people like you and me and it'll build a rapport between you guys.
 
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Thank you for the tips!
I understand that I have to play a lot less energetic stuff that the headliner would play, but I was more interested in a general direction, which is well used for these kind of warmups where the headliner himself plays a lot of mellow stuff.

Since I was asked to mix up the BPMs (which I would've done anyway) I will play some ~120 bpm house, some garagey things and last, but not least finish with some really mellow dnb so I've got the dnb vibe going on.
 
eh? house? Is this night advertised as a drum & bass night? If so, I'd keep away from house, maybe some hip hop or jungle?
 
eh? house? Is this night advertised as a drum & bass night? If so, I'd keep away from house, maybe some hip hop or jungle?

It is advertised as a drum & bass night, but the promoter asked me to play, because I usually mix up a couple of genres so he kinda wants to have something different at the start.
House was definitely not the right thing to say, I wanted to express that I want to play some kind of 4/4 stuff @ the 120 BPM range. Some not-so-aggressive UK Bass, maybe future garage would be pretty okay, I think.
 
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