When is a track club-ready?

[JimpaDirt]

Allright, so this is something I've been thinking about for a while: whats the definition of a "club ready track"?

Well surely, I know that the term means that the track is able to use the full capability of a club sound system right?

So when do you know that your tracks are reaching that quality? I would guess that you can't visualize it on an EQ-spectrum. And I don't have such a sound system at home... My tracks are not there for sure as I'm still very much in the learning process of producing. But it's a term you hear a lot from different people and they are telling you that you shouldn't go out playing your tracks when they aren't ready yet.

It may be a stupid question but it's just something thats been bugging my mind for the last week so I thought I'd just ask you guys

 

[groelle]

when your track sounds good on whatever system you play it on. car/stereo/headphones/monitors/mates stereo/radio etc.

then it will sound good in the club aswell.

 

[bulletstorm]

most of the time clubs have worse sound than you own speakers.
the only thing clubs have is massive bass, so if that's mastered good enough, you're good to go.

I once played a track I made a few hours before the gig, I didn't even have a good mixdown.
But the crowd went crazy anyway

 

[JimpaDirt]

Ok thanks for sorting things out for me!

 

[ARTFX]

For club tracks, the first thing I would do is make sure that the track is actually "dance-able", but all that matters next is how my mood is about the tune, it's ready when I'm completely happy with the track myself and it sounds good on all possible reference speakers I can get my hands on.

 

[Krispy]

when your track sounds good on whatever system you play it on. car/stereo/headphones/monitors/mates stereo/radio etc.

then it will sound good in the club aswell.

Yeah I had a track that sounded good on a bunch of different systems and had it mastered
Then I got to play at little dubstep set at club one night so it was the first track I played. Everyone was dancing to it and the bass was rattling the cups off the tables, it was a great feeling to have people enjoying one of my tunes.

It was this song:
https://soundcloud.com/krispy%2Fcrosshairs-free-download
I never knew if it was club ready or not but I gave it a chance anyways

 

[B.unique]

i tend to play my tracks out alot now, my most recent one went down really well, when you just hear every go 'ooohh' when the bass comes in, no better feeling when that happen to one of your tracks! i also often go in before doors to just test it on the system when the clubs empty, just get friendly with the promoter and they'll no doubt let you... heres that track if anyone cares haha
https://soundcloud.com/districtdnb%2Fredox

 

[Salvus]

Never played anything out. I look forward to doing it one day though! But I assume as long as it sounds good on everything you play it on it should be bangin. B.unique - that track is ace.

 

[RocksteadyUK]

you just need to make sure your levels are good... its mixed well... and you have mastered it as good as you can yourself... ie... no redlining... no distortion.... check it out on a Spectograph thingy.. you know.. the ones where you can see the entire EQ levels of the track and make sure the bass isnt "louder" than anything else... bass is something you can always turn up but cant turn down....

I usually play enitre sets of my own stuff these days... The first track of mine i heard played out was "Jump"... heard it on the Rinse FM stage at Lovebox and it ripped the bass bins to pieces... you could see everyones face like... RRAAAHH that bass is dduuurrrttyy.... obviously had the desired effect but for me the bass was a little too overpowering so went back and tweaked it a little.. the problem was what i mentioned before... the bass was slightly louder than the rest of the track... with that and the DJ also adding a bit more on the EQ made it sound a bit too overpowering...

anyway... heres the track if your interested...

https://soundcloud.com/skimobeats%2Fskimo-jump