Three tips for preparing your next DJ set

Consistent practise is essential to becoming a confident and skilled DJ. It keeps you prepared for the moment when you’re asked to play support for your favourite artist. But when that booking does come, it’s time to get a bit more precise with your approach to practice.

Here’s three key preparation tips that I’ve found lead to expressions of “big ups” on the night.

I find it helpful to imagine I’m at the gig while I practise, weeks out.

If possible, figure out what time you’re playing. It will allow you to create this visual and rehearse accordingly. If I find out I’m playing the opening slot, I’ll imagine starting the night from scratch — playing to an empty club. If I’m following the headliner, I’ll envision coming in with immediate impact — keeping people on the dance floor.

It may sound trivial, but I’ve found this technique to calm my nerves, and help me to fully engage once I get on stage.

Knowing your set time will also have a massive influence on what tunes your playlist should contain, which brings me to the next tip:

From the moment you get booked — even if you can’t get the promoter to tell you set time — get started on building a playlist. Once it’s been built, refrain from making too many changes. It may be tempting, but don’t go adding 10 new tunes to your playlist a couple of days out from your set — it’s likely that you won’t end up playing 9/10 of them because they haven’t been practised enough.

Aside from set time, here’s a few things I consider when creating my playlist

Knowing each track and the many combo-possibilities will really enhance your set. It allows you the leisure to read the crowd and move between styles accordingly.

Having this playlist created weeks out is like having a map of a city you’re about to visit. Knowing all the possible routes from A to B to C. Your journey will be easy and enjoyable.

When you’re practising with your playlist — keep a pad and pen nearby. Once you string together a nice 3 or 4 tunes, write it down. Practise this combo a few times so you’ve got it nailed, but don’t be reluctant to try some of those same tunes in new combos.

We’re creating what I call the precautionary combos folder.

Using the scribblings of combos you got during practice, pick your favourites to add to a folder separate from your master playlist.

On the night, if you find you’re heading down the wrong path, screwed up a couple of mixes, or losing confidence — this folder has your back.

To go back to the map analogy: It’ll get you back on track like pulling out Google Maps when you take a wrong turn.

Some purists may disagree with this last tip. But as long as you’re not relying on a fixed playlist and using the combos sparingly, you’re still playing a flexible set which you can take in a number of directions.

Of course, these tips fit my way of DJing, practising, and organising songs.

Personally, I organise my library on iTunes. I ignore data such as key and BPM because I like to stay as flexible as possible. Nevertheless, tools like Pioneer’s Rekordbox are highly useful for more rigorous library management, and I admire anyone who gets super-granular on their organisation.

How do you prepare for a successful night behind the decks?

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