DJ Constructing a Set Help with Club New Releases CD Pool March 2017

0:00 We're playing a few new releases here from CD4 March 2017, some club r

Alright guys, we're playing a few new releases here from CD4 March 2017, some club releases. But, in this video what I'm going to try and do is help you how to design your own set. Now, designing a set or making a set is not as simple as, guess what, I've got 20 tracks, I really like them because they're brilliant and they make me want to jump around and have sex with next door neighbour. If you really want to do that sort of stuff. There's a lot more to it. It's about choosing the right track, making sure they're in key, but also it's about the energy and the feel the track gives you. Now at the moment I'm using Turn It Down For What, which is Stonebridge featuring Surfy. Surfy. Sury. Sury. Okay. Dyslexic, do apologise. Okay, so what it is, is when you construct a mix, what I would like you to do, and try this because it does work.

When you have decided what track you want to play to begin with, the first track you want to play with, what you need to do then is you need to try and have a picture in your mind. So for example, you're playing the track, close your eyes and then get an image in your mind of the track. It should be able to give you some form of image, some sort of feel. Some vibes, an expression inside your head. So for example you may play a banging techno track and you may have like soldiers marching. I don't know, I'm just giving you some examples. You may have a soulful tune and you may have a couple of birds in a tree tweeting away. Or you could have a funky house tune and you may have like a pack of mad dogs dancing in a garden. I don't know, I'm just thinking.

2:31 This is the key here, it's the word vibe

Now what you need to do then is go through the other tracks and the idea is when you listen to the other tracks, you want to try and imagine that the picture isn't changing because if you choose the wrong track, you could go from a pack of dogs dancing in the garden to all of a sudden a surfer being, I don't know, having a surfboard like go straight through his head and get skewered. If you think about it, you've gone from the Dancing Dogs, which is a nice kind of flowing tune, into a banging techno track. They may be in phrase, in key if you mix them incorrectly, but it's not going to have a flowing mix because you're going from one style to the other. Not only are you going from one style to the other, but the vibe is different. Now this is the key here, it's the word vibe. You need to try and make sure that the vibe in your mix is not at a constant because that would be very boring, but you need to make sure that the vibe sort of flows. You don't want a jaggedy mix where you go from a house tune into a funky house tune, and then from a funky house...

Into a techno tune and from a techno tune into a deep house tune that isn't really going to work what will work though is maybe 10 deep house tunes into a melodic house tune then maybe into a funky house tune so instead of having these huge big steps you know you you're having a small tiny step into another sort of genre or another style so also what you do is when one track is playing on your headphones skip through other tracks and do they have the same feel, the same vibe? Are they the same kind of ilk? Do they make you feel the same way? Now some of you may be thinking my god I wish you'd shut the frig up. Hopefully a lot of you are thinking it makes sense. It's not as simple as having 10 tunes

All in key and just going from track 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4 and so on because for example it may be better 10 tunes you've chosen them they're all in the same key or keys that work same style same genre etc etc could actually better to go from not track one because you've got a list from one to ten it could be better to start off with track three and from track three go to seven And then you've gone from three to seven and maybe track one will work perfectly with track seven and track nine with track one and track ten with track nine and so on. Not only that, maybe it's great to go from the middle of track three into the next track and then maybe let the next track play practically all the way to the end.

5:04 Today's technology allows you to do

Today's technology allows you to do... All of that. It's just up to you to make it your own, right? Stick my finger up your bloody nose if you don't do it. Chilly bugger. Right, so... OK, here we go. Turn it down, Stonebridge. Nice happy feel piano with sort of like the sort of tune you'd think, yeah, let's... Let's play this tune to begin with. I don't know, it's up to you, isn't it really? OK. So, right. Keep that in your mind. Keep that kind of tune in your mind. Let's go to another track. Let's see if we can get something with a similar kind of feel. You see, to me, that's not going to happen because this is like the one we heard earlier on the Stonebridge. Uplifting, fall off, yeah, yeah, yeah, to like deep. So the people dancing from one to the other, if you did a mix, it would be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, to deep, deep down. It's not going to work. Let's try another one. Okay, so let's have a listen.

6:34 Slightly better, definitely better than the last one we played

Slightly better, definitely better than the last one we played. This one here is In Your Arms, Lucy Charms. Okay, let's try another one. You know that, that was alright. No, definitely not. But you see, that one may go better into this one. You see, similar kind of feel. This is what I'm trying to get through to you. It's not about... Making sure they're in time, in phrase and in key. It's also about making sure the energy and vibe of the tracks are the same. And here's another way of doing it. Get yourself a piece of paper or get yourself an idea of a vibe count from 10 to 1. So this is very personal to you. So for example, the tracks that you've got, there could be full on in your face and they're tens.

There could be other tracks that you really love that are 1s and 2s. And then when you play a track, does it give you that... Give it a 9 or a 7 or an 8 or a 10 even. Play the next track, does it give you like a... If it's like that, give it a 1. Or don't give it one. Just a bit like Next Door Neighbor, innit? Don't... Calm down. Right, OK, so then you've got... 10-20 tracks and from 1 to 20 you've got like a 7 here, a 3, a 5, a 2, an 8 and 1. And then what you need to do is maybe take them in groups so everything below five put it in a group, everything above five put it in a group. What you might find then is that you have now selected tracks with the energy level that you've decided is the energy level and you're more likely to have a better mix if you use those groups instead of just randomly choosing tunes.

9:33 Maybe the missus is vibrating

So you see this one here, Rav Flex, Heat, I Wanna Dance With Somebody is, you know, similar kind of feel. So we're getting somewhere now. So, you know, if I now had 20 or 30 tracks and they were this similar kind of genre and feel. I'd be able to form quite a nice mix and it would have a flow to it. So let's have another listen to Lex Hill. Let's see what this is like. Right, now even though this is quite minimal, this is a lot deeper than the other tracks. If the other tracks, the two I played were on the top of the bed sheets, this one here would be a little naughty something or other that you left under the sheets. Maybe a condom or something. Maybe the missus is vibrating. You left it under there and it's still going... Yeah, it would be. It would be. You know, you'd walk in, your friend would have just walked in and they ran into the bedroom and you're there going... ...hiding it. So, right, what an imagination I've got. Sorry. OK, so let's have a listen to...

Funkerman, and this one here is entitled Silhouette. No, no, you see, they're not going to work. Alright, let's have a look at Bird, a track entitled Crazy. Right, so let's go back to Ralph Flex. Right, listen. See these two? I mean, they complement each other. They've got the same feel, the same kind of energy. This is what it's about. Alright, so you're listening to Crazy. Alright, now I hope that's been a help. I do apologise if I've offended anyone during the course of this video, but you know what, I don't really care. So don't forget ladies and gentlemen as well, listen, this is quite important as well, would you like those headphones there? If you do, then come and check out the live stream tonight on Facebook. As I said, there will be a link in the description to my Facebook page. Come and join, come and say hello, come and play a part. Anyone is invited and one lucky person is going to win those LP2. Practice and enjoy. Thank you very much. And also check out CD Paul. Thank you.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.