warm up sets

[Tiptoe]

to all you guys who play out in clubs was just wandering how you guys play your warm up sets. I have had a nightmare deciding how to play and have now settled on starting really funky eg deetron miss suave building it in to some dark stuff eg reeko then into some more dancefloor orientated tunes eg mr sliff rippin and dippin.
Never realised how hard it is to sort out a set. I am very consious of how i have programmed my set because i feel it is v importaint to the flow of things so any hints and tips for future would be good

[Numeric]

Know exactly where you're comin from...

Putting together a warm-up set to flow and gradualy build can be very difficult, especially when your usual style is bang-bang madness. I can't really give you any tips as i'm experiencing similar probs myself, trying to pick up tec-house and funky techno records, when you don't really know what the f**k to look for, i've spent well over the odds recently, and only have a few decent mellower tracks to show for it...

:doh:

[death on a stick]

Unfortunately most DJs have no concept of how important the warm-up slot is. They often view it is a poor slot, but in fact it's an integral part of the night that they should take responsibility for. Too many DJs get over zealous about things and can't help playing what they think are all their dancefloor devastators in an attempt to make a bigger impression within what they view as a limited slot. It's a very immature way to play and can hamstring a night from the offset.

What needs to be considered is what you are warming up to. For example, if the next DJ is going to be playing fast hard stuff, maybe aim to end your set with that sort of material, but why not actually WARM UP to it, rather than starting at 10pm with a pummelling noise? It gives you the chance to explore how your other records sound, can allow you to relax as the need to play a new record every few seconds isn't there. Also, if the next DJ isn't going to be really hard, try to add to that yourself. Also, most importantly, you can help the night to have some progression rather than keeping it on one level all night, leaving the party people feeling as if something interesting has actually happened.

One problem with all this is that many DJs are just too narrow minded to see that there is quality music beyond fast banging techno. Why not play ambient or slow spacey stuff for the first half hour and build it up from there, for example? It's not as if the doors open and everyone rushes in and wants to start pogo-ing immediately...give them some time to settle in, get a drink, rendezvous with their friends, find their spot on the floor. Then do something. Don't feel that you are being restricted because you can't play exactly what you want, turn it around and play exactly what you want in the context of your time slot. Take the time and make it your own - there's no need for compromise as long as your priority is quality and not just BANGING.

[crime]

I love playing the warm up, I'd love to have a residency for this reason.. I only play places as a guest, so generally you have to play pretty rocking..
Totally gives you the space to play deeper stuff....

[Numeric]

Feelin that...

:clap:

[death on a stick]

I love playing the warm up, I'd love to have a residency for this reason.. I only play places as a guest, so generally you have to play pretty rocking..
Totally gives you the space to play deeper stuff....
yeah I've been gagging for some warm up slots.

[Dustin Zahn]

I love playing the warm up, I'd love to have a residency for this reason.. I only play places as a guest, so generally you have to play pretty rocking..
Totally gives you the space to play deeper stuff....

I'm with you 100%. A couple weeks ago I had the rare opportunity to play earlier for a change and it was cool cause I got to play a ton of my records I usually never would dream of playing during a peaktime set.

It's true though...most DJs don't know shit about setting up the DJ ahead of you.

[Tiptoe]

i think a lot has to do with the fear of being labeled a warm up man. I think some dj's must think that people will think thats all they play and won't ever get the chance to bang it out. Its been a big difference playing as slow and light as i have but i must admit it has made me realise how good some of the funky tunes are

[Col]

Unfortunately most DJs have no concept of how important the warm-up slot is. They often view it is a poor slot, but in fact it's an integral part of the night that they should take responsibility for. Too many DJs get over zealous about things and can't help playing what they think are all their dancefloor devastators in an attempt to make a bigger impression within what they view as a limited slot. It's a very immature way to play and can hamstring a night from the offset.

What needs to be considered is what you are warming up to. For example, if the next DJ is going to be playing fast hard stuff, maybe aim to end your set with that sort of material, but why not actually WARM UP to it, rather than starting at 10pm with a pummelling noise? It gives you the chance to explore how your other records sound, can allow you to relax as the need to play a new record every few seconds isn't there. Also, if the next DJ isn't going to be really hard, try to add to that yourself. Also, most importantly, you can help the night to have some progression rather than keeping it on one level all night, leaving the party people feeling as if something interesting has actually happened.

One problem with all this is that many DJs are just too narrow minded to see that there is quality music beyond fast banging techno. Why not play ambient or slow spacey stuff for the first half hour and build it up from there, for example? It's not as if the doors open and everyone rushes in and wants to start pogo-ing immediately...give them some time to settle in, get a drink, rendezvous with their friends, find their spot on the floor. Then do something. Don't feel that you are being restricted because you can't play exactly what you want, turn it around and play exactly what you want in the context of your time slot. Take the time and make it your own - there's no need for compromise as long as your priority is quality and not just BANGING.

some good advice there. ;)

[TripleX]

the worts thing i wittnessed was a warm up deejay, who looked like a cyberkid, started to play at 155bpm´s at 10 o´clock when people just came in :lol: . there were aproximatly 10 people there and he was dancing like a maniac behind them turntables.....
if you wanna be a good warm up dj don´t do this :nono:

[Tiptoe]

i would bloody kill someone if they left me with a tune 155bpm :lol:

[TripleX]

me too :lol:

[jonnyspeed]

Unfortunately most DJs have no concept of how important the warm-up slot is. They often view it is a poor slot, but in fact it's an integral part of the night that they should take responsibility for. Too many DJs get over zealous about things and can't help playing what they think are all their dancefloor devastators in an attempt to make a bigger impression within what they view as a limited slot. It's a very immature way to play and can hamstring a night from the offset.


Have to say I don't agree - I wanna be in a club from mid-night with phat hard tunes playing not have to wait until 4-5am when a name DJ comes on to pick up the pace... guess that's why squat parties are so good.

And if somebody left me with 155bmp I'd be very happy you can slam in some acid then rollercoaster it it whatever tempo you want - all the best sets I've heard didn't slowly build in some kinda of uniform way.

[jonnyspeed]

If you're talking warm-up to no punters then I'd play some quality ghettotech and a few low-fi beats with lots of analogue.

[jonnyspeed]

and harder electro can work very well in bars were nobody is gonna dance anyway.

[Stella Boy]

The warm up is a great slot to play. You get too see the club and the dancefloor fill up and you can see people really appreciating the stuff you are playing as, generally, they're not off their nuts at the beginning of the night.
Have a word with Paul to see who's on after you, this may help you in sorting out your set.

[death on a stick]

Unfortunately most DJs have no concept of how important the warm-up slot is. They often view it is a poor slot, but in fact it's an integral part of the night that they should take responsibility for. Too many DJs get over zealous about things and can't help playing what they think are all their dancefloor devastators in an attempt to make a bigger impression within what they view as a limited slot. It's a very immature way to play and can hamstring a night from the offset.


Have to say I don't agree - I wanna be in a club from mid-night with phat hard tunes playing not have to wait until 4-5am when a name DJ comes on to pick up the pace... guess that's why squat parties are so good.
4-5am, in the context of what I believe we're talking about here, is almost the end of the night, so is way beyond the warm-up. Most clubs in the UK have defined start times (usually 10pm ish) and end times (rarely later than 6am) - so warm up would be until around 1am when things start to get going and people wanna start rocking. The time restrictions on licensed clubs mean that some structure has to be worked out or the night won't achieve it's potential. Squat parties have little or no structure to them. When's the warm up....at the start of the evening? Or was it this morning, or two days ago when the party started? Or maybe it was when the guy who was playing below 150bpm fell asleep and the gabber crew took over the decks?

[Sunil]

I'm not really a warm up expert but a recent warm up set i did started with tracks on Trapez, Kompakt, Gadgets [minimal stuff basically], then stuff like deep Sterac & Mark broom records, D1, Kanzleramt, vocal tribal stuff a la Oliver Ho, then stuff like Tim Wright, Framework and on into more uplifting synty stuff from Tony Rohr, Hacker and so on. Then Umek came on and played Recycled loop type records for 2 hours :roll:

A little while back I did a warm up set at Electricity before Oscar Mulero where the lads billed me as 'electro and deep techno set' so in a way I had no choice but to vary what I played, to be honest I was slightly apprehensive but it was a new challenge that I really enjoyed and it made me think a lot more about how I should build my set when I play out rather than just the easy "right there ye go, **** you if you don't like this hard mutha ****a" attitude.

techno's such a far reaching genre, and a good techno night should be as all inclusive as possible... banging it out at 10 o'clock or whatever is boring, where's the night meant to go from there? people lose interest quite fast this way.. they need to groove a bit first.

[Tiptoe]

well this is what i am playin anyway i think
deetron - miss suave
destination - definition of lovetrevor rockcliffe feat blake baxter - visions of you sls mix
christian smith& john selway - excel
brian zentz - d clash slam mix
damon vallero - cr009
resistance - morphology
reeko - psychiatric hospital
takaaki itoh - nightmare continues
reeko - he's coming
reeko - youth violence
alexander kowalski - you think you know bmb mix
christian wunsch - damage done (no rest)
robert natus - chefrocker
tomaz vs filterheadz - sunshine
sebastian kremer - beyond cause
richie hawtin - minus orange
pete simpson - work that booty
mr sliff rippin and dippin pt 2
adam beyer - lost & found ep
jeff mills - the bells
james ruskin - conspiracy ep

what you guys think. Bearing in mind it is a bank holiday special and am on 6-7:30 and i don't normally play tunes i would class as warm up stuff. I normally play play hard as **** eg laker thomas gee kramer ect.

[Sunil]

what you guys think. Bearing in mind it is a bank holiday special and am on 6-7:30 and i don't normally play tunes i would class as warm up stuff. I normally play play hard as **** eg laker thomas gee kramer ect.

Get rid of "Sunshine" for a start anyway, who do you think you are, Billy Nasty ? ;) :lol:

[crime]

Why plan it?
Think on your feet...

[The Overfiend]

I think that set is very predictable some of those tracks are the same lineups you would find on a Trust the Dj compilation. I think there are better warm up tracks avail than what you have placed on this list. If you want to stand out bring the same energy forth but with a different approach but same vein. Look into some old eukatech or dobre and jamez stuff for the borederline tribal progressive stuff.

[Methodixxx]

Why plan it?
Think on your feet...


Word Crime! A huge amount of energy is lacking when somebody plays a pre-planned set.... you want to be able to adapt to the crowd, go in a diff direction if needed, feel and feed off the energy, etc, etc... I know it's a lil' cliched but it really is damn important... don't pre-plan!

[tioneb]

1) a pre-done set is totally opposite of what a dj is imo... all your ideas about a warm up are good, but you destroy them doing this. Just becasue you have to consider tyhe crowd for doing you thing, if they cant get into your set, then you have to change what your playing, which is impossible if you have already planned what to play ... my two cents
2) yeah, miss suave is more a peaktime track rather than the first track i put in my sets, well if you go for a hard nite then spin this shite at the warm up

[Sunil]

1) a pre-done set is totally opposite of what a dj is imo... all your ideas about a warm up are good, but you destroy them doing this. Just becasue you have to consider tyhe crowd for doing you thing, if they cant get into your set, then you have to change what your playing, which is impossible if you have already planned what to play ... my two cents
2) yeah, miss suave is more a peaktime track rather than the first track i put in my sets, well if you go for a hard nite then spin this shite at the warm up

Yes, but it is still good to have a vague idea what sections of records go well together or where it should all peak esp for a warm up set. It's very true though about the planning thing, it can never work that way as your preconception of how a night will never work to plan, as there's no accounting for how people react to certain stuff until you are actually playing it... being spontaneous is the whole buzz of it, however knowing what records are in your bag and *where* they are in your bag is important too ;)

[Tiptoe]

well the reason i have planned my set is cos its the 1st time i have played in a club and so i want to be able to practice the set a bit before i play. I no this might make me look shit having to practice my set but i don't want to let anyone down. And the reason for a few obvious tunes is that i was talking to people at the night last time i was there and a lot of them like these kind of tunes. I was going to play a set full of reeko suregeon mullero stuff but with it been the 1st set of the night i thought a full set of this would be too hard and after talking it through with people who's opinion i respect. If i was playing a different time my set would look completely different, but you have to pay your dues so its stayin as it is. I do know where you are coming from though with track selection but thats lack of confidence on my part. Again might make me look a muppet but am playing my 1st set safe. :lol:

[Buttman]

What the **** is this?
Make no compromises!!! Play your thing whenever you play and whoever is playing after/before you.
If it does not fit into the context it is promoter's fault and not yours!

[daviec]

Haha. I agreed with this whole thread right up until Buttman said that :lol:

Good point mate. But I always tend to vary my set depending on where and when I play.

Last month I was playing the warm-up slot for Ade Fenton, and I chose Wunsch, Surgeon, Exium and the likes to build the floor up. A week later I had an earlier set at a club called Twisted which is hardcore techno and gabba. I had an early set in the techno room, but went ballistic from the off. Wittekind, Amok, Natus, etc.

It's all in the context. I like quite a range of techno, and wouldn't like to be labelled as some sort of "sub-genre of techno" dj. Rather just a techno dj.

[Numeric]

A week later I had an earlier set at a club called Twisted which is hardcore techno and gabba. I had an early set in the techno room, but went ballistic from the off. Wittekind, Amok, Natus, etc.


Twisted still going is it, big up Al and the boyz...

:clap:

[scienceofuse]

Playing warm-up sets can be as much fun as playing peak-time... Actually, most of the techno I like listening to is funky melodic warm-up material. Labels like Bio, SuperBra or Kanzleramt have many releases that fit this description and there are a few great teasers among tracks by producers such as Vince Watson, Funk D'Void, The Youngsters, John Tejada, John Thomas, Fabrice Lig (aka Soul Designer), Pascal FEOS (his "Self reflexion" album 4 example), Alexander Kowalski ("Belo Horizonte" or "Scarpia", also some of his Double X collabs), Steve Rachmad, Dave Ellesmere, Dennis DeSantis and the like... Electro can be good for warm-up sets too, you can play with those broken beats before you introduce that almighty 4/4 kick drum :)

[death on a stick]

What the **** is this?
Make no compromises!!! Play your thing whenever you play and whoever is playing after/before you.
If it does not fit into the context it is promoter's fault and not yours
So if you were booked to play a warm up set you'd turn up and play a set of hard banging techno the same as if you were playing at 3am? That's not a lack of compromise, that's a lack of sense.

[dtl]

As a dj it's all about depth with your record collection... Sets at different time and place show what you are really made of.

Eric.

[scienceofuse]

As a dj it's all about depth with your record collection... Sets at different time and place show what you are really made of.

Eric.

I very much agree.

[Bughead]

sometimes the promoter can get it wrong and sometimes the dj can get it wrong. My style is very much banging with some wonky as well and this can throw the promoter off sometimes if you play a particular way.
I got it wrong once playing with a well respected wonky artist but it sort of worked. The main thing is the audience enjoyed it very much.

[tioneb]

What the **** is this?
Make no compromises!!! Play your thing whenever you play and whoever is playing after/before you.
If it does not fit into the context it is promoter's fault and not yours
So if you were booked to play a warm up set you'd turn up and play a set of hard banging techno the same as if you were playing at 3am? That's not a lack of compromise, that's a lack of sense.

oh what a sad thing you say mika ... making no compromise is one thing and i agree with you on this...

but that doesnt mean you have to play whatever you want not caring about the crowd , that would mean your musical tastes (ie. what you play, which is not necessary what you listen to) are strictly limited to one kind of techno. And THAT is totally disappointing.

[Dustin Zahn]

I think if you want to consider yourself a well-rounded DJ, you have to be able to adapt your style to anytime of night. You should spend the time to find records that work great at peak time, as well as records that work great in the early hours of the night and morning as well. If you can bring the same feel/style of a peak-time darker techno set into the beginning of your set I think it will make a great difference.

If you're simply just someone who does nothing but bang it and that's your style (i.e. Glenn Wilson)...then yes, it should be the promoter for putting you on early.

A good example is Hawtin. I'm not hear to say his music is good or bad, but his sets can go from minimal to very heavy in a few hours and still keep the same feel or similar sound.

You'll have to excuse me if I don't make sense. I went out for a bit tonight.

[ncw]

Interesting... I've always found Hawtin's DJing to be totally linear and dull, not really shifting intensity or dynamic at all over several hours. I like his records, but I reckon he is a deathly boring DJ.

[Tiptoe]

no way. hawtin is class. Had one of my best orbits to him on that tour he did. Genious at work if you ask me.

[el_satan666]

I'd agree on the "slightly boring dj" comment. But Hawtin is EXTREMELY subjective, never a more love-him-or-hate-him man in techno. Great producer though.

tchik....tchik-tchikaaaahh.....baum....baum......baum..........oo ooooh yeah

("minus orange" - "duff-man says a lot of things")

[el_satan666]

I'd be in the same boat as loving hard techno, but compromise is necessary. I'd had too many warm up dj's "do their own thing" and wreck a night by not upstaging the main act, but just being LOUDER than them.

Warm up dj's should know their place, and like "death on a stick" said, an integral one.

(imo, just in case we going to win the argument by votes or something)

[death on a stick]

I'd be in the same boat as loving hard techno, but compromise is necessary. I'd had too many warm up dj's "do their own thing" and wreck a night by not upstaging the main act, but just being LOUDER than them.
I don't think compromise is necessary, and would never compromise myself. I just think that DJs shouldn't be so narrow minded that they feel that by playing anything other than one thing they are compromising. There's a world of good music out there, to only want to play one narrow sub-genre is idiotic.

[jonnyspeed]

What the **** is this?
Make no compromises!!! Play your thing whenever you play and whoever is playing after/before you.
If it does not fit into the context it is promoter's fault and not yours!

word! I wanna hear the thumping from outside from when the door open. As obviously from this tread others have the opinion that you should tone it down :shock:

[death on a stick]

You've completely missed the point of what Buttman was saying.

[Buttman]

What the **** is this?
Make no compromises!!! Play your thing whenever you play and whoever is playing after/before you.
If it does not fit into the context it is promoter's fault and not yours
So if you were booked to play a warm up set you'd turn up and play a set of hard banging techno the same as if you were playing at 3am? That's not a lack of compromise, that's a lack of sense.

Well I guess all the crowds out there are lucky as I do not ever play hard techno.

And anyway.. I guess some of us just want to DJ while others want to make a statement of some kind.

[death on a stick]

Well I guess all the crowds out there are lucky as I do not ever play hard techno.

And anyway.. I guess some of us just want to DJ while others want to make a statement of some kind.
Your Re-Emerging mix consists almost entirely of what I'd call hard techno. I'm seperating hard techno from idiotic banging garbage here, see? If you agreed to play a warm up set at a party I was going to and you played a set like that, I'd assume you were deficient in some capacity.

And I don't believe for a second that you fall into the category of those who "just want to DJ".

[Tiptoe]

as i've discovered through choosing my records for the set a lot of things i would class as warm up stuff was not concidered as warm up stuff. But i guess it is just a matter of taste

[death on a stick]

as i've discovered through choosing my records for the set a lot of things i would class as warm up stuff was not concidered as warm up stuff. But i guess it is just a matter of taste
Personally, most stuff I saw in your list I'd consider to be quite hard and not at all appropriate for a warm up set, more of a peak time, but as has been said it really depends what you're warming up to and as a punter I don't go to nights that are based around music that does nothing but bang bang bang. If the night is going to be mainly furious banging at high bpm, then you could say a set of that material would be suitable for warming up towards that.

[h.a.r.d.s.i.g.n.a.l]

who you are opening for is the most important thing....what is their style and choose records that will compliment them.

i remember one of my first times of dj'ing, i was billed as hard house on the flyer but because of the crowd, i changed up and started playing hard techno. well the guy that came on after me was billed as techno and so he got all pissed off at me cuz i was stealing some of his thunder and he came up and unceremoniously cut me off 10 minutes early....plus the promoter never hired me again...

so opening "properly" is totally important. it'll establish relationships that you need down the road as much as it a chance to show the crowd how dope your record collection is.

[Stella Boy]

who you are opening for is the most important thing....what is their style and choose records that will compliment them.


Fully agree with that, seeing as he's warming up the proceedings just before me.
I'm on after you Tiptoe mate ;)

[jonnyspeed]

funny this topic. I was talking about this with a friend and got out some tunes that I thought were toned down and which were banging it out. He reaction to me starting with some Emersion and Djax-up-beats tunes was like "****in' eh I wouldn't play anything that hard" and he left the room at Drumcode.

One man's down tempo tech is another man 'noise bleed'...play to the crowd - always - and frankly if there ain't no punters you really do have the bum slot.

[daviec]

funny this topic. I was talking about this with a friend and got out some tunes that I thought were toned down and which were banging it out. He reaction to me starting with some Emersion and Djax-up-beats tunes was like "****' eh I wouldn't play anything that hard" and he left the room at Drumcode.

One man's down tempo tech is another man 'noise bleed'...play to the crowd - always - and frankly if there ain't no punters you really do have the bum slot.

:clap:

Yep, totally agree. I've seen me pruposely take what I would consider candy floss techno to a gig as I was playing an earlier set, only to find folk coming up and say I was too hard :lol: In fact a favorite request from peeple when I'm playing is "have you got anything dancey?"

What the ****. How can you not dance to this shit. **** off!

And getting the "no punters" slot is a killer. Totally wrecks you.

[Tiptoe]

won't be empty there will be a good few of my lot there at the start to watch me banging it out anyway so as long as they enjoy it thats what matters.

[Orange]

first gig,

relax have fun.

choices makes you you

sure, practice your set cause it'll give you confidence going in

if you feel the groove, like, maybe half way through, and you feel like charting unexpected territory, then mix it up and play em like you feel em

give your best,

have fun ;)

[tioneb]

Well I guess all the crowds out there are lucky as I do not ever play hard techno.

And anyway.. I guess some of us just want to DJ while others want to make a statement of some kind.
Your Re-Emerging mix consists almost entirely of what I'd call hard techno. I'm seperating hard techno from idiotic banging garbage here, see? If you agreed to play a warm up set at a party I was going to and you played a set like that, I'd assume you were deficient in some capacity.

And I don't believe for a second that you fall into the category of those who "just want to DJ".

here i agree with mister death on a stick.. thats not becasue you dont spin wittenkind, or wilson styled techno taht you dont spin hard .... damn , yeah re-emerging is definitely hard techno, whatever you prefer calling it dark / experimental.

not to sound so dissing to mika,i of course know he can play deeper stuff ...

[jonnyspeed]

oh **** it - follow there advise - whack on some Abba and follow it with a bit of Beyonce that should be inoffensive and then there won't be any arguemnt about whether you are mental for daring to put something hard on.

I am really starting to disagree with the comments on this thread...

[death on a stick]

Is there something wrong with you?

[Col]

hahaha....how i love this forum.

[Tiptoe]

for me personally its got nothing to do with daring to play hard. I am playing the 1st set of the night. Rui East and Chris Finke are the main people and with all due respect to them if i played a set of the stuff i normally play my set would be the hardest by far(going by what i have heard before). The guy who's night it is, is a good mate of mine and i wouldn't do that to him cos it would make me look like a prick to him and the dj's playing after me. Am not saying there is anything wrong with playing a hard set 1st as long as it continues in the same manner but this night won't so there is no point me doing it

[serox]

thinking the same thing. I prefer to play hard techno / hardcore, if you get booked for a early slot I sometimes think I might just play what I like and hope someone feels that and then might get booked for some harder/later slots. if your there on a early slow and you try to play slow/house/funky stuff then people might just think that's what your into and you wont get the slots you really want? end of the day I want to play music I like and hope others like it too.