mixtapes - promo mixes

[Celltek]

This is what even the big dj name do too. They prepare a set of tunes which they will play all season long at all the big venues and at the smaller venues you hear them experimenting with newer stuff.

[miroslav]

I'll completely pre-plan most sets to ensure that my mixes are in key, there's not huge jumps between sound types, I know the best cue points, etc. It takes absolutely ages to sort evertyhing out & some of the process does get tedious.

I've played blues guitar since I was a kid, where tight rhythm & perfect note choice is essential to sounding good. Guess this has made me so banal about putting a set together.

I take a similar approach to certain mixes that I want to put up on my podcast, etc.

I think there should be some clarity in definition:

Promo Mix: generally used to connect with promoters and solicit DJ gigs. For obvious reasons, it should reflect your current playing style and generally represent your capabilities in a less planned / more spontaneous environment.

Music/DJ Mix: generally just for kicks, podcasts, forums...or commercial releases, if you're that big. This may reflect a more planned musical expression, like a symphony performance.

Big name DJs obviously do both kinds. But DJs and promoters should be clear on which one they are providing / listening to.

[stefspijk]

just freestyling it!

[Red Kite]

For online sets/ blog posts i usually do a lot of pre-planning. For the X-Mix set i posted a while ago I kept planning the playlist and the best transition points for weeks ahead, and it absolutely wouldn't have been possible to make this mix on the fly.

Live I mostly improvise, but it helps a lot to have some records you know how to best mix together, and doing pre-planned sets at home teaches you a lot about tracks and how to best play them, so you can improvise a lot better with them.

Doing pre-planned mixing or at least practise with your tracks a home takes a lot of patience and dedication, and that's some qualities I totally miss in most sets I hear. There's people playing the same records over and over again and still don't know how to play them. That's really sad.

I don't know when this strange ideology of "only 100% improvised sets are good sets" ever came from. To me it sounds just stupid to argue that you do something better when you NOT practise it.