How do you choose your tracks?

daniellesniewski · Post by **daniellesniewski** » Sat May 30, 2009 1:09 pm

A question for the dj's out there

Ive been dj'ing for 2 years now, and ive got to say that taste in music has gone through many phases, but now it seems to have established solidly on minimal/techno, but the problem i have is that for the past 2 years ive been buying music which ive liked, but not necessarily what would be good for me in a set.

i was just wondering how u guys make ure choices when buying music, from beatport, lets say. do u buy everything u like, or what u think is necessary for a good mix?

reason why im asking is ive gotten to a point with my mixing where i feel like i have so many gaps in my music, that the music i have bought in the past just can't really flow into each other that well. ive started being more careful with what i buy, in the sense that i try to make sure the track is usable, but still i feel like there are many labels that i should know of that i don't.

i was also wondering if you guys could recommend some really good deep minimal labels (troy pierce, deep bassy style)?
i think: kiki - mogadishu, is a track that represents what i'd like to be playing in my sets

AND ALSO, apart from beatport, where else is a good place to get tracks? sometimes i feel that beatport lacks really quality minimal/techno

hope i didnt bore u with my long post

maxeinsoul · Post by **maxeinsoul** » Sat May 30, 2009 3:03 pm

I go to the record store, ask the man if he's got anything new that would fit and he knows my taste. I get like 30 records to listen to, I pick the ones hat I really love. Then my fingers wander throught the records and I start again.

I really feel record stores are the best way to find the music you love, there's a human contact with the guys so you know where you're going. There's less categories in a proper record store than on beatport and that kind of sht. You're free to buy anything and there are so many things to discover.

Then I really don't give a sht about who made the track, on what label it was released, I listen to it and if it takes me on a trip I buy it. If it can take me somewhere it can take a dancefloor with me as long as I play it well.

Nowadays there's a lot of "selectors", even through the supposed best ones... The kind of guys who are signed on a label A, and their whole set is clean, sounds like label A, but you get bothered cause you feel like the guy doesn't feel free. He's pleasing a group of people who came for his name and want their A dose.

I've felt a bit like this not so long ago, when I was buying or downloading on line, it was always the same sounds, the mixes were clean, but how fcking boring it was! I was saying, you know, I'm more of a techno guy, this is my thing, blabla... Today it can be deep house, techno, minimal, dubstep, trance, or whatever you classify it, it doesn't matter as long as i love it.

Most minimal parties I've been to recently started pissing me off after 2 hours, just because even if I didn't know the records of the hype dj from berlin, sometimes you don't even to know what it is.

Seen Laurent Garnier, was amazed by how this guy sounds free on the records he plays. He can get the pressure up playing techno for an hour, the last 30 min are pure Detroit your head gets filled with oldschool hihats and then he plays you the sweetest deephouse record you could expect. Not a lot of guys could do that the way he does. But when he switches from UR to deeply rooted house, it fcking blows the place. there is no up and down in his sets, it can be cool, it can be hard, but it's always lifting your soul up.

I believe people forget the pure role of a dj, surprising, pleasing and teaching about music a crowd.

My advice would be: listen to as much records as you can, you will discover many things. All the tracks you love, they have a link between them: the fact that you love them. You will find someway to put them together that is inside you, not only a stupid label/genre.

Bought a record from "Children of tomorrow" label, check it it's called
Change, a various ep. http://www.myspace.com/coftomorrow

daniellesniewski · Post by **daniellesniewski** » Sat May 30, 2009 4:47 pm

those tracks are really sick, the original of kiro and the remix r feckin phat!

m8, i cnt thank u enuff, im definitely gonna try checking out more record stores. not sure where the good ones r in london though :S

mlexicon · Post by **mlexicon** » Sat May 30, 2009 5:49 pm

when it comes to buying stuff digitally, i usually add anything i think i might like into the crate or whatever something i listened to, but didnt hear it that well...just anything

then immediately after im done putting crap into my "crate", I listen to everything,

immediately things are either placed in 3 categories

1) crap - what the fck were u thinking?

2) crap i like, but are you really gonna play that?

3) crap that makes me crap my pants DING DING!

So at this point ive cleared 85% of the crate

Now i repeat that process for the next two weeks always listening to every track in the crate and asking myself...What kind of crap is this really?

So two weeks later i got 3 tracks that pass the test, and crap im still unsure about I stick in the Hold Bin

And Vinyl, fck I wish i had enough money

cloutier · Post by **cloutier** » Sat May 30, 2009 5:49 pm

no offence, but i think you're thinking too hard about all of this.

do not think, but feel. we're not talking about splitting the atom here.

mlexicon · Post by **mlexicon** » Sat May 30, 2009 5:52 pm

basic rule of thumb, if it makes you want to expel bodily fluids, you should buy it

apanell · Post by **apanell** » Sat May 30, 2009 6:56 pm

https://twitter.com/rhawtin

hydrogen · Post by **hydrogen** » Sat May 30, 2009 7:22 pm

put the ipod on shuffle.