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how to make a dj set list

How To Choose Songs For Your DJ Set List

Start with something REAL dramatic and real signature so the audience know it’s you and you set the tone.

Ramp up from there into the ‘give them what they paid for’ section… play a bunch of your hits, maybe a medley or two if you’ve got a lot, bringing the energy up and up and up.

Now that you’ve earned it you can play some new stuff nobody has heard before. Get experimental here.

Then change gears and play the slow song/ballad/I-love-you-guys-isn’t-this-special song. This is one for the ladies/couples/sadboi cru. What it lacks in energy level it should MORE than make up for in quality.

Now you’ve brought it down you get to bring it back up SHARPLY. Each track should crank up the energy as you work towards the climax.

Now it’s the ‘pay the bills’ section. Really smash it here with your best shit. You want people looking at each other and saying ‘yup, this is why we bought tickets, this is what we paid for’.

Climax with a SUPER INTENSE peak and then go to NOTHING. Like a big explosion and then a void…

Walk off stage while the audience screams.

Then play something SUPER MEMORABLE as an encore. Feel free to drag this shit out if the club will let you. You have total freedom here. I’ve even had a dance floor go wild to the original of Dueling Banjos from the movie Deliverance at this point. You could literally play anything here so long as it’s amusing and memorable. You could also play another banger… whatever you like. I most often do a finger drumming routine on the MPC for this portion of the set.

For other parts of DJing, like using Rekord Box and Mixing in Key With the Camelot System, check out free DJ tutorials from The Art Of DJing workshop.

If you learned anything useful please consider checking out my renegade music coaching community and record label over at https://ProducerDojo.com.

Lots of love

Dylan aka ill.Gates

Get all of my albums, a slew of singles, remixes, and DJ mixes for FREE! – www.illgates.com

learn how to dj for beginners
EDM Artist and Music Producer ill.Gates on ProducerDJ

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