Early Night Music Sequencing

[Casual77]

It will probably seem strange for me to be asking about this now that I'm 18 months into my mobile DJ career but I still have some doubts over how I should be approaching music sequencing in the early part of the night. I know there is probably no particular right or wrong way to do things and I've always muddled my way through without any complaints, but I'd be interested to hear how other DJs generally approach it.

Here's the scenario.... Let's say its a typical birthday 50th party attended by family and friends. You know you will be playing to a largely empty dancefloor for the first couple of hours or so until the buffet has been cleared and the music brief is to play a bit of everything from the Sixties through to present day. How do you approach the issue of early night music sequencing? Assume it's a mixed age crowd with an even age spread ranging from young children through to the grandparents.

Do you start with something fairly current and work your way backwards through the decades? or
Do you start with something from the sixties and work your way forwards?
Do you progress your songs in some kind of chronological order?
Do you play songs in batches of a few songs from a similar era or musical genre?
Do you generally look to find links between the songs you play so that there is some kind of logical progression? or
Do you mix it up as much as you can so that there is no obvious pattern?
Do you stick a load of suitable songs into a folder and set your software to random automix and not give it any further thought until someone ventures on to the dancefloor?
Do you have a few tried and tested Mastermix CDs that you would normally stick on?
Do you have a standard 'one-size-fits-all' early night playlist or do you always come up with something bespoke on the night?
Do you have a preferred song that you would generally start one of these kind of nights off with?
Do you generally stick to more low-key songs so that you can save the most popular dancing songs for later in the night?
Do you ever worry that you aren't playing the right music or do you consider that you are largely just treading water until people have finished drinking and fancy having a dance?


Lots of questions I know but I would be genuinely interested to read how people approach this. So, how do you do it?

[Nakatomi]

Death to Mastermix Grandmaster et al.

There's no magic formula & there's certainly no way to discover what people like just by looking at them without judging their reactions to music.

I'll add here that whatever the event I don't go in all guns blazing. It's usually a build-up in energy unless they're really gagging for it. Christmas tends to be less of a gentle slope & more bam! right in we go.

[funkymook]

It will probably seem strange for me to be asking about this now that I'm 18 months into my mobile DJ career but I still have some doubts over how I should be approaching music sequencing in the early part of the night. I know there is probably no particular right or wrong way to do things and I've always muddled my way through without any complaints, but I'd be interested to hear how other DJs generally approach it.

Here's the scenario.... Let's say its a typical birthday 50th party attended by family and friends. You know you will be playing to a largely empty dancefloor for the first couple of hours or so until the buffet has been cleared and the music brief is to play a bit of everything from the Sixties through to present day. How do you approach the issue of early night music sequencing? Assume it's a mixed age crowd with an even age spread ranging from young children through to the grandparents.

Do you start with something fairly current and work your way backwards through the decades? or
Do you start with something from the sixties and work your way forwards?
Do you progress your songs in some kind of chronological order?
Do you play songs in batches of a few songs from a similar era or musical genre?
Do you generally look to find links between the songs you play so that there is some kind of logical progression? or
Do you mix it up as much as you can so that there is no obvious pattern?
Do you stick a load of suitable songs into a folder and set your software to random automix and not give it any further thought until someone ventures on to the dancefloor?
Do you have a few tried and tested Mastermix CDs that you would normally stick on?
Do you have a standard 'one-size-fits-all' early night playlist or do you always come up with something bespoke on the night?
Do you have a preferred song that you would generally start one of these kind of nights off with?
Do you generally stick to more low-key songs so that you can save the most popular dancing songs for later in the night?
Do you ever worry that you aren't playing the right music or do you consider that you are largely just treading water until people have finished drinking and fancy having a dance?


Lots of questions I know but I would be genuinely interested to read how people approach this. So, how do you do it?

If it ‘feels’ like the right music then it probably is.

If you’ve had some favourite tune/artists given to you it’s a good time to play any that aren’t danceable and find a few more along the same lines.
(It might be worth using the ‘bespoke' angle when talking to prospective clients, especially for weddings. I find it very easy to convert an evening enquiry into an all-day booking with a tailor made soundtrack offer, it’s even easier if they’re having any sort of theme or table names with a music connection, I had an evening only enquiry a while back where the tables were named after 80’s films - what a gift!).

Generally I find Motown/early soul usually works quite well for older birthday parties, wedding anniversaries etc, there’s plenty of tunes that people will recognise and you can still save the big ones for later. (Quite often get a few early dancers when I do play Motown, always good to have a little chat with them and ask what they’d like later as they’re going to be first on the floor and encourage the others). Rat Pack etc can also be good for the right crowd (or can sound terribly old and cliched with the wrong audience).

If you are going to go play by era or genre then have a few transition songs up your sleeve, a modern song that has a 60’s feel etc. Also bands like The Baseballs are a good take on modern tunes that work very well.

If you’re using a system that lets you save previous playlists in a folder keep the ones you think sounded good and either use them again on auto-play or for dipping in and out of. I go though mine on a regular basis and create new playlists out of combining them, they’re a great aide memoire.

When it’s time to start the party proper, a brief intro from yourself, dim any house lights, declare the dance-floor open and hit them with a big tune (by now you should’ve worked out what’s likely to work).

Or if it’s a wedding anniversary you can start the evening by inviting the couple to take to the floor as you play their original first dance then proceed from there.

I wouldn’t overthink it though, as long as you’ve got the volume at the right level and aren’t playing totally inappropriate music you’re getting it right.

[Excalibur]

I find myself pretty much in agreement with Martin here. We're not a million miles away from each other. Well said that man.

[musicology]

What Martin said

[DazzyD]

+1 for Martin's comments!

[Casual77]

I'll '+1' Martin's comment as well because I agree whole-heartedly with everything he has said.... but at the same time it doesn't really get down to the crux of my overriding question.

I've done enough gigs now to have a pretty good grasp of which songs work on these 'bit of everything' nights and how to keep a busy dancefloor happy. What I was trying to find out was not so much about 'what' songs I should play as 'what order' I should play them in. When the party is in full swing (often in the last few hours of a 5 hour party) and you have a busy dancefloor that is where the skill of being a DJ comes to the fore. You have to work out what will get people up out of their seats and then when you have achieved that make sure that you sequence the music in such a way as to hopefully ensure they stay there and are joined by more of the non-dancers.

My issue is whether there is an appropriate way to order the music at the start of the night. I have a good idea what songs I'm likely to play which would generally be popular, well-known songs but keeping my 'big guns' to one side for later in the night. I often find though that I expend too much nervous energy thinking about what song to play next and generally what order to play my songs in, when my audience, whilst hopefully enjoying the music, are largely not that bothered about the running order because they are too busy trying to get served at the bar or catching up with relatives they haven't seen since the last family party.

I suppose I was thinking that if enough experienced DJs said that it would be acceptable in this early part of the night to chop and change between genres and eras that I could spend less time worrying about how to create a clear and logical progression in my early night playing order and conserve my mental energy for later in the night when it is more needed. So the burning question is.... if, for example, I've got 5 perfectly acceptable songs from each decade from the 60's to the current one (which I know will get me through the first couple of uneventful hours), how should I decide which song to stick on first and what to play after it. Do I play all the 60's songs together at the outset and then progress on to the 70's, then 80s etc or do I play all the songs with a rock feel together before moving on to the pop-pier stuff, or do I say to hell with thinking about it and just stick them on in any old order knowing that no-one will object to any of the songs and that the running order doesn't particularly matter when no-one is dancing anyway? Would the answer to that question vary if it was a 60th rather than an 18th birthday party, or if it was a wedding or an anniversary bash?

It will probably come as little surprise that the gig that has prompted this was Saturday night's 18th birthday party offered to me at very short notice by a local hotel who with a few days to go realised that they had managed to double-book their resident DJ. Needless to say that the only information about music prior to starting playing was a 1 minute chat with the birthday girl's father and all he was able to give me was 'there will be quite a mixed crowd so play a bit of everything from 60's to current. Oh and she doesn't mind a bit of reggae'. The night was definitely a case of 'all's well that ends well' but at one point in the night it was in serious danger of becoming my worst gig ever. It was certainly not your typical 18th birthday party!

Whenever I have a gig that goes less than perfectly I always try to look for little lessons I can learn to help make future gigs go even better and it's thinking through the events of Saturday's gig that has brought up the need for this thread. I appreciate some will probably think I am 'over-thinking' this and the truth is I almost certainly am, but I'm hoping by getting an idea how other DJs approach this I can think about it a bit less on future gigs and spend more time enjoying the experience rather than worrying about it.

[rth_discos]

Interesting story about the 18th birthday.

My work is nearly exclusively weddings. Many say these are tough because of the mixed audience (ages etc), and that people are there to catch up with each other.

Just a bit of background about me - as well as DJing (mobile and high street bars), I've musically programmed radio stations for many years. So music programming is a strong point of mine.

I've now got to the point that if I've met the bride and groom in advance of the wedding, I can pretty much plan the evening of music before I even turn up to the gig.

I don't rigidly follow it through the evening, but 90% of the time, it works perfectly. It rotates the dancefloor perfectly during the early part of the evening, and builds up to a big ending.

Because it's planned, I know that I'm not going to burn through my "big songs" early on, and I get more time to plan the music (rather than rushing to think of a song whilst one is playing).

Usually, my order is pretty close - I often move few songs around my order to fit the flow of the evening, and occasionally drop and swap some songs that on the night I feel won't work, but my system isn't letting me down.

I don't think many DJs operate like this - it goes against everything you are told about "reading the audience" - but I've been able to do that in advance, and my experience knows how to fill and keep a dancefloor.

And evening to evening, the music is very varied - this isn't a case of relying on "one playlist" for every wedding!

Just something to throw in...

[funkymook]

I'll '+1' Martin's comment as well because I agree whole-heartedly with everything he has said.... but at the same time it doesn't really get down to the crux of my overriding question.

I've done enough gigs now to have a pretty good grasp of which songs work on these 'bit of everything' nights and how to keep a busy dancefloor happy. What I was trying to find out was not so much about 'what' songs I should play as 'what order' I should play them in. When the party is in full swing (often in the last few hours of a 5 hour party) and you have a busy dancefloor that is where the skill of being a DJ comes to the fore. You have to work out what will get people up out of their seats and then when you have achieved that make sure that you sequence the music in such a way as to hopefully ensure they stay there and are joined by more of the non-dancers.

My issue is whether there is an appropriate way to order the music at the start of the night. I have a good idea what songs I'm likely to play which would generally be popular, well-known songs but keeping my 'big guns' to one side for later in the night. I often find though that I expend too much nervous energy thinking about what song to play next and generally what order to play my songs in, when my audience, whilst hopefully enjoying the music, are largely not that bothered about the running order because they are too busy trying to get served at the bar or catching up with relatives they haven't seen since the last family party.

I suppose I was thinking that if enough experienced DJs said that it would be acceptable in this early part of the night to chop and change between genres and eras that I could spend less time worrying about how to create a clear and logical progression in my early night playing order and conserve my mental energy for later in the night when it is more needed. So the burning question is.... if, for example, I've got 5 perfectly acceptable songs from each decade from the 60's to the current one (which I know will get me through the first couple of uneventful hours), how should I decide which song to stick on first and what to play after it. Do I play all the 60's songs together at the outset and then progress on to the 70's, then 80s etc or do I play all the songs with a rock feel together before moving on to the pop-pier stuff, or do I say to hell with thinking about it and just stick them on in any old order knowing that no-one will object to any of the songs and that the running order doesn't particularly matter when no-one is dancing anyway? Would the answer to that question vary if it was a 60th rather than an 18th birthday party, or if it was a wedding or an anniversary bash?

It will probably come as little surprise that the gig that has prompted this was Saturday night's 18th birthday party offered to me at very short notice by a local hotel who with a few days to go realised that they had managed to double-book their resident DJ. Needless to say that the only information about music prior to starting playing was a 1 minute chat with the birthday girl's father and all he was able to give me was 'there will be quite a mixed crowd so play a bit of everything from 60's to current. Oh and she doesn't mind a bit of reggae'. The night was definitely a case of 'all's well that ends well' but at one point in the night it was in serious danger of becoming my worst gig ever. It was certainly not your typical 18th birthday party!

Whenever I have a gig that goes less than perfectly I always try to look for little lessons I can learn to help make future gigs go even better and it's thinking through the events of Saturday's gig that has brought up the need for this thread. I appreciate some will probably think I am 'over-thinking' this and the truth is I almost certainly am, but I'm hoping by getting an idea how other DJs approach this I can think about it a bit less on future gigs and spend more time enjoying the experience rather than worrying about it.

You’re over thinking it, it’s background music, no one is taking that much notice, as long as you’re playing nice music at a suitable volume while people are arriving, chatting and eating you’re going to be OK. Have fun with it, try playing tunes you know are classic/popular that people will recognise but you don’t usually play so you get more familiar with them. If you're totally missing the mark people will soon ask for something different so play that instead (or save it for later if it’s not the right time for it).

[ckpr2]

I found after a number of gigs I got to know what people liked.
Sometimes I would get it wrong and there is always another genre to try if that doesn't work.

I have only ever had one gig where no one danced all night and there were 3 DJ's and none us could make anything of the crowd.

As time goes on and new music comes out you have to keep any eye on what people like.

On the first disco I worked on in 1976 we used to get freebie new releases from the record companies.
It was always a risk trying a new song but some went down very well.