Thread: Set Building?

Question for everyone here...

When your mixing (at home, or at tha club), how much emphasis do you place on "set building" or "programing"? How much thought goes into it? Do you think about it before the set? During the set? Both? Do you start with point A and take it to point B? Does this occur over the entire span of the set? Or just within several tracks... like 2-3 tracks of X-type, 2-3 tracks of Y-type, etc, etc. Or... is it more just dropping tracks, and riding the groove?

Lastly, if you are "set building", what is your primary focus... energy? color? mood? genre/sub genre?

What say you?

- jv -

when i'm trying to record a mix of different genres, i look for "transition" tracks that make for a smooth switch from one style to the next.

i'm not a great dj or anything but when i was recording a mix at the house, i'd build the set according to mood, trying to have a peak in the middle that lasts until the end and all of that. at the club however, i just had to base it off the crowd. sometimes you'd have to pick it up early and then let it plateau and then pick it up again, just depending on the crowd and what's going on at the time.

interesting questions...well I would say that I have never planned a set for playing out but I will definitely lay out in my head/record bag the tunes I must play, the rest is down to the moment.

Ive tried many a time to completely structure a set when im at home mixing/recording a set but it always went tits up. my best ever recordings usually come when I just bought a stack of new tracks and mix them for like the 1st or 2nd time...anyone else like this??

shag... I'm not talking about planning a set per se... more like planning a program. The actual tracks are interchangeable, but they fit together in a specific way, like a puzzle, only the way they fit together exactly is never the same (speaking in ideal terms).

I constantly obsess over this... the better I know my tracks, the more cohesive I can get the journey... The ideal for me is something like this:

ABABBCB - CDEDCEFE - EFGIHFHG - and then into the late night tunes and/or closing tunes.

As I buy new tracks, they all have meet a specific need in the program. Anyone else think like this?

- jv -

Originally Posted by shagnasty

interesting questions...well I would say that I have never planned a set for playing out but I will definitely lay out in my head/record bag the tunes I must play, the rest is down to the moment.

Ive tried many a time to completely structure a set when im at home mixing/recording a set but it always went tits up. my best ever recordings usually come when I just bought a stack of new tracks and mix them for like the 1st or 2nd time...anyone else like this??

agreed, im the same...back in london especially in the south everyone would be blinding because of what they were on and most tunes were prob the 2nd time spun ever when dropping them i can vouch for it myself good times and many journeys

Sometimes I'll pick out my first song, but after that, it's all uncharted territory. House is a feeling. Sounds cliche I know, but it's true. I just go with the flow. Once you open your soul to your surroundings, the set will take on a life of it's own & build itself.

It's a balancing act though. You have to be able to surrender yourself yet still remain in control. To do this, you have to know your music really well so that when the vibe dictates a change of direction or emotion, you can control the transition and take it there.

the better I know my tracks, the more cohesive I can get the journey...

Exactly. Cohesiveness is paramount. That's what gives your mix a personality & tells a story, because in order to have cohesiveness, you have to have a common thread or variable that runs throughout. A theme. Without this, your mix will fall apart even if your beatmatching is pristine.

Depends on my crowd and what type of mood I'm going for the night. On Saturday nights I definitely have a gameplan in mind on how I'll build the set using 3 to 4 tracks for each stage building up to the point that I plan on carrying the rest of the night out. But the start point varies each week so the "programming" takes a different form each time depending on the base crowd. Sometimes it's 2 tracks per phase, sometimes it's an hour. I judge by the heads bouncing.

Originally Posted by - jv -

I constantly obsess over this... the better I know my tracks, the more cohesive I can get the journey... The ideal for me is something like this:

ABABBCB - CDEDCEFE - EFGIHFHG - and then into the late night tunes and/or closing closing tunes.

As I buy new tracks, they all have meet a specific need in the program. Anyone else think like this?

- jv -

Definitely. I just like to make cd's to listen to, which means I lay my stuff out meticulously. But I like to my make sets as cohesive as possible. Keeping to a central motiff is part of the fun for me. As far as energy goes, it's always a peaks and valleys sort of thing. To me, the point is to keep the listener's interest. Dj's who are able to pull this off live are the ones who stand out.


I don't think you necessarily have to pre plan an entire live set, but rather have a bunch of little two or three song blocks that you can fit together how you see fit according to the reaction of the crowd.

I can't stand listening to most off the cuff sessions. Poor programming usually means botched mixing because the beats don't compliment each other. Way too much keeping it real for me. I'd rather listen to samples online. But there's always exceptions. Well seasoned pros who have been doing it for years and years and years can pull amazing sets out of thin air, but that's only because they've spent so many years of putting effort into being the best they can be so now that it comes easy to them.

And Jason, you're an awesome disc jockey, so just keep doing whatever works best for you.

i tend to grab a good somewhat minimal track to build an atmosphere and have what i call a destination track. from that first track, i have a little adventure building roads to that destination track.

once i get started, i'll begin thinking 3-4 tracks ahead of the current track.

being still somewhat of a trancehead, it's still about a story for me. so there will be an underlying message being conveyed throughout. i just cant string an entire set of trance tracks anymore. i have to put other sounds in there, for my own enjoyment.


honestly, my first track seems to always be the hardest to choose. once i get past that, i feel the groove and work my way up to my destination track.

Originally Posted by - jv -

shag... I'm not talking about planning a set per se... more like planning a program. The actual tracks are interchangeable, but they fit together in a specifc way, like a puzzle, only the way they fit together exactly is never the same (speaking in ideal terms).

I constantly obsess over this... the better I know my tracks, the more cohesive I can get the journey... The ideal for me is something like this:

ABABBCB - CDEDCEFE - EFGIHFHG - and then into the late night tunes and/or closing closing tunes.

As I buy new tracks, they all have meet a specific need in the program. Anyone else think like this?

- jv -

ok got u now...I think, not sure about all them letters but I get your drift about a journey...

in terms of buying the tracks to meet a specific purpose/section of your mix yeh that is something I do but often end up buying dark stomping tracks anyway, my brain just tells me to.
My favourite dj Mauro Picotto is an influence to me...he says that he likes to build the energy from start to finish and along the way the set goes in blocks of 4 tracks...3 dark then one uplifting...
I dont always follow this but sometimes having a pattern like this makes track selection interesting and more fun.

I try to always work through a set and think ahead a few tracks, but it depends on the crowd. I usually move through a few genres.

All very nice points.

My reason for bringing this up: over the past year, I've heard set after set from "big names" so-and-so and so-and-so, and more times than not, I feel like they are, for the most part, "just playing records". Sure there is a peak toward the end of the night, but for the most part, I hear tracks gettin slapped on the decks.

They lose my attention, I go to get a drink, chat with some peeps, check out some tunes in the "background". Then again, doesn't help when most places close at 2:00 and the DJ is only given 2 hours at most... But still.

And yes, Sir RunRun Shaw, I hear you on that. I cringe when I hear a DJ go on and play a pattern of BBBBB - BBBB - BBBBB... blahhhh

- jv -

I get behind the decks and think to myself "What would 4 Peace do?" then do the exact opposite of whatever comes to mind.