Here are 4 reasons not to plan your DJ set
Planning your set before the event makes perfect sense, right? You can select a perfect mixture of pace, genre, and mood. You know exactly what’s going to happen.
Well, I’m afraid that isn’t how things work. Every crowd is different, so that pre-planned set that worked well for one gig might not do the same for another. Don’t get me wrong, pre-planning a set can be beneficial. But most of the time you should wing it. And here’s why.
You can adapt to the crowd – The first advantage to going into a gig without a plan is that you can adapt to the crowd. Reading the crowd is the most important skill of a DJ, and a pre-plan limits that adaptability.
You’ll be too wrapped up in your plan to realise that no one is dancing and your set is going down like a lead balloon.
You don’t grow – You probably got into the DJing industry because you love music. But if you’re stuck in your ‘pre-set’ plans you aren’t going to find anything new. No new music will make its way into your set. And that’s always a bad thing if you’re a DJ.
You don’t have fun – The best thing about being a DJ is that you get to play and listen to music. But as we all know, listening to the same stuff over and over again gets boring. And as it’s your job, it’ll be even worse.
Spontaneity keeps things fresh and interesting. So you won’t have to play the same set for the 500th time. It’ll be new every place you go because you’re adapting to the crowd.
It can make you more nervous – If that pre-planned set isn’t going down to well it means all that hard work has gone to waste. And you probably won’t have a back-up. And that’ll make you nervous. What do nerves do to a DJ?
Ruin him.
So think twice the next time you look to plan your DJ set. It might just be the worst idea you’ve ever had.
