CRANKIN' IT UP - ANY TRICKS?

[QUINNY]

O.K. DJs and ex jocks like myself, here's a topic in which you may have something to say.

Something that has struck me since reading these boards is the different energy levels between most discos in the UK and the USA. Assuming that our American cousins are not ever so slightly pulling our todgers :D (how could I ever doubt their honesty?) it would appear that in the USA dancers would whoop, holler, shout, scream and gawd knows what else, if a record they liked was played or a brilliant transition (mix) was performed. In the UK, in most discos I very much doubt if feelings were so distinct or emotional.
Personally I remember getting a feeling at certain times during a night, a sudden surge onto the dancefloor maybe or a generally higher level of animation, but very rarely anything approaching shouts, screams etc.
(BTW: I fully expect Jazz to mention the Chris Hill et al Jazz Funk weekenders as different and I accept that the Northern Soul scene was known for its dance pyrotechnics and effervescent fans, but these were specialist scenes with avid followers - i.e not yer average, all comers welcome type of disco).

So, Djs what tricks did you employ to work an audience up?

My favourite trick (during my mixing days at least, with segues it was easier to do) was to mix in a current biggie at some 3 - 5 BPMs slower and then speed it up in an instant to its correct speed at the mix point. That way, the punters were hit with a winner and there was a sudden hike in tempo that would normally get the animation going with them. Sometimes the surge in vibe levels was very noticeable, but only occasionally did they get down with their bad selves and whoop it up. Shame, 'cos I would have enjoyed some of the energy I was giving out coming back at me.

[originalbigm]

It's just probably that old english reserve coming in to play.My method was to create a slow ascending vibe beginning at a lower bpm and gradually increasing the bpm's via pitch and record selection peaking out with the hot tunes of the week that had the greatest hooks.Then slowing it down.The idea was to create constant turnover on the floor so as to maximize liquor sales that was what the managers wanted.I also made it a point of pacing the evenings selections so that the majority of the hits were played in the 11pm - 1pm time slot.Most of the clubs here did not fill up till 10pm.So you didn't want to waste a lot of the good material in that 8-10pm slot The thing was to get an intuition as to when the appropriate moment was to throw in the HHHOT! track that you had been holding off on knowing that your crowd was chopping at the bit to hear.My favourite thing was the tunes that you beatmix into over a long break at a low level that would tease the crowd with anticipation.

[Mixmachine]

Quinny, in my personal experience crowds “screaming” to a mix only happened when using the ‘Chop’ mixing technique, ‘Segue’ or ‘Smooth’ mixing always pre-warns what’s coming to the floor and removes that ‘wow’ factor, to achieve this with ‘chop’ mixing the DJ has to properly time and pick the particular point (bar) in the song (or intro) with maximum energy and crowd awareness, of course the song had to be a very ‘hot’ title happening at the club at the time and they need to be in a heavy party mood.

I mentioned before in this board that some DJ friends and me used to do something locally (I’m sure it was done else where) that I would now described as ‘Power mixing’ sets (I don’t have any other way to describe it) ,this sets where few and far in between because many different club factors had to converge at a particular time and moment to make it possible, factors like type of club, crowd’s mood, size, energy, levels of intoxication, etc, I usually try this maybe in the last 30 minutes or so of the night, or
just after ‘Last call’, I would squeeze and play as many crowd pleasing favorite “high energy” cuts as possible in this time period always chopping and finding the songs “hooks” or energy point, sometimes only playing about a minute or less of the song, sometimes a friend( or light man) handed me the pre- selected records to speed up the mixing process/sequence, if I was hot and accurate that night (not always) and the right crowd was present , it was ‘magic’, they would go “nuts” every time their favorite song portion hit the speakers, and just before they know, they are ‘Hit’ once again with hit after hit, the floor usually stayed packed with screaming people until I was forced to end the night.

Also in many local Miami clubs I visited and played the crowds would sing along to many hit club records, sometimes you could play around lowering the clubs volume and hear the crowds singing along, off my head I remember doing this with “Gonna get along with out you” Violla Wills, a monster local hit for years, others songs were the ‘UAAA UAAA’ portion in ‘Lets all chant’ and “Burn ************, Burnnnn” chant in that ’84 or ’85 hit I can’t remember.

[QUINNY]

I always felt that the idea of beat mixing WAS to produce a perfect segue (chop mix). In that respect it must be easier these days with crossfaders. From '74 until mid '78 I used to chop mix exclusively and get great satisfaction out of pulling the outgoing record's fader down in a split second as the incoming record started. Get it right and it was a huge buzz, especially when the joint was jumpin'.
In the UK, jocks were expected to wind an audience up in other ways, namely by (talking) shouting at them, rather like MCs do today, only we had less finesse (hey, you learn from the previous generations and their mistakes, don't cha?). I could always get an audience to react (i.e. make a noise) but only rarely was it spontaneous on their part. Not a very poetic method of working, really.
Maybe we weren't drugged or drunk enough in the UK, who knows?

[Teddy Wardrobe]

great topic ! A couple things I do are as follows:

1. Crank the volume a little on the tune you are about to mix in (so it's a little louder than the tune you are about to mix out of). Use the Eq to drop out all the low end before dropping the new tune. Leave the low end eq'd out for the first 8 bars so the crowd keep on groovin but after 8 bars bang the low end back in again.

2. If you have a tune with a pumped up intro (eg Shalamar - right in the socket). Allow the tune you are playing to play out completely so the music fades out on the tune you are mixing out of. Wait for a couple seconds of silence then drop the new tune)