A few thoughts on the weekend’s experiments. We had a small number of DJs, and a very open and flexible format, and out of a conversation about DJ battles, arose a couple of ideas that I decided to play with.
The first was to use three DJs, for a half-hour spell, and play one track each in rotation – each trying to play off what was last played, and how the dancers responded. I wish I could say this one was a wild success – it certainly wasn’t – but we all thought the idea had some merit, and it’s an experiment I plan to repeat on another occasion – but with a little more care in choosing the moment, and laying out / discussing the parameters beforehand.
The second one was a variation on the first, and was equally simple. Three DJs in rotation. 20 minute sets. Rinse and repeat.
This one worked very well indeed. We all found it a nice chilled way to DJ, as we were all tired, and it meant we didn’t have to keep that focus for long stretches. Frequent dancing kept us all nicely in tune with the floor. And the constant changes of style went very smoothly, and kept a great variety going in the music. In particular, I found myself experimenting with the music a good deal more, and playing a whole raft of tracks that I haven’t thought to try before – all of which went down very well. One to be repeated.
I actually think that the mucking about with different formats is really challenging. I’m too scared to do it, mostly. I reckon I could only do it with DJs I knew really well, and then I’d really only like to do it with one DJ, and with someone who played the sort of music I did, and who had similar music to me. That way I could have a better chance of not fucking things up for them. I reckon I’d also like to do a lot of talking with the other DJ as we did it.
I’m a scared babby, though. And I panic a lot about fucking up while I’m DJing.
It can be, and I’m usually extremely hesitant to do it, but this time, it just felt right.
As for messing up – I used to worry about that far too much. Now, I think there’s times I worry about it too little. Have to find that balance…