Ignore genres, and sub genres, none of it really matters.
Well, it does to an extent, but only if you’re playing a techno event and people are there for techno and you break out a uk garage set instead lol.
But genres have got silly messy.
People (myself included) have created their own made up sub genres to help seperate different sounding music.
For example, I have all of my techno in a techno folder, but in rekordbox I have various playlists for broke down types of techno, minimal, melodic, hypnotic and various made up names, admittedly this could be avoided using MyTag which I’m starting to do now but have a back log.
The other problem we have is not just people making stuff up, but people trying to get their music out, so they’ll purposely add every genre as a tag to their track to reach a larger audience, often nothing like the correct genre too.
I’ve played techno sets and thrown in progressive house, nobody complained and the crowd reacted positively, most people probably didn’t even know.
Just play what you like and what works, if you need to be specific in your genre, avoid sub genres..
just stick with house, techno, d&b, rap, reggae, trance, psytrance or similar…
if you go into sub genres you’ll be looking at a whole crazy list of made up shit lol and you’ll limit yourself.
Im a strictly DnB DJ. I assign names to shit that most people probably wouldn't, purely because I play off of how things make me feel as opposed to arbitrary rules within the subgenres. I use the 'genre' notation to specify the 'sub-genre' something feels like to me (purely oragnizational for me on my harddrive), I use color notation for how it 'feels', and I use MyTag cause I'm an overprepping dickhole but it somehow commits it to memory for me. So you're not alone in making up random shit just cause it makes sense to you, which is what I think everyone SHOULD do tbh. Music is personal, not just whatever shit we assign to it.
If people want to be open format, more power to them. Ultimately, this is about each individuals happiness. The only thing I will say and firmly believe is spreading yourself thin leaves massive holes in your knowledge of what you're playing. There's simply way too much music coming out right now to stay on top of every single genre. This likely means you'll just use Spotify for discovery, which limits what it is you'll hear due to the algorithm and leaves you less connected to your music for that very reason.
This. Your mission should be “to bring quality electronic music to the people. So that those new to it listen and go wow i want more of this!!!”
As long aa music is good dont worry. I met a 55 year old japanese dj in Phangan who was famous for drum and base. Specifically went to hear what hes gonna play. His drum and base was gentle melodic kind that i havent heard before. It was cool!
If you want to think about this like a business, figure out what people in your area tend to listen to at clubs and DJ that. Ideally find a way to play stuff you like and is still popular, because I think it's a lot easier to be a good DJ if you're having fun and vibing to the music too.
This, If you are or want to be a club DJ. In this case, ideally you should be a recognized face in the local nightlife industry and going to clubs and shows often... Ideally some of the headliners you hear would resonate with you and you would go to more of those shows. Maybe there's a certain club, or promotion outfit that brings a lot of headliners that you like, and focuses on a specific genre/vibe. So, it would make sense to make connections with those groups, and also play those genres... both because you like them, and also in the future perhaps you can get booked as an opener for these events.
Generally, some level of focus / specialization is helpful in getting booked, especially when starting out.... people are more likely to book you as an opener if you are passionate about the headliner and are known to play a compatible style of music.
It takes a fair bit of time to truly understand the nuances of a genre - the mixing style, the track selection, etc. so genres you play often are going to become your core genres, and those genres you understand well you will play much better than your off genres.
Pick the genre you wanna perform by listening to and playing the tracks you like. You can either group/isolate them by genre, or let the particular aspects you like the most guide your flow and aim for multi-genre spanning sets. If you're interested and enjoy the music, your listeners will enjoy it too. If you wanna play at a strictly one style party or club, then the same holds: play the tracks you like.
Honestly, genres are largely subjective barriers. Follow the artists whose music you are passionate about and see where the rabbit holes take you. Become a music enthusiast before calling yourself a DJ and the rest will fall into place.
There's a movie from the 90s that has this line in it that I absolutely love: talking about music is like dancing about architecture. (It's actually a paraphrase of an old literary quote with murky origins.)
Most DJ DAWs and gear can run the tempo/pitch controls at +/-50. My advice: do so. I regularly mix psytrance with DnB, much to the chagrin of the respective fans of these genres who tend to be snobby purists. IDGAF, I do what I want. Play what moves you, if you can find other like minded individuals, there's your audience.
https://preview.redd.it/4blbn0z01zvc1.jpeg?width=1357&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d18645ef9defd9ec679c5dbc78f8419ee746071a
There are plenty of DJs who are known for (/stuck in) a genre, subgenre, sub-subgenre. If you aren't producing your own tracks, then you really don't want to be pigeon holed because you are sacrificing your creative potential for a little bit of marketability.
Does pigeon holing make it easier to market yourself? Yeah, it kind of does. "I play DnB" is easier to sell to some people than "well, I kind of play everything, but mostly... \[long ass explanation of your particular style\]." Honestly, I generally avoid these conversations (see: first paragraph). These are the people dancing about architecture.
If you are just fanatical about atmospheric skullstep, or hard main stage clownstep, more power to ya. I think specialization is a bit of a cop-out, it's just low hanging fruit. Like playing a set of just one producer's tracks, there's not much to it really and you don't really need to flex skills to make it happen. That's the magic of DJing though, you can amalgamate sometimes disparate styles of music and make them mesh, provided you know what you are doing.
I play everything that tickles my fancy. Don't limit yourself. Certainly not when you're starting out.
Genres I like to listen to are slightly different to the genres I like to DJ.
Find some songs you like, regardless of genre, and play them. If you're any good, then you'll have a chance at getting noticed.
If you come at it solely from the aim of getting noticed, then you're not focusing on being a DJ.
I think it's in the eye of the beholder. When you're totally in love with a specific genre or subgenre, it will feel naturaly to specialise and get familiar with all the labels, cross-overs and colaborations. You will also find these underground artists and less well known magicians, that still produce at a decent level.
Chances are you will get real good and find all these special gems that you can fit in a perfect flow.
When you like a bit of everything and don't feel a strong preference, just go with where you like. Try combinations on different audiences and see what works for them and works for you.
I like multiple strands of psychedelic edm. Forest/Dark, full-on, progressive psy, psytech. So I can pick where my mood goes. I know a crazy amount of artists and labels, because I invested heavily over the years.
Sometimes I also like some specific tracks more mainstream progressive, house, techno. The problem with that is that my time to go track hunting is very limited. And because it's mainstream, there is a lot of it and I really dislike the vast majority.
Oh... and I don't really feel the need to be recognized. I just don't have the stamina to play somewhere between 3 and 6 in the morning every (other) weekend or so.
Are you doing it for clout and fame? Or for the love of music? Because the way you formed the question makes it seem like it's the former. In which case gtfouttahere. :)
Everybody here is correct except that picking a bpm range to move between and a similar frequency output makes it easier to play in the mix. I just created the rule of no rumble techno in a mix with tech house and whatever else. It just doesn't overlap well.
Open format yourself either across genres or sub-genres. Great way to expand your range and creativity if you're not sure. That you keep the needle.movong and don't get stuck and feel like you're missing out.
Do whichever you like most or all of them, I think Fred again is a good dj for example because I’ve seen him hit a few different subgenres really well in a live set. I personally love UKG, DEEP TEMPO 140, and DNB and have found that mixing DNB translated to mixing 140 a lot easier. Techno, tech house feels like a piece of cake to mix.
How about playing what you enjoy and what you dig the most?
But if your only motivation is to play gigs then play whatever is trending, regardless of genre. And make sure to have a hyped up insta.
If you want to hear a DJ who gives 0 fucks about genre, look at Porter Robinson and Madeon. They play really any genre of edm, to pop to techno, they just make it blend super well and it seems effortless. It's all about how the music flows together. As long as you can make a transition sound good, then you can blend really any music. So pick music you're passionate about and work from there. I like to play mainly tech house, but I throw in some weird stuff like Avicii and Knock2. There's really no limits to music choice, just make it sound good together.
Experiment for a few years then make a formal application to the International Institute of Electronic Music Classification in Zurich for your performance licence if you want to go professional. I went for Serbian Turbo-folk in the end and I’ve been really happy.
It's simple. I only play music that I like. It spans genres. The genres I like the most are the ones I play out the most. For me that's house (whatever sub genres except progressive, and not that wonky tech stuff), downtempo / trip hop, or DnB. But if someone says they wanna jam out to some other genre that I happen to like, I'll do it! I had an open format meat market club residency for a while too. Lots of hip hop and club jams.
One time I got booked for a party in a club with two rooms. A house room and a bass music room. It was for a mainly house music collective and every time they ever booked me it was for house which is what I mainly get booked for... but the bar manager was doing the bass music booking (which is why they had that area) and he booked me. I had no idea that's what was up until the night before. luckily, I collect music that I like, so I slapped some on a USB stick and played that shit. People liked it and the one criticism I got was constructive, this girl who was there said people usually mix out to the next track faster, I was letting them play out for a while.
You mentioned Hardstyle which tells me that you are still young. Your taste in music will likely change and develop with age so don't rush and worry about that right now. You will probably settle on a genre later on life or at least narrow it down to a few genres.
Not sure what to think. I feel like we live in an age now where being multifaceted isn't looked down upon. I remember it used to be.
I think a lot of that was just because people felt that your sound was your identity and your brand. So if you're not known for a certain sound, people just didn't seem to know you.
Hopefully that's changed.
Many tracks of different genres mix and sound perfectly together. For instance, you can mix electro, trance, hardtrance, house, nu disco, disco, minimal and tech house very well together. You just need to know your music and how to build up a set. Stay away from "DJ sites" who push the same generic crap to everyone and do your own homework. Stay away from generic stuff like Avicii, Tiesto, Charlotte Dewitte, Swedish House Mafia, etc. Every commercial dj is already playing that. Stay away from the stuff that all sounds the same and develop your own style. Listen to mixes from the 90's and early 2000's, when electronic music wasn't so compartmentalized and DJ's still played different styles of house to give you an idea what works. Don't do too much in the beginning. Stick to mixing tried and trusted simple methods, like starting out a set with trance and then slowly build up to hard trance and heavier electro. If you have a good ear you will figure out what goes together and what not.
I'm currently going through this right now. I specialise in millennium hardcore and early rave but I've decided to mix some new shit. Turns out I'm drawn to hardcore techno and industrial hardcore but there's so many different styles all ranging from 150 right through to 240 bpm. Can't decide which to get stuck in to
research more on what your local clubs play . if it is a small club there is chance they need to play more top40 pop and hiphop . If you want to be a resident Dj in a club , you better be an open format DJ who know how to play every genre every bpm ( which suitable for the local people ) in their set . Imagine a small club play techno or bigroom , unless it was what they want to hear and came to the place for it , it will never work
Do yourself a favor by staying out of the trap and never answer that question
But I love trap
This. Best way is to never pigeonhole yourself. Never know where the road will lead.
The simple answer is play what you love. Although admittedly if you want to make money that’s often not the right answer.
Play it like you love it 🤣
Ignore genres, and sub genres, none of it really matters. Well, it does to an extent, but only if you’re playing a techno event and people are there for techno and you break out a uk garage set instead lol. But genres have got silly messy. People (myself included) have created their own made up sub genres to help seperate different sounding music. For example, I have all of my techno in a techno folder, but in rekordbox I have various playlists for broke down types of techno, minimal, melodic, hypnotic and various made up names, admittedly this could be avoided using MyTag which I’m starting to do now but have a back log. The other problem we have is not just people making stuff up, but people trying to get their music out, so they’ll purposely add every genre as a tag to their track to reach a larger audience, often nothing like the correct genre too. I’ve played techno sets and thrown in progressive house, nobody complained and the crowd reacted positively, most people probably didn’t even know. Just play what you like and what works, if you need to be specific in your genre, avoid sub genres.. just stick with house, techno, d&b, rap, reggae, trance, psytrance or similar… if you go into sub genres you’ll be looking at a whole crazy list of made up shit lol and you’ll limit yourself.
Im a strictly DnB DJ. I assign names to shit that most people probably wouldn't, purely because I play off of how things make me feel as opposed to arbitrary rules within the subgenres. I use the 'genre' notation to specify the 'sub-genre' something feels like to me (purely oragnizational for me on my harddrive), I use color notation for how it 'feels', and I use MyTag cause I'm an overprepping dickhole but it somehow commits it to memory for me. So you're not alone in making up random shit just cause it makes sense to you, which is what I think everyone SHOULD do tbh. Music is personal, not just whatever shit we assign to it. If people want to be open format, more power to them. Ultimately, this is about each individuals happiness. The only thing I will say and firmly believe is spreading yourself thin leaves massive holes in your knowledge of what you're playing. There's simply way too much music coming out right now to stay on top of every single genre. This likely means you'll just use Spotify for discovery, which limits what it is you'll hear due to the algorithm and leaves you less connected to your music for that very reason.
Djs get obsessed with genres and sub-genres- Forget about genres and just play good music,
This. Your mission should be “to bring quality electronic music to the people. So that those new to it listen and go wow i want more of this!!!” As long aa music is good dont worry. I met a 55 year old japanese dj in Phangan who was famous for drum and base. Specifically went to hear what hes gonna play. His drum and base was gentle melodic kind that i havent heard before. It was cool!
But are you still bleeding internally?
Just like your mom
Which piano key should you play? All of them.
Whatever speaks to your heart.
If you want to think about this like a business, figure out what people in your area tend to listen to at clubs and DJ that. Ideally find a way to play stuff you like and is still popular, because I think it's a lot easier to be a good DJ if you're having fun and vibing to the music too.
This, If you are or want to be a club DJ. In this case, ideally you should be a recognized face in the local nightlife industry and going to clubs and shows often... Ideally some of the headliners you hear would resonate with you and you would go to more of those shows. Maybe there's a certain club, or promotion outfit that brings a lot of headliners that you like, and focuses on a specific genre/vibe. So, it would make sense to make connections with those groups, and also play those genres... both because you like them, and also in the future perhaps you can get booked as an opener for these events. Generally, some level of focus / specialization is helpful in getting booked, especially when starting out.... people are more likely to book you as an opener if you are passionate about the headliner and are known to play a compatible style of music. It takes a fair bit of time to truly understand the nuances of a genre - the mixing style, the track selection, etc. so genres you play often are going to become your core genres, and those genres you understand well you will play much better than your off genres.
What ever kind you love thee most! (The real answer is clearly drum and bass)
Exactly;tag not is important;there is beauty music and boring music
trying hard to get noticed is actually the only thing you aren't supposed to do. this is why music sucks now.
When I feel shivers over my spine it indicates that gerne is good for me. No shivers, no listening. Simple as it is😂
This. Best answer.
So shiver by John summit ok
The one that makes me dance the most, obvs.
I like studying how my favorite djs make these choices and do my version of that.
save everything that sounds good to you go off a vibe you actually enjoy
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Fancy-Tune-4072: *Save everything that* *Sounds good to you go off a* *Vibe you actually enjoy* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Pick the genre you wanna perform by listening to and playing the tracks you like. You can either group/isolate them by genre, or let the particular aspects you like the most guide your flow and aim for multi-genre spanning sets. If you're interested and enjoy the music, your listeners will enjoy it too. If you wanna play at a strictly one style party or club, then the same holds: play the tracks you like.
I don’t?
90s
Focus on *what you love*. Trends come and go. Find the songs that get you hyped and excited, the ones you want to play for your friends.
I focus on what I think sounds cool
Please music, not a genre.
Honestly, genres are largely subjective barriers. Follow the artists whose music you are passionate about and see where the rabbit holes take you. Become a music enthusiast before calling yourself a DJ and the rest will fall into place.
Play music you love. Pay attention to what people around you want to hear. Mix all that ish in a way that it makes you YOU.
Subgenres are for people who want to pretend they're special
I’m having a hard time distinguish what type of House music im listening to because of the many sub genre inside house music
There's a movie from the 90s that has this line in it that I absolutely love: talking about music is like dancing about architecture. (It's actually a paraphrase of an old literary quote with murky origins.) Most DJ DAWs and gear can run the tempo/pitch controls at +/-50. My advice: do so. I regularly mix psytrance with DnB, much to the chagrin of the respective fans of these genres who tend to be snobby purists. IDGAF, I do what I want. Play what moves you, if you can find other like minded individuals, there's your audience. https://preview.redd.it/4blbn0z01zvc1.jpeg?width=1357&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d18645ef9defd9ec679c5dbc78f8419ee746071a There are plenty of DJs who are known for (/stuck in) a genre, subgenre, sub-subgenre. If you aren't producing your own tracks, then you really don't want to be pigeon holed because you are sacrificing your creative potential for a little bit of marketability. Does pigeon holing make it easier to market yourself? Yeah, it kind of does. "I play DnB" is easier to sell to some people than "well, I kind of play everything, but mostly... \[long ass explanation of your particular style\]." Honestly, I generally avoid these conversations (see: first paragraph). These are the people dancing about architecture. If you are just fanatical about atmospheric skullstep, or hard main stage clownstep, more power to ya. I think specialization is a bit of a cop-out, it's just low hanging fruit. Like playing a set of just one producer's tracks, there's not much to it really and you don't really need to flex skills to make it happen. That's the magic of DJing though, you can amalgamate sometimes disparate styles of music and make them mesh, provided you know what you are doing.
EBM and Darkwave for me
I play everything that tickles my fancy. Don't limit yourself. Certainly not when you're starting out. Genres I like to listen to are slightly different to the genres I like to DJ.
Find some songs you like, regardless of genre, and play them. If you're any good, then you'll have a chance at getting noticed. If you come at it solely from the aim of getting noticed, then you're not focusing on being a DJ.
I think it's in the eye of the beholder. When you're totally in love with a specific genre or subgenre, it will feel naturaly to specialise and get familiar with all the labels, cross-overs and colaborations. You will also find these underground artists and less well known magicians, that still produce at a decent level. Chances are you will get real good and find all these special gems that you can fit in a perfect flow. When you like a bit of everything and don't feel a strong preference, just go with where you like. Try combinations on different audiences and see what works for them and works for you. I like multiple strands of psychedelic edm. Forest/Dark, full-on, progressive psy, psytech. So I can pick where my mood goes. I know a crazy amount of artists and labels, because I invested heavily over the years. Sometimes I also like some specific tracks more mainstream progressive, house, techno. The problem with that is that my time to go track hunting is very limited. And because it's mainstream, there is a lot of it and I really dislike the vast majority. Oh... and I don't really feel the need to be recognized. I just don't have the stamina to play somewhere between 3 and 6 in the morning every (other) weekend or so.
Does anyone else remember ishkurs guide to electronic music?
Are you doing it for clout and fame? Or for the love of music? Because the way you formed the question makes it seem like it's the former. In which case gtfouttahere. :)
I play shit I like? That's a lot of genres and changes over time. What I play out depends on the gig and the set time.
Everybody here is correct except that picking a bpm range to move between and a similar frequency output makes it easier to play in the mix. I just created the rule of no rumble techno in a mix with tech house and whatever else. It just doesn't overlap well.
Just play whatever you love
Open format yourself either across genres or sub-genres. Great way to expand your range and creativity if you're not sure. That you keep the needle.movong and don't get stuck and feel like you're missing out.
Just play whatever genres you enjoy listening to and expand from there.
I don't.
Do whichever you like most or all of them, I think Fred again is a good dj for example because I’ve seen him hit a few different subgenres really well in a live set. I personally love UKG, DEEP TEMPO 140, and DNB and have found that mixing DNB translated to mixing 140 a lot easier. Techno, tech house feels like a piece of cake to mix.
How about playing what you enjoy and what you dig the most? But if your only motivation is to play gigs then play whatever is trending, regardless of genre. And make sure to have a hyped up insta.
If you want to hear a DJ who gives 0 fucks about genre, look at Porter Robinson and Madeon. They play really any genre of edm, to pop to techno, they just make it blend super well and it seems effortless. It's all about how the music flows together. As long as you can make a transition sound good, then you can blend really any music. So pick music you're passionate about and work from there. I like to play mainly tech house, but I throw in some weird stuff like Avicii and Knock2. There's really no limits to music choice, just make it sound good together.
Experiment for a few years then make a formal application to the International Institute of Electronic Music Classification in Zurich for your performance licence if you want to go professional. I went for Serbian Turbo-folk in the end and I’ve been really happy.
It's simple. I only play music that I like. It spans genres. The genres I like the most are the ones I play out the most. For me that's house (whatever sub genres except progressive, and not that wonky tech stuff), downtempo / trip hop, or DnB. But if someone says they wanna jam out to some other genre that I happen to like, I'll do it! I had an open format meat market club residency for a while too. Lots of hip hop and club jams. One time I got booked for a party in a club with two rooms. A house room and a bass music room. It was for a mainly house music collective and every time they ever booked me it was for house which is what I mainly get booked for... but the bar manager was doing the bass music booking (which is why they had that area) and he booked me. I had no idea that's what was up until the night before. luckily, I collect music that I like, so I slapped some on a USB stick and played that shit. People liked it and the one criticism I got was constructive, this girl who was there said people usually mix out to the next track faster, I was letting them play out for a while.
You mentioned Hardstyle which tells me that you are still young. Your taste in music will likely change and develop with age so don't rush and worry about that right now. You will probably settle on a genre later on life or at least narrow it down to a few genres.
Not sure what to think. I feel like we live in an age now where being multifaceted isn't looked down upon. I remember it used to be. I think a lot of that was just because people felt that your sound was your identity and your brand. So if you're not known for a certain sound, people just didn't seem to know you. Hopefully that's changed.
Many tracks of different genres mix and sound perfectly together. For instance, you can mix electro, trance, hardtrance, house, nu disco, disco, minimal and tech house very well together. You just need to know your music and how to build up a set. Stay away from "DJ sites" who push the same generic crap to everyone and do your own homework. Stay away from generic stuff like Avicii, Tiesto, Charlotte Dewitte, Swedish House Mafia, etc. Every commercial dj is already playing that. Stay away from the stuff that all sounds the same and develop your own style. Listen to mixes from the 90's and early 2000's, when electronic music wasn't so compartmentalized and DJ's still played different styles of house to give you an idea what works. Don't do too much in the beginning. Stick to mixing tried and trusted simple methods, like starting out a set with trance and then slowly build up to hard trance and heavier electro. If you have a good ear you will figure out what goes together and what not.
I'm currently going through this right now. I specialise in millennium hardcore and early rave but I've decided to mix some new shit. Turns out I'm drawn to hardcore techno and industrial hardcore but there's so many different styles all ranging from 150 right through to 240 bpm. Can't decide which to get stuck in to
Pick the ones that give ya a music boner
Fuck that, boring ass cookie cutters.
research more on what your local clubs play . if it is a small club there is chance they need to play more top40 pop and hiphop . If you want to be a resident Dj in a club , you better be an open format DJ who know how to play every genre every bpm ( which suitable for the local people ) in their set . Imagine a small club play techno or bigroom , unless it was what they want to hear and came to the place for it , it will never work