DJ: how many listens you give new song?

S

Smejmoon

Son Montuno
How many times do you listen to the new song, before you're ready to play it in the party? How do you decide to include it in your collection?
 
When I listen to new music I select songs approximately based on:

* does it touch me emotionally, intellectually, is it really innovative?
* is well done, is arrangement, sound quality good, is it dancable enough?
* do I feel, think other people will really like it?
* is this song genious?

Then, I move it to contender list, which I listen from time to time. Now I'm more strict, and I'm listening to it as a dancer. If the song is genious, but not dancable, it will go to my personal collection or I might play it at 2am at house salsa party. The rest of the songs go to the dance collection.

Before I add a song to the set for particular night, I listen to it again, if I don't know it well. I might do some cuts, i.e. remove silence, chatter from begining and end, normalize volume, make notes.

Then I take prepared sets to the party, but I might or not play it. If it gets played I listen to it again and watch reaction of dancers.

From here the song will stay unless I feel I was mistaken or others don't like it. Or much better version of same song appears. If in doubt, I move it to purgatory for another listen, if I don't like it, but dancers do very much, well.. it hurts, but song stays.

Overall it's about 2-4 listens, at first I'm looking if it's good, then I'm trying to understand it, and then I listen if there is anything bad.
 
that may depend on the song itself.

some songs are easily "compiled" in our "music processor" (oooooh, this almighty and equally unknown thing called brain). it tells us in a few seconds which way it may go in our collection.

others songs take a while to be classified and may require a couple of playbacks to define its way to a specific genre or playlist.

the mentioned questions are asked then: how danceable it is?... which public will love it?... which public will hate it?... does it seems like a song that only a few will like?...

it's not easy to do this specially when you have to disconnect your own preferences to be more objective.
 
Fortunately, my personal preference is that same as for the crowd I play for; meaning that "danceability" is the main criterion.

However, there are varying degrees of "danceability." A song can be on mildly danceable, yet have lyrics that move me! Also, a song might sound very danceable, but the singer's voice or lyrics, for me, ruin the song.

Usually, after the initial listen, songs are either a "no" or a "maybe." That decision is usually made within the first 30 seconds of the song. Of course, I go back later to all the "maybes" to make the final decisions.
 
Indeed I find the 'must plays' tend to stand out pretty darn quickly, on the first listen.

The maybe pile needs more work to analyse whether your taste might not quite like it, but a crowd might etc.
 
I'm with Bill. If it makes me wanna dance it goes into the must play area of my brain. I don't make playlists, so it just goes into that little file.
 
Smejmoon said:
How many times do you listen to the new song, before you're ready to play it in the party? How do you decide to include it in your collection?
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You know, there used to be a time when I was at the early stages of my career, when I used to listen to a given song around a dozen times, or even more, before playing it.

Nowadays, a few plays, but sometimes more, will do. I like to make mental notes of certain aspects of song, before I decide to play it.
 
EMOYENO said:
Question: After the song makes it in your collection? Does it work on the crowds???
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If might fail for different reasons, not always it's a weak song.
Wrong time - there have been 20 minutes of fast salsa and you put on another blast to observe how dancers succumb one by one. Does not mean song is bad, DJ made a mistake.
Wrong people - all hardcore salsa geeks and you put on some lovely timba. Why arn't they dancing?
Wrong guess - I play salsa, but bunch of casino dancers arrive, so I play new timba I like, but they don't get up - why? I might not find out, unless I dance casino good enough.
And of course tastes are different. It's good to be El Caobo. :)
 
One thing I always do when I consider a song for DJing is imagine myself dancing to it.
If it goes well in my head, it will probably go well on the dance floor.

Also, as Smejmoon says order of play and who you are playing to is of paramount importance.
 
i go very much with my instincts on this one

if i like a tune (or consider it useful) it goes into my "might play" collection.


i drive a LOT
so all my "might play" music goes into my car and gets listened to until i know it back to front. over time the gap becomes wider between the really good tracks and the weaker ones

though sometimes a seemingly mediocre track can suddenly become a great track after many listens..and to me they are sometimes among the very best ones. music is strange like that. and also sometimes there are songs that seem to tick all the right boxes, but for some reason they just dont "have it" :neutral:

but i think the first impression is very important for me because there are many non latinos at the salsa parties here, and for a lot of them it will be the first time they heard the song.
sometimes i have to resist playing songs that i really want to hear, because they may lack in the "first impression" impact.
i guess this is an unfortunate side effect of the fact that salsa is not listened to in the mainstream here.

so the answer to this is, many many times.
if i listen only a couple of times , then it means i just got that song the same day of the event or i dont really like the song but need a song like that for some reason ;)
 
Smejmoon said:
It's good to be El Caobo. :)
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Not sure in what way you mean that, Smejmoon, but thanks in any case!

It's all a learning process.

I completely failed just once since I've been DJing. I was the resident Saturday night DJ at a club and the owner brought in Johnny Rivera; very much a salsa romántica guy. I knew what type of singer he was, so I thought I'd open with classic "salsa de la mata" to make my regular hardcore dancers happy before he began with what was sure to be very much different.


Well, it turned out that the crowd was mostly of his fans and those romántica folks were not feeling my music at all. Most of the hardcore salseros did not come out that night precisely because of the artist. That was the worst night I have ever had! Even after Johnny had finished his first set, that crowd still did not want to hear "salsa de la mata" between his sets!


So, I learned from that experience. In the future, I would probably turn down (most likely) a gig with a live salsa romántica artist, or, I'd have to plan to play more romántica sets of music (yick!).

By the way, I've worked as a DJ with some very big-name salsa artists and they all took time to mingle with the crowd and make themselves available after they performed. I've seen Johnny Rivera twice now and on both occasions he was not very approachable. He acted like a big star. It's ironic to me that bigger stars have been much more approachable. Perhaps that is why they are bigger stars!
 
El Caobo said:
Not sure in what way you mean that, Smejmoon, but thanks in any case!

It's all a learning process.

I completely failed just once since I've been DJing. I was the resident Saturday night DJ at a club and the owner brought in Johnny Rivera; very much a salsa romántica guy. I knew what type of singer he was, so I thought I'd open with classic "salsa de la mata" to make my regular hardcore dancers happy before he began with what was sure to be very much different.


Well, it turned out that the crowd was mostly of his fans and those romántica folks were not feeling my music at all. Most of the hardcore salseros did not come out that night precisely because of the artist. That was the worst night I have ever had! Even after Johnny had finished his first set, that crowd still did not want to hear "salsa de la mata" between his sets!


So, I learned from that experience. In the future, I would probably turn down (most likely) a gig with a live salsa romántica artist, or, I'd have to plan to play more romántica sets of music (yick!).

By the way, I've worked as a DJ with some very big-name salsa artists and they all took time to mingle with the crowd and make themselves available after they performed. I've seen Johnny Rivera twice now and on both occasions he was not very approachable. He acted like a big star. It's ironic to me that bigger stars have been much more approachable. Perhaps that is why they are bigger stars!
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Yeah that is funny. I couldnt imagine being a performer and not want to interact with the people who follow my music and put money in my pocket.

Now i have some of his stuff but in all honesty Johnny Rivera is not all that great.
 
You are not the only one in that boat Caobo. It happened to me also. I have learned from past experiences that it is very important when you are performing with an artist to do your homework before hand if time permits.
 
DJFreddy said:
You are not the only one in that boat Caobo. It happened to me also. I have learned from past experiences that it is very important when you are performing with an artist to do your homework before hand if time permits.
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I knew what type of songs he would sing, but didn't anticipate that he would cause our regular dancers to stay home or go someplace else, and that so many salsa romántica folks would come instead. He does have a following, so good for him.

I do believe that some variety is important, but having to play nearly all salsa romántica is "the pits" for me! That's just not what I like most, nor what I try to promote. There is more than enough of that "bubble gum" salsa on commercial radio. I see an important part of my role as that of promoting a more grass-root sound (salsa de la mata).
 
El Caobo said:
I knew what type of songs he would sing, but didn't anticipate that he would cause our regular dancers to stay home or go someplace else, and that so many salsa romántica folks would come instead. He does have a following, so good for him.

I do believe that some variety is important, but having to play nearly all salsa romántica is "the pits" for me! That's just not what I like most, nor what I try to promote. There is more than enough of that "bubble gum" salsa on commercial radio. I see an important part of my role as that of promoting a more grass-root sound (salsa de la mata).
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Yes I hear you, I am also a DJ that does not like to be stuck playing one style of music. Variety is always important. I can't take going to a club and all that is being played is Salsa Romantica. I mean I like it but the whole night is a bit ridiculous.
 
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