programming salsa music during a party

[colione98]

new to the forum and crossing over into latin style djing......

Considering this is a salsa forum, I will limit my questions to this form of music.

I come from a caribbean background and have been a dj for over ten years, first starting off with hip hop then crossed over into house music because I did not like the direction hip hop was going.

I currently play in miami beach at various locations. My style is basically all house genres but I mostly specialize in latin percussive and brazilian deep tech house.

Now, I have decided to cross over into the world of latin tunes because I see an increase of local latin parties including salsa, meren, bacha, and regton. I have not been exposed to latin tunes growing up so I am not too familiar with the classics but I am being helped with that. but growing up in ny and having many latino friends and going to plenty latin parties, I have a ear for the sound.

As with house, the key to a successful party is to properly program the night by playing tracks according to the time of night and watching the crowd. Unlike salsa, classic tracks are not played as often but more so current.

Depending on the venue, I will play either deep, soulful, funky, latin, and or progressive. When I play at the beach or pools, I play more beachy latin stuff for the mature crowd.

I really think that the experience in reading the crowd, programming and mixing skills will surely aid in the understanding of throwing down the right tracks at the right time when it comes to salsa.....

Question, when it comes to djing salsa, how do some of you that play at clubs program the night?

do you look for the mature audience and cater to them?
how do you split classic vs recent- every other or a string of classic followed by a string of recent or is there a time for classics?

during the peak of the night, are classics thrown down or are current radio and familiar tracks played?

do you play a certain string for the newbies, or average dancers?

do you play the young sound like ruina nueva for the younger crowd or does it work for the older as well?

do you read and pick out the salseros and play for them to keep them entertained?


thanks in advance for the responses....

 

[opm1s6]

I'll give you my perspective looking at the NYC scene. The salseros here love the older rarer tracks they've never heard of. It challenges their musicality, as opposed to her Rebelion for the millionth time. The older the better, and with a lot of flavor. Age and race don't play a part in music choice. Whatever you do, DON'T blend tracks. Give them a second to get out of their dips, say thank you and move on. The very hard core spots will have a healthy blend of cha cha, and some of the less hard core will throw in bachata and merengue.

The more clubbish latin spots that have a younger crowd are obviously dominated by latinos, but I find that there DJs are playing many of the very well known and over-played salsa hits of the last twenty years and very very rarely something in the 70s. They play plenty of bachata and reggeaton with a couple of popy house tracks from time to time, late in the the evening (whatever happens to be on the radio).

Reading the crowd is vital no matter what genre of music.

 

[pr]

Now, I have decided to cross over into the world of latin tunes because I see an increase of local latin parties including salsa, meren, bacha, and regton.

Welcome to the forum!

I'm not a DJ and cannot answer your questions but I know that the spelling is...
merengue
bachata
reggaeton

 

[luisco]

First of all Welcome to the forums!, second most of your Questions have already been answered, check the following threads:

http://www.salsaforums.com/showthread.php?t=10284&highlight=djing

http://www.salsaforums.com/showthread.php?t=5545&highlight=djing

http://www.salsaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1886&highlight=djing

http://www.salsanewyork.com/guide/song_list.htm

my personal advice would be go to a couple of clubs in your town and you'll get an idea of what the crowd likes.

Saludos

 

[WessexSalsero]

Great links! Jambo's advice in particular stands out.

With regard to the last link about NY On2 music BEWARE that the crowd in your club might be quite different in their dancing habits.
See this thread for an entertaining and informative debate on this topic:
http://www.salsaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2977

 

[KP-salsa]

Also - don't try to mix two songs seamlessly into one another - if it's an audience of salsa dancers, they will NOT thank you for your silky DJ skills.

 

[SDsalsaguy]

Also - don't try to mix two songs seamlessly into one another - if it's an audience of salsa dancers, they will NOT thank you for your silky DJ skills.

Ditto! Almost all serious dancers I've met and spoken with hate this!

...and welcome to SF colione98! :cheers:

 

[MacMoto]

Apart from the poings Jambo has already covered in her excellent posts in this thread:
:arrow: How to DJ for a larger (unknown) crowd. HELP!!!

Question, when it comes to djing salsa, how do some of you that play at clubs program the night?

If you are going to be DJing at a club that's already established as a salsa/latin club, the place will have a set of regulars who go there already, and you need to make sure you cater to their taste. Where there are many salsa/latin clubs, the music preference of the crowd tends to vary considerably from one club to another, so a set that gets dancers raving at one venue may prove to be a damp squib at another. You need to know your particular crowd. Where you are DJing for the first time, be prepared to be flexible and attentive to the floor.

do you look for the mature audience and cater to them?
how do you split classic vs recent- every other or a string of classic followed by a string of recent or is there a time for classics?

during the peak of the night, are classics thrown down or are current radio and familiar tracks played?

do you play the young sound like ruina nueva for the younger crowd or does it work for the older as well?

At salsa venues, the music preferences of the crowds tend *not* to be closely related to their age groups. The main influence is their dance style and background. A club that mainly get Cuban/Miami style dancers will want a strongly Cuban (timba) playlist. A venue that attracts on2 dancers needs to cater to their preference for old school mambo, salsa dura and latin jazz. Latest latin chart hits might work at a club full of latinos and tourists with no salsa training but not at a club salsa addicts go to for their fix. If possible, do your homework and find out in advance what sort of people come to your venue.

do you play a certain string for the newbies, or average dancers?

As a general rule of thumb, you tend to have more beginners at the start of the night. This is especially true at clubs that have pre-club lessons. Good dancers (who generally prefer hard core salsa) tend to come out later in the evening. If this is the case at your venue, make sure you have plenty of beginner-friendly tracks to play early on - but this doesn't mean your playlist for the first hour of your set has to be all tame slow/mid-tempo stuff.

Oh, and I agree with KP - make sure dancers can hear the ending of songs.

 

[Latinmusik]

I have some sets with diffrent styles and in Miami the people love also Timba.

A set is about one hour and then play one or two Bachatas (I hate it....) then I start with one or two salsa romantica

after one hour with Mambo, Salsa Classic and modern Salsa Dura
or an hour with Timba and Son
or new songs with International Salsa and Hits from the last few years.

Here you find some overview over the diffrent styles and Must Haves
http://latinmusik.ch/tt_sub-1.html

 

[DJFreddy]

I will try to answer your questions the best way I can being a Mobile and club DJ here in Miami.

the key to a successful party is to properly program the night by playing tracks according to the time of night and watching the crowd.

This is always a good idea and according to me a must for all club DJs. programming is key in anyone's sets.

Unlike Salsa, classic tracks are not played as often but more so current.

Salsa dancers are unlike house dancers, they love the Classic Salsa's many times more then the new one's but that does not mean you will not play any during the night.

I really think that the experience in reading the crowd, programming and mixing skills will surely aid in the understanding of throwing down the right tracks at the right time when it comes to salsa.....

These skills above all great DJs will have. Experience prepares you for many things that are thrown your way, you will know how to adopt and improvise to make it happen. Programing knowing what kinds of songs work at different times. For instance: When I worked at a Salsa club here in Miami I had three different programming instances. 1- My rueda dancers early so I will mix the salsa for them to continue the rueda. 2- The Older generation will be on happy hour so I played lots of Classics. Then I had my twelve o'clock songs ready when the club was packed. These songs were either the hot new songs right now or the real powerful older songs that get people up and dancing. Always remember that owners don't always want everyone to be dancing at a club since that means no one is drinking. LOL.....funny but it is true. They always want the DJ to rotate the dance floor so not everyone is on the dance floor.
I remember working at this club and had the dance floor packed on the boss to tell me at the end of the night to ease it up a bit so people stay at the bar drinking. LOL.........
Mixing skills be careful about mixing your Salsa at a club, first of all not every DJ mixes Salsa good and many dancers do not like it. The only time I do mix it will be for my Rueda dancers. Other then that I play full songs unless required to mix it by the venue.

Question, when it comes to djing salsa, how do some of you that play at clubs program the night?

do you look for the mature audience and cater to them?
how do you split classic vs recent- every other or a string of classic followed by a string of recent or is there a time for classics?

1- Yes I always look at the crowd and play the sets according to the age of the crowd. It might take a couple of sets before you read them and determine what works best
2- I mix in Classic salsa with newer ones. If I get a better response with the older ones I stick more to them and visa versa.

during the peak of the night, are classics thrown down or are current radio and familiar tracks played?

Again like I mentioned above you must have in your library tracks that are floor fillers. I usually comment on side of my songs like Hot or awesome so I know which songs are great to play at this time of the night. It could be a Classic salsa or a really great one that just came out.

do you play a certain string for the newbies, or average dancers?

Yes I do. Usually I play salsa with low BPMs for them some that are on the low 90's should be fine for them.

do you play the young sound like ruina nueva for the younger crowd or does it work for the older as well?

If a song has a good beat to it being old or new, you will get older and young generations dancing to it most of the time.

do you read and pick out the salseros and play for them to keep them entertained?

Not only them but you also have to play for others as well.


With this I must say to all the new DJs just getting into the game.

Me being a DJ since the 80's, many do not know what happens behind the scenes when being a DJ. Many think anyone can grab a laptop Download songs or ask someone for music and instantly become a DJ. I see it all the time. Many don't know the importance of a good DJ controlling the decks at a club or a mobile event. We as DJs are many times the forgotten professionals but are so important on the event being a success or a disaster. I don't only spin music, anyone can do that. When I get hired, you are paying for my experience, ability to read a crowd, professional equipment, Master of Ceremony, ability to improvise at a moments notice, organize the event, seamless mixing, customer service, high quality MP3 sound and much more. DJs now a days want to learn things that took us years to master in a few weeks. It is not that easy, with every event you play you will learn something, the more you play, the more you learn. Practice makes perfect, network with other DJs and buddy up with a DJ friend that works at a club. Volunteer your time to him/her for his/her expertise. Learn from them and when you are ready put it to play. Anyone can be a so called DJ but only the true professionals raise to the occasion and rock the house leaving the dancers wanting to come back for more!
Peace!