By Geoffrey
Hudson
If this night is your first time playing to a crowd of people you don't
know, the main difference you notice is how much thought you will start to
put into your songs in order to keep people dancing.
In time, you will become a body language expert and learn how to read a
crowd, looking at the reactions of the people on the dance floor as they
throw their hands in the air and dance like there's no tomorrow - or throw
their hands up in the air in disgust.
First off, think about how do you react when you're at a nightclub. When
you're enjoying yourself, what do you tend to do? If you're the type of clubber
who grins from ear to ear, and throws your hands in the air, and you're playing
the kind of music that makes you want to do that, learn to read a crowd and
look for this kind of response from the people on the dance floor. When you're
bored, how do you react? Look into people's eyes. If they're staring into
the distance, or at the floor, or if they're dancing with no real energy,
they've gone to a happy place, waiting for something to change. It's up to
you to make that change.
Don't base your readings on just the people in front of you in how to read
a crowd, look through the crowd. If you get a chance to go for a wander,
walk around and look at how people are responding to the music. A glum face
isn't a good thing to see. Fifteen glum faces are a kick up the backside
that should make you play something better.
Just ask... if you dare
The relationship you've developed with the club staff can really help you
out in learning how to read a crowd. They're a great source of info on how
well you're doing, and how the night is going. If you want, you can just
ask someone how they're nights going, either personally or collectively,
over the microphone. If you get a collective silence, or even worse, boo's,
change it, quickly. If you get cheers, whoops, and hands in the air, keep
pumping it, you're doing well.
Progress the set
DJing is not a race. You won't get far for playing all the newest, best,
and biggest tunes in the first 30 minutes, you'll lose everyone on the dance
floor. You'll wear them out, they'll become bored with the same sound, and
as you won't have any big tunes left, the people on the floor will get bored
with the rest of the set. If you resort to repeating tunes, they've already
heard them, so they aren't as excited. Your light shone brightly, but not
for long enough.
Use the checkpoint tunes as a way to pepper the set with good tunes, and
to move the set on in energy and tempo. But don't just instantly decide to
change things. Learn how to read a crowd and always keep an eye
on how the people on the dance floor are reacting to what you're playing.
If the dance floor isn't packed enough, if the wrong people are dancing,
or if the alcohol level hasn't kicked in yet, playing slightly heavier music
may empty the dance floor. Or if you don't change the pace soon, your set
will start to sound dull and monotonous, and people will start to rush off
the dance floor.
Test the crowd. If you can't obviously tell by the reaction of the people
on the dance floor, take things a little harder bit by bit to see what kind
of stuff they're responding to, then stick with that level until your crowd
reading reveals that the time has come to move up or down a gear
