When he was a kid new to the dancefloor, Danny Tenaglia spent countless long nights in the grips of New York’s Paradise Garage. His hero was Larry Levan, a man whose legacy still looms large in dance music. Over many hours, Levan showed the young Danny what DJing is all about.

“Hearing Larry Levan play at Paradise Garage is still incomparable to any other club experience I have had in my life,” Tenaglia told inthemix last year. “The man really knew how to take people on a journey full of surprises.”

From then to now, the idea of the “journey” is indivisible from DJing. The word itself may have lost its shine, but the concept certainly hasn’t. For a true journey, a DJ needs time. It could be eight hours, it could be 18. As such, the all-night-long set has become somewhat hallowed in dance music mythology – when it works, there’s nothing better. It’s elemental: just a DJ, a crate of tunes and no end in sight. But not everyone can do it…

While the world may have more dance festivals with 90-minute slots than ever before, the concept of giving a DJ breathing room is still sacred. This year in London, promoter L.E.D. has taken the long-haul session down to its basic elements. Its A Night With… parties feature a single DJ in charge of the room (usually a sweat-slicked warehouse) from doors opening to some time after sunrise.

As their mission statement succinctly puts it: “Each artist performs alone for the entire evening, presenting their own personal musical journey from start to finish, to a small and intimate crowd.” Past all-nighters have featured Steve Bug, Cassy, Magda and Ivan Smagghe, and we can only imagine where Andrew Weatherall will roam over his stint in December.

Closer to home, Sydney institution Wham! is hosting its own variation on the theme called ‘The Icon Series’ in November. Each weekend in the month, a hometown stalwart steps up to play from first record to last.

So what makes a great extended set? A club setting seems essential, if only because festivals don’t usually have the luxury of long sets (unless you’ve booked Mr Scruff, in which case you’re obliged). A receptive dancefloor is another must. Then, of course, you’ve got to have something to say – and the music collection to say it.

“The beauty of playing all-night-long sets is that you really have time to go deeper into every aspect of your sound,” says Michael Mayer, who went very deep with his nine-hour blowouts here in 2008 alongside Superpitcher. “I would always play a disco track or two, even in a 90-minute set. When you’ve got all night you can play an hour of disco without having to worry that you won’t have time for the great happy goth-step finale.”

For the DJ, it’s not as easy as just turning up with a mess of records or hastily scrawled-on CDs. For his turn at The Icon Series, Australia’s Space Ibiza ambassador Ben Korbel will be digging deep. “It starts out with a solid period of preparation before the gig, mostly listening through my collection, both old and new music, and putting aside any tunes that grab my attention as something I may want to play on the night,” he explains.

“So for an all night set, I’m looking to put aside around 400 to 500 tunes. I’d think an all night set would want a good eight to 12 hours of prep, listening to music and visualising in my head how it might flow on the night. As to what actually happens when I get to the gig is an entirely separate thing, and becomes very spontaneous.”