B2B Sets

[seanious]

Seeing alot of them lately in Perth. Thoughts?

I played one once and couldn't get into my rythm ended up playing like shit, getting pissed off and going home. Other times it's great fun, and you really feed off the other person. But still it sucks waiting for the other DJ every 1 or 2 tracks

[SubbyBoy]

Would only do it one of my mates... we have a pretty nice musical overlap..and we feed off each other really well...i have a lot of respect for this guy -- he really understands his music and knows it well...

tried to do this a couple of times with other ppl.... was shithouse really... promoter wanted to put on as many dj's as he can on one night, so he had b2b sets...

end result -- one lush deep house track (me) at about 126 bpm followed by one stupidly commercial track(him) from a MOS compilation cd at about 134 bpm followed by a random mess of ups and downs which had no musical coherence altogether.... remember getting pissed off after 40 minutes and going home.... couldn't lock into a groove at all... and the idiot could not understand the concept of building a rhythm.. he was trying to bang out all the tunes on the MOS/whatever cd he had.... forget abt even matching keys or having a similar sound..

[brendanClay]

Would only do it one of my mates... we have a pretty nice musical overlap..and we feed off each other really well...i have a lot of respect for this guy -- he really understands his music and knows it well...

tried to do this a couple of times with other ppl.... was shithouse really... promoter wanted to put on as many dj's as he can on one night, so he had b2b sets...

end result -- one lush deep house track (me) at about 126 bpm followed by one stupidly commercial track(him) from a MOS compilation cd at about 134 bpm followed by a random mess of ups and downs which had no musical coherence altogether.... remember getting pissed off after 40 minutes and going home.... couldn't lock into a groove at all... and the idiot could not understand the concept of building a rhythm.. he was trying to bang out all the tunes on the MOS/whatever cd he had.... forget abt even matching keys or having a similar sound..

That would have been awful. Truly awful!

[dj_krypt]

B2B's can be a real challenge. I do enjoy them though. Speak with your counter part, get a few track titles off them and share a few so both know what to expect.

[JBanger]

B2B's can be a real challenge. I do enjoy them though. Speak with your counter part, get a few track titles off them and share a few so both know what to expect.

Its also good to catch up before the gig for a mix, so both DJs can come up with a vibe they will be going for in the set and working out which tracks work with which.

Its all about each DJ holding back and 'meeting in the middle'

[Catdog69Kool]

I would love to try it out, could pretend im in daft punk for an hour

[quantum8]

Its also good to catch up before the gig for a mix, so both DJs can come up with a vibe they will be going for in the set and working out which tracks work with which.

Its all about each DJ holding back and 'meeting in the middle'

and it can turn into a pre-booze up too! ;)

[Garthyboy]

Respect and communication is about all that's needed by both for it to work.
Probably is 90% of djs have ego's bigger than their mp3 collections now days and want to be the superstar dropping the crowd pleaser tracks constantly

[Sam_N]

always had an awesome time doing it. the key is not to have an ego and be flexible

[SlicyDicer]

Yeah good luck finding a DJ under the age of 25 without an ego

[pEAkeR_hAT]

8 djs going b2b = 8 groups of djs friends the promoter get through the door,


at one dnb gig the locals were doing 40 min b2b sets lol, so roughly 20 mins each, clearly just getting heads through the door imo

[Strech]

promoter wanted to put on as many dj's as he can on one night, so he had b2b sets...


There's the answer.

It can work but most of the time it sounds disjointed as all fark. Had a few that I wish I never did.

I reckon only do it with someone you know you can trust (music wise) otherwise it's going to go all over the place and you'll end very dissatisfied.

[Sam_N]

Yeah good luck finding a DJ under the age of 25 without an ego
well i was under 25 and so were the people i've played with.

[J0rdz]

Can work really well if your musically attuned with the other DJ, but if your not, as mentioned, ultimate failz do occur.
I hate it when a promoter puts you up against someone that obviously clashes with your style. Shows real ignorance in their behalf - just getting as many names on a bill as possible. Most times it ends up reflecting bad on the night. Nothing worse then having 2 DJs that clash.

Recently I was booked to go B2B with a DJ id never heard of or met before. I emailed the promoter to ask what style he played and if there were any sets I could download of his - was told that he played "hard dubstep". I was booked for a "funky breaks" set. I let him know that they're pretty contrasting genres, but he didn't care. Was pretty obvious that the promoter had NFI. Luckily the other DJ didnt show up, but it would've been chaos if he had.

Can really ruin a night if it's not done with some thought, but can work extremely well if its done properly.
Fine line!

[stubs]

I play B2B with my mate all the time and to be honest its how I prefer to play. We feed off each other and it really pushes us to be creative and get the crowd going. Having said that though we've been mixing records together for 5 years now and know each others style and ability back to front.

I have done a couple of parties B2B with people I had never previously met and find it doesn't work. There is usually a clash of interest and the set suffers. Cool way to meet people though.

[baax]

I reckon only do it with someone you know you can trust (music wise) otherwise it's going to go all over the place and you'll end very dissatisfied.

Ive done five b2b clubsets, four of them with the same dj.
They all went really well because I knew what the other guys played and that we would be able to work around each other and trust that someone wasn't going to go of on a tangent.

[Random_Kiwi]

You guys need to sack up, B2B sets are all about feeding the frenzy, going full tit, completely trying to one-up each, destroy the dancefloor and brock the fuck out! :rock:

Seriously now, it's really hard for them to work well, conhesively with each other and with the night as a whole...but a peak time set with someone you're in tuine with can be a bucket load of fun...for you and for a dancefloor, which isn't too concerned about flow and programming and a journey, as much as they are about hearing some banging tunes and going nutso! It hardly ever makes a "set", more like a bunch of tracks haphazardly thrown together. :lol:

[seanious]

:lol: So true those are the good ones!

[quantum8]

8 djs going b2b = 8 groups of djs friends the promoter get through the door

too bad if the djs all have the same friends

[Funkedub]

You guys need to sack up, B2B sets are all about feeding the frenzy, going full tit, completely trying to one-up each, destroy the dancefloor and brock the fuck out! :rock:





that!


just don't do it with douchewads or people with no musical sensibility.


many many moons ago when i was part of a monthly night, Essentially the gigs were an attempt to reflect the feel of a house party. Every gig had a mandatory B2B session at the end with what ever DJs were cool/nice enough to hang around the whole gig. We also had a pretty open genre policy, so it wasn't like 4 techno or DnB DJs ... it always went off at the end.

[baax]

Every gig had a mandatory B2B session at the end with what ever DJs were cool/nice enough/not to pissed to hang around the whole gig. We also had a pretty open genre policy, so it wasn't like 4 techno or DnB DJs ... it always went off at the end.

Fixed

[TheReturn]

that!

Every gig had a mandatory B2B session at the end with what ever DJs were cool/nice enough to hang around the whole gig. We also had a pretty open genre policy, so it wasn't like 4 techno or DnB DJs ... it always went off at the end.

i've played nights like this. a lot of fun!

[RudeTed]

When playing B2B, you know you are in trouble when the other DJ pulls out a CD before he even knows what you are playing next...

[Wowk]

It's a rare occasion that I enjoy playing back to back with someone because I'm a bit of a perfectionistic control-freak as a DJ and really like to have total control over the dancefloor and potential directions to my set. However, there are two types of DJs I really like to play back to back with (and only ever offer to play back to back if it's going to be them playing with me):

1. Ones who are exactly the same as me in terms of programming, patience, music style and mixing style. It ends up just being a really enjoyable set played by two people that almost work as one (ala Silicone Soul, Slam etc)

2. Ones who play differently to me but are willing to meet half-way and think through what tunes we will play next rather than just picking a bunch of pre-planned combinations of tracks and chucking them on after each other.

3. Ones who just wanna have fun and play shit with no real care for anything - I need to be in a certain frame of mind to pull this off, but like Funkedub's gig, I used to run one with an all-in mixup at the end too and that was a lot of fun because by then it was just about mucking around rather than really programming and building your set.

[Damez]

However, there are two types of DJs I really like to play back to back with (and only ever offer to play back to back if it's going to be them playing with me):

1. Ones who are exactly the same as me in terms of programming, patience, music style and mixing style. It ends up just being a really enjoyable set played by two people that almost work as one (ala Silicone Soul, Slam etc)

2. Ones who play differently to me but are willing to meet half-way and think through what tunes we will play next rather than just picking a bunch of pre-planned combinations of tracks and chucking them on after each other.

3. Ones who just wanna have fun and play shit with no real care for anything - I need to be in a certain frame of mind to pull this off, but like Funkedub's gig, I used to run one with an all-in mixup at the end too and that was a lot of fun because by then it was just about mucking around rather than really programming and building your set.

That's three. :)

[kasper_flip]

I love playing vs sets but 1 hour is not enough if you want to get it to flow properly imo, more than that is needed.
That said I've played quite a few vs sets at clubs (mostly with mates) and they have all gone well. Its more about compromise and trying to keep the flow than outdoing each other with the hottest tracks of the moment...

[Wowk]

That's three. :)

I initially intended to have two, then added a third and forget to go back and change the "two" to "three". I'm glad out of that entire post that's what you decided to focus on :thumb:

[J0rdz]

I love playing vs sets but 1 hour is not enough if you want to get it to flow properly imo, more than that is needed.
True that. So shit when your booked for a 1 hour VS - especially if you have to halve your pay.

[kasper_flip]

True that. So shit when your booked for a 1 hour VS - especially if you have to halve your pay.

when I've played 1 hour vs sets ive got paid 75% of my usual pay for a 1 hour solo set... its weird as!

[J0rdz]

Atleast we got paid! Iv done plenty of VS sets when I haven't been paid at all...

[Strech]

Yeah 1 hr is lame after 5 or so tracks it's already over :(

[JBanger]

and it can turn into a pre-booze up too! ;)

:lol: This can and has screwed some of my sets in the past.. plenty of water is the best defence here ! Or just go easy on the booze :-0

[Catdog69Kool]

or just take up crack :thumb:

[Skerik]

a line of shebert usually yields a result, albeit a bubbly one