As a Warm Up DJ, your audience are likely to have just arrived at the venue. They could potentially have been queueing up for a while waiting to get in, or possibly may not have had a drink yet. What you’re playing is so important as it will be the first impression they get when entering the venue. You need to make sure it’s ‘inviting’ for them to come in and they aren’t put off instantly because you’re playing a track that’s too hard.
Track Selection is going to be vital in a good warm up set. It’s important to look into the event and the type of audience that attend beforehand so you can get an idea of the kind of sound the night is likely to have. You can also look at what other DJ’s are playing on the night and do some research into what kind of sound they play.
I can’t stress the importance of making sure you regularly look around the room to see how people are reacting to the music you’re playing. You can use them as a guide for what to play next and the direction you head in. If they seem to be enjoying a particular sound, then you might want to continue going with that. However, if the music isn’t getting a good response or people are losing interest, you may need to change things up and try something different.
Generally, it’s a good idea to start at a slower tempo to begin with. This will help make it more inviting to those who are just arriving at the venue. No one wants to walk straight in to you hammering techno out at 130bpm (Unless it’s a super heavy techno event of course). You can always speed things up as you go if you feel the vibe in the room is ready for that.
Staff in the venue can be a useful tool to you as a DJ. These people are likely to always be in the venue when it is open so will have a good understanding of the vibe it usually has. During the first hour or so, it’s likely to be a little quieter so the bar staff may not always be serving people drinks. If you see them bopping their head then this could be a good sign that you are doing a good job.
With a warm up set, the possibilities of what could happen are endless, therefore, you can’t be sure as to what direction you might need to go in during your set. You need the flexibility to be able to adapt to what’s happening in front of you on the dancefloor. If you plan your set out in full, you won’t be able to do this as you would only have the tracks you chose prior to arriving at the event. If these aren’t working then you could find yourself in a bit of trouble as these are all you have planned to play.
Remember to regularly check your levels throughout your set, it’s important to not have the sound too loud or too quiet. Regularly turn off the booth monitors and assess what the sound is like on the dancefloor. You can often get a false sense of the volume when you have your booth monitors turned up. You want to avoid it being too loud as this could put people off as they enter.
With a warm up set, it’s VITAL that you play music to suit the room and not just play the tracks you like personally. Your job is to encourage people to the dancefloor and get them to dance so that should be your priority. It might be the case that the tracks you like, don’t go down as well as some others. You need to ‘play to the room’ so they enjoy themselves. This is what will be noticed by the venue manager and promoters that are booking you to play and if done well, will lead to more bookings.
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