More of a curiosity than anything, but how do other DJs listen to their music?

By listening, in this context, I mean in term of searching for new music to play. It's impossible to listen to every song in full, especially for professional DJs (especially the big, global DJs that are playing or travelling constantly).

Therefore, what's the most efficient way for DJs to listen to music, and be able to pick out the element in the music that makes them choose to use them in their sets and so on?

 

DJ's listen to it with robot ears.

 

DJ's are more about throwing together shit tons of mixes while knowing a lot of people who like certain types of music, when they are in the booth, they read the facial expressions on what to play next if they were prepared enough to throw together a mix based one of what most people like.

Keyword; know a lot of people that like a lot of stuff and know how good or poo their face is when you're mollied up on stage & I hope you don't hit ya head on that speakerset like Skillonx.

If you are a boat/b-dayparty/wedding DJ that wants to slit his wrists or jump off a cruise to Jamaica to start off fresh then you are forced to know what other normies would like fitted to the occasion, but if you actually got off that cruise then you probably don't even need my advice cause you Diplo already & know what people outside that cruise want, fam.

 

They have their assistant filter all the emails of junk songs they get sent for free, so they don't listen to very many like you would think.

But if you have a ton of tracks to check, just listen to the first drop. Skip ahead 64 measures and you will be at the first breakdown. Another 64 measures and then the second drop, then the variation. If you like it, spend more than 30 seconds listening. Like you would have 20 years ago with vinyl in a record store and 20 other people waiting for a listening station behind you. If you were very lucky you'd call up the guy who imported all the white label promos for the week and they'd already know what you'd want to play. Not much changes. They are sorted out, and not listening to anywhere near the amount of tracks you would expect.

 

Last edited: Apr 3, 2023

When I was Djing, I was sent tons of promos/ white labels etc. by record companies. I use to listen to those, and If I liked them or thought they could go far, I would add them to my playlist for the night and sometimes incorpoate them in a mix.

 

Checking the intro/outro for mixablilty, skipping through the track to check the groove/tempo/dynamics/drops.

But most djs are just as useless as influencers and vloggers:

 

Soundcunt did the drop detector first. They also diddit better & cheaper. But seriously, I'd have some other cunt listen through the dumpster fire for me too if it came to countless demos per day. Like fuck that sire, I'd rather have my dick sucked in that timeframe.

 

Hey, they do a lot of work. You wouldn't believe the number of emails they have to send just to get a track produced. ;)

 

Agreed, that was my whole point. I wouldn't want to sit around listening to all that shit if i have a set of trusted ears do the picking for me to choose what to produce for my label when the list hast been narrowed down for me instead of picking apart fish from plankton on my own.

I understand the reasoning behind teams seeking out talent I was just making a cheap joke about drop detection on soundcloud which flopped rather quickly haha

 

How does the ruby bird drink wine with shiny indifference yet architecture abstains?

 

When you mean DJs you're talking about composer/producer DJs right? It depends, at those levels they have both a great knowledge of their genres and a pretty solid working group. But in any case it's a bit complex. But obviously, when you become Swedish House Mafia, Garrix, Guetta, Harris etc there is a reason behind those superstars. Instead, if you mean DJs who simply crunch other people's stuff, they simply aren't musicians, so it doesn't make much sense to talk about them.

 

I pretty much listen to the same ammount of time I watch in a porn:

 

for me it's chart entries, but I do parties so it's just providing people with what they like. No introducing new thing.

As for what on, its basic hi-fi in the house and the promissing songs get tried on the main speakers whenI set the lights up.

I always thought this was standard though

 

Think they listen like this, but i might be wrong!

 

There's no one answer as many DJ have their own way to find and listen new music. For me it's multiple way, the "searching/discovery part" is mostly through Soundcloud/Youtube follows (mostly artist/label but also some genre specific channel), Spotify playlist, promo from label/artist, and from time to time what I would call "accident" discovering like earing something nice at the radio, or in a DJ set (but never from a DJ from my local scene, I do more of the opposite on that, if a local DJ play something, even if I have it in my collection, I will delete it / stop playing it).

As for the "listening technique" if there is such thing, as I tend to be effective with that (I can't listen at work cause my work is making music, which btw is not the same as being a DJ, please people stop mixing DJ and producer, lot of people are both, but it's like cooking and clean the dishes, could be related but not the same). So when I'm in a "look for track" mode, I'll jump straight to the peak of the track (the drop, or the more intense part in a more progressive tune), if it's good, I'll go on the break and if it's good, then I put the track in my selection, then at the end of the session, I'll go through that selection and have another listening and download the really good one. Depending on the genre, but the "skip to the drop" part can be really quick, like for a tech house track, if it doesn't give me the "wow" effect in 2 second, I'll switch. I know it's terrible for producer to hear that, but there's a shit tons of track out every day, so no time to listen all. If a track is just "good" I don't download it, so I usually end up with 30-40 new track each week (which is already a lot, but I'm mixing lot of different genre, mostly electronic).

As for the big touring DJs, from the one I talk to, some use this technique or something similar (with a bigger part of promo tracks and label submission track for some of them). Depending on the level of the artist (by level I mean commercially), they have to play their own production, or stuff from their label, as they are represent a brand, so the playlist part is easier in some way (but not really interesting from a DJ point of view, as they play always the same thing). Not sure about the DJing live part, but I heard they sometime when they play certain track (mostly unreleased stuff) on radio/mixtape/podcast, they can't really change the track, so not mixing it too long or outside the intro/outro part, not pitching it to much (no more than 1%). Some DJ have also their "playlist editor" who pre plan their mix for them (but it's mostly on really big level, where DJ are more a brand and not artist anymore).

So there's not a "one way fit all" method, the "someone do it for them" thing is a really niche thing and is mostly with big name (because it's not something free if you have to pay someone to do that). Other more "underground" sketchy method I saw is people ripping of a mix from a DJ (usually not so famous) downloading all the track from the set and play it kind of the same way, which I find really lazy, other people will just go to the top 10/20/50 on Beatport or on DJ monthly playlist and just stay in that selection, which is more ethical I guess, but still lazy.

 

Personally I listen to tracks like I used to when I played vinyl (i.e. skip through and check the good bits) - i mainly care about the build, the breakdown and the drop back in so only takes maybe 10-20 seconds tops to know if I like a tune.

 

I used to do that with 45 rpm releases. but only the beginning, or until it failed anyway. (hould use the technique with my own stuff so as to avoid embarrassing situations in the future!)

 

Yeah this is me. I skip through, and just monitor how it makes me feel. That's on purpose, I'm not checking if I like it, but if it moves the body. preferably no more than 10-30 secs first listen.
I'm not hugely into cycling through an endless amount of tracks that sound the same, I've been in the game since last century, I can't be playing boring shit. I need something with a little new in it, an element that makes it different from the other 15000 tracks in my collection (I keep trimming it but it's has hovered around that size for like 10 years now).
It doesn't need to be much, as such, for most DJs. But I have this obscene obsession with doing sets that are technically very good, flow very nicely, and don't stick to any genre, just a good rhythm to dance to and not awfully commercial. A hipster DJ, I guess. Aging.

So once I've gone through round one with a bunch of tracks (porn method), I do round two, longer listen, just to check if the track gets boring after a while. This is where I will buy the tracks (if they're from a store), import into collection, make playlists.

And then usually the tracks will sit on playlists that I have on in the background off and on, so I get a feel for them. Find my favorites. Figure out which ones become tired after 1-3 plays. Those will tire out the crowd mid song, sometimes. This bit weeds out like half of them.

Occasionally, I'll figure out that some need to be taken to the side here and edited or fixed.

The last part is playing the tracks out. Sometimes a track sinks. Then it's a delete as well.

It's all about deleting. Have a collection where anything you put on is great. You don't want a large (in-app) DJ collection.
It's fine if you've got a huge mass of music files on some drive, but don't make your dj set about scanning through an endless pile of 3-star tracks to find a standout.

That's all I have.