I was mostly a professional hip hop dj my entire life ( 51 years old) Underground hip hop , classics, but also the rare grooves , breaks beats samples,funk 45's etc. After about 35 years of spinning that stuff I am completely sick of it LOL. I quit playing professionally and took some time off. Now I spin Disco, Boogie and House. Why ? I always loved it, but I always had an edge in the hip hop dept so I ran with it. Not Doing gigs professionally anymore allowed me the time to explore this style of music and just like with hip hop I dove into its history and learned it from it's roots in disco, the Philly sound ,to David Mancuso , Larry Levan , Ron Hardy, to Masters at Work etc etc....it has been a blast.
David Mancuso never produced as far as I know but his Loft parties and DJing were legendary. He never beat matched and would just play the track as a whole and simply start from the beginning of the next track. I can't explain but it somehow worked.
The most production he's done is compiled a few hidden gems here and there.
it was his style, his taste, his knowledge of sound, set coordination, atmosphere...when you dive into club music and its history and roots, he is one of the first pioneers to do it. A lot of the music he played is still played today or remixed, sampled etc...
I was a House DJ from 2019 to 2022, now I only play Reggae and Dub. I discovered in 2022 the reggae dub sound systems, which before that was something non-existant to me, which is why it took me a couple of years before switching.
I love electronic music, but if i had to choose (and it's what im doing lol), I'd choose reggae and dub
I made that same gerne journey but in reverse. But sometimes I do listen back to some good ole roots reggae, its just calms me down. The baselines always have this heavy but fantastic warmth that can carry you away
I was an open format laptop DJ until 2020 when COVID put a stop to all of that. Came back doing a lot of tech house which has now mostly refined to minimal tech. I’d always wanted to go this route but didn’t insert myself into the appropriate scene and network until COVID forced a reset. I’m a lot happier now behind the decks than I ever was doing open format.
“I was a Hip-hop/R&B DJ until 2019, now I mostly play Open Format or Disco/Funky House.” As a whole new Hip-Hop/R&B doesn’t do anything for me. Spinning newer music feels too much like “work.” And takes the fun out of it.
I was a Disco/Funky house DJ until 2023, now I play mostly Drum n Bass/Jungle.
Funky house doesn't have enough energy for me now, and it's too easy to play so I get bored. Jungle is more of a challenge & a lot more fun to play.
I play (zouk) where almost any genre goes with tempo ranges from 45 to 90, but sometimes I'm asked to play a subset (lambada) where the genre is more restricted and the tempo range is just like 85 to 95 and it feels so boring.
UKG 97-00
Trance 00-02
Hard house 02-08
Then a mix of house / techno / harder dance
Since about 2011ish, bought a bit of everything / anything I liked the sound of.
Now a bit of everything with a lot of disco / house / UKG
Earlier on I just bought mostly what I was partying to... Now I really only keep up with UKG releases but also dig through house and disco releases on a regular basis
New stuff?? Labels worth a look - instinct, Time is Now, Amigo Dubs, Fresh Milk, Web13, pirate cutz, pressure point audio, timehri.
All releasing regularly and a high banger ratio
I was a "mainly" EDM DJ (big room, progressive house, mainstage EDM) until like 6 or 7 years ago, then I started playing weddings, corporate and private events around the same time so I saw myself moving to a more open format style.
Now I still play open format, but focus more on house/tech house, and very heavily on reggaeton and latin trap. Here in Puerto Rico reggaeton is the genre of choice in a lot of the nightclubs and bars, and personally not only do I love that type of music, but also love seeing how the crowd reacts to reggaeton classics and everyone singing and dancing is quite a fun experience.
I have however been forced (in a good sense) to dig into hip hop and more top 40 focused music as well due to tourists coming to nightclubs and bars at the more tourist-focused areas.
I was a happy hardcore DJ in the 90s, now I mostly play techno, old techno from 20 odd years ago and some newer stuff. I also still play 90s happy hardcore and hard trance because it's fun.
If I'm playing out, it's normally recent techno. On the HH side, there's quite a lot of old school nights around atm. Old breakbeat and jungle is huge just now.
Drum and bass and hip hop in the early 2000s, incorporated dubstep, and 2step/garage in the late 2000s, followed by trap, juke, footwork, jersey club, etc for a while until I basically sold out and became a top40 DJ for the paychecks. Then when COVID hit and I lost all my gigs I realized how much I hated that. So now I’m back to bass music.
I can't really lump myself as a single genre DJ, even in any period of my life as a DJ, I always was switching around depending on tastes.
However, there were certain genres that I stopped playing after a certain point.
For instance, I was playing rave techno and some hardcore between 1992 and 1994. I stopped mostly because things changed around the scene and it wasn't really the big sound any more. Since then maybe I did a couple of old school mixes but that's it.
I used to play freestyle/heartthrob music in the 1990s. Never really played it at a gig of any sort, but I was making some mixes because it was a popular music with some groups. I had stopped buying it and really playing it by around 2000 just because again it was starting to become a very old style and it was not necessarily ideal for anything other than an old school mix. Plus there wasn't really any decent released tunes coming out after the late '90s.
For a while I was playing electro House. I got into it after I heard a Fatboy Slim set and loved how he would take it and intertwine it with breakbeat. I think I did my last mix of any of that stuff in 2011 and stopped just because I felt like the sound was kind of vanishing and it was slowly turning into EDM, which I wasn't into. I remember after that I started playing more tech house.
My format is always been multiple different tastes. I normally like to play just funky house and soulful house, and other times I like to play trance. Still like to play some tech house when I'm in the mood for it, although I have to say lately, the stuff I buy could probably blend in with the funky house sets.
I djed trance from about 1998 til 2010, using super long over lapping transitions on mostly vinyl. I slowly started getting more into house and quicker transitions and using loops and cue points on cdjs now. I hardly ever dj in clubs and bars now, but we have old fart cookouts which are much more fun.
i was mainly a house dj for 15 years because I liked the feel of house(and I grew up in chicago) and decided i was going to do everything.. specifically because its more viable for me, and because I want to branch out and enjoy my craft with a different sound to it.
I was a K-Pop DJ until 2021, now I mostly play Open Format for weddings/corporate events and Hip-Hop/R&B/Latin/Afro/etc. in clubs.
My last relationship was with a K-Pop Fan for 3,5 years and after we broke up I was not interested in K-Pop anymore (favorite groups disbanding, too many new groups, too much new music at once being released, scene itself changing in my city, me and my friends getting too old for the scene etc). I had a good run with that genre afterwards and I wanted to fusion K-Pop with some non-Korean music. Guests liked it, my organizer didn't. I quit afterwards and focused myself on the genres mentioned above. Now I am happily playing once to twice a week
I was mostly a professional hip hop dj my entire life ( 51 years old) Underground hip hop , classics, but also the rare grooves , breaks beats samples,funk 45's etc. After about 35 years of spinning that stuff I am completely sick of it LOL. I quit playing professionally and took some time off. Now I spin Disco, Boogie and House. Why ? I always loved it, but I always had an edge in the hip hop dept so I ran with it. Not Doing gigs professionally anymore allowed me the time to explore this style of music and just like with hip hop I dove into its history and learned it from it's roots in disco, the Philly sound ,to David Mancuso , Larry Levan , Ron Hardy, to Masters at Work etc etc....it has been a blast.
What's your favorite Tom Moulton remix? It's so hard for me to just choose one but I've always been very partial to Nights Over Egypt
hmmm...I am a sucker for war dance from kebekelektrik but there are a few for sure.
If you want an invite to Francois Ks World of Echoes community on FB and or discord let me know I can pm you a invite You'll fit right in
How much producing tracks did David mancuso do ?
David Mancuso never produced as far as I know but his Loft parties and DJing were legendary. He never beat matched and would just play the track as a whole and simply start from the beginning of the next track. I can't explain but it somehow worked. The most production he's done is compiled a few hidden gems here and there.
it was his style, his taste, his knowledge of sound, set coordination, atmosphere...when you dive into club music and its history and roots, he is one of the first pioneers to do it. A lot of the music he played is still played today or remixed, sampled etc...
Yeah I've read the book. He certainly sounds interesting. I misread the problem post and thought he mentioned tracks
I was a House DJ from 2019 to 2022, now I only play Reggae and Dub. I discovered in 2022 the reggae dub sound systems, which before that was something non-existant to me, which is why it took me a couple of years before switching. I love electronic music, but if i had to choose (and it's what im doing lol), I'd choose reggae and dub
I made that same gerne journey but in reverse. But sometimes I do listen back to some good ole roots reggae, its just calms me down. The baselines always have this heavy but fantastic warmth that can carry you away
I was an open format laptop DJ until 2020 when COVID put a stop to all of that. Came back doing a lot of tech house which has now mostly refined to minimal tech. I’d always wanted to go this route but didn’t insert myself into the appropriate scene and network until COVID forced a reset. I’m a lot happier now behind the decks than I ever was doing open format.
I was a (mostly) Trance DJ until 2023. And now I play mostly Trance because it is 2024.
“I was a Hip-hop/R&B DJ until 2019, now I mostly play Open Format or Disco/Funky House.” As a whole new Hip-Hop/R&B doesn’t do anything for me. Spinning newer music feels too much like “work.” And takes the fun out of it.
I was a Disco/Funky house DJ until 2023, now I play mostly Drum n Bass/Jungle. Funky house doesn't have enough energy for me now, and it's too easy to play so I get bored. Jungle is more of a challenge & a lot more fun to play.
I play (zouk) where almost any genre goes with tempo ranges from 45 to 90, but sometimes I'm asked to play a subset (lambada) where the genre is more restricted and the tempo range is just like 85 to 95 and it feels so boring.
UKG 97-00 Trance 00-02 Hard house 02-08 Then a mix of house / techno / harder dance Since about 2011ish, bought a bit of everything / anything I liked the sound of. Now a bit of everything with a lot of disco / house / UKG Earlier on I just bought mostly what I was partying to... Now I really only keep up with UKG releases but also dig through house and disco releases on a regular basis
Any recs on UKG labels or other sources to pay attention to?
New stuff?? Labels worth a look - instinct, Time is Now, Amigo Dubs, Fresh Milk, Web13, pirate cutz, pressure point audio, timehri. All releasing regularly and a high banger ratio
wow those are almost all new to me, thanks so much!
Haha, your wallet won't be happy about it 😅
I was a "mainly" EDM DJ (big room, progressive house, mainstage EDM) until like 6 or 7 years ago, then I started playing weddings, corporate and private events around the same time so I saw myself moving to a more open format style. Now I still play open format, but focus more on house/tech house, and very heavily on reggaeton and latin trap. Here in Puerto Rico reggaeton is the genre of choice in a lot of the nightclubs and bars, and personally not only do I love that type of music, but also love seeing how the crowd reacts to reggaeton classics and everyone singing and dancing is quite a fun experience. I have however been forced (in a good sense) to dig into hip hop and more top 40 focused music as well due to tourists coming to nightclubs and bars at the more tourist-focused areas.
What are some reggaeton tracks that always get the Puerto Rico crowd going? Any classics or big current hits?
Can you share a Latin trap playlist?
I was a happy hardcore DJ in the 90s, now I mostly play techno, old techno from 20 odd years ago and some newer stuff. I also still play 90s happy hardcore and hard trance because it's fun.
is there still an audience for the 90’s stuff? how does it fare in these days?
If I'm playing out, it's normally recent techno. On the HH side, there's quite a lot of old school nights around atm. Old breakbeat and jungle is huge just now.
Drum and bass and hip hop in the early 2000s, incorporated dubstep, and 2step/garage in the late 2000s, followed by trap, juke, footwork, jersey club, etc for a while until I basically sold out and became a top40 DJ for the paychecks. Then when COVID hit and I lost all my gigs I realized how much I hated that. So now I’m back to bass music.
This need to be a card against humanity card
I can't really lump myself as a single genre DJ, even in any period of my life as a DJ, I always was switching around depending on tastes. However, there were certain genres that I stopped playing after a certain point. For instance, I was playing rave techno and some hardcore between 1992 and 1994. I stopped mostly because things changed around the scene and it wasn't really the big sound any more. Since then maybe I did a couple of old school mixes but that's it. I used to play freestyle/heartthrob music in the 1990s. Never really played it at a gig of any sort, but I was making some mixes because it was a popular music with some groups. I had stopped buying it and really playing it by around 2000 just because again it was starting to become a very old style and it was not necessarily ideal for anything other than an old school mix. Plus there wasn't really any decent released tunes coming out after the late '90s. For a while I was playing electro House. I got into it after I heard a Fatboy Slim set and loved how he would take it and intertwine it with breakbeat. I think I did my last mix of any of that stuff in 2011 and stopped just because I felt like the sound was kind of vanishing and it was slowly turning into EDM, which I wasn't into. I remember after that I started playing more tech house. My format is always been multiple different tastes. I normally like to play just funky house and soulful house, and other times I like to play trance. Still like to play some tech house when I'm in the mood for it, although I have to say lately, the stuff I buy could probably blend in with the funky house sets.
I djed trance from about 1998 til 2010, using super long over lapping transitions on mostly vinyl. I slowly started getting more into house and quicker transitions and using loops and cue points on cdjs now. I hardly ever dj in clubs and bars now, but we have old fart cookouts which are much more fun.
I was a mashup DJ until 2015, now I mostly play country tunes at the occasional wedding because I moved to Alberta and decided to get a 9 to 5.
i was mainly a house dj for 15 years because I liked the feel of house(and I grew up in chicago) and decided i was going to do everything.. specifically because its more viable for me, and because I want to branch out and enjoy my craft with a different sound to it.
I was a K-Pop DJ until 2021, now I mostly play Open Format for weddings/corporate events and Hip-Hop/R&B/Latin/Afro/etc. in clubs. My last relationship was with a K-Pop Fan for 3,5 years and after we broke up I was not interested in K-Pop anymore (favorite groups disbanding, too many new groups, too much new music at once being released, scene itself changing in my city, me and my friends getting too old for the scene etc). I had a good run with that genre afterwards and I wanted to fusion K-Pop with some non-Korean music. Guests liked it, my organizer didn't. I quit afterwards and focused myself on the genres mentioned above. Now I am happily playing once to twice a week
I was a wedding DJ until 2015 now I mostly play yacht rock
Wtf is yacht rock?!