What do you expect from a Trance dj set?

[Digitalys]

What determines wether you like a (Goa / Psy) Trance dj set or not? What "skills" or techniques do you value? Do you prefer to hear mainly "the good stuff" at a party or are you only pleased when you hear unfamiliar music, or a little bit of both? How important is the story to you? Etc...  

[Ormion]

I only care about track selection. I don't care about flow, transitions, live mix etc.

Does the set feauture tracks that I like? Then I will be pleased. 

[Starkraver]

I prefer a great flow, layering of multiple tracks for crazy effects, definitely would go for a mix of unknown and known tracks. A story, hell yeah for home listening, at a party I won't be able to concentrate on the story. 

[AiKyO]

I care for divine transmission of the spirit of trance, if this happen I can dance. 

I like balance. I like when there's no break for more than five minutes. I like when it knows when to take its time and how to bring change. When each song that is brought forth creates an unexpected or expected reaction, new alchimies, when there is balance between those, balance between the night and the day. 

It is flow for me then. 

It also happened I could understand the story sometime while dancing very madly, I think you can reach a state of concentration where you feel the music so much and you translate it in the right movements that the mind will tune itself with the body, and thoughts, may it be words or visions, will go hand in hand with the myth that is created.

[Hasheeshian]

I personally like a mix of familiar and unfamiliar tracks, if there's only music that I know well being played the "suprise-effect" disappears. Though if I'm too lost a recognizable song usually takes me down to the ground a bit, so it's all about balance! Classics often creates a burst of joy among the dancers, it's awesome hearing your favorite pieces on a dancefloor (but it's even better finding a new one right there ).

As long as the transition is relatively smooth and doesn't take too long I don't complain, a bit of dissonance usually doesn't hurt (especially when it comes to forest/darkpsy where that's already a prominent element of the music). Other tricks (fx, etc) is secondary, it's cool when people can pull it off but I've never thought "man this set needs more DJ-tricks".

About storytelling, I think it makes a difference. Though sometimes storytelling just means thinking about the relationship between the tracks and the order played, in terms of dynamics, mood and such. Which I guess every DJ do, but I love when someone can take it to a deeper level and create a real trip. 

 

[Meltwater]

I don't know how anyone could enjoy a dj set with perfect track selection but consistently poor transitions.  Not that I expect a perfectly flawless transition every time, but if it's consistently awkward and jagged I find it too distracting.  And I actually find it interesting when a dj can tell they've misread a crowd by dropping a "wrong" track---I like watching dj's get out of a jam.

Beyond that: it's dance music.  Fewer breakdowns please, let the beat keep moving.

 

This goes for all types of dance music, mind you, not just psy djs, which I rarely see anyway.

[Shpongled247]

I like when its a balance of new and old.. the somewhat expected mixed with the totally unexpected and sometimes even unknown. One big thing no one mentioned yet is I love when a DJ can read a crowd/dancefloors energy and changes their set on the fly to suit perfectly. Gives the dancers energy when they need it and lulls or troughs in the music also at the perfect times. Obviously if people are playing pre-recorded sets there is not much reading of the dancefloor going on.

[Imba]

There is no fun in expecting. I don't like expecting.

Gimme some unexpecting in da mix!

[Digitalys]

For me the most important thing is the story: It has to fit in the lineup (take over from what went before and/or bring something different if needed) and within the set it has to go somewhere. I love it when there's a buildup and the set gets you ready for more experimental or "difficult" trance music and when the right classics gets played at the right time.

For the rest I have the same opinion as Hasheeshian.

[kicma]

I prefer when there are mostly unknown tracks combined with one or two "hits" in the right time. Flow is very important to me, transitions also, DJ tricks not so much but also cool to hear.

[psytones]

I like to think I have no expectations other then to have a good time regardless. I love transitions, and especially if they involve tracks that I have a thing for. Like *sigh* if a oldie Infected Mushroom track comes in a mix, I'm all emotionally and aurally pointy ears on it catching every single detail of what the transition creates. If the DJ uses any effects to enhance or manipulate the track. And yes ,,errors", or not perfect DJing can easily be charming and cool and create real Wow moments - when its not terrible or train wrecking. A DJs nightmare. Some use it to their benefit and create lovely mayhem. Escalating to the challenge of bringing it back home again... Chaos in to order.  Beatmatching CDs and Vinyls is and can be a real treat. I love effects but also respect the pressure of playing live.. I'm not overly exited on buff club DJs that don't fuck around with the music if the music has the space and structure/meaning to allow it. Unless the flow and tracks and whatnot story just manages to impress. There are no rules. But the more ARTISTIC a DJ is, the more cool. But also cool if the DJ is pure and full of integrity. A DJ anyway no matter how artistic, is a person who presents and serves other peoples creations. I do not like DJs that fake and gives the impression that they made the tracks when they have not. I love artistic DJs as well as professional presenters. The new digital-DJs out there have a lot of free hands sort of say (Boom Shiva) to go even further with the artist way of DJing. Skillful DJ's got all my respect. The music can even suck when the Dj just knows what she or he is doing. Anyway once more its gotta be said, chasing the beats in beatmatching. So awesome and exiting. 

When it comes to live DJing (gig) and having the balls or uterus to fuck around with the music. Of course its not so easy sometimes to play with effects on a packed dancefloor if your not warm in the sweater sort of say - all the fuzz about being nervous to not fuck up and make people leave. And yes sure, the wilder fuck around with the music suits often more for the living-room at home party kinda situation - dare-full DJs are Great in my book. 

What I Dislike in Full-on I Like just as much, as a listener, dancer/attendee & DJ with mixer/effects. The boring Full-on came as I got it much out of the DJ circulations, and they created seemingly boring (psychedelic space) Full-on with empathy on the audio being top notch.. Djs with skills can lead that well. Kick it to the left, follow the glitch.. Throw them with sonic gravity..  Anyway a lot of smart music can seem boring. And some psy-trance music is just that, boring cocky music with a coke in the hand. Piss easy to beat-match, but sure, fun caus' it can be "remixed". I thought Goa-trance was boring for me when I was younger until the microdot melted. That's about 2 decades ago. I'm not a raver either, really - I can sweat it though. So anyway more or less soulless Full-on or Prog. for me never to few times actually hit home. ..rant

DJ beatmatching, chasing the beat. Such a rush to both listen and to DJ. Practice, in my experience beat matching and DJing is not xacly as riding a bike. You have to keep the mixer warm if yah know what im saying. Goa-trance and Dark-psy is and can be much more messy to Dj then Psy.Prog, Tech-House and whatnot more club oriented 145esque Full-on, be it dark or light. A lot of wicked twilight gives interesting and enjoyably challenges with all the (o-h-w Fok that's funny thank you) breaks and turns. Killer

Tap! 

 ..and so I did, and I better understood a language of DJ-ing.

I think if the art of Djing disappears (never), the art of listening to psychedelic (trance) music disapears (nevahahhh)

- I made a saying few years back that still holds good imo, Timing is everything, EQ is key. 
- And I like my saying; To be a psychedelic Dj or Artist comes a great responsibility. Your  indirectly responsible for someones trip. To bring someone down, you better bring them back up again. 
- Fucking around with effects anyway can lead to amazing stuff the mixer gives you its full power true sonic love. It becomes alive like the motor-cross bike in that kids movie from the 80's, Herbie and shitt.  I have a 800 mixer. 100s cd players. <- LOVE

In this DJ-set the cd-dj decided to include a IM track  

Many Djs want to have Rama but I think a superhero avatar name without DJ, is a person who made the music. Not a person who rides on other peoples music. You know what Im saying, are you saying what Im knowing? As a attendee with many names on the lineup, I prefer to know who is a DJ, and who is an artist. God DJs are artists, but that,s outside this point.  - and what is live? If an artist is there presenting his or her music, it is live. That simple. Even if he does nothing but to stand there and push play/sync. 

[psytones]

*you know when you dj and you have to reach a knob so your arms cross?
The dj who first did that did not do it to look cool, he/she did it because it was necessary.
I love this video: 

 

[Tsotsi]

Still haven't been to a goa party, if I had I would want songs to be played pretty much all through with only a focus on track selection.

When it comes to prog, I'm probs not gonna get lost in the music, I want a DJ to make me move, cool transitions, sweet fx, big builds, and keep me guessing in what they will do next. Just don't stop the beat every 30 seconds. 

For full on I like tracks to get a little crazy, layering is a must, maybe a mid ground between prog n goa. 

 

[Padmapani]

On 14 February 2018 at 1:25 AM, Meltwater said:

Beyond that: it's dance music.  Fewer breakdowns please, let the beat keep moving.

this! there's nothing worse than frequent and/or long breaks. i'd rather have just a kickdrum playing for hours than the constant stop-and-go of your typical "future prog" set. it's the responsibility of the dj to select the right tracks or play only the parts of a track that keep you dancing.

the other major things that break the flow of dancing are bad transitions (obviously), and overuse of fx (some djs just have to use the flanger over and over again. stop it.)

 

for oldschool goa i'd rather hear familiar tracks. if there's something in oldschool goa i still don't know it's most likely because the track just isn't that good.

other than that, i'm completely fine with the majority of the tracks being new for me as long as they fit the flow and storytelling. though if the flow and storytelling aren't that good (which is the case 90% of the time), i'd rather dance to tracks that are guaranteed to be good than to average unknown music.

what i really don't understand is the obsession with having a dj set made up of only "fresh" new tracks. everything should follow the storytelling of the set and it's completely unrealistic that the perfect parts to tell that story have all been released in the last year or so. if a situation (no matter which subgenre) demands some fullon track from the early 00s, the delta or even mahadeva, then don't hesitate to play the track. don't take some unknown track from 2018 simply because it's "fresh". thus, a properly constructed psy set will inevitably have to contain music spanning two decades.

[CalledByCthulhu]

I expect a showcase of skill in beat matching, phrasing, and transitional mixing. And a track list of lesser known bangers. 

For example 

 

 

[Tsotsi]

@CalledByCthulhu That set is insane. 

[CalledByCthulhu]

19 hours ago, Tsotsi said:

@CalledByCthulhu That set is insane. 

Real recognizes real..

Thanks for the love