subject: Learn How To Read A Crowd [print this page] If this night is your first time playing to a crowd of people you dont know, the
main difference you notice is how much thought you will start to put into your songs in order to keep people dancing.
In time, you will become a body language expert and learn how to read a crowd, looking at the reactions of the people on the dance floor as they throw their hands in the air and dance like theres no tomorrow or throw their hands up in the air in disgust.
First off, think about how do you react when youre at a nightclub. When youre enjoying yourself, what do you tend to do? If youre the type of clubber who grins from ear to ear, and throws your hands in the air, and youre playing the kind of music that makes you want to do that, learn to read a crowd and look for this kind of response from the people on the dance floor. When youre bored, how do you react? Look into peoples eyes. If theyre staring into the distance, or at the floor, or if theyre dancing with no real energy, theyve gone to a happy place, waiting for something to change. Its up to you to make that change.
Dont base your readings on just the people in front of you in how to read a crowd, look through the crowd. If you get a chance to go for a wander, walk around and look at how people are responding to the music. A glum face isnt a good thing to see. Fifteen glum faces are a kick up the backside that should make you play something better.
Just ask . . . if you dare
The relationship youve developed with the club staff can really help you out in learning how to read a crowd. Theyre a great source of info on how well youre doing, and how the night is going.
If you want, you can just ask someone how theyre nights going, either
personally or collectively, over the microphone. If you get a collective silence,
or even worse, boos, change it, quickly. If you get cheers, whoops, and
hands in the air, keep pumping it, youre doing well.
Progress the set
DJing is not a race. You wont get far for playing all the newest, best, and
biggest tunes in the first 30 minutes, youll lose everyone on the dance floor.
Youll wear them out, theyll become bored with the same sound, and as you
wont have any big tunes left, the people on the floor will get bored with the
rest of the set. If you resort to repeating tunes, theyve already heard them, so
they arent as excited. Your light shone brightly, but not for long enough.
Use the checkpoint tunes as a way to pepper the set with good tunes, and to move the set on in energy and tempo. But dont just instantly decide to change things. Learn how to read a crowd and always keep an eye on how the people on the dance floor are reacting to what youre playing. If the dance floor isnt packed enough, if the wrong people are dancing, or if the alcohol level hasnt kicked in yet, playing slightly heavier music may empty the dance floor. Or if you dont change the pace soon, your set will start to sound dull and monotonous, and people will start to rush off the dance floor.
Test the crowd. If you cant obviously tell by the reaction of the people on
the dance floor, take things a little harder bit by bit to see what kind of stuff theyre responding to, then stick with that level until your crowd reading reveals that the time has come to move up or down a gear.
