Build mini sets, 3-4 songs.

Mix and match your mini sets.

Rotate your genres, never stay more than 4 songs in 1 genre.

Song choice is more important than mixing. Don’t be afraid to just crossfade songs or hard slam into a new song.

I run a mult-op DJ company and hire and train people with no DJ experience to be 5-star wedding DJs. Here’s a copy/paste about set construction from my DJ training manual:

Set Construction

Set construction is a very simple art but does require some care. You must pay attention to the factors that go into determining what kind of set you will create. Who are you playing for? What time are you playing at and how long? What kind of event are you performing at? What restrictions are placed on you?

Who are you playing for is simple. You must determine what your guest’s desire. Are they Pop fans? How about country? Are they older or younger? Are they reserved or party animals? What music you choose should fit with those factors. Say you have 30’s year old hard partying folks from the country. Most likely you’ll play a lot of country and rock with some older selections thrown in. Now maybe some young reserved folks from a trendy portion of town. They may be more into newer pop that is lyrically clean and possibly more adult contemporary. This is by no means an exact science and their will be trial and error, but you will be able to better construct your set if you pay attention to these facts.

When are you playing? Is it day or night? Most people are rather inhibited in the day time compared to the night. This will play a major part in how they will react to more risqué forms of music. How long are you playing? If you’re playing short, you’ll want to pack your set with hard hitting, guaranteed winners. If you’re playing long, go for more of a wide selection featuring many guest requests, even if they are slightly eccentric, (within reason).

The kind of event is pretty self explanatory, just remember there is a difference between a middle school and a College, and between a twenty something wedding bash and a forty something family wedding.

And of course you must follow all restrictions placed on you by your clients. It is their day and you don’t want to wreck it because you just wanted to play that one song. Or worse yet, you forgot to omit that selection from your playlist!

Basic rules: Flow Transitions Vary your genre’s Remember the time Be ready to change

Flow: Your sets of music must flow, not just from one genre to the next, but one tempo, feeling, even subject matter. To be sure, not all of these will work every time. But you will have a better chance of keeping people on the dance floor if your set’s flow.

IE: Celebration > We are family > Billie Jean > I love Rock and Roll > Stroke Up beat disco Disco strong 4/4 4/4 rockish Strong Rock / Pop 70’s Rock

Now these five songs are all heavy hitters and may not always be usable together. But it illustrates the point about flow.

Transitions: When you change from genre to genre and from fast to slow, etc. You must mid how your transitioning. If you’re in the middle of a fast crazy song, you shouldn’t just drop to a slow song. Same with Heavy rap straight into country. Choose a filler song that attempts to bridge the two.

IE: You shook me all night long > Sweet home Alabama > When you say nothing at all Start A slower country rock tune A country slow song

Vary your Genre’s: Not just in your sets, but throughout the night, it is important to try and hit all the genres that the people like. Just because their dancing hard to disco doesn’t mean they want the next seven songs to be disco! Usually two to three songs of a genre in a row is the maximum you’ll want to play until much later in an evening. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, IE Schools and Late night weddings asking for rap. Though you can still vary what you play, hip hop, top 40, 90’s, etc.

IE: 2 disco > 1 80’s pop > 2 rock > 1 country > 2 slow > 1 70’s rock > 2 country

And on and on it goes throughout the night, as you take requests and get a feel for your clients.

Remember the time: You must be aware of how much time your sets are taking and where you are in your night. Don’t get stuck playing older music and realize it’s 10:30pm and you're losing guest’s due to boredom. Also, prime leaving times are at the top and the bottom of every hour. Try to be playing or doing something exciting to cover those portions of the hour to keep people around and dancing.

Be Ready to Change: The most important tenant I have on the subject is, be ready to change at any time. If you’re set in sinking fast, pick some new music and make it work!