Martin-Pierre Frenette

• How I built my eurodance DJ sets

  26.06.2011,Eurodance,Martin-Pierre Frenette,

  As previously mentioned, I was a DJ consultant back in 1996-1997. My first gig was a regular contract at a new restaurant bar in Ste-Thérèse.

  I later got hired by several bars and explained to a few bar owners and new DJs my philosophy earning me a certain reputation at that moment.

  My basic theory was that in order for a bar to be successful back then, you needed two interlocking events:

  1 ) Your customers needed to dance.

  2 ) Your customers needed to drink.

  In the kind of establishment I consulted to, the customers came first and foremost in order to dance. They didn't come to their bar to get drunk. They came to have a good time. They don't necessarily want to drink. The reason you want them to drink is so that you can actually make money from their patronage.

  It's useless to try to get your customers to dance if they already want to drink.

  Dancing

  But you need to convert your dancers to customers and the best way, in my opinion, to do that is to make them sweat for an intense exciting moment which will inevitably make them want to drink and eat (if you also serve over priced fries, for example).

  There are certain mythical hours. If between midnight and half past midnight your dance floor isn't filled, your DJ is failing. That's usually where I focused my efforts because your customers will gladly wait for midnight if they know it's worth it. They will also stay until your close if they had enough fun during that half an hour of ecstasy.

  When I controlled the dance floor, there was usually no one sitting around the dance floor during that period and most barmen could take break. The first time, it scared every owner to see that most customers stopped spending but after 25-30 minutes intensive dancing, there was a line up to get refills and for the next 30 minutes, the dance floor would be mostly vacant as dancers got their wind back and nursed a few drinks.

  Then, as soon as the drinking was dropping, I would hit them with a second round, usually around 1h00 AM.

  I fine tuned what I called the 3-6-3 set. Even a few seasoned DJs liked my ideas because it was simple, efficient and elegant.

  The intro

  There are a few universal "get on the dance floor" songs out there, but they are usually so strong that they cannot be sustained and if they come out of the blue, many people currently drinking will simply return to their drinks.

  As a result, I believe you need to signal your patrons that you are about to introduce a dancing segment. With an MC, you can simply tell your customers, but I think it's even better in songs.

  That's what the 3 song intro is about. You need strong songs which will get your patrons on the dance floor but not necessarily get them running to it. They need to finish their drinks to that 30 minutes later, they will order new ones.

  I usually placed lower energy eurodance songs, which are in the 120-128 BPM (Beat per minute) range. Your patrons were possibly sitting, so it's better to let them stretch a little.

  For example, I could open with Take Control, by DJ Bobo, a strong energetic eurodance song.

  The second song needs to clearly show that you know what you are doing. It needs to be known by almost everyone in the club. I could follow with the always classic Rhythm is a Dancer, by Snap. And no, it's not the best Eurodance song ever, it's just probably the best known. If I had to name the best Eurodance song, Rhythm of Love would win the award.

  The third song is just as crucial: when I go out, 90% of the DJ are not able to sustain a 3 song set. It's actually quite pathetic. I was able to keep people on the dance floor for 12 songs in a row with little experience but they can't follow 2 hits with a third one.

  A great example which always worked is Mr. Vain from Culture beat.

  The middle segment

  Once your intro is out of the way, you want people to dance so they will have a good time and order a few drinks. I usually put 6 songs so that half of my 12 song set would be in the core segment.

  Your first song sets the tone, so I would try to use a classic high energy eurodance hits. Any song which seems to start slow and end fast is perfect to link with the intro (like Whisper, from Milk Inc.) . Any song which comes in with a blast like Get Ready for This, from 2 Unlimited, is also perfect.

  For the next five, I would have fun and include my favorite songs. I had a list of 15 to 20 songs back then which were perfect for those spots and would simply choose 3 or 4 of them and add 1 or 2 new hits. Just for the purpose of this article, I will list my favourite five high energy song:

  • Mallorca, by Loft
  • Rhythm of love 1994, by Dj Company (This is the 1997 version)
  • Machine gun, by Party Nation
  • Superhero lover, by Daze
  • Walk the same line, by Culture Beat

   

  The outro

  You can't keep your patrons forever on the dance floor, you need your patrons to pace themselves and see that they can relax a little. I would do it with 3 songs which lowered the energy of the music in decreasing order.

  The first needs to feel like the beat is lowering but not do it too abruptly. Back then, the hot new songs was "Free" by Yomanda, so I would often use it. It's not a strong as my middle six, being a little slower, but it's still nice.

  The next two songs would also be hits of the moments, when many songs were a cross of Eurodance and techno, blurring the lines such as Better Off Alone by Alice Deejay and close with the much slower King of My Castle from Wamdue project (though that one came later).

  The playlist

  Listen to the playlist on Youtube

• How I initially became a DJ Consultant

  25.06.2011,Eurodance,Martin-Pierre Frenette,

  In 1996, a new restaurant-bar opened in Ste-Thérèse to try and shake the quasi-monopoly of the Resto-Pub Ste-Thérèse (nicknamed the BST from when it was the Brasserie Ste-Thérèse).

  The BST has the best pizza of the north shore that is cooked in a fire oven straight off the dance floor, cheap bear promotions and then had one of the best MCs in Montréal, Charles C.

  The new restaurant however, offered better food (including amazing fries) and a nicer dance floor with a better sound system, a better set of dance lights and, what moved us over, a much better DJ, all with a much bigger dance floor.

  An MC lives up the place but since we loved the dance floor, my wife and I would follow the music and thus, every Saturday night, we hit the new bar with enthusiasm with dozens of other clients.

  The house DJ.

  Sadly, a month after the opening, we learned that they had hired a guest DJ to attract customers and once his contract was up, their house DJ killed the dance floor.

  In 1996, it was the end of the Eurodance movement and the beginning of the 1990s techno era. The guest DJ was a hardcore Eurodance believer while the house DJ strongly believed in staying current in music styles insisting that Eurodance was dead.

  But music tastes, like fashion styles, aren’t universal. If your clients want Eurodance, give them Eurodance. If they want Reggae, give them Reggae. The client isn’t always right, but the business which ignores his clients is always wrong.

  Regulars were used to the guest Dj and as such, quickly lost interest in the new hyper-repetitive techno music which had replaced their high energy Eurodance anthems.

  Fortunately the house DJ still played the greatest Eurodance hits between 10 pm and roughly 11h30 pm as a prelude for the real party. As a result, the 30 to 50 regular clients won over by the initial DJ would begin the party early in the evening and walk to the BST between 11h30 and midnight to benefit from Charles C’s exciting party.

  The hostess

  The DJ was oblivious to what was happening. He never realized that when he played Eurodance music, the dance floor filled itself while Techno usually emptied the bar.

  The hostess and majority owner of the bar however, was able to see the downward spiral of attendance and I quickly pointed out to her what was happening.

  “What would you do?”, she asked, almost begging for help. I explained that I would be more in sync with the mood of the clients and use a feedback loop to choose the music: if people dance, they will drink. If people don’t dance, they will leave. It was a simply enough problem to fix: when you see people leaving the club during a song, ban the song. 

  She let me pick 3 songs that the DJ had to play. I picked strong high BPM eurodance classics, most likely Rhythm of Love, Super Hero lover and Machine gun, but I don’t remember the exact line-up.

  What I do remember is the free drinks and the free food we received after the regulars stayed in the club until the end of my set and actually ordered rounds of drinks and food to refill before leaving for long walk toward the BST. 

  My reign

  Soon enough, I had almost complete control over the music selection between 11h30 PM and 12h30 AM, not only keeping the regular clients often until much later in the night, but also slowly increasing the turn-around and making new regular clients in the process. 

  Charles C’s party usually ended at 1h00am, so if clients stayed until 12h30 am, it was too late to switch.

  But more importantly, the sale of alcohol and food more than doubled under my reign, bringing me an open tab and even a sweet cash commission for my services.

  The house DJ forbid me from touching his equipment, but he was no longer responsible for the music, I was. After a few weeks, my schedule was increased from 11h00 PM to 2h00 AM but by then, I had sufficiently trained him to actually be able to sustain the interest on his own.

  Conclusion

  Sadly, my studies were too important and demanding to allow me to get out every Saturday and I eventually resigned. I didn’t really need to: I was just a consultant

  The restaurant closed a few months later: my services had saved the bar portion of the business, but the rest of the week the restaurant had never really taken off.

• What is Eurodance ?

  07.04.2010,Eurodance,Martin-Pierre Frenette,

  Eurodance is the type of music you typically could hear in most dance clubs of the early 1990s.

  Several of the songs also appeared in movies produced during these years.

  The style is easy to recognize but hard to define, especially since modern Techno started to appear in the same time. Many eurodance fans (including me) will tend to hate techno even thought many uninitiated have a hard time telling the two styles apart.

  To complicate things further, dance compilation CDs from the 90s did not distinguish between Eurodance and Techno, placing a few Techno songs and a few pop songs on a CD otherwise containing Eurodance.

  Amongst the main characteristics you can usually find :

  • Presence of simple happy lyrics. Usually with the traditional verse-chorus-bridge organization ( the bridge is the segment near the end of the song where the ryhtmn changes to something different ). In Eurodance, the lyrics seem secondary to the song, however, they actually form part of the rhytmn and impose the structure. Generally, the lyrics will be sung very quickly to follow the rhythmn. If a single phrase or word is repeated throughout the song, it is not an Eurodance song. For example, "Around the World" by Daft Punk is definitely a Techno Song.
  • Relativly high Beats-Per-Minute, from 120-160. If it's slower, it's probably not Eurodance but rather Disco. If it's faster, it's probably techno of the late 90s.
  • Relativly steady BPM. Throughout the song, the BPM might slowly rise or lower, but it will usually be the same. Please note however that many Eurodance songs have a long intro for mixing, and that in some cases, the intro starts with a low BPM and slowly increases.
  • These is usually a steady base line troughout the song. It will be a steady drum rhythm running usually at the song BPM. The base line can sometime vary a lot, but it generally forms a rhytmic repetitive pattern. However, it is not the actual song, it is only a repetitive background sound to dance to. Sometimes, the base line will be eclipsed by the beat line during the chorus. Some groups, like 2 Unlimited, will vary their base line during the song to add richness, but it stays relativly constant.
  • There is often a very rhytmic beat line which forms the melody of the song. Generally, the main creativity of a group is shown in the diversity and richness of the beat line they generate.
  • Mixed singers. A lot of Eurodance groups feature a female lead singer who sings the chorus while a male singer does the verses in dance mode, but sometimes in fast reggae. This format was followed by some of the biggest Eurodance groups such as Ice MC, Twenty 4 seven, 2 Unlimited, The Real McCoy, La Bouche, Le Click, Snap, Masterboy, DJ Bobo, Mr President, Dj Company.

  What are some of the best Songs of Eurodance ?

  My top of the best Eurodance songs in no particuliar order. Those in bold are my absolute preferred.

  • The Rhytmn of love - Dj Company
  • Runaway - The Real McCoy
  • Mr Vain - Culture Beat
  • Somebody Dance with me - Dj Bobo
  • Crying in the rain - Culture Beat
  • Feel the vibe - Afrika Bambaata
  • It's a rainy day - Ice MC
  • Think about the way - Ice MC
  • Take Away the Colors '95 - Ice MC
  • Call me - Le Click
  • Vamos a la playa - Miranda
  • Slave to the music - Twenty 4 Seven
  • Mallorca - Loft
  • Set you free - N-Trance
  • Machine Gun - Party Nation
  • Impossible - Captain Hollywood project
  • Tell me the way - Cappella
  • Superhero Lover - Daze
  • Living in cyberspace - 2 Brothers on the 4th floor
  • Whisper - Milk Inc

  Where can I learn more about Eurodance ?

  You should consult the excellent Eurodance encyclopedia, which is managed by Karine Sanche, an eurodance addict !