How I built my eurodance DJ sets
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).