The best party I have ever been at, let alone DJ'd at, was a house disco party with the two projector lighting rig, a real life disco ball, and the best hosts ever. There were some amazing parts of the party and I'll go into detail with each of them below, show how the stars aligned to create the best night, even if just for a few hours.

To create a party and environment for the night, It was quite thought out and planned, which made a fantastic result that I can't wait to apply to further events.

The DJ Setup

Top of the line CDJ 3000's and 4 Channel Mixers with BeatFX was not quite in the budget. To put it plainly, there was no money to spend whatsoever. I usually rely on Rekordbox for my library, so I used my DDJ-RB, an entry level 2 channel controller. However, DJ/flatmate/neighbour Grace was also keen as to DJ with their Numark NV[1]. This was a 4 channel deck with a screen for each of the two jog wheels. When we messed around beforehand we used the microphone port from Numark and connected it to the output of DDJ-RB. This created a B2B system without the ability to listen to other peoples cues through headphones, which is a really fun way to DJ with others, putting an emphasis on using your ears more than eyes when beatmatching.

We also wanted to include the possibility to have a guitar, and an MPC drum machine on the night. Therefore we used a 16 channel audio mixing console which I borrowed from my more musically inclined friend. This was a little bit overkill, but the ability to duplicate outputs was important for the lighting rig, as well as having both sets of indoor speakers, and an outdoor speaker as well. Most of the boogieing and dancing was indoors with the lighting, with the outdoor speakers just for ambience and for those wanting a break.

The Lighting Rig

The lighting rig was comprised of NestDrop Pro on a touchscreen laptop, with a Focusrite audio interface. This interface would be listen to the mixing desk output and increasing or decreasing intensity of the lighting. One projector pointing to a mirror that shined to cover the ceiling. Using a mirror has been a game changer, as previously I would have just pointed the projector directly to the ceiling. The mirror however allows for a more compact setup, with less chance of blinding people. Projectors lose their strength as the picture gets larger, but a large spread of the ceiling is much more impressive than a small but bright square.

The secondary projector was pointed at the disco ball, and when given a small spin, would create a coloured spinning atmosphere. While it would have been cool to have it in the centre of the room, there was no place to hang it, so instead we hung it on the curtain rail.

The DJing

I will let you in on a wee secret I wasn't proud of. Quite a few of my first sets at clubs or events were completely on rails with each track predetermined. If the crowd didn't particularly like the song, I didn't usually know how to escape or flip to something else. Therefore I was often disconnected from the crowd and couldn't quite cater for every problem or situation. I'm glad to say however that I have proudly gotten out of this rut, and moved on to reading the crowd for the situation. Most DJ's won't get the right song every time, but knowing when to escape and quickly leave behind your problems is important to retain a full dancefloor.

I say this as this was the first DJ set I had done where I had colour coded my songs based on energy levels, and had a general structure for how to build up energy in the room. My previous gigs at sin did mostly stay free-formed with little to no playlists or structure, but I was not in control of the energy level as much as I could have been.

 As well has having my coloured coded energy levels, I also organised three folders of disco music, from Chill Boogie, To Medium and High Boogie. A song can have a Chill Boogie, but still have a really high energy level. This may be due to it being a well known and popular song, or due to it being a fast but quite song, compared to a slow but incredibly busy and high energy song.

Overall this helped the night keep a steady increasing pace and increase in energy. Some people may wonder: "Why don't you just play Peak and Energy maintaining songs all the time?"  However, valleys and resets are need in order to make the peaks feel even more special.  Playing two "Peak" coloured songs back to back is such an amazing feeling, but playing two hours of peak means that moment is less noticeable.

Do not be confused with a song being classed as a "Momentum Builder" or "Opening" as a purposely bad song. That is not the case, as it is just the energy levels I want to control. I wouldn't pick a bad song for any night just to force an energy level low.

The night had me dig through some old disco, but mostly some newer house style stuff. Most songs weren't recognisable, so every so-often I'd spice a song up with an acapella ontop (vocal only track).

Tags are useful as they allow me to automatically create playlists similar to how a PHP database may pull files based on characteristics. For example, as seen below I could automatically create or search an old song, that is relatively famous in it's perceived genre. This will make my future set and playlist building way easier and less tedious, allowing me to spend more time practicing and boogieing.

For more information on tagging and DJ library sorting, check out https://www.youtube.com/@ReallyChrisM/'s Youtube channel. A lot of these tips were learned from him and he manages to make these tips easy to consume in mildly comedic videos.

Since the party, I also have a forth tagging column used to determine sub-genres. While Rekordbox has a genre category already, it is limited to a single variable (ie Drum and Bass, Disco, House). Multiple tags can be applied however, as you might describe some songs as a liquid Drum and Bass track, but also with a minimal or roller drop somewhere in it.

The Atmosphere

The kitchen was setup as a welcoming area where you could draw yourself on a shared piece of canvas. The dance space was relatively dark, allowing for a more intimate and less revealing or embarrassing area to boogie at (not that I'd want people at my parties who shame others for absolutely grooving it on the floor). I was really happy to hear that someone who hadn't quite danced before was absolutely moving it on the floor! That truly is the goal at the end of the day.

I sent out an hour long teaser mix via a google drive link (see end for link!), in hopes that people were more lenient for music they aren't usually familiar with.

It was a foreign concept at first, but I told the flat that I wanted my back to the crowd, with easy access to the dancefloor. This put less focus on the DJ, and more focus on the lighting and the crowd. It also allows people to come up and yap with me, see what's happening, look at the setup or suggest a song. The disco ball manually had to be spun, so a few people were able to be in charge of that at times.

The End.

The party was going really well from 8:30 till around 10:45 where a noise complaint was formally delivered to our address. As it was a Friday night on the last day of exams, we were a little annoyed to say the least. The enforcement officer was lovely and told us that next time he would have to take away the gear. He legally could not tell us who had complained but he perhaps did look in the general direction of the neighbouring flat in particular. I never liked that flat as they are full of sexist people so they defo weren't boogieing with us.

As most of the gear was not mine and borrowed, and with me not hanging around in Christchurch the day after to pay fines or pick up gear if needed, I made the decision to back down and pack-up. This was quite heart breaking as we just started getting into some of the best songs of the night. However, the night held was one of the best nights ever and I hope to recreate and boogie again with the same awesome crew, just perhaps a bit longer that before.

Some of the Tunes

I couldn't chuck every tune here, but if you were at the party on the night or need a song recommendation, flick a message or leave a comment to me.

Thanks for reading

Missed out on the party? I have a one hour long DJ mix available here, which was sent to the guests as mentioned above.

Footnotes

[^1] Also used by the wonderful "DJ Fucked".