[Tango-L] some DJ questions (previously Melina?s_DJing_Primer)

[Andreas Wichter]

Hello Victor,

you wrote:

 >>
1. Many tandas have a stand out track ...
At first I always put these tracks as the last in a tanda, ...
I decided that is actually a bit too predictable. I observed that 
actually I get better results when I put the tracks first or at least 
mix
the strong tracks so they are first sometimes and last other times.
<<

A tanda needs a good choreography. I figure there can be wildly 
different approaches to building good tandas. Sometimes when I build a 
tanda I build it around one particular song, other times around a 
specific singer (still one and the same orchestra - I don´t mix them), 
or I build one specifically to fit in well with the previous one, or 
pave the way for the next. After all, even if people don´t dance a 
tanda, they still hear it, and it will affect their mood.
Mostly I will use a well-known or at least very powerful and danceable 
track first, so people want to get up and dance, and they have a sense 
they know what they´re getting themselves into. Once that is achieved, 
I can play with the energy, based on that first track. It will lead to 
the second major track, which is the last one. Whether the first or the 
last one are the "stand out track" can vary, and often it will be 
different for different listeners/dancers. The point is that each track 
in a tanda has a specific function, a job to do. The final one must 
wrap up the experience of that specific tanda.

 >>
In recent weeks I decided that actually it is best to treat the two 
adjacent tango tandas
as related (VTTMTT) and keep a consistent mood across them. So now I 
have eight tracks to play around with.
<<

All tandas are related, and adjacent ones especially, by the overall 
choreography you´re going for. I still treat each tanda as a mostly 
closed entity - it has to work for the dancer who dances this one 
tanda, then sits down again, not dancing the next one. If you manage 
both this as well as there being some nice interplay between tandas - 
perfect. Just don´t try to be too clever, you´ll just be disappointed 
if nobody "gets the joke", and maybe it will even be annoying for 
people.

 >>
Some I just can't bring myself to play at all like Fresedo, Firpo, 
Piazzolla, Basso, Sassone.
<<

No argument from me except that I sometimes play a tanda of Firpo (very 
rarely, and usually milonga), and that I can see how one might get 
bored with Fresedo/Ray after a while. I rediscovered Fresedo at some 
point, and found some extremely pretty things under that particular 
rock. Give the man another chance. Maybe try Tigre Viejo, Mariposita, 
Derecho Viejo, Pimienta.

 >>
  So my NuevoÂtandas consist ofÂOtros Aires, a couple of the Gotan 
tracks, and a couple of the Bajofondo Tango Club tracks.
<<

I couldn´t get myself interested enough to explore Bajofondo yet, but I 
am guilty of having played Gotan (though not for some time now) and 
Otros Aires - their milongas, which are real milongas after a fashion.

 >>
4. Milonga tandas, should they be three tracks or four? I started out 
playing four tracks but does not seem to go down so well as three 
tracks.
<<

I prefer three. I find four a bit much, but I know good DJs who play 
four, and I can live with it. I also play vals tandas of three only, 
btw.

Have fun with your DJing,
Andreas