Episode 60: Pre-Planned Sets

It's a lot of work on the back end, to make things as easy as possible for the busy or touring DJ when they take the stage. For some, it's a necessity due to schedules and restrictions, or when coordinating with other integral pieces of a show's experience, like lighting and visuals. For many DJs, pre-planning sets is a cardinal sin, and gives fuel to the "button pushers" name calling going on for nearly any DJ that shows up with a controller in tow. And, for those that encounter an issue with a pre-planned set and have to pivot their strategy for a show, that juice can be worth the squeeze when they're forced out of the box, out of their element, and have to deal with a crowd, on the fly. This was the case for Jauz at Lollapalooza, and he went as far as to be open and honest about that experience. In this episode, David and @TripTurlington sink (sync* - LOL) their teeth in to the hot button topic of pre-planned sets. We take the time to look at both sides of this issue, and even pulled some clips from major touring artists and DJs talking about it. (This link starts the video at the conversation we reference in the show, but we highly encourage you to check out the entire panel discussion...there's some really good discussion from some really big names: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmUQV48xN4Y&feature=youtu.be&t=21m10s) Where do you stand on pre-planning YOUR sets? We also review the initial announcements of the new Serato & Roland DJ-808, which is a collaborative controller that starts out around $1500. This feels a lot more gimmicky than all of the hype leading up to its release alluded to. Remember, this was going to be something so innovative, it was going to "change how we DJ". Gotta love marketing, eh? But, if you're the type that may find a use for a drum machine and sequencer in your controller sets, this may be the unit for you....though we remain skeptical (and pretty cynical, obviously) about the impact it's truly going to have on the market. In the end, we still have a lot of respect for Serato and Roland, but adding another controller in to an already saturated market that is inundating DJs with an endless sea of options and features, is not the innovative change we were expecting.