BAmF DJ EXPECTATIONS

Congratulations! You’ve been accepted to DJ for BAmF! Here’s what we expect of our DJs and how to prepare for success; 

Before the event

• Have all of your music downloaded. The last thing you need is to lose connectivity or be messing with wifi mid-set. Internet is spotty at the venue, and we expect you to operate without it. 

• Have a backup/preview device. Every longtime DJ we know has a story about when their computer crashed immediately before or during their set. It’s not a matter of if your computer will fail, but when. Have a device ready for when this happens. A phone with Spotify playlists is an excellent second device, and doubles as a way to preview your tracks!

• Have a sound card. The audio hardware on your laptop or tablet is designed to operate headphones or desktop speakers. You’ll be plugging into a 1000+ watt PA system which will pick up every hum, click, and pop, even the ones you won’t hear on a smaller system. Invest in a musician quality sound card before your first set. We recommend this one by FiiO. It’s durable and works great. 

Before your set

• Arrive early. We expect you to arrive at the venue 30-60 minutes before your set time. Use this time to say hello to people, get some dances in, and read the mood and energy level of the crowd. 

• Set up early. Have all your gear set up and ready to play 10-15 minutes before set time. Check setlists with the DJ before you to make sure you don’t play something they just played. Negotiate how many songs until you hand off.

• Be ready to play. Show up sober and awake enough to be responsible for a room. 

• Don’t pop the system. When you connect and disconnect from the system, make absolutely certain all the faders on the mixer (both your channel and the main volume) are all the way down. Plugging into a PA system makes a terrible popping sound and damages the speakers. Do not do it. 

  • If this is your first time DJing and you have no idea what that meant, don’t worry! Flag down the host and we’ll be happy to introduce you to the sound system.

During your set

• DJs are service workers. Your job is to play the set that the floor wants to hear, even if it’s not what you want to listen to. Success is measured in the number of people on the floor dancing micro and enjoying themselves. That takes precedence over everything else, including what you personally want to hear.

• Read the floor and respond to it. You are expected to read the room and adapt your set accordingly. A good rule of thumb is to work 1-4 tracks ahead, and no more. 

• Please design your set with only 10-20% aimed for highly skilled dancers (complex/experimental), and at least 50% accessible to the middle of the crowd.

• Be present. If you choose to dance during your set, make sure you’re close enough to the DJ booth to make quick adjustments to volume or EQ as necessary.

• Keep music at a safe volume (<85dB). 85dB is the maximum acceptable volume specified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for industrial workplaces. Above 85dB, most people experience hearing damage fairly quickly. Music should be loud enough that conversations don’t distract from dances, but not loud enough to hurt peoples’ ears. 

• Understand “micro classics” well enough to have fallback tracks. We know you’re excited to play new music, and we’re excited to hear it! However, new music doesn’t always go over the way you planned. We strongly recommend that you have a collection of at least 30 “micro classics” in your back pocket. These are tracks that are instantly recognizable, played frequently for years, and most dancers love them. A classic or two will help you win the floor back after a track that didn’t land well.

• Bookend stretch tracks with safe tracks. If you’re uncertain about a new track, consider having one of your “micro classics” queued up after it. If the floor responds poorly, this will help to maintain the audience’s trust. 

• We expect you to be able to play a set all the way through without any technical issues. No songs stopped midway, alarms going off, or awkward pauses for buffering. We highly recommend Mixxx, Embrace, or another purpose-built DJ software. We highly, highly discourage using Spotify or iTunes/Apple Music as your main DJ software. Both iTunes and Spotify will jump to a different track mid-song with a stray click. We also recommend a laptop rather than a tablet or phone as a main device. Smaller devices are easy to accidentally disconnect. 

• Be ready to take direction. Generally, the organizer team will step back and give you the spotlight. This is your time to shine! However, we will step in if there’s a pressing issue (several complaints or an emergency) and we need you to work with us. DJs who refuse to work with us are not invited back. 

At the end of your set

• Negotiate transitions. You will be in charge of negotiating a smooth transition with the next DJ. Share your setlist to make sure there’s no overlap, and be prepared to cover for them if they need a few extra minutes to set up their gear.

• Respect the schedule and try to end your set as on time as possible. This keeps things fair for DJs after you, and makes your organizers’ lives easier.

• End of night 2 song warning. If you’ve done well, the dance floor should be in a squishy, delightful micro trance by the end of the night. It takes a little while to come back after that, so we ask you to announce the last two songs, instead of the last song. 

• Snaps instead of claps. At BAmF, we ask our audience to snap instead of clapping. We’re creating a safe, transportive, calm space and applause often feels really sudden and jarring. It can shake up the energy of the room enough that the next DJ has to spend several tracks calming everyone down again.

• Don’t pop the system as you unplug!