DJ SIGNATURE TRACKS

[Baldeagle 0]

Back in the 70's before the venue was full we played low level background stuff . Then to get the show started we always kicked up the lights and the volume with an instrumental track fading in and out whilst introducing ourselves and giving out info about the nights itineray, eg. the happy couple/birthday boy or girl/hen night, bar closes at.. etc..- Also after the last record - usually Glad All Over we played the theme tune again to signify the nights over.

 

Our theme tune was always "Man of Action" by The Les Reed Orchestra,

 

Does anyone else use a theme tune as an intro? if so what?

[jeffwall 0]

call me sad here........i used the hawii 50 theme music at my wifes 30th party last year (because it was a practice gig for me at the time and everybody in the room was waiting for me to start....i had it playing whilst i walked on the stage, was great laugh, then started straight into the disco!

 

that was nearly 18mths ago, not done it since http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/rolleyes.gif

[High Fidelity 0]

Used to use High Fidelity - Kids From Fame (Original eh), but haven't done it for quite a while now.

[mikeee 0]

Oh, yes, which one do you want......

 

I play out at the end of the night with Penthouse suite by Syd Dale (1962)

For the beifit of the youngsters, it's the theme to Tarrant on TV. The other good one is the Theme to Dangerman by Bob Leiper (sp)

[Hugmaster 0]

Hi

 

To finish on, I use a track by world renound guitarist Steve Vai, it's a track called Liberty from his Passion and Warfare CD, it's a real anthemic ballblaster of a track and sounds really good as a climactic ending.

 

It's only about 2 minutes long as well so it doesn't go on and on.

 

I'm looking for a starter track to leed into the show for after the buffet, trying to put together a playlist of atmosphere builders.

 

For a while I used the Thunderbirds theme, yeah I know how cheesey can you get, not any more though.

 

The album version of the Race by Yellow is a good one to start cranking the volume up to, especially as an end of buffet track, might not be to everyone's taste though.

 

Darren

 

[Mo The Motown Man 0]

Since I started jocking way back when I have had two theme tunes, Van McCoy , Can't Give You anything But My Love, but for the last 30 something years have always finished with Ramsey Lewis, Wade In The Water. If you are resident then the punter get to know that when your tune comes on it's time to go home

[Gary 0]

I used to end on farewell/comedy type track, but since theres normally more requests left, than time - so ditched that idea in order to avoid people quite rightly asking that if I've got time left to play that record, I ought to play their record instead. Fair point really,

 

So now I simply say the Goodbyes, farewells, safe journeys etc over the last "proper" track, looping an instrumental section of it to talk over, if needed.

[Leonna 0]

As an intro how about using the Fanfare at the start of Don't Dream It off the Rocky horror Picture show. That would grab everyones attention. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif

Edited November 16, 2005 by Leonna

[desperatedan 0]

Banna splits as Intro !!! http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/hide.gif

 

Used whilst working family bar just to show evening entertainment was starting and was then straight into kids disco for a hour.

 

[FDDJ 0]

Am I the only one who thinks having an "intro" or "signature track" is sad? http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/533.gif

 

Key tracks to start and finish a night on? Yep, I agree with that.

 

But a special song to denote the start or end of my "performance"? http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/yucky.gif

 

Each to their own.... http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/rolleyes.gif

[YourBigEvent 0]

Agree with Steve.

 

Can't think of anything worse than a 'I'm here, look at me' type of tune. Although I do play a last record of normally Mrecombe and Wise.

[desperatedan 0]

In my defence before Im slated I only use banna splits at the family bar never use a intro for private do's !!!!

[Simonlm 0]

When i used to do Club Djing and there were typically three Dj's on for the night used, get the previous Dj to welcome me, then start with a choon Called Dj Antwan - Visit Me. Then would talk over the choon a bit, thanking the other Dj etc, but those days are gone and to think back it was a bit tacky and certainly don't do it anymore, not on a mobile job!

[ian 0]

QUOTE (StevJam @ Nov 16 2005, 12:43 PM)

Am I the only one who thinks having an "intro" or "signature track" is sad?  http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/533.gif Key tracks to start and finish a night on? Yep, I agree with that. But a special song to denote the start or end of my "performance"?  http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/yucky.gif Each to their own....  http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/rolleyes.gif

The reason I do this sort of thing (well, I don't have an intro track, but I do announce that I'm starting and ending) is to promote myself at multi-DJ events. It's no good to me if people go up to the promoter and say "there was some good music and some bad music", what I want them to say is "I really liked Ian's music - best DJ of the night". The only way they can do that is if they know when I start and when I stop. So, what I will do is talk over the end of the previous DJ's last track, saying something like "thanks to DJ X for the last two hours of music, my name's Ian and I'll be taking you through until 2am" and then go into my first track (which I try to make obviously different from the previous DJ's last track, so there's an obvious changeover).

 

Sometimes you have to be a bit shameless in your self-promotion. Another thing I do is try to encourage people to mention me to the promoter. Although it's nice when people come up and say how much they enjoyed your set, it doesn't count for anything unless they tell the promoter. So, if someone compliments me on my tunes, I'll say something to them like "that's really nice of you to say that, but do you know promoter X? Well, if you want me at another event, then you should really tell him how much you enjoyed my set too". They will often say "good idea" and go off and find the promoter.

 

I also do something similar in slightly different circumstances. Sometimes I'll be at an event as a punter, rather than working and someone who's heard me DJ will start talking to me. Sometimes, they will say something like "music's not very good tonight - wish you were DJing here". I use that as an opening to say something like "well, you need to tell the promoter about me - then I might be". One person might not make any difference, but if a few people mention me to a promoter, then I might get a booking out of it.

[C.S 0]

QUOTE

I also do something similar in slightly different circumstances. Sometimes I'll be at an event as a punter, rather than working and someone who's heard me DJ will start talking to me. Sometimes, they will say something like "music's not very good tonight - wish you were DJing here". I use that as an opening to say something like "well, you need to tell the promoter about me - then I might be". One person might not make any difference, but if a few people mention me to a promoter, then I might get a booking out of it.

 

When this happens i try to leave the club as soon as possible as i think it not very loyal to the performing dj and if i cant get work on the reputatation and talent that i have then i am certainly not going to do it at another jocks expense. Not a criticism of you Ian because you obviously do not slag the guy off but its a principle thing for me, the gig might be the only income the guy has and i dont want to contribute to him losing it. I think an intro and then let your talent do the talking should be enough. I have been working clubs from the 80s until the present day as both a dj and an agent/promoter. If you are good enough then people know your name. I also think using an intro is something we did in the 8os but I would never do it now.

Edited November 16, 2005 by C.S

[ian 0]

QUOTE (C.S @ Nov 16 2005, 06:24 PM)

When this happens i try to leave the club as soon as possible as i think it not very loyal to the performing dj and if i cant get work on the reputatation and talent that i have then i am certainly not going to do it at another jocks expense. Not a criticism of you Ian because you obviously do not slag the guy off but its a principle thing for me, the gig might be the only income the guy has and i dont want to contribute to him losing it.

 

Hmmmm ... food for thought!

 

I guess that at the end, it comes down to what you are comfortable with in yourself and what would stop you sleeping at night. But if I wanted to rationalise it, I'd probably be thinking along these lines ...

 

Firstly, these situations aren't regular gigs, they'll be monthly with a different DJ each month. So, I'm not getting rid of a regular DJ and getting myself in place instead, it's more trying to get myself in contention for one of the gigs in the following year. I know that I'm still possibly contributing to the guy losing a gig, but I'm not trying to replace a residency, which would make me feel uncomfortable.

 

In fact, I go out of my way not to do that with a residency. On Tuesday, for example, I filled in at a local club for a guy who was off on holiday. When the bar staff were telling me that my music was better than the resident DJ's music, I was saying things like "it's easy for me to turn up one time and do something different, it's much more difficult for the resident to keep it fresh and exciting week after week".

 

The second thing is that whenever I get a gig, I'm contributing to some guy not being the DJ there. It's not as obvious and face to face as in my other example, but the end result is still the same.

 

The third thing is to think of the promoter. With a bad DJ, the numbers will fall and the event will fold. The DJ will still lose that gig, but the promoter will too. Now, in the ideal world, the promoter will spot this early on, kick out the DJ and think "I'll get in Ian, he's got a fantastic reputation". If the promoter doesn't do this, then maybe he shouldn't be a promoter. But if people are already telling the promoter there's a problem with the DJ, I don't feel too bad if they're also saying "Ian is a wicked DJ" at the same time.

 

But like I said at the start, this is all rationalisation after the event. The bottom line is that I don't feel uncomfortable doing this (bearing in mind it's something which may happen a handful of times during the year - I don't regularly go out looking to displace resident DJs). I think that I feel more like I'm giving things a nudge, rather than doing dodgy, underhand promotion. Perhaps that will all change now, and next time I am about to say something, your words will ring in my ears! http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/sad.gif

 

QUOTE (C.S @ Nov 16 2005, 06:24 PM)

I think an intro and then let your talent do the talking should be enough. I have been working clubs from the 80s until the present day as both a dj and an agent/promoter. If you are good enough then people know your name. I also think using an intro is something we did in the 8os but I would never do it now.

 

Without wishing to open up another "this is how they do it in the US" argument, I got the idea from US DJs when I've worked with them or seen them in action. When I asked them about it, they basically said that you need some way of letting people know that the last DJ has stopped and that you have started, so the crowd knows what you are playing.

 

All I know is that since I've started with intros, I've got more positive feedback and people will recognise me more. So, suppose I DJ on a Friday night and I'm hanging out on the Saturday afternoon. In the past, people might not recognise me as a DJ at all and discussion about the music would be more general, about the music all through the night. Now, people recognise me as a DJ and comment on my music specifically (and compare it with the music from the other DJs).

 

You could argue that this could simply be because I'm a better DJ now than I was before and it's that improvement which has caused this change in attitude. I don't know, but my gut feeling is that a brief intro at changeover time has something to do with it.

 

I can see what you are saying about your talent being enough, but I don't see any harm in giving it a little nudge with some promotion too.

 

Thanks for the comments though - it's definitely given me some stuff to think about.

[YourBigEvent 0]

If you are any good, any someone wants to book you, they will either come up and start talking to you, or ask for a card, if they want to book you, they will find you.

[ian 0]

I'm aware this is getting a long way off signature tracks, and maybe it's time to start a new thread, but I'll stick with this one for a while.

 

QUOTE (ADS Entertainments @ Nov 17 2005, 03:43 PM)

If you are any good, any someone wants to book you, they will either come up and start talking to you, or ask for a card, if they want to book you, they will find you.

 

That's fine in principle, but in practice it's more difficult than that.

 

The big problem for me is that the people who are at the event aren't the people who would be booking me for other events. It doesn't matter how many people at an event think I'm great and start talking to me, they aren't organising other events themselves, so aren't in a position to book me.

 

The people that can book me (the promoters) tend not to come to each others events, so it doesn't matter how great I am, they don't even see me play.

 

So what I need to do (as I see it) is establish a reputation so that even if a promoter never sees me play, they will have heard that I'm a good DJ to have at their event. Everything I've mentioned here (doing an intro when I start playing, telling people to mention me to promoters) is geared towards building up a reputation for that reason.

[stevemarshall 0]

Signature track..depends on the gig

 

 

Wedding or Party-Always look on the bright side of life always creates a sing song at the end of the nite

 

Trendy Gig- an exclusive reggae Dubplate created for me in Jamaica, with a real popular tune..works everytime:)mentions my name a few times etc

[stevie 0]

I think the question was

Back in the 70's .

 

So not what we do now! what did we have a sad theme then http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/wallbash.gif

 

And in answer to that question my sad theme was

 

Theme 1 by Cozy Powel.

 

Now i just use whatever i feel like on the night.

[treen74 0]

I dont think the Banana spilts theme tune would go down well.........would it? http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/thumbdown.gif

[otronics 0]

I do not use anything specific to start the show off and never have. Depends on the crowd and event but always say hello, welcome etc... I always start on a big high eg/ Lightning Seeds - Life Of Riley or more recently for the kids Girls Aloud - Biology.

 

I have always ended though, with Bob Dylan - Knocking On Heaven's Door. Yes it can be argued that I should end on a high but hey, it always works!

[scottish john 0]

I TRY AND KEEP MY OPENING TRACK VARIED AND FRESH BUT I DO LIKE TO END WITH SOMETHING TO SEND THE CROWD AWAY WITH A SMILE FOR EXAMPLE DAVE LEE ROTH JUST A GIGALLO OR PETER COOK AND DUDLEY MOOR GOODBYEE

[High Fidelity 0]

Welcome John.

 

Why not introduce yourself in the Introductions section.

 

BTW.

 

Do you play your music as loud as you type. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif

 

In case you don't know what I'm talking about. On a forum, using caps is considered shouting.

[Jearley 0]

my old theme tune last track of the evening...while saying my bit was

the jazzed up version of the Rocky theme the version used in Rocky III

gonna fly now.

 

always went down well but dont use it now

 

sorry to say it new york new york and gone