Music
No matter what the theme, crowd, or occasion, your party needs a soundtrack. But don’t let us catch you just booting up your iTunes and hitting “shuffle” or, worse yet, turning on the radio; a good mix has far more thought behind it. We brought in Charlie Levine, one half of DJ duo Soul Clap, to explain what it takes.
Levine does his job by mixing BPMs, or beats per minute; that’s how he keeps song-to-song transitions smooth. While you don’t need to get that technical, “If you’re putting together your own play list [for] an iPod, you might want to try to either match the songs according to their tempo, or their mood, or genre,” Levine explains. Typically, they’ll be around the same speed. If you’re looking to make the transition from, say, hip-hop to reggae, try to find a song that has elements of both so as not to disturb the flow.
As for deciding exactly what guests will want to hear, Levine always goes into a gig with an idea of what he wants to play, but never an exact order. Instead, he’s constantly “reading the room,” paying attention to how the crowd is reacting and anticipating what they’ll be looking for next. He starts out slow and loungey, steadily building the energy as the night goes on, and not unleashing the Top 40 crowd favorites until late-night — even then, almost always in mash-up form, layered with other tracks.
“Trust your own taste,” Levine says. “Don’t give up immediately and just play the go-to records.” For a high-energy house party that’s all about good times, don’t worry so much about what’s cool, new, and edgy; instead, play dancehall, house, old-school, and soul tracks that enhance everyone’s mood. And Levine’s ultimate advice: “Play to make girls dance,” he says. “If you have girls dancing on your dance floor, that will be the ultimate partystarter.” @
— BY HEATHER BOUZAN
Charlie Levine’s party mix
Still need some musical inspiration? Levine’s done all the work for you. Visit www.soulclap.us/stuffatnight to download a
copy for yourself.
1) Rolling Stones — “Miss You (Disco Mix)”
2) Depeche Mode — “Enjoy the Silence”
3) Chromeo — “Needy Girl”
4) Daft Punk — “Around the World”
5) Nightcrawlers — “Push the Feeling On
(The Dub of Doom)”
6) Pirates of the Caribbean — “Rumba”
7) Pete Rodriguez — “Oh, That’s Nice”
8) Miami Sound Machine — “Conga”
9) Madonna — “Physical Attraction
(BladeRunners Edit)”
10) Da Mighty Dub Katz — “Ghetto Girl/
Work It Work It”
11) Andy Caldwell — “Warrior
(Claude VonStroke Remix)”
12) Guy Gerber & Shlomi Aber — “After Love”