| |
 |
Floor Fillers
Years back DJs would often use the term floor fillers, meaning a
tune that's guaranteed to get bums of seats and make dancing feet.
Floor fillers are a DJs best friend and holding one or two top tunes
back can work like a safety net. A DJ can use these sure fire hits
to get the party started and build the party atmosphere. However
as no two parties are ever the same, for the Mobile DJ who plays
at night clubs one night and then a wedding reception or family
function the next, its difficult to define what a floor filler actually
is. A massive floor filler for one group will be a boring load of
rubbish to another. Its also the case that tunes do have play by
dates, so a top chart tune that may fill a dance floor on first
release will be boring after its been played non stop for four weeks.
Its also true that a classic standard will increase or decrease
in popularity, if its been used in a commercial, film or TV show
recently. So for the DJ to know what's currently hot and what's
not for each different audience, is down to a matter of experience.
When the DJ has worked out what will start to generate the right
party atmosphere for the audience the next thing to consider is
timing. To build the party its important to get the timing right
and know when to play these precious floor filling tunes. If a Floor
filler is played too soon then its wasted on an empty dance floor,
too late and the party may have already run out of momentum and
people have gone home. Just like telling a joke timing is everything,
to do this well the DJ needs experience in all kinds of occasions.
Long ago in the days of good old fashioned vinyl, a record would
come in 3 basic formats. Album version played at 33rpm, 7 inch (diameter)
single and 12 inch single version both of these were played at 45
rpm. The 12inch was usually exactly the same as the 7 inch except
it would have a longer intro and the chorus was repeated a couple
of extra times at the end. The 12 inch version of a tune would often
last twice as long as the 7 inch radio edit. So if your dance floor
was empty you could slap down a popular 12 inch and know the crowd
would have time to react, and head for the dance floor. At the end
of this popular long tune you could play a couple of similar hits
and bingo, the ice would be broken.
Today its far more common for a DJ to play the radio edit which
is usually about three minutes, so if you put down a top tune to
an empty floor the floor will probably stay empty until the last
minute of the tune. Floor fillers are great to help break the ice
and work best when the floor is already starting to fill up. Its
often felt that there is safety in numbers, so as the dance floor
action increases more reluctant dancers will be given more confidence
if the Dj puts on a top tune and there is a sudden 'lets hit the
dance floor moment'.
|
|
