How should DJs approach the enormous opportunity and responsibility of playing all night long? Saoirse, Laurent Garnier, Jane Fitz and Dusky, four DJs accustomed to this unique challenge, tell us how they do it.
DJing all night long can be the most complete realization of your musical vision as a DJ. It offers you the opportunity to shape an entire night or day’s worth of music, essentially telling people what your ideal party sounds like. But it also comes with a special responsibility. The audience places its trust in your taste and your taste alone. If the floor empties after a few hours, it would be hard not to conclude that it’s your fault.
All-night sets make extra demands on you, both musically and physically, compared to shorter sets. If you’re used to banging it out for 90 minutes, the requisite restraint of pacing a whole night will take some getting used to. Or if you’re used to warming up for a headline DJ, you would need to consider where you want to take the dance floor for the next chunk of the night, including the peak time, without prematurely tiring the crowd.
This article deals with playing all-night through the lens of what we might call the artistic side of DJing, where you’re sharing a personal musical vision rather than fulfilling a brief for a wedding or playing all night in a bar or venue that requires a certain type of music. Playing all night in such situations brings its own set of challenges, which we won’t have the space to cover here.
So how do DJs prepare for all-night sets while allowing for spontaneity? How do they build and maintain momentum across many, many hours? How do they keep the crowd stuck to the dance floor for the whole night? And on a physical level, what’s the impact of playing all-night-long on the body and the brain?
We asked four DJs who are well-versed in this type of performance. Laurent Garnier, Saoirse, Dusky, and Jane Fitz were all kind enough to walk us through their respective processes for playing all night long.
Laurent Garnier has played all-night-long sets throughout his career. He started out in the ‘80s, initially playing 4-hours at Manchester’s fabled Haçienda club, before later landing residencies in Paris, most notably at Rex Club, where he regularly played for up to 12 hours, which he still does today.
The idea of playing long sets is so ingrained in Laurent’s DNA that it seeps into his other work. His most recent project is a four-part mix collection for fabric, comprising a house mix, a techno mix, a “UK mix,” and an ambient mix. He intended the collection to reflect the different parts of a club night, the twists and turns along the way—many of which he channels into his all-night-long DJ sets. 30 years in, how does Laurent prepare for long sets?
“As I like to play a lot of different stuff, I never prepare my sets,” he said. “What I usually say is: ‘I’m gonna do my records.’ And ‘doing my records’ means really listening to absolutely every single track I have on my USB stick, which is quite big because I bring a lot of music. I usually spend a couple of days before the gig just concentrating on listening again and again and again, thousands of times.” Not only does this remind Laurent of which tracks he has accumulated, but it gives him the flexibility to adapt to any situation.
Having begun on vinyl, Laurent now uses USBs, preferring their versatility and options for looping or tweaking the tracks themselves. “So the USB key offers me a real and very nice way for me to express my DJing,” he said. “This is why I switched to that and I found it better for the way I like to play.”
A long-time regular at Europe’s leading clubs and festivals, Jane Fitz only plays with vinyl and often plays all-night-long sets. The UK-born DJ has been doing so for over 30 years and knows no different. For Jane, playing all night on vinyl is actually easier than playing shorter sets on CDJs (not that she uses CDJs anyway) because long sets allow her the freedom to bring more records. “It’s quite easy to work out what you want to do,” she said. “Generally, with my all-night sets, I’ll either start slow or I’ll start deep, so I know to just bring a bunch of that…so in fact, it’s not that complicated to prepare because I already in my head know that I need more records [rather than making a selection], so it actually makes it easier for me.”
Jane doesn’t plan her sets in advance. She fills a record bag, and might add a few extra in a tote bag. “I’m a very experienced storyteller, so I use my records as ways to get to where I want to go, and nothing’s linear with me,” she said. “I don’t stick to genres. Nothing is the same. That’s the whole point of my DJing, you know? That’s how I am as a DJ, so you can’t plan. It’s all vibe-based, I guess.”
Saoirse is an Irish DJ, producer, founder of the label TrUst, and a co-founder and music director of the Body Movements festival. She’s spent the last two decades DJing and has played plenty of all-night-long sets across her career. For Saoirse, preparation starts by knowing what type of room a promoter has booked her to play, which will dictate the direction of her set. In general, the better the soundsystem, the more risks she can take, meaning she can go “a little bit wackier and wilder” in her selections.
Once she knows the type of room and soundsystem at hand, she will prepare a few weeks in advance by putting together a folder in rekordbox and building small stacks of actual records in her “record room” at home. “As the time gets closer, I’ll start having a mix,” she said. “I do it in compartmentalized hours—first two hours, second two hours, third two hours—that kind of thing. And then I usually have a folder or a pile especially for the last hour, which tends to be quite different to what I’ve been playing during the night.”
London-based duo Dusky, AKA Nick Harriman and Alfie Granger-Howell, have played multiple all-night-long sets at their Take A Trip parties. Because there are two of them, there’s an additional step in their preparation process. “We both use rekordbox and we make sure to share all our music with each other, so we’re always familiar with whatever either one of us plays,” said Alfie. “We keep things organized anyway, we have a system whereby we make playlists by month split by genre or vibe, and within rekordbox, we manually check keys and cue points at the start and so on. Often we also put color-coded cue points within tracks as a visual reminder of where things change musically. For example, we might put a marker where the track drops down to just a beat for the outro, so we know that’s a good place to bring in the bassline of a new track.”
“And then specifically for these long sets, we both tend to break things up into a few playlists that cover most eventualities,” said Nick. “So for example, ambient, slower tracks, deeper bits, house, techno, swung tracks, classics, and DJ tools. For an eight-hour set, I’ll have between 30 and 40 hours of music throughout all of the lists, so there are plenty of options. Alfie does the same but the playlists usually end up a little different, so we sometimes dip into each other’s playlists for inspiration.”
Everyone has different methods of preparing—or lack thereof. Either way, how can a DJ leave space for spontaneity?
“Although we spend a lot of time making playlists they won’t be in any particular order, so in that sense it’s all very spontaneous on a track-by-track basis,” said Nick. “For these longer sets, generally, nothing is planned in advance apart from maybe a quick chat before we start. Occasionally we might drop in a run of two or three tracks that we’ve worked out in the studio that we know work particularly well together, but that’s pretty rare. The preparation is about having enough options so you can complement what each other is doing and have the ability to adapt if the crowd is responding well to certain styles or not.”
“We always play one track each,” added Alfie. “Without knowing what the other one is going to drop next it means you’re not able to plan too far ahead—in that sense it really keeps you on your toes and keeps you in the moment.
Be it four hours or 14, there’s a lot of time to fill across the night.
For Laurent, the best approach is one of balance. “There’s nothing better than a DJ who can take you into some kind of unknown places and surprise you and bring you up as well as down,” he said. “Because you can’t stay up all night. You can’t stay going faster or harder or more intense, track after track, you need to go up and down. It’s like food or a film, you can’t have a scene with people shooting each other for two hours because the film would be pretty bloody tiring.”
Saoirse structures her sets around variety, something she’s done for most of her career. “But in my all-night-long sets you will get everything,” she said. “I’ll start with jazz and IBM and experimental and might go to Italo, and then New Beat, and then deep, chuggy, proggy stuff.” This leads up to the few hours when Saoirse has her audience locked in. “It’s kind of like, you cannot leave the dance floor. You’re just locked in, heads down, dancing, nobody’s talking. Really groovy, kind of hypnotic stuff.”
Because Saoirse could play for up to 10 hours (or more), she emphasized the importance of “wacky” sounds, the kind that “make people turn their heads and be like, ‘What the fuck?’” For her, this can include ice cream van jingles, spoken word pieces, “weird horns,” the Countdown theme, or “Björk doing mad shit.” The type of sounds or samples that “stick in your head forever.”
Jane forms a structure depending on the “relative vibe” of where she’s playing—be it up a mountain in Japan on a Sunday afternoon, or a cold Friday night at a club in Manchester. “There are different requirements that would inspire me to play based on where I am,” she said, explaining how her “raw material” of multi-genre records—ambient, deep house, psychedelic techno, electro, progressive, breaks and more—allow her to adapt to any relative vibe. “But you will only hear things I would normally play anyway because I’m not going to try and fit things in just because I think, ‘Oh, it’s an eight-hour set,’” she added. “I believe in staying true to the storytelling that I would normally do anyway. It’s just a longer story. It’s a box set, not a mini-series.”
All the DJs used the words “story,” “trip,” and “journey” during our discussions, words you hear regularly in DJ land. But what do they actually mean?
Jane explained how arriving at the club as early as possible and staying until the end allows the audience to understand the full “story” of the night. “Because that’s when you’re getting the experience,” she said. “Otherwise, why am I there? And not just me, any DJ. Why are they doing an all-nighter if you’re not prepared to listen to them all night? Come early because, for me, sometimes that’s the best part—the first three hours.”
This is when Jane is at her most “experimental,” “loose,” and “approachable” because the later it gets, the more likely the dance floor will be locked in. “So we can move through the gears together,” she said. “But if you come at the wrong time, I would just say, ‘Don’t come.’ It’s like reading a book from page 64. You’ve missed the introduction. You don’t know what’s going on—the sound, the vibe, anything.”
Jane added that you can still enjoy the set if you arrive halfway through, but you’re missing that collective experience. “I want to have that experience as much as the person on the floor,” she said. “Just because I’m doing the mixing, the crowd are, in some ways, doing the work by being there and responding, listening.”
Laurent creates a “trip” by playing widely contrasting genres at certain points of the night. He recalled a recent booking at Rex, where the club invited him to play from 12 until 4. “I absolutely loved it because for the first half an hour, I was playing some jazz and some piano, classical and stuff like that,” he said. “People were walking into the club, including the younger generation, and they’re not used to that. They are used to coming to clubs and straight away getting banging music. It’s like, no, you don’t want to walk into an empty club and be straight away banged on your head. You need a beginning and an ending, and you need to develop things.”
That night, Laurent moved through amapiano, soulful house, “percussive things,” techno, UK bass, and lots more. “It was beautiful, it was great,” he said. “And all-night-long sets allow you to play much more music. And I think when people go and listen to a DJ that plays all night, they are more ready to be taken on board and allow themselves—to let themselves—go into some kind of a trip.”
During the earlier phases of Saoirse’s career she learned how pacing affects the audience’s experience or “journey” of an all-night-long set; if she played too fast too early, the crowd would tire sooner. “Whereas if I’ve gone too deep or too fast by the end, people are like, ‘Oh, I’m done, my body’s done,’” she said. Now, she reduces the BPM gradually for the last few hours by weaving in Chicago house, for example, or tracks that people recognise or can sing along to, helping hook the audience in for longer. “I used to end with stuff like liquid drum & bass or something that feels good in the body, something quite beautiful.”
“It’s an opportunity to play a more nuanced set and to fit in the various sounds of Dusky, as our style has evolved over the years, and it’s nice to revisit older sounds alongside new ones,” said Nick. “We often play quite a lot of older Dusky productions in these all-night sets, for example, whereas we don’t tend to have time to play so many in our regular sets.”
Aflie explained how having the extra time allowed the pair to “play with some more musical peaks and troughs” that they may not be able to do otherwise. “It can be fun to drop the energy down for a bit in the middle of the night, only to build it back up again,” he said. “Or it can be good to play a bit darker and moodier for a while, only to switch it up to something more melodic or euphoric. The contrast can work really well.”
Laurent described how all-night-long sets foster better connections with the crowd. “You know, once you’ve done an all-nighter and it has been strong in the interaction with your crowd, they’re the best,” he said. “They’re usually the moments you cherish most.”
Laurent talked about a recent all-nighter at a club in Cologne. He was scheduled to play for three hours but ended up playing seven (the DJ scheduled to follow him asked Laurent to continue). “At one point, we were so connected with the crowd they were ready to listen to anything,” he remembered. “And I really took them. That’s the whole thing: when you have time, at one point, it clicks, it switches, and then you can play what you want. You can go all the way to a salsa track in a techno club. It works, I did it. I did it in Japan, too. I did it in a lot of different places. And in Cologne, I played Art Ensemble of Chicago. I mean, this is not the easiest group to dance to. But young people…older people…they were really on it. If I had played that record three hours before, it would have never worked.”
Jane described how these sets offer the opportunity to showcase different sides of your skills. Let’s say you’re a peak-time DJ—“This is just a part of your eight-hour set if you’re doing that,” said Jane. “So if you’re using that as something that you’re used to playing…build the story around that. How did you get to that point? And where are you going to go from that point?”
Once Jane played two all-night sets in a row. “I said I’d never do it again because I was exhausted,” she recalled. “You need to be completely rested before you do an all night because you’re on your feet for eight hours, you know? And actually, playing records is easier than digital. So much easier because with digital, you can never turn your back on the crowd at any time, whereas with vinyl, you can have a little breather. Have a drink. Have a think, whatever. Have a rest.”
“I’m normally absolutely beat by the end of an eight-hour set, nine is my limit,” she added. After the set, Jane is not keen on talking with anyone. “I mean, most people, when they come out of a working day of eight hours, the last thing they want to do is anything except get home, and I’m kind of the same,” she said. “So after eight hours, just let me have a rest. Don’t ask me questions. Don’t ask for a picture. Just let me chill for a minute because you put so much of yourself into it. Well, I do anyway.”
When Saoirse finishes an all-nighter, she tends to feel the opposite. “I’m all jacked up and still buzzing off it, and a lot of people are ready to go home because they’ve been there for 10 hours or whatever,” she said. “But it’s weird, I definitely feel like the next day I think about it a lot more, ‘Did I deliver what I planned to?’ That’s the big question I always ask myself.” It’s a question that stems from the amount of time, money (spent on music), and effort Saoirse pours into an all-night-long set. There’s the sorting of records, the buying of records, scrolling for five or six hours on Discogs on any given evening. It adds up to days and days of preparation because, for Saoirse, “you really want to give it your all…because an all-night-long set, for me, is the only way you can truly, truly express yourself as a DJ.”
When it comes to comfort in the booth, all of the DJs listed the usual essentials, like a fan and water (but not too much), and if you’re playing vinyl, your own needles in addition to the ones the clubs provide. But there are other less obvious tools to have on standby, too.
There’s the milk crate Saoirse stands on if the decks are up high. “The one thing I’ve really noticed is a lot of DJ booths aren’t built for women or small people,” she said. “Often I’m having to reach, and it’s fine when I’m playing for two hours. But in fabric, for instance, I have to have a little crate that I stand on if I’m playing all night long. If I’m reaching up the whole time on my tippy toes I’m in agony afterwards.”
On the other hand, if the table is too low, that’s tricky for tall people. “The main thing for us is to have decent monitors and for the DJ table to be at a good height as we’re both tall,” said Alfie. “And eight hours hunched over a low table isn’t very fun.”
For Saoirse, production is just as important as the milk crate. “Too much strobe is going to kill me in an all-night-long set, and it’s also really important that the light engineer is on it,” she said. “…because I think that can really make or break a club night.”
Having a soundcheck can also impact comfort in the booth. Saoirse recounted a club night where there was a delay in the monitors projecting out to the dance floor, severely affecting the first half hour of her set. “So what I was hearing in my headphones was actually different from what was coming out of the speakers,” she said. “So it’s about making sure you’ve done your due diligence in the booth before you start. Because you cannot fix that shit when you’re already starting your eight-hour shift.”
Laurent encouraged every DJ, no matter the musical scene they’re a part of, to do two things: play warm-up sets and play all-night-long sets. “Because this will teach you a lot; a lot more than what you will learn by just doing big, huge guest spots,” he said. “And do all-night-longs because this is where you will understand the core, the real meaning of what DJing is all about. Because it’s not about people going nuts and having people’s hands in the air for an hour and a half. This is only a little part of the full night.”
He stressed how playing all night is “completely different” to playing shorter sets and how important it is to do the work and research beforehand. “It’s not about the energy, it’s about the story,” he said. “And I think the best place or the best way to learn this is by knowing how to play seven-hour sets…you will have to bring people somewhere else because whatever music you play and how many people love it, at one point, you will need to put more ingredients into your recipe.”
Alfie recommended having lots of music ready in advance. “So you have options in case the crowd reacts differently to how you think they will,” he said. “And don’t be afraid to switch things up and drop some curveball tracks. Sometimes the audience enjoys a sonic palette cleanser.”
Saoirse suggested having an idea for the direction of the music you want to play, like knowing the genre you want to hone in on and exploring different elements of that genre, like slower or faster tempos, harder shades, and so on. “But it’s knowing that you want to take it to these places,” she said, explaining how this will save you scrambling through your USBs and record bag on the night. “And obviously, there’s that spontaneous part of that, but for eight hours, it is nice to have an idea of the kind of journey you want to take people on.”
Plus, bringing a friend or someone you work with can be a bonus. They can check in on you, grab a banana or protein bar for you (which Saoirse also advised bringing into the booth), or watch the decks while you run for a toilet break. “I’ve done a couple of all-night-long sets in Europe on my own, and actually it was quite lonely,” she said. “So I think doing it with someone, or with people that you know, is quite important.”
That, and pacing yourself. “Because honestly, the other worst thing is if you drink too much or something like that and you can’t remember it,” Saoirse said. “So you’ll wake up the next day and be like, ‘The first half was great, but I can’t really remember the second half so much.’ So I think that’s a big part of it.”
Jane recommended not over-packing your record bag. She reckoned you need 10 to 12 records an hour, but it depends on the style of music you play. Because Jane is used to hauling her record bag worldwide, she makes each record count, and for her that’s one of the benefits of playing on vinyl. “It would kill me to have a USB,” she said. “To have that much choice? I would freeze, so I need a record bag, and then I’m limited, and then I can make something. It’s like when you cook a meal, you go out and buy the ingredients, you don’t bring the supermarket home. You don’t need that much choice. So for me, it’s one bag, and let’s see what we can do.”
Knowing your records inside-out is another tip. “So it’s about knowing whether you can be more versatile with the records you’ve got, whether you can play two tracks off them rather than just one, or something like that,” she said. “So I think that the real key is don’t take on an all-night-long set if you don’t know your records. Make sure you know what you’ve got and what they can do.”
