Imagine you are at a club or festival and the DJ suddenly drops a real belter of a track that immediately catches your attention. You want to find out what the track is, perhaps because you’re a DJ yourself or maybe because you are simply that passionate about electronic music.
It is something that happens quite often, and finding out such information can actually be more tricky than it seems. With that said, however, we have listed the different ways (traditional and modern) to discover the music a DJ is playing.
Trainspotting
Traditionally, people find out the music DJs are playing through what is known as “trainspotting. In DJ lingo it is defined by the great Urban Dictionary as “the act of staring over a DJ’s shoulder to see what records he’s spinning.” This originated from the British phenomenon of train geeks waiting on train platforms to record the types and numbers of trains coming into the station. Some DJs though may not welcome trainspotters though.
Asking The DJ
This is probably the most obvious step to make, and that is assuming there is an opportunity for this and that the DJ is accommodating enough. It’s as simple as saying, “I really like this song, great choice! What is it?” If the track a well-kept secret or unreleased yet, they still might clue you into the label or artist involved – but at least complimenting the track makes the DJ feel good and willt not make you look like you were just there trying to poach their tracks. Just remember to not over do this by asking a DJ about several tracks during the set as this may be both distracting and come across as suspicious.
If you are unable to ask that question during the night, you may try asking the DJ after the fact on social media. A lot of high-caliber DJs will take the time to answer tweets or Facebook questions when related to specific tracks they played, as they see it as high engagement from fans that actually attended their show.
Using Soundhound/Shazam
image by Lifehacker Australia
This is perhaps one of the most known tech solution for music identification. It is particularly useful if the DJ is inaccessible or approaching them would be inappropriate. Both apps have a really good reputation for identifying a wide swath of releases, including remixes and edits. It has a 60–70% success rate, so be mindful that they wont’ be able to identify all tracks correctly.
The more underground the sound of the DJ is the less likely it is for you to find the track on an app such as these.
Checking 1001 Tracklists
image by Pinsdaddy
With bigger electronic music DJs and at larger events (particularly where the set was recorded for a live stream), it’s increasingly common to find the DJ’s set lists on 1001 Tracklists, an online repository for crowdsourcing IDs from a DJ set.
You could also similarly crowdsource your trainspotting by posting a link to the exact audio of the song in question to a group like Reddit’s /r/NameThatSong
Listening To Similar Recorded Sets
Odds are pretty good that a some of the tracks the DJs play, and especially those good ones that caught your ear, are ones they might be playing regularly in a given period of time. Head to SoundCloud or Mixcloud and see if the DJ has any recent live set recordings or mixes which may contain the track. If so, you can see if the track has been ID’d already or you can drop a comment asking for the ID, hoping to receive an answer soon.
This cross-referencing process often helps you find even more great music in the process, as well as potentially discovering the name of the song in question.
Facebook Groups
Dedicated Facebook groups that discuss electronic music, sub-genres, specific festivals and the like can be a great source of help in discovering the ID of a track you heard played live. A lot of these groups are filled with like-minded people who are very passionate about the music you listen to, including DJs and producers with deep track knowledge who can be of great assistance in discovering the name of the track you’re curious about.
Consider taking a short video or audio clip of the track while it’s being played live so you can post it and ask for an ID. You’d be surprised how crowdsourcing can help get that information!