Starter Kit

Overview

This guide helps you get set up for success with DJing. You can't skip the countless hours of listening and practice required to become a great tango DJ. But we can give you the right approach, tools, and information so you can make the most of the hours you do spend.

Tango DJs are conduits, connecting music from the past to dancers in the present. A good DJ can shape the emotions and experience in the room, providing a unique and memorable experience. There are many factors to consider, from deciding which track to play, to which tracks to buy in the first place.

The figure below shows the full process music takes from the orchestra's instruments to the dancers' ears. You will want to understand each step in the process, because the end result is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain.

1. Orchestra performs. →See Discographies
2. Sound recorded to produce master and shellacs. →See History of Tango Music
3. Recording transferred to digital format. →See Getting Music
4. Files played from your computer. →See DJ Software
5. Music goes out from speakers and into the milonga.

Brief History

Knowing a bit of tango history is helpful for knowing why some songs fit better together than others. You can find a lot of great information and stories at our sister site Notas de Oro. Notas de Oro explores the history and music of the Golden Age of tango orchestras. Learn to recognize the orchestras, understand the meaning behind the lyrics, and discover the history and the dramatic stories behind the tangos we love to listen and dance to.

Two songs from the same orchestra may sound very different if it was recorded with different technology, mastered from a different recording studio, or performed by different musicians. Knowing a few historical facts can make a big difference in being able to build coherent tandas.

As part of Discographies→, we have compiled information on the recording studio and recording technology used. When the information is available, we have also added the orchestra members for the recordings. We have also added a 'Grouping' column that segments a discography into various eras, which can be useful for identifying songs that would fit well together in a tanda.

The books by Michael Lavocah are useful resources for understanding tango orchestras, musicians, and the eras of tango. The article below is another useful resource for understanding the various eras of tango music.

The History of Tango Music

A deep dive into the history of tango music.

Read Article →

Getting Music

Why Audio Quality Varies

Most of the tango music we dance to is from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s; well before digital files. At some point, the music on your computer was digitized from the original analog medium. But how this was done makes a big difference in audio quality. When tango music again became popular in the 1990s, the record companies wanted to re-release albums. In some cases, they had the original masters, but in many cases, the masters were destroyed in the 1960s to save space. That means there is no official recording of many tango records. Important: Not all versions of the same recording are of equal quality!

• The original records used to transfer to digital were not always the best quality
• The correct pitch was not always maintained
• The transfers were not always done correctly
• Effects like reverb were added
• Equalization to reduce the hiss dulled some of the musical dynamics

Building Your Collection

Most DJs start their music collection when a more experienced DJ shares some of their files. This can be a great way to start, but also know that many of the best quality files need to be purchased. You do not need to build out your library all at once, but instead can expand it over time. The website TangoDJ.at provides a large database of the different recordings available, along with information on the relative quality.

High-Quality Transfers

A few organizations have been going through the meticulous process of restoring tango collections, with the goal of preserving sound quality and dynamics. The ones most commonly mentioned are Tango Time Travel, Tango Tunes, and Tango Sparks. These are often considered the gold standard for tango DJs. The files can be expensive, but the cost reflects the care that went into producing them. Building up a library that at least includes a few transfer files of favorite songs will be well worth the investment.

Albums by Club Tango Argentino and Audio Park are other names that are considered high quality. These recordings can be hard to find, but are well worth treasuring if you can find them. Some of the recordings from studios are also high quality. A few names to be on the lookout for are: From Argentina to the World, Colección de 78, Archivo de Victor, Archivo de Columbia, and Reliquias.

Starting Sets

The number of tango songs can be overwhelming. It can be hard to know where to even start. That is why we have curated two starting sets of around 250 songs. The first set covers tangos from the Big Four (Juan D'Arienzo, Carlos Di Sarli, Aníbal Troilo, Osvaldo Pugliese), and the second set brings in other key orchestras along with valses and milongas. Each set includes curated groupings to help you build tandas.

For a broader list of songs to start building your library, check out DJ Michael Plaks’ 500 Tango Songs — a great resource of 500 tango songs that work well in the milonga.

DJ Software

Tango DJs use a range of different software. The website Tango DJs for Good Sound shows what a range of tools DJs use. A few of the most popular software are:

• VirtualDJ
• Embrace (only for Mac)
• Traktor
• Mixxx
• Music Bee

I am biased in which audio player I recommend, given I created TigerTango, a VirtualDJ interface designed specifically for tango DJs. It is free, and tango DJs around the world are using it, including several of the most respected tango DJs, so I feel confident that you would be in good hands using it.

For downloads, installation, and setup instructions, see our DJ Tools page and the installation guide on GitHub.

Something especially useful about TigerTango and VirtualDJ is that it allows effects plugins to be integrated directly into your interface. This allows you to EQ your music, or integrate any of the plugins available on the software page which are specifically designed for tango DJs. You can also display video to a projector. Our built-in video integration allows you to display milonga-specific information such as the current position in the tanda.

Organizing Your Music

Taking a few hours to structure your music correctly at the start will save you countless hours of work and frustration in the future.

My friend Eric Heleno has a whole lecture about the best approaches to organizing your tango library. He does tango workshops and consults, so if you want to learn from the best, you can reach him at erichetango@gmail.com.

One of the most important decisions is how you want the general folder structure of your tango library. Some DJs like to organize by artists and albums, others like to split by genre and singer. One example of folder structure would be:

Tango/
  D'Arienzo/
    Instrumental 1935-1937/
    Echague 1938-1939/
    Maure 1941-1944/
    Instrumental 1950-1952/
  Di Sarli/
    Instrumental 1939-1941/
    Rufino 1939-1941/
    ...
Vals/
    ...
  

But there are many other valid approaches. You can also have one structure for the files on your computer and build another structure in your DJ software. What is important is to have a system that works for you.

Tagging Your Music

A good DJ requires good metadata. Having your files with the correct artist, singer, year, genre, etc. helps you organize your tracks and build the right tanda. That is why we created TigerTag, a tool that helps you quickly tag your files with the correct information. Instead of spending hours painstakingly tagging your files manually, use that time listening to music, building tandas, and perfecting your craft.

Building Tandas

There are no hard rules for building a tanda, but there are some general guidelines. Dancers expect some amount of consistency within a tanda, and they can get frustrated when too many of their expectations are not met. OTV from the early '30s, and Pugliese from the late '60s can each make great tandas, but would not be great to include both within a single tanda. Some general guidelines are:

• Same bandleader
• Same singer (or instrumental)
• Same genre
• Same era (musicians, recording technology, record label)
• 3-4 songs for tango and vals.
• 3 songs for milonga and alternative.

It is common to have 3-song tango tandas for practicas and events with newer dancers, and have 4-song tandas for larger milongas, marathons, and festivals. Most places do 3-song vals tandas, but 4-song tandas are becoming common in some places.

Dancers tend to expect the structure of TTV-TTM (2 tango tandas followed by alternating vals or milonga tanda). Many DJs will play 3 tango tandas at the start of the night, but then slot into this cycle. A full cycle of 6 tandas is around one hour, so a 3-hour set requires ~20 tandas (have a few to spare).

The Set Lists provided are broken into groupings of 8-10 tracks each. Each group consists of tracks that could work well in a tanda.

TigerTanda is a free tool we have developed that helps you build out tandas. It uses our large database of songs to suggest complementary tracks based on your settings. The tool integrates directly into VirtualDJ and is a great asset for tanda construction. Check it out on the DJ Tools page.

This guide is a work in progress. Feedback, questions, and suggestions are welcome at tangotoolkit@gmail.com.