What Should a DJ Drop Say?

A DJ drop should say your name clearly and, if anything else, one short idea: a tagline, a city, a show name or a line to the floor. The name is the point. Everything else is optional and should fit in the same breath. Club Ready Music's script box takes up to 200 characters, but the best drops use a fraction of it.

Patterns that work

Pattern	Example	Length
Name only	"DJ Scotty."	3 s
Name with a lead-in	"You're locked in with DJ Scotty."	5 s
Name and call to the floor	"DJ Scotty. Let's go!"	3 to 5 s
Name and city	"DJ Scotty, straight out of Austin."	5 s
Name and show	"Friday Night Live with DJ Scotty."	5 s
Name and tagline	"DJ Scotty. All killer, no filler."	5 s
Show open	"It's Friday Night Live, every week from ten, with DJ Scotty."	10 s

Have several. Three or four variations of the name in different styles plus one tagline is a full kit.

Writing rules

• Lead with the name or land on it. The name should be the first or last thing heard, where attention is highest.
• One idea. A name plus a tagline is one idea. A name plus a tagline plus a website plus a date is a commercial.
• Short words. "Let's go" beats "we are about to commence".
• Present tense. "You're locked in" not "you have tuned into".
• Write it as it sounds. Phonetic spelling for unusual names, hyphens for syllables you want stressed.
• End with punch. An exclamation mark or a hard consonant gives the effects something to grab. Club Ready Music's Hype style adds an exclamation mark if you forget one.
• Avoid dates. A drop lives for years; "this summer" does not.

Match the words to the voice

• Hype: short, loud, imperative. "DJ Scotty. Turn it up!"
• Smooth: warm, unhurried, a little longer. "You're listening to DJ Scotty, all night long."
• Imaging: station style. "DJ Scotty. The sound of the city."
• Robotic: very short, few syllables. "Scotty. Activate."

Mistakes to avoid

• Cramming a 10-second line into a 3-second drop. The read becomes rushed and the effects have no room.
• Lines that only make sense in one context, such as a venue name, unless you want a venue-specific drop.
• Spelling the name conventionally when the voice will mispronounce it. Test a short render first.
• Forgetting the dry version. Keep the voice-only file so you can remake the drop later.

Doing it in Club Ready Music

Type the script, pick a voice style, choose FX and bed, set 3, 5 or 10 seconds and render. Club Ready Music produces three variations with slightly different delivery so you can pick the best read, each as a produced MP3 and a dry voice file, leveled to -8 LUFS. If a word is mispronounced, respell it phonetically and render again.