Afrojack gets really real about DJing and the use of pre-recorded sets while in studio with Laidback Luke for his latest vlog…
To understand his perspective better he lays out two extremes — someone like Zedd who utilizes preparation to the best of his ability for flawless live sets, and on the other end of the spectrum is someone like Laidback Luke, who mainly freestyles with off the cuff edits.
“The way I do it — it’s in the middle,” says Afrojack. “So when I have to play Tomorrowland I have an hour to play and if I don’t plan it properly, it could be that I forget to play ‘Ten Feet Tall.’ Going into that, being a respected artist, being booked on such a high bill with so much marketing and promotion, it is sort of your responsibility to those fans and to Tomorrowland to prepare a set that will give them everything they could expect of you as an artist.” 
For sets like that, Afrojack openly discusses the ways in which his set is completely prepared — every mix, every mashup, every acapella is ready to go. His preparation is “next level” though, as he works to cater to a broad audience and bring the crowd something they’ve never heard before.
“When you’re looking at current technology you have to think: how far is premixed or not? Of course, putting a mix on for one hour — that’s bullshit. But, how far can you go in your preparations? You can make cue points, you can make loop points, you can already know the BPMs. Is it bad to use synching if you also know that 0.8 percent plus on a 128 BPM record makes it a 129 BPM record?”
Afrojack loves fun freestyle DJing when he’s playing in the club, but when it comes to high-stake shows he’d rather play people a set he can ensure they will love. He’s open and honest about his process. However, Afrojack also admits his frustration with the perception people might have as to how much or how little he’s actually doing on stage.
“I was playing four decks — three records at the same time — acapella, samples, loop, re-loop, pitch up, woop, echo, go! ‘3-2-1- go,’ on the mic — all that stuff. And, the only thing I read back on 1001tracklists is ‘Afrojack mashup.'”
This is only scratching the surface of what Afrojack and Laidback Luke discuss. The interview is definitely worth a full watch!
Laidback Luke Interview Afrojack On Pre-Recorded Sets
