Set craft
Open format
An open format DJ plays across genres in one set — hip-hop into house, disco into garage — rather than staying inside a single style. The joins are made on tempo, energy and key instead of on genre.
Measured in our catalog
457 of 717 sets built here cross a genre boundary at least once — open format is the majority case, not a niche.
Across 7,254 transitions DJs sequenced by hand, 1,939 (26.73%) join two records sharing no genre tag at all. Only 260 flows (36.26%) never leave one genre, and 198 cross on half their transitions or more. The busiest crossing is House into Dance, which is a step sideways rather than a leap — most open-format moves are.
63.7%
Sets that cross at least once
26.73%
Transitions that change genre
198
Sets crossing half the time
72.37%
Transitions staying on one tag
| Crossing | Transitions |
|---|---|
| House → Dance | 76 |
| Dance → House | 64 |
| House → Tech House | 53 |
| R&B → Hip-Hop | 45 |
| Pop → Dance | 44 |
Measured on 11 August 2026 across 7,254 adjacent transitions in flows sequenced by hand on Mixgraph across 717 flows and 515 DJs (machine-generated running orders excluded; both tracks carrying a stored tempo and a key). A crossing means the two tracks share no Beatport genre tag at all, counted on the raw store tag rather than an editorial grouping. Method: the full transition dataset and its chance baseline.
Why it matters
It is the default for most paid work. Weddings, bars, corporate rooms and the majority of club nights outside specialist parties expect a set that moves, and a DJ who can only play one genre is a DJ who can only take one kind of booking.
And it is harder, not easier. Staying inside a genre means the next record is already close on tempo, production style and drum feel; crossing means finding all of that agreement yourself, which is exactly the problem a chemistry score is built to solve.
Frequently asked
Is open format harder than playing one genre?+
Usually. Inside a genre the next record is already close on tempo and drum feel; crossing means finding that agreement yourself. 26.73% of the transitions built here do it anyway.
How do you mix between genres?+
On tempo, energy and key rather than on style. A tempo bridge covers the gap where two genres sit apart, and matching key and energy is what makes an unlikely pair sound deliberate.
What genres go together in an open format set?+
The measured answer is that most crossings are small: House into Dance is the busiest here, and R&B into Hip-Hop the busiest that changes the room.
Related terms
Tempo bridge
A tempo bridge is a track played to move a set from one tempo neighbourhood to another — fast enough to follow what came before, slow enough to lead into what comes next, so the change never happens in one jump.
Chemistry
Chemistry is Mixgraph’s score for how well two tracks mix, from six weighted dimensions: harmonic key, tempo, energy, groove, mood and vocals. It rates the pair, not either track on its own.
Set time
Set time is the length of the slot a DJ is booked for — the number that decides everything else about the set, from how many records fit to how fast the energy can move.
Transition
A transition is the move from one track to the next — the overlap where both are playing and the point where the first is gone. It is the unit a set is actually built from, rather than the tracks themselves.
Explore: The human transition dataset · Genre BPM chart · Mixing guides · All DJ terms