The death of the DJ

[JuanSOLO]

I went and saw Pauly D Live... it's like, whats the point of even going there

[jtregoat]

For years I have DJ'd at house parties and even a street party, all the time with vinyl. Simple beat matching and cross fade transitions between tunes, hardly touching the EQ! Maybe a few tweaks with the low end to prevent distorted bass but thats it really lol.

Nothing wrong with that of course. Sometimes that's all that's needed. As long as you didn't get all arsey about being a "real" DJ.

But not for minimal tech DJs. That style crys out for layering different elements and it can be really good if done right. People who just mix the ends of minimal tracks should be fucking shot.

dude. when I'm bored I just put 4 virtual decks on in traktor and go at it... you can use the bassline from one track, the shakers and groove from another, the melody from another... it's awesome. THAT is how you create awesome unique minimal sets...

but really, it's not like there wasn't a sync option before... you could always just hook up a pair of CDJs to traktor and sync it there... Pioneer is just being a little more upfront about it. but people who want to actually beatmatch and whatnot still will. pioneer is just making a quick buck off of the person DJing to be cool mostly, because I'd be surprised if someone would spend the thousands that a set of these CDJ 2000nexuses will cost just to press sync when they could easily use traktor and a bunch of other midi equipment. it's not like this is going to take away from turntablism.. it's still there.

on the topic of the sync button in general, though -- we make progress by building on what we know. yes, it's important to know that foundation. but at the same time we want to be efficient, because being efficient is how we progress... if we save time syncing, this will allow DJs to progress more and do more. yes it takes away the technical skill that separated DJs from fans, but it's a trade for more creative skill -- less beatmatching = more time to be creative.

that's just what I think...

[ian_halsall]

How can anyone admit to going to see Pauly D?

On this forum.

Badass

[beats me]

What I find hilarious/upsetting is when long standing rock star DJs release a labeled backed mix CD/vinyl/whatever it’s a well known fact that the timing is usually corrected in a the studio and this was done before the benefit of auto syncing software. They’re probably told that’s the norm so don’t worry about perfect timing. It can be fixed in post.

Meanwhile I know many fairly unknown DJs who home produce their mixes using decks without any auto sync and they can nail perfect transitions in 1 or 2 takes.

But it’s the coddled rock star DJs whining about the death of traditional DJ skills, who can’t pull off studio recordings live but can pull off epic sets in very sound forgiving and masking large venues.

[störgeräusche]

So.......Mr Leger hates the sync button eh?

Someone should ask him if he also runs all that MIDI equipment in his studio without using a master MIDI clock.

Does he really run each piece of MIDI kit on its own tempo and keep them in beat manually?

what't exactly the point of this BS post???

[Mage2k]

Beat matching the end of one track to the beginning of another is one small step above stopping one and starting another.

Beat matching so you can mix and manipulate elements of the tracks to make something more interesting is a skill that also requires knowing your music well. I'm not even talking about beat juggling here.

Anyone who gets on their high horse about fading smoothly between two club tracks on vinyl should step up their game.

I agree and that's why I always roll my eyes when someone says something like "beatmatching is easy, anyway". All I can think is, "Oh yeah? Let's see you match beats that stay tight for 2-3 minutes while mixing through the tracks's breakdowns and do it consistently."

[beats me]

Beat matching the end of one track to the beginning of another is one small step above stopping one and starting another.

Beat matching so you can mix and manipulate elements of the tracks to make something more interesting is a skill that also requires knowing your music well. I'm not even talking about beat juggling here.

Anyone who gets on their high horse about fading smoothly between two club tracks on vinyl should step up their game.

I agree and that's why I always roll my eyes when someone says something like "beatmatching is easy, anyway". All I can think is, "Oh yeah? Let's see you match beats that stay tight for 2-3 minutes while mixing through the tracks's breakdowns and do it consistently."

Agreed that is a skill.

But having said that, if you have software that does that for you it frees up your time to:

Add more tracks
Manipulate tracks with effects
Instantly jump to any part of the track – multiple cue and loop points (at least with Traktor)
Sample one shots or loops
Trigger/play those one shots or loops - live record that into another layer

That’s a lot to keep you busy and be creative. Nobody in the crowd cares if you manually kept two songs synced for 2-3 minutes. It’s the truth, a harsh, sad truth for some.

[SoopaSonik]

The DJ is not dead its the DJs that cant mix two disco classics records together with vinyl , heck I know most DJs dont spin disco classics anymore, so as I will

always will state

REAL DJS CAN SPIN DISCO CLASSICS ON BEAT you know.. those songs that are not computerized

Best

JJK

That sounds about right. I started out thinking I wanted to play CD's, about 10 years ago, that vinyl was just too much. Then I saw someone playing vinyl that knew what he was doing, I realized that vinyl was the way to learn. I have about 4000 records now. Almost gave my CDs ( also about 4000) to the thrift store a couple months back. I love disco, have tons of 12" singles. Mainly playing digital now... mainly breakbeat of various flavors. For the past year I have been in a creative rut. Ableton, I believe, is the next step in going deeper. I was feeling a bit too much like a juke box, even with the elements of artistic, soulful music selection, and decent mixing skills. Time to get creative...

[kitekrazy]

The is more than 1 definition of DJ. My brother is a DJ. He plays requests at wedding receptions. He make decent money doing it and doesn't use a DAW.

[doghouse]

DISCLAIMER: I was a radio DJ 30 years ago while in college. I have been performing in bands as a bassist since then.

Over the years I have played at many weddings. parties and functions that hired a DJ as well as a band. I am seeing fewer DJs all the time and more folks handing me a mix CD, iPod or phone (with playlists) to run through our PA during breaks. A huge number of radio stations use automated playlists (not a new idea, I heard a station doing this back in 1972!) and the "DJ" is just an announcer.

In other words, DJing has been in decline overall even though the superstar DJ phenomenon (Tiesto, etc.) has been on the rise.

DJing has gotten much easier these days, just as making music has become easier. The result is more people making music and DJing (which is good in theory) and a lot more poor music and DJing (nothing's perfect, ha ha)

To musicians blaming DJs for stealing gigs this is sweet revenge. For current and aspiring DJs this is a wakeup call to up your game.

The above is only my personal opinion

[Tone Deft]

OP-
I heard you have a web site. 'sup with that?

I'm gonna learn DJing for it, I have Mixed in Key and Mashup to review. Also reviewing a tech-house sample pack at the mo. Just done a review of a macProVideo tutorial on making EDM. Now ranking in the top 5% of websites in the world, snapping at the heels of the established Ableton blogs. Cheers for asking. Make sure you download my toolbar and visit lots of times each day to hype me into the top league. Ta!

bumped for the LOLZ, nice work mang!

what's the URL again?

[footsy]

How can anyone admit to going to see Pauly D?

On this forum.

Badass

Fuck chyeah!

You don't have real friends, you only have internet friends. xD

[Darkstar2010]

Today marks the end of DJing as we know it. Or does it? Certainly seen quite a few people especially Seb Leger having a moan about this new auto-DJ thingy. How will it affect DJing?

Will it mean more people use Live?

What is the new auto DJ thing? I didnt see any news about it on Abletons website.

[Darkstar2010]

I don't have twitter or facebook. What does that have to do with the auto dj thing? I was just curious to read about it that's all.

[starving student]

where the heck are people breaking to this crap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLBYxRUBW4c

go dj go dj