Anyone got slated for DJing with Live?

jonpaul · Post by **jonpaul** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:05 am

I have been DJing for years now using vinyl but fancy doing something different which is why I'm looking at Live. I live near Bournemouth in the UK and I am worried that musically, people just might not get it as they are behind with the times regarding music technology. Ya know. The ol' "you can't mix vinyl so you need a pc!". Bollocks. Has anyone actually had such a response. Interested in your stories and what happened. Did it become accepted etc? An interesting point which many may wish to hear more about. Fire away

thx1138 · Post by **thx1138** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:12 am

Take a small bag of vinyl - enough so if the Mac/PC crashes you can finnish off with that. Also if you get a heckler drop a classic vinyl as your last track if it gets your goat lol.

Personally I just ignore it, people are more clued up nowadays.

nuperspective · Post by **nuperspective** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:16 am

who cares what they think. i had my 1210s for 15 years, spent thousands on vinyl over that time. then i tried live [at first for production] then for djing with. it allows me to dj how i've always wanted and opened up new possiblities. plus you have a complete tool there for production work.

IMO, if your in a club and the dj does his job correctly you shouldnt even notice him / her. they should be having a laugh with friends / strangers and listening to new music. not complaining about the lack of decks. 8 to 10 years ago ludites proclamed cds would be the death of real djing! deep dish, john digweed etc, etc use nothing else. the decks are used to rest the cd cases on.

i say do what you want not what they want.

Paranoid · Post by **Paranoid** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:30 am

Vinyl purists will never die...they will just get old and moldy....

Ignore the speedbumps of progress....do whatever the hell ya want!

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 1:20 am

Yeah man, if you're having fun, the crowd's going to feel it no matter what you're using.

paolo topaz · Post by **paolo topaz** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 2:19 am

i lost my gig when I used it first, promoter said i looked like i was reading my e mails! got it back eventually though!

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 2:26 am

Sure , the old 'reading emails' look is a bad one. Best just to playlist it all up in arrangement and do lots of pointing at the crowd I think.

Alternatively...
Anyone seen this guy DJ Live, now that's a controller that doesn't get between you and the crowd!

mike holiday · Post by **mike holiday** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 2:48 am

to many dj's can't mix records anyway

MarkH · Post by **MarkH** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:40 am

Here in Las Vegas all the major clubs are setup for Serato Scratch Live so DJ's can just bring their laptops and plug in to the club-provided USB cable. The problem I'm seeing now is that becuase Sasha an BT have been using Live so much, most promoters (in the USA) think you're trying to be like Sasha or BT if you show up with a laptop and Live. Although *WE* all know the hidden talent inside of us to create killer DJ sets, it gets lost in translation somwhere between the club, promoter, and music director. The awareness of Live as a DJ tool is everywhere, mostly because of Sasha and BT. Serato somehow crept its way into the clubs and is a staple just about everywhere. No one turns you away for using Serato.

I realize a lot of people say "Fuck what everyone else says!" and you're definitely entitled to that freedom. When you're a serious DJ with a reputation on the line, the last thing you want to be is type-cast as a Sasha wannabe. It makes you look too much like a follower. If you aren't already established and you don't have the powers that be, you'll get pigeon-holed by promoters accusing you of taking shortcuts to becoming a DJ. The perception is the laptop is the DJ, not the person behind it.

I don't like sounding so negative because I like Live, but the truth is that no matter what you do, you need to somehow stand out in order to rise to the top. Live can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Good DJ principles combined with a heck of a lot of talent is the only way to get noticed. With Live, you have to push that envelope even further. I truly believe that over time as more control is integrated into the mixer and less staring at the computer screen is needed, the more people will respect Live as a DJ tool. Serato already has this.

nuperspective · Post by **nuperspective** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:53 am

or produce your own tracks with live and booked because of your production reputation.

at the end of the day its not what you know its who you know. you can be the best deck, laptop and cd technican around. a promoter will always book someone they know first.

if make your own tracks the focus can shift. call yourself a producer first and dj second. no in fact change your mind set. even if your using your own loops to do something different. it will still set you apart.

theres nothing better than grass roots support. if you can create a buzz. people will have to listen.

Memento Mori · Post by **Memento Mori** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:00 am

Though I'm not a DJ, I use a PC with the band I'm playing in (my project that started off as a recording deal with no intentions of playing live and morphed from there). Anyways, my set-up consists of my PC (I use mostly Reason live but occasionaly Live and a few VST's.), Access Virus, Alesis ION and E-MU Proteus 1000 (for piano and Rhodes mostly) and then a rack of audio processing gear (Aphex Aural Exciter, Compressor's, EQ, etc.). We do a lot of sequencing (we have to with only 3 guys). I was really worried about people giving the attitude of us not "really playing" because we depend on a PC for quite a bit.

Honestly, I've encountered the opposite; people are usually really excited and want to know more about my set-up. I think that your average person only deals with PC's for work and email so when they see someone being creative with it, it makes them excited.

Strangely enough, any attitude I've received has usually been from other musicians. They seem to be the most ignorant of all this stuff (especially in my area, there are not a lot off guys doing this kind of stuff). There's no in-between; they either are into it and understand or still think it's all Acid Loops or worse, Garage Band.

So all in all, I think people enjoy it. Granted it's a little unique what we are doing; it's a live 3 piece consisting of a drummer (acoustic and electronic kit), a bassist and me on synths, guitars and PC. We do live break beat/indie rock/electronica. People dig it because it's not just another guitar band. It has definitely worked in our favor.

synthpopkid · Post by **synthpopkid** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 9:16 am

Memento Mori wrote: Honestly, I've encountered the opposite

I get a lot of people standing next to me and watching the screen. It's easy to forget that most have never even heard of midi so to them you're doing something alien - and interesting.

Last time, a German guy came running up and shouted "PLEASE SHOW ME THE ABLETON!"

The majority of people are nice. Anyone having a go about you using a laptop is the same kind of dick that says Logic is better than Cubase, Macs are better than PCs etc. so just ignore them

grfld · Post by **grfld** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:17 am

I stopped dj'ing 6 years ago (don't ask why) and used a lot of gear creating mixes, mashups and remixes. A few years ago i started to use my computer and tried many applications like music maker, samplitude, cubase, acid pro and so.

A few days ago, i went to a local dealer who asked my to take a look at live. On the same evening there was a promo of ableton and m-audio, too. a dj (i forgot to ask, he was really cool) shows us (more than 30 people!) to use live for live dj'ing.

I was totally impressed about this type of work, this kind of dj'ing was what i always wanted to do!

I think noone will talk about you like "he needs to use a computer" because your set is still the major issue, regardless if you play it with a 1210, a cd player or even a iPod (or even an old tapedeck

).

Okay, if your set is crap - i've seen many dj's with a pc and doing crap things - then the poeple will shout "ALT-F8" to you (like i did after seeing a totally drunk dj trying to load a new song and repeating the last song 3! times)

Just my 2 cents,
grld

djsynchro · Post by **djsynchro** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:50 am

Second ever time that I DJed with Ableton: After I played someone (who has seen me DJ hundreds of times with vinyl, I know his face from all the parties) came to ask if I still had to do something or if the computer did everything automatically?

If I still had to do stuff it was OK, otherwise he was going to give me shit for it

But the best thing that night was, that when I was setting up (It was in a small DJ cafe in Amsterdam) a foxy girl came up to me and purred: "Is that the latest version of Ableton?"

That's when I coined the word "Babelton"!
DJ Slagroom mentioned it first in the forum somewhere else but I forgive her, she's in my band!

I used to get shit from "real" musicians about the computer doing everything and it's not real music..... (Insert yawning emoticon!) so now we have the vinyl purist posse... how things have changed (not)...

Hey... I also had a trainwreck that night.... did the warping wrong in a track!

djsynchro · Post by **djsynchro** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:53 am

And I just remembered (Also while setting up) some dude asked: Are you going to mix on a computer? And I said (weary) yeah... and he goes: COOL!

Anyone got slated for DJing with Live?

Anyone got slated for DJing with Live?

Re: Anyone got slated for DJing with Live?