I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Discuss anything related to audio or music production.
shimmy
Posts: 368
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 1:06 am

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by shimmy » Tue Jun 29, 2010 10:15 pm

Who?
Last edited by shimmy on Sat Nov 20, 2010 6:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

smutek
Posts: 4489
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2003 3:30 pm
Location: Baltimore,United States

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by smutek » Tue Jun 29, 2010 10:30 pm

I started playing vinyl around 10 years ago. I tried Traktor out for a year or so, around version 2 and 2.5, I guess this was around 2005. I really liked the idea but it just involved too much hands on with the laptop, it really took the fun out of mixing - so eventually I switched over to Serato in 2006.

Serato was great but just last week I sold my Serato box and bought Traktor Pro, a Kontrol X1 and an Audio 2 DJ.

It's definitely a pretty cool set up and Traktor has come a long way since I last used it. As far as the Kontrol X1 goes, it is a nice controller for Traktor and allows me contorl of the software without having to touch my laptop. Factory mapping is pretty damn good so it's basically plug and play with no fuss.

I've got Traktor running in external mixer mode through the Audio 2 DJ to my Pioneer 500, so I mix and EQ with a traditional mixer, but the Kontrol X1 basically controls looping, cueing, track browsing, loading and effects - basically everything inside of Traktor without having to touch the laptop.

So 2 channels on the Pioneer are for Traktor, I say fuck beat matching, who gives a shit - but I do have my 1200's hooked up to the other 2 channels for throwing down regular old vinyl like the old days, or even for mixing 2 channels of vinyl with 2 channels of Traktor if I so desire.

I'm pretty happy with the set up and my NI hate has definitely subsided since buying Traktor Pro.
Last edited by smutek on Tue Jun 29, 2010 10:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.

the_antagonist
Posts: 1605
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:48 pm
Contact:

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by the_antagonist » Tue Jun 29, 2010 10:34 pm

smutek wrote:fuck beat matching, who gives a shit

word

contakt321
Posts: 1523
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:39 pm
Location: NYC

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by contakt321 » Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:29 pm

the_antagonist wrote:
smutek wrote:fuck beat matching, who gives a shit

word
I do.

Been hearing kids in NY dj dancemusic off iPods, play 7 minute songs beginning to end, and then play the next song, or use turntables or CDJs badly and klang and totally trainwreck during the peak time of the night. Sorry - that's a bummer for me.

I prefer my djs to have skills, especially if there is cover to get in, and drinks are going to be overpriced.

smutek
Posts: 4489
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2003 3:30 pm
Location: Baltimore,United States

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by smutek » Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:01 am

I feel you, but that wasn't what I meant - unless there is some really solid reason for them not to be, obviously the tracks should be beat matched.

What I meant by fuck beat matching is that if the computer can match tracks for me than why not.

I know how to beat match records but I'm not going to ride the pitch bend in Traktor just because I feel some need to cling to the olden days, fuck that, I'm going to hit sync and do other creative shit, or bust out some fist pumps or maybe even a christ pose or two.

I'm saying, most of us who have Dj'd for any length of time know how to Beat match - keeping 2 turntables synced up was always an essential skill, it was the first thing we had to learn and it's probably the lowest common denominator as far as every other skill that we learned after that point goes - I have no attachment to it and no qualms about eliminating it from my work flow when it isn't necessary.

If I'm not using my 1200's I'm hitting the sync button, fuck it - If I need it I know how to do it, otherwise I don't feel beat matching is that big a part of my "identity" as a Dj.

That's what I meant by fuck beat matching.

As far as the iPod kids and such, I don't know. Technology does definitely change the game. But what are you going to do? Desktop publishing changed printing and design, but I'm definitely not going to bust out the acetate just because the kid down the street is making shitty design on a pirated copy of photoshop. I'm going to take advantage of what the technology has to offer, adapt my skill set to it, and find the proper audience.

Same with the shitty iPod Dj kid - I doubt he will be playing Starscape or Cream or insert club name here any time soon. Fuck 'em, let him have his fun.

Does that make sense?

SubFunk
Posts: 7853
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2006 3:41 pm
Location: A Big Toilet Called Berlin
Contact:

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by SubFunk » Wed Jun 30, 2010 8:17 am

nebulae wrote:
SubFunk wrote:
nebulae wrote:But I'm not one to talk...I'm entirely bored of DJ sets these days, so I'm overly critical or people playing other people's music.
i can even share that, i am usually bored myself there is only a very tiny few worldwide that really grab my attention.
I seriously LOL @ myself for paying $40 to see Paul Van Dyk six years ago in Denver. Paul's a nice guy, but come on man, up in the DJ booth, I had no idea what he was doing or what not. What came out in the speakers was like a good bangin' PVD album. Did I need to pay $40 for that?

And I get the argument that a lot of DJs do deep edits of the music. But these days, can you really tell when a DJ has really added something to a song, or was it just a snip here and cut there? I did a DJ set a couple of years ago where I did deep edits of songs and then I played live synth over my deep edits. The results had a ton of energy, and the mistakes made it human and real. IMHO, that was more of a hybrid performance, and that's what I'd really like to see DJs doing with Live. The beatmatching is a been-there-done-that. Even adding effects like filter sweeps is a *yawn*. What we need now is to see something more. If you play other people's music, you gotto somehow make it a performance beyond just editing and filtering and beatmatching.

I'll gladly pay $40 to see any of you stupid mother fuckers pay a set of your own music. And if your Mac crashes in the middle of the set, I'll buy you a drink while it's rebooting.
so now i am not surprised anymore... you went (no matter how much the entrance or how much they paid you or what torture they used to force you) to see PVD?

well my faith and respect in you being able to judge any DJ or the art of DJ-ing just faded into nothing.

and i mean that 100% seriously!
*** Image GAFM ***

the_antagonist
Posts: 1605
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:48 pm
Contact:

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by the_antagonist » Wed Jun 30, 2010 10:32 am

I meant the same thing.

i like my club music to be seamless. but beat matching is antiquated. you wouldnt do brain surgury without a robot because it looks cooler.

SubFunk
Posts: 7853
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2006 3:41 pm
Location: A Big Toilet Called Berlin
Contact:

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by SubFunk » Wed Jun 30, 2010 11:32 am

smutek wrote:I feel you, but that wasn't what I meant - unless there is some really solid reason for them not to be, obviously the tracks should be beat matched.

What I meant by fuck beat matching is that if the computer can match tracks for me than why not.

I know how to beat match records but I'm not going to ride the pitch bend in Traktor just because I feel some need to cling to the olden days, fuck that, I'm going to hit sync and do other creative shit, or bust out some fist pumps or maybe even a christ pose or two.

I'm saying, most of us who have Dj'd for any length of time know how to Beat match - keeping 2 turntables synced up was always an essential skill, it was the first thing we had to learn and it's probably the lowest common denominator as far as every other skill that we learned after that point goes - I have no attachment to it and no qualms about eliminating it from my work flow when it isn't necessary.

If I'm not using my 1200's I'm hitting the sync button, fuck it - If I need it I know how to do it, otherwise I don't feel beat matching is that big a part of my "identity" as a Dj.

That's what I meant by fuck beat matching.

As far as the iPod kids and such, I don't know. Technology does definitely change the game. But what are you going to do? Desktop publishing changed printing and design, but I'm definitely not going to bust out the acetate just because the kid down the street is making shitty design on a pirated copy of photoshop. I'm going to take advantage of what the technology has to offer, adapt my skill set to it, and find the proper audience.

Same with the shitty iPod Dj kid - I doubt he will be playing Starscape or Cream or insert club name here any time soon. Fuck 'em, let him have his fun.

Does that make sense?
amen. (for the dead horse :lol: )
*** Image GAFM ***

alex.the.forge
Posts: 1424
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:29 am

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by alex.the.forge » Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:12 pm

man, out of the 578 billion tunes out there now, surely there has to be something said for narrowing all that down to a hour long Dj set

Beat matching or whatever is fuck all to do with it

drchoc
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:26 pm

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by drchoc » Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:23 pm

alex.the.forge wrote:man, out of the 578 billion tunes out there now, surely there has to be something said for narrowing all that down to a hour long Dj set

Beat matching or whatever is fuck all to do with it

Very true.

Actually I always like it when you hear a track drift out of time and then get synced quickly, makes things sound more futuristic to me.

I saw Norman Jay recently (in Hong Kong) and he dropped some electro, followed by Bob Marley's 'could you be loved' and then into some drum n bass all different tempos but seamless to my drunken ears. Beatmatching or not the crowd were enjoying and did not know what to expect next.

the_antagonist
Posts: 1605
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:48 pm
Contact:

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by the_antagonist » Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:33 pm

drchoc wrote: Very true.

Actually I always like it when you hear a track drift out of time and then get synced quickly, makes things sound more futuristic to me.
we can have computers reproduce that. I will include it in my next track.

would you like the vocal to speed up and go out of key for a split second also or will double beats surfice?

funky shit
Posts: 3977
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 9:50 pm
Location: Earth

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by funky shit » Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:09 pm

contakt321 wrote:
the_antagonist wrote:
smutek wrote:fuck beat matching, who gives a shit

word
I do.

Been hearing kids in NY dj dancemusic off iPods, play 7 minute songs beginning to end, and then play the next song, or use turntables or CDJs badly and klang and totally trainwreck during the peak time of the night. Sorry - that's a bummer for me.

I prefer my djs to have skills, especially if there is cover to get in, and drinks are going to be overpriced.
this

also -
i started off on ableton, thought it was the balls. got a xone 4d to work with ableton. bought a pair of 1000's and immediatly thought that cds were farrrr better than laptop djing.
but dont get the wrong idea here, im not in favour of cds/vinyl because of some pretentious djing bullshit. its because going to a club with a cd wallet full of beats, fire-ing them onto the cdjs and rocking the place is a lot handier and more fun (due to having to keep shit in sync. no real accurate looping feature so the balls could drops easily etc) than sitting looking at a laptop. the only time i use traktor now is when im at home, and wouldn't be arsed to brun tracks to cds, so i just use the timecodes on the cdjs.

im in no way pointing the fingure at laptop djs or have any less respect. i love 4 decks techno sets (hawtin) and when i/if i ever play my own music live, i will be using a laptop and an audio-midi device with ableton.. so im not hating. i just prefare the "older" method.

my 2p
Image

nebulae
Posts: 15716
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:16 am
Location: New Orleans
Contact:

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by nebulae » Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:16 pm

SubFunk wrote:
so now i am not surprised anymore... you went (no matter how much the entrance or how much they paid you or what torture they used to force you) to see PVD?

well my faith and respect in you being able to judge any DJ or the art of DJ-ing just faded into nothing.

and i mean that 100% seriously!
hahaha fair enough, I respect that comment...however, in my defense, it was like six years ago, during a shameful period of enjoying tarnce music like much of the world.

also, fuck you. *hugs*

funky shit
Posts: 3977
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 9:50 pm
Location: Earth

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by funky shit » Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:44 pm

nebulae wrote:
SubFunk wrote:
so now i am not surprised anymore... you went (no matter how much the entrance or how much they paid you or what torture they used to force you) to see PVD?

well my faith and respect in you being able to judge any DJ or the art of DJ-ing just faded into nothing.

and i mean that 100% seriously!
hahaha fair enough, I respect that comment...however, in my defense, it was like six years ago, during a shameful period of enjoying tarnce music like much of the world.

also, fuck you. *hugs*
tarnce ftw

flight 643
Image

Rave
Posts: 6152
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2005 9:26 am

Re: I agree with Deadmau5 a bit more each passing day...

Post by Rave » Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:29 pm

A don't care how a dj does it but his job is to fill the floor and make people happy. If he is doing that then he is doing his job. Reading a crowd is a vital skill and any donkey can learn how to beat match. Saying that if they can't tell if a track is in sync then they shouldn't be in the booth. Nothing worse then wrecking the vibe when peops are flatlining on K, E or Cocaine. :)

Post Reply