SubFunk wrote:hmmm... i agree and disagree... the problem is that the art of DJ-ing evolved a lot, especially since ableton, traktor, etc... (well also before with really skilled people, but it sadly died nearly out)mike_o wrote:as a producer I have always had a grudge against DJ's who cover up label or refuse to name the tracks they played, it's just stinks of cheap DJ arrogance, sad really.
any DJ who makes a living playing music created by others and wont credit or list the real artists involved will almost always die off though, I remember in the early and mid 90's a lot of SF bay area DJ's in the rave scene would never disclose their track lists, but DJ Dan, Simon, Tony, Jeno, Garth, Dutch, Simply Jeff, Donald Glaude and many others were cool as hell and would always put a rack list in their mix tapes or just tell you who it was if you asked, these guys all got bigger and better and far more fame, money & love from the crowd/scene than any of the pricks who covered up their labels and would refuse to name tracks.
why?
it's a very general assumption that DJs who are not 'revealing' there set list are arrogant assholes or pricks...
i for example hardly do that either... 2 reasons, i usually simply can't remember all track attributes... and secondly my way of playing does in most cases not leave much of the original track... it is a unique experience about the set and the manipulation, mixing, layering songs, etc.
when i DJ i never see a single track as an item... it's a bout the set, not the tracks i also don't consider them as songs to start of, they are tracks, modules if you which to create something different... i never analyze a DJ set and 'dismantle' it into song...
but that said it obviously is a difference of how you play... if you are a radio style DJ and just add songs with 4 bars to the next one (which is the majority of DJs worldwide our days... skills are lost) then i agree with you.
it's just there is a real skillful art form called DJ-ing... that is not about the 'single element'
and those who have still those skills are not necessary arrogant.
and to add, i am a producer, too
and most if not all producers i know, including myself... are making tracks for DJs not tunes for the radio...
if you are a radio track producer i can understand... that you are upset... a 'track producer' makes an element to be worked into something greater...
but maybe i am to old and oldskool, i think in terms before it all got pear shaped and real DJ skills went down the drain for the masses.
a few things here I take issue with,
#1, I have never personally met a producer who makes tracks "just for DJ's", I don't make tracks for the radio either, I make music for people who like to listen to it, and for myself as an artist. making electronic music for a DJ centered club environment does not mean just making tracks for DJ's, electronic music artists from electro and hip hop to the hardest hardcore and gabber still release cd's and download album sales
#2, no matter how small a piece of a song you use it is more than just a track or module to the producer who created and released it, it is a song to them and thats why they published/released it.
#3, if you really are doing something that unique and skilled as a DJ in your mixes then having people recognize the natural version of the track versus your mix/rendition will only allow them to actually recognize what YOUR doing and why its different and make you standout as a better talent, the number of times when I was younger that I thought a DJ had done something dope just to find the track 2 months later and find that the breakdown/scratches/juggles etc were actually just a part of the record and not the DJ mixing, well, lets just say some DJ's reputations went way down hill after our younger generation started finding those records and realizing how little some of these guys did. and knowing the these tracks we became a lot more impressed with the guys who were doing something special.
all that being said, I understand playing so many tracks that you cant remember them all, but if you played a certain track an hour in and everyone starts screaming and yelling, you should remember which one their asking about later.
GAFM ***