Ableton - Death of the DJ

[djshiva]

lets ask these folks if they think djing is dead and takes no talent - a topic worth discussing but kind of pointless, and in the words of the Super Sexy School News AV teacher, kinda gay

oh gawd...can we for once have a discussion without someone calling something "gay"?

some us are, ya know... and we can discuss things without calling everything "het"...

[djshiva]

*edited* apologies for many posts in a row

[drumroll57]

DJing never was the most skilled of trades with the exception of turntablists, what seperates a good dj from bad to me is their choice in music and picking a set ie. a selector. Soon there will be no DJ's (or if there is they will be old skool) only selectors.

I don't expect it will be long before a program will come along where you load your tracks and leave it to it... beat match, mix, filter, find best sequence, add fx etc. basically do all the technical stuff.

DJ's, learn to dance.

Here's a little story for you: There's always someone you know in your hometown who's an incredible guitar player, can run the scales faster than Eddie Van Halen and yet in the end he's the one who became a clerk at the supermarket.
Obviously, there was something missing.... (or a terrible stroke of bad luck)

And just as obviously, your troll post only goes to highlight how little you seemingly understand of the real mystery of 'reading' a crowd, and making them go ape-sh*t with whatever music or technical means, either of which are completely irrelevant. Granted, there may not be many who can do this, but they exist, and are in higher demand than ever, and contrary to your post, will be even more in demand for the predictable future.

I won't even bother trying to explain it here, as some other have tried. As with the guitar genius who became a supermarket clerk, this is sometimes stuff that you have to figure out for yourself (or not)....

D.

[Pitch Black]

An endless collage of clever projected visuals doesn't really suit uptempo stuff.

Anon, I'd have to differ. I am in a 2-man live electronic band (no DJ) that has had MIDI triggered visuals for the last 8 years. IF it is done well, the sync'ing of appropriate video to any music if massively effective.

Sadly, so many VJ shows have absolutely no apparent connection between the music and the visuals. Over the course of a whole night they say ONE THING: overstimulus. The equivalent of a rock lightshow where the lighting operator kept the full chases and flashing going between songs, instead of at least dimming to blackout or a neutral wash. Any lighting tech that didn't do that wouldn't get a second gig.

But visuals can work with any tempo music if done sympathetically. My band plays 15-20 songs over the course of a night going from 86 to 180 bpm. In "uptempo music" you just have a different set of rules.

For us we tend to have many shorter clips cut together and very tightly synced to the music via MIDI. Once the music is done we sequence up a visual track for every pattern/Scene. (Also there are "override" clips available under our synth keyboards so as I drop say a huge reverb dub snare there appears a shot of a seed pod exploding.) The clips we make/choose must have some kind of internal kineticism or visual rhythm that matches the music - thats a no-brainer, but then the rules of music arrangement/composition apply equally to video: use repetition only for as long as it is effective, then move on / don't use stuff in song 10 that you used in song 2 - people will think you merely ran out of material / when the music is sparse, be sparse - when the music is dense, be dense.

When we jump to another Scene/section of a song the visuals change appropriately - the audience trusts us to do this - and so the whole show is enhanced. People even say that they like dancing to us with their eyes closed, cos when they open them they know there will be something matching the music.

Anon, I hope you have an uptempo VJ "conversion experience" soon!

cheers
paddy
pitch black

[smutek]

...........

Slick. I'd like to see your band perform! Any US dates?

[anonymouse]

An endless collage of clever projected visuals doesn't really suit uptempo stuff.

... IF it is done well, the sync'ing of appropriate video to any music if massively effective.

Sadly, so many VJ shows have absolutely no apparent connection between the music and the visuals...

i reckon there are a lot of dj/producers and vj/producers who get together as an act cos they share the same vibe and heart in getting out there and performing.

but ultimately they only barely scratch the surface of sync'ing not just the beats, but the message/mood too. both individually maverick at their given media, they can only focus on video and audio separately - rather than partner in building a properly integrated piece. anyway just a thought. it takes a lot of time to really prepare it perfectly i guess.

i look forward to seeing the good stuff

is there a big scene for it in NZ?

i've got enough gear to do audio & visual stuff, but as i focus on original composition only, it would take me an eternity to build a one man audio & visual set the way i want it. so i stick with struggling with audio only. there just aren't enough hours in a day to do everything!

[anonymouse]

i've just opened a new thread on the AV side of things. I've gotten all curious this fine Sunday afternoon

[Pitch Black]

Any US dates?

We had our first foray Stateside last November. Hopefully we will be back in June or July, looks like it may only be on the West Coast tho - I'll keep the forum posted. Cheers!

i've got enough gear to do audio & visual stuff, but as i focus on original composition only, it would take me an eternity to build a one man audio & visual set the way i want it. so i stick with struggling with audio only. there just aren't enough hours in a day to do everything!

We used to make all our video ourselves, which we still do, but we also get other video artists to make visuals which we then cut up and re-sequence for our sets. You could look at collaborating with a video artist to make some stuff for you and then get together and MIDI sequence it to your music.

Most VJ/Video artists are really keen to put their stuff into a show they know is going to be really tight. With just about all the current VJ apps receiving MIDI these days and Live having MIDI since V.4 its easier than its ever been. It just needs the meeting of the minds.

MIDI sequencing video is really quick and fun, even if you just jam on a few clips and then quantize it, it becomes a super-tight edit -- that has impact in itself. Then once you start giving real thought to the "content" it just gets better and better.

cheers
p

[edit] I'll stop OT'ing this thread now. And now back to our dead DJ discussion...

[hambone1]

Pitch Black - your live set is awesome! Most inspirational to me as I embark on a new journey...

I'm aiming for a different market, one that many on this forum will scoff it. It's the private/corporate function arena. It's not art for art's sake, it's not chin-stroking intellect, it's just how to throw the best party for a group of people that may vary in ages from 2-99.

I'm 47 years old, just got made redundant from my graphic design job on Friday, and am determined to make this work. I've got kids to feed and a mortage to pay.

And yes, there will be disco, R & B, Latin, and even (gasp!) country. But if tastefully done with video and lights, I'm hoping to pull it off in a professional and classy way.

I garner so much useful information from this forum from those who are open-minded enough to appreciate that everyone doesn't do what they do.

Cheers!

[anonymouse]

a new journey...

to throw the best party for a group of people that may vary in ages from 2-99.

there will be disco, R & B, Latin, and even (gasp!) country. But if tastefully done with video and lights, I'm hoping to pull it off in a professional and classy way.

first thing I think of as I go googling for audio visual artists is - what is the coolest shit I can find. (like is it this? http://www.richard-devine.com/Richard_devine.htm or this? http://www.johnnyhollow.com/index2.html or this http://www.soundofdesign.com:16080/08_range/wind.swf? etc etc)
there is so much cutting edge imagination out there, you'll never finish searching for the best.

but, taking the same technology and, rather than pursuing deep chinstroking abstractism, you go and do something cheezy and fun with it, and take it to a whole new audience, sounds brilliant and as outside the box as anything else..

good luck. sounds like a winner.

[FaX-01]

lets ask these folks if they think djing is dead and takes no talent - a topic worth discussing but kind of pointless, and in the words of the Super Sexy School News AV teacher, kinda gay

oh gawd...can we for once have a discussion without someone calling something "gay"?

some us are, ya know... and we can discuss things without calling everything "het"...

W3RD - totally over it also DjShiva .

[forge]

lets ask these folks if they think djing is dead and takes no talent - a topic worth discussing but kind of pointless, and in the words of the Super Sexy School News AV teacher, kinda gay

oh gawd...can we for once have a discussion without someone calling something "gay"?

some us are, ya know... and we can discuss things without calling everything "het"...

W3RD - totally over it also DjShiva .

ahh yiz are all jist a buncha pooftas.

[suburbanbather]

Well if Djing requires no skill then I guess all of the top Djs and resident Djs are being payed for some other service that we are not aware of.

[Deft]

Well if Djing requires no skill then I guess all of the top Djs and resident Djs are being payed for some other service that we are not aware of.

Well in a lot of cases they definitely aren't getting paid to mix properly!

[FaX-01]

oh gawd...can we for once have a discussion without someone calling something "gay"?

some us are, ya know... and we can discuss things without calling everything "het"...

W3RD - totally over it also DjShiva .

ahh yiz are all jist a buncha pooftas.

.