Ableton - Death of the DJ

[MrYellow]

I get really offended when people say "man"....
From now on everyone be PC and say "woman" ok?

geez give it a break.

-Ben

[MrYellow]

lol forge I just spent the last couple of mins laughing over and over at the
gif in your sig Never noticed it before... classic....

-Ben

[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.

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

Are saying that Djs that actually do get paid don't know how to mix?

[natasha]

Wow this topic is certainly intersting, if not bringing some views home quite scarily.

Im not sure what to think of all of this. Do we all stop buying vinyl now? Everything should be cd / mp3?

I dont think i could ever do that personally, having a mix is great fun. I think moving with technology is important though, therefore i am going to try and learn as much as i can!

Music is what will make me appreciate any dj, from the style to when the next one is mixed in. Getting a record at the right speed might be simple enough but the amount of djs that can do it and play ablsolutely awful music is never ending!

Thing is, once everyone is using ableton or Final Scratch etc will the reputations of them get tarnished because of so many people using / doing it?

When will these discussions end?

When will global warming make us all die from sunburn....?? I demand answers.

[anonymouse]

if we must lose Vinyl, everything should be minidisc! I hate solidstate, and CDs get damaged too easily... anyway

Thing is, once everyone is using ableton or Final Scratch etc will the reputations of them get tarnished because of so many people using / doing it?

I still think, of all the people who now own powerful software/hardware, that relatively few could put an electrifying imaginative mix together on-the-fly on a regular basis, let alone compose and produce groundbreaking new music that vast crowds will seek out and appreciate.

Sure this could be said to just be due to lack of ability, sensitivity and insight, but moreso, deep down, many just got the gear for the sheer pleasure of experimentation and satisfying theirr passion for playing with sound.

I reckon only a small portion of people really have the bug to be dedicated professional live/Live performance entertainers.
Just because the technology is now cheap, accessible and popular, I don't think we're going to see a world where everyone who can, does.

Let alone that it takes genuine talent, skill and dedication to create anything special. Many are called but few are chosen.

[Hedroom]

Are saying that Djs that actually do get paid don't know how to mix?

I think the point is that the old fashioned "DJ set" of playing a sequence of records with the beggining of one track seamlessly mixed over the end of another is pretty damn easy and doesn't take a lot of skill (rather it requires a sqill which is relatively easily acquired). Anyone with a sense of rhythm can learn it very quickly. My Mum's a music teacher, I got her mixing records in less than an hour.

I'm certainly never impressed by a set these days unless boundaries are being pushed in some way. That may be turntablism, using technology or whatever. Just a little aded extra. It's shocking how many DJs command high fees and do bogstandard mixing. Often being very unprofessional , getting wasted and losing the ability to even beatmatch too.

On the other side of the coin: Sometimes I love to go to a night and just hear some great tunes being played by someone who looks like their enjoying themselves .... as long as they don't try and pass it off as art.

It's a party goddamit. Just dance!

[montrealbreaks]

I think the point is that the old fashioned "DJ set" of playing a sequence of records with the beggining of one track seamlessly mixed over the end of another is pretty damn easy and doesn't take a lot of skill (rather it requires a sqill which is relatively easily acquired). Anyone with a sense of rhythm can learn it very quickly. My Mum's a music teacher, I got her mixing records in less than an hour.

I'm certainly never impressed by a set these days unless boundaries are being pushed in some way. That may be turntablism, using technology or whatever. Just a little aded extra...

I've been avoiding posting again on this, but I think I'll pipe in here...

1. DJing in the sense of mixing records is easy. Yes, this includes EQing and effecting - it's fucking easy, believe me. I am a master class mixer, capable of pulling of flawless mixes routinely. I played a residency for almost a year, OK? I taught myself how to mix in less than a week.

It's fucking easy.

2. DJing in the sense of "selecting" tracks is a little harder, but I guarantee you that it's WWWWAAAAAAYYYYYY easier to choose a good track than to write one. I know, I have done both.

3. DJing in the sense of building a wicked set is a combination of the two factors above, with the added requirement of charisma, stage presence and reading a crowd.

So really if mixing and selecting are reasonably easy (and believe me they are) then all that's left is #3. Without exceptional skill (like a virtuso musician or a visionary composer), these are relatively common traits - probably a quarter of the people in the crowd are just as charismatic, entertaining and crowd empathic as the chimp behind the decks. Big fucking deal.

I can't wait until DJing as an honoured vocation disappears. Musicians and composers work a thousand times harder than mix DJs, but generally receive equal credit (or less!) for music. Go figure.

Please note that I exclude turntablists from the points above - that's musicianship and virtuosity in and of itself - I have been teaching myself to scratch, beatjuggle, and produce harmonic pitches with tones on wax for some time, and I have yet to even approach competence, let alone mastery.

[anonymouse]

I can't wait until DJing as a respectable (and honoured) vocation disappears. Musicians and composers work a thousand times harder than mix DJs, but receive equal credit. Go figure.

Please note that I exclude turntablists from the points above - that's musicianship and virtuosity in and of itself.

I assume you are also excluding Sasha. He pioneered Ableton Live as a performance instrument long before anyone else even considered it possible. Now he is continuing to open minds and challenge convention with maverick approach.

[montrealbreaks]

I assume you are also excluding Sasha. He pioneered Ableton Live as a performance instrument long before anyone else even considered it possible. Now he is continuing to open minds and challenge convention with maverick approach.

I have heard of Sasha, but I don't know anything about him. Honestly I can't say in this case, though incorporating live composition, like Ableton Live is capable of, is musicianship. If that's what Sasha's doing, then he's not just being a twit DJ, he's composing and performing his own music. If he's only mixing in warped tracks with his records, then big stinkin deal.

[MrYellow]

My Mum's a music teacher, I got her mixing records in less than an hour.

Teach your grandma

DJ Granny!!! Now I'd pay to see that!

If he's only mixing in warped tracks with his records, then big stinkin deal.

From what I hear he has a team of people that select and warp the tracks
then send them to him on the road. So he focuses on publicity and
presence while others organise the music for him.

Would be great to have it so easy..... Lot of hardwork building the image to
start with, but once on a roll you'd have it made.

-Ben

[AdamJay]

He pioneered Ableton Live as a performance instrument long before anyone else even considered it possible. Now he is continuing to open minds and challenge convention with maverick approach.

did you read that straight off the press release? or do you have that good a memory?

[anonymouse]

I was bored and just trying to cause trouble

[FaX-01]

I get really offended when people say "man"....
From now on everyone be PC and say "woman" ok?

geez give it a break.

-Ben

Oh man if that post was anymore boring it would be totally "HET" ....

























































(now do you realise how stupid it fucking sounds to some people ).

[FaX-01]

I can't wait until DJing as a respectable (and honoured) vocation disappears. Musicians and composers work a thousand times harder than mix DJs, but receive equal credit. Go figure.

Please note that I exclude turntablists from the points above - that's musicianship and virtuosity in and of itself.

I assume you are also excluding Sasha. He pioneered Ableton Live as a performance instrument long before anyone else even considered it possible. Now he is continuing to open minds and challenge convention with maverick approach.

Sasha = Tony the Salad Tosser - what an "FMTCPFM" .

[natasha]

I taught myself how to mix in less than a week.

It's fucking easy.

2. DJing in the sense of "selecting" tracks is a little harder, but I guarantee you that it's WWWWAAAAAAYYYYYY easier to choose a good track than to write one. I know, I have done both.


I can't wait until DJing as an honoured vocation disappears.

Holy smokes!

production is frigging hard though.

I feel that the challenge of mixing a tune can be extremely simple if your mixing straight 4/4 with about as much musicality as Britneys voice. If you wanting to push boundaries and mix shit that people hardly hear, could be totally wacky whatever, that can take more technical ablitity.

Im not saying its rocket science, but i feel if djing was THAT simple, galloping out of time beats would be un heard of.

So the idea of a crazy tune with odd beats, maybe a real tough rhythm to try and keep up with (and their are alot of those - nice) added with the echo of lots of sound and noise just floating around your head, aswell as adapting to the sounds of a environment you might not be familiar with could also mean = more technical skill needed. (maybe experience but whatever )

Inigo Kennedy played a 3 deck set and i was very impressed. Most of the tracks on the third deck were probably ambient sounds and instrumentals but it was still enjoyable seeing somone having to work that bit harder and creating really nice results.

Embracing as much technology will no doubt push things forward and creatively open doors, and make are jaw drop at times no doubt, but whether its easy peasy or rocket science, hearing some decent tuneage is great fun.