Ableton DJing but more mixing involved.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:04 pm

I absolutely love the idea that DJs now complain that using computers is 'cheating' or 'too easy'.

I am old.
Only old people can appreciate this irony from the time before turntable ubiquity.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:25 pm

It is definitely pretty ironic, since it doesn't get any easier than two turntables and a mixer with 3band EQ and volume faders.

Djs always whine about who's 'keeping it more real' when in reality all DJing is pretty damn easy compared to learning a real (ie, traditional) musical instrument.

Took me a couple hours to learn to beatmatch well enough to play my first party, took me a couple YEARS to learn to play guitar well enough to do the same.

Flocking whiney ass DJs!

Patch · Post by **Patch** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:17 pm

Can people REALLY learn to beatmatch in a day??? It took me MONTHS (over a year in fact!) to get to the stage where I could properly beatmatch...

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:32 pm

I'm not saying I could hold 4 minute mixes, but the concept and use was pretty easy for me to pick up. Certainly enough to do a passable DJ mix in front of strangers. My wife too, I taught her in one night how to do it.

I think it's like anything, some people pick it up faster than others. I've taught some people who it took months for them to really learn to 'hear' two things differently, they struggled with that seperation of having to try to hear which was faster in two totally different things.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:44 pm

I would put beat matching on a par with tuning a guitar.
you can learn to do it in a day, at which time you would be doing it with a lot of concentration.
but after you have been doing it a few years you could do it behind your back or while playing the other strings.

Crucially, people don't want to hear someone tuning up or beatmatching, what they want to hear is music. Both processes are merely to make that 'hearing music' thing pleasant.
Or another analogy - Beatmatching is also similar to movie editing If it's done badly you can hear it stand out, but if it's done well - no-one notices it and it doesn't get in the way.

but back to my string tuning analogy, if my strings automatically stayed in tune would that be cheating?

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:42 pm

I wonder if the people using the new auto tuning pegs on guitars get accused of being lazy guitarists?