Is there such thing as an entertaining DJ performance?

[landrvr1]

There's a lot more concentration involved in live PA and DJing than traditional instruments.

You have no idea

what the fuck

you are talking about.

omfg

someone fucking kill me now.

fucking DJs.

omfg

...

[landrvr1]

omfg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G_pZ299YQE


My God.


There's so much fucking concentration there, I'm fucking amazed he had the time and forethought to pick out that jazzy black hoody.


omfg



I fucking hate DJs. Every single thing about that video confirms my hate. Fucking twinks.



omfg



Concentration. OMFG.

Concentrating Hard "Golly. What fucking button do I wanna push next?"

Concentrating Hard. "Golly, I can't remember if I mapped the Low Pass Filter to THIS knob or THIS knob."

Concentrating Hard. "Should I move to the turntable, or stick to twiddling the LFO on my new hard synth?"

Concentrating Hard. "Hey, that chick is hot."

Concentrating Hard. "This Trigger Finger Sucks. Did I just get a double tap? Fucking Trigger Finger POS."

Concentrating Hard. "Wowwee wowwee. This band pass sounds fucking FANTASTIC!"

Concentrating Hard. "Did I remember to plug the iPod into Track 1 or Track 2?"

Concentrating Hard. "God, this is so much more fun than those shitty guitar lessons I used to take."

...

[Dominik]

I fucking hate DJs

that's quite to hard.

a dj is the presenter.
so definitely no question about that.

[cubehog]

If a DJ is able to make a PA-system sound so good that I forget everything else around me, incl. ppl who just wait to be entertained, than he does everything right and more.
For those who are not fascinated by sounds and music itself. Stop making music, you don´t feel the magic of sounds. Why don´t you put your effort to tailor some nice stage-outfits for a band you like? That would be a better thing to do.

If you you are not able to enjoy good sounds, I assume you don´t have the talent to do good music.

We have so much ppl claim to be musicians. if 2 of them decide to quit it would be better for those who dedicated their work to become better to handle the acoustic phenomenon.

[fatrabbit]

When I first listened to that South Central set a while ago I didn't think it was that bad.

But after having listening to the original track (by Holy Fuck) a lot lately then it makes that set seem quite bad (playing some atrocious one-note synth line over the top and too much beat repeat).

[andydes]

I've been watching a bunch of YouTube vids of DJs and solo artists playing live shows... and I am completely astounded by how boring everything is.

Well, there's the problem. Get yourself in a loud, darkened room full of people enjoying themselves.

What can DJ's do to improve their performance? Or does anyone have any links to videos that are entertaining? I'm not asking to be mean, or put anyone down... I really want to know because I will soon start playing my electronic project live and don't want to put the audience to sleep!

Ah, who cares what a DJ looks like anyway. Never seen a rock or indy band just get up and stand still playing their instruments? It's not all that much to look at either.

It helps if you look like you're enjoying yourself, but don't expect anyone to pay all that much attention to you anyway, unless you're famous. You'll be lucky if anyone even knows it's your own music.

[Noel]

There's a lot more concentration involved in live PA and DJing than traditional instruments. Also computers, keyboards, and decks don't lend themselves to physically rocking out. I could do back flips all night long if I was just playing guitar, but if a guitarist was a DJ he'd have to pick between a few dozen guitars for each new song and after strapping it on would have to start retuning it to go into the next song....only to discover he picked the wrong guitar and tuning 30 seconds before the next song begins.

So what do you have against visuals?

Do you actually play the guitar? have you ever tried playing in a band?

Because what you just said is about as wrong as it is possible to be.

You have to be constantly thinking about:

- Playing the right notes/chords thinking ahead to the next change all the time so that you are ready for it when it comes.

- Dynamics and energy - am I too loud? am I too quiet? Am I playing this boringly or am I in the groove.

- Timing - Try not to speed up or slow down

- Remembering the lyrics and delivering them in a creative and interesting/ expresive way.

- singing and playing at the same time without your timing going to pot

- Microphone technique.

- Your own sound quality.

- The overall sound of the band and how you fit in to it.

And the amount of things you have to pay attention to when playing in a band rises exponentially with the number of members. because 90% of of a successful performance is listening.

You really have not got a clue.

[fatrabbit]

There's a lot more concentration involved in live PA and DJing than traditional instruments. Also computers, keyboards, and decks don't lend themselves to physically rocking out. I could do back flips all night long if I was just playing guitar, but if a guitarist was a DJ he'd have to pick between a few dozen guitars for each new song and after strapping it on would have to start retuning it to go into the next song....only to discover he picked the wrong guitar and tuning 30 seconds before the next song begins.

So what do you have against visuals?

And the amount of things you have to pay attention to when playing in a band rises exponentially with the number of members. because 90% of of a successful performance is listening.

You really have not got a clue.

My fav band:
http://www.fabchannel.com/jaga_jazzist_concert

[Noel]

There's a lot more concentration involved in live PA and DJing than traditional instruments. Also computers, keyboards, and decks don't lend themselves to physically rocking out. I could do back flips all night long if I was just playing guitar, but if a guitarist was a DJ he'd have to pick between a few dozen guitars for each new song and after strapping it on would have to start retuning it to go into the next song....only to discover he picked the wrong guitar and tuning 30 seconds before the next song begins.

So what do you have against visuals?

And the amount of things you have to pay attention to when playing in a band rises exponentially with the number of members. because 90% of of a successful performance is listening.

You really have not got a clue.

My fav band:
http://www.fabchannel.com/jaga_jazzist_concert

Nice! (spoken in Fast Show jazz compare style)- not come across them before - very nice...

[fatrabbit]

And the amount of things you have to pay attention to when playing in a band rises exponentially with the number of members. because 90% of of a successful performance is listening.

You really have not got a clue.

My fav band:
http://www.fabchannel.com/jaga_jazzist_concert

Nice! (spoken in Fast Show jazz compare style)- not come across them before - very nice...

Yeah, and their line-up changes constantly. So existing members have to listen and learn from their new bandmates and vice-versa.

[Machinesworking]

There's a lot more concentration involved in live PA and DJing than traditional instruments.

You have no idea

what the fuck

you are talking about.

omfg

someone fucking kill me now.

fucking DJs.

omfg

...

You're going to have to post some really stupid shit in order to beat this, beats me.
This is why most real musicians fail to see DJs as even creative at all. The lack of any real understanding of what it takes to play a real instrument live in front of an audience,
as opposed to playing other people's records, or playing your own music that you created in a studio.

[landrvr1]

There's a lot more concentration involved in live PA and DJing than traditional instruments.

You have no idea

what the fuck

you are talking about.

omfg

someone fucking kill me now.

fucking DJs.

omfg

...

You're going to have to post some really stupid shit in order to beat this, beats me.
This is why most real musicians fail to see DJs as even creative at all. The lack of any real understanding of what it takes to play a real instrument live in front of an audience,
as opposed to playing other people's records, or playing your own music that you created in a studio.

Getting into Live, and this forum, actually started to give me an appreciation for what the DJ is and does.

Then it's all blown to shit with a comment like "There's a lot more concentration involved in live PA and DJing than traditional instruments."

In the big wide world of music, DJs always struggle for acceptance from so called 'legitimate' musicians. Lets face it, there's a massive inferiority complex. With that in mind, no DJ is going to do themselves or their craft any favors by making completely ridiculous statements.

Bloated, harsh comments from my part aside: There isn't inherently any more or less concentration involved in playing a real instrument vs being a DJ. It totally depends on any number of factors, and is up to the individual and what they are trying to do. Saying that one requires more concentration or training or whatever - as a concrete General statement of fact - is so utterly and completely silly that it boggles the mind.

However. Noel covers the bases nicely in terms of what's involved with playing a real instrument. The very act of playing in time - without the benefit of the good 'ole QUANTIZE - is a challenge that, quite simply, most DJs will never know or appreciate.

What is no different from being a real musician vs a DJ is creativity. How you manipulating your sounds. How you arrange/ordering them. How you mangling them. What kind of mood you want to set. What atmosphere you're trying to create. These kinds of things are not the exclusive purview of the real musician.

...

[nate_D]

for me, dj'ing is as easy or hard as you want it to be. you don't have to beat match, worry about ur eqs, read the crowd, or mix on measure. that's what happens when a musician is dj'ing. playing guitar is the same. you don't have to give a shit about your intonation, tone, fx, or rhythm. a real guitarist will notice that you don't and know how hard you suck.

to me a musician is somebody who creates sound and gives a fuck about the way it sounds or affects those listening to it.

[JJarvis]

BeatsMe should post up some guitar music. Maybe then I'll respect his opinion.

[Dominik]

music have allot of aspects.
honestly,most dj's i see don't impress me at all but there are allot musicians they do.
for me it's a question of orientation to not loose the contact to reality.
i wonder often.
there is a stage and on a stage there must be somebody able to at least play one chord on a fuxxing guitar and able to clap a beat on the right notes.
many disk jockey are able to count 1 2 3 4 and just have a taste.
there is so much value for the taste.
beside from lack of originality,using always same structure no ideas about creativity.
however.
many times the "music" in my area is based on a real cheap repeating basedrum.
it's background music.it is so simple that it simply become stupid because this is going on since 20 years and there is no evolution.
it's interesting to look what's the reason.