Ableton Forum

this is such a funny topic.

i just started doing a weekly friday nite using trakor, about a montha nd a hlaf ago. every week, it's some different wanna be DJ [ie they're soooooo dope and i should just respect them on general principle ] asking me loaded questions. "so, uh...does that thing mix for you?"..."do you have to do anything?"..."don't you think you're cheating?"

i've found that the mean-ness and frustration implied is in direct relation to either [a] th number of people dancing, or the number of chicks hovering around the lappy, baby no shit. if it is quiet, these fuckers are nowhere to be seen, but when i'm droppin hot shit and chopping it up, n shit, they start crying like little girls. and when they ask their dumb ass questions about cheating, i say hell yeah! i'm cheating my ass off, havng a good time, free beer, some digits, AND getting paid for it. i've even thought about calling the night something with the word "cheat" in it, just to wind em up even more.

RePeter wrote:has anyone else noticed its only other djs who say that using live is "cheating"
everyone else is "wow"

i'm not a dj, and i say it's cheating unless they use live to bring it to the next level. see my post about sasha and a trade of skills in an earlier thread.

k

dirtystudios wrote: i'm not a dj, and i say it's cheating unless they use live to bring it to the next level.

that really applies to anything doesn't it?
i mean, calling yourself a DJ is debatable if you aren't really utilizing the complexity of the tools at your disposal (pitchable turntables, and a mixer with individual EQs). Its why alot of folks who refer to themselves as "DJs", who play vinyl but literally only "play" it are refered to as human winamps.

no matter what you use, do it to its fullest.

DJing is about programming, it's not about beat mixing. Lots of awesome dj's can't beat mix that well, but they can sure get a dance floor rocking. The dance floor is all bout the song, it's always been about the song and always will be about the song. Sure, I can spend an hour watching a turntablist showing off some mad skillz, but then I get bored. Live just makes it that much more detailed, you can control more of the details and make the track more your own.

DJing is about programming, it's not about beat mixing. Lots of awesome dj's can't beat mix that well, but they can sure get a dance floor rocking. The dance floor is all bout the song, it's always been about the song and always will be about the song. Sure, I can spend an hour watching a turntablist showing off some mad skillz, but then I get bored. Live just makes it that much more detailed, you can control more of the details and make the track more your own.

DJing is about one thing, what pumps out of the speakers.

All is Kosher

way i see it its a mean to an end...
If the folks are dancing then does it matter if your using a laptop, vinyl or playin the spoons?

LiveLong wrote:
Some (not all) DJ's are getting much more credit than they deserve, this is usually the later generation that eats the fruits of the underground kick ass pioneers. Ones who work for cash hungry promoters that turned main ClubLand to Mcdonald's.

word....

...i want our music BACK!

Zakari Luk wrote:

like i also said in my post, there are some d.j.'s that i feel pioneered music in there own way, Frankie Knuckles, Francois K, Danny Tenaglia, and a few others. they were not so much playing records as they were doing musical collages. but still, they would not have had the material to work with, had not a musician practiced until his or her hands were bruised and bleeding. if the d.j. element is more important than the musician element, then why bother to play the sounds that a musician made at all?

what about records made for DJ's by DJ's...

and the hour after hour after hour spent defineing mixing ability...

what about the superstar DJ who is making their own tracks, as well as mixing others?

we will take Marco Corola for example..the man has made countless briliant records...and absolutly kills it on 3 decks, truly amazeing to watch perform.

I'd be willing to bet 95% of the best DJ's make their own tracks

Now Granted there seems to be a high percentage these days of dj's who don't do chit.

Djing is a link in the chain for an electronic musicain..spend all day in the studio and all night Killin' it on the wheels..

mike holiday wrote:

Zakari Luk wrote:

like i also said in my post, there are some d.j.'s that i feel pioneered music in there own way, Frankie Knuckles, Francois K, Danny Tenaglia, and a few others. they were not so much playing records as they were doing musical collages. but still, they would not have had the material to work with, had not a musician practiced until his or her hands were bruised and bleeding. if the d.j. element is more important than the musician element, then why bother to play the sounds that a musician made at all?

what about records made for DJ's by DJ's...

and the hour after hour after hour spent defineing mixing ability...

what about the superstar DJ who is making their own tracks, as well as mixing others?

we will take Marco Corola for example..the man has made countless briliant records...and absolutly kills it on 3 decks, truly amazeing to watch perform.

I'd be willing to bet 95% of the best DJ's make their own tracks

Now Granted there seems to be a high percentage these days of dj's who don't do chit.

Djing is a link in the chain for an electronic musicain..spend all day in the studio and all night Killin' it on the wheels..

i believe a d.j. that makes their own tracks is a musician or composer or both, as well as being a d.j.

As soon as someone accuses me of "cheating," I politely ask them "What's the DJ's purpose in life?"
They usually say "To make people dance."
I reply "If I am making people dance, in what way am I cheating?"
They say "You're not beatmatching. There isn't any skill involved."
Then I ask again "What is the DJ's purpose in life?"

It goes that way for a good 5 minutes when finally I say explain how much more I can do with Live than I can with turntables. Of course, vinyl-only DJs are never convinced - Not even after the dance floor is rocking.

In the moment the djs started using laptops the time for the laptop live act was over...
You have to do a bit more on stage now...
I need a roady !!!

Or the Laptop acts start cheating and mix with some alltimes hand up hits and do half DJ/ half live sets...

LiveLong wrote:DJing is about one thing, what pumps out of the speakers.

All is Kosher

Exactly

If some vinyl snob wants to call me a cheat, so what, I couldn't care less. Yes, I am a cheat so stuff you.

DJ'ing is all about getting the dance floor going and this is easily achievable with Ableton and a MIDI controller.

It has nothing to do with beat-matching either as I was a CD DJ before I got into live and was called a cheat then. Unless you use vinyl your a cheat but only in the eyes of idiots who I don't really care about anyway.

As this wonderfull thread keeps rooling, I kind of figured out that operating Live, or a computer in general, might be to much for some people.

Maybe some DJ's are having the same syndrome my grandmother has with the cable box remote, she also prefers to "watch only one channel"




OH, And show these people what is involved, to warp all your trax before you can play. I did, and most told me "why don't you just spin the records, or final squash? You will not have to do all that shit, it is easyer"

I suck at DJing and making music. So, I guess nobody really cares.