Ableton Forum

jeskola wrote:i agree. but if i was a promotor paying 1 or 2k for the privelage of somone pressing play it be pretty pissed off!!

but they're paid for the tunes they play arent they, not how they play them? I thought being a great dj was all about picking amazing tunes, or tunes that are only out on dubplates & stuff.

I saw junior vasquez play premixed cds two years ago when he played in Dublin, he seemed to be only changing the cd every twenty five minutes or so. The fact that he was walking around the club loking for smokes and disappearing to the bathroom for ten minutes was a bit of a giveaway!!

The sound engineer and the club promoter both realised this but did nothing. I thought he should't have been paid.

Paolo

p.d. he was so rude when I introduced myself to him and when I gave him a copy of my friends latest tune which had just come out on Twisted, he threw it on the floor and stormed out of the Dj box!! Ironic thing is his tour manager showed me that he already had the record. Total gobshite Vasquez!!! I hope he reads this!!!

Hmmmm, i would drop a pre-prepared mix, but only if I'VE done it and perhaps it's not possible to do live - eg one record waaay quicker than the other or the keys are evil together without pitch correction. Kinda more of a bootleg/edit.

Playing someone ELSE's mix? Not right. Unless you're not getting paid, or everyone's gone home, or you can't stand the promoter, or you're doing a 5 hour set and you need a wee and the toilets are really far away.

mercyplease wrote:Whats the difference between this and a dj who plans his set completely using Live. he doesnt need to beatmatch all hes doing is turning a few knobs just as he had done a thousand times in his bedroom. This has been going on for years but mostly with resident djs in the more commercial type clubs.

Beatmatching is the "skill" people generally associate with spinning, but in a liveset, people are more interested in DJ's the on-the-fly mixing and sequencing abilities. I don't mean to re-kindle the whole DJ-vs-liveset debate, but the point is, it takes different types of talent to do both.

Putting in a pre-recorded CD on while getting drunk behind the decks and pretending to look cool doesn't require any skill at all. Granted, beatmatching doesn't take a helluva lot of skill, but it does take some talent to "read" the crowd and drop the right track at the right time.

Hell, I can't tell you how many DJ's I've seen play in this town that fucked up literally every transition during their sets (I won't name any names, heh). But they play the tracks everyone wants to hear, and the crowds go nuts for it.

I go to hear AND see musicians. I appreciate their talent, and enjoy watching the performance, too.

But DJing? What is there to see? Someone turning EQ bands on and off? Moving a knob or fader? Blending one song into another?

I admire and respect the skill of the DJ who can pack the dance floor and keep it rocking, reading the crowd, etc, but is there really anything to see? And does it matter whether it's a mix CD or not?

IMO, DJing is about what's coming out of the speakers, and keeping asses on the dance floor. Anything else is Milli Vanilli cheerleading.

hambone1 wrote:I go to hear AND see musicians. I appreciate their talent, and enjoy watching the performance, too.

But DJing? What is there to see? Someone turning the EQ on and off? Moving a knob? Blending one song into another?

I admire the skill of the DJ who can pack the dance floor and keep it rocking, reading the crowd, etc, but is there really anything to see? And does it matter whether it's a mix CD or not?

IMO, it's just about what's coming out of the speakers. Anything else is Milli Vanilli cheerleading...

I tend not to watch the DJ when in a club because thats quite gay really, i spend most of my time dancing and listen to the music and enjoying it with rest of the people in the club.

exactly...........what is there to look at?

The DJ is not supposed to be playing a guitar is he.

If you stand there looking at the DJ all the time then your not having much fun are you.

Ball Sack wrote: I tend not to watch the DJ when in a club because thats quite gay really, i spend most of my time dancing and listen to the music and enjoying it with rest of the people in the club.

exactly...........what is there to look at?

The DJ is not supposed to be playing a guitar is he.

If you stand there looking at the DJ all the time then your not having much fun are you.

depends on the circumstances. Like if you can get into the club for free, and you go there alot, after work - and you're working first thing in the morning. Its possible you may just go to the balcony smoke some blunts and zone out for a while - checking out the DJ's. Thats when I notice what they're doing. the rest of the time, I agree..its just about the sound coming out of the speakers. Still...its a bit of a farce paying top dollar to see someone perform, when you could have got the same experience by playing a mix CD through the PA.

b0unce wrote:Still...its a bit of a farce paying top dollar to see someone perform, when you could have got the same experience by playing a mix CD through the PA.

If the DJ is shit yes.

But a good DJ plays the decs like an instrument, so this is a live performance.

fo sho.

I'm talkin about the guys who literally do nothing...they're out there, and they're big names - and they're on the warp label.

b0unce wrote:fo sho.

I'm talkin about the guys who literally do nothing...they're out there, and they're big names - and they're on the warp label.

Who from warp?

from the warp nights I've been too, the lazy git who did nothing time and time again was Chris Clark. and some other dudes I didnt know were just playing cds with partial mixes on.

he hovers behind the laptop, posturing to the beat, with his fingers hovering around the keyboard - but if you're smokin blunts on the balcony you can see he's doing nothing. And here's the cherry on top, everytime a big kick would drop, he'd flip his hand in the air as if he's just triggered it or something

good tunes tho.

I think if your using a laptop to mix then you ve got to do something a bit extra to compensate for the fact that your not beat matching.

hambone1 wrote:I go to hear AND see musicians. I appreciate their talent, and enjoy watching the performance, too.

But DJing? What is there to see? Someone turning EQ bands on and off? Moving a knob or fader? Blending one song into another?

I admire and respect the skill of the DJ who can pack the dance floor and keep it rocking, reading the crowd, etc, but is there really anything to see? And does it matter whether it's a mix CD or not?

IMO, DJing is about what's coming out of the speakers, and keeping asses on the dance floor. Anything else is Milli Vanilli cheerleading.

Change the record

kid606 played at one of our nights with two powerbooks each loaded with a copy of logic and faded between each of his tracks... how live is that?

well...its something at least.