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Big Names Syncing During Live Sets

I�m old now. Have any big names crossed over to pure syncing during dj sets? Sasha, Digweed etc? Carl Cox?

Coxy uses sync these days. There's a YouTube video called "How I Play", which I can't embed because I'm on my phone, in which he explains his live setup. Nick Warren is another I've spotted using it, and honestly he plays much better now. J00F uses it, probably plenty of others. Honestly though, who cares?

Cool thanks for the intel. You ending your post with �who cares� is essentially why I asked.

I think the new rules of the game are just play perfect. Get in get out.

I'm a bigger DJ geek than most and while it is nice to hear a vinyl DJ riding mixes and making those little corrections, it doesn't make the set more fun to dance to. And modern CDJs with Rekordbox are so easy to play on even without sync that it's not really impressive to beatmatch on them. So who does it really benefit, apart from the DJ's ego?

Nick Warren is a perfect example of a DJ who plays better with it. He was never a tight mixer and a lot of his transitions were very risk averse back in the day, which meant he often lost the energy between tunes. Now he mixes more adventurously and confidently and his sets flow better. I saw him back in April playing all night long and it was one of the best sets I've heard all year - banger after banger. That's what matters to me in a club.

Yea noted. Just wondering what it would take to be impressive now. If mixing doesn�t factor in it has to be pogramming

Saw Cox at Brooklyn Mirage 2 years ago. Was really underwhelmed despite being with great friends and a supreme sound system. 3 stars out of 5 at best due to just playing wack music. Really basic �public facing� track selection. I wouldn�t go see him again. He mixed well though

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Originally posted by Guest Yea noted. Just wondering what it would take to be impressive now. If mixing doesn�t factor in it has to be pogramming

There is far, far more to good mixing than just lining the beats up. But setting that aside, it's about the same thing it's always been about : blowing it up, structuring a proper set and playing killer tunes all the way through. I go see so many DJs playing on all kinds of formats, and they wank around, lose the energy, send the crowd flat, play a banger that gets things going and then lose the vibe five minutes later. They have no gameplan at all, no control over what they're doing. The sync button doesn't give you that.

I was at a friend�s house this past summer. We were in his studio bs chatting and while we were talking he was casually mixing on his controller with the sync enabled. He wasn�t really looking at his setup. He was doing everything with his right hand.

He was looking at me to the point that I didn�t realize he was mixing for the first 20 mins or so. He sounded pretty damn good too. He�s a producer not a dj.

If you go to a basketball game you want to see someone dunk from the foul line right? You want to see the special thing. If they lower the net to 8 feet and everyone can dunk from the foul line, you have to expect some fans are going to stop buying tickets.

On deeper thought. The idea of Cox or Nick Warren syncing doesn�t really perturb me. I saw Black Coffee do an amaze balls set at Mirage and it was one of my best nights out ever. He probably syncs the whole time (guessing).

I think the scenario that bothers me most is the casual fan stepping into the scene and being able to mix at a decent level basically on day 1. Going back to my basketball analogy. Not only is the net down at 8 feet but basically any fan can walk on the court and dunk.

So once that�s the case dj sets begin to morph into bottled water rather than high end scotch.

No one dunks from the free throw line in game

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Originally posted by Guest If you go to a basketball game you want to see someone dunk from the foul line right? You want to see the special thing. If they lower the net to 8 feet and everyone can dunk from the foul line, you have to expect some fans are going to stop buying tickets.

Nobody goes to a nightclub just to hear the DJ beatmatch. Your average clubber doesn't have a clue what a DJ actually does. The only DJs people really go to see for the technical difficulty of what they're doing are the 3 and 4 deck guys like Jeff Mills.

I don't want to throw shade here, but let's look at your last Youtube mix you shared - the dark progressive one. Nice tunes and your transitions are pretty tight, but you're doing 60-90 second mixes, just mixing on the percussive intro, then pretty much taking the track out entirely once the new bassline comes in. That is not going to wow anyone in a club. Nobody is going to stop buying a ticket if you automate that.

Like I say, it's about the DJ's ego. The skill of beatmatching on vinyl to do those transitions probably took you a couple of years of practise to master, and it's still something you have to concentrate on every time you do it. It's uncomfortable for you that someone can come in and do just as a good a job immediately by pressing a button. But what you really need to think about now is what sets you apart from everyone else now that little button has made it easy to do the 60 second blend. How are you going to raise your mixing game and focus on the other aspects of a transition? How are you going to rock a dancefloor? Because let's face it, the guy coming in on day one using sync button hasn't spent 25 years buying records and listening to dance music, structuring a set, playing to a crowd in different scenarios. If he's doing just as good a job as you on day one, what exactly have you been doing?

Northern Exposure, despite being mixed/looped with the help of pro tools, really opened my eyes early to how mixes should be and I have always tried to mix at least 2-3 mins minimum, layering sounds over the top that compliment each other. The sync button only aids that letting you focus on picking the right music so I see it as a positive thing.

I think the novelty of being able to mix by ear only has long since wore off. It's not difficult and those who never tried could give a shit when they are drunk, high and trying to hookup on the dancefloor.

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Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Nobody goes to a nightclub just to hear the DJ beatmatch. Your average clubber doesn't have a clue what a DJ actually does. The only DJs people really go to see for the technical difficulty of what they're doing are the 3 and 4 deck guys like Jeff Mills. I don't want to throw shade here, but let's look at your last Youtube mix you shared - the dark progressive one. Nice tunes and your transitions are pretty tight, but you're doing 60-90 second mixes, just mixing on the percussive intro, then pretty much taking the track out entirely once the new bassline comes in. That is not going to wow anyone in a club. Nobody is going to stop buying a ticket if you automate that. Like I say, it's about the DJ's ego. The skill of beatmatching on vinyl to do those transitions probably took you a couple of years of practise to master, and it's still something you have to concentrate on every time you do it. It's uncomfortable for you that someone can come in and do just as a good a job immediately by pressing a button. But what you really need to think about now is what sets you apart from everyone else now that little button has made it easy to do the 60 second blend. How are you going to raise your mixing game and focus on the other aspects of a transition? How are you going to rock a dancefloor? Because let's face it, the guy coming in on day one using sync button hasn't spent 25 years buying records and listening to dance music, structuring a set, playing to a crowd in different scenarios. If he's doing just as good a job as you on day one, what exactly have you been doing?

Yea I would say that the majority of my effort when I make one of those mixes is to make sure there are no weak tracks and to putz with the arrangement of those tracks to make it cohesive. My blends are functional, maybe in a similar style of Sven Vath where he just gets it done as simply as possible. The progressive mix you referred to was actually pretty hard for me to execute. The one I posted was version 3 with the previous drafts having energy drops where I didn�t want them. In the end I�m probably the one that plays them the most. I loveeee playing my mixes back in the car. Love it!!

I think your insight that it comes down to ego is pretty accurate. I don�t really behave in a smug manner at all when I�m around other music people but in the past overhearing a newbie talk about how they just started �learning to mix on the newest cdjs this week� always irritated me. If they really stuck with it I�d feel different but I�ve seen so many half assed people come and go in the Philly scene that I can�t help but get irritated at the new, modern, low barrier to entry. In full bloom this looks / sounds like djs that are playing at parties, maybe opening and flat out shouldn�t be there. No sense of vibe or programming. I guess that ultimately rests tho on the people throwing the party not the djs themselves.

I�m defintely teetering on old man stuck in his ways status which is ok . I still love the hobby and vibe of the music. Just not crazy about where we are collectively at this time. Soon it will be an Ai hologram machine learning bot programmed to mix like Sasha and that will be a wrap

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Originally posted by the-sixth I think the novelty of being able to mix by ear only has long since wore off. It's not difficult and those who never tried could give a shit when they are drunk, high and trying to hookup on the dancefloor.

Hahaha so true !!!

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Originally posted by Guest If they really stuck with it I�d feel different but I�ve seen so many half assed people come and go in the Philly scene that I can�t help but get irritated at the new, modern, low barrier to entry. In full bloom this looks / sounds like djs that are playing at parties, maybe opening and flat out shouldn�t be there. No sense of vibe or programming. I guess that ultimately rests tho on the people throwing the party not the djs themselves.

This is all true, and when you DJ yourself there is always a frustration when someone audibly worse than you is on the decks, fucking around. But I've seen vinyl DJs do this as well - people playing early on and every transition is a proper "shoes in the washer" clanger, and you just think "You're not ready for this gig yet. Why are you up there?" The local DJ game has always been about who you know and who you can bring through the door, not what you can do behind the decks. The sync button might have increased the number of pretenders clogging up the slots, but it didn't invent that syndrome.

True that. It�s so funny to me how irrelevant the question itself is. Re: sync. Just a given/0 fucks given topic

That�s how you know you�re outdated

I've always felt pressure to stay away from the sync and guilty whenever I've used it to clean a mix (nearly hiding it if it wasn't already late in the night and I lost the fucks to care). Or felt like a lazy slob doing it at home.

Reassuring to read this thread knowing others use it so freely. I learned how to mix on vinyl and tried to carry those "ethos/practices" with me to digital when I bought a controller. It isn't easy, though.

It's so inhibitive and exhausting following what the crabs in the scene say. I hate I cared for so long, admire the young people who never did, and am glad I finally got to a point where I don't either and can do what I want with the music I discover without a flying fuck. I know I can beat match. I know I can find dope tunes. Now I don't care so much about proving the former as much as the latter.

Pre-recorded sets, that's a different story. But I don't think any of us follow DJs or frequent clubs where that's an issue.

I hope.

And we'd catch on to that quickly, anyway.

If youre not mixing on a rotary mixer you should probably go kill yourself! Thats my statement on dj'ing skills...

Oh, the sync button. Sigh. When tracks are lined up to CDJ's internal grid algorithm, it processes each track. It's not perfect yet, but it will get better eventually. You can export a synced track against one without and hear for yourself. I would use headphones for this tho. I love the art form you make for yourself starting as a bedroom DJ whether it's decks, digital, or a combo of both, and applying at the club or event. When it comes to decks learning the appropriate tone-arm height, anti-skate, and dialing in the correct tracking force of the needle while another track is playing is another art form as well. You just need to be quick about it that's why I prefer the opening slot.

I'm not against sync at all. Some of the best artists in history throughout time never relied on it like Mozart or Beethoven. Everyone listened to their pace and timing. Not the robotic feel at all you get when you sync pieces of music to a single tempo. That randomness moving through time sounds more organic, warm, or pleasant. When listening to a synced set is just another reason to take out your phone on the dancefloor.

On a side note, pushing the platter on your deck will only make the track return to its original speed. The pitch fader is the accurate way, Mark Anthony.

& yes, there is more to a great night than just beatmatching, as others stated above.

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