In the past couple of years I have been noticing that there are a disturbing number of DJs out there who aren't really all that "into" their music.

It may just be localised to here in Melbourne (or perhaps Oz), as at the moment buying decks and "being a DJ" is very much in vogue, however it'a all too often that I ask DJs "what is this track?" and they genuinely can't tell you what the name of it is, because they don't know, or don't care.

Personally, music transcends all else for me. Sadly, socialising is only a by-product of clubbing for me. If the music is good, everything else is unimportant. In the same vein though, if anyone wants to talk tunes with me; they'd better settle in for the long haul, because I'm going to ignore what's going on around me and talk music.

Masses of local DJs that I speak to, both friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers, often seem completely disinterested in the discussion of music. i.e "great set tonight, loved x & y tune", "thanks, I'm going to get a beer, you want one?". During the day, a lot of them don't even seem to listen to dance music.

On the discussion of mixing, many of them will bring out such gems as "phrasing? what's that?" or "mixing isn't important at all".

The last and most frustrating conversation you can have regards certain elements of a track; i.e "that hi-hat/kick drum/whatever is awesome!", "they all sound the same to me...?", or perhaps they will admit that they don't know the difference between techno or trance.

It's easy enough to tell the real music lovers. I've never met Adam/nefardec or seen him play, but the way he talks about music on here makes it abundantly clear that it's his number one priority in life. In person, it's even easier to spot.

How is it that people with only a passing interest in dance music are getting gigs all over town? Why do they bother? I'm fairly certain it's purely a status thing, and that shits me to tears that such unworthy dolts are out clogging up our bars and clubs with their shit music.

So, yeah, anyway that was a long rant, but go ahead and discuss...

For the record, I'm talking entirely about local DJs, not big internationals.

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kinda weird... ive never encountered this. i could understand this maybe if they were doing a music genre that they were not into such as hip hop. but it seems like you are really talking to novice DJs if they dont even know phrasing or dont think mixing is important.

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Or maybe they just don't care to discuss it with you?

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quote:

Originally posted by theognis1002 kinda weird... ive never encountered this. i could understand this maybe if they were doing a music genre that they were not into such as hip hop. but it seems like you are really talking to novice DJs if they dont even know phrasing or dont think mixing is important.

Some of the guys I'm thinking of have been playing out for two years or so! It's not so much that they're ignorant of certain mixing techniques, it's that they don't care to learn. If someone was to tell me about a new technique I'd never heard of, I'd definitely be interested...

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Originally posted by Project-K Or maybe they just don't care to discuss it with you?

I knew someone would say that.

It's not me, it's them.

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I know a dj like that. He plays total garbage and doesn't know jack shit about music, or Djing for that matter. It pisses me off.

Seen that kind of wankers a few times, but exclusively in crappy nightclubs where you go in flip flops and drunk.

I don't know, I'd probably give out the same type of answer if someone I didn't know came to ask me a bunch of questions 5 minutes after I'd finished my set. It's a bit like the interviewers shoving a mic in the face of someone who just completed the marathon to ask how they feel when they can barely catch their breath.

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in a lot of scenes it's just not cool to get technical like that in a social situation. if you catch these guys one on one in a studio or something they'd be a lot different.


there are ignorant people too, but for the most part id guess you are fighting with egos and social behavior

i kind of agree with you in some of the things you are saying, i put it all down to people using cd's these days. I know that sounds stupid but i think music is so much more accessible these days, you dont have to wait for tracks to be imported to oz, you sit at home and click buy and have it straight away.

I too had a conversation at a club with a melbourne dj, whom i wont name and i asked him "what should i expect from you tonight?" his reply was "I dont know, i downloaded a heap of shit last night"

hahahahahaa.. why would anyone want to discuss music and all that shit when the main point of going out is to PARTY and have a damn good time!??!!?

reserve your opinions n technincal mumbo jumbo for the studio or some other setting...

The stuff he mentioned is hardly very technical.

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Originally posted by Mr.Mystery I don't know, I'd probably give out the same type of answer if someone I didn't know came to ask me a bunch of questions 5 minutes after I'd finished my set. It's a bit like the interviewers shoving a mic in the face of someone who just completed the marathon to ask how they feel when they can barely catch their breath.

Agreed. I'm not necessarily talking about seeing them straight after their set though, it could be down the street during the day, or at a club they're not playing at that night.

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Originally posted by nefardec in a lot of scenes it's just not cool to get technical like that in a social situation. if you catch these guys one on one in a studio or something they'd be a lot different.

Again, I agree, and ditto as above. Also I'm not necessarily talking about technical stuff like harmonic mixing, it might be the simple matter of me asking "what tunes do you like at the moment?" to which they might respond "I don't know, I can never remember the names of the songs..." (It's not that they're trying to withhold their "fresh" new tracks from me either)

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Originally posted by narcism i kind of agree with you in some of the things you are saying, i put it all down to people using cd's these days. I know that sounds stupid but i think music is so much more accessible these days, you dont have to wait for tracks to be imported to oz, you sit at home and click buy and have it straight away. I too had a conversation at a club with a melbourne dj, whom i wont name and i asked him "what should i expect from you tonight?" his reply was "I dont know, i downloaded a heap of shit last night"

I know a reasonably popular local DJ who goes to the record store every week, spends four hours listening to tunes, then goes home and illegally downloads all the tracks he's heard without buying a single record! That's the kind of shit I'm talking about.

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Mix archive | Melbourne club guide