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-- Your Signature Track Lately?
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| Originally posted by bas You know absolutely nothing about the Los Angeles club/dance scene and these posts just reek of it. Passport? I fucking live here you doucher. |
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| Originally posted by KiNeTiC ENeRgY He is out there dude. There's more than one way to throw a party. Don't take it personal  |
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| Originally posted by djkatmaus Good for you? Doucher? Wow, I could come up with something better than that. Name me some clubs you play at? Don't lie. I was a scout for Universal Records. I know what's outhere. How many times a week do you play? What's your DJ name? |
I am not understanding the hate in this thread, which ever way it is directed.
Something that is being totally over looked in this thread is that there are different types of clubs out there.
Correct me if I am wrong but TM plays in quite a commercial club. Therefore commercial club rules apply.
Clubs with a more mainstream audience are far more sensitive to DJs who play obscure matterial than clubs who are at the heart of an underground scene.
The average clubber in each has a totally different mind set and you are not comparing like for like.
TM has a DJing job that pays and he gets to do what he loves.
People have been very quick to judge his choice of track that he posted, and at face value it's not my first choice either. But no one has actually asked him why...?
It may be a number of reasons but I would put money on the fact that its based around what it does to the club that he works in and not necessarily a question of a personal love for the track itself. Let's face it, no self respecting DJ would assign themselves a signature track if it cleared the dance floor.
Surely that sits at the very heart of being a DJ, whoever you play for?
Cheers
Nem
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| Originally posted by Nemesis44 I am not understanding the hate in this thread, which ever way it is directed. Something that is being totally over looked in this thread is that there are different types of clubs out there. |
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| Originally posted by djkatmaus Not at all taking it personal. I don't like it when a certain few find it necessary to attack others just because of what they're doing. I don't knock anyone for what they spin, what they perform, what they write. |
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| Originally posted by Clovis I dunno where to begin. Bas went to CSULB, and lives in LA, and has played several great parties around here. Just because Long Beach has a bunch of hip hop clubs does not make it the 'Hip Hop capital of the world' I would say either Los Angeles or New York hold that title, in general, if it is necessary to even give it. Also, we play deep house, techno, disco, and everything in between at parties all around LA. There is a market for good music, that you are obviously unaware of. It's not mainstream and it's not what is most prevalent in Los Angeles at all, but it exists. If you like playing trance, find trance parties and play at them. lol Simple as that. |
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| Originally posted by Nemesis44 People have been very quick to judge his choice of track that he posted, and at face value it's not my first choice either. But no one has actually asked him why...? It may be a number of reasons but I would put money on the fact that its based around what it does to the club that he works in and not necessarily a question of a personal love for the track itself. Let's face it, no self respecting DJ would assign themselves a signature track if it cleared the dance floor. |
Haha. This is the thread that keeps on giving.
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| Originally posted by Clovis Wow this guy is a jobber. Scout for universal records? Why didn't you hook yourself up? |
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| Originally posted by bas (hard to remember 8+ years of gigs around here). Where do you live again? Congrats on being a "scout for Universal Records", something that has absolutely no bearing on me or the music I play. |
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| Originally posted by djkatmaus First question: 8 Years. to my 21/2 years, after a 13 year absence. Is this your full time job? DJing isn't my full time gig. Mixing and recording bands is. I have a sound company which I deal with on a daily basis. Most of the time I'm never home. That being said, I don't have the opportunity to play out as much, and when I do, if they want me to spin a certain way, then that's what I have to do. Second question: Long Beach. Third question: The reason I brought this to attention is because many folks like to bullshit where they work/worked. |
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| Originally posted by bas Unfortunately not my full time job, not yet anyway...I'd love to get more into studio engineering. Anyway, sorry I got a little upset there. Myself, as well as my friends (and tons of other LA djs/promoters), have worked hard over the past few years to get Los Angeles out of the stigma you're talking about (nothing but shite clubs and hip hop etc), and really bring us all to the forefront of dance music again. And like I said, we're doing a fucking great job at it |
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| Originally posted by djkatmaus Sorry I got hot too. I should've stayed chill and I didn't. This is exactly the samething I'm working on. To break the Southern California area of its Hip Hop dominance. The reason I brought up Long Beach is because, Long Beach has been my focus since 07. I know I should focus on LA too, but my confidence level isn't quite there. Yet. Anywho, we have nothing for OUR type of music here. Every club is Hip Hop, and when they do give you a free night, they want you to play the mainstream stuff. You either have to travel to LA or San Francisco to really experience it. I'm not trying to fight you guys, or anything of that nature. Maybe I should've been a little more forward on my background before I posted. I'm still new to the EDM world, and I'm trying to find my own style within the EDM community. Unfortunately, I'm on my own. All my DJ friends are Hip Hop guys, and always give me crap for what I play, so not much help there. Studio engineering is great. Far much easier and laid back than live sound. For the most part, live sound is my gig. I don't do much studio gigs anymore. |
We all DJ what we want to/have to for a million different reasons, clearly. Bottom line, I don't care how many gigs you've had or even if you're only a bedroom DJ, no one person is better than another to say what you should be playing or how you should be playing it or for what reasons, and that's what got this thread off the deep end in the first place.
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| Originally posted by bas Pfft...fuck Long Beach lol |
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| Originally posted by miamitranceman We all DJ what we want to/have to for a million different reasons, clearly. Bottom line, I don't care how many gigs you've had or even if you're only a bedroom DJ, no one person is better than another to say what you should be playing or how you should be playing it or for what reasons, and that's what got this thread off the deep end in the first place. |
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| Originally posted by woscar LOL mfitterer, who's coming up with the assclown arguments? I don't like it because it doesn't appeal to me in any way anymore. It's really that simple. |
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| Originally posted by Sadface That's ridiculous. He obviously enjoys Djing and furthermore he clearly understands his role as a DJ. He realizes that the party is not about him but about the kids in the club. They're not going out to indulge his personal tastes, they're there to enjoy themselves. It's his job to make sure they like the music, and if he can pull that off and enjoy himself in the process I don't see anything wrong. |
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| Originally posted by djkatmaus First, before you can tell a promoter what's up, you need to be someone, have a name first. |
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| Originally posted by djkatmaus Only people I know that have that type of power are the ones you criticize. i.e. Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Oakenfold, David Guetta, etc. I'm not at that level. I've done much promoting in my life and the way your talking I would never hire you. Second, you don't know Los Angeles do ya. Read my post again, HIP HOP capital of the world. Trance music is fly shit here bro. Trust me. |
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| Originally posted by djkatmaus Those are rules, plan and simple. This is LA bro, not Oregon. . |
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| Originally posted by djkatmaus Second, Trance is not an American music style. You need to educate the people first. The music which they're influenced or are slowly getting into is the Deadmau5, Tiesto, Oakenfold stuff. Why do you think we spin this stuff. It's a new style to them. I have a lot friends who are getting into EDM, and boycotting Hip Hop. Would you like to guess what music they're listening too? |
They listen to Tiesto et all; because he markets his brand better than anyone else to the USA.| quote: |
| Originally posted by djkatmaus It's easier for me to introduce a true LA Hip Hop dude to Tiesto music then it would be with someone like Super 8. |
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| Originally posted by djkatmaus Trust me, with the attitude you have, you will not get far simply because what are you bringing to the table? Do you simply spin records, are you an artist, do you write your own stuff? If your nothing more than a DJ, and you came here with that attitude, have fun bagging groceries. If you don't want to follow the owner and promoters requirements, they'll find someone else. We have thousands of DJ's in LA, they will find someone in a matter of minutes. You're nothing to them. |
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| Originally posted by djkatmaus Lastly, take a look at the DJ Charts. Why is it the ones you dislike are always in the top 10? Either they're doing something right or they don't have balls. |
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| Originally posted by djkatmaus Once again I will state. If someone asks me to spin 3 hours of Tiesto music only, I will do that, no questions asked. His music kicks ass and whenever I play his stuff, or the other stuff you don't like, the dance floor is packed and the bar is making money. And I have a gig to comeback too, because I gave them what they want. You have to get out of that dream dj booth called the bedroom sometime my friend. |
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| Originally posted by miamitranceman We all DJ what we want to/have to for a million different reasons, clearly. Bottom line, I don't care how many gigs you've had or even if you're only a bedroom DJ, no one person is better than another to say what you should be playing or how you should be playing it or for what reasons, and that's what got this thread off the deep end in the first place. |
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| Originally posted by Clovis Honestly, the only person you should be DJing for, at the heart, is yourself. |
Honestly, as much drama/silliness as there is in this thread, I find it fairly interesting to see all these different perspectives and approaches to DJing as both a career and an art form.
Here's a little more insight from my perspective, for what it's worth. Forgive my long-windedness. I'm prepared for tl;dr 
Here in moderately small Dayton, OH, I'm in a bit of a strange situation. The scene (if you'll forgive the term) here has been fairly dead for a number of years, but it really wasn't always that way. There was a fairly decent market for electronic music back in the mid-90's to early 2000's, though it was often more focused along the vein of industrial/goth, big beat, synthpop, and even some hard house, acid techno, etc. The main point being, the younger side of the "going out" group within the city was much more open-minded than the current equivalent. And by that, I mean that they didn't go out to hear the same shit they heard on the radio all day. They were excited to hear new sounds. They had the "what the hell is this song, it's amazing!" mentality that you see very little of today. There was a club here called The Asylum which is pretty much legendary amongst the locals. You had the club packed with hundreds of people three times a week, everyone dancing, partying, smiling... having a great time.
The scene in Dayton was very alive for a city of this size, largely due to the success of the Asylum, a decent rave scene at the end of the 90's, and people just being in the right place at the right time. Eventually, things moved more in a hard dance and DnB direction, and then eventually all but disappeared.
The above picture is but a faded memory to many of my older friends, and unfortunately, something I never really got to experience here.
Fast forward to now. I was never able to really be a part of that scene (I was 14 or 15 years old when things were really going well, and I didn't even really know what this stuff was.) I started going out in the mid-2000's. By then, hip hop had already taken over in the bigger clubs. So now, what we're left with is a group of older, jaded people that used to be involved in the scene, and a bunch of young kids that want to hear Lil' Wayne and Soulja Boy. Anyone who is interested in hearing EDM has nowhere to go, so there are promoters like me throwing smaller parties on weeknights at the top-40 clubs. In a way, it's not really fair to either side... the people wanting to hear new/underground/non-mainstream music don't really associate these clubs with this type of music, so it's hard to build a following. And, the people who regularly go to these clubs end having the "are you gonna play this shit all night?"/"can you play something with words?" situation.
A lot of the twenty-somethings in my town (like myself) didn't really experience the scene as it used to be, and the thirty-somethings in my town saw it at its "peak" and are now fairly jaded and are almost depressing to talk to, since they all pretty much feel that it can "never be like it used to be". Most of the people who have any pull around here are in the older crowd. They try to bring something back, it doesn't go how they want, so they stop trying.
So, it finally all leads back to something semi-on topic. My struggle has been, as a DJ and a small-time promoter, to find a balance between trying to pull out the older crowd wanting to have somewhere to go again, and to find the younger crowd that actually does want to hear and experience something new. This makes it hard for me as a DJ, when I want to play things like Clovis/Bas/Vana/woscar/etc. play.
For me, it's not a job, it's about the music. I don't have a problem with people who do it just "as a job"... I'm good friends with a number of them. However, I also realize that if I only play entirely for myself, I will never get gigs, I will never get anyone to come out, and nothing will happen around here any time soon. If I want to do it just as a job, I have built up enough contacts and scratched enough backs that I could probably have one... and play hip-hop/top 40. It's just not what I'm interested in, personally. I have a day job.
I'm one of two or three people that's doing anything remotely EDM-related in my town that wasn't part of the old "scene" and, in my opinion, it needs a balance of getting the participation of both crowds to work. But, it needs a "fresh blood" approach. I'm someone who is in the unique position of friends with all of the local veterans, but was not involved with the scene back then. So, I'm giving it my best shot, and playing tracks that I feel are dancey and fun enough to get people to dance and maintain interest without feeling like I'm selling my soul. It's not something that's easy.
On the promotion side of things, I'm trying to bring new things to the city. I've been greatly inspired by the rooftop parties that the Culprit guys have been throwing in L.A. and that's not something that has happened around here, to my knowledge. I'm currently working with someone on getting a good rooftop spot to give this a shot here, with the idea that maybe we can start something where there are no preconceived notions about the venue in particular as to what you "should" be hearing.
Anyways, yikes, sorry for the short novel.
Also, the thing that stuck out to me the most in this thread was:
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| Dj'ing is not profitable enough to sell out unless you're at the top. |
Though, bear in mind... not everyone who alters or bends their playlists oustide of what they want to hear right at that moment is doing so for the sake of money.
If your income depends on playing certain types of music then it's not selling out.
It's pretty fucking hard to play what you want on the equipment you want with no money.
I play purely for myself and have a job that pays for all my equipment. But if it was my job I definately would play anything that was required to keep my employer happy.
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