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DJing to tell stories

Okay this sounds crazy but does anyone else on here DJ not so much to make people dance at a club or something, but to tell a story through music by a particular mood or theme. I mean I haven't felt like I just wanted to DJ just to make people dance (in the future that is...) but to tell a story or take people on a journey. Like say put together tracks that have a particular theme, such as loss (more downtempo, darker tracks or slower tracks...sadder), joy (more uplifting, energetic, epic and exciting) or maybe even a mixture of the two. I don't think DJing should have to only be for the sake of making people shake their booties lol. It can be a real artistic medium for self expression, much like painting or writing. That is what I've always done, even with non-trance tunes. I am wondering what other people think about this. Thanks.

I do that sometimes. back in the day, i would have a song thats playing that may have the lyrics like i don't want you no more or something and then mix it into digital allies - without you. For me i would get even more into it and have a whole love story between a guy and girl who love eachother, encounter ploblems, and get back together it was pretty cool if you followed the lyrics.

overlapping vocals is great for this. but you must be careful. i'm not much of a vocal guy, as the genres i spin aren't very vocal heavy (techno, electro, minimal, acid, glitch). but, when you do find tracks with vocals that fit nicely, it sounds quite good, if you use them as instruments, as sound, not just for their words. like:

Anthony Rother - Body to Body
into
LFO - Freak

or

Anthony Rother - Punks
into
Adam X - My Mind is Clear

make for some sick ass mixes with overlapping vocals. check out Frank Lorber's set at Sputnik Intesivstation from early last year so you can hear the first one. fucking sick set too.

where can i find this set.....btw where do all of you guys find sets

i think if your playing in a club then your job as a GOOD dj is to make people dance, drink, educate them a little bit more and be happy. At a rave perhaps its more about giving people a journey and telling a story....but really if you want to be artistic and show people your inner self *spew* then probably production is better for that.

Personally I think this 'telling a story through a mix' thing is ridiculous...

the philosophy behind the whole "cybertrance" bullshit

With the right songs and the right venue and the right people it can happen. In a club i dont think it would work very well because people are normaly their to dance, drink and wake up the next morning and say 'what the *****?'

I think a good DJ can tell a story with the tunes he/she is playing - they don't even have to be vocal tracks if you do it right. Sometimes, the feel and mood of the tunes is enough.

i think the whole "tellin a story" things sounds kinda like some new-age artistic bullshit. no offence.


when i go out to see a DJ - i expect them to make me dance my effin ass off and to basically go wild!

bah, how boring of all of you. there is music thta is more than just for your hips, it's for your head! sure, the DJs job is to make you dance, but there are always those who take you that bit farther, make you think, make you feel you're being taken somewhere.

quote:

Originally posted by spdandpwr where can i find this set.....btw where do all of you guys find sets

i use soulseek. pm yout slsk username, if you have it, and i'll add ya to my list. that set is a great example of telling a bit of a story.

well i dont' do that at clubs i just do it at home...also you can use tunes that sound really good nobody said all vocal and/or non vocal tunes have to be bad songs in order to tell a story. SO youll be dancing to a story

A lot of the old late 60's, early 70's Disco DJs used to do this.

Very often they would pick tracks that were relevant to something that had happened that month or week. Francis Grasso R.I.P. used to do this all the time.

He's is probably THE godfather of all DJs. He pretty much wrote all the rules that we still abide by today.

Sadly, as far as I know although his sets were legendary at the time they have never been recorded due to the technical limitations of that time.

Cheers
Nem

Well i'm perfectly aware that people go to clubs to dance, thats a no brainer. What I am saying is that being a DJ doesn't just mean going to a club to make people dance. I mean to me DJing is a way for someone to get something out, no different than a songwriter or a musician or producer whatever. Basstard, I don't think it's a "new agey bullshit" thing. I mean the way I see it, DJs and producers are now becoming almost the same thing. There are so many DJs who are also producers or vice versa, so it is elevating it to a new height. This way the DJ is becoming an artist, especially with things like Ableton Live, that are allowing a DJ to have much more creativity in the mix. Look at Sasha, he, in my opinion, is one of the most creative DJs out there. In a way I think he created his "Involver" CD in a way that told a story. The story is up to the listener to decide. I'm not talking about it as vocals telling a story like songwriters do, but a story brought on by just the emotions of the tracks, the buildups and climaxes, the track selection and the dark vs. light tracks being played. It can all tell a story, if one was just to open their mind up to it.

quote:

Originally posted by BradP Personally I think this 'telling a story through a mix' thing is ridiculous...

+1

without lyrics, you have no story.

quote:

Originally posted by djkoolaide +1 without lyrics, you have no story.

Um you can have a story without lyrics, the story is up to the listener to figure out. Stories can be conveyed through the emotions in the tracks, sure with some lyrics, but even instrumental tracks have stories. Many classical songs that were instrumental had stories, or were actually about something, and they conveyed this through the different instruments and moods of the songs. EDM is no different, esp trance. The best way to think of this is "background music" or music used in movies or TV shows to convey the action on screen. Definitely the "story" could be conveyed through images like with the new DVJ-X1 DVD player from Pioneer, I mean DJs have talked about encorporating that so it would help in my opinion if a DJ wanted to be real artsy and compile images to go along with the music to convey a story or a message.

Trance/Prog does bring images to my mind when I listen to it, so I don't see why more can be done to put a story into the music, like a movie or a book. More DJs nowadays have been doing soundtracks, either mixed or produced tracks or both, kind of like Oakenfold did with Swordfish, and PvD did with a movie called Zurdo I believe... and BT has done this stuff as well. See DJs/Producers have done it so it is possible and not "new agey" or "ridiculous" as other people have noted. Sure its your opinion but its been done before...so I personally don't see anything wrong with it. I actually think its really cool.

quote:

Originally posted by Spirit5 Um you can have a story without lyrics, the story is up to the listener to figure out.

So basically you're saying all music tells a story. I think you people think too deep about this. Sure music has emotion and all that, but it doesn't tell a story. I listen to music to dance and enjoy it. If I wanted a story i'd read a book.

i think your all absolute f*** heads that disagree to tell stories using the moods or emotions in a track. why the hell did u ever become a dj, ure supposed to for your love of music. of coarse a song can tell a story if it has no lyrics, its just easier to spot when they do because they're sayn it too you, DUMBASS. djing IS an artform and art is a form of self expression and if u dont believe that you will be forever limited in your capabilities, due to a lack of passion for djing.

+1 to spirit 5.

peace.

I think you're completely wrong DJ_RoKo. You're saying that to love music it has to tell a story? I don't love music because of that. I love it because it's fun, exciting, relaxing, energetic, etc. Not because each track or mix tells a story.

There should be a poll to see how many people think mixes tell stories. It'd be interesting to see.

im not saying that it has to i sed i believe that nearly all tracks have an emotion or mood and sometimes tracks have a deeper meaning. i also didnt say that all mixes tell a story i sed that it is a good idea for the ones that do as it makes the mix more interesting.

i love music because of its emotion that it recreates in ure own mind, and makes you feel that certain mood. sometimes this may just be to have fun, but with trance its much more, thats why i love trance soo much.

i rate a production on how well it makes you feel this emotion or mood not just because it sounds cool. most tracks do this by kind of telling a story in some way.

thats why i believe djs should believe that they are more than just people that play music to a crowd to make them dance, but an artist that shows them thier artistic impressoin and takes them on journey and shares with them thier greatest passion.

thats why i think its stupid if you just think your a sikk kunt coz you can mix well, i believe that people that put alot more thought into thier mixes are the much better djs.

i hope this clears up my previous post and you understand better where i'm coming from. im sure theres a lot of people who agree with me on this post.

peace

I completely agree with you Roko. See there are many DJs I feel that have this connection with the crowds that goes beyond just trying to make people dance and just playing tunes for the sake of playing tunes and not have a deeper passion for it and purpose. I mean why is this music the way it is if it's not following a certain story. This story doesn't neccessarily have to be a traditional story, but something that flows as such as it creates images and intense feelings and has a theme or purpose. I think there have been CDs out there that have this, such as "Involver" that I mentioned in an earlier post, and many other CDs from the biggest DJs like Armin (Universal Religion in my opinion does), Tiesto's ISOS and Magik series, and many others. I take it this way, I got in to alot of this kind of music not just by the early artists I got into like BT and PvD, but from some video game music. Noteably there was this amazing soundtrack to the original "Unreal". The music was a mixture of ambient and melodic trance, but this was back in 1998. The music sounded orchestral too, but it was mostly eletronic. Anyways it really added to the game's overall feeling of being on another planet. I actually started playing the game more for the music than anything else really..well the pretty graphics too.

I don't think of Trance in the same vein as hip hop. This has been debated more but a lot of "mainstream" hip hop is targeted through it's lyrics and the beats to be "booty shaking music". Sure there's the deeper hip hop stuff, but the vast majority that gets airplay is the stuff played in clubs. Trance is on a whole nother level. I see it's potential to be much more, much deeper as it is. I see it as someone else noted..it's for your head, not just your body. Why make it beautiful and ethereal sounding if it's following doesn't embrace it as such? This doesn't mean have a bunch of hippie followers, but maybe trance does need more philosophy and spirituality integrated into it to compliment it's intense beauty and emotions.

I understand. We just think completely different.

Re: DJing to tell stories

quote:

Originally posted by Spirit5 Okay this sounds crazy but does anyone else on here DJ not so much to make people dance at a club or something, but to tell a story through music by a particular mood or theme. I mean I haven't felt like I just wanted to DJ just to make people dance (in the future that is...) but to tell a story or take people on a journey. Like say put together tracks that have a particular theme, such as loss (more downtempo, darker tracks or slower tracks...sadder), joy (more uplifting, energetic, epic and exciting) or maybe even a mixture of the two. I don't think DJing should have to only be for the sake of making people shake their booties lol. It can be a real artistic medium for self expression, much like painting or writing. That is what I've always done, even with non-trance tunes. I am wondering what other people think about this. Thanks.

yes pretty much always!

I actually aim to do this. They might not always go together, story-wise, but I try to keep the same theme. ie. I wont play something with good-vibe lyrics, then play a track with depressing lyrics. I'll try and build it up. I think thats what mixing is all about, bands will do it with cd tracks, why not do it with my sets as well.

Um, you can definitely tell a story without vocals. That's kinda a no-brainer in my opinion. Another +1 to Spirit5.

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