Everytime people see my decks in my room I get asked this. I don't think most people realize that a lot of djs don't scratch. It always takes me a minute to reply. People generally expect instant gratification and djing isn't about that. It's not like I can "play" my turntable like a guitar for 3 minutes and woo someone.

I just think its kind of funny. I always offer to spin a set for like 30 minutes that they can listen to, but no one has taken me up on that offer yet. Otherwise, I'd just be playing 1 or 2 songs and feel inclined to use a ton of effects or something, which isn't really that "cool." I haven't really tried mixing short sections of a lot of songs together, but I guess that is the best that I could do for like 10 minutes.

I'm curious what you all say when people ask you this.

I bet the person that says it only says it when there's other people with them. Or a girl says it.

You have value as an entertainer and by challenging you, that person can get you to lower your value in the eyes of other people.

Things to do:
-Flat out ignore them and talk about something else. Don't react.
-Do something funny, like exaggerate scratching "WIKKY WIKKY WIKKY!" then switch conversation to something else.
-Joke with them that they're challenging you and jokingly challenge them to a battle on the decks (if you know they can't scratch or dj)
-Imitate what they just said.
-Give em a weird look and switch topics.
-Misinterpret what they said as a compliment (oh thanks for thinking i'm cool!)
-Make them repeat themselves a few times ("what?")(makes them look like a fool haha)

You're not a dancing monkey, you don't have to do shit for people just because they expect you to.

Good luck

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quote:

Originally posted by aBigWreck Everytime people see my decks in my room I get asked this. I don't think most people realize that a lot of djs don't scratch. It always takes me a minute to reply. People generally expect instant gratification and djing isn't about that. It's not like I can "play" my turntable like a guitar for 3 minutes and woo someone. I just think its kind of funny. I always offer to spin a set for like 30 minutes that they can listen to, but no one has taken me up on that offer yet. Otherwise, I'd just be playing 1 or 2 songs and feel inclined to use a ton of effects or something, which isn't really that "cool." I haven't really tried mixing short sections of a lot of songs together, but I guess that is the best that I could do for like 10 minutes. I'm curious what you all say when people ask you this.

Just put a tune on then go and sit down and have a beer. Just like a real DJ.

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Stu Cox |

did this for one of my roommates actually.

hes a big daft punk as am i, we've both seen them live on separate occasions and have pretty much their entire discography.

so i got my decks sent to me from home and he said something like "cool... what can you do with them?"

so i mixed and mashed some daft punk for him and was able to re-create bits and pieces from their live set... he enjoyed.

sidenote: mixing just daft punk tunes is a blast. listen to alive for some inspiration, and then give it a try some time...

otherwise: if its a single person that asks, i may spin for a bit... usually i'll play my newest tracks and during the mix we'll chat about what we like or dont like about the songs, what else in my library they'd best go with, etc. the only people that ever ask on their own know that i take djing seriously, have heard me mix before, may know certain tracks from my library and are generally very supportive. so in return, i'll gladly mix for these individuals.

if its for multiple people i make the rule that if i mix, people have to dance. (it is dance music after all...) most of the time the conversation goes no further.

sometimes people agree, and an impromptu party spontaneously occurs. and i'll mix for that.

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huh?

quote:

Originally posted by Stu Cox Just put a tune on then go and sit down and have a line. Just like a real DJ.

Edited for accuracy

sounds like you just don't know how to do anything cool when you deejay

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gl.tch
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show them the peter hook move

I bust out the battle breaks and the wah pedal to show em the tweak scratch.

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quote:

Originally posted by jupiterone show them the peter hook move

Or the Jesus pose, of course. You don't even need to have a tune playing, if they really care about your future in the industry then they'll understand.


You could just break out a bit of dodgy scratching, the chances are they won't know how shit it is. Or the Eddie cheat scratch is easy enough if you've got a CDJ with a loop function and a mixer with a transform effect. Or just abuse any effects/looping etc for a few minutes - if you're talking about people who know nothing about it then I don't think you have to worry about whether they're going to criticise your overuse of effects...

Them: "Show me something cool with your DJ spinny mixer thingys!"
You: "Ok"
Them: "Goah, just play the tune, where's the progression?"

Not gonna happen really.


People rarely ask me that anything like that anymore - most of my mates are either DJs themselves, or they know enough about DJing to know not to ask stupid questions, or they're indie fans who believe that dance music and turntables are the tools of Satan so would never want to have anything to do with them.

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Stu Cox |

i love those people that stand there with their arms crossed with the "show me some cool shit" look on their face. funny thing is, after you do some cool shit, they usually just continue to stand there like "yeah I saw that, do some more cool shit."

just ignore them and talk to some ladies

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"A studio environment is there to be exploited. I don't really hold with these 'all live on 2 decks mixes'. If you want that, go to the gig." - Ben Watt

Or you can do some tricks with the turntable. You don't need to scratch to do tricks. Doubles are easy, flanges are easy, echo's are easy after some practice. You can do all those and a lot more with turntables and a plain old mixer.