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| quote: | Originally posted by Raveaddict19
So, this has been an interesting thread I must say, and something I wrestle with in my own mind all the time actually, but to the point, I myself am a musician. I play a variety of musical instruments in college, various groups and bands, as well as two orchestras- viola, percussion (ie. marimba, snare, drumset etc.) bass, guitar, piano...and a few others here and there.
Now I've also been a DJ for 2+ years now, and have had a few residencies under my belt as well as spun at some of the biggest events my sad sad little town has had to offer. The reason I state this is so my position might seem to have some credibility, but damnit what I'm getting at is it is indeed an excellent question- Is a DJ a musician???
My answer? A DJ is as much of a musician as he makes himself. Like ANY instrument, you can play it, but not everyone plays an instrument MUSICALLY. Contrary to belief of some, I think that harmonic mixing ESPECIALLY in EDM is a MUST with no exceptions. In order to understand the transition and make it in the most musical way possible, things like phrasing (32, 64 etc) keys and harmonics, all are absolute necessities to seperate oneself from being an ass eating pizza and smoking while jumping up and down in their underwear to 'The Other Side' in their bedroom, and making music really happen and come alive.
DJ'ing is also unique because a musical side of it comes from actually something not typically found in other intsruments, and thats when performing, reading a crowd and directing the music in a sense towards a goal or peak or whatever the desired direction is.
Point in case is that DJ'ing is as musical as you make it, fortunetly for those that take it seriously, the majority of DJ's and even some professionals DONT take it in that mindset, and hence forth will be easily blown away by some of the very musical DJ's on this very forum like Stu Cox and Paullino and Nem. NOT ONE DJ in my area cares to take the time to consider keys or anything in their work, and everytime I step up to mix, they scratch their heads wondering why their 'Dancin' accapella in F# minor sounds like ass over something in Ab minor...of course they dont even know that much, but thats the point. Not to mention the fact if ANY of us plan to produce melodic music of any kind...it is a need to know in order to make something musical. While music can in fact be dissonant, bad music is bad music and a lack of knowledge typically lead to ass productions.
Take a listen http://www.myspace.com/doublepenetrationgr
That is one of the biggest DJ's in my area who runs the ONLY dance music radio in all of western Michigan....now maybe some of you think its great...however any musical aspect of the track has been slaughtered by a mere lack of knowledge and I think it really shows. Whats amazing is that someone like this can have such a position and such power over those in the area who really take the extra steps to really start making music
I in fact pity those who do not take their craft seriously and expect such epic things to come of their career when they have'nt put in the simple work to truly understand it.
Sorry for the ass of a long post |
Nice.
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Anyone who can play chopsticks on the piano and knows how to work a Game Boy can be a DJ
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