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| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
it's all about tracks. for me phrasing is important, but when you mix house and techno which is more loop or groove based, the phrasing matching is simple and relatively arbitrary. The true art of phrasing is the placement of the mix and the creation of new phrases that results from the simultaneous and selective combination of two or more phrases. Placement of a mix is the real control that a DJ has besides selecting the track. I think it's the most important thing a DJ does - imagine that 10 deejays all have the same tracklist and technical skills - what makes one set better than the other is the placement of the mix. This has to do with creating tension, releasing tension, giving people a chance to breath, or taking their breath away, etc. You've got to be dramatic, you've got to be ballsy. I'm not talking about cookie cutter filter drops or cheesy flanging, but just raw drama created from the interaction of the first track and the next. There's so much power here, so much possibilty.
flow is critical unless you're playing for a bunch of ignorant, art-less child-people
As far as "genre switching" goes.....
the way I approach deejaying is as a sort of collection and presentation of various dramatic (or non-dramatic) moments and sounds. I listen for the sonic character of tracks more than a melody or something. I try to cut down below the apparent track and reduce it to the raw. I try to reduce it in my head to its most basic concept, i play my music loud and dance to it at home and feel the rhythm figures, listen for the patterns, the basic
impression, the raw power of the track.
because of this, genre is really irrelevant. what is relevant is the character of the sound at hand, the key, and of course, the tempo. I don't give a fuck about genre. Music is music.
When I deejay I choose tracks based on impulses. I get intimately close to what I am playing and I start to imagine where it can go and how it can change. Often this will lead to an sudden, fleeting musical memory of another track which then I will rationalize. I might get reminded quickly of another track. Other times tracks have different meanings for me and I want to string them together like you might string words together to make a sentence. You have functional words, and you have expressive words (and compound words). You have action words and you have descriptive words. In the same way you have tracks which actively do something to you, and tracks which make you feel a certain way. You have tracks which express emotions, and tracks which help you to create an intelligible meaning between a few tracks.
This is of course, the ideal. You won't always make the most artistic choices in mixing for one reason or another.
Do most people even think about this stuff? No, of course not. When someone talks to you, do you see break apart the sentences into parts of speech and recall the various etymologies and phonologies of the words? Of course not. Deejaying at its best is a powerful form of communcation where the track is the basic unit. We as humans and life long listeners of music attribute various meanings to these units. Like writing, you can say something plainly, or you can say something eloquently. Some have a primal, undeniable meaning, for example, a simple 4/4 kick drum beat. It's instinctive - even animals might understand it. Others are more abstract.
I think it's either ignorant, pessimistic, or close-minded and base to think of deejaying as anything less than this.
but most of all, what deejaying comes down to is just pure storytelling and common-sense. there's no rule for it, just like any art-form. greatness comes from inspired ideas and good taste. there's a certain form of intelligence invovled, but mostly pure intuition and visceral knowledge of the body
in other words, you've just got to know how to fuck with people and know what makes people move a certain way. you can put as many layers of meaning into it as you are willing to let yourself. not everyone will get those meanings, because many people are too narrow-minded or shallow, but I think it's crucial to always stay one notch above your crowd.
feel free to disagree with what i've written here, most of which has become a rambling nonsensical jumble of things that I think too much about daily - but ask yourself what makes a good deejay well, good...
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| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
as far as track selection live - I always have some sort of idea going to a gig about what I think I need to play based on the crowd and venue, and also of what I want to play. For instance, if I have a load of new tracks I just want to play a lot of them out because it's exciting for me to see how people take it. Also, buying new music is a sort of self-expression for me, and it's important to me to break new records because it shows me who I am at a given moment. Our record selections at their best are sort of mirrors of ourselves (as long as you are staying true to what you love). A gig out is a chance for you to define yourself by your sound. I generally know where I would place a track when I buy it, or at least have some ideas. I have a listing of all my music on CD organized by key and tempo, so in a live setting I quickly scan tracks in the desired keys and one or two will jump out at me based on the track currently playing. I don't mix exclusively harmonically, but I often do just because I layer tracks a lot. Some times I'll have a little cluster of tracks already planned out because I like to play that group together, or I think it's really special - perhaps I've done it before. Some of the selection comes from pure impulse, like I said, based on something I hear or a signal I get from a crowd. Most of it is sheer willpower, expression, and imagination - ie I feel like making it darker now, or I feel happy so I'm going to play unicorn music.
So in the end, I feel the key to live track selection is just self-expression. The way I feel you interact with a crowd is not by pandering to a crowd and thinking what they want to hear per se, but by expressing yourself in a way that it becomes a sort of conversation with the crowd. It IS like telling a story. I don't mean a story as in a fairy tale or simple beginning, middle, end, but you are effectively talking to your crowd when you DJ, and I think a good DJ uses tracks like a good storyteller uses words. Basic storytelling methods are drama, surprise, suspense, repetition, etc.
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wonderfully said. 
it's obvious, from listening to your mixes many times, that you approach DJing with absolute belief in all the statements you just made. that's pretty cool, and i think any aspiring DJ would do well to read these 2 posts and learn from them.
i love being able to see the connection between a DJ's thought process and the way they mix.
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lovebirds tracklist archive | vincenzo tracklist archive
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and i find it difficult placing song titles to songs. any advice?
