quote:

Originally posted by nankervis If you didn't pretend you were mixing live, but just sat there, then would it be acceptable?

Sure if he billed himself as the human CD changer and then I'm almost certain that he'd get no work anywhere. Not to hard to have someone push play, or even better, they could invest in a 100 disc cd changer and voila, no human element at all!!! Bottom line is, if you do this and call yourself a DJ you're a knob and need to have all your records smashed and be dropped in a river.

I've seen a few resident DJ's here in Chicago, at major clubs, not even fuckin mix a record !!!

All they do is fade a track in and out.

___________________
Chicago Trance Addict

quote:

Originally posted by dex316 a true dj plays the crowd not records

I don't think they'll fit on a turntable.

___________________
Blip, blip, blip...

I saw crystal method a few years ago. They were listed on the flyer as spinning a live dj set. Needless to say they played a cd and added FX every once in awhile. It sucked. I was utterly dissappointed. Bad boy bill plays pre created sets, although 4 out of the 5 times I saw him he was so coked out of his skull that he may as well have changed his name to dj trainwreck.

Thanks a lot guys you just revealed my secret......
just kidding....

I saw bad boy bill a few weeks ago, and I was not impressed. he was definently scratching and stuff, but he seemed so unhappy the entire time. never looked at the croud, or smiled. that just pisses me off.
if you're not going to have a blast every night then let someone else play who will, there are plenty of great dj's who would have the time of their life, and I"m sure the rest of the croud can feel that!

quote:

a true dj plays the crowd not records

yea ill go along with that. if you can get a crowd going on a pre recorded set - fair enough. although the chances of doing that consistantly are slim at best - you are only prepared for one eventuality - everyone liking what you play. how often does that happen? not very. if it works though it works. ill have a cracking time and half the people there wont give a shit.

if you have pre recorded everything you have (count em) 2 free hands to go and do other things. play an instrument for example. if someone is gonna prerecord a set they better be doing something otherwise they will look like a lemon and get laughed at.

still, i remember a masonna show which sort of rips it out of this kind of thing. Maso Yamazaki walked onto this small stage. it had 3 chairs with 2 laptops on the left and right chair facing the audience. he sat down in the middle chair. pressed play on the first laptop. ear splitting noise blasts out (masonna is extreme industrial). he presses play on laptop 2. more noise. he stands up. bows. then leaves. about 150 people are left listening to what eventually turned out to be 70 minutes of noise. it was fucking hilarious. when it finished some people at the front just took the laptops. hahaha.

as for DJing and expressing one's self through music. an admirable aim.

wouldnt it be better if you wrote the tunes you spin too then? and heck if you are doing that you as well just perform it live. i mean if we are talking true expression of oneself its a little difficult to do with other people's work. that doesnt come from the DJ. with the tunes i write im beginning to burn em to CDR and spin em round a friends house but in terms musical expression i would prefer a live improvisation over a pre recorded beat and bassline.

what DJs end up doing is compiling and building an experience over the course of several songs which form a kind of arc - an overall kind of feeling. in my books you can do that live or record it. although if you record it you cant play to the crowd. if the crowd likes it - its pure luck.

truth be told i club to listen to some cracking tunes and enjoy it. i dont really care about the means by which that cracking good time is delivered to me. dont care if lab4 play their instruments or not. they sound fucking great. i think the end is greater than the means. the results. how much damage does it do on the floor? how many people come away from the experience thinking of it as epiphanal? of course its harder to get that feeling when you are too busy laughing at mr fake lemon DJ pretending to mix records he pre recorded (heres one i made earlier). still if you have the balls to do it and pull it off then fair fucking play. ive only seen masonna pull it off though.

as a general rule i do seem to feel that if someone puts the effort into a performance it really does show. but really, ive had great times just listening to pre recorded stuff whilst out. and besides, if its blatantly obvious the DJ is pretending to DJ then that experience quickly turns hilarious. either way - i go home smiling.

Last edited by Derivative on Mar-15-2005 at 06:33

The best Dj I ever saw was Westbam - his live mixing was second to none and every single eye in the club was focused on him, he was not only spinning the vinyl, he also jumped on top of his record boxes and started dancing with the rest of us! He had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and I loved every second of his set. Things like that stick in your mind, not knowing a DJ's name was on a flyer and when I get there i find he is just putting on a CD - I can do that at home, so basically if that happens you should be able to get your money back.I pay for the whole package, not just the music.

MP

i have only seen this done on MTV or BET i know when DJ scribble was hosting that mtv party thing, he was spinning pre-recorded set. but other then that, havent really heard much about TOP EDM dj's doing this.