quote:

Originally posted by Stassi Beatmixing is hardly the most difficult part of DJing, but rather reading a crowd and playing music catered specifically for them, rather than just playing a bunch of tracks that you thought sounded cool together while DJing in your bedroom.

o .. because you know so much about reading crowds?

I highly doubt a person who has a pre made tracklist sitcks to it fully.

I also don't think that the person with the pre made tracklist is going to somehow stick a shitty song into the mix that z0mg the crowd won't love!

gtfo of here with your lame response. as if "reading the crowd" is so fuking difficult.

if you went one step even further and had your cd's organized by key - and god forbid the crowd needs some reading- u can pull out a different track in that same key.


oh and i guess all the top 5 dj's suck at reading the crowd as they play the same fuking set sometimes months at a time.

I heard PvD July 3rd Sensation white in amsterdamn on ID&T... the next day he was in Miami -playing the same fuking set - for free.

Did I complain? fuk no!

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quote:

Originally posted by MeLLyMeL oh and i guess all the top 5 dj's suck at reading the crowd as they play the same fuking set sometimes months at a time.

It's different when a DJ is selling a product and rather performing 'art' if that's what we can call it. The top DJs apparently are selling product, DJ sets in a can, and people eat it up. Thats a fact.

And I don't know much about reading a crowd, and thats probably why I am a shit DJ, good thing that DJing isn't my career.

quote:

Originally posted by Stassi It's different when a DJ is selling a product and rather performing 'art' if that's what we can call it. The top DJs apparently are selling product, DJ sets in a can, and people eat it up. Thats a fact. And I don't know much about reading a crowd, and thats probably why I am a shit DJ, good thing that DJing isn't my career.

Agreed aout the last part and that is why I am a critic - not a dj haha.

But I think if you love the music enough TO make this your career.. I don't think reading the crowd would be difficult.

Plus dj's have the upper hand of being in mailing lists/promos so sometimes they can throw in a song to test it out.

I just don't want to like a song and be like "oh this sounds like _______ " and then finding out it is that person. It's weak. Lame. No matter how much $$ these ppl are being given.

I could understand a writers block - having someone helping you out with a melody here and there.. but to not produce at all - tsk tsk

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iput y two cents in on the other forum, but this is a pointless thread

i heard that all the guys on minus are just DJ's and that their productions are really all by hawtin. I don't believe it though

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Last edited by The Vza on Jun-25-2009 at 19:51

quote:

Originally posted by Tosh iput y two cents in on the other forum, but this is a pointless thread

then get out?

just a comment i'd like to make about pre-planned sets. i feel like experienced DJ's shouldnt have more than a few tracks planned out for the night. personally i'm new to DJing, and there's clearly huge advantages to having a preplanned set. but most of them i can see being lesser advantages for a more experienced/skilled DJ.

i have my first gig outside of my bedroom coming up next week and i've thought about planning the set out, or maybe just a guideline. but the only reasons i would do this is to avoid messy transitions and make sure i'm progressing properly and such. i was talking to eco and gmoney about this a few times actually. until having to actually do it out in public i was completely against a preplanned set. im still against more experienced DJ's doing it though :P

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I think, obviously, the big DJs have to have a preplanned tracklist. When you're playing 3-4 times a week, you have to have some sort of set planned..

That's why I enjoy hearing locals play way better... Everyone brings a different flavor to each night, depending on who they're playing alongside, or the venue, or the night, etc... Ryan Tyas opening for Sean the other week, vs. Ryan Tyas opening for Chris Lake, just for example... Good shit, and good depth as far as musical tastes go. I think the same goes for most of the DJs on this board actually, and I'm not just saying that...

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quote:

Originally posted by Jason Jollins And it is definitely Ableton that has allowed Producers to tour as DJ's.

I disagree primarily because CDJs are still the tool of choice among most producers / DJs. I don't know what every single DJ uses, but from those I do know out of the top 100 list I'd estimate that only a third use software, and only a third of those that do use software are using Ableton.

quote:

Originally posted by Jason Jollins As far as pre-made tracklists go, my cd book is filled with tracklists from practice sessions and notes about how particular tracks are structured. I don't think that is cheating, I think it's good organization. With vinyl you could literally look at the record and see how the track is organized, unfortunately with cd's you do not have that luxury.

Def have no problems at all with good organization or having runs of 2 or 3 songs that go together really well (we've all got a few eh?). I was talking more about pre-planning a set from start to finish which I do have a problem with – since I think it takes the art out of being a DJ (be it on vinyl, cd, Serato, or Ableton).

quote:

Originally posted by MeLLyMeL and how the fuk is a pre made tracklist cheating? lol. Does the pre made tracklist beat match for you??

I disagree. I think pre-planning a set ignores the essence of what a DJ can and should be. To me a DJ has one job – to play the perfect song for that exact moment in time and space. Done correctly, a DJ should be taking as much in from the crowd as they give back. I like to think of a DJ set as a mutual journey between the crowd and the DJ himself – it's a connection of emotion, energy, and trust. When a DJ pre-plans a set from start to finish, that connection is lost. Again, I don't have problem with lining up certain runs of tracks that go well together like many of the big guys do, but even then I think (and hope) most still listen to the crowd and structure their sets according to the mood.

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Last edited by BradMiller on Jun-26-2009 at 08:51

quote:

Originally posted by Excess i have my first gig outside of my bedroom coming up next week and i've thought about planning the set out, or maybe just a guideline. but the only reasons i would do this is to avoid messy transitions and make sure i'm progressing properly and such. i was talking to eco and gmoney about this a few times actually. until having to actually do it out in public i was completely against a preplanned set. im still against more experienced DJ's doing it though :P

Don't worry for a first gig everyone gets a get out of jail free card Any DJs first night out is pretty much spent just trying to keep things from catching on fire, and it's def not easy. I'd recommend using song runs instead of pre-planning everything tho, and then experiment with crowd response by placing those runs accordingly. You'll take some of the pressure off of yourself but still have some fun experimenting with the crowd.

As you get more comfortable with your tracks and playing out in general, I think you'll find that playing on the fly will come naturally. Just remember that it's always better to play the perfect song for that moment than to choose something that's easy to mix. While your transition may only last 30 seconds, that song will be there for 6 min so make every one count! If you know the next song is out of key or not going to be easy to mix, do it cleverly like mixing in at the very end where it breaks down to percussion or doing a quick fade. A lot of times mixing out of key can also be very helpful as it breaks up the color of the set and makes people take notice (careful though, this can be both a good or bad thing). Good luck!

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quote:

Originally posted by BradMiller I disagree. I think pre-planning a set ignores the essence of what a DJ can and should be. To me a DJ has one job – to play the perfect song for that exact moment in time and space. Done correctly, a DJ should be taking as much in from the crowd as they give back. I like to think of a DJ set as a mutual journey between the crowd and the DJ himself – it's a connection of emotion, energy, and trust. When a DJ pre-plans a set from start to finish, that connection is lost.

+1... You nailed it on the head... Excess knows how I feel about this, he's spoken to me about it in depth...

quote:

Don't worry for a first gig everyone gets a get out of jail free card Any DJs first night out is pretty much spent just trying to keep things from catching on fire, and it's def not easy.

Yeah haha... My first gig, I showed up with 30 vinyl only for them to tell me I needed to bring my own needles. I was like 16 or 17 at the time and had no idea. So thus, that was the first time I ever used CDJs. Also, it was my first time I used a rotary mixer... all in one night, all for the same gig!!!!

The tricky thing with playing live, during my first time, was my understanding of "feedback" and the booth monitor... It's a hard thing to grasp, and something you don't learn in the bedroom or in DJ manuals or whatever...

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