People who need help beatmatching shouldn't be DJ'ing.

___________________
Latest releases:
Endless Cycles [Capital Heaven]
The Charlatan [Morphosis]

quote:

Originally posted by Apeattack "Fun" is an fine reason to manually beatmatch. If you enjoy going through all the steps of beatmatching and you think it adds a theatrical element to your performance, that's great. I don't think anyone is 'wrong' for manually beatmatching. Just keep in mind that most people at a club care about (1) the club atmosphere, (2) song selection, and (3) how a DJ interacts with the crowd. Most people have no idea what the DJ is doing with the equipment and don't want to know. They would have no idea if you hit a sync button or spent the time to manually beatmatch. The current technology allows DJs to skip much of the beatmatching steps. Like I said in an earlier post, I use the sync button to match the tempo and then use pitch bend or the jog wheel to match the phase. I spend a lot of prep time making sure that the beatgrids are correct in Traktor so the songs will sync easily. I predict that DJs who start learning how to DJ now (like me) will be less likely to want to manually beatmatch. I see beatmatching as a relict of the vinyl days when DJs had no choice. These same DJs are in the habit of going through all the steps of beatmatching because they like the way it feels and are used to it, but it isn't necessary now. I do not see manual beatmatching as an integral part of being a DJ and I imagine more and more DJs will have the same opinion as time goes by.

My question is how much automation will you be happy with? When you simply push a button and stand there doing absolutely nothing at all for the entire set?

What happens when they come out with a "auto EQ" button? What are you going to shift your focus to then? Picking the right songs?

And after they come up with a auto "song selector", then what?

Can you see where I'm going with this?

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Mystery People who need help beatmatching shouldn't be DJ'ing.

That's just silly.

The crowd DOES NOT CARE what the DJ is doing on stage as long as he/she is entertaining and they like the music. If you chose to spend time manually beatmatching, great! But manually beatmatching certainly is not a requirement for a good DJ.

As you know, to be entertaining a DJ has to know his/her audience and be able to adjust to different crowd situations. Additionally, he/she needs to spend a lot of prep time finding songs that sound 'good' together, and find 'good' transition points. I spend many hours constructing a set before a gig to make sure the entire set has a good flow. Feel free to download my latest mix (beneath this post) to hear how wonderful the sync button works. I spent a lot of time fiddling with different songs, different transition points, and different eq techniques before settling on this mix.

I do not consider myself any less of a DJ than you because you go through all the steps of beatmatching and I hit a sync button to match the tempo. And I don't care if you think of me as less of a DJ. I will know if I am successful on a particular night by looking at the crowd's reaction to my sweet, sweet melodies.

___________________
I am the opiate of the masses.

My mixes:
****Favorite Trance Songs of Early 2012 Mix(July 2012)****
****Love & Loneliness Vocal Trance Classics Mix (July 2012)****

quote:

Originally posted by brucelee6783 My question is how much automation will you be happy with? When you simply push a button and stand there doing absolutely nothing at all for the entire set? What happens when they come out with a "auto EQ" button? What are you going to shift your focus to then? Picking the right songs? And after they come up with a auto "song selector", then what? Can you see where I'm going with this?

I mentioned earlier that I think the DJs' days are numbered. Why pay an error-prone human DJ money when you could have a computer program perfectly mix for free? Instead of paying Armin $100,000 for a 3 hour set, have the computer mix for free and pay $20,000 for a really cool stage performance so the audience will have something to look at.

Eventually, computers will be able to create incredible new songs on the fly by gauging the audience's reaction. This may not happen by 2020, but it will happen well before the end of the century.

Between now and the inevitable future devoid of clumsy, expensive human DJs and producers, technology will make automate the process more and more. You either can embrace it or not. I would never denigrate someone for embracing a technology (or forgoing a technology) that improves performance. I don't care if people use the auto-eq button that will be developed in 2017... I probably will use it myself if it works well.

I understand how it sucks that a skill you spent many hours developing is becoming obsolete, but that is how the world works.

Enjoy your beatmatching!

___________________
I am the opiate of the masses.

My mixes:
****Favorite Trance Songs of Early 2012 Mix(July 2012)****
****Love & Loneliness Vocal Trance Classics Mix (July 2012)****

Last edited by Apeattack on Nov-01-2010 at 08:29

quote:

Originally posted by Apeattack I mentioned earlier that I think the DJs' days are numbered. Why pay an error-prone human DJ money when you could have a computer program perfectly mix for free? Instead of paying Armin $100,000 for a 3 hour set, have the computer mix for free and pay $20,000 for a really cool stage performance so the audience will have something to look at. Eventually, computers will be able to create incredible new songs on the fly by gauging the audience's reaction. This may not happen by 2020, but it will happen well before the end of the century. Between now and the inevitable future devoid of clumsy, expensive human DJs and producers, technology will make automate the process more and more. You either can embrace it or not. I would never denigrate someone for embracing a technology (or forgoing a technology) that improves performance. I don't care if people use the auto-eq button that will be developed in 2017... I probably will use it myself if it works well. I understand how it sucks that a skill you spent many hours developing is becoming obsolete, but that is how the world works. Enjoy your beatmatching!

If you're so content with machines doing the dj'ing for you...then uhhh...why are you dj'ing?

quote:

Originally posted by brucelee6783 If you're so content with machines doing the dj'ing for you...then uhhh...why are you dj'ing?

I DJ because I enjoy sharing music with friends who don't follow EDM as closely as me, I love 'creating' mixes, and I love performing in front of people.

The futuristic auto-DJing computer programs have not been invented yet. Once the programs are developed and distributed widely, getting a gig will be quite difficult. But until then DJing is a skill that is in demand.

You should read Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano." Humans love making devices that make themselves obsolete.

___________________
I am the opiate of the masses.

My mixes:
****Favorite Trance Songs of Early 2012 Mix(July 2012)****
****Love & Loneliness Vocal Trance Classics Mix (July 2012)****

quote:

Originally posted by Apeattack I DJ because I enjoy sharing music with friends who don't follow EDM as closely as me, I love 'creating' mixes, and I love performing in front of people.

Performing? Seems to me like the machines are doing the performing. You're just picking out the songs, basically.

quote:

The futuristic auto-DJing computer programs have not been invented yet. Once the programs are developed and distributed widely, getting a gig will be quite difficult. But until then DJing is a skill that is in demand.

While that may be true, you seem disturbingly indifferent about this.

quote:

You should read Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano." Humans love making devices that make themselves obsolete.

Too true. You're living proof.

quote:

Originally posted by brucelee6783 Performing? Seems to me like the machines are doing the performing. You're just picking out the songs, basically.

All EDM DJs pick songs they like and try to mix them into a seemless set that sounds good to them. Sometimes effects are used, but much of the time a DJ is in the booth he/she is not really doing anything substantial. That is, the audience wouldn't notice or care if the DJ did nothing instead of something. You may think the audience is paying attention to every tweak of every knob, but they aren't. (This doesn't apply to every EDM genre, but many of them.)

I do A LOT of prep work to make sure that the transition points, eq'ing, and overall set progression sounds 'good.'

quote:

While that may be true, you seem disturbingly indifferent about this.

I have studied technology's progress through the past 100 years and I am being realistic. What can any of us do to stop the future? Are we supposed to wake up with cold shakes every morning because a task we enjoy performing one day will be done far better by a machine?

Enjoy DJing while your skills are still in demand. Just be fully aware of what will happen eventually.

quote:

Too true. You're living proof.

Is this some sort of put-down? In the larger picture, we are all equally guilty of promoting technologies that make our lives easier. I'm sure you would think it crazy to give up most of our modern conveniences, even though many of them put a lot of people out of job (at some point). Factory robots are one of the most obvious examples.

Again, if you do not want to take advantage of advances in DJing technology, that's fine. But me, and thousands more like me, have NO problem using technology to make our lives easier. I don't feel the slightest bit guilty about my loving relationship with the sync button.

___________________
I am the opiate of the masses.

My mixes:
****Favorite Trance Songs of Early 2012 Mix(July 2012)****
****Love & Loneliness Vocal Trance Classics Mix (July 2012)****

The other day i went to a club prepared to mix in the old 1000 Mk2, unfortunately one of them was broken and was substituted by a Cdj - 100 with no bpm counter.

I'd like to see how someone who is used to use the autosync button deals without bpm counters... i'm happy that sometimes cover my bpm counters and practice without them, if not would have been a big fail.

quote:

Originally posted by Apeattack That's just silly. The crowd DOES NOT CARE what the DJ is doing on stage as long as he/she is entertaining and they like the music. If you chose to spend time manually beatmatching, great! But manually beatmatching certainly is not a requirement for a good DJ. As you know, to be entertaining a DJ has to know his/her audience and be able to adjust to different crowd situations. Additionally, he/she needs to spend a lot of prep time finding songs that sound 'good' together, and find 'good' transition points. I spend many hours constructing a set before a gig to make sure the entire set has a good flow. Feel free to download my latest mix (beneath this post) to hear how wonderful the sync button works. I spent a lot of time fiddling with different songs, different transition points, and different eq techniques before settling on this mix. I do not consider myself any less of a DJ than you because you go through all the steps of beatmatching and I hit a sync button to match the tempo. And I don't care if you think of me as less of a DJ. I will know if I am successful on a particular night by looking at the crowd's reaction to my sweet, sweet melodies.

tl;dr

Original point stands.

___________________
Latest releases:
Endless Cycles [Capital Heaven]
The Charlatan [Morphosis]

Tip:

Cover your BPM readout on your CDJ and do everything by ear. Youll get more out of it in the longrun.

Just spend LOTS of time on it, it comes naturally with practice.

___________________
Current Releases:
Wayde Rafnel & Dave Correa - Derailed [Spinnin]
Wayde Rafnel - Struggle [Vibrate Sounds]

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