While I agree with a lot of what you're saying, you're generalizing far too much. Very few laptop dj's use only their laptop. You'll have 1 or more controllers. The only ones I've seen without a controller still use the club mixer, and spend more time there than infront of the laptop.
And I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I spend about the same amount of time looking at my screen as I would've used looking for a record or cd. Maybe even less. And the only time I use anything but my controller, is if I need to search for a song.

Hey Rann,

I used to share these opinions, but I have seen the other side of this, but I can only speak for my own experiences.

Much like you, I really don’t like seeing a DJ staring at a screen all night, but that’s not how I operate. The reason I don’t is for exactly the reasons you list i.e. actually coming from a different time when you head to learn your tunes in year head through repetition and practice.
I have opted not to really use FX and prefer making my statement through my selection, much like I would in the old days.
The worst thing with a lot of the younger guys is that they often try and fudge bad track selection with the use of effects and in the end it just compounds the issue.

I use a controller and this becomes my mixer, the laptop becomes my decks. I make a point of really only using the laptop for track selection, much like diving through the record box of old. Because of the ease of finding tunes I find I spend less time searching for music. I also can keep my face towards the crowd, often record boxes would be at the back of the booth.

I have always been quite a flamboyant DJ though and could never enjoy working just hunched over a laptop screen. But much of that has as much to do with the confidence and personality of the DJ as the medium itself.

I do hear what you are saying, but I think that you can get totally dull TT DJs too who just keep their head down and stare at the deck and mixer all night so it’s not really unique to the medium.

We both have been around here for a long time and much of what you write still rings true for me too. Always nice to see people putting together proper cases for their opinions.

Cheers
Nem

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I saw John Talabot a few times this summer at festivals.

He didn't lift his head once throughout his set until the very end to say thank you to everyone.

He was playing on cdj 2000's and from what i could tell a couple memory sticks and some cds.

Did i give a shit that he didn't lift his head.... No, because his set was outstanding and the music spoke volumes and everyone still went crazy.

Would it have been nice had he been bouncing around on the stage a little more, perhaps. But I don't need the dj to be staring longingly into my eyes while I feel like he's reading my energy levels preparing the next stage of his set. I just want to see what tunes he thinks will work well and that's that.

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 I do hear what you are saying, but I think that you can get totally dull TT DJs too who just keep their head down and stare at the deck and mixer all night so it’s not really unique to the medium.

That is totally right. When I played 3+ cdj's live i spent most of the time staring at the ceiling while making sure nothing drifted. Only did it a couple of times though. More than two cdj's in a booth is pretty rare in Norway, or at least used to be.

I'm pretty sure that I'm the only guy playing records in China. I have to bring decks.

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Freak Out Tóng Zhì

It's a good thing fake 1200s/"Super OEMs" are abundant over there then. You could buy an extra set to keep in your car

I'm for sure the best DJ in China. That isn't saying much so far.

Hopefully I'll get rich by being average like i was from Europe.

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Freak Out Tóng Zhì

I think you need to tone down the gay, and add a hell of a lot more ploink to make it big in china. Think like malaysian drums through a washing machine with a hoppy bassline. Trust me, they go nuts for that shit down there.

They loved when i played some Andres. fuck the plink plonk, they talk like plink plonk so hard gay it is.

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Freak Out Tóng Zhì

quote:

Originally posted by Dykes_on_Jay I'm pretty sure that I'm the only guy playing records in China. I have to bring decks.

A friend who was living in HK once told me that records were banned in China. I always found his claim absurd. Is there any truth to it?

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quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Levels is...decent...damn better than a lot of the shite dominating the charts at the moment. It sounds absolutely nothing like...a billion and one similar tracks in this big-room style. I always had a soft spot.

yes and no. there are guys with records here, but they tend to be dylan fans (collectables not djing.) Discogs is cheaper to ship here from Europe than Montreal so it's awesome. My gig last week i did the bye bye with the record (trance pose lol) and the motherckers ate it up. I might be married now, i just don't understand the language yet. Come visit. It's fucking donkey kong.

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Freak Out Tóng Zhì

not to mention everything is fake here...except hairy vaginas unfortunately.

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Freak Out Tóng Zhì