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Are DJ's Musicians?
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| djway |
So someone starts taking about musicians and instruments...Are DJ's the new-age Musicians? I was stiring in my reply, calling myself a muso and I "play" my turntables and mixer. A quick look on www.dictionary.com under Instrument and found the following
"Music. A device for playing or producing music"
A musician is classed as
"someone who plays a musical instrument (as a profession)".
What are your thoughts? Are we musos, or learning/wanting to be muso (just like a guy in a band with mates who gets the odd gig here and there) or are we just "techno" heads wasting time and money.
Should we hold our heads up high to the non clubbers when we say we DJ, or are we really below that of a traditional band?
What are all your thoughts?
Thanks for your time,
--djway |
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| Psygnosis |
No, Djs are just advanced jukeboxes.
some play better stuff than the other boxes, some are justed outdated... poor bastards :p
Producing is where it all lies |
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| Beemer |
| imho, if u produce the tracks urself then yes u could call urself a musician.......but if u only ever dj other ppl's tracks, then a musician u ain't..... |
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| JayKuE |
honestly?
hell no. i think dj's are the bottom of the barrel on the music spectrum. dont have misconceptions of what a dj does. he plays others' music. he does not make music. the only musical ability a dj may apply is the use of harmonics. turntabilism may be diff story however, as thats a craft where turntables are used as instruments - to make their own music/sounds.
dj's, new-age musicians? i think not. producers, yes. they're making use of advanced technologies to create music, wandering from traditional instruments. learn to play an instrument, a guitar, the piano, fuk even the didgeridoo. u'll understand and appreciate how much time n effort goes in learning that instrument n really, what i means to be a muso if u choose to write ur own music.
p.s. according to ur definition, anybody who knows how to operate a cd player would also be a musician, no? |
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| Psygnosis |
But also think about this, to me SOME people who produce electronic music cannot be regarded as real musicians.
Hell you play a few notes on the keyboard and arrange, loops it, make it into different sounds and make the song. That isn't real music making... though it's very fun.
People say hey look at those guitars in this track, he must he some real skill.. sorry but those are done on the keyboard. And the keyboard doesn't require that much skill as you can see the key points your pressing so you can change them at anytime. |
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| JayKuE |
| quote: | Originally posted by Psygnosis
But also think about this, people who produce electronic music cannot be regarded as real musicians.
Hell you play a few notes on the keyboard and arrange, loops it, make it into different sounds and make the song. That isn't real music making... though it's very fun |
electronic music isnt traditional music however. its about the sounds and noises that traditional instruments arent able to emulate. i guess in a sense, its more about sound engineering, but nevertheless its still creating music. what differntiates, a good producer to a bad one though, is not only the innovation of sounds but of musical knowledge that he applies.
| quote: | Originally posted by Psygnosis
People say hey look at those guitars in this track, he must he some real skill.. sorry but those are done on the keyboard. And the keyboard doesn't require that much skill as you can see the key points your pressing so you can change them at anytime. |
there are so many keys on a keyboard. if your song is in a certain key, you'll need to know what keys are in that key to press so that your melody sounds harmonious, whether it be thru classical training or havin a good ear.
don't forget that arrangement also = composition.
*yawn* i'm tired, i'll elaborate later if somebody doesnt beat me to it |
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| Psygnosis |
| quote: | Originally posted by JayKuE
electronic music isnt traditional music however. its about the sounds and noises that traditional instruments arent able to emulate. i guess in a sense, its more about sound engineering, but nevertheless its still creating music. what differntiates, a good producer to a bad one though, is not only the innovation of sounds but of musical knowledge that he applies.
there are so many keys on a keyboard. if your song is in a certain key, you'll need to know what keys are in that key to press so that your melody sounds harmonious, whether it be thru classical training or havin a good ear.
don't forget that arrangement also = composition.
*yawn* i'm tired, i'll elaborate later if somebody doesnt beat me to it |
I know what you mean but remember that it's not done in a continuous production. You actually spend months on your song to actually make it harmonious. Classical training or even having a good ear doesn't actually compensate the difference of quality between each other. You know if you actually have had extensive piano lessons, your ideas will be better and your songs will be better constructed compared to the person with the good ear, bad ear, infected ear i dunno.
In your mind you get these wicked ideas for trance, but if you already have a piano background, you can easily memorise those and actually play them but if you don't you still get those ideas but you won't be able to play them on the computer, only in your head.
btw anyone seen this
sounds
haha whoever made it is a genius |
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| djway |
I don't think DJ's are musicians either, glad we agree. Please keep on talking about the production of digital v analog.
Thing is in the discussion(of DJ's are musicians), I said to them, each mix make, I mix tracks via EQ, BPM and pitch. The mix hasn't just happened, I've taken time to check the pitch, key and compitisiton of the track. It's not a random process. I'm checking levels elements and trying to blend the tracks together to create a sound that allows the two tracks to sound as one, then slowly remove one of them to take it back to one track again. I operate my equipment at a level that has taken years of training to reach (don't forget this is trying to stir them into believing i am a musician) the level I'm at. Based on ^ they now think I am a musician, they had no come back and accepted it.
To you all, would djing different styles of music (ala techno), make the DJ more of a musician? Someone like Derek Carter mixing a new track every min, leaving the track in for 3 mins, with two tracks over the top, plus wobbling the dex.....would that not be classed as creating your own music? It's a combintion of 3 records he chose to put out a certain sound.
--djway_:conf: |
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| djway |
| quote: | Originally posted by Huebor
Check This Out
An awesome tune. Produced on a computer. |
I also know of a traditional band without a drummer doing all their drums digitally. Sounds awesome :)
--djway |
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| JayKuE |
| quote: | Originally posted by Psygnosis
I know what you mean but remember that it's not done in a continuous production. You actually spend months on your song to actually make it harmonious. Classical training or even having a good ear doesn't actually compensate the difference of quality between each other. You know if you actually have had extensive piano lessons, your ideas will be better and your songs will be better constructed compared to the person with the good ear, bad ear, infected ear i dunno.
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eh? i think u confused my statement of associating live instruments with being a muso. i merely stated that to say that learning how to play the piano/guitar whatever is a lot more difficult than learning to beatmatch and eq. somebody who plays an instrument but still plays covers aint a muso. ur a muso when u start chooning something thats urs, regardless of whether its live, or continuous.
| quote: | Originally posted by Psygnosis
In your mind you get these wicked ideas for trance, but if you already have a piano background, you can easily memorise those and actually play them but if you don't you still get those ideas but you won't be able to play them on the computer, only in your head.
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yea you will. if you have a good ear, you can push all the keys until it sounds like what you have in ur head. |
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| djway |
| quote: | Originally posted by JayKuE
yea you will. if you have a good ear, you can push all the keys until it sounds like what you have in ur head. |
I agree that this happens ;)
--djway |
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