Originally posted by Zyklon_Jay
the programming comment was by far the most retarded thing i have ever read on this forum.
do you enjoy productions if the mixdowns are bad? if all of the elements are out of time? if the progression of the track makes no sense? if the sounds appeal 0 to the crowd?
the answer is most likely no. the same can be said for a dj set.
people go out to have fun. if the dj sucks they don't dance, that simple. If you ever left the confines of your house to witness this first hand you would realize this.
on top of that, how many guys here could do a 6 hour set of just their stuff? Even if you could chances are it would not work and become redundant unless you produce a varied bunch of tracks.
It is easy to say all these things in your heads will work in principle, but as someone who has been around a long time and attending events since the mid 90's i can tell you right now that what you want to happen never will.
The only essential DJ skill is playing tracks people want to hear. Everything else is non-essential.
Things that aren't really important:
Scratching
FX
Improvisation
Beatmatching
Phrase matching
Phasing
EQ
"seemless" transitions
pairing sonically identical tracks together
Harmonic mixing
Redlining(to a degree)
sequencing tracks to create a "journey"
Zyklon_Jay
quote:
Originally posted by Beatflux
The only essential DJ skill is playing tracks people want to hear. Everything else is non-essential.
Things that aren't really important:
Scratching
FX
Improvisation
Beatmatching
Phrase matching
Phasing
EQ
"seemless" transitions
pairing sonically identical tracks together
Harmonic mixing
Redlining(to a degree)
sequencing tracks to create a "journey"
considering it is becoming obvious that you have no clue what you are talking about and wouldn't be able to make people dance your input is about as valuable as an empty beer bottle.
hint: go back to making music that no one will listen to or play;)
cryophonik
quote:
Originally posted by Beatflux
The only essential DJ skill is playing tracks people want to hear. Everything else is non-essential.
Things that aren't really important:
Scratching
.
.
sequencing tracks to create a "journey"
But, you could make a similar case for music production and live music. A lot of the non-essential stuff plays a cumulative role in the overall experience. OMG, I think I just took the DJs' side! :nervous:
:D
EddieZilker
quote:
Originally posted by cryophonik
But, you could make a similar case for music production and live music. A lot of the non-essential stuff plays a cumulative role in the overall experience. OMG, I think I just took the DJs' side! :nervous:
:D
I've actually heard a number of stories on NPR about how people are programming computers to be able to author music and actually emulate certain styles. One of the stories talked about a computer which functioned as the club DJ while clubbers were given buttons to press to indicate if they liked or disliked whatever the computer was playing. By process of elimination the computer would adjust whatever it was adding or taking out to satisfy the crowd. I'm not certain how well it worked, but the important thing to remember is that both the producer and the DJ were replaced by a bunch of button pushers and a computer.
EddieZilker
I don't think so, but it was longer that 6 years ago that I heard the story.
Zyklon_Jay
quote:
Originally posted by EddieZilker
I've actually heard a number of stories on NPR about how people are programming computers to be able to author music and actually emulate certain styles. One of the stories talked about a computer which functioned as the club DJ while clubbers were given buttons to press to indicate if they liked or disliked whatever the computer was playing. By process of elimination the computer would adjust whatever it was adding or taking out to satisfy the crowd. I'm not certain how well it worked, but the important thing to remember is that both the producer and the DJ were replaced by a bunch of button pushers and a computer.
not the same, but if you would probably interested by something like this.
That's actually pretty cool. It looks like he's done a number of such installations. Beatflux actually started a thread about a new plug-in he developed for Ableton, that sounds consistent with the palette in Cyclone. To be honest, it has me considering adding Ableton, even though I don't really need another DAW.
[[ LINK REMOVED ]]
I also remember you talking about him, in this thread:
Originally posted by clay
ok it was a joke, but as spotify isnt in US yet you didnt get it maybe. spotify is an awesome streaming program, kinda like youtube but with much better interface and quality, monthly payment and the solution to piracy basically. the only downside is that it ends up like many have discovered a while back using youtube on a party: everyone is gonna have a word and it ends up being the worst night ever. i have yet to complete a spotify evening without anyone requesting (and get their wish come true) some 90s dance like aqua or 2brotheronthe4floor, spicegirls, powerbalads of the 80s and generally all the pile of music this planet has produced. my point is that computer you talk about would have been , even if the interface and program was perfect because nothing can be better than the weakest part in the chain, and as you know humans in general are pretty ing weak.
:stongue: :stongue:
That sounds awful, but also explains the human nature behind why Sanjaya Malakar was consistently kept on American Idle. I told a friend of mine about it, who predicted that the crowd would select nothing but builds and breaks the entire time.
Zyklon_Jay
Yeah, Robert Henke is always at the forefront in terms of trying to bring this type of music to the audience in deifferent ways.
I was lucky enough to catch this at Mutek a few years back:
Would i like to go to events like this every week? nope.
I am certainly glad that i got to experience it, because it was something different. Outside of technology/music festivals along the lines of Mutek this won't work for the average run of the mill clubber because thay want to dance. Sound design fans are not enough to keep clubs full week in and week out.
SYSTEM-J
quote:
Originally posted by Beatflux
The only essential DJ skill is playing tracks people want to hear. Everything else is non-essential.
At a Top 40 meat market club, perhaps. But going by the demands of that crowd, everything is "non-essential" apart from cheap drinks and contraceptives.
The job of any DJ is to improve the music. They exist and have become the cornerstone of this scene for a reason, because they are the best way to get people dancing for six hours non-stop. If you don't understand the importance of the DJ, you will go nowhere in dance music, ever. And you haven't gone anywhere, of course. Not even to a club, by the sounds of it.
Beatflux
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
At a Top 40 meat market club, perhaps. But going by the demands of that crowd, everything is "non-essential" apart from cheap drinks and contraceptives.
The job of any DJ is to improve the music. They exist and have become the cornerstone of this scene for a reason, because they are the best way to get people dancing for six hours non-stop. If you don't understand the importance of the DJ, you will go nowhere in dance music, ever. And you haven't gone anywhere, of course. Not even to a club, by the sounds of it.
I do not believe so. It's already extremely difficult to create a great track with no time limit, its going to be next to impossible for a DJ on the fly to make a good track great. If you think you can do it, then you should probably be producing and making a name for yourself with your own tracks. I have heard Bad Boy Bill do a really nice scratch remix of Satisfaction for a radio station mix on Youtube, but most of his "scratch remixes" do not really enhance a track. The scratching could have been solely on the fly, but I'm guessing that he practiced the whole set before hand.
DJs trying to make mash ups and creating on the fly remixes are usually completely destroying the original effort of the producer.
How can a DJ improve the sound of a track? I don't see how they can effectively do it.
DJs who take on a multifaceted role such as special FX guy or promoter, marketable personality are much more valuable.
The DJ became this type of worshipping idiot partly because people attribute DJs to actually making the tracks they play. I have seen DJs create mixtapes with their DJ name as the artist name for tracks they obviously did not produce. The big names usually produce and I think the fandom, although possibily misattributed to DJing, is more appropriate because they created the tracks that people care for.
A good DJ is important, but he's only one leg of the bar stool. Some events its all about DJ worship, others its about interacting with people, and others its about the dancers. When you have good music, cool people, and good dancing it can be a kick ass event.
EddieZilker
* slams head on computer desk until frontal lobe partly disconnects from surrounding tissue *
That helps.
Zyklon_Jay
the dj doesn't make the party, the people do...that being said the dj is there to provide the ultimate backdrop and push them into the right direction using experience and skill.
