DJs these days

[mks]

I don't see DJing as a skillful thing to begin with. Imo DJing is just for ppl who can't produce or for producers who want to make some money because everyone just pirates their tunes anyway. DJing for me is about entertainment, not skill. If I wanted to impress people I would show them my productions. Not saying my productions are impressive but if you wanna impress ppl when it comes to music, being a "DJ" is pretty phony tbh to begin with.

[titchbit]

please selectively read my posts and change my name lol

[wub]

I see both sides of the argument here, and have thought for a long time that discussion of medium is largely irrelevant. If people are dancing, then the DJ is doing their job regardless of what equipment they're using and how. However, this comment irked me slightly;

i don't think you're gonna run into many songs that cannot be gridded, and if you do, then shit just don't play them i suppose?

As it suggests that if a more digital based performer is unable to 'grid' a song then they won't play it.

[__________]

yeah but if a song has an "ungriddable" beat, then you will not be able to beatmatch it regardless of what you're using

Load of shite m8. I do reggae mixes all the time. It's a lot of fun and way more rewarding than beatmatching two tunes at 140 and 141 BPM.

If I couldn't see the waveform/grid, then I'd probably have to change the way I DJ'd

#pain

[m8son666]

Again, I don't think you fully see how 2000nxs work. They will not beatmatch for you. You have to move the tempo slider yourself to get the songs to play at the same bpm. And then you have to hit it as you said on the downbeat, but you're not gonna get it perfectly, so you move the jogwheels to beatmatch. The tempo part is not done for you. Many of my dubstep tracks are 140, but I'd say about half of them are another bpm - 142, 143, 144, 138, 136, I even have some tracks at 146. 2000nxs does not change the song's bpm to automatically sync up with the other song (unless you use the sync button, of course).

Yeah but 'beatmatching' while looking at the those grids is like doing an exam while looking at the answers. Technically you are doing it but in reality not really. I really don't see a difference between using the beat grid to beatmatch and just pressing the sync button, neither involve any skill.

For the first year or so i 'DJed' i would just look at serato while using my controller to beatmatch. But i realised that if i ever wanted to play on anything other than serato i would have to learn to beatmatch by ear which i did, i mean when i'm lazy or really drunk i still sometimes do just look at serato but i know that i can beatmatch by ear if i needed too.

[baddis98]

Yeah but 'beatmatching' while looking at the those grids is like doing an exam while looking at the answers.

haha, brilliant!

also what's an ungriddable beat? and why would reggae be ungriddable?

[Func]

Yeah but 'beatmatching' while looking at the those grids is like doing an exam while looking at the answers.

haha, brilliant!

also what's an ungriddable beat? and why would reggae be ungriddable?

"Griddable" means quantised so it's perfectly in time. Reggae is "ungriddable" / unquantised because it's usually done with live drummers who will at some point drift in and out of pitch

[titchbit]

I guarantee 99.8% of reggae is griddable, this is dumb.

If I couldn't see the waveform/grid, then I'd probably have to change the way I DJ'd

#pain

pain? i bet i'd have it down in 10 transitions or less. this is my whole point.

[fragments]

@Dubunked: Not here to get on your case, but I have been following this and just have a question. Simple answer is all I am after just because I am curious. If you DJ without headphones how do you use the filters on the DJ mixer to help you blend the songs? Or dont you use them? Or do you just always use them 100% or 0%?

I just bought Traktor Pro and have been making a Maschine template for controlling Traktor. I havent done a mix in at least 6 years. I feel kinda lost TBH. I have dicked around with software DJing in the past after I sold my decks and vinyl ages ago, but never taken it seriously. You can do a lot of cool shit with the new software if you want to. Think I am going to say fuck to mixing other peoples music and just do live dubs of my own stuff.

[titchbit]

i use filters just fine if i DJ without headphones. sometimes use just the EQ, sometimes just filter, sometimes a combination of both. usually when I DJ there's a subwoofer even if i'm just recording a mix in my room - i have a subwoofer - so i can hear the bass fine if that's what you're asking.

[fragments]

i use filters just fine if i DJ without headphones. sometimes use just the EQ, sometimes just filter, sometimes a combination of both. usually when I DJ there's a subwoofer even if i'm just recording a mix in my room - i have a subwoofer - so i can hear the bass fine if that's what you're asking.

Cool. No worries man. No wasnt meaning anything about the bass specifically or monitoring the sub freqs, just for myself I cant imagine using EQ or filters w/o previewing it on the monitor channel. Was just honestly curious : )

[DJoe]

I don't see DJing as a skillful thing to begin with. Imo DJing is just for ppl who can't produce or for producers who want to make some money because everyone just pirates their tunes anyway. DJing for me is about entertainment, not skill. If I wanted to impress people I would show them my productions. Not saying my productions are impressive but if you wanna impress ppl when it comes to music, being a "DJ" is pretty phony tbh to begin with.

lol ffs
your just chatting shit here

[titchbit]

i use filters just fine if i DJ without headphones. sometimes use just the EQ, sometimes just filter, sometimes a combination of both. usually when I DJ there's a subwoofer even if i'm just recording a mix in my room - i have a subwoofer - so i can hear the bass fine if that's what you're asking.

Cool. No worries man. No wasnt meaning anything about the bass specifically or monitoring the sub freqs, just for myself I cant imagine using EQ or filters w/o previewing it on the monitor channel. Was just honestly curious : )

No worries man, i'm happy to answer your question.

[titchbit]

I don't see DJing as a skillful thing to begin with. Imo DJing is just for ppl who can't produce or for producers who want to make some money because everyone just pirates their tunes anyway. DJing for me is about entertainment, not skill. If I wanted to impress people I would show them my productions. Not saying my productions are impressive but if you wanna impress ppl when it comes to music, being a "DJ" is pretty phony tbh to begin with.

lol ffs
your just chatting shit here

well simply DJing itself isn't phony, that was not what I meant to say, but being only a DJ and trying to pass yourself off as a talented musical artist is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. DJing is nothing in comparison to production, imo.

[baddis98]

Yeah but 'beatmatching' while looking at the those grids is like doing an exam while looking at the answers.

haha, brilliant!

also what's an ungriddable beat? and why would reggae be ungriddable?

"Griddable" means quantised so it's perfectly in time. Reggae is "ungriddable" / unquantised because it's usually done with live drummers who will at some point drift in and out of pitch

thanks. however this probably applies almost only to really old reggae. most of the recent productions ( = last 20 years ) are quantised. i've been playing reggae for years and about 99 % is perfectly mixable.

[DJoe]

I don't see DJing as a skillful thing to begin with. Imo DJing is just for ppl who can't produce or for producers who want to make some money because everyone just pirates their tunes anyway. DJing for me is about entertainment, not skill. If I wanted to impress people I would show them my productions. Not saying my productions are impressive but if you wanna impress ppl when it comes to music, being a "DJ" is pretty phony tbh to begin with.

lol ffs
your just chatting shit here

well simply DJing itself isn't phony, that was not what I meant to say, but being only a DJ and trying to pass yourself off as a talented musical artist is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. DJing is nothing in comparison to production, imo.

well thats not true

[titchbit]

Agree to disagree then.

I know lots of DJs that don't/can't produce, and zero producers that can't DJ.

[SunkLo]

I don't see DJing as a skillful thing to begin with. Imo DJing is just for ppl who can't produce or for producers who want to make some money because everyone just pirates their tunes anyway. DJing for me is about entertainment, not skill. If I wanted to impress people I would show them my productions. Not saying my productions are impressive but if you wanna impress ppl when it comes to music, being a "DJ" is pretty phony tbh to begin with.

lol ffs
your just chatting shit here

well simply DJing itself isn't phony, that was not what I meant to say, but being only a DJ and trying to pass yourself off as a talented musical artist is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. DJing is nothing in comparison to production, imo.

well thats not true

Nah it's definitely true. DJs aren't artists, they're entertainers. A few people can make DJing into an art but there's people who can make lawnmowing into an art. It's not some inherently mystical thing. I can take a random person off the street and teach them to DJ. I can't take a random person and teach them to make amazing music. A fundamental tenet of DJing is pleasing a crowd. That's anti-art as fuck.

[DJoe]

. I can take a random person off the street and teach them to DJ. I can't take a random person and teach them to make amazing music. A fundamental tenet of DJing is pleasing a crowd. That's anti-art as fuck.

nah man
I can take a random person off the streat and teach them to produce to a basic level and teach them to dj to a basic level. can't take a random person and teach them to become an amazing dj.
do other artforms not crowd please. if as a dj you are crowd pleasing but not keeping musical integrity( playing in an unoriginal way, not telling a story with your mix, but just a collection of bangers) then you're not a good dj and yes that is in some respects anti-art.
crowd pleasing isn't anti-art though. for something to be art are your audience not meant to enjoy it or something?
There are good djs and good producers. there are bad producers and bad djs. theres plenty of sick producers who are shit djs and vice versa.

maybe producing at a sick level is harder than djing at a sick level but that doesn't mean djing isn't an art form.

why can't an entertainer be an artist

[fragments]

DJs, performers, Live PA acts...whatever the hell you want to call any of them have so much cool technology...hardware, software, hybrid, to use these days and we are all still getting butthurt over how people blend two tunes together and what constitues "twue" DJing?

Blending tunes on two decks is so standard at this point. Now granted, I have heard people pull off some cool stuff with two turntables and a mixer.

These days if all you are doing is blending two tunes together, I am not really bothered by how you do it. I wish DJs would spend more time digging for cool tunes instead of everyone just playing stuff from the top 10 or those DJ picks lists. I dont care what kind of dance music it is, you go to any show these days and everyone is playing the same 20 or so tracks.

I guess my overall point is, from my perspective there is so much wrong with DJ culture these days that the way someone blends track together seems really fucking minor.