Dubstepforum.com

I've never seen The Bug. Before I go youtube his sets...is he similar to, say, Amon Tobin DJing.

Q23 wrote:

Piston wrote:the term dj was coined before beatmixing existed..therefore the bug does dj well if you like his tunes

So what you are saying then is that we might as well just ignore the evolution of the art in its entirety, and focus on just playing songs, stopping them, and playing the next song, and that is just as good as someone like a DJ Q-Bert who tears shit up.

I think the definition has changed throughout the years due to evolution and the "term" that was coined when dinosaurs ruled the earth and the blue coats were pumping out dubs on edison cylinders no longer applys.

Reading a crowd is still a specific talent IMO. People either got it or they dont. Forget about matching beats, and think more along the lines of Jazz musicians, who were the master crowd readers of their day.

i think you partially aren't getting what i'm saying

you are suggesting unless someone can mix tunes together they aren't djing...this is factually incorrect as far as djings origins and meaning are concerned...

was just referring to your comments on 'not being able to dj'

any muppet can use a laptop to mash tracks together....i do it frequently as it sounds good....he chooses to do his thing....i respect that..

his techno animal, curse of the golden vampire and sub species stuff makes it pretty obvious he ain't a gully mixtape chief....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_czrpe-0 ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18dpPYpXnqg

My entire point is it is harder to create a consistent dance floor vibe when people's minds snap to the music every two minutes. This is where mixing enters into the picture and solves the problem. It has been proven to work since the mid 70s. If this kid wants to go back to "playing records" its fine by me, but understand that people WILL leave a dancefloor when this occurs, when they were expecting a consistent vibe the entire set.

Even people who have no technical knowledge of what a DJ does have an expectation when they go out that performers will create a dancefloor vibe through crowd reading skills, track selection, and yes, mixing. When the collective mind snaps to the music (or lack thereof) that occurs when switching tracks in this situation, the dancefloor stops moving. After this occurs a few times, people who are more familiar with DJ / dancefloor culture will usually sit it out, or become gazers.

86 Position wrote:I've never seen The Bug. Before I go youtube his sets...is he similar to, say, Amon Tobin DJing.

Amon Tobin at least beatmaches when hes playing the same genre/bpm.

I know some people feel that whole soundsystem style...but to be honest, both times Ive seen him play there was just so much noise and sloppiness with no programming, (he didnt look up once to read the crowd either) to the set that everyone was just standing around wandering what the fuck.

we had him and WQ @ Sub Swara last year and he thoroughly blew me away--- even just the amount of setup involved to really get into the art of playing back recorded music was pretty stunning.

Kevin's whole white-noise-over-den-of-drums just SLAYED it.

FWIW about 50% of the people i talked to after his set loved it, and the other 50% absolutely hated it-- and for all the reasons previously stated. I think that's great, no wishy-washy, "eh, whatever, it was cool" business.

Dude is a powerhouse. An abrasive one, sure, but an absolutely massive one.

The Bug

Sick producer

Selector

Sound System Destroyer.......

i thought this thread was gonna be about finding his hat at the back of the bus or something

I can't believe how many people miss the point entirely...


1) the Bug has NEVER been or claimed to be dubstep. He likes some dubstep, and some dubsteppers like his music.. and somehow, some people made the unnatural connection that he is dubstep. Nothing could be further from the truth.

2) it's a bit sad that only a few people in this thread really know and understand where he has come from - his industrial/noise roots. Along the way he went from not just loving dancehall music, but making it himself, still staying true to his noise roots. And for someone doing something quite new sonically, he is staying very true to performance practices of soundsystem culture. Those sets aren't smooth, they are disjointed and go all over the place. 2 minutes is actually a long rinse for a track in that scene... if you ever watch any true soundclashes, they will drop a beat for less than 30 seconds.

3) as for those who criticise him for not trying to "read" the crowd and appease the masses... well, that isn't what he does. Again, you are confusing what club djs do- and assuming ALL musicians are going to act that way. I'm not dissing club djs, but that is a very narrow slice of the musical performace pie. The Bug gets booked to do what he does- which is drop serious bass & noise pressure. It's not for everyone... as Terekete says: often about 50/50... but no one is wishy washy about it. People love it or hate it- and I think that is great.

4) finally- for the people complaining about hurting ears, that is what earplugs are for.

mad ep wrote:
finally- for the people complaining about hurting ears, that is what earplugs are for.

i WAS wearing earplugs!! we're talking an INSANELY loud set here - as i said he made distance sound quiet (!)

i love some of his tracks tho even if i didnt like the way they were presented

Reptilian wrote: i WAS wearing earplugs!! we're talking an INSANELY loud set here

haha- OK, fair enough. I reacted in the way that I do when I have had unprotected listeners complain about their ears ringing..

You're right that there isn't much you can do when you are wearing plugs and it is still too loud.

mad ep wrote:the Bug gets booked to do what he does- which is drop serious bass & noise pressure. It's not for everyone... as Terekete says: often about 50/50... but no one is wishy washy about it. People love it or hate it- and I think that is great.

4) finally- for the people complaining about hurting ears, that is what earplugs are for.

It seems to me that he is getting booked to play at places where the crowd has a DIFFERENT expectation of what the DJ is going to do, in cases where he has failed to entertain. In cases where people shat themselves because his act was good beyond compare, it sounds like he was booked to the correct venue on the correct night, with other acts that people who like his music also want to see.

As for earplugs, if your sound system is above 117 db at the bins, you can end up in ALOT of hot water if someones hearing is damaged during a show. 110 db at the bins is pushing quite a bit of weight while still maintaining enough headroom. Telling someone to wear earplugs if they dont like your volume will backfire on you if their equilibrium gets messed up and they have a good lawyer. It has happened in the past to groups who billed themselves as "the loudest" on Earth.

I know I know there is a certain masculinity with electronic music where people want to turn it up to 11 to make it sound all ravey, and make the metal walls of the warehouse rattle until dust is falling from the ceiling, however.....

Quantity does not equal quality.

when i saw him play i was warned that he didint beatmatch so wasint that worried ... but some of the feedback noises he had going on where painfull ,never seen so many people gringe on the d floor before , most people stood outside or in the bar next door ,personaly i think hes going deaf cos i stood around listening to his sound check and and he wanted more and more volume on some painfull freqs our soundboy was like but had ta do what he wanted.
i honestly think it woulda been much beta if the bug left our soundboy ta eq the system and controll levels

bigup red i by the way

he played one of the sickest dj sets i've ever seen at get raised in bristol a few years ago.

NINE wrote:if you don;t know that the bug doesn't beat match by 2009, then you havent done your research and deserve to have you fuckin eardrums shattered and youve only got yourselves to blame

hahahaha

jred wrote:when i saw him play i was warned that he didint beatmatch so wasint that worried ... but some of the feedback noises he had going on where painfull ,never seen so many people gringe on the d floor before , most people stood outside or in the bar next door ,personaly i think hes going deaf cos i stood around listening to his sound check and and he wanted more and more volume on some painfull freqs our soundboy was like but had ta do what he wanted.
i honestly think it woulda been much beta if the bug left our soundboy ta eq the system and controll levels

bigup red i by the way

yeah yeah Red-i locked in soundboy !!!

The Bug isnt a dubstep dj.

I am going to see him as soon as I get the chance, he sounds awesome. I am a big Techno Animal / God fan however.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAt9hR4Y ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHueIrhu ... re=related

RSD & Warrior Queen was such a sick combination when we booked them, tore it down, they'd obviously planned it a bit 'cos he was like her cue and knew when to give her space to do her thing and vice versa. Very professional.

actually i saw the bug at pukkelpop like 3 weeks ago. actually it was fantastic. much better than rusko with all the stuff he plays and much better than magnetic man that are annoingly boring