Original Message                 Date: 31-Mar-00  @  04:38 AM   -   Why do people DJ live?

nickdej

Posts:

Link?:  No link
File?:  No file

Why is it that when electronic music is played live that people use records? Wouldnt it make more sense to use a keyboard? Could somebody please explain this to me

Thanks

[ back to forum ]                           [quote]

Message 11/51                 Date: 11-Apr-00  @  10:23 AM   -   RE: Why do people DJ live?

ianrhodes

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

exactly, they're not creators, and some don't even understand how all that music is created, they're DJ's
"disc jockeys" they play music, no offense, but it's not that great

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 12/51                 Date: 11-Apr-00  @  03:13 PM   -   RE: Why do people DJ live?

mystikal7

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

Ok, I have been looking at this thread for a while. Hopeing someone was going to post something good. I see dj's spin all the time, it is the best showcase for electronic music. There are a lot of dj's out that there know what they are doing, and know how to creat music. I know of one dj that uses 2 tb-303's and is going to start using a 505 in his shows. Saying that they just play music is a statement obviously coming from someone that knwos nothing about dj'ing. It isn't a fact of just playing one record and then right before it ends throwing down another one. You take a record you like and if you feel it needs something, like maybe a snare roll at one point you add it off another record. A lot of dj's also produce music. Bad boy bill, dj dan, dj irene, armand van helden, crystal method. And yes tCM are dj's. I could list tons of dj's that produce and remix. When you mix you don't just beatmatch, you have to think of the key the record is in so if ya lay down another record with it, it won't sound all wack. Dj's also have to know what the crowd wants, and how to get the floor dancing. It isn't just a matter of playing records, they create a mood with the music. I think that the people that have posted on this thread are very uninformed about dj'ing. And dj's are something great, just because they use different tools to creat their music does not make them any less of musicians than yourself.

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 13/51                 Date: 13-Apr-00  @  12:28 AM   -   RE: Why do people DJ live?

ModAsBlue

Posts:

Link?: Link

File?:  No file

Ok, Kid...

Well, you have to understand the power of a turntable and a fat ass beat...just think about this little disc that spins and physically transfers little notches into beats...stuttering away from the needle to the speakers.

More concretely, you just need to understand DJ culture. Electronic Dance Music is just that...DANCE music, and when people go out to a club or a party or a rave or whatever, there are some people who are there to dance they're ass off, some for drugs and some for the music and some to get laid... (we all have our own priorities).. A DJ makes many songs into a set...a set as a cohesive whole...he manipulates the records, the pulse, to his liking. A DJ with a name will be the center of many people's attention (will have more trainspotters) while an unknown is the source of the party.

Other reasons, umm... one could say that as a DJ you pick what you feel the BEST (to your taste or within a certain cohesion) are and come on, no DJ/producer is going to say "my records are just the bomb ass shit, I will spin only my shit" and anyway then you'd have a boring set...producers tend to have styles and you'd here only one.

More reasons - a lot of producers just don't go live...they just sit in the studio and crank out vinyl for the DJs...that's just what they're after.

Again, remember that DJS are musicians...if they weren't, one couldn't have preferences for one DJ over another. There are so many reasons ahhhhh! You just need to get out to a party...

Clubs/Parties/Raves are concerts and "regular parties" in one... that fusion makes the DJ necessary.

Come on guys, help me out!

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 14/51                 Date: 13-Apr-00  @  02:23 AM   -   RE: Why do people DJ live?

jj

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

Pongoid,

I don't know why you've chosen to take such a myopic look at this issue. You yourself claim to be a proponent of open mindedness, and are the first to criti-size those who approach new concepts with closed minds. So what the fuck man?

Do you believe that you created the tone of say A#? Did that tone not exist before your moms squeezed your little sticky ass out? "Ah," we said, "now we can use A#". Naw, this ain't the case. A#'s been around. But nonetheless you will take this tone and use it, add a tone before, a tone after. Are YOU a thief for simply playing a tone, thats been around as long as air? Or are you an Author for arranging the tone into sequences? Why is it that you can sequence tones, and be the Author, while others sequence sonic experiences far more compl.exe and difficult to manipulate than simple tones, and are called "archivers"? I'de expect this level of thinking from a fool, but surely not from someone with such a deep and open mind as you, pongoid.

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 15/51                 Date: 13-Apr-00  @  05:20 AM   -   Why don't DJ's dance live?

Jasper

Posts: 424

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

A lot of producers don't actually want the fame and limelight that dj's do though.. So they both benefit each other.. The producers that DO want fame and limelight go out and play live..

Which brings me to the point that the reason DJ's and the producers that want FAME do it is because they look like a constipated octopus on the dancefloor.

Really, some of them should be told that they arent doing themselves any favours.

If you are a dJ and you can dance then you should copyrite it or something ;)

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 16/51                 Date: 14-Apr-00  @  02:50 AM   -   RE: Why do people DJ live?

jj

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

The dj I was refering to way up there is a very white dude, and is prob one of the best breakers around. Can you guess who he is now?

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 17/51                 Date: 14-Apr-00  @  10:35 AM   -   RE: Why do people DJ live?

Rockstar

Posts: 94

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

Hate to say it out loud but I agree with pongiod...bear in mind I was a working DJ for 10 years, but simply put a DJ simply plays records. Thats it. There are those turntablist dudes who rip shit like instruments, but I find watching them is kinda like watching somebody jerk-off, its all pyrotechnics and theatrics, not very interesting from a musical view point. (I've seen roc-raida, x-men; DJ Johnny Juice, one of the ORIGINAL underground turntablists is an old friend of mind - not to name drop, but I don't wanna hear that I don't understand the concept or some shit)....very boring.

In fact I can't really understand the whole DJ as.....rockstar... thing at all...

I write beats, and I've dj'd and there is absolutely no comparison. DJ'ing requires: very good taste, a sense of crowd psychology, and minimal rhythm. Hate to bust the bubble, but I've controlled and sculpted crowds like an artist, and I did it half drunk...

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 18/51                 Date: 15-Apr-00  @  09:07 PM   -   RE: Why do people DJ live?

jj

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

half drunk, prob had to be, to access your brain's higher/lower functions.

Okay, rockstar you know DJ KO?

Dude absolutely blew my mind. I've NEVER had that amount of quality sonic information coming at me.(especially live) I couldn't process nearly a quarter of it. Dude was tight, you know him?

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 19/51                 Date: 17-Apr-00  @  01:23 PM   -   RE: Why do people DJ live?

Rockstar

Posts: 94

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

KO? nah, is he one of those bay area cats? dudes down there are ridiculous... honestly not part of that whole scene 'cept through my man...peeped a scratch piklz tape where this kid did a routine with the power off on the tables though! Also caught some crazy routines at this contest that vibe sponsored here in NY a few months back .they are impressive, but shit like that makes me ask why? if you're going to break down records to individual tones, than write a song! for real, I understand the whole thing of dj in hip-hop, but I came into dj'ing understanding it as a service to the crowd, the impressive hip-hop dj'ing bores the shit out of a crowd and can kill a party quickly (I've seen it happen)...

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 20/51                 Date: 17-Apr-00  @  08:20 PM   -   RE: Why do people DJ live?

jj

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

well the moral of the story is that the turntable is a new instrament, not unlike the sequencer being a new instrament. Originally turntables were playback devices, just as sequencers were, right? But then people started "playing" the playback device. Now no offense, but I think its not to smart to think of certain instraments being capable of only certain tasks, like I can only make people dance with a turntable, or I can only make people rock with a guitar. I'd hate to put a limit on an instrament, or a musician like that.

[ back to forum ]               [quote]