Does it take any skill to be a "DJ"?

Forest Master · 16-08-2011 12:17PM #1

Now firstly - I'm not referring to proper DJs who can scratch & mix - that actually takes skill (when they can actually do it well, which most can't) - but 99% of DJs just play song after song - that takes no skill at all. It's not even their own stuff - they just bought it.

For example, I saw this guy play a few years ago: he has skills, because he actually composes, scratches & mixes his own stuff, mixed with other records & samples:
http://www.djkormac.com/listen-watch/

Most "DJs" don't & can't do this. They just buy a record & play it, followed by another... 99% of DJs fall into this category. And don't try to claim "feeling the vibe of the people on the dancefloor" is a skill. It just takes basic cop on how to bring people up & down with the intensity of music - every single band does this with their set-list construction - the main difference being they write the own sh*t... Yeah, it takes awesome skillz to play someone else's music. Wow - look at him take that record out of it's sleeve & put it on the turntable - what talent!

chin_grin · 16-08-2011 12:19PM

Jays bay you still talking about those big black plastic yokes. 'tis all cd's and mp3's nowadays.

And no it takes absolutely no skill to mix them when you can download freeware to match songs together by their bpm.

Unsinnig · 16-08-2011 12:26PM

Henry Rollins says it best...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v12ttbWvr3I

policarp · 16-08-2011 12:26PM

I suppose it has to take some sort of skill or neck
otherwise everyone would be doing it.
Seems like a handy way of making a few quid though. . .

Logical Fallacy · 16-08-2011 12:26PM

Forest Master wrote: »

Now firstly - I'm not referring to proper DJs who can scratch & mix - that actually takes skill (when they can actually do it well, which most can't) - but 99% of DJs just play song after song - that takes no skill at all. It's not even their own stuff - they just bought it.

For example, I saw this guy play a few years ago: he has skills, because he actually composes, scratches & mixes his own stuff, mixed with other records & samples:
http://www.djkormac.com/listen-watch/

Most "DJs" don't & can't do this. They just buy a record & play it, followed by another... 99% of DJs fall into this category. And don't try to claim "feeling the vibe of the people on the dancefloor" is a skill. It just takes basic cop on how to bring people up & down with the intensity of music - every single band does this with their set-list construction - the main difference being they write the own sh*t... Yeah, it takes awesome skillz to play someone else's music. Wow - look at him take that record out of it's sleeve & put it on the turntable - what talent!

Something tells me you play guitar.

Some DJ's have an intense amount of skill, able to take songs from different genres and BPM's and sow a tapestry of music that is like a journey or a story, they will do things that other DJ's cannot do...find connections between tracks that others wouldn't even try.

Some DJ's are ****.

The same way some bands are good and some bands are ****.

Unsinnig · 16-08-2011 12:29PM

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

Some DJ's have an intense amount of skill, able to take songs from different genres and BPM's and sow a tapestry of music that is like a journey or a story

I see what you did there. Probably one of the better remixes of logic and bullsh_t.

See you on the cover of NME or Mixmag next month!

That_Guy · 16-08-2011 12:32PM

I can do it so.... no. :pac:

-Kenny- · 16-08-2011 12:32PM

Utter skill here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAmpmrmfUDo

Logical Fallacy · 16-08-2011 12:32PM

Unsinnig wrote: »

I see what you did there. Probably one of the better remixes of logic and bullsh_t.

See you on the cover of NME or Mixmag next month!

Not really. Find a 6 hour mix by Mr Scuff and he'll go from Jazz to Dubstep to DnB by way of jungle, funk and classic breaks. All will be done on vinyl, traveling from 70BPM to 170+ on a piece of technology that has a limited ability to alter pitch. You can watch that guy work for 6 hours and dance non stop, never get bored and always hear a multitude of tracks you will never have heard before.

Then you have guys like DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist who will take other peoples music and across 8 decks slice it up and turn it into something completely new.

There are plenty of DJ's with a lot of skill, and plenty of DJ's with absolutely none.

Also, NME and Mixmag are ****ing rags, i didn't come here to be insulted.

pragmatic1 · 16-08-2011 12:33PM

Q-Bert, Mixmaster Mike and the Beat Junkies-serious skill.
Your average club DJ-Nah.

pragmatic1 · 16-08-2011 12:34PM

-Kenny- wrote: »

Utter skill here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAmpmrmfUDo

That is the worst music of all time.

chin_grin · 16-08-2011 12:34PM

This is the only "jungle" music I can listen to. (May not be jungle..........someone correct me).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp5OxEzxuSg

cherryghost · 16-08-2011 12:36PM

DJ Hero has taught me that even a baby can become a professional DJ

Seachmall · 16-08-2011 12:37PM

chin_grin wrote: »

This is the only "jungle" music I can listen to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zlQYQ0ecA4

chin_grin · 16-08-2011 12:37PM

pragmatic1 wrote: »

That is the worst music of all time.

Was that not his point of posting it? Yeah it's really terrible. It immediately gives me an image of the "boyos" fishing drinking cans of bulmers at <insert anywhere>.

mikemac · 16-08-2011 12:38PM

Incredible skill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY17nDW-CX0

Well it got to number one for ten weeks so no denying its succuss

Bring on the quotes and derision :P

NTMK · 16-08-2011 12:38PM

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

Not really. Find a 6 hour mix by Mr Scuff and he'll go from Jazz to Dubstep to DnB by way of jungle, funk and classic breaks. All will be done on vinyl, traveling from 70BPM to 170+ on a piece of technology that has a limited ability to alter pitch. You can watch that guy work for 6 hours and dance non stop, never get bored and always hear a multitude of tracks you will never have heard before.

Then you have guys like DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist who will take other peoples music and across 8 decks slice it up and turn it into something completely new.

There are plenty of DJ's with a lot of skill, and plenty of DJ's with absolutely none.

Also, NME and Mixmag are ****ing rags, i didn't come here to be insulted.

To be fair OP did state that he wasnt talking about proper Dj's he was talking about the typical irish "dj" that plays the top 20 tracks and journey adding nothing to them creatively

Those kind are ****e

16-08-2011 12:42PM

NTMK wrote: »

To be fair OP did state that he wasnt talking about proper Dj's he was talking about the typical irish "dj" that plays the top 20 tracks and journey adding nothing to them creatively

Those kind are ****e

I dont call those type DJ's I just think of them as manual CD changers.
Dont they know they could put all their music into itunes and just let it randomly pick crap songs one after the other!

mackg · 16-08-2011 12:42PM

It probably doesn't take as much technical skill to play as a Steve Vai album but really skill is required to produce good original music like the DJs Logical fallacy pointed out. I do not count taking an eighties song and putting a sh*t beat in the background and a chipmunk singing the lyrics in this bracket, those retards need to stop inflicting that crap on me in night clubs.

Edit: My bad i get what OP meant now, no it requires no skill. a guy in my year in secondary bought decks had never touched them before and within a week was performing the function of an itunes playlist in a local bar.

The Scientician · 16-08-2011 12:44PM

I've done it the odd time. It doesn't take much skill except you have to be good at gauging what the crowd wants next. I'd say the more you do it the better you get, but sometimes you think a tune will go down really well and it'll bomb, othertimes you play a request grudgingly for someone and it lights up the dancefloor. I was at a wedding a while back and a dj from FM104 or one of those stations was the dj, he was really bad at his job. He kept playing the wrong tempo or style stuff back to back, so you'd have auld wans out for a waltz then he'd play the Black Eyed Peas etc. It was fairly basic mistakes he was making, yet there was making them, with all the experience he has.

Anyway so I don't think there's much technical accomplishment you need but you should know a wide variety of music, and what sort of music a crowd is likely to want to dance to.

16-08-2011 12:44PM

mackg wrote: »

It probably doesn't take as much technical skill to play as a Steve Vai album but really skill is required to produce good original music like the DJs Logical fallacy pointed out. I do not count taking an eighties song and putting a sh*t beat in the background and a chipmunk singing the lyrics in this bracket, those retards need to stop inflicting that crap on me in night clubs.

These DJ's are in the same league of talent as getting a group of reasonably attractive young boys or girls teach them to dance add a few pre written songs and then digitally tune their voices until it sounds like they are singing type of music.

Seachmall · 16-08-2011 12:46PM

In fairness we've all walked out of clubs thinking either that the music was ****e or was class which shows there is at least some skill involved. Most of the time you don't really form an opinion on whether the DJ was good but when he's bad you bloody well know it.

Alter-Ego · 16-08-2011 12:49PM

Unsinnig wrote: »

Henry Rollins says it best...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v12ttbWvr3I

Henry Rollins is an absolute fcuking bellend. He's not funny, so people are only really going to see a middle aged, barely talented man complain about first world problems.

chin_grin · 16-08-2011 12:52PM

Alter-Ego wrote: »

Henry Rollins is an absolute fcuking bellend. He's not funny, so people are only really going to see a middle aged, barely talented man complain about first world problems.

Have you ever been to any of his spoken word shows or read any of his books? Come back to us when you have, then your opinion might carry a bit more weight.

mackg · 16-08-2011 12:53PM

Seachmall wrote: »

In fairness we've all walked out of clubs thinking either that the music was ****e or was class which shows there is at least some skill involved. Most of the time you don't really form an opinion on whether the DJ was good but when he's bad you bloody well know it.

I'll accept your point about this but will say that most of the DJs I have come across have been absolute sh*te. I don't live in Dublin though so the standard above there may be alot better.

jme2010 · 16-08-2011 12:55PM

cherryghost wrote: »

DJ Hero has taught me that even a baby can become a professional DJ

Because most big clubs have an xbox and plastic turntable with buttons as the set up? you f.uck tard

mod: poster banned

That_Guy · 16-08-2011 01:03PM

jme2010 wrote: »

Because most big clubs have an xbox and plastic turntable with buttons as the set up? you f.uck tard

Twas just a joke dude. Chill.

CoalBucket · 16-08-2011 01:04PM

I have an mp3 player, an ipod, a cd player. That makes me a multi diciplined DJ.

DJs have as much talent as the guy who presses the button to open the barrier at the tesco carpark.

Cianos · 16-08-2011 01:04PM

Most clubs don't allow for a DJ who experiments with stuff that is new to the crowd, they're just there to put on a list of chart crap that the place will dance to.

Clubs that are more oriented around the music depend on talented DJs to keep the crowds interested. Even if they're just playing other peoples stuff, there's still a world of difference between a good DJ and a bad one.

Logical Fallacy · 16-08-2011 01:05PM

chin_grin wrote: »

Have you ever been to any of his spoken word shows or read any of his books? Come back to us when you have, then your opinion might carry a bit more weight.

I've seen Rollins show a few times, he can be pretty damn funny. But he is also pretty limited as well, if Rollins doesn't like it, then it's wrong and there is no room for it.

This though is central to his personality and his success in various fields. When you are screaming from the front of the stage with Black Flag you don't have room to think you might be wrong.

Intensive Care Bear · 16-08-2011 01:07PM

You understand it takes skill to be a talented dj so your question is does it take skill to be a crap dj? Erm no, no it doesnt.

Does it take any skill to be a "DJ"?

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