DJs

NinjaK wrote: »

70% of boards are idiots, it takes alot of skill and practice to be good on the decks

I have been playing drums for about 16 years. It took the best part of four years practicing up to an hour every day to get to what I would call a decent standard.

I have been playing piano 4 years and am nowhere near half decent on it.

I can also mix records using vinyl and CD decks and it took me about 3-4 weeks to get properly proficient at it.

Scratch trickery is a different story of course. That takes serious effort and practice. I have a lot of respect for those guys.

Another myth perpetuated by those who don't know any better is that there's only skill in playing vinyl. People who argue that are just vinyl users resisting the future or people who don't have a clue that need a big shiny prop to try and formulate some BS opinion around.

That's not to say that there's no skill to playing vinyl, before someone takes me up wrong, that's not what I'm saying at all. It's a very valuable skill to have.

I learned on vinyl back when I was a teenager. Last year, the guy who taught me called me up and asked if he could come along to some gigs so he could learn to play digital. He picked it up but is still having massive problems giving his set that extra 'edge' so to speak, because he hadn't played in years so lagged behind.

Basically, DJ-ing to him had been all about track selection, beatmatch while the track is playing, then next track. And that sufficied back when he was playing, because it was all anyone knew. Now with samples, effects and so on, you can add an extra 10% to your set because beatmatching can be taken care of via syncing (I mostly sync these days an I'm not ashamed to admit it, because it gives me more time between songs to get things perfect: add samples/effects, cue up the next song to exactly the right spot so you don't lose energy in the transition, make sure it's harmonious, get the EQ-ing perfect etc. Though you have to still be able to manually beatmatch and use jog wheels because software can still do you wrong). You can give it that bit of oomph to send the dancefloor crazy. It was interesting to contrast how DJ-ing has actually progressed by watching someone of yesteryear fall that bit behind. He'll get there, though, I'm sure of it. But he just has to grasp that extra 10%.

The fact is: anyone who says there's no skill whatsoever to it is wrong. If you haven't stood there, made mistakes in your early days and see sure-fire floorfillers fall flat, learned from them and improved, seen sets go awry and have to change plans mid-set, read a crowd and see them react exactly as you wanted etc...you're just commenting with no actual experience to base your comment. And anyone who says it's easy, after that, is waffling to make themselves sound better than they actually are. Or they've just plateaued, because the moment you find it easy, you should still be adding to your performance and improving.

No sensible DJ would claim to be an artist or rocket scientist, and if they do they're an arsehole who shouldn't be listened to as authorities on the subject. But to say there's no skill is to, simply, have no clue what you're talking about.

I wish I could just push play and this would happen.

DJ'ing is a skill,and a dieing one at that.very few DJs at festivals are there solely for their skills behind the decks,most are producers.

Track selection is what really seperates the good from the great DJ's,Jackmaster is by far my favourite as you really dont know what he will play next.His resident advisor mix is proof to this.

As for the opinion that people only go to clubs to get drunk and pull,i dont.I hate going to generic niteclubs that play the same old chart stuff,twisted pepper is where its at

Crooked Jack wrote: »

Um, no On the rare occasion i go to a night club i go for the purpose of getting drunk and fingering a 19 year old girl. The music is jsut something i put up with. However I have no idea what relevance that has to anything i have said. Essentially i said two things. Firstly i asked if people thought DJing was a real skill, inviting all opinions.
Secondly, i mentioned, in passing, that I dont like dance music. That was it.
Everything else that people think i've said, such as your comment - "your assuming just because some people like electronic dance music, that they cant also dj hip hop , break beats or rock" - people have made up themselves in some outraged defensive frenzy because they cant believe somebody would have the gall to have a different taste in music from them.

oh pot - kettle - black

if you read the thread , most of the people replying talked about the skill or lack of in djing , you were the one that started your rant about dance music , dropping pills and basically insinuating that dj's were useless noise makers playing music that you dont have a liking for.

but you forgot that dj's dont just play dance , far from it,
i could not give a crap what music you like or dont like , means nothing to me
your comment says it all, " music is just something i put up with " well then why ask the question in the first place about skill ?

you know very little about the subject matter judging by your responses.

funny you should mention fingering 19 year old's - i see from the dj box all the time, the lounge lizards roaming looking for drunk little girls - sad really,
because all the fine women are chasing the dj - for a reason buddy
enjoy fingering the drunk fat bird :eek:

dj jarvis wrote: »

your right - any fool can , but only a few are good enough to make a living and make their name in the industry - this is where the skill comes into it,

just like the army of clowns in this country who can play a few chords on a guitar and suddenly they are the next big thing and selling their souls to appear on im a wanker get me on tv

and people are giving out about dj's ?? give me a break

anyone who states that djing is easy, and any clown can do it , ill tell ya what
you get a gig , get paid to get to this gig , entertain 500/600 people and not **** it up - this takes knowledge and skill - end of

With Sasha&Digweed on in the background i agree 100% with how you expanded on my point so well.

Bollocks is Djing easy!!!! I thought the same until i stepped up to my mates set of decks when i was 15 and didnt have a fúcking clue what was goin on! Beat matching is way harder than it looks so dont say it's easy until you've tried it. I instantly got hooked on DJing when i walked into my mates room and saw that crate of Vinyl and the big fúck off shiny decks and whopper set of speakers, absolutely blew my mind.