
 Originally Posted by 
Zac Kyoti
					
				 
				Interesting read, this thread.  I don't have much to say about the mau5 - I think his quote was pretty much just a "not thinking before you speak" moment that stemmed from a grain of truth. That being, his distaste for djs on pedestals that don't push the craft.  It was a dick thing to say, but I get the root of where the thought came from. Z-Trip, Q-Bert, et al are most definitely NOT those kinds of djs, and since those are the types of "traditional" djs I respect the most, I take no offense to Deadmau5' comments.
As a dj who loves music more than genres, I end up playing a really wide variety of events, and have learned a few things. First, the party and the people are the most important thing. They define what you should be playing. It's your job from there to do what a dj is supposed to do: Open people's minds to new sounds WHILE giving them what they want and expect (and sometimes what they don't expect). All the while making sure the party is moving in the right direction. Sometimes your crowd is open minded by nature - you can really push the boundaries. Other times you can't push very much. At the same level of importance is selection. It's hard, because no matter how much we say selection is number one, you can't give a dj good taste in music. It's something everyone has to develop for themselves.
I feel the truly creative aspect comes from knowing the boundaries and making something amazing happen within them. It's the selection, the way you combine things, teases, drops, tasteful fx and on-the-fly edits that differentiate an average dj from an amazing dj.
Some of my favorite, most spine tingling mixes have been non-beatmatched or tempo-transition type mixes. I love that option and don't know why anyone wouldn't use it. There is just too much great music out there to limit yourself to one tempo.
Also, I don't think there are that many hard and fast rules in this game, but one of them (at least for me), is correct phrasing, bar cycles. You can be perfectly beatmatched and still sound like shite. We digi-djs have precise loop controls = NO EXCUSES. Anyone who's not actually listening while they're playing should not be behind the decks.
			
		 
	
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