Controllerist prejudice?

**manchild** · 04-22-2012, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by rotebass

The thing that stuck out to me in the OP was the part about song selection, it was stated that people were playing "weird" tracks. IMO there is no relation between that and controllerism, the real issue is that someone is too lazy to do their research before they give joe schmoe a go on a prime club night. I think most DJs are pretty open about what they play, some play Top 40, some don't, some play a mix. I don't think any of us are shy about this preference, you can talk to a fellow DJ for 5 minutes and you'll know his top 10 favourite songs, in order. Somebody needs to start thinking with their noodle.

In his defense, he did say that he listened to a ton of demo mixes before picking people he booked, and to be honest it's a popular bar you should be coming in w/ an idea of what style to play or at the least be able to adapt. In the Boston area there is a ton of DJ's/wannabe's. He was telling me how he listed it in craigslist and in 4 hours I think he said he got like 50 e-mails. As for the "weird" music, I'm not sure what he meant, I'm gonna guess they just played whatever they had on their playlist that had a tempo of 128, but I really don't know.

**haze324** · 04-22-2012, 08:28 PM

I think all gripes on this thread are vaild.

1. Controllers make it easy and cheap for any swinging charlie to call himself a DJ
2. The guy running the night put any dude off the street on a Saturday night in a major US city --- you'd think he'd have some better connections
3. In large part "controllers" are used more by EDM Dj's than Hip Hop, Rock, etc. Dj's --- the amount of Top 40 hate on this forum is evidence
4. He should ask for guys who use Serato

...the last one was a joke.

**dope** · 04-22-2012, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by haze324

the amount of Top 40 hate on this forum is evidence

Deserved hate imo, music shouldn't be created to make money. But this is another debate, and I don't see the connexion with the OP initial post.

**DjZzeless** · 04-22-2012, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by dope

Now, any kid can get a shitty controller, a pirated DJing software, and download youtube rips. And they are polluating the industry with their flanger-based sets.

^^maybe Im old school!

**haze324** · 04-22-2012, 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by dope

Deserved hate imo, music shouldn't be created to make money. But this is another debate, and I don't see the connexion with the OP initial post.

because he said folks with controllers played "weird" music. I assume that to be some EDM that is not too popular with the masses or the crowd that he attracts at his spot. And truth is there are more EDM (of any subgenre) DJ's out there that use controllers than Hip Hop DJ's......and this IS a controller dominant and focused forum. So if I was looking for a hip hop DJ -- I would think the odds are in favor of the guy that shows up with some timecode vinyl vs. an S2. Just using Hip Hop as example. Check out the Serato forum and it's the complete opposite -- music and equipment.

**tads** · 04-22-2012, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by dope

Deserved hate imo, music shouldn't be created to make money. But this is another debate, and I don't see the connexion with the OP initial post.

The top 40 argument has alot to do with the DJ scene, and is what will probably differentiate an unprepared new DJ from an experienced one. People at large being force fed all this corporate sponsored media think all a DJ has to do is recycle the same songs that are on the radio. By the time they figure out that they haven't become David Guetta, all the parties involved would have received a nice helping of that person's money (or their parents' money). That said, there will probably be more to determining if a DJ is good or not than whether they have a controller.

The recipe that alot of these new people use is to take the same top 40 songs that everybody else is playing, and slather them with effects. I've tried teaching kids to DJ a few times and they all just want to stop the track and the spin the platter backwards or mash two songs together poorly. It really has little to do with putting on the best music and more about making the most opportune jesus pose. At the end of the day the people who value the music will win out, and the kids who don't want to take the time to dig through the records will get distracted and do something else. Once more people start to get sick of the big label music that gets put out (cause it will one day), the difficulty of finding good music will make the more music-focused dj in high demand. Your boy Deion is probably going to get away with ignoring the controllerists for now, but I find it really hard to think that the next generations "World Renown DJ" wouldn't have started out with a controller.

**soundinmotiondj** · 04-22-2012, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by Conall

This, the same thing can be said for production. Making it more accessible is a bit of a double edged sword

+1

The democratization of tools has lead to a LOT of experimentation. When equipment (and music) was relatively expensive and hard to find....getting access meant making a HUGE investment in $$$$ and time. This meant that people who were willing to make that investment tended to stick (at least reasonably close) to the "established norms" of taste.

Now that $1000 (or less) can get you a "full set" of equipment....and music is not only "freely" available on the internet....anyone who wants to can jump in on a dare and try their hand at DJing.

Ze Frank covered this several years ago better than I ever could.

http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archi...07/071406.html

Oh...and if the club would hire Ean Golden...then their issue is NOT with the controller.

**kamjongill** · 04-22-2012, 10:09 PM

There's big drama in my town with Controllers vs CDJ/DVS, all the old heads get their panties in a bunch when they see someone not using CDJ/DVS. I can keep a party rocking and a floor full with my controller, so I think it's more the issue of picking shit DJ's who play crappy music.

If you have a DJ with average skill and great song selection, you'll be able to keep a full floor IMO.

**rotebass** · 04-22-2012, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by manchild

In his defense, he did say that he listened to a ton of demo mixes before picking people he booked, and to be honest it's a popular bar you should be coming in w/ an idea of what style to play or at the least be able to adapt. In the Boston area there is a ton of DJ's/wannabe's. He was telling me how he listed it in craigslist and in 4 hours I think he said he got like 50 e-mails. As for the "weird" music, I'm not sure what he meant, I'm gonna guess they just played whatever they had on their playlist that had a tempo of 128, but I really don't know.

To bring my experience booking live bands back into this, I once booked a band based on some demos they had posted to Myspace. The night of the gig, they proceeded to clear the venue, found out later on that the tunes were ripped off from another band (the ensuing shit storm was quite entertaining to observe). The lesson here is, the guy needs to do more research, there are a lot of jokers out there, the ones that build themselves up are usually the ones that let everyone down.