Attack of the Show with Ean Golden

[Lantau]

So on that note I am going to take the very reasonable challenge put forth by one of the original posters and turn it back on you the community. I would REALLY like to see some amazing, mind blowing videos that use the concepts we have been presenting over the past 2 years.

I think it'd be rude of the community not too after what yourself and the DJTT crew have done for us

Personally thought it was an excellent video, pitched at a good level for people to get a glimpse at what goes on here with some funky sounds and a very smart looking piece of equipment!

[Xonetacular]

I apologize for getting out of line in this thread, I was merely defending some posts I made and got a little heated in the process. There are many more people returning the negativity in some cases more directly and severely in my direction, so in a sense you are becoming the very thing you didn't like and were calling out, so to those of you that it applies to- reflect on that before you post anything else in reaction to what I said.

Anyway, I appreciate the positive nature of this forum, I'm used to the other places that were mentioned and old posting habits are hard to kick on a new board. I will be more sensitive and constructive, I think I've demonstrated I can be quite knowledgeable and helpful already.

Back on topic.
Ean- please excuse my tone if it was rude before, now I understand why you chose a simpler demo for the segment, out of curiosity can we see what you had planned with 4 decks? I'm sure it is pretty sweet.

[tr0uble]

I hope they correct it to get VCI right. Definitely a cool segment and great exposure.

Is anyone else not at all impressed by Eans controllerism demos? I know he has skill and I feel like he could do so much more than what he showed on there and in a lot of his demos, it seems like he's holding back and not pushing it. If he wants to sell controllerism, he has to really push it and demonstrate it is capable of things beyond what anyone could do 5 minutes after discovering the hotcues on a CDJ (and I've seen 10x better cue juggling routines by people on CDJs).

I'm not saying he lacks the skill and couldn't do it, I'm just saying controllerism has the potential for a lot more and he needs to take it a step further, the aerodynamic routine was good but that should be the standard for most of us here, I want my mind to be blown, oh and whatever he demoed on the show was weaksauce. He focuses too much of the gater/mulholland drive combo (I know he uses a different second effect, I use the drive which sounds better) which I think most of us got tired of after a couples hours of discovering it in traktor and using it to death. It sounds awesome don't get me wrong, it is just twisting two knobs and the sound is very distinct to traktor and can be quickly overused, and once someone knows that you're doing and it isn't some mad crossfader scratching skills your audience will be unimpressed with it too. He is kind of disguising it here in some instances to make it look cooler by assigning it to the jogs and faders, which I actually thought of too to hide it a bit.

There are much better tracks that lend themselves to faster more mind blowing routines instead of slow underwhelming pecking at push buttons that doesn't sound like anything special. Since he is essentially selling controllerism with his products he needs to do a better job of showing it off or finding someone who can.

I think as a DJ yourself you have lost sight of the important thing - the dancefloor. If you are interested in button-wanking for its own sake then maybe Ean's routines aren't that impressive, but the dancefloor doesn't care how physically difficult or technically complex your DJing is. They just want to be teased and entertained by someone finding creative ways to play music.

[Xonetacular]

I think as a DJ yourself you have lost sight of the important thing - the dancefloor. If you are interested in button-wanking for its own sake then maybe Ean's routines aren't that impressive, but the dancefloor doesn't care how physically difficult or technically complex your DJing is. They just want to be teased and entertained by someone finding creative ways to play music.

Well by that argument we should all go back to Vinyl and CDs and ditch the digital movement if controllerism has nothing to offer over conventional means, you can certainly do everything you just said with CDJs. The purpose of this segment seemed to be to get people interested in the controllerism movement and showing what it has to offer, I wasn't referring to a strictly real world dance floor situation, just exploring the possibilities and limits of digital DJing.

At a club you are mostly doing basic mixing most of the time because like you said people just want to dance to the music, most of the time the DJ's skill goes unnoticed unless they are a headliner event with people focusing on them.

[Ciar2001]

I really enjoyed the video, and I can appreciate why the time was short, I myself use a controller for very basic mixing loops and effects, I haven't even got round to putting in beat jumps on a single one of my mp3's yet, eventually I will so I found what Ean did impressive to me who has only been back mixing since July.

if it impresses me who used to be a Vinyl DJ and now purely digital imagine what it would do to someone completely new to the whole scene djing not just controllers?

either way it's good for DJTT good for guys who use controllers, the best part it might help out going forward to change the opinions of those stuck in old ways, or maybe allow them to be less bigoted and single minded in regards to controller ism ;-)

[tr0uble]

Well by that argument we should all go back to Vinyl and CDs and ditch the digital movement if controllerism has nothing to offer over conventional means, you can certainly do everything you just said with CDJs.

I didn't mean it as black & white as that. I think there are things possible with controllerism and NOT CDJs which are relevant in a dancefloor context.

I thought the segment was a great intro into digital DJing.

[Xonetacular]

I didn't mean it as black & white as that. I think there are things possible with controllerism and NOT CDJs which are relevant in a dancefloor context..

Yes of course controllers can do a lot more, it's jsut that in most cases those bonus opportunities aren't relevant for club DJing. You can use crazy effect combos and cue juggling but no one on the floor is going to care and if you do it poorly and it interrupts the flow it will drive people away, I've definitely seen that happen more than someone on a controller trying to get fancy using it to a positive effect.

For our purposes of home use, competitions, and general fun it is probably more applicable because honestly aside from a small number of big name DJs using Traktor and Ableton, most pros do it best with Serato or CDJs and there is definitely something to that. I would love to see controllerism go more mainstream and a way for it to work well and really offer something to the average club crowd that the alternatives can't, I just haven't seen it done with much success. Don't get me wrong I want it to and am actively trying, I just think we need to identify what techniques are going give controllerism the edge for the typical DJ with a normal crowd. Right now MIDI controllers are just another way to do the same thing.

What can a crowd get from a DJ using a controller that they can't from a DJ using CDs?

[tr0uble]

Yes of course controllers can do a lot more, it's jsut that in most cases those bonus opportunities aren't relevant for club DJing.

Um, I'm not sure if you read what I wrote the first time because all we are doing is contradicting each other here.

I think some of the extra things you can do with a controller are relevant in a club context. We can agree to disagree.

[Abyrne7]

From my experience, a DJ using a controller, my personal experience is that it enables me to hot cue much better and efficiently. Like when Im mixing I tend to do little tricks to introduce a song such as hot cueing vocals with a delay effect giving a crowd a taste of whats coming next. That is not easily done on standard CDJ's. Also being able to use many effect combinations and totally warping the layout of songs, Just to name a couple. I don't do much crazy beat juggling, I tend to stay away from juggling bass lines and snares and stuff and use it more for vocal samples and warping tracks so it doesn't totally mess with the flow of the music.

Yes of course controllers can do a lot more, it's jsut that in most cases those bonus opportunities aren't relevant for club DJing. You can use crazy effect combos and cue juggling but no one on the floor is going to care and if you do it poorly and it interrupts the flow it will drive people away, I've definitely seen that happen more than someone on a controller trying to get fancy using it to a positive effect.

For our purposes of home use, competitions, and general fun it is probably more applicable because honestly aside from a small number of big name DJs using Traktor and Ableton, most pros do it best with Serato or CDJs and there is definitely something to that. I would love to see controllerism go more mainstream and a way for it to work well and really offer something to the average club crowd that the alternatives can't, I just haven't seen it done with much success. Don't get me wrong I want it to and am actively trying, I just think we need to identify what techniques are going give controllerism the edge for the typical DJ with a normal crowd. Right now MIDI controllers are just another way to do the same thing.

What can a crowd get from a DJ using a controller that they can't from a DJ using CDs?

[tekki]

I apologize for getting out of line in this thread, I was merely defending some posts I made and got a little heated in the process.

Much apreciated, and understandable. It takes a big man to take the time to reflect, accept and admit!


On with the positive.
Any takers?