No-Cue DJing

[ksandvik]

After the Mixify experience of not having any cue support for mixing into the stream, actually I felt liberated. It also added a certain element of surprise concerning how the final mixes sound like.

Do you know of any DJs that deliberately don't cue tracks? I think this is a very wide area to explore and somehow I think the audience wants to be surprised instead of hearing one perfect transition after another?

PS: Concerning Traktor and spectrum waveform display, you get enough info to figure out how the track will sound like so that helps a lot in these kinds of non-cue mixing situations. As for not using cue for techno and tech house, that's a no-brainer.

[soundinmotiondj]

Do you know of any DJs that deliberately don't cue tracks?

I do know some DJs who do not cue. All are "club DJs", spinning a variety of formats. All use fairly rigid "set lists" that contain songs that are well known, and edited to have reasonable intro's and outro's. All "mix" based on these edited versions of songs (be it slams, beatmixing, long mixes, or whatever). It's one step removed from "DJ Party Shuffle", IMO.

I am a "mobile DJ", so I am unable to take advantage of the "fixed" playlist concept. On the very rare occasion that I am not able to cue (and there are long, sordid tales to go along with each instance), I find it VERY disconcerting. It's a bit like forgetting the side mirror extensions when pulling a trailer....suddenly all the mirrors are useless - so I can still drive, but I really feel the lack of information.

[ksandvik]

Thanks, yes I was thinking about a non-rigid ad hoc playlist!

[zeddee]

I have a really small setup, one baby sized controller with no internal (or external) soundcard. Without queing, you end up reading the waveform a lot to decide your mixes, and winging it, more or less.

[ksandvik]

The other cool thing with this kind of non-cue mixing is that you need to make rapid decisions to fit in the next track. A little bit similar how jazz musicians operate while they jam. With interesting at-the-moment sound sculptures.

[djspacecamp]

Always cue if you can! It prevents horrendous mixes, and can make decent mixes into fantastic mixes.

I will say that cueless DJing is always significantly easier with software with overlapping/parallel waveforms - makes it way easier to "waveride" since your eyes don't have to jump back and forth between the two waveforms.

[ksandvik]

Maybe but there's something improvisational cool-cool to just mix two things together without a one minute analytical mind going through the mix resulting in predictable transitions.

Reminds me why Miles Davis fired a horn player that was rehearsing improvisation lines in the hotel room before the gig.

[photojojo]

I never take my headphones off.

[calgarc]

hmm... traktor makes it alot easier but also seeing as i use my saffire 6 for Djing i can still cue just fine with mixify

[brian_johnstone]

All are "club DJs",All use fairly rigid "set lists"

Sorry i don't agree with this, i am a club dj, i don't have anyone doing a warm up set, so i have a pre-made mix for a short time, whilst people are filtering in, and then i read the crowd from there on, i have a general idea of some of the tracks that i may play in the night, but that's it,i think as a club dj, if you get stuck in the rutt of going by set/play lists you're not going to last very long, the customers will know what's coming and it'll be boring