The Art Of Knob Twisting?

[bc6]

I'm busy every time I play a song.
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[mostapha]

I saw Oakenfold last year. He's quite busy behind the decks, but dancing not twisting knobs. And I loved the dude back in the day - even this set was really good. He obviously has some sense of rhythm, but I'll just say his body doesn't express that rhythmic sense very much. But he was having a blast DJing and really into the tunes, which made the show all the more fun. I mean, Paul Oakenfold can dance however he wants to - even like a white 8th grade boy that has no rhythm, cause he's Paul freakin Oakenfold.

Yeah...I've seen him a few times. Actually, he was playing the first time I ever went to a club. I've also seen him phone it in and just drink and sorta-kinda put pitch faders where they needed to go. The room was still electric, though.

And, yeah...I almost put him in that list. The time I actually got to watch him close, he wasn't playing with stuff just to be doing it either.

I don't feel bad about it, guilty yes, but not bad.

I look at djs who are just touching knobs differently than those who fake stuff. But usually I'm a little off center and triple check everything. Lock the door and pull on it hard to make sure type of guy. I'm touching the knobs because I'm checking that I'm not a dipshit...plus....the added bonus is that people actually think I'm doing something other than just being a dipshit.

Oh, I feel guilty too. And, like I said, I nervously make sure things are set right. I just don't think it's necessary.

I actually started pulling doors shut with the key in the lock because I got sick of being terrified I was going to lock myself out of my apartment.

[sheikyerbouti]

Apart from the actual mixing,
stuff that I do that actually makes sense:
- scrolling through playlists, loading, cueing up, adjusting pitch
- eqing to make it sound right (especially on big soundsystems), filtering, control fx
- adjusting monitor volume (i do that a lot)
- adjusting cue mode (cue only - cue / master) to hear how the mix will sound

That takes about 90% of the time that I have while DJing, which leads to stuff that ...
does not necessarily make sense:
- checking if there might be a even better song than the one I just loaded
- checking if all knobs are in the position I actually want them to be (e.g. 12 o clock for eqs, filters, fx off, etc.) which is more or less some kind of nervous habit, but still makes some sense, because every now and then you find something like an turned on delay
- touching knobs with the intention to do something, but changing my mind shortly after.

So no! There is mostly no such thing like an "Art of knob twisting" in my DJing

[Patch]

Any of you guys move something off centre (between tracks), just to make sure it was ON-Centre in the first place? Then putting it back exactly where it was?

That centre detent is VERY re-assuring...

[Alubat]

Interact with the crowd. Try to get eye contact with the girls upfront while lickin your mouth and making a trumpet out of your lips :-)

[MrAybar]

Any of you guys move something off centre (between tracks), just to make sure it was ON-Centre in the first place? Then putting it back exactly where it was?

That centre detent is VERY re-assuring...

Do this a lot!!! Now you can imagine with the Xone K2 with no center detent how much i spent assuring that it is spot on center!!

[abrahambr]

I honestly think it depends on the style of music and the skills of the DJ in question. I wouldn't discard constantly playing around with effects/loops/eq as a terrible mistake or as a bluff 'to look busy'. Take this video of James Zabiela, for example, he's actually busy all the time and he sounds great. I realize it's a matter of taste, but I love what he does here:

[mostapha]

I saw Oakenfold last year. He's quite busy behind the decks, but dancing not twisting knobs. And I loved the dude back in the day - even this set was really good. He obviously has some sense of rhythm, but I'll just say his body doesn't express that rhythmic sense very much. But he was having a blast DJing and really into the tunes, which made the show all the more fun. I mean, Paul Oakenfold can dance however he wants to - even like a white 8th grade boy that has no rhythm, cause he's Paul freakin Oakenfold.

Yeah...I've seen him a few times. Actually, he was playing the first time I ever went to a club. I've also seen him phone it in and just drink and sorta-kinda put pitch faders where they needed to go. The room was still electric, though.

And, yeah...I almost put him in that list. The time I actually got to watch him close, he wasn't playing with stuff just to be doing it either.

So, I just came across these pictures I took at UMF2010....figured you might get a kick out of them.


Notice the intentional adjustment of the channel gain.


Yeah....I was jammed up against the back of the booth for this one to frame it. They were about a foot in front of me.

[JaF]

He's got like some monkey DNA in him

[Jester]

those are some big hairy hands you got there mate