Are most podcasts by “Big DJ’s” live mixing or done within a DAW?
Hi DJTT,
I haven’t posted any questions in awhile but I have one that I honestly can’t figure out on my own. Myself and my partner have a Producer/DJ duo and we are planning on starting a new monthly podcast. Comparing ourselves to the big name DJ’s, do they mostly make podcasts within their DAW? or do they do them live and then edit in their DAW? I am trying to decide what route would be best?
I would bet most are done in a DAW, it would be much faster and have better quality. They have custom intros, some speak a lot during the mix, doing all this live would be a pain in the ass.
Doing it live may add some creativity to the mix, but it will get you pissed of very quick if you want it to be perfect, you will need to record it over and over again, or edit the recordings on a DAW, which will make you question yourself why didn’t you made the whole thing using the DAW in the first place lol
Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ve tried both ways and it seems logical to me that most BIG DJs do it using a DAW.
Unless they are recorded from a live set someplace, most I believe are done in a DAW (mainly Ableton). Heard this from several interviews on the subject (armin van Buren, Pete Tong, etc)
They use a DAW.
You can mix live as well, most (if not all) rinsefm podcasts are mixed live in their studio.
if it’s a radio show with talking and whatnot it’s probably a DAW. If it says “live at Supermassive Mystery EDM Plur Rave Festival” then it is probably live mixed. (well a live recording of their pre-recorded mix for some djs)
Fixed it for you 
My bet is DAW… nothing more annoying than screwing something up right at the end and having to re-record it.
It doesn’t really matter. The big dj’s don’t do a radio show to show their skills, they do it to promote music. And the transitions are very basic anyway.
Yes, I think most use DAW sense they are on the road. Its something I tried to do over the past couple of days and it’s really not that difficult if you are familiar with your DAW and producing tracks. Thanks guys!
The Fool’s Cast on by Fool’s Gold is done at least partially live (there is tonnes of scratching). I highly recommend checking it out.
I don’t think that there is a lot of creative forethought when putting these mixes together because its more for promotion. I suspect for the bigger artists that they have someone on their team that puts together everything for them, while they just over dub a few sentences here and there.
For a lot of these guys their time is precious and their product has to be professional. hire an intern to do this job and you they have the opportunity to write music or go on tour.
that is exactly the case for Tiesto I can guarantee. tho i’m sure none of you are surprised by that
I remember Chuckie once made a post once along the lines of “I made this mix in 30 minutes!”, when the mix was an hour long 
live mix podcasts, do it with video, much better than daw mixed bs
https://www.youtube.com/user/CocofmTV/videos
are djs musicians?
musicians play live.
EDIT: a simple mistake means the edges were pushed, I’d rather hear those edges and will ignore a simple mistake as if it was a live band.
lots of mistakes means you should practice more.
I guess it depends on what it means to “play” and what is “live”.
play = make some original wavelengths of sound
live = playing it without edits live.
edits= after the fact edits.. pre-edits obviously ok but then make more of them please!
Ah, a can of worms can be opened. But I’ll refrain from such.
Is cocofm an am/fm station? Or is it internet radio? Each has their own separate incentives for delivering products. Which is why one can “live dj” and be successful while others are there to create content and cross promote music from people paying their paychecks. The above and beyond group therapy podcast shows both of these things. The first 1.5 hours is all music set into segments at a out 5 min each, while the last half an hour has the guest mix portion where the guest displays their skill and style. Different incentives for different situations.
DJs are not musicians.
Musicians play a musical instrument. DJs play and combine music on a turntable, a CD player, or a computer - not musical instruments IMO. Plenty of people put songs in a play list on their iPods, or back in the day recorded their favorite songs to CDs or tapes in an order they liked - does that make them a musician? Not in my book.
A baby could mistakenly hit the record button on an audio recorder on my computer while banging a spoon on their hi chair. That ain’t music even though it is an original wave length of sound.