I’m curious to hear other people’s thoughts on this.
I’m on a bunch of different music/DJ boards, and it seems like the attitude is that if you use controllers/software and you want any credit, you have to go WAY above and beyond what people can normally accomplish with vinyl/CDS and even with timecode setups. I get the feeling that if I’m gonna use controllers, I have to be doing groundbreaking shit on the decks just to be called a “DJ”.
I’m basically fully digital. When I play out I have my controllers hooked up to my laptop, and I route two stereo channels of audio out through an Audio4 into whatever mixer I’m playing on. I do dabble with looping and occaisonally will do some cue point drumming, but most of the time I mix just like anyone on CDs/Vinyl would do - I beatmatch my tracks, and then mix them in on the mixer. Pretty straightforward stuff right?
Well, even though I do the same things as every other DJ out there, I feel like I don’t get the credit I deserve strictly because of the platform I use. Regardless of the fact that I beatmatch in the same fashion as all the vinyl purists and mix on a normal mixer, I’m more of a gimmick than an actual DJs.
Does anyone else feel this way? Maybe I’m over-interpretting things but it seems like unless I’m pulling off techniques that would put Zabiela to shame, I’ll never be recognized as a real “DJ”.
Welcome to the club. I feell on what ur saying that we have to prove our self by doing some off the wall shit. A lot of djs here in l.a. Only go from deck a to deck b on cd or vinyl and the feel they have the right to judge or label me and other midi djs. I always shut them up by saying let me play on ur vinyl or CDs and u play on my rig. Or I remind them the the music they are playing was made on a computer.
HAHA!!! NICE!! Always good to be able to say something like that AND back it up. One of the percs of being a DJ before & during the transitional period.
Learn the culture, learn to walk then learn to fly.
Or just remind them that they are a bunch of wankers.
I had this guy whinging at me that i was using Traktor even though there was a pair of CDJs (which i was using anyway). I was like there just cd players whats the fuss, big deal ive got a pair and i use them but i prefer to use traktor THEY ARE JUST CD PLAYERS they arent magic boxes.
Its not cooler to use CDJs , I learnt on vinyl does that make it even cooler ??? No it just means i have 1000s or records i dont ever play .
Whereas Traktor is a magic and i will cast a spell on you hahaha (i didnt say that ).
Here in Ibiza it seems like it’s much more accepted - so long as you’re playing good tunes, and playing them well, nobody really cares here. I occasionally get German guys coming up and telling me why vinyl is better (it used to be English scallies), but I couldn’t care less any more - I have piles and piles of vinyl, I don’t need someone else telling me what’s good and not, I’ve already decided that for myself a long time ago.
I played in LA a couple of years back with just my laptop and UC33, and didn’t really experience any negative reaction. I think it’s one of those things where at some point you have to decide whether it’s your setup that’s holding you back from getting the gigs you want (and therefore change it), or whether it’s down to your own doing (ie. laziness in pushing for gigs, self promotion, lack of practice/experience). I recognized quite a while ago that I am firmly in the second category - I’m happy with my equipment, and know it won’t let me down, and after many years of playing I’m confident in my ability, but I know I don’t push as hard as I could do to get out there and get recognized. I’m not saying this is the case for you, as I know how fickle people can be (and I’ve never heard you, so I can’t comment on your ability), but it’s often easier for us to blame other people and their shallowness to justify something that turns out to be an internal problem. I’m not trying to cause offense, more trying to offer another viewpoint based on personal experience.
Agreed, i know what i can do with whatever format. You need to be confident about what YOU do.
I know its hard when perhaps you dont have the years under your belt like i and Rufus do but you really have to detach yourself from what some people say because no matter what experience you have, no matter how long you have been playing there are always going to be idiots coming up and saying things that you just cant defend without sounding over defensive or touchy or arsey.
There are people who are not worth arguing with. Be confident in what you are doung right now, and in what you want to do in the future.
You cant legislate for that guy that tells you he beatmatches on vinyl therefore hes a better DJ. You can only know that hes wrong and has probably got a very small penis.
Im far too lazy to be carrying the “ooh look at all my white label promos” around these days. Im over that… When a guy starts to chat to you about stuff if hes genuinly interested it it takes 2 minutes for him to realise i know what im talking about and the attitude dissolves and good DJ to Dj conversation takes place.
Unfortunately thats quite rare.
There was a time when i was ready for scrap, anytime. Yeah ive got so many records and ive got all this and that equipment and ive DJd with such a person and played to however many 1000s of people.
Nowadays im like “yeah mate your great, would you like a request playing… No , ok have a good nite” collect my cheque and go home smiling not all angry that ive spent half an hour shouting at some scrote who probably hasnt even DJd in a club in his life.
Honestly, I think if you are using controllers and a laptop I think you should be better than guys on CDJs or turntables. I mean, I don’t have to manually beatmatch, I can see my songs in physical representation (waveforms) and I have instant access to beatlocked effects and loops.
Now, I used to get a lot of shit from people for using a laptop and a controller. But you know what? I work my ass off to kick ass and do interesting and unique mixes. Now people come to clubs just to hear me spin.
Honestly, the only thing you can do is be awesome, humble and work your ass off to make sure everyone knows it. What Karlos says is right, though. It’s better for us all to just do our thing, be cool about it, get paid and go home. We do our thing, we love it, so they can all go to hell.
When I gig live I have no problem showing other dj’s and people what I use. Alot of dj’s think that I use Itch cuz I have a Black Vestax controller but they trip out that its a vci-100 and Im using traktor.
The only place that I have not had any problems with my rig is the little cave, the really enjoy my digital setup and like that the rig is very small but packs a punch
Well I think there is some merit to thinking “less of digital dj’s”. as DvlsAdvct points out .. you have to work a lot less to get the same effects. So when it comes to getting respect from other DJs I can see where they are coming from if using digital you only get the same results. The crowd shouldn’t care less though and the DJs not respecting digital Djs are probably doing it for the wrong reasons (vinyl is just better and not that because of technology its easier to get the same effects). So it goes .. I only care about what the dancing crowd thinks and what I think of myself.
The funny thing is its only us lot discussing this. The crowd dont care . As long as its not the twat that i know locally who presses Autoplay and goes to the bar (or even the pub across the road) for 4 hours they dont care how its been done.
Id even say that some people are MORE impressed when they see all the tech i have with me. I mean everyones seen 2 decks or CDJs but when the see all that plus 1 or 2 laptops and controllers its like “woah it looks like the space-shuttle control desk”
Theres definitely one thing that impresses the crowd more with technology that you cant do with a traditional setup is when you get a request you say yeah ill play it in a while and then you whack it on 20seconds later. That group of people go fucking nuts, hands in the air and they love you for it and youve got them forever then.
You cant do that with cds and vinyl very often.
but lets not forget the types of people, usually hipsters that can’t admit that they are having fun. or the dnb kids that say that pendulum never done anything good, or the “real” hiphopers who say hiphop is dying and that every good hiphop track was made before 1998, or the rockers that dont think you know anything about anything unless you can recite the entire biography of some drummer in some band, or the pop nerd who only listens to music that only he/she has in their possession and its so good, or the vegetarian brat child in a rich western country that have the luxury to choose what to eat everyday and tries to force everyone in the world to just eat veggies
oh and the so called “dj” that doesnt understand that you can be an artist even if that means using a brush or an etch-a-sketch
