With the idea of the Digital Dj being fairly new, many of us have recieved criticism for our unique way of spinning.
Many of us have dealt with people who seem to attack the new and in some ways unconventional styles of mixing.
My question is this.
What do you think digital djs can do, both as a community and individually, to break the wall of conservatism in the Dj world? Dj tech tools has done a great job in supporting new ideas and styles in the digital age. But how can we take it a step further?
I spin a lot of Funk and just started getting very interested with electronic music and when I moved into dorm this year, I could not take my Technics and vinyls with me (No room at all for them), so I had to make the change to the Digital side of DJing. I’ve lost rep back home because of it, but do I really care? Fuck no! I’m out for my personal exploration as well as getting people to enjoy themselves and dance. To me, it does not matter what medium you use to play music with, because music is just sound.
I still love to go back home and spin some rare funk records on my decks with friends, but lets face it, for the constantly traveling DJ (And youth in general these days), its hard to lung around your TT’s.
When people say it takes no skill to DJ with computer, I usually just tell them that it take a whole different skill set then with TT’s or CD. Sure its easier to beatmatch, but usually there is a huge learning curb for the programs. I’ve been playing with Traktor Pro for the last two months and still have not learned everything about it.
Bottoms line is: Use what you are comfortable with using, don’t give a shit about what other DJ will say, they just can’t accept that technologies are moving forward and that new ways to do things have appeared.
To take this a step futher we the “digital djs” need to break away from other whack laptop dj’s.
We have a bad rep about “our” systems crashing/audio drop outs & newbies thinking they are super stars just cuz they have serato or traktor. Make sure you come with the proper gear ie: rca cables, power strip, rca adapters, back cd’s/ipod. To sum it up is to be professional with other dj’s/promoters/club owner even tho they hate on you for using a pc/mac to mix your music. Also try to build a community of digital dj’s in your area, who cares what system they use. It would kick ass to see a digital dj club/event with no cd or vinyl being played. I know that in the past I wanted to get a DJ TECH TOOLS L.A. chapter going, and believe me Im still working on it, Im just trying to balance my work/dj/personal life at the moment.
If you hold a digital-only event, you by definition set yourself apart from vinyl DJs. It seems more commiserative than useful; the crowd doesn’t care much; it’s vinyl DJs who care. And I don’t care if I have their respect. I want the crowd.
So, to avoid criticism for being a digital DJ, it seems pretty easy:
Don’t suck
Don’t stare at your laptop all night
Don’t suck
Stop being defensive
Stop justifying your choice of medium
Don’t suck
FWIW, I do feel that an absolutely legitimate criticism of digital DJing is that it has provided access to people who aren’t necessarily as vested as someone who spent a ton of money and time on TTs, vinyl, and craft. Most people already have a computer and mp3s, so it’s not as big a commitment to jump in. Unfortunately that makes it easier for people who are, um, inexperienced, let’s call it, to B.S. their way into gigs, suck out loud in front of people, and become yet another poster child for the suckyness of digital DJing.
Let me stress here that I am NOT saying digital DJing sucks. I’m saying that easier access attracts people who are not as committed to their craft and not experienced enough to know that they really shouldn’t be trying to do this publicly yet. Anyone can suck in any medium; it’s proven all the time.
I had a talk with someone about this a while back. I agree with Steve. Don’t suck. It’s going to be a while before this is the norm so in the mean time, just do your thing and ignore the criticism.
I’m going to be taking a beating when I start gigging. Not trying to hijack this thread but I just wanted to say I have my first gig in two months time . I’ll be the DJ at a bboy competition. You can just imagine how much flack I’ll be getting without bringing any turntables to a hip hop event. Let’s hope I won’t suck crosses fingers
NICE! I love going to BBoy comps. Don’t worry about what they say, as long as you can thrown down some crazy tracks, its all good.
Are the hosts and judges going to give you a list of what to play? That usually happens with Funk Style, but when they give you a free hand on what to play it gets really fun. Watching the expressions of the dancers when to start spinning some really really rare song that no one has probably ever heard is just the best. They usually stare at each other pretending to wait until the other starts until they get a hang on the song.
The organizer didn’t tell me. Probably I’ll be selecting what to play. I thinking of playing the standards during the competition part since they rely off the knowledge of the songs to lay out the set. It’s during the cipher part that I’ll be mixing I think.
That’s what I have in mind. Mind you, I still got a tonne of listening to do. I’ve come from a classical background so like anything outside classical and jazz is so new to me. P-Phunk I’m going to pm you. Living in Toronto right now?
I think acceptance will grow from sites like DJTT growing larger and larger. As more people are educated as to exactly what it is we are doing and what it is about spinning digitally thats better than mediums of the past, then acceptance will grow along with it.
Basicly i think it comes down to education, the more educated people are about the decisions that we have made the more people there will be supporting digital. So i feel the best way for the digital dj to be accepted is to support and/or contribute to sites like DJTT which are dedicated to pushing the art into areas no one has gone before. The trickle down effect of information passing from person to person is what will give the digital dj acceptance in the broader community.
i just don’t care about it anymore. When i switched to CDJ’s everybody was nagging about it, but now it’s all cool and fine because the big-name DJ’s started using them too. It’s all about image and coolness it seems, i don’t mind, i just rock the dancefloor with what i’m comfortable with, i’ve been using everything: tapedecks, vinyl, CD’s, laptops, timecode signal, midicontrollers, ableton Live, Reason, Hardware sequencers, whatever…
But to join the discussion, acceptance is coming, though it will probably take the same time for people to change mindstate as it did when DJs started moving from vinyl to CD.
I hate the fact promotors or some are thinking negative about dj’s on computers. I think at the end of the day if the dj can create a “show” and some
energy and the crowd is happy that is what a dj should do. A dj does not mean a dj behind turntables..this is a boring “image”.
I have been on turntables for the last 15 years, and this is a fresh change.
This is evolution. In 10 years time from now I am sure turnatbles will be obsolete. Maybe this is just the beginning of the future of dj’ing.
For one, I think what will change the mind of a lot of people is when CDS will finally dissapear and the new medium by mega monster sony or whatever will be introduced as the new standard. This new standard is going to mean a change in the Economy as well for the dj, and many will think twice on how they will BUY their music. Digital djs are getting more and more, and with people like Vath, Hawtin, Beltram and many many more in the Techno scene doing it, makes it easy for us -at least- to make the change as well. Same goes for other electronic scenes I guess.
Other music? I dont know those scenes, but I can see the Psy Rock scene to be a bit hard to convince. Psy Trance scene as well for that matter, over at some of the psytrance forums, 80% chose CD as favorite medium vinyl as 2nd and then somewhere down there, digital…
People just need to talk about sites like this on their other forums that they are on, promote the technology a bit more etc etc. I have hinted towards this site and its forum so many times when people are asking questions, and that generates clicks from other people that did not ask anything to start with
I think what everyone is forgetting is cost. This for me will be the over riding factor when it comes to the emergence of the next crop of young djs.
Some people just cant afford to buy cdjs/tt/mixer etc. In 5-10 years the amount of digital djs will increase exponentially as the cost of laptops and controllers fall.
I work for the BBC as part of a UK wide digital and outreach project and amongst other things have been doing digital djing workshops for the last year as the majority of our audience are kids from deprived areas who cant afford anything. So to show them that their dream of being a dj/film-maker/animator etc without having to rob the local post office is possible is a real eye opener for these kids. Showing them that they can build a simple controller for mixing two tracks together for little or no cost has changed some of these kids lives.
Do i think these kids give a shit about how much vinyl i turn up to a club with or whether i’m using a laptop ? No. They are just grateful that they can do it. And remember a lot of these kids will see it as an opportunity to improve their lives, not just your standard middle class kid who gets some decks for xmas and is all of a sudden a shit hot dj, before the fad wears off and their equipment lies collecting dust.Therefore the TT/CDJ djs will be in sharp decline over the next decade in my opinion.
Spreading the word about resources like this is essential not just for our community but at a social level too.Every kid who comes to our events and comes to the djing/mcing/music prod workshops i tell about this and other sites.This is where im eternally grateful to people like Ean and Moldover, for i can think of a couple of kids who have taken a lot from this and other digital djing resources, and without their inspiration they would be in young offenders institutes or prison.
In my own case I had no interest in vinyl djing or even cdjs as they weren’t capable of doing what i wanted. MIDI controllers have allowed me to that, if someone has a problem with that in a club i really don’t care.
Personally, I think it is a whole different ball game. With digital DJing you can do so much more things than with just TTs! Of course… you don’t have to take care of beat matching… but then.. this puts you in an ethical position where you have to be creative…this is where digital shines and goes way far beyond.
How can we help? Well.. I guess with more videos, presentations, competitions… showing off these main differences…
I am having dificulties finding a camera to loan off someone personally, but ill keep trying >=( Money is a bit tight at the moment so i cant afford to go out and buy one.
. I’ll be the DJ at a bboy competition. You can just imagine how much flack I’ll be getting without bringing any turntables to a hip hop event. Let’s hope I won’t suck crosses fingers
