.. For ‘traditional’ A>B mixing.. I was scrolling back through some of the older forum posts and couldn’t believe the amount of people hating on A>B mixing..
I know the thread has been closed and I’m not trying to open up a can of old worms but some of the most legendary sets have been played A>B.. And continue to do so!
A>B is NOT boring or lacking creativity. The real creativity and genius are the records you’re selecting. I’d go as far as saying 90% of DJ’s currently play A>B, yes there are some exceptions such as Hawtin but the majority still play in the traditional way. One deck to another and back again.
I’m not trying to start an argument and I completely respect those who choose to incorporate more than 2 decks and use additional equipment, loopers, samplers, FX, live drums/synths etc..
It all comes down to the music, it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.
…but that’s what is about to happen, I assure you.
Of course, you are right. I didn’t wade into that previous thread because It didn’t deserve my time.
People saying that it’s lazy or an acceptance of low standards are simply not looking outside their own small minded perception of djing. There were some idiotic posts in that thread that showed some people to be very naive.
Keb Darge is one the funkiest men that has ever lived and he just plays records. Just plays records. Great DJ. One song, then another.
Richard Norris (Wizards Sleeve et al) just plays records. When I saw him last he was more wankered than me and tunes were ending before he had picked the next cus he was dancing and having fun. Every single song he played over 3 hours was brilliant. Amazing natural song choice and done without a flying fuck about samples/multiple decks/beatmashing etc.
Horse Meat Disco are brilliant live. Their mixing is very dodgy (when I have seen them anyway) but every single tracks takes your head off, every time.
A>B means different things to different people. To me it just means mixing one track into another, using simple volume fades and some minor EQ’ing. For me at least, the “A” and “B” relates to the two tracks that are playing, and NOT Decks A and B in Traktor.
You don’t have to incorporate loops, and one-shots, and cue points in order to be creative. But you DO need to have the techniques and skills to be creative.
Learning to beat match is easy. Learning to EQ is easy. DJ’s need to WANT to be more creative - but too many people around here are just so happy that after a couple of months they CAN beatmatch and EQ 2 tracks together that they STOP LEARNING, and start Jesus posing.
Demand more from yourselves. We’ve got MAD TOOLS available to us. Use 'em! Blatantly, or subtly, USE 'EM!
Its just as, in fact probably more creative to pick out an amazing set of tunes that are programmed to take the clubber on a “journey” (cliche) as it is to learn how to use some technology and use it to devastating effect.
Stop being so bloody minded about the use of technology and tools. It amounts to piss in most peoples hands and sounds dreadful.
some of my most enjoyable sets have been on a rotary mixer with no EQ and just straight a-b mixing. Something rather satisfying about a perfectly blended mix that’s better than any 3 effects and a drop to make the mix.
A b mixing is pretty hard for the add mentality so many have.
Usuing heavy effects and loops and shit like that has been done lots. Or James Zaibela best known and does still Judge Jules used to have heavy use of samplers in the early 2000.
I consider the button mashing cue jumpin and effects overkill pre planned horror to be somewhat a disgrace to te pedigree of never looking a your screen only button mashing maybe a cue jump.
So am I just hating because I can not do this… Answer simply put NO
I can and have done this I have setup traktor and likely close to 300 tracks with cue points to the tits to where I can button mash and do a live remix of a track and can for an entire 2 hour set. Without having sync on and just using quant..
I find though using serato Dj with my ns6 and having no quant no sync and just a few cue points setup far more musically appealing to why I love djing. Being able to beat match a track set 32bar loop and jam out on eqs filters and subtle delays on track a while knowing track b I playing in phase and matched so I can swap drum tracks or hihats but that’s the extent of what I did myself doing more.
Using traktor and taking the amount of time to go am I goi to juggle this track ad use 6 effects is not fun to me it takes away from the authenticity of just showing up and dropping a killer 4 hour journey across genres and tempos something most guys that do the new style of mixing can’t do simply put
I came to this forum because it was populated by like minded people that were into a form of djing that was seen as niche and was probably seen by many as not legitimate djing.
All the members were cool to the cause and were not judgemental. That’s why I joined.
If something was shit, then it was shit but the format and the style of djing did not matter as long as what the DJ produced was pleasing. Didn’t matter if ‘you’ didn’t like it just as long as you could see the merit in it for others.
In past few years this forum has been on a gradual slide into what is pretty much a fascist state with a handful of very intelligent, clever, well versed hard-liners whose opinions are rammed home in threads such as the previous “A-B Mixing” thread.
It amounts to something just short of forum bullying. There’s a little gaggle that forms on some threads and they use their forceful opinions to batter down people and they get away with it because their opinions are well formed and not always wrong but, very rarely the only correct opinion and it’s that last bit that pisses me off the most. There seems to be a lack of tolerance or even just acknowledgement of other peoples views.
Just because this is DJTechTools does not mean that we have to be so blinded by technology that views such as those expressed in that thread get battered down by the force of the loud minority.
I am not aiming this at anyone specific but this forum is looking less and less attractive to new members all the time because you open your mouth and you are likely to get a boot shoved down it.
I never wanted to make anyone feel like THEIR interpretation of what makes a great DJ set great is any less valid or correct than mine. I can see why some of my posts would come off like that, though.
I’m having a bit of trouble separating the technology and experience aspects of it all!
For the record, I’m a HUGE Norman J fan. If what he does is not the epitome of straight up awesome selection skills the I don’t know what is.
What you are describing is the most noble of DJ skills. Being able to draw upon a wealth of knowledge (usually spanning an absolute MINIMUM of 2 decades of music) in order to demonstrate to the crowd exactly WHY IT IS that you are up there putting records on, instead of just someone plugging in an iPod…
However - I suspect that the newcomers to this forum are coming here less with the intention of building a “database” of tunes (either in their head, on a hard disk, or in an expedit ) that perfectly represent their musical tastes, and more with the intention of buying a nice toy with flashing lights and “tactile” (urgh…) buttons.
We’re all creative beings - but everyone of us has a different interpretation of what being creative is. I’m as guilty as anyone of trying to put forward what MY interpretation of being creative is.
I’ll rein it in going forwards. Everyone here has every right to express themselves in whatever style they like.
Well that’s definitely something we share. I love him, he is a huge inspiration.
Last time I saw him was about 5 years ago on my birthday (fantastic night) and he just sat down behind a pair of CDJs and played Motown to a totally enraptured crowd.
Obviously the guys pushing things forward are the guys that set new standards. I just think we have to be careful that these ‘new standards’ aren’t seen as the only standards that people should aspire to.
I am in total agreement with you that there are many dubious posts made by people that are simply looking to “pass go and collect £200” without doing any of the groundwork. Unfortunately that’s a consequence of technology being so cheap. The democratising of music technology has made it the playground of the ‘must haves’ and ‘i want it nows’ but would we have it any other way? Some really talented people post great stuff on this forum and they probably wouldnt have been able to do it 5 years ago without the price of technology being so low.
One thing this forum has always been good at is calling out a fake. Theres nothing more fake than someone with all the gear and no idea. I would expect people like to be called out on this forum.
We arent here to spoon feed people. Likewise we arent here to be ‘too’ judgemental.
All I ask is a that we all show a little tolerance.
The reality is that 98% of the audience just wants to hear good tunes played together in a way that makes sense. Most of them not only don’t care about all the tricks, they find it annoying.
I saw a comment on Facebook the other day that actually said that people using new technology to simply mix one track to another were dumbing down the culture and the art form. There seems to be some sort of inverted snobbery that the very essence of DJing is no longer good enough.
Karlos - it’s not just this forum. It’s happening everywhere. There’s an increasing polarisation where elements of the new guard look down upon the old ways as if it’s vastly inferior. And the old guard are digging trenches to defend themselves and throw condescension at the new jacks and their increasing arsenal of toys.
I was wading through pages of this stuff last night. A totally depressing state of affairs in the DJ scene right now. Can’t DJs just love what they do instead of hating on what they don’t?
Perhaps vinyl users and turntabilists shouldnt have told us for years we werent DJs… So when we went on to book DJ gigs, doing alot more than putting two records together to create a (LOL) a “Journey” (LOL, people go to the club to get wasted, buy overpriced tables and have the attention span of a gnat.. Lets get real about the JOURNEY aspect of DJing), then you had to have known that the war was going to start.
“Using a Laptop and fancy knobs isnt DJing” Thats fine. I got use to it.. I dont think scratching sounds good.. I dont believe in this “journey” crap, and I think A B mixing is boring.
Whatever, who cares… Why is this topic even open.. we already just had a 8 page rant back and forth about this but his intention wasnt this? We have our preferences, the purists can keep spinning their wax and sticking to the classic ways, and the others can try to work on what the future is.. pretty much all it is.
But lets be honest, if you dont evolve you will be left in the dust. I think thats most peoples problem (Well mine) I want to progress the profession, not sit on 30 year old concepts and ways of doing things. Why would anyone want to hire a live controllerist doing live music.. when they can hire some dude with two turntables that apparently takes people on journeys… phft. To each their own. Good night…
Truth. We basically have the old heads saying kids are lame with their toys… And then you have young kids saying old a>b mixing is stale and boring. I feel like this isn’t just DJs though. Any industry has a generation divide and we can’t separate DJs from other things.
A Great documentary to watch is Sound City. A great piece by Dave Grohl talking about the rise of technology in the music industry and how we need to understand the roots of music. Most of the old rock stars hate technology, but then there’s a gret segment where Trent Reznor (of nine inch nails) to defend pro tools and technology and the advance in these kinds of affairs.
It’s a debate that will rage on. In 10 years, us guys on controllers are gonna be hating on kids DJing on touch screen interfaces…
I just enjoy it, mixing on track into the other. Using a little effect/loop from time to time.
And I don’t care what other people are thinking about my way of mixing, because this is the way i like it most and have the most fun with.
You have to do what you like the most. Whatever what equipment you use.
) that perfectly represent their musical tastes, and more with the intention of buying a nice toy with flashing lights and “tactile” (urgh…) buttons.