One of the ever present debates on most DJ forums is the use of the sync button and other mixing aids and views on the use of the sync button underming the art of DJaying.
Now bear with me here because some of you may not have been around pre Pitch adjustment sliders, in fact when I started DJaying on reggae sound systems I used a single deck converted from what was then called a radio gramophone a pre amp, effects box, and massive valve amps. One off mixes,(Dubplates as they were called) were of course pre-recorded on to 10" slates (not vynl) and dropped in the dance. The trick was how fast you could flip a disc or change one disc for another and drop the needle back. The art then was the music and it still is.
Anyway, move along and double decks were introduced, still no tempo adjust. Then along came the now famous Tecnics SL series, which were meant for home use, by the way. Now with the new technology, as it was then, to manipulate the pitch beat match mixing became a lot easier. Would this have been classed as underminding the art, to the contrarys this was a gift from heaven albeit without any BPM read out. This meant a DJ still had to listen and count.
We now move on several more years and we have solutions that count, read out and match the beats, the tempo and the key. So with these aids does it undermine or detract from the art of being a DJ or does it add to the art by allowing more flair and flavour to be introduced in to the mix by freeing up the DJ to concentrate on the manipulation of the mix, the music and the crowd.
I think it’s good for DJ’s to be able to beat match; many times I’ve been using traktor when it crashed and I’ve had to revert to CD’s. However, you can beat match till the cows come home, if the crowd ain’t feeling your vibe then you’re screwed.
So to all the sync button users, I say “Pratice and enjoy” but remember “Be prepared” and to the Ludites I say move with the times or get back on ya horse to your next gig.
I am what you call an old school DJ. I started in the late 80’s where vinyl was the only option. The beef I have with digital DJing is that it bypasses learning the basics. It also undermines DJ pay by wanna be DJs that do not put the time in and charge near zero to gig. Anyone that wants to be a DJ do not need to know the basics. $500 or less and you can be a DJ. No experience or knowledge required. Just a laptop, illegally dnld songs and/or software, and a cheapo controller. There is no longer need to count bars, you just look at the wave forms. No longer have to know how to count BPM, its done for you. You no longer need to beatmatch, there is sync. Yes the art form is still there, you can only go so far relying on waveforms and the sync button. However, the proliferation of digital DJs out there syncing their way into a clubs without being seasoned in:
DJing: Too many single format DJs out there. Too many DJs that play sets rather than play the crowd. Too many DJs that get easily thrown off by request or don’t like to play em cause they don’t know how to fit them in.
Business/Negotiations: Many unprofessional DJs out there. Cancels gigs last minute for a better one. Gets drunk at a gig. Basically do not understand that this is a business and not just a party
Lacking Ettiquette: Most newb DJs do not know their place. Everyone thinks they are a head liner.
Knowledge: Most newb DJs do not know music. They know the genre they like and that is it. Most cannot and will not hold down a residency doing 4-5hr sets cause they do not have enough depth of music knowledge to play different type of music or be able to flow with a diverse crowd.
All of these reasons are diluting the DJ business and allowing the club owners and promoters to churn DJs cause there is always one waiting to get on and sync his way to fame for a bar tab or $50 or less. The pride in the craft is gone. No longer are there DJs but rather a figure that plays music in front of crowds.
Granted some do go one to be great producers. Some have the creativity enough to gain fame. But for the most part, anyone with $500 can be a DJ. Its is no longer a profession, but a hobby much like building RC cars or stamp collecting. It no longer takes work and just very little commitment to do it. Anyone can do it. Hell, I taught my ex GFs 5 year old how to do it. He learned to move the crossfader and match the grids on the waveform. Sounded half decent. Now teaching him to beatmatch by ear, woulda taken more time. But watching a wave form and lining up grids is like playing a video game for him. Got that within the first two lessons. A 5yrs old can do it, anyone can be a DJ. Which is good, but in todays “I wanna have it all now” mentality, it is the worse thing that can happen.
yeah, I know…blah blah…good set over beatmatching…blah blah…beatgridding is like beatmatching…blah blah…blah…more time for creativity…blah blah…
Tell you what. If you really have creativity and you are that good, take 6 random records and show me creativity.
If you are going to be a Digital DJ. Learn the basics first! Do not rely on the technology, there is enough time for that later. Learn the business as a whole. Learn to negotiate with promoters and club owners/managers. Do not undercut just to get a gig, have pride in your craft. Be professional.
Bottomline, I think I speak for most of the old school DJs, its not the sync button that bugs me. It is the proliferation of dumbass DJs.
It is and always has been about the music. The only people that care about what the DJ uses and how are other DJs. Crowd doesn’t care, they only care about what they hear. Club owner only cares about keeping people in the club to sell more booze and make more money, bottom line. I started in the 80’s too blah blah blah, I made mixes on a dual cassette deck blah blah blah, no one cares. Its 2012, the technology is there, accept that and get on with it. While you are counting bars and maunually beatmatching that 1 song, I have already mixed 4 songs, 3 loops, effects, samples and still had time to eat my cheeseburger and the crowd is loving it. All the moaning and groaning isn’t going to change that. Up your performance and give them a reason to pay you more than the last guy. Use the technology to your advantage instead of whining about it. Do something different and innovative instead of moaning that thing you have done for 25 years has now become automated and easy, rise above it.
When I started to Dj I had to learn on CDJ’s. They were in all the clubs that was the only way in. I didn’t like the way mixing was done in my country. Dj’s would just play song A drop a fog horn sample then play song B no mixing done at all just songs and effects for transitions or name drops. Also they only play top 40 & reggae. I wanted to play EDM. So I had to find a way to do that. My solution was to use Traktor and its sample decks to create live mashups taking drops and build ups of EDM songs I liked and dropping them over reggae and top 40 hits. I used the sync button to forget about beat matching and bring this EDM flare to my tunes. Dj ATX I had to learn all those things myself and I faced a ton of crap for switching to a controller (X1 at first then S2). I have had the above mentioned CD players whine to managers about what I was using but guess what the music I played made the crowd happy and that is all that mattered not what I was using but how I played the music and interacted with the crowd. That is what it is all about the music and most clubs I play at will not let a crap dj with some plastic controller walk in there are sync up top 40 hits because while people are getting drunk they don’t go to clubs to listen to the radio or there Ipod they want a experience and you Dj are a big part of that.
Call me crazy, but I prefer simple mixing with very minimal effects and looping, and would even go as far to say that having an effects list a mile long, and 4 units chained with 55 cue points to juggle 9 times out of 10 sounds like crap. It’s not innovative, it’s crap. Don’t read that as, I think anyone who does it sucks, and they shouldn’t quit their dayjobs, just that IN MY OPINION, it tends to sound cluttered and is generally unnecessary. So I’ll disagree with your argument about mixing ‘4 songs, 3 loops, effects, samples and still had time to eat my cheeseburger’ theory, because guys like Three still uses two CDJ’s and manually beatmatches, and he’ll take a poo on anything you’ve mixed. Ever. Because in the end it’s about the music right? So don’t shoot your own argument against manually beatmatching in the foot, and just say that the argument is dated and not needed to be beaten to death anymore. New and Simple != Better. Use what you want, the way you want and as you said use the technology to your advantage.
i guess these discussions will continue until some other way of mixing comes along and then the flame wars will move onto that…
cdj’s, vinyl, controllers+midi… personally i think it’s all good they’re all just tools. i guess i bought my technics about 15 years ago as did plenty of my mates at the time. the “barrier of entry” has been lowered and made cheaper but personally i just think this means people need to pick up their game - not complain about the new wave of controller dj’s.
i hadn’t been interested at all in dj’ing since having to sell my 1200’s until a couple of years ago and initially i was shocked at the emerging use of controllers and the “evil sync” button. it felt a bit like the end of an era, but it’s not! it’s the birth of a while new one!
i used to try and mix in my own stuff via cd (i had a crap cd player as well as 1200’s) and/or mix live from my cheapo roland mc303 and other sound units. being able to midi sync to ableton, or drop some of my own stuff into sample decks or just play them as mp3’s in traktors normal decks is a total boon to me…
having said that - i’d also love to get some gigs and have to use their cdj’s, some nice basic 2 track mixing. the possibilies are endless these days - i can’t imagine why anyone would want to limit themselves to any specific part of it. hopefully i’ll also pick up some 1200’s again soon when i can afford it too. still have a decent set of vinyl i’d love to use sometimes.
Like to add my first gigs were headlining I was also good friends with the guy holding the club nights so that’s why. It stepped on more toes then I’d ever know and in the long run hurt me as it was that I didn’t come up through the ranks and at the time I was 16 so kinda sucked big.
On topic tho I agree with most learn to beatmatch seriously time and time again it is very important to know. A skill that will also help get you in the door. I’ve walked into clubs and sat at the bar in utter pain from the resident djs lack of ability to beatmatch. So I was kinda beaking to the bartender and landed a gig because of it. Albeit I turned down the full time offer but did smash a gig out.
Beatmatch learn it at least make an attempt to learn it and try to get good at it. I’d rather hear someone trying it then not trying it. And on beat big thing here.
And by ear not by waveform seriously wave forms are gods gift to djs but don’t always rely on them learn to not use them it’s so nice when the dj can drop a track without looking at the screen. One of my big pet peeves. Along with only using quant and snap. I know quants awesome but learn to not rely on it.
Quant; used traktor for years has quant switched to itch on my ns6 no quant. Only took doing it once to realize no quant means thank god I’ve learned to dj before it was in every cdj.
Snap; being able to drop a quick loop without having to be on beat. My friends another skill to learn be on beat.
So many digital djs take these things for granted so they have no respect for the art form in my opinion if they don’t learn how to do these things even tho software can do it.
Tl;dr
It’s the simple fact that digital djs ignore the real skills because software can do it and therefore annoy older djs that learned how to do it. Show some respect new djs learn the skills then when you get hated on at a gig for using software bust out a record and watch the respect grow because you can do it the old school way.
And by the way…I have NEVER had Traktor crash on me during a gig. My laptop yes!
I started on vinyls…moved to CDJ’s…and then to Digital.
I now incorporate them all. Its ADDING to the original skill.
Like when you reach Black Belt…it does not mean you at at the top! Far from it!
I use ALL the skills I have learnt up to now and thats what I wish the newer DJ’s could have. The years of skills learnt.
The corwd and promoters need to recognize that.
If something goes wrong during a set…you keep playing and use your knowledge to help you through it.
There are so many diff types of DJ’s these days…hard to keep up…or on top.
I’ve learned recently to keep it immediate and fun. I enjoy using record decks (and actual records sometimes) and I was getting a bit bored with pure digital, so at the moment I’m using TSP2 + dicers for hands on souped up oldschool japes.
Works for messing around playing some good tunes at home, as I’m not really playing out much any more.
Started 10 years ago on vinyl. Got out of it because the scene was boring me to death, every DJ played the same shit…Sure you had some innovators here and there, but they were few and far between. Sold my stuff, bought a better bass rig, joined a math metal band, toured the country for 6 years. Came back, started another band, toured some more. a couple years ago a friend introduced me to dubstep (I know I know…everyone hates dubstep insert “blah blah blah”), I bought some digital gear and started mixing again (mostly my own stuff, and some of the harder stuff I could find). Now for my first rant… When I first started back I never used the sync button..I didn’t understand it lol..I though whats the point? I have a pitch fader right here…However, once I set it to sync BPM only I figured out a myriad of possibilites for using it. I could mix into a song and start a mashup within 10 seconds instead of mixing in, crossfade, stop the original deck, load new track, find my spot, pitch fade to a close BPM, wait for a new measure, and then drop the track. I started using it a little…Maybe twice in a 1 hour set would I have to hit the button. I’ve never messed with the quantize and whatever other features you can sync…it’s just not for me. Part of the fun is keeping as much manual as possible. I agree that learning the basics is a must…but I’m glad the tool is there if I need it in a pinch. I know theres a lot of beef against controller DJ’s ( I consider myself more of a controllerist), and there’s big beef with the explosion of dubstep/“brostep”. But ask yourself this…how big was the crown you were playing to 4 years ago? How big is it now? There are some house DJ’s in my area that are constantly bitching about dubstep and all the people that come out to hear the dubep DJ’s…however they should be thanking the dub DJ’s because those kids may come for the dubstep, but they listen and dance for the house DJ’s as well…
I know this got a little off topic but, damnit, support your scene!! I come from a few different music scenes and this kind of infighting kills a scene faster than you can blink…8 years ago the metal scene was booming…it was nothing for us to play infront of 600-1000 kids on a saturday, in a medium sized town, with no big headliner! Now I can go to a show in a major city, with 2-3 big regional bands and be surprised if they’re 100 kids there…
Unfortunately the only people who think DJing is a “scene”… are DJs. Everyone else thinks the scene is about the music being played and the people who go to them… and they’re right.
This man couldn’t be more on point. You nailed it, bud. It makes me really sad and scared about where our craft will end be in a few years time. These kids don’t get what they’re doing. Not even a little bit. I’ve recently had kids come to me for lessons and I’ve decided to teach them the old school way. I’m in the market for TTs again just for this reason.
Facts are proven. Opinion is an individuals outlook. Fact: Technology is here to stay and will make it easier to do things that were done differently years ago. Example: microwaves, computers, Cars that parrallel park for you. Opinions can differ and are objective. It is YOUR opinion that multiple effects and loops sound like crap and isn’t innovative. In some cases yes, it does sound like crap. When used correctly it can sound awesome, its isn’t a proven fact that ALL OF IT ALL THE TIME is crap. The thing that bothers me the most are the snobby condescending DJs who decided that they made the rules and their way is right. You compare me to “Three” whoever that is, I don’t compare myself or anyone to anyone else because frankly it doesn’t matter or do I care. My point was that alot more can be done with new technology than the old way of “2 turntables and a microphone” A DJ could still suck and sound like crap with simple mixing or sound awesome, just like multiple loops and effects and samples can sound like crap OR can sound awesome. But to whine about sync and manually beatmatching sounds like a bitter old DJ that can’t accept technology. This old “you have to learn the basics” arguement was vaild in 1990 because in 1990 that was the basics, well now its not the basics anymore because the technology has moved it away from that. So its not fair to say to a new DJ, you must learn to beatmatch manually because we are in a different time and there are options. Do what you wanna do but don’t knock someone in this day and age for using a controller and sync because as I have said before if autosync existed in 1985, it would have been used. Its about the music and the final outcome.
I have missed nothing. I understand the gripe but its pointless. Whine and moan and groan all you want, it changes nothing. Its not going to stop the controller makers from putting in sync or is it going to stop a new DJ from using it. Again the arguement has to do with the ego of the snobby DJ that thinks the clubs and parties are their for them, they talk about the “art” of DJing and whine how the club owners and promoters will take someone who uses sync and hasn’t paid their dues and undercuts the “real” DJ by doing it on the cheap, boooo hooooooooooo. Up your game because fade in song B, adjust the pitch, beatmatch, fade out song A, and repeat doesn’t cut it anymore. If thats how you want to DJ, find Doc Brown and the Delorean and go back to 1985 and you will be a rockstar beatmatcher.
Just so its clear… I started in 1989, I can manually beatmatch all day with my eyes closed but I have chosen to embrace technology and not moan and groan about it…
i’m sure it’ll be a long time tho until all clubs welcome dj’s using laptops and controllers when they have forked out a decent amount of cash for cdj’s and currently expect dj’s to use that kit. things may well change in a few years, but atm surely it’s not a bad thing for a dj to be able to spin on cdj’s and/or their controller setup.
if by some miracle i manage to reduce my work load over the next few months and manage to get some gigs i’d like to mix and match using cdj’s and/or laptop+controllers. i would say vinyl too but i don’t own any dvs software and my vinyl is a bit out of date
It is interesting to see the way technology has opened up DJing to ‘the masses’ although there has always been shit DJ’s, maybe there are more now as kit and music is cheaper I suppose.
I must say one thing I’ve noticed in the Digital DJ age, is the change in the definition of a DJ mix; so many ‘mixes’ posted on Soundcloud, Mixcloud etc range from 5 to 15 minutes with a couple of tracks and immense amounts of FX plastered all over. In my view this doesn’t demonstrate the abililty to play out, just the ability to put a couple of electro house tracks together with some flange/beatmashing et al. I’d never book anyone on that basis, 1 hour minimum straight mix for me personally (and keep the f’ing about with FX to a min please! I’m sure the producer/remixer has already been through many options on the track sequencing!!!). I suppose I’m from the ‘era’ of 60/90min tapes and that’s what everyone submitted ‘back in the day’!.
I think what is going to happen is the clubs are eventually going to have a minimal setup and a space for a controller and a laptop. In the US, serato is bigger than Traktor and most places have a spot for a laptop and already have an SSL box. I think as controllers get bigger, and more DJs want to use thier own setup, clubs may just have a space for the DJ to put their own gear 12s, cdjs, controller, whatever with a a line going into a soundboard.
yep, i’d bet something like that will happen. may some time before controllers are really accepted universally tho.
it’s like the argument that all PHP programmers are shit. the truth is that they aren’t but PHP is so much easier to get into and then claim “i am a coder” that %-wise there is a hell of a lot more people who call themselves PHP coders that are shit compared to other languages.
as it’s easier to get into using controllers than turnables or cdj’s or whatever - there will be a much higher percentage of people calling themselves dj’s that use controllers that are shit compared to on turntables or cdj’s. it’s just down to numbers…
doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of controller based dj’s who can dj the ass off more traditional based dj’s ofc…
they’re all just tools. i guess i bought my technics about 15 years ago as did plenty of my mates at the time. the “barrier of entry” has been lowered and made cheaper but personally i just think this means people need to pick up their game - not complain about the new wave of controller dj’s.
