If a DJ can't mix, does it bother you?

[hiccup]

If dj's can't mix, i'd rather they didn't even try. just whack the next track on instead of 10 secs of wildly out of synch beats every few minutes

it's much more irritating than a couple of secs of silence in between.

Heh, great minds...

 

[baldrick]

hehe

 

[topaz]

what REALLY irritates me is some twerp being paid a fortune to lurch behind the decks off his/her tits, unable to mix and only playing tunes his mates made. grrrrr!... i prefer a dj to be able to mix.. but with ref to ur comment about the mix online - was it recorded from radio? my streaming buffers quite a lot on and off so the ensuing recorded mix can sound even more awful

 

[The_Reverend_M]

but seriously, the rev and i cannae mix, though we have our moments. we're eclecticians though, and really are about the tune selection rather than the skill. we know what doesn't work though, and we know what blends well. funnily enough though when we did once do a dnb set at offline we got really pissed off because it highlighted our lack of skills (i think it might have helped if i hadn't taken so many drugs i couldn't actually see properly) and yet people loved it cos it was tune after tune after motherfucking tune... if you're enjoying yourself you forgive the dodgy mixing, if you're not you'll notice it.

What he said

 

[LDR]

It doesn't bother me any more than a band playing the odd bum note. However, if it's more than a couple of seconds of totally fucked up mixing and it makes me lose my groove. Well, then there's trouble.

 

[Skim]

I just used the simple technique of mixing and acapella (ish) vocal or solo instrument etc etc over the end of the last record, then cut to the vocal/solo and wait for the beat to kick in.

Sounds fine... at least you were waiting for the beat to kick in Then people can carry on dancing instead of getting confused by two different songs playing at the same time.

 

[Mr_Nice]

In a hard dance / techno club then its essential to mix, thats what it all about......if they can't mix then send em to Eddie Halliwell for a refresher

 

[Skim]

if they can't mix then send em to Eddie Halliwell

That's a bit harsh, isn't it?

 

[Mr_Nice]

That's a bit harsh, isn't it?

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie,

 

[Blagsta]

I gave up playing dance music as I didn't have the discipline to learn to mix well. I like playing what I play now 'cos its all about narrative, flow and connections rather than mixes.

 

[Bazza]

In a hard dance / techno club then its essential to mix, thats what it all about......if they can't mix then send em to Eddie Halliwell for a refresher

As much as I dislike hard dance, Eddie Halliwell has got skillz, innit.

 

[Apathy]

if it were a mixtape full of absolute quality tunes i dont know, I'd listen to it all the time untill ive I.D'ed all the tunes i want on vinyl... then just mix em myself and never listen to the original mix again

 

[chemn]

I've just picked up the penultimate track on the Fabriclive Stanton Warriors CD

<e2a: What Baldrick said. And Eddie is a superb DJ!!!>

 

[Skim]

if it were a mixtape full of absolute quality tunes i dont know, I'd listen to it all the time untill ive I.D'ed all the tunes i want on vinyl... then just mix em myself and never listen to the original mix again

Yeah, I might have to plunder the tracklist and do that

 

[Bazza]

I've just picked up the penultimate track on the Fabriclive Stanton Warriors CD

Have they realised their remix of 'Who's scared of Detroit' - Claude Vonstroke? I'd love to get my hands on that.

(Krafty Kuts is releasing a breaks mix for Fabric in June)

 

[art of fact]

tunes over anything... depends on the genre like you say but aslong as they dont always try to mix and clang and keep it simple its all good.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

i don't mind the odd out of sync bit so long as the track order / selection going down well. In fact it's alot more alive than half these laptop sets. Depends on genre, a load of melodic house mixed badly/out of key is awful. Meanwhile watching Yann Hekate deliberately mix unmixable fukstep tunes was a revelation.

 

[top_biller]

I find I notice minute traces of a bad mix, but also notice a wicked mix, or a 2 second cut in, or a snatch of synth line from the next track that actually only will arrive properly in five minutes, the ends of the spectrum that probably 99% of the people in the room won't notice.

But if you're DJing and doing that trivial shit that you hope people will notice, but really know that they won't, so you're kind of just doing it for yourself, then you love it when someone comes and says "enjoyed that thing you did with...". Makes it all worthwhile.

But a really bad mix makes me stop talking or dancing often.

I never know why some DJs would rather battle a really bad mix for 30 seconds rather than just bail out and try again. It's not in time. Get it in time. Have another go.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

John Peel was a DJ. I don't think he mixed anything and he didnt annoy me in the slightest.

 

[Boogie Boy]

My view on this is fairly straightforward, in that I expect someone to have a minimum degree of competence when it comes to technique and on using those skills in a live environment, where the crowd may not want to go where your perfectly planned bedroom mix necessarily dictates. This is especially true if the DJ is being paid for their time - you owe it to yourself and to the paying punters to really have your shit together - unfortunately it does seem that the higher up the 'recognisable brand name DJ' list you go the attention to such things lessens.

And I also get equally annoyed with the type who attempts to argue that you don't need any skills, and that anyone can DJ. Fuck off and go home and play to yourself and your mates then. DJing is an art form, which takes time and skill to learn, especially when you look to work beyond the constrictions of genre.

I wish more upcoming DJs would watch someone like Jazzy Jeff and Cashmoney - they can cross genres in time, on point, and on the beat AND FOR THE CROWD!

BB

 

[Orang Utan]

I don't think mixing is necessary, even for electronic music, as long as there is flow. I can't mix, so why should that stop me playing out. I can't believe Skim's OP. If you're going to record a mix online, or play out, either play the tracks one after another with no hideous clashes, or get the mixing right. I don't do mixes, I do compilations. I enjoy listening to comps just as much as mixes, even if I'm out.

 

[Skim]

I can't believe Skim's OP. If you're going to record a mix online, or play out, either play the tracks one after another with no hideous clashes, or get the mixing right. I don't do mixes, I do compilations. I enjoy listening to comps just as much as mixes, even if I'm out.

Hideous clashes really mess up the flow for me, especially if it's straight techno. If someone doesn't have much technical ability then yeah, I'd rather hear the tracks in compilation form, just one on and one off, instead of having them mashed beyond recognition.

I don't mind a DJ moving quickly into the next track if it's done with style, like finding the right points between tracks to fuse them together, or maybe choosing something in the same key to keep the mood. That's just as valid as slick beatmatching. But this DJ wasn't even bothering, just slapping on the next record, keeping them both playing for a bit and just confusing my ears.

 

[Bazza]

John Peel was a DJ. I don't think he mixed anything and he didnt annoy me in the slightest.

I saw him at Fabric and he was diabolical. There is no place for playing the Kop sing You'll Never Walk Alone in a nightclub.

 

[Skim]

I saw John Peel mix sea shanties with gabba, which was brilliant at the time, but only John Peel could get away with it

 

[Bazza]

I'm sure it was, I just don't like Liverpool FC.

 

[top_biller]

I wish more upcoming DJs would watch someone like Jazzy Jeff and Cashmoney - they can cross genres in time, on point, and on the beat AND FOR THE CROWD!

BB

I took my non-hip hop loving friend to see Cash Money at Plan B the other Friday and was banging on about how the last time I was there to see DJ Yoda, Yoda played off a laptop and how you wouldn't catch Cash Money doing that, him being from the old guard and that.

First thing Cash Money does is pull out a laptop.

He also inflicted a terrible couple of MCs called 84 or something on us for a 45 minute live show, which affected his currency that night too. They just did covers of really good songs with the lyrics slightly changed, with a bad flow. Then got pissed off that Brixton wasn't showing them any love. For good reason sonny, you're both shit.

But every time before that he's been quality.

 

[The_Reverend_M]

I saw him at Fabric and he was diabolical. There is no place for playing the Kop sing You'll Never Walk Alone in a nightclub.

Me and Bluestreak saw him at Fabric and he was BRILLIANT.




(The playing of footbabll related songs doesn't bother me as I have no interest in 'the beautiful game')

 

[Skim]

Thinking of possible floor-clearers, I remember reading something about a top-name DJ (can't remember which one) who said he chucked on Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit in the middle of a techno set and everyone got really pissed off with him. He said it was great because it provoked a reaction

I would not thank a DJ for subjecting me to that

 

[The_Reverend_M]

It's a great song but there's a time and a place.

 

[Skim]

It's a great song but there's a time and a place.

I mean, it would be fine at Offline. If you played it, I wouldn't hate you But not in the middle of a techno set, it's completely out of place.