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

[Dj TAB]

the only thing worse than a dj who can't mix is....

....two dj's playing tag-team who can't mix....! <boom-tish!>


Dj'ing is a balance between the perfectionist mixer, and the tune selecter... As boogie boy said dj'ing is an art form, within which there are many differing styles, each having their time and place.

You can intentionally mix out-of-pitch tunes with care and quite a lot of K...

As to whether I like listening to bad mixing, I'd rather they just left the cross-fader in the middle and played each record individually, maybe some rudimentary cutting-in with the fader curve on short. If you can't mix, dont.

 

[Boogie Boy]

Regarding the issue of Ableton I have been playing around with the software for a while now, and I know fellow DJs who use it as their primary source for playing out on.....but I still remain unconvinced by the whole thing. One of my biggest objections is the 'linearity' that the software imposes upon the user, something which you can usually pick up on when hearing a DJ use the programme when playing out live (and it doesn't matter how weird or unusual the material being used or thrown together - it is still there).

Perhaps I'm just old fashioned - I can't abide CDJ's either - nothing works for me like the feel of vinyl and being able to really cut in to the grooves and spin back (not always very well!).

BB

 

[Skim]

I don't understand the antipathy towards laptops and CD mixing – what are people doing watching the DJ mix in the first place anyway? Shouldn't they be dancing?

 

[Orang Utan]

Why would you want to watch a bloke DJing, unless they were someone like Kentaro or Q-Bert?

 

[Boogie Boy]

I don't understand the antipathy towards laptops and CD mixing – what are people doing watching the DJ mix in the first place anyway? Shouldn't they be dancing?

Maybe they want to marry up the visual with the aural whilst wondering 'How the fuck??!.

BB

 

[Dask]

All those praising Jeff Mills' perfect mixing: are you having a laugh? If you're not, you must have only seen him in the last few years when he's taking less and less risks. I've seen him a few times from about 2000 and only once have I ever seen flawless mixing from him, and it was utter shite. And even 2000 marks a pretty low point for Mills if you listen to some of his mixes from the early 90s.

I never thought of Mills being a "tight" DJ, if you listen to the Liquid rooms CD it's train wreck central, also that Exhibitionist mix was just embarrassing, why on earth did he put out a DVD of him in a shop window mixing really badly I will never know.

If you listen to some of his mixes from the late eighties as "The Wizard" it makes you think, is this really the same Jeff Mills as the one in the Exhibitionist DVD.

He was pretty good in 95,96 the first couple of times I saw him, but now he bores the pants off me. Same old same old.

 

[Dj TAB]

I don't understand the antipathy towards laptops and CD mixing – what are people doing watching the DJ mix in the first place anyway? Shouldn't they be dancing?

....somebody said on here not long a go that watching a laptop dj in action was as exciting as watching somebody check thier emails....

If you can incorporate new technology into your mixing style, great. If a piece of technology works better for you as a mixing medium, go for it!

I like Cdj's and computer applications for looping, sound effects and other messing around. I don't think I'm likely to ever stop using vinyl though...

Who knows though where the technology will take us - perhaps Bill Gates or Steve Jobs are working on the equivalent of an iDJ programme!?!?!

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

....somebody said on here not long a go that watching a laptop dj in action was as exciting as watching somebody check thier emails....

I'd agree with that - but IMO it's exactly as exciting as watching someone mix with vinyl. DJing just isn't very visually interesting IMO.

 

[top_biller]

I never thought of Mills being a "tight" DJ, if you listen to the Liquid rooms CD it's train wreck central

I can remember hearing that CD for the first time and being utterly speechless at the shit mixing, not least as he happily put it out as an official album! I assumed it was some sort of gimmick.

As for the DJ not being the focal point, some DJ's get so into it you can't take your eyes off them, its a performance, they're interacting with the crowd, jumping around, shows that they aren't there for the paycheck IMO.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

As for the DJ not being the focal point, some DJ's get so into it you can't take your eyes off them, its a performance, they're interacting with the crowd, jumping around, shows that they aren't there for the paycheck IMO.

Like who for example? I can't ever really recall being more than vaguely interested in what the DJ was doing visually.

 

[Orang Utan]

I can remember hearing that CD for the first time and being utterly speechless at the shit mixing, not least as he happily put it out as an official album! I assumed it was some sort of gimmick.

Yet it is one of the greatest mix CDs ever! Nothing like that mix brings to you the excitement of hearing techno in a club as that CD does.