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LISTEN TO ME
Jun 1, 2006

Crispy Chicken Slamwich

epalm posted:

Nice username/post combo :v:

Haha, thanks. I got it in a name change thread. Anyway, I'm really not trying to poo poo all over dude for his efforts, we all start somewhere, but it's important to listen to something other than an echo chamber if you want to make progress.

Since we're all posting mashups though, here's one I made in 2005 or 2006. It's not low effort, but it IS pretty dated. I still like it from time to time though.
https://soundcloud.com/killtron/oldmashup1

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Dessert Rose
May 17, 2004

awoken in control of a lucid deep dream...

an skeleton posted:

Whats your mixcloud and were you playing any music you produced?

http://mixcloud.com/burndream , no, I haven't quite gotten to the point of producing my own stuff yet. :)

When I said "my music" I was just referring to the music I've collected; I've only ever really heard it on my car system (which is decent) or my crappy home speakers. I really need to get a good pair of monitors.

oredun
Apr 12, 2007

TheWevel posted:

Thanks... one of my friends played an early version of the Missy Elliott track and said it killed but I haven't actually gotten a chance to play any of these out yet.

edit: here's 2 other ones I made 6 months ago that I never posted on SA...not really bootlegs, but blends (I was still teaching myself how to use Logic)-

https://soundcloud.com/djcounterstrike/wolfgang-gartner-vs-j-cole
Wolfgang Gartner vs. J. Cole - Can't Get Enough of the Way It Was

https://soundcloud.com/djcounterstrike/madeon-vs-bob-icarus-still-in
Madeon vs BOB (ft TI) - Icarus Still In This Bitch

I like these, but in my experience, "complextro" just pisses people off. My theory is its too noisy and busy and just doesnt translate well when theres a PA that may or may not be stereo and echos and reverbiness of the room. I have no idea. Never had a "complextro" track work though. Ever. Ive given up, if you cant tell.



bad day posted:

I sent it to CJ Milli and she says she's into it so I guess you guys just like different music?

Ok, wow. Well, heres what we can do. If you think its so awesome play it at your next gig and then tell us how it goes.

Muck and Mire
Dec 9, 2011

There are so many genres that I don't have any idea where they work or who actually plays them... like before soundcloud changed their layout, every top track was big room electro/dubstep poo poo. How many big rooms are there? I get if you're Laidback Luke this poo poo goes off but for most people you're not in an environment where that type of muisc works.

oredun
Apr 12, 2007

Muck and Mire posted:

There are so many genres that I don't have any idea where they work or who actually plays them... like before soundcloud changed their layout, every top track was big room electro/dubstep poo poo. How many big rooms are there? I get if you're Laidback Luke this poo poo goes off but for most people you're not in an environment where that type of muisc works.

As a rule, it never loving works. I know ive said this before but ive been doing this for a decent length of time, something like at least 2 gigs a week for the last 5-6 years. Heres what happens: people show up after blogging the gently caress out of some tracks that are super popular on the internet. When youre surrounded by people that like a certain type of music, you think everyone likes that type of music. They show up talking all this poo poo and how theyve practiced the last 6 months in their room and how they plan on using their set to set the place on fire. It doesnt work like that. The ONLY way anyone will be a good DJ is by watching the room. In my opinion, the type of music really isnt all that important. You can play whatever suits the party. Thats it. Im not a "genre" dj. 2 weeks ago I had a wedding reception in a club(weird, i know) and i played my normal wedding reception music(mainly older songs think funk, soul, disco, some line dances, real tame poo poo) and somebody asked me to play harlem shake so they could all act silly. I said gently caress it, ill play a flux pavilion song(they are easily the best dubstep songs to play to feel people out) and they went loving nuts and i played dubstep and trap for the next hour before switching to house top40.

The short answer is no. You have to have a crowd ready to hear that poo poo. You need to feel them out or you WILL chase them away playing heavy rear end dubstep poo poo. Theres a reason theres 100 people at "Bro'z banging DSTEP BASS PARTY" and 500 people at 80s night or top40 night.

If you want to play electro house and deep house, MAKE sure it has vocals. The VAST VAST VAST majority of people listen to the words and its their fav part(i personally dont, i dont any words to any song but i can whistle every note of every song perfectly). This is why SWH mafia and similar acts have so much more success than people like say deadmau5 who for the most part lack vocals.

I say this as someone that started really hitting clubs hard when the electro stuff was coming out mid 2000s and i REALLY REALLY wanted to play it. I played about 1-2 gigs a month until a bar owner said "Hey man quit playing that poo poo play something to get the pussies wet!" I love electro and assorted genres, just nobody else does. And if they do, they dont have poo poo for money to buy alcohol so ill get paid.

DJing is a social science, when you realize this your opportunities will loving EXPLODE. Our job is to play what people want and to make them happy.

edit: i hope you guys dont just think i ramble, ive just learned a lot of this poo poo the long and hard way, i feel like if someone would just have mentioned a few things to me it would have been so much easier.

oredun fucked around with this message at 01:17 on Jun 6, 2013

Anae
Apr 23, 2008

oredun posted:

DJing is a social science, when you realize this your opportunities will loving EXPLODE. Our job is to play what people want and to make them happy.

There's two types of DJs - those whose job it is to be the above, and then there's those that have has spent time and effort curating a music taste and collection, and whose job it is to showcase that taste and collections.

Not many people are the latter.

LISTEN TO ME
Jun 1, 2006

Crispy Chicken Slamwich
I hopped on kind of last minute as a guest at this bass focused weekly. They do a livestream. Do you guys care or are you interested in me posting the link? Sweltah is also going to be hopping on for a bit.

Longtiem
Feb 9, 2010

epalm posted:

I'm considering moving from a Kontrol S2 to an NS7. I'm drawn to the tactile feedback of actual motorized platters, as I've never really gotten used to the S2s "press down on this big plastic platter" thing, which kind of works, but kind of doesn't. Getting real tables and vinyl is desirable, but fantastically out of my budget.

Does the NS7 'feel' pretty good? I don't care so much about a huge effects bank.

Edit: Also, I really, really like Traktor. Looks like the NS7 comes with Serato ITCH, which I've never used. How do they compare?

I got full a full DVS for under 400, not including traktor which it sounds like you already have. Just play ebay for a few weeks and the pieces will come together.

oredun
Apr 12, 2007

Anae posted:

There's two types of DJs - those whose job it is to be the above, and then there's those that have has spent time and effort curating a music taste and collection, and whose job it is to showcase that taste and collections.

Not many people are the latter.

Yea, but id argue you wont be very good at the 2nd without being good at the first. Sure, theres some exceptions, but by and large producers that never DJed are pretty bad and put on a poor show. While on the other hand, producers that cut their teeth DJing tend to be a much higher quality show.

And if youre just talking DJs that showcase taste and collections without being producers, i would say that doesnt really exist beyond maybe 5 people.

an skeleton
Apr 23, 2012

scowls @ u
When you are doing the 1st kind of djing, are you fading one song into the next, rinse and repeat, or are you doing crazy dj ninja tricks with each song? Like do you get fancy with the technique or is it just song selection and beatmatching for the most part.

bad day
Mar 26, 2012

by VideoGames

LISTEN TO ME posted:

Who is CJ Milli? I mean, I know who she is, but who is she to use as justification for your tracks? She's for the most part just a blogger, dawg. A blogger who begs people on Facebook to help pay for her hosting at that. Maybe you should just accept some criticism instead of being like "well, this person likes it, so it's ok"

I have played the same combination out live, and people were like "oh poo poo what the gently caress is this" and taking pictures of my ipad so they could go download the songs when they get home. But I've noticed Traktor DJ sounds WAY better when plugged directly into a nice soundsystem than when you press "record" and listen to it later, particularly in regards to bass frequencies. What sounds to you like a bunch of noise on the recorded/compressed 128kbps soundcloud stream actually sounds pretty good live on a club soundsystem with subs and all that. I understand that it's not properly engineered but it's not like this is something I spent hours working on in ableton - it's a combination of tracks that always gets a good response live but all of you seemed to hate it so I sent the link to some DJs I know and respect to see what they think. Their unanimous opinion was "this recording doesn't sound great but the concept is solid". Which most of you don't seem to agree with, but then again most of you seem to enjoy stuff like Avicii and Kaskade which I don't like at all.

As far as CJ Milli she is a tastemaker and posts massive amounts of new and interesting music - I've downloaded gigabytes worth of stuff from her blog, as have a lot of working DJs I know - and bandwidth isn't free so begging for money from fans is not that outlandish considering how much they download from her server.

Anyway if you want to scoff and criticize something I actually spent a lot of time working on (as opposed to something I just thought was cool and wanted to share), feel free to talk poo poo about this remix.

https://soundcloud.com/night-trap/crunk-or-in-jail

Or the album of 90's covers I made last year.

https://soundcloud.com/night-trap/sets/muza-k

oredun
Apr 12, 2007

an skeleton posted:

When you are doing the 1st kind of djing, are you fading one song into the next, rinse and repeat, or are you doing crazy dj ninja tricks with each song? Like do you get fancy with the technique or is it just song selection and beatmatching for the most part.

I mainly stick with just blending one song to the next, but i wont if song selection warrants something different. If i need to go from like 126 to 96 ill just do a wind down, every body loves those. I do alot of drum scratching right as im dropping a song, i still blend songs even when i hot mix or whatever you call it. I scratch some words and i try to fit an "ahh fresh" cut routine in once a night (drinking plays a major part in how often i do this).

Basically, in my opinion for 80% of transitions let your songs do the talkin for you(ie you shouldnt be heard, clean blend), and then spice it up now and then with your skillz. Nobody wants to hear you stand up there and just straight finger bang the effects buttons, but a well placed flange has its place.

an skeleton
Apr 23, 2012

scowls @ u

oredun posted:

I mainly stick with just blending one song to the next, but i wont if song selection warrants something different. If i need to go from like 126 to 96 ill just do a wind down, every body loves those. I do alot of drum scratching right as im dropping a song, i still blend songs even when i hot mix or whatever you call it. I scratch some words and i try to fit an "ahh fresh" cut routine in once a night (drinking plays a major part in how often i do this).

Basically, in my opinion for 80% of transitions let your songs do the talkin for you(ie you shouldnt be heard, clean blend), and then spice it up now and then with your skillz. Nobody wants to hear you stand up there and just straight finger bang the effects buttons, but a well placed flange has its place.

Ok, this is the stuff I need to get better at. When you blend say, 2 deep house songs, is it as simple as matching the bpm and then slowly fading between usually? because ive heard of people putting the kick drums from one into the other, does that involve just turning the "low" down on the song you want to lose drums and vice versa on the other? Sorry if this is the noobiest noob poo poo ever to grace this thread.

oredun
Apr 12, 2007

an skeleton posted:

Ok, this is the stuff I need to get better at. When you blend say, 2 deep house songs, is it as simple as matching the bpm and then slowly fading between usually? because ive heard of people putting the kick drums from one into the other, does that involve just turning the "low" down on the song you want to lose drums and vice versa on the other? Sorry if this is the noobiest noob poo poo ever to grace this thread.

This obviously isnt the only way, but if you asked me the "best" way to mix deep house would be this:

First of all, do you understand phrasing and all that?

If so, you would start the bring the bass out of outgoing song then kill all the highs of incoming song, some mids and some bass. Gradually fade the new track in while slowly taking the bass out of the old song. Now swap your highs, swap your mids(do it fast if your songs are in diff keys, you can just tell by listening) and leave the bass a at like 10 o'clock. Now fade the old song out completely. Wait for the time you want the bass to hit, wait for a little break down, boom turn bass to about 1 o'clock.

Build and release of tension.

And of adding drums, maybe find a good song with clean drums or some syncopated sound you like, put a cue point and find a song it blends with. You can put a cue point on the kick and snare and do a little finger drumming. Or you can loop the drums where you like and then kill the bass on the other song and lower the mids and highs on the drums and throw them over top.

oredun fucked around with this message at 09:32 on Jun 6, 2013

an skeleton
Apr 23, 2012

scowls @ u

oredun posted:

This obviously isnt the only way, but if you asked me the "best" way to mix deep house would be this:

First of all, do you understand phrasing and all that?

If so, you would start the bring the bass out of outgoing song then kill all the highs of incoming song, some mids and some bass. Gradually fade the new track in while slowly taking the bass out of the old song. Now swap your highs, swap your mids(do it fast if your songs are in diff keys, you can just tell by listening) and leave the bass a at like 10 o'clock. Now fade the old song out completely. Wait for the time you want the bass to hit, wait for a little break down, boom turn bass to about 1 o'clock.

Build and release of tension.

Phrasing meaning different parts of the song? So... you first want to hear the bass in the new song, then swap the mids and highs, maybe do so at a cool transitional part, then fade the old song out, boom hit the bass. I've been doing something similar to this but not quite. Thanks!

oredun
Apr 12, 2007

an skeleton posted:

Phrasing meaning different parts of the song? So... you first want to hear the bass in the new song, then swap the mids and highs, maybe do so at a cool transitional part, then fade the old song out, boom hit the bass. I've been doing something similar to this but not quite. Thanks!

Yes, and exactly. You have exactly the right idea, use the song to hide your transitions to new songs.

LISTEN TO ME
Jun 1, 2006

Crispy Chicken Slamwich

Dawg, I hear you, I do. I think we're all just pushing toward "You should probably listen to what more than one side of people are saying." I mean, I get it, you like trap, you like that future bass sound, but take it from a guy who has the tracks CJ milli posts weeks, if not months before she has them: You don't want to water down your sound or your image. That Crunk or In Jail track is well put together, so seemingly you're not just some kid going "what if?" but you have to still be open to criticism. Also, I don't know where you got that Avicii thing from, but here's my soundcloud: no avicii anywhere: https://soundcloud.com/killtron

Anae
Apr 23, 2008

oredun posted:

Yea, but id argue you wont be very good at the 2nd without being good at the first. Sure, theres some exceptions, but by and large producers that never DJed are pretty bad and put on a poor show. While on the other hand, producers that cut their teeth DJing tend to be a much higher quality show.

And if youre just talking DJs that showcase taste and collections without being producers, i would say that doesnt really exist beyond maybe 5 people.

Yeah definitely agree with the first statement.

As for the second statement about 5 people - I have no idea about where you live, of course, but where I live there's plenty of local DJs who do that, do it well, and people respect them for it. I mean, the chances of them ever breaking out nationally are slim-to-none, but that's not really their goal. Kind of irrelevant though because most DJs are producers at some level anyway these days.

Solus
May 31, 2011

Drongos.
What is a CJ Milli and why is the first Google result covered in 3d Porn yet still appears to be her website and why are you using it as a music source

bad day
Mar 26, 2012

by VideoGames

LISTEN TO ME posted:

Dawg, I hear you, I do. I think we're all just pushing toward "You should probably listen to what more than one side of people are saying." I mean, I get it, you like trap, you like that future bass sound, but take it from a guy who has the tracks CJ milli posts weeks, if not months before she has them: You don't want to water down your sound or your image. That Crunk or In Jail track is well put together, so seemingly you're not just some kid going "what if?" but you have to still be open to criticism. Also, I don't know where you got that Avicii thing from, but here's my soundcloud: no avicii anywhere: https://soundcloud.com/killtron

Thanks, i quite liked the mix you posted recently in another thread. I just don't react well to "this is terrible" as a criticism as opposed to "I don't like this" because I don't like 99% of the music I hear but feel no need to tell anyone.

CJ Milli is a girl and mildly successful DJ who has a blog with lots of terrible animated gifs but also lots of huge zipped packs of pretty awesome dj music, though I only like about a third of it to be honest. I came across the site a while ago as the URL seemed to be tagged on a lot of mp3s friends were sending me. I got introduced to Jersey Club music there, my current favorite thing.

a foolish pianist
May 6, 2007

(bi)cyclic mutation

Anae posted:

Yeah definitely agree with the first statement.

As for the second statement about 5 people - I have no idea about where you live, of course, but where I live there's plenty of local DJs who do that, do it well, and people respect them for it. I mean, the chances of them ever breaking out nationally are slim-to-none, but that's not really their goal. Kind of irrelevant though because most DJs are producers at some level anyway these days.

Well, they've got better odds at being at least regionally known than the top 40 DJs, who are almost entirely interchangeable.

Muck and Mire
Dec 9, 2011

I'm a pretty good party DJ but I came up on Serato and there are some of the second types of DJs locally who just make me feel like a complete chump. Huge, awesome record collections, crazy knowledge about certain genres, great mixing abilities, etc. Those are the people who got into DJing because they had a huge record collection anyway and they might as well let other people listen to it. If you want to get noticed by Resident Advisor or whatever then you need a haircut and production skills, of course, but there are a ton of locals who are really world class DJs that won't ever get that kind of shine simply because it's not something you can really sell on a large scale.

Also agree that DJing -> producing makes you better than producing -> DJing. Also, learn to DJ rap first because if you can DJ rap music you can basically DJ anything, but not really vice-versa.

oredun posted:

Basically, in my opinion for 80% of transitions let your songs do the talkin for you(ie you shouldnt be heard, clean blend), and then spice it up now and then with your skillz. Nobody wants to hear you stand up there and just straight finger bang the effects buttons, but a well placed flange has its place.

This also.

Dotcom Jillionaire
Jul 19, 2006

Social distortion

bad day posted:



Anyway if you want to scoff and criticize something I actually spent a lot of time working on (as opposed to something I just thought was cool and wanted to share), feel free to talk poo poo about this remix.

https://soundcloud.com/night-trap/crunk-or-in-jail

Wow I am not a fan of this. You trawled through a bunch of easily available acapellas and the best backing track you could think of for a DEAD PREZ song is some boring softy drum and bass treatment? I can't imagine people having a reaction to this on the dance floor. You can't mix and match aggressive lyrics with music that doesn't match what the song is about unless you're going for some kind of comedy option, especially when mixing hip hop. This was one of the first tracks I ever put together, listen to it to hear what a rap acapella should be layered with: https://soundcloud.com/portervance/movin-bodies. EDIT: I didn't realize you were in China, maybe they do things differently over there.


To the thread: I didn't get much response about this on the mixes thread so I'd like to ask here for feedback. I've been making mixes with Ableton for maybe 5 years now but have never really finished a project or released anything due to getting bogged down or hating what I ended up with. I put this mix together a few nights ago and it came together very spontaneously. I liked what I came up with and want to add more to bring the total run time to an hour, but I wanted to hear some feedback on the mixing:

http://www.mixcloud.com/portervance/porter-vance-mix-n-match-pt-1/

I think mixing should be fun for the DJ and palatable to the audience and I really appreciate "ninja skill" transitions (I want to get my technique to this point). This mix is not quite ninja skills but I want to understand if it's mixed effectively. The mix is pretty dry, I've only done some fades on songs, no effects or retriggers or anything. Any feedback you seasoned DJs can provide would be helpful in getting me motivated to do this more and in public :).

Dotcom Jillionaire fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Jun 6, 2013

a milk crime
Jun 30, 2007

Murky Waters
big business man
Man/LOL i just hate mixing clear vinyls. Clear vinyls is the worst - except maybe picture discs. For one i like my picture vinyls to stay pristine (i have a lot of picture record), for two they start up slower esp if you're cueing them and, for three i really don't want to damage my a7x x cod x rsd 12".

Dopo
Jul 23, 2004
Call me old fashioned, but I believe that records are for playing.

a foolish pianist
May 6, 2007

(bi)cyclic mutation

tehschulman posted:

This was one of the first tracks I ever put together, listen to it to hear what a rap acapella should be layered with: https://soundcloud.com/portervance/movin-bodies. EDIT: I didn't realize you were in China, maybe they do things differently over there.

This is godawfully messy. The vocals and the instruments are sitting in the same frequency space, so you can't really hear either of them.

bad day
Mar 26, 2012

by VideoGames

tehschulman posted:

Wow I am not a fan of this. You trawled through a bunch of easily available acapellas and the best backing track you could think of for a DEAD PREZ song is some boring softy drum and bass treatment?

Well it's more like I made a softy drum & bass track and then trawled around for vocals from old songs to layer on top but thanks for the constructive criticism.

an skeleton
Apr 23, 2012

scowls @ u
Would anyone play this song at a gig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ypyoxGHW_s and if so could you fit it in between electro housey songs or would you only play it with other similar music(s)? Just curious, warning: dubsteppish

fat gay nonce
May 13, 2003
actual penis length: |-----------|



Winner, PWM POTM January

an skeleton posted:

Would anyone play this song at a gig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ypyoxGHW_s and if so could you fit it in between electro housey songs or would you only play it with other similar music(s)? Just curious, warning: dubsteppish

Without listening to it exhaustively or knowing what other songs you want to mix it with the answer is almost certainly maybe: surely it depends on the crowd more than anything else.

LISTEN TO ME
Jun 1, 2006

Crispy Chicken Slamwich

an skeleton posted:

Would anyone play this song at a gig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ypyoxGHW_s and if so could you fit it in between electro housey songs or would you only play it with other similar music(s)? Just curious, warning: dubsteppish

I'd say you could, but you'd basically have to treat it as a breakdown/buildup in your set, so don't play it for too long, and make sure you come in with something high energy afterward.

an skeleton
Apr 23, 2012

scowls @ u

LISTEN TO ME posted:

I'd say you could, but you'd basically have to treat it as a breakdown/buildup in your set, so don't play it for too long, and make sure you come in with something high energy afterward.

Cool, that's exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

Styliferous
Apr 23, 2005

ElectroBolt™
by Ryan Industries
Grimey Drawer
Just wanna take a minute to gloat, but becoming a curator has led to me going from no bookings a year ago to having had my first out of town gig in Baltimore two months ago, and I'm making my Washington DC debut a week from now.

Curate them tracks guys, everyone can download that blog post and have the same tunes as you. Dig deep, and find those killers that'll make 'em come back for more.

LISTEN TO ME
Jun 1, 2006

Crispy Chicken Slamwich

Styliferous posted:

Just wanna take a minute to gloat, but becoming a curator has led to me going from no bookings a year ago to having had my first out of town gig in Baltimore two months ago, and I'm making my Washington DC debut a week from now.

Curate them tracks guys, everyone can download that blog post and have the same tunes as you. Dig deep, and find those killers that'll make 'em come back for more.

Sincere congratulations, but isn't this "How to not be a lovely DJ 101" ?

I mean, I understand hobbyists, but if you're wanting to be any sort of dj that gets paid, your track selection and programming better be on point.

oredun
Apr 12, 2007

an skeleton posted:

Would anyone play this song at a gig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ypyoxGHW_s and if so could you fit it in between electro housey songs or would you only play it with other similar music(s)? Just curious, warning: dubsteppish

This ones pretty hard, and it really depends on how receptive your crowd is to big rear end builds and drops. Some crowds totally get down with it and raise their arms up and poo poo like that, and others clear the dance floor.

Its a risk, IMO. I dont think i would play it unless the crowd is unusually receptive to big builds.

For an outro, i would find a good electro track it mixes out of, and a good dubstep track that has some sort of melodic mid-high pitched things goin on, but has a MASSIVE drop!

Go like, electro song>slowly mix in that track your posted>VERY slowly mix in dubstep track(dont be afraid to loop a good part thats without drums or something)>start like filtering and delaying or flanging the gently caress out of outgoing track>highpass incoming track>yell like "Yo 'nameofclub/city' im 'djcrazyclown' its bout to get rowdy put your hands up!!!!!!!!!!">unleash bass

Its a risky maneuver, if you gently caress it up, nobody will remember provided you dont gently caress up much else.

But everyone will remember if you get up there and hammer them with some huge builds and drops.

Anae
Apr 23, 2008

Styliferous posted:

Just wanna take a minute to gloat, but becoming a curator has led to me going from no bookings a year ago to having had my first out of town gig in Baltimore two months ago, and I'm making my Washington DC debut a week from now.

Curate them tracks guys, everyone can download that blog post and have the same tunes as you. Dig deep, and find those killers that'll make 'em come back for more.

What do you mean by becoming a curator by the way? Never heard that term used in connection with DJing.

bad day
Mar 26, 2012

by VideoGames
Basically some people think DJs can be like curators and collect/play/introduce people to new, rare, and interesting music. Others insist a "good" DJ will feel the crowd and play things they already like, essentially. It's more complicated because - for example - if you play Billie Jean in a room full of drunk white girls they will all dance and swear you are the best DJ ever. But Billie Jean's just not that interesting of a song selection and in a different setting people might not be that into it. Sometimes people actually go out in order to hear a DJ that plays a kind of music they are unfamiliar with. There are venues for both. You could be a really successful DJ exclusively playing reggae 45s from the late 90's. I've known a few. You just have to find the right venue, do good promotions, and try to make sure everybody is feeling your vibe.

Lately I've been thinking it should be more like an improvised performative sort of thing.

a milk crime
Jun 30, 2007

Murky Waters
big business man
"It is not the job of DJ's to give the dancers what the dancers want. If the dancers knew what they needed, then they would not be the dancers. They would be the DJ's."

Dotcom Jillionaire
Jul 19, 2006

Social distortion
Billie Jean is a fantastic god drat song. I think the term "curator" is appropriate in both of bad day's examples since you can certainly curate a song that makes people dance and the audience enjoys as much as you can expose them to a track they've never heard before. The curating idea falls apart when the DJ chooses to completely play any and all songs they know the audience will like, regardless of the DJ's own tastes. At that point you might as well take quarters and call yourself a jukebox because you shouldn't be calling yourself a DJ.

Curating isn't just playing your favorite tracks of the day either. Good DJs are able to come off of dubstep tracks, throw in a deep house track, follow it up with a string of remixed 80s dance tunes, and toss in some hip-hop for good measure. Let your audience dictate this to some extent (if they paid for an electro show you shouldn't play 80% hip-hop), but curating is the art of presenting everything that you know is good, not just a few tracks that just got big on Beatport last week. Many people who consider themselves DJs lack a breath and depth of classic tracks unfortunately.

DJing is (read: should be) entirely an improvised performance too. There are artists who come to the club with a completely pre-recorded set and will just roll that on the system while they pretend to twiddle on the decks, but again this is not DJing in the true sense of the word. Software like Traktor and Serato has made it easier to do the improvised performance that is required of the DJ (drop cues, swap tracks, implement effects, etc), but I still think the act of DJing is a performance onto itself. Making preparations for a set is all in a days work, but taking a completed pre-recorded set to the club and pressing play and kicking back in the DJ booth is both offensive and laughable.

Professor Latency
Mar 30, 2011

If your set isn't 100% non-stop trap bangers, you're doing something wrong.

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Jun 1, 2006

Crispy Chicken Slamwich
90 minute gabber set to a 12pm brunch crowd

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