Can Sync hold a DJ back?

I disagree with this.

A lot of people who are new to DJing do not have the ability to critique themselves yet. It's something that comes with experience. Manual beatmatching is like a built in barrier that stops DJs from posting up absolute crap. That's a good thing for all concerned IMO.

On DJ Forums the other week, a guy posted up his first attempt at mixing after having 30 minutes experience of using DJ gear . 30 minutes. He asked "do I have room to improve?". Had he not been using auto-sync, his little mix would no doubt have sounded even worse than it did (and it sounded like crap as it is) - so bad that he wouldn't have even posted it up. But that's a good thing though. It used to be that you'd buy gear, hone your skills for several months, then post up your first mix. Now, the "hone your skills" part has gone out of the window because inexperienced n00bs believe that because the tracks are synced, their mix is OK, even though the phrase matching is out, the levels might be out, there's no variation in technique, and there's a high chance that they're doing too much EQ knob twiddling and effect triggering (all in the name of "creativity" you understand).

SoundCloud is filled with awful mixes and mashups made using sync. A lot of these DJs start with the DJ name, the Facebook fan page, the SoundCloud account, then the product comes last. It's like a big rush to get stuff online for people to click "like" on. Who does this benefit though? I would argue that it benefits nobody, including the amateur DJs and producers that are doing it.

So I believe sync can hold a DJ back: -

1. It limits the DJ to only using gear that has a sync feature.

2. The DJ can't do a back to back mix with 1 or more other DJs if they're using separate setups.

3. There is the challenge/enjoyment factor to consider. The less you do manually, the less you may feel connected to a particular activity, which lessens your enjoyment of it. And I know the sync crowd have the tendency to respond "that's bullshit!" to things like that, but how can they ever know?

4. It removes the biggest barrier between the DJ and posting up sub-par crap, as discussed above.

So it's all very well saying "yes, but with sync I can use 12 decks with loops, samples and effects cos I'm so creative, blah blah", but I'm not saying never use sync. Being able to choose which method you use is better than being forced to use only the one that requires no skill whatsoever.

i'd rather be the smart master crafstman who uses technology along with my years of experience to outperform anyone else in the market too narrow-minded and stupid to switch from hand saw and hammer to nail gun and saw blade.

i'd rather be the smart master crafstman who uses technology along with my years of experience to outperform anyone else in the market too narrow-minded and stupid to switch from hand saw and hammer to nail gun and saw blade.

i'd rather be the smart master crafstman who uses technology along with my years of experience to outperform anyone else in the market too narrow-minded and stupid to switch from hand saw and hammer to nail gun and saw blade.

i'd rather be the smart master crafstman who uses technology along with my years of experience to outperform anyone else in the market too narrow-minded and stupid to switch from hand saw and hammer to nail gun and saw blade.

Exactly it's just different now to the past, like lots of things.

Less skill/practice/talent required though which is the problem - everyone wants to be a dj these days it seems - and software makes it possible.



Lots actually.

But seeing as you compared it to other jobs - would you rather be the experienced tradesman who can craft items by hand or the cheap labour who uses the latest machine to get the job done.

+1... great mix BTW.

The only thing that is going to limit a DJ, is the DJ(or what they allow them self to be limited by).

I disagree with this.

A lot of people who are new to DJing do not have the ability to critique themselves yet. It's something that comes with experience. Manual beatmatching is like a built in barrier that stops DJs from posting up absolute crap. That's a good thing for all concerned IMO.

On DJ Forums the other week, a guy posted up his first attempt at mixing after having 30 minutes experience of using DJ gear . 30 minutes. He asked "do I have room to improve?". Had he not been using auto-sync, his little mix would no doubt have sounded even worse than it did (and it sounded like crap as it is) - so bad that he wouldn't have even posted it up. But that's a good thing though. It used to be that you'd buy gear, hone your skills for several months, then post up your first mix. Now, the "hone your skills" part has gone out of the window because inexperienced n00bs believe that because the tracks are synced, their mix is OK, even though the phrase matching is out, the levels might be out, there's no variation in technique, and there's a high chance that they're doing too much EQ knob twiddling and effect triggering (all in the name of "creativity" you understand).

SoundCloud is filled with awful mixes and mashups made using sync. A lot of these DJs start with the DJ name, the Facebook fan page, the SoundCloud account, then the product comes last. It's like a big rush to get stuff online for people to click "like" on. Who does this benefit though? I would argue that it benefits nobody, including the amateur DJs and producers that are doing it.

So I believe sync can hold a DJ back: -

1. It limits the DJ to only using gear that has a sync feature.

2. The DJ can't do a back to back mix with 1 or more other DJs if they're using separate setups.

3. There is the challenge/enjoyment factor to consider. The less you do manually, the less you may feel connected to a particular activity, which lessens your enjoyment of it. And I know the sync crowd have the tendency to respond "that's bullshit!" to things like that, but how can they ever know?

4. It removes the biggest barrier between the DJ and posting up sub-par crap, as discussed above.

So it's all very well saying "yes, but with sync I can use 12 decks with loops, samples and effects cos I'm so creative, blah blah", but I'm not saying never use sync. Being able to choose which method you use is better than being forced to use only the one that requires no skill whatsoever.

You sure as hell don't learn to become a master craftsman by using the easiest possible method. I've never known anybody to become an expert without having a firm grasp of the basics. Beatmatching was huge aide for me when I learned song structure. For me, it helped much more than visually seeing wave forms. Though that's also been an aide.

You are saying this with the mindset of strictly persuading the positive aspect of sync and have totally disregarded areas where technology is not always better. Think of the term "hand made". Shoes, fine clothes, fine jewelery etc. are all hand stichted or hand made, and many other products are "built by hand" exotic cars, surgical gear , etc.

Nothing wrong with embracing technology and leveraging it, but if the question is does sync hold you back. 100% yes it does if that's all you know. I asked in the other thread for folks to post an example of how sync helps them do what they and ONE person, just ONE (Sarasin, and he's a pimp for doing it) posted.

So I believe sync can hold a DJ back: -

1. It limits the DJ to only using gear that has a sync feature.

2. The DJ can't do a back to back mix with 1 or more other DJs if they're using separate setups.

3. There is the challenge/enjoyment factor to consider. The less you do manually, the less you may feel connected to a particular activity, which lessens your enjoyment of it. And I know the sync crowd have the tendency to respond "that's bullshit!" to things like that, but how can they ever know?

4. It removes the biggest barrier between the DJ and posting up sub-par crap, as discussed above.

So it's all very well saying "yes, but with sync I can use 12 decks with loops, samples and effects cos I'm so creative, blah blah", but I'm not saying never use sync. Being able to choose which method you use is better than being forced to use only the one that requires no skill whatsoever.

i feel the exact opposite. i believe sync should definitely be relied on by beginners until they have the learned the basics of djing. throwing beatmatching on top of everything else is usually a frustrating endeavor...i know it was for me when i started before all this software came out. i had no choice though, and had to keep banging away until it all started to make sense. technology now allows you to learn a bit more incrementally, which seems better for most people. once you've got the phrasing, eq, and ability to pick proper tracks while keeping a good flow...that's when you should learn to beatmatch imo.

In what other job/industry do you see people slating advancement of technology and innovation?

I assume the people that don't have problems with Traktor beatgrids are playing very simple, clean 4 to the floor house or techno?

I assume the people that don't have problems with Traktor beatgrids are playing 4 to the floor house or techno?