Future of DJTT and DJing in General
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Future of DJTT and DJing in General Posted on: 16.07.2012 by Lawana Spratlen Ive been a member of DJTT for a few years now. My post count, although no where near some of the members counts is, in my opinion respectable. Ive tried to give help where I can, Ive also upset a few people along the way. Whatever, I suppose we are all keyboard warriors to a certain extent. Some people have been rude and blinkered so Ive done the same back.I joined after buying Traktor and a simple controller after getting back into djing after a good few years break. Coming from a turntable background i thought I'd give controllers a go. I now use scratch and 1210's. My issue is where DJTT is going and if it is having an adverse effect on DJing. Bar the finger drumming routines by the likes of araab music and jeremy ellis, Ive jet to see a routine that plays any good music!!! Its all been hideous. I feel that these routines are turning the art of DJing into a computer game. The new midi fighter 3D is one of the worst gimmicks Ive seen! The recent video of the 11 year old hit the above home to me (not a dig on him by the way, its cool that hes into music at his age). This new form of djing imo sucks and is in danger of killing djing with everyone able to buy a cheap midi controller and a ripped off copy of traktor. I have no issue with sync, its the music choice that sets djs apart. These routines seem to lend themselves to this total SHIT dubstep and electro music which IS shit. people are entitled to there opinions but im sorry, there is not a respected musician in the world that could like it Sorry in advance is I upset some people, but if you like this wobble dubstep/brostep whatever wanky name its got, I dont believe that you have any taste. Again my opinion and I dont mean to upset anyone. Of course this is my opinion. I like the community of DJTT cos it has a couple of good threads and offers some great advice. But the blog, I'm really not keen in the direction its going. I hope people at DJTT don't get offended by this. Its just my 2 cents. What do other people believe? | |
| Lawana Spratlen 17.07.2012 | Good taste v Bad taste |
| Yukiko Beauvil 17.07.2012 | It's britney bi*** |
| Salvatore Husley 17.07.2012 | None of you have good taste in music. Please check my soundcloud mix so you can scrutinize it and I get more play counts. |
| Brunilda Kora 17.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by rdale
Brilliant. You, sir, are a philosopher. |
| Nikole Resende 17.07.2012 | I didn't read the whole thread, honestly. Just wanted to throw in my opinion regarding the OP's first post: If you don't like that form of DJing (and music), DJTT probably isn't the right place for you... I mean, at the end of the day, digital DJing and controlerism is what this site is all about. With Ean being heavily involved in the creation of both new controllers and controllerist routines this is, and probably always will be, the main objective of the entire site. For me it's still better than e.g. digitaldjtips, where you find the authors of articels on the front page encouraging their readers to undercut other DJs to get gigs by giving them advice how to answer if being accused of doing so: "please don’t accuse me of undermining you – after all, if it wasn’t me, don’t you believe it would be someone else?"(!!!!!!!!). As to the music: that commercial dupstep/electro house sound seems to lend itself naturally to that kind of DJing, as Hip-Hop did to Turntablism. You can't do that much cue-point juggling with a loop driven tech-house track and let's all be glad noone has yet come to the idee to mess up soulful deep house tracks by drowning them in layers and layers of effects... I personally get your point as I play deep house with CDJs and a nice rotary mixer, having started out on vinyl, with a short interlude with Traktor/DVS, and believe the most important parts in DJing are song selection and programming, not mixing and showing of your skills. But again: this site/community is about controllerism and digital DJing in general and there's other places on the web that suit you more, so maybe you just need to move on/away from here to somewhere else... |
| Random X 17.07.2012 | I got to agree with BFLY. People tend to get lost in all functionality and tools offered by nowadays technology. There's just so much power offered to (beginning) DJs that they tend to get lost in the overall flow of their DJset/-routine. This way they miss their main objective, entertaining the listener. Let's be honest, cool routines and sets are cool, though if a DJ uses too much FX and tends to cut off the music too many times, things get tedious and the overall flow is lost. In some way I got to make a parallel with the web designer and interaction development flaws that can take/took place with flash website technology. Designers made the most beautiful interfaces and pages, though the overall User eXperience was a horror. Users that could never get to where they wanted to go, leading to users staying away from this/these website(s). Regard the DJ as an Interaction Designer in this story, where the flash can be the technology a DJ uses. (TTs, CDJs, MIDIcontroller, pingpong bats, Wii controllers, joysticks, haptic harnesses, skin and other nose flutes, et cetera) A user experience is a successful one if the listener or partygoer has danced, or any other way enjoyed, his shoes off. The more a partygoer has to struggle to maintain focus on the DJ set, the less attractive this DJ set will be. People often overlook the skills of a DJ being a great selector, but this is one of the hardest skills to master. Especially with nowadays technology, techniques can be learned. But when the feeling/flow is not there and the DJ cannot select a proper next record, all is gone. /rant |
| Yong Aptekar 17.07.2012 | Wise words rdale |
| Lashawn Maycock 17.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
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| Lashawn Maycock 17.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by Patch
It is quite amusing and a little odd that my favoured style of dance music in DJing terms is Soulful House in which the US pretty much kicked it off in the early 90's (MAW, Todd Terry, Tony Humphries, David Morales et al) before it was quickly adopted in the UK. |
| Alfred Takala 17.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by rdale
Amen, Preach Brother Preach |
| Lawana Spratlen 17.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by DJ Abide
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| Freida Leash 17.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by Patch
I truly expect the underground to find a place again, I really believe like from the ashes that rave was born, that it will all rise again. It shouldn't be what we remembered but what it is now, to disagree is to be on the side of the people that were on the wall watching bean munching candy kids absorb their scene, as that faded to something new, and then again and again. You can't steer this ship only ride it or get off, and that is kind of the beauty because your memories stop where you leave off, so cherish them. |
| Maricruz Mouw 17.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by Jacek
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| Consuelo Lene 17.07.2012 | DJing will have more powerful future. what you guys believe? |
| Margie Pavell 16.07.2012 | I keep forgetting that DJs in general are not an open minded lot... I hate Jack Johnson and Dave Matthews, but what do i care if you love it? I like Shiraz, you might like Cabs... I like Chile Verde Pizza, you might li- our uniqueness is supposed to make us a better whole...learn from each other, don't criticize... |
| Angele Shekhtman 16.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by squidot
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| Noriko Lebowitz 16.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by squidot
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| Cole Maroto 16.07.2012 | what is going on with all these overly dramatic *insert controller or music genre* are killing djing and edm threads lately? -cdjs: death of djing -online music stores: death of djing -midi controllers: death of djing -paris hilton: death of djing -djtt: death of djing -*insert genre*: death of djing -traktor/serato: death of djing -remix decks: death of djing -ll year old kids: death of djing -djing: death of djing how many lives does djing have? at this point we must be well into the zombie apocalypse of edm... |
| Lela Umanskaya 16.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by Audeo
Edit: don't want to sound like I am deriding DJing, quite the oposite, it gives me a lot of pleasure to smoke a bowl and string some tracks together in a new way. That said, playing with my S2 is nothing like playing my PRS with a group of people. Completely different experience. What I'm really trying to say is, we all are just playing other people's tunes... Knock off the pretentious wankery. |
| Venetta Cawyer 16.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by rotebass
It doesn't matter what tools you use, it's the music you play and how you play it. Doesn't matter what genre. I might nog like minimal house, for example, but I can appreciate a good set IF the choices are correct. |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 16.07.2012 | nah I like drum n bass mostly, but have a soft spot for techno, minimal and deep house... I also love deep dubstep, and occasionally some brostep if I wanna get loose like I did a few years ago. But having grown up in Melbourne on Hard Trance then seeing the rise and fall of hardstyle here and going along for the ride I can definitely see some resemblance between the two genres as their foundation was the hardest most face churning sounds of the day and believe me it was amazing the first time I heard tracks from dj Issac, zany, technoboy etc... but soon a formula was created and everyone made the same track. The honeymoon lasted a couple of years and the purists kept it alive for another couple of years, but now it's a bunch of ice addicted douchebags in a dark room listing to the same song. It happened to breaks as well which was my first love, it's happened to dnb a couple of times, electro also... The cause is oversaturation, producers just stop feeling their own inspiration instead aspiring to sound like someone else and fit a genre. It's the nature of the beast with anything that makes you move... But my point is with harder genres there is nowhere to go once the music becomes too hard, it's an awesome ride while it lasts but it's over very quickly. If you look at something like drum n bass it has many different sub genres and can follow any number of different paths, Techno not having any set patterns, melody's or sounds, just a rhythm to make you groove is even more stable and dj's like sven vath, richie hawtin, carl craig etc.. will be playing large events for another 20 years because of this, flux pavilion, excision, datsik, doctor p etc.. wont! people will tire of their sound as it can't mature. I hope breakage & burial are still around though I don't believe I could ever get enough! In regards to controllerism which the OP focused on, it is just a bedroom dj sport the same as turntablism. But there's a reason that stuff is only a five minute side show, and dj's who let music play the way it was intended are the headliners. |
| Lela Umanskaya 16.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by BFLY
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| Jerica Salava 16.07.2012 | Listen to ZEDD produce:
then Listen to ZEDD play: then go DJ whatever you believe sounds awesome to you. > > |
| Alla Bluemke 16.07.2012 | You can you know, just pay attention to the stuff you like. Go to the shows you dig, listen to the music you like, and perform the way you want. Let all the chuckleheads who want to play music you don't like play music you don't like. Or just learn to appreciate that there are other people out there doing other things besides you. |
| Ok Moroski 16.07.2012 | First of all, epic troll. Well done. Now for my semi-serious response since this generated 4 pages of discussion and as some of you may have noticed - I like to talk . The problem with dubstep and electro is that, unfortunately, they're both still only music genres. Like all other genres, there will be a lot of terrible tunes. Since these two genres are two of the most popular genres of the moment, you'll hear a lot more of them than other genres: hence you will hear a lot of shitty dubstep and electro. It's very similar to how grunge, hip-hop and techno were in the 90's; not all of it was awful, but a large amount of the mainstream was. If you give a Midi Fighter and an iPhone to a 14 year old today then he (or she) is most likely going to imitate what's popular and post it online for everyone to see how cool he (or she) is. The only difference between this happening now and the same phenomenon happening in the 90's is that back then it would be with turntables, hip-hop, and thankfully no Youtube to subject us to witnessing it. Musical abominations occur regardless of genre, medium, or hipster-level; just go to your local college campus and look for the nearest fellow wearing a plaid shirt and a guitar on his back for proof. As for the finger-drumming routines you mentioned; sure, the guys seem to be quite talented. That said, it really doesn't strike me as particularly interesting or musically pleasing. It's cool that they can riff out on their MPCs/Maschines, but it really doesn't add much of anything to the experience as an event-goer, at least from my perspective. Does that make their music terrible? No. I just don't care for it. I don't believe it's "ruining DJing" in the least, nor can I categorically say that you have no taste because you enjoy this kind of music. These performers, like the Youtube heroes you allude to, are experimenting. Not all experimentation will be glorious, but it's what inspires the kind of musical innovation that led to whatever genres you actually do enjoy. Your attitude, however, reminds me of those people who refer to all of EDM as "techno" and will go on at length about how boring it is to listen to; oftentimes those who are least educated on a subject are the most vocal about it. The other issue is that the semi-recent mainstream inclusion of DJing/EDM has led to a lot of people DJing who have no business being on the decks. This is good, in some respects, because it encourages people to try new things and may result in more good music being produced by those who accidentally discover that they actually have talent. It's also good because without this surge in popularity, we likely wouldn't have seen as much innovation with products like Traktor, the Midi Fighter, the S4, etc. This popularity is distressing, however, in that DJing is now the "cool" thing to do. You don't have to love music. You don't have to have any level of talent or dedication. Quite simply, the barrier to entry has been lowered and the incentive for being a "DJ" has increased. The Paris Hilton fiasco pretty much sums it up; a talentless hack standing behind CDJs and a mixer as an icon with a stadium worth of people paying to see it. Being able to replicate that "success" is a pretty intoxicating notion to a lot of people out there. DJing has become a means to an end for the public at large instead of being a worthwhile activity in and of itself. Like everything else though, this is cyclical. Eventually, all of these S4s and 1200s will again be gathering dust in garages somewhere while little Billy moves on to the next big thing. You are not the first alarmist to have come across these boards or through the DJing community in general, nor will you be the last. Just about everyone's got his (or her) own pet genre that he (or she) loves, and one that he (or she) hates. Unfortunately for your position in this thread, you don't get to dictate what does and does not define good taste. The thing is - taste is a very personal thing. I hate country music and would question the music recommendations of anyone who claims to enjoy it, but that doesn't mean I get to declare that they have no taste simply because their taste differs from mine. Taste is individual and is part of what makes us interesting as people; if everyone liked the same shit, that would make for one immensely boring world. |
| Jona Slon 16.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by BFLY
What I believe is that you should perhaps refine the way you describe certain genres you dislike. For example i do not like death metal or extreme heavy metal (although i love metallica and some other bands) this doesn't mean i'm going to say the genre is shit. The guitarists, bass players, drummers and maybe even singers are all talented people. Just because what they are doing isn't your style doesn't mean they "suck" or they are "shit". I agree that the blog is going a little shite but that's our opinion. |
| Noelia Martig 16.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by DJ Abide
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| Brunilda Kora 16.07.2012 | It is a sad state of affairs... ...but we've still got Carl Cox. |
| Lashay Walchak 16.07.2012 | Might as well blame it on Obama! lol In some regards we do have to take responsibility for the shit show that is our media, but apparently we run your countries media too because the shit spreads across the planet like wild fire. Sad state of affairs fo sho. |
| Brunilda Kora 16.07.2012 |
One word to describe this thread: Americans.
Side note: Most of my favourite DJ's are American (Jazzy Jeff, Babu, DJ Sneak, BT, DJ Shadow, MMM, DJ Scene). |
| Noriko Lebowitz 16.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by dope
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| Kasi Marget 16.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
2) What do you listen to ? Techno ? Ok so I put a kick at 130 bpm for 8 minutes long, with a volume automation on percussions, that goes up during the 8 minutes and i'm done ? See, I don't dig mimimalistic stuff, but I have enough brain not to criticise it, because I imagine the work people put into it. 3) If it's that easy, make a decent brostep track in less than 30 mins, upload the vid on yourtube and come here again. 4) About moombah, even if like the "core" side of moombah, I'd say it's not a big genre to come, since it's pretty much the same thing except bpm and a drum pattern that is irreplaceable and thus that I personally got bored by a long time ago.
Originally Posted by 1mco
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| Alfred Takala 16.07.2012 | One word to describe this thread: Americans. |
| Eleanore Hartmeyer 16.07.2012 | nope, a few DJs/Porducers have this name, I must change it |
| Lashay Walchak 16.07.2012 |
Originally Posted by Da3dalus
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| Lashay Walchak 16.07.2012 | Kind of ironic that I just came across this video today, as I am vaguely familiar with Blockhead (producer of early Aesop Rock albums) and really enjoyed his work on those. My interpretation is the mainstream sucking you in, chewing you up, and spitting you out, then dying because they ruined everything in the process. I'm sure the OP is with the sample vocals at the beginning of the track |
| Noriko Lebowitz 16.07.2012 | What a useless thread, OP, based on the mindset you've shown in this thread, that 11 y/o kid is going to go much further musically than you. |
| Eleanore Hartmeyer 16.07.2012 | Lads like all eras of music have their fads, it will pass and then there will be some other form of music you will give off about that isnt what you like :/ I hate seeing these silly threads, pointless. Just go play in clubs that promote your scene, if theres none left , thats not anyones fault, go somewhere else. Sucha bunch of music nazis |
| Maricruz Mouw 16.07.2012 | ITT: Underground genre's calling mainstream genre's shit and Mainstream genre's calling underground genre's shit if you cant appreciate a genre or dont like a genre dont listen to it....i dont care what your favorite beverage is so why would i care if you believe dubstep is shit? |
| Celine Surico 16.07.2012 | The power of S4 is really in the new domain of taking samples on the fly or have a set of samples and mix those together with 2 tracks including adding effects and other oddities. Something like Ableton does but you don't need to spend time building Ableton clips. So it's a new beast and we are just seeing the first generation of S4 users, many trying to use the old DJ model but hopefully more are about to explore what you could really do with S4. I like S4, it's what Ableton and a good controller long time ago could have evolved into but Ableton wanted to focus on the DAW market instead of the DJ market. |
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