DJing with controllers, Sync and expectations.....
DJing with controllers, Sync and expectations..... Posted on: 10.08.2012 by Emerson Crist After about a year of rest from the rave and DJ scene, I came back and got myself an S4. With a plethora of music ranging from Prog House, Breaks, to DnB, I decided that I would start making mixes and promote myself to start playing out again. I showed some of my friends my new toy, some of whom had CDJs and was met with a face of unimpressed enthusiasm. Most of them weren't sure what they were looking at. They saw it as a $900 toy that has way too many buttons for just "normal" mixing. They saw Traktor as another piece of expensive software that had effects and a Sync button. They kept asking why I wasnt using my other two decks, the sample decks or the other effects (I was only using Beatmasher and Delay sparingly.) Other comments were "So you just use sync now?". After a few weeks of this I was beginning to feel let down. I have had about seven years of traditional vinyl beatmatching experience, but I was starting to get tired of not being able to lug my gear around in one bag. Thats why I decided on the S4, not because of the effects, the remix decks, the effects, the pretty waveforms, but simply because I have a passion of music that ranges all over the place and I'd like to play it for others. I personally hate the sync button. Its only as accurate as the beatgrid, and frankly im too lazy to set up a beatgrid for 5k+ tracks of music. I use mixed in key, because of the convenience and because I like to hear a good sounding mix. I use very few effects unless the mood is right and simply because the reason im playing a track is because it sounds good to begin with. So, i guess my question is, how would you guys deal with comments and moods like the ones ive described? Am I automatically put into the "He uses a controller, he must Sync his way from 10 to 12 every evening " category now? Am I obligated to utilize all four track decks with every mix? Should I be using 4 effects every five minutes now? I know the bar is set kinda high now as far as how a DJs mix should be sounding, with artists using beatmasher every 2 secs, but I personally like to ride the mix and slowly layer tracks throughout the evening , rather than punch people in the face with ear splitting reverb and deafening echos and delays. Cant I just use the S4 for a simple two track mix?! Im looking for personal thoughts and actual commentary, not another Sync debate or controllerism vs DJing discussion. | |
| Georgianna Eurick 12.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Janky
Wish I had cdjs but I don't have that kind of cash money right now |
| Ciara Cuttill 13.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by dj matt blaze
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| Ciara Cuttill 11.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by tommi bass
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| Lashawn Maycock 11.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Tommi Bass
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| Freida Leash 12.08.2012 | I believe cuepoint juggling is the real gem of traktor and a midifighter, it is pretty responsive and adds a lot to a set with out being over bearing. This alone is the real reason to enjoy moving away from analog, everything else is icing on the cake. Traktor's internal mixing still leaves a little to be desired, but is better than any mixer I've ever personally owned. |
| Georgianna Eurick 12.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Janky
Wish I had cdjs but I don't have that kind of cash money right now |
| Emerson Crist 12.08.2012 | Thanks for all the comments guys. My friends arent real haters, but moreso seem to be afraid of the whole "sync" thing like you guys have said. In all honesty, they love my mixing, but for them, if they had to pay $900 for a piece of hardware, they would want to use it to its full potential. For me, I paid for one complete system would I would have gotten for about 75% of one CDJ and while there are tradeoffs between the two, I dont have any regrets about my investment. It feels good to pack up ALL my gear and go from gig to gig and not have to worry about having a posse of 3 to help me. I find myself using sync sometimes (im still lazy on beatgridding) but only when I feel like mashing up songs and going crazy with some effects, but I dont believe I could stand it if I just hit th sync button all evening , not much fun imo. Hopefully with some practice and patience ill be able to put together some technically sounding mixes, now that I am starting to grasp the potential of Traktor. Maybe even pick up a midi fighter for some fun. |
| Ciara Cuttill 13.08.2012 | something me and itajen came up with during chat ... |
| Julian Ispas 13.08.2012 | ^^^^ no kidding!!!!! |
| Ciara Cuttill 13.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by dj matt blaze
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| Roseanna Signorini 12.08.2012 | Being a 20+ years DJ veteran myself, the technology has finally caught up to me and what I wanted 20 years ago. I used to time out the bpm of every record and put it on a sticker on the record sleeve. I would pitch the record down 1 bpm so the 121 bpm I was getting ready to mix in will match the 120bpm beingh played, recued 5 times to make sure it was on before I started the mix. Now I hit sync and the bpm matches automatically and its set and ready to go in 5 sec, bring the beat in on a loop ever so slowly, release the loop and let it play while using eq, effects, loops for the transition for the outgoing track. I have said this a million times, if the technology was there 20 years ago we would have used it. Its not bout the tools, its about how it sounds coming out of the speakers. The haterz and the vinyl "purists" snobs who believe that controllers and dvs systems are ruining the "art" of DJing need to stop driving cars and get horses, stop using electricity, and use candles. Life moves on, technology advances, get with it or get left behind. |
| Celine Surico 12.08.2012 | I believe we have reached a point -- such as Chris Liebing's DJ setup or Richie Hawkin's -- where if there was no sync, they could not pull off the complex interactions betweeen Traktor, Ableton Live, Maschine et rest et rest. Do they cheat? Well, how DJs moaned the transition from vinyl to CDJs with its cheating BPM meters... |
| Dorcas Bassignani 12.08.2012 | Take any sync comments calmly on the chin, and drop a technically amazing set. |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 12.08.2012 | Last few gigs I played I started with Ableton and after a while moved to CDJ's for the heck of it. I had more fun beatmatching manually, screwing around with live looping and proper honest to god, old school live mixing. The energy picked up and people had more fun because I wasn't so focused on pressing the wrong button and more focused on the music selection, the crowd that was there, and able to have a conversation that was more than 2 words - oh and and my beer** The Computer and Software tends to make you feel like you should be doing more - and as a result you try too hard. **not necessarily in that order. |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 11.08.2012 | I use sync, it enables me to focus on the combination of the flanger, beatmasher and delay... I like music, but I really try to be like my hero's aphex twin and squarepusher. The crowd doesn't like it that much but one day they will know me as the musical prodigy that I am prophecised to become. Without sync this would not be possible and I would still be mashing away on super street fighter being an arcade shark but thanks to sync I can finally impress girls with my musical ability. |
| Ciara Cuttill 11.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by tommi bass
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| Lashawn Maycock 11.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Tommi Bass
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| Germaine Bernadin 11.08.2012 | Take it from me...... THE CROWD ARE THE ONLY IMPORTANT ONES! IT IS ONLY OTHER DJS THAT ARE SNOBS........... learn to use this gear blindfolded and be creative...... and get some other friends. I have been a professional dj snce 1988.......... I never hang around with other djs cus they are mostly boring wankers just into the latest gear ... and talk about gear . A real dj uses whatever they can to create a party, a fucking good time........ The gear is just a vehicle to play the media........ In the past I've seen amazing djing using belt drive turntables and a real shitty mixer........ this was in the u.k in the 90's at illegal raves.. we used a generator to power the rave and had thousands of people turning up to erm party. Try this ......... get them to have a go..... I bet they have a good time and can focus more on being creative rather than trying to control wandering pitch. |
| Stanley Topoleski 11.08.2012 | i am the exact same way i never wanted a controller i loved my vinyl setup but lugging gear around was a problem, so i used a novation SL until i got my self my xponent. it keeps things simple, it save energy and how i love bieng able to carry days worth of music in my pocket now the sync button is cool if you are doing all sorts of routines and live performance, but i also do love beatmatching |
| Ada Matzkin 11.08.2012 | i was a strictly vinyl dj for over a decade as well, for me the digital age is everything ive always wanted, access to tons of music, a rig so light you can carry in all you need for the whole evening in a bag or 2, all the toys ie looping , beat jumps, effects etc all under one roof and mappable to one device... the list just goes on forever. cdjs and technics were the shit for a long time but people need to wake up and smell the coffee. as far as the sync debate, a wise man said that the audience neither notices or benefits in any way from whichever way you decide to beatmatch. essentially if you have other things you want to be doing rather than re-qing a song 5 times to match it up, then listening to it for 20 seconds to see if its gonna work, then sync is for you. if you do get something out of doing it by ear then do that, but the crowd dont know so who cares in the end, its all up to the ego or conscience of the individual. in the end if you can keep people fired up for your entire set, your doing everything right. |
| Rey Holubar 11.08.2012 | Well, I like my sync buttons. They give me more time to concentrate on much more important things than beat matching, which I can do, if I have to, I just don't, because I don't need to. As for what others say, are they really people you feel you should be taking advice from? If they aren't even close to being a couple of levels better than you are at DJing, then I personally would ignore their criticism. Maybe it is actually the fact that you are a couple of levels better than they are (in their minds), now that you are using the S4 and Traktor. Many insecure people like to drag other people, and very often even friends, back down to "their level" with negative comments and put downs. Just let it go and do what you feel is right for you. As for being too lazy, just let Traktor do all the work (hopefully you have a fairly decent computer though...). Click on "Track Collection", select all your tracks, right click on them and select "Analyze(Async)" and go out to dinner (with your wife or girlfriend) and/or go see a movie, go to bed, and the next morning, when you wake up, all your tracks will be beat gridded and at least 80-90%, if not more, will be gridded good enough to not worry about and sync will work like a charm. scamo |
| Freida Leash 11.08.2012 | I wouldn't stress it, I believe most of the flash is best used sparingly anyways, meant to enhance not pound the face with noise, unless there is a reason. I rarely use more than three tracks at a time and one of them is usually an acapella if I'm mixing more than three decks. I kind of wondered the same thing at one point, but just started to enjoy the tools for what they are, and how I wanted to use them. The real question is are you having fun with it? |
| Julian Ispas 10.08.2012 | their friends are hater!!! don't listen to that crap. people that call them self "dj" or w/e seem to bag on other dj's!!! wth is wrong with that. who cares what people use (cdjs, vinyl, controllers) w/e, we should embrace the difference and support each other, we don't got times to talk crap when the scene is so small as it is. just have fun!!! make people dance! im sorry for the ones that constantly look down on that people with controller saying "pshh, you call that dj'ing u synced it", instead of focusing on that, try dancing for a change and enjoy the music! |
| Judi Sissel 10.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Janky
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| Celine Surico 10.08.2012 | There's usually a reason behind such ranting, such as: * Scared of new technology and that the new generation will take over DJ:ing * Personal investment learning a technology that is now obsolete * Jealousy that someone could afford new gear and so on. So don't take it personal. Even the sync button is not evil if it makes people to dance which is job no 1 when DJ:ing, not to show off ones talent with technology. |
| Yong Aptekar 10.08.2012 | I believe you need some more open minded friends. The crowd only knows what's coming out of the speakers as you well know. They don't care what you use. CD DJs got the same thing from the vinyl purists, still do in some circles. Don't worry about it, the controllerists will be giving it to the tablet DJs soon enough. |
| Cole Maroto 10.08.2012 | i've gone through the same stuff and try not to listen to all of the negativity. i came up through vinyl, then cdjs, now onto a vci-400 ege. having fun with it and making good sets are the most important thing, so don't listen to the haters. use sync only if you want to. use as many or as little decks and effects as you care to. i usually prefer a more minimal approach (depending on the music) and a lot of others do as well, but all of that is subjective really. you're never going to please everyone so please yourself and the other people on your wavelength will happily follow. |
| Lashawn Maycock 10.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Janky
Like youself I've come from a vinyl background of 18 years+ and pretty much skipped over the CDJ revolution and got an S4 a year and a half ago. The main reason being cost, I wanted to keep getting the tunes but what with growing commitments elsewhere, buying vinyl took a back seat. Now I have the ideal setup for me, the 1210's for all the vinyl I've collected over the years and the S4 for the current tunes. I have to say I still find the TT's the best for beatmatching in terms of feedback, probably the hardest to work in the mix but vinyl is still my first love. |
| Tera Baragan 10.08.2012 | Just like everything in life, dont second guess yourself bro. As long as your pleasing the crowd it doesn't really matter what you do./ |
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