lol. Enjoyable rant but speaking as someone who djs regularly i dont think his experience matches much with mine. Club land thrives and prospers, and its down to where you are playing, what party it is and how engaged the audience is. If you aspire to playing weekly bar gigs and regular club nights at shitty clubs well this is what your experience is going to be. He sounds disconnected from whatever underground scene is actually playing good music in his area.
Having said that - he's based in the states and I'm aware that the US is quite a different ball game to europe.
also all the talk of scratching and stuff and "real djing" sounded very out of touch. no one wants to hear scratching in the club anymore, its 2013. no one cares if you are playing vinyl or not. its not for the better or for the worse, its a different time and the fashions are different
Also the technology debate always confuses things. There are new tools now and some people have mastered them, whilst others sound awful using them. Personally i've found a balance where I can satisfy that vinyl-playing side of me AND use some of the newer tools in the set, which is what I think the point should be - not be such a luddite purist that you refuse to embrace technology, but seeing that parts of it can expand your repetoire and make the job easier.
lol. Enjoyable rant but speaking as someone who djs regularly i dont think his experience matches much with mine. Club land thrives and prospers, and its down to where you are playing, what party it is and how engaged the audience is. If you aspire to playing weekly bar gigs and regular club nights at shitty clubs well this is what your experience is going to be. He sounds disconnected from whatever underground scene is actually playing good music in his area.
Having said that - he's based in the states and I'm aware that the US is quite a different ball game to europe.
also all the talk of scratching and stuff and "real djing" sounded very out of touch. no one wants to hear scratching in the club anymore, its 2013. no one cares if you are playing vinyl or not. its not for the better or for the worse, its a different time and the fashions are different
Also the technology debate always confuses things. There are new tools now and some people have mastered them, whilst others sound awful using them. Personally i've found a balance where I can satisfy that vinyl-playing side of me AND use some of the newer tools in the set, which is what I think the point should be - not be such a luddite purist that you refuse to embrace technology, but seeing that parts of it can expand your repetoire and make the job easier.
I guess part of what he's saying is sort of specific for NYC which has a totally shitty club scene as far as mid-sized venues offering "eclectic" dance music. However, most of what he seems to be talking about just doesn't make much sense. He's complaining about celebrity djs playing large concert venues and megaclubs on Ibiza and then next thing you know he's raging about some bar dj in Portland (or was it elsewhere, too lazy to go back and check) who's lowered the going rate for a Wednesday gig from $150 to $100... For someone who claims to have grown up in the 90s he sure sounds incredibly old and unmotivated. What's the bit about the demise of APT, that place was ok (but not much more) at its peak and pretty much an embarrassment with shot to shit sound system and asshole staff for the past few years it's been around. With dj-ing more as with many other potentially money generating activities you can still make a good buck if you know what you're doing and enjoy doing it. All you need is the right venue and the creativity, passion and stamina to promote your shit in order to get the right sort and size of crowd. If you can't do that, blame yourself for not doing enough but don't blame other djs, technology or the times.
spinning music off a laptop or a controller is boring as shit, im suprised anyone even does it just because of that reason. i guess they dont know any better. turntables are fun and ill never stop.
YNOTin a studio apt mixing tuna with the ramen 417 Posts
Although this has nothing to do with the article written by Zimme; this commercial sure is a sign of the times:
Sounds like successful djs play music that sends people to the bar, not music that fills the dance floor.
This is so odd isn't it.
Back in the 80's a working DJ (playing mainstream clubs) told me about how he would play less popular records every now and then to keep the bar takings up and then bring them back to the dance floor.
Nowadays these articles always talk about bottles service, as someone who has spent the last 25 years spending too much time and money in clubs bottle service i something I have been able to live without, to be honest I'm not 100% sure what it is? They bring bottles to your table? Why would I want to be at a table in a club?
I guess it's to "Impress" everyone else at the club who "Can't afford" the bottle service lifestyle. The music and the DJ are just wallpaper these days - clubbing has been reduced to Facebook braggadocio.
Chalk another one up for capitalism!
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
The always entertaining and often very funny Tim Sheridan nails it. Passionately argued and free of histrionics.
spinning music off a laptop or a controller is boring as shit
^^^This!
For the "DJ" & the audience.
It shouldn't really make a different for the audience if the DJ is play good tracks.
True, but in reality laptop/controller DJ's become "trigger happy" & rely on the easy option as soon as the going gets even slightly tough & that is without exception.
Plus watching somebody checking emails is hardly visually pleasing.
I dunno... sometiems I feel like the way the dude sounds in this article about it all... Sydney, where I live, is a fickle music crowd.
But then, in the last 3 weeks, A few friends of mine and I have been playing at a refurbished venue that's set up with all this 50s style stuff and the venue has asked us to play exclussively 50s and 60s rhythm and blues, rock, fuzzed out shit and the like. Strictly vinyl set-up. No one's rocking microwave and we're mostly playing 45s, to the appreciation of the retro-ish crowd. I've been playing there three weekends straight and the place hase been packed AND loving it. No bullshit music policy, no having to play any shite - in fact, we were told after the first week that management LOVED what we played and to keep it up. We finished up at 4am last week and this Saturday night is poised to be just as good.
Obviously, this may not last forever, but people do still go out to hear great music.
Comments
Having said that - he's based in the states and I'm aware that the US is quite a different ball game to europe.
also all the talk of scratching and stuff and "real djing" sounded very out of touch. no one wants to hear scratching in the club anymore, its 2013. no one cares if you are playing vinyl or not. its not for the better or for the worse, its a different time and the fashions are different
Also the technology debate always confuses things. There are new tools now and some people have mastered them, whilst others sound awful using them. Personally i've found a balance where I can satisfy that vinyl-playing side of me AND use some of the newer tools in the set, which is what I think the point should be - not be such a luddite purist that you refuse to embrace technology, but seeing that parts of it can expand your repetoire and make the job easier.
You have any mixes online?
Djing is alive and well its just in sweaty/dark basement somewhere not in those huge clubs Im sure this guy would like to play.
http://gawker.com/the-10-most-depressing-parts-of-the-new-yorkers-e-d-m-1379714380
^^^This!
For the "DJ" & the audience.
This is so odd isn't it.
Back in the 80's a working DJ (playing mainstream clubs) told me about how he would play less popular records every now and then to keep the bar takings up and then bring them back to the dance floor.
Nowadays these articles always talk about bottles service, as someone who has spent the last 25 years spending too much time and money in clubs bottle service i something I have been able to live without, to be honest I'm not 100% sure what it is? They bring bottles to your table? Why would I want to be at a table in a club?
It shouldn't really make a different for the audience if the DJ is play good tracks.
I guess it's to "Impress" everyone else at the club who "Can't afford" the bottle service lifestyle. The music and the DJ are just wallpaper these days - clubbing has been reduced to Facebook braggadocio.
Chalk another one up for capitalism!
The moneymeansnothingtome crowd.
True, but in reality laptop/controller DJ's become "trigger happy" & rely on the easy option as soon as the going gets even slightly tough & that is without exception.
Plus watching somebody checking emails is hardly visually pleasing.
And I quote - http://seratoface.tumblr.com/
But then, in the last 3 weeks, A few friends of mine and I have been playing at a refurbished venue that's set up with all this 50s style stuff and the venue has asked us to play exclussively 50s and 60s rhythm and blues, rock, fuzzed out shit and the like. Strictly vinyl set-up. No one's rocking microwave and we're mostly playing 45s, to the appreciation of the retro-ish crowd. I've been playing there three weekends straight and the place hase been packed AND loving it. No bullshit music policy, no having to play any shite - in fact, we were told after the first week that management LOVED what we played and to keep it up. We finished up at 4am last week and this Saturday night is poised to be just as good.
Obviously, this may not last forever, but people do still go out to hear great music.
Great article, also a nice article on there about what isn't "Deep House"