5 ms·

Now that anyone can be a DJ, is the art form dead?

42 points by pmcpinto 10y ago

SixSigma 10y ago
Anyone has always been able to be a DJ
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- caminante 10y ago
  Not only that, but this article's claims are nonsense: "Such advances have made it easy for those with limited talent to sound professional. YouTube videos abound that purport to show DJs miming their mixes—their hands a whirl of activity over the controls, but never actually alighting on any of them. For many, this confirms a long-held suspicion that some now simply turn up with a pre-recorded set, press play, and rake in the cash." Nobody cares if the DJ's beat-matching. Any paid DJ can do so. It's about the production and entertainment. P.S. Alighting's not a verb. edit: Alighting CAN be a verb! ("to settle or stay after descending")
  - pm215 10y ago
    Yes, 'alight' is a verb; listed by the OED as 'alight, v. 1' sense 4b "To descend and settle; (of something in flight) to land. Freq. with on, upon. Also fig.". Citations back to 1330 with ones obviously like the modern usage back in 1610, eg "c1610–15 Life Holie Hilda in C. Horstmann Lives Women Saints (1886) 57 A greate number of birds alighting in her fields of corne, and deuouring it shrewdlie." Latest cite 2006, so not obsolete or archaic.
    - vorotato 10y ago
      The word landing would probably be clearer.
    - caminante 10y ago
      Ha! Thanks. I re-read the author's paragraph. On first read, I thought he's using alight in the sense of "lighting." In that case, it's not a verb. I assumed this because even show DJ's who are "just pressing play" still touch the dials. It's just that the board isn't plugged in. edit: it appears there's a non-OE meaning that I overlooked too [0] from mis-interpreting the text. [0] http://www.dictionary.com/browse/alighting http://www.dictionary.com/browse/alighting
- bodyfour 10y ago
  I don't think that's quite true. When I first started in the early 1990s, it was pretty expensive to get into as a hobby. I could have been fairly economically comfortable in my college years, but was constantly making myself broke by pouring every dollar I could spare into records. The flipside of this was that the people who did take it up tended to be serious about it. From time to time there would be some rich kid who would blow a few grand of daddy's money on gear and music, declare himself a DJ, and then get bored a month later. For the most part, though, the financial burden meant that new arrivals would take it seriously and were interested in improving. As CD decks and CD-Rs became common I thought we'd see a lot of fresh talent from people who wouldn't have been able to afford starting out when I did. Instead there was a flood of people who just wanted to call themselves a "DJ" but had negligible interest in learning much about their music genre or developing any technical skills. Instead of stronger wheat, we got buried in a ton of chaff. The other underappreciated change was to how clubnight promotion works. In the olden days, the promoter would take care of making flyers and getting people in the door. They'd seek out DJs that they thought would keep this crowd happy. So as a newb DJ, if you would work yourself up the ladder by impressing the local promoters and developing a good reputation with them. They would provide the crowds that you'd make your name with. Today, with effectively all promotion being done online the biggest thing that a rookie DJ can bring is a built-in audience. There is a huge advantage to the social butterflies of the world, who can now effectively self-promote their appearances to a wide circle of acquaintances, saving the club promoter work. That might seem like a small shift (or just sound like sour grapes from an old geezer), but it has been a striking difference in who gets started. For a long time a lot of DJs fit a certain archetype of music nerds.. often the most introverted people at the nightclub. Once when I met rookie DJs I felt like I saw a younger version of myself in them. Now I don't get that feeling... it's just a different set of people who take it up. It's certainly possible that there could be a renaissance. The technology available today lets DJs do live manipulation that the best turntabilists a generation ago couldn't have dreamt of. However, I'm not optimistic -- I think that realistically 95% of the people showing up simply don't care about what part of the process is being done live. I think increasingly clubs are just going to move to playing livestreams or pre-recorded sets and avoid the cost of an onsite DJ entirely. As long as people still show up and buy alcohol that works fine for them. I think ultimately the notion of a nightclub paying someone to haul in music, select what to play, and mix it live will be an anachronism.
voidz 10y ago
Now that anyone can be a painter, is that art form dead? Art is a form of expression, not a popularity contest. Geez Louise, if there's nothing to write about, just don't write.
- th0ma5 10y ago
  So now that anyone can be a writer, is writing dead?
  - puranjay 10y ago
    So now that anyone can think, is thinking dead?
    - chris_va 10y ago
      Signs point to yes
- Macuyiko 10y ago
  Betteridge's law in action.
- fsloth 10y ago
  One could read this as description of how digitalization trivializes the algorithmic parts away, thus leaving pure human skill on the play. So, not a totally void article, I would say, as it goes to some depth in explaining the parts that have been digitized into non-issues.
- IshKebab 10y ago
  Not a very good analogy. It's more like "Now that anyone can use a word processor, is type-setting dead?", to which the answer is yep, pretty much. Or "Now that anyone can cut a vinyl sign, is sign-painting dead?" Same answer.
api 10y ago
There is and was an art form called turntablism. It's always been more common in hip hop than club and rave, though it showed up in all those places. You can search YouTube for examples of "scratch competitions" and that kind of thing. There are also a good number of techno and hip hop DJS who take mixing with vinyl to amazing levels of agility. That stuff's really hard, and those folks actually became "virtuosos" on turntables. Just hitting beat match on an mp3 player or a dual CD deck... not so much. About the only thing you can call those is showmen and great self promoters.
JonnieCache 10y ago
> Before digitisation, mixing records in a nightclub was a technical discipline as difficult to master as learning chord progressions on a guitar. This is not true. Learning to beatmatch vinyl or with CDJs is mainly a matter of rewiring your brain to hear sound from each ear separately, and a little bit of muscle memory. You can learn it with about a month of daily practice. DJing has always been about selection, and crowd reading. EDIT: if you're interested, everything you need to know about DJing is in this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-DJ-Properly-Science-Playing/dp/0593058119 https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-DJ-Properly-Science-Playing/dp/...
- coreymaass 10y ago
  > DJing has always been about selection, and crowd reading. Splitting hairs, but there's an assumption there that you're trying to react to the audience, often intending to please them. Coming from a background of DJ's playing "difficult" music, sometimes the audience's reaction is incidental.
  - JonnieCache 10y ago
    How difficult are we talking? Breakcore? Free jazz? Sound art? I reckon the trick is in pacing the set and planning your first two or three records to keep most of them on board. If people have paid to get into the venue they must be at least a little predisposed to like what you're playing, and ideally you should be able to keep people dancing against their better nature. Of course clearing the floor and then drawing them back in is always good too. If you really don't care what they think then IMO it's perhaps more into the realm of performance than DJing. It's a tricky one.
  - sopooneo 10y ago
    Then why not play a pre-recorded mix?
    - miloshadzic 10y ago
      Because you're playing according to your current sentiment and not crowd pleasing.
kowdermeister 10y ago
Can't bypass the paywall, but let me guess: - It used to be the handmade art of a few select dedicated people, who were very underground - then it became more and more diluted as technology got better and better - first it was CD-s, then now MP3-s - clubs are not the same as before - now all you have to do is press the sync button and call yourself a DJ - it lost it's value, because those "oldschool" DJ-s were so dedicated that it became art Whether my outline is correct or not, DJ-ing was never about technology or better put, it was never about fighting with technology. Because let's admit, mixing one track's tempo to another's is just the side effect of dealing with vinyl. I can beatmatch perfectly and put on a horrible set. I think being a good DJ is not about technology, it's transforming the vibe on the dance floor from one state to another. The DJ is a pure function (for the FP folks). It's more about knowing your tracks, your audience and having an artistic integrity. Who cares if I use a software to help me be more creative?
- miloshadzic 10y ago
  Can't really be a pure function if it's changing state
  - kowdermeister 10y ago
    I've read a different definition :)
meeper16 10y ago
It's as dead as anybody "becoming" a Google.
hellofunk 10y ago
Ridiculous question, if you ask me. Everyone has access to pen and paper, so does that mean anyone can be a novelist? Or even wants to?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
epa 10y ago
Maybe - but the same argument can be made for photography. In my opinion when you have more people engaging in something the bell curve tends to expand, with outlier individuals having natural talent and abilities at the highest ends being uncovered. This is similar to sports, where the genetically gifted can only be found if they participate.
gadders 10y ago
"art form"
- jungletek 10y ago
  Feel free to argue why you think it's not an art form, otherwise your snarky opinion is of little value other than to highlight the likelihood of you being both ignorant (of the topic) and closed-minded (in general).
_Marak_ 10y ago
Disagree. First off, we now have Controllerism ( see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controllerism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controllerism ). Controllerism can be vastly more complex than Turntablism, requiring custom software and several input controllers. Second off, digging for digital tracks is just as hard ( if not harder ) then it use to be digging for vinyl tracks. There is so much new digital music available coming out everday, that being able to dig out a good not-very-well-known track is like finding a needle in the haystack. Are some DJs simplying hit play on a Top 40 tracklist in Traktor? Sure. Does that mean the art form is dead or doesn't have room for vast improvement? Not at all.
- shams93 10y ago
  Exactly right much harder than DJing every was. Effectively you're a one man band and knowing the skills of both a drummer and a pianist can help. You really need to have great music chops and knowledge to be a great controllerist. But here in Los Angeles there is no love for controllerism we need an outlet for this amazing art form, here people are still obsessed with vinyl but controllerism elevates the art form far past what is even possible with vinyl.
- shams93 10y ago
  Exactly right much harder than DJing every was. Effectively you're a one man band and knowing the skills of both a drummer and a pianist can help. You really need to have great music chops and knowledge to be a great controllerist. But here in Los Angeles there is no love for controllerism we need an outlet for this amazing art form, here people are still obsessed with vinyl but controllerism elevates the art form far past what is even possible with vinyl.
- arximboldi 10y ago
  In fact. Although on some genres, digital is still very disregarded. This happens a lot here in Berlin, specially on the techno scene. I can understand how for non-techies digital is somewhat alienating---vinyl is more sensorial and helps having a more intimate relationship with the music. However, I find that as a developer for me digital is less alienating. I play with Mixxx, a libre DJ software, and I have dug in the guts of its code... its digital wires feel intimate to me. I have also built a framework for scripting it [1] and tweak or rebuild the scripts for a specific event. Analog is for me more rigid and limiting. I expect that as coding becomes more common in the general population, digital will be perceived less and less alienating and the current elitism around vinyl will fade... [1] https://github.com/arximboldi/mixco https://github.com/arximboldi/mixco
vorotato 10y ago
Even if anyone could be a DJ, which is doubtful, not everyone can be a good DJ, and certainly even more so some people would be better more creative dj's.
andyidsinga 10y ago
The title itself implies a kind of answer. If you boil the question down to art: "anyone" has been able to do art for a very long time, and art is not dead. So, for any particular art form the same might be true. Seem to me when more people participate in an art form, the art form will evolve and become more diverse.
- tnecniv 10y ago
  > If you boil the question down to art: "anyone" has been able to do art for a very long time, and art is not dead. No, but it can change. Centuries ago, there was a certain magnificence to seeing a famous work of art. Reprinting was difficult and there was no internet. Now, I can load up everything in the Louvre on my laptop. The growth of DJs post digitalization is not necessarily good or bad, but it does change the experience.
Theodores 10y ago
DJ-ing with decks has died. DJ-ing lives on. 1210s are no longer made and although there is plenty of vinyl out there, it is not the same. Not the same? You cannot buy new stuff on a constant basis, you don't have friends that only know vinyl and times have moved on from the 90's. People have got older. Incidentally CD came along earlier than the article states, standard equipment from the early 90's with lots of beatmatching gizmos. DJ-ing was an analog skill. Original early dance music was analog production of digital instruments. Kids today are using digital technology for the whole chain of music creation including DJ-ing.
- lostgame 10y ago
  >> You cannot buy new stuff on a constant basis Uh, yes I can. Play de Record, where I live here in Toronto alone would have more than enough to satisfy my lust for both brand new releases... I have 'Views' by Drake, I have 'To Pimp a Butterfly' by Kendrick Lamar, I have 'A Moon Shaped Pool' by Radiohead...I haven't been able to find a new release that I have lusted after for I haven't been able to get...not to mention the scores of breaks and house/techno I'm able to score that would be hard to find online... >> you don't have friends that only know vinyl Again, not true at all. Not 'only' vinyl, but a lot of our friends are really getting into it and don't consider a lot of other stuff, especially in conversation. Vinyl has made a huge resurgence in the last 5-10 years. Our band is looking at pressing ourselves. <3
  - ntaenta 10y ago
    > 'Views' by Drake, I have 'To Pimp a Butterfly' by Kendrick Lamar, I have 'A Moon Shaped Pool' by Radiohead These are some of the most popular musicians on earth though, not surprising that you can still find their music available in physical stores.
- sneak 10y ago
  > DJ-ing with decks has died. This is not an accurate statement.
znpy 10y ago
My guess is that now that anyone can be a DJ, true "art" is not dead, is just a lot more diluted.
thatswrong0 10y ago
Definitely not. So much more is possible with DJing now that you don't need to swing vinyl or beatmatch.. and it's still easy to tell the difference between an okay DJ and a great one. I'll paste some words from one of my favorite DJs: > And its sad, if your sport was showing off how wonderfully you can beat match, because that has really become obsolete. Although i can beat match as instantaneously as the next DJ, i don’t give an at’s rasss about doing it and making people watch me do it. I’m rather much more interested in creating and collecting awesome sounds, and layering, combining and broadcasting them as a means to conjur up an energetically cathartic experience for other humans. More details: http://www.bassnectar.net/2012/06/pushing-buttons-or-pushing-boundaries/ http://www.bassnectar.net/2012/06/pushing-buttons-or-pushing...
jwatte 10y ago
Now that everyone can buy paint and canvas, are the visual arts dead?
antoniuschan99 10y ago
The article is pretty spot on, except for the title. DJs today are a combination of DJ and Producer. The article doesn't mention it but a lot of DJs outsource that job to 'ghost producers'. It also seems that some groups work together in that sense too. One focuses more on Djing and the other on Producing. Compared to Vinyl, CDJs and Controllers such as Traktor give you more freedom to manipulate the sound. With Vinyl, I've always felt limited to the sound compared to a traditional instrument. With Traktor I have more ways to manipulate the sound. DJing has always been using technology to transcend the medium. I don't understand the argument with Digital vs. Analog. The fact that people don't have to carry crates full of songs anymore is because of Digital.
dvtv75 10y ago
A few years back, I was out with some friends - one's a drummer. We were sitting there, in a nightclub, drinking our way through the evening when the DJ mixed tracks with different rhythms and time signatures. The one thing that sticks in my mind about it was his physical shudder as it happened.

42 points by pmcpinto 10y ago

SixSigma 10y ago

Anyone has always been able to be a DJ

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
caminante 10y ago
Not only that, but this article's claims are nonsense: "Such advances have made it easy for those with limited talent to sound professional. YouTube videos abound that purport to show DJs miming their mixes—their hands a whirl of activity over the controls, but never actually alighting on any of them. For many, this confirms a long-held suspicion that some now simply turn up with a pre-recorded set, press play, and rake in the cash." Nobody cares if the DJ's beat-matching. Any paid DJ can do so. It's about the production and entertainment. P.S. Alighting's not a verb. edit: Alighting CAN be a verb! ("to settle or stay after descending")
- pm215 10y ago
  Yes, 'alight' is a verb; listed by the OED as 'alight, v. 1' sense 4b "To descend and settle; (of something in flight) to land. Freq. with on, upon. Also fig.". Citations back to 1330 with ones obviously like the modern usage back in 1610, eg "c1610–15 Life Holie Hilda in C. Horstmann Lives Women Saints (1886) 57 A greate number of birds alighting in her fields of corne, and deuouring it shrewdlie." Latest cite 2006, so not obsolete or archaic.
  - vorotato 10y ago
    The word landing would probably be clearer.
  - caminante 10y ago
    Ha! Thanks. I re-read the author's paragraph. On first read, I thought he's using alight in the sense of "lighting." In that case, it's not a verb. I assumed this because even show DJ's who are "just pressing play" still touch the dials. It's just that the board isn't plugged in. edit: it appears there's a non-OE meaning that I overlooked too [0] from mis-interpreting the text. [0] http://www.dictionary.com/browse/alighting http://www.dictionary.com/browse/alighting
bodyfour 10y ago
I don't think that's quite true. When I first started in the early 1990s, it was pretty expensive to get into as a hobby. I could have been fairly economically comfortable in my college years, but was constantly making myself broke by pouring every dollar I could spare into records. The flipside of this was that the people who did take it up tended to be serious about it. From time to time there would be some rich kid who would blow a few grand of daddy's money on gear and music, declare himself a DJ, and then get bored a month later. For the most part, though, the financial burden meant that new arrivals would take it seriously and were interested in improving. As CD decks and CD-Rs became common I thought we'd see a lot of fresh talent from people who wouldn't have been able to afford starting out when I did. Instead there was a flood of people who just wanted to call themselves a "DJ" but had negligible interest in learning much about their music genre or developing any technical skills. Instead of stronger wheat, we got buried in a ton of chaff. The other underappreciated change was to how clubnight promotion works. In the olden days, the promoter would take care of making flyers and getting people in the door. They'd seek out DJs that they thought would keep this crowd happy. So as a newb DJ, if you would work yourself up the ladder by impressing the local promoters and developing a good reputation with them. They would provide the crowds that you'd make your name with. Today, with effectively all promotion being done online the biggest thing that a rookie DJ can bring is a built-in audience. There is a huge advantage to the social butterflies of the world, who can now effectively self-promote their appearances to a wide circle of acquaintances, saving the club promoter work. That might seem like a small shift (or just sound like sour grapes from an old geezer), but it has been a striking difference in who gets started. For a long time a lot of DJs fit a certain archetype of music nerds.. often the most introverted people at the nightclub. Once when I met rookie DJs I felt like I saw a younger version of myself in them. Now I don't get that feeling... it's just a different set of people who take it up. It's certainly possible that there could be a renaissance. The technology available today lets DJs do live manipulation that the best turntabilists a generation ago couldn't have dreamt of. However, I'm not optimistic -- I think that realistically 95% of the people showing up simply don't care about what part of the process is being done live. I think increasingly clubs are just going to move to playing livestreams or pre-recorded sets and avoid the cost of an onsite DJ entirely. As long as people still show up and buy alcohol that works fine for them. I think ultimately the notion of a nightclub paying someone to haul in music, select what to play, and mix it live will be an anachronism.

voidz 10y ago

Now that anyone can be a painter, is that art form dead? Art is a form of expression, not a popularity contest. Geez Louise, if there's nothing to write about, just don't write.

th0ma5 10y ago
So now that anyone can be a writer, is writing dead?
- puranjay 10y ago
  So now that anyone can think, is thinking dead?
  - chris_va 10y ago
    Signs point to yes
Macuyiko 10y ago
Betteridge's law in action.
fsloth 10y ago
One could read this as description of how digitalization trivializes the algorithmic parts away, thus leaving pure human skill on the play. So, not a totally void article, I would say, as it goes to some depth in explaining the parts that have been digitized into non-issues.
IshKebab 10y ago
Not a very good analogy. It's more like "Now that anyone can use a word processor, is type-setting dead?", to which the answer is yep, pretty much. Or "Now that anyone can cut a vinyl sign, is sign-painting dead?" Same answer.

api 10y ago

There is and was an art form called turntablism. It's always been more common in hip hop than club and rave, though it showed up in all those places. You can search YouTube for examples of "scratch competitions" and that kind of thing. There are also a good number of techno and hip hop DJS who take mixing with vinyl to amazing levels of agility. That stuff's really hard, and those folks actually became "virtuosos" on turntables. Just hitting beat match on an mp3 player or a dual CD deck... not so much. About the only thing you can call those is showmen and great self promoters.

JonnieCache 10y ago

> Before digitisation, mixing records in a nightclub was a technical discipline as difficult to master as learning chord progressions on a guitar. This is not true. Learning to beatmatch vinyl or with CDJs is mainly a matter of rewiring your brain to hear sound from each ear separately, and a little bit of muscle memory. You can learn it with about a month of daily practice. DJing has always been about selection, and crowd reading. EDIT: if you're interested, everything you need to know about DJing is in this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-DJ-Properly-Science-Playing/dp/0593058119 https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-DJ-Properly-Science-Playing/dp/...

coreymaass 10y ago
> DJing has always been about selection, and crowd reading. Splitting hairs, but there's an assumption there that you're trying to react to the audience, often intending to please them. Coming from a background of DJ's playing "difficult" music, sometimes the audience's reaction is incidental.
- JonnieCache 10y ago
  How difficult are we talking? Breakcore? Free jazz? Sound art? I reckon the trick is in pacing the set and planning your first two or three records to keep most of them on board. If people have paid to get into the venue they must be at least a little predisposed to like what you're playing, and ideally you should be able to keep people dancing against their better nature. Of course clearing the floor and then drawing them back in is always good too. If you really don't care what they think then IMO it's perhaps more into the realm of performance than DJing. It's a tricky one.
- sopooneo 10y ago
  Then why not play a pre-recorded mix?
  - miloshadzic 10y ago
    Because you're playing according to your current sentiment and not crowd pleasing.

kowdermeister 10y ago

Can't bypass the paywall, but let me guess: - It used to be the handmade art of a few select dedicated people, who were very underground - then it became more and more diluted as technology got better and better - first it was CD-s, then now MP3-s - clubs are not the same as before - now all you have to do is press the sync button and call yourself a DJ - it lost it's value, because those "oldschool" DJ-s were so dedicated that it became art Whether my outline is correct or not, DJ-ing was never about technology or better put, it was never about fighting with technology. Because let's admit, mixing one track's tempo to another's is just the side effect of dealing with vinyl. I can beatmatch perfectly and put on a horrible set. I think being a good DJ is not about technology, it's transforming the vibe on the dance floor from one state to another. The DJ is a pure function (for the FP folks). It's more about knowing your tracks, your audience and having an artistic integrity. Who cares if I use a software to help me be more creative?

miloshadzic 10y ago
Can't really be a pure function if it's changing state
- kowdermeister 10y ago
  I've read a different definition :)

meeper16 10y ago

It's as dead as anybody "becoming" a Google.

hellofunk 10y ago

Ridiculous question, if you ask me. Everyone has access to pen and paper, so does that mean anyone can be a novelist? Or even wants to?

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

epa 10y ago

Maybe - but the same argument can be made for photography. In my opinion when you have more people engaging in something the bell curve tends to expand, with outlier individuals having natural talent and abilities at the highest ends being uncovered. This is similar to sports, where the genetically gifted can only be found if they participate.

gadders 10y ago

"art form"

jungletek 10y ago
Feel free to argue why you think it's not an art form, otherwise your snarky opinion is of little value other than to highlight the likelihood of you being both ignorant (of the topic) and closed-minded (in general).

_Marak_ 10y ago

Disagree. First off, we now have Controllerism ( see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controllerism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controllerism ). Controllerism can be vastly more complex than Turntablism, requiring custom software and several input controllers. Second off, digging for digital tracks is just as hard ( if not harder ) then it use to be digging for vinyl tracks. There is so much new digital music available coming out everday, that being able to dig out a good not-very-well-known track is like finding a needle in the haystack. Are some DJs simplying hit play on a Top 40 tracklist in Traktor? Sure. Does that mean the art form is dead or doesn't have room for vast improvement? Not at all.

shams93 10y ago
Exactly right much harder than DJing every was. Effectively you're a one man band and knowing the skills of both a drummer and a pianist can help. You really need to have great music chops and knowledge to be a great controllerist. But here in Los Angeles there is no love for controllerism we need an outlet for this amazing art form, here people are still obsessed with vinyl but controllerism elevates the art form far past what is even possible with vinyl.
shams93 10y ago
Exactly right much harder than DJing every was. Effectively you're a one man band and knowing the skills of both a drummer and a pianist can help. You really need to have great music chops and knowledge to be a great controllerist. But here in Los Angeles there is no love for controllerism we need an outlet for this amazing art form, here people are still obsessed with vinyl but controllerism elevates the art form far past what is even possible with vinyl.
arximboldi 10y ago
In fact. Although on some genres, digital is still very disregarded. This happens a lot here in Berlin, specially on the techno scene. I can understand how for non-techies digital is somewhat alienating---vinyl is more sensorial and helps having a more intimate relationship with the music. However, I find that as a developer for me digital is less alienating. I play with Mixxx, a libre DJ software, and I have dug in the guts of its code... its digital wires feel intimate to me. I have also built a framework for scripting it [1] and tweak or rebuild the scripts for a specific event. Analog is for me more rigid and limiting. I expect that as coding becomes more common in the general population, digital will be perceived less and less alienating and the current elitism around vinyl will fade... [1] https://github.com/arximboldi/mixco https://github.com/arximboldi/mixco

vorotato 10y ago

Even if anyone could be a DJ, which is doubtful, not everyone can be a good DJ, and certainly even more so some people would be better more creative dj's.

andyidsinga 10y ago

The title itself implies a kind of answer. If you boil the question down to art: "anyone" has been able to do art for a very long time, and art is not dead. So, for any particular art form the same might be true. Seem to me when more people participate in an art form, the art form will evolve and become more diverse.

tnecniv 10y ago
> If you boil the question down to art: "anyone" has been able to do art for a very long time, and art is not dead. No, but it can change. Centuries ago, there was a certain magnificence to seeing a famous work of art. Reprinting was difficult and there was no internet. Now, I can load up everything in the Louvre on my laptop. The growth of DJs post digitalization is not necessarily good or bad, but it does change the experience.

Theodores 10y ago

DJ-ing with decks has died. DJ-ing lives on. 1210s are no longer made and although there is plenty of vinyl out there, it is not the same. Not the same? You cannot buy new stuff on a constant basis, you don't have friends that only know vinyl and times have moved on from the 90's. People have got older. Incidentally CD came along earlier than the article states, standard equipment from the early 90's with lots of beatmatching gizmos. DJ-ing was an analog skill. Original early dance music was analog production of digital instruments. Kids today are using digital technology for the whole chain of music creation including DJ-ing.

lostgame 10y ago
>> You cannot buy new stuff on a constant basis Uh, yes I can. Play de Record, where I live here in Toronto alone would have more than enough to satisfy my lust for both brand new releases... I have 'Views' by Drake, I have 'To Pimp a Butterfly' by Kendrick Lamar, I have 'A Moon Shaped Pool' by Radiohead...I haven't been able to find a new release that I have lusted after for I haven't been able to get...not to mention the scores of breaks and house/techno I'm able to score that would be hard to find online... >> you don't have friends that only know vinyl Again, not true at all. Not 'only' vinyl, but a lot of our friends are really getting into it and don't consider a lot of other stuff, especially in conversation. Vinyl has made a huge resurgence in the last 5-10 years. Our band is looking at pressing ourselves. <3
- ntaenta 10y ago
  > 'Views' by Drake, I have 'To Pimp a Butterfly' by Kendrick Lamar, I have 'A Moon Shaped Pool' by Radiohead These are some of the most popular musicians on earth though, not surprising that you can still find their music available in physical stores.
sneak 10y ago
> DJ-ing with decks has died. This is not an accurate statement.

znpy 10y ago

My guess is that now that anyone can be a DJ, true "art" is not dead, is just a lot more diluted.

thatswrong0 10y ago

Definitely not. So much more is possible with DJing now that you don't need to swing vinyl or beatmatch.. and it's still easy to tell the difference between an okay DJ and a great one. I'll paste some words from one of my favorite DJs: > And its sad, if your sport was showing off how wonderfully you can beat match, because that has really become obsolete. Although i can beat match as instantaneously as the next DJ, i don’t give an at’s rasss about doing it and making people watch me do it. I’m rather much more interested in creating and collecting awesome sounds, and layering, combining and broadcasting them as a means to conjur up an energetically cathartic experience for other humans. More details: http://www.bassnectar.net/2012/06/pushing-buttons-or-pushing-boundaries/ http://www.bassnectar.net/2012/06/pushing-buttons-or-pushing...

jwatte 10y ago

Now that everyone can buy paint and canvas, are the visual arts dead?

antoniuschan99 10y ago

The article is pretty spot on, except for the title. DJs today are a combination of DJ and Producer. The article doesn't mention it but a lot of DJs outsource that job to 'ghost producers'. It also seems that some groups work together in that sense too. One focuses more on Djing and the other on Producing. Compared to Vinyl, CDJs and Controllers such as Traktor give you more freedom to manipulate the sound. With Vinyl, I've always felt limited to the sound compared to a traditional instrument. With Traktor I have more ways to manipulate the sound. DJing has always been using technology to transcend the medium. I don't understand the argument with Digital vs. Analog. The fact that people don't have to carry crates full of songs anymore is because of Digital.

dvtv75 10y ago

A few years back, I was out with some friends - one's a drummer. We were sitting there, in a nightclub, drinking our way through the evening when the DJ mixed tracks with different rhythms and time signatures. The one thing that sticks in my mind about it was his physical shudder as it happened.