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Step 1: have an actual passion for good music, weird music, music outside of the mainstream. Dance with it, vibrate to it, understand how it makes you and other

Step 1: have an actual passion for good music, weird music, music outside of the mainstream. Dance with it, vibrate to it, understand how it makes you and others feel. Step 2: whatever. If you understand the music, the sound, the acoustics and the sensations it makes little difference what medium you choose. Mixing and beatmatching are secondary to this. You should want to show people great music above all. The mix should just prime people to make them receptive to it.

TTPrograms 10y ago
DJing is interesting because, while people who listen to DJs would not notice any difference in this approach, people who are familiar with mixing or are DJs would say strictly that this is not DJing. This is in contrast with, say, playing the violin. There's no debate over if somebody is actually playing the violin - one does or does not. I think the point of this, beyond any snobbery, is that there is a craft to DJing that is of great value to the DJs and those who are familiar, but its impact on the typical listener happens to be negligible. So if you're interested in DJing because you primarily care about others' responses to your DJing, this is a satisfactory route. If you're interested in learning the nuances of a craft involving highly technical and intricate mixing then that's an altogether different path.
- Daishiman 10y ago
  > I think the point of this, beyond any snobbery, is that there is a craft to DJing that is of great value to the DJs and those who are familiar, but its impact on the typical listener happens to be negligible. Some DJs have played sets with incredible and weird tracks that blow your mind. Other DJs can play the very same track and it sounds like crap. The difference lies wholly in the track selection and being able to read the audience and the situation. DJ is in no way a "highly technical and intricate craft". You can teach a monkey to mix effectively in two weeks. It takes years to understand a musical genre, have a good catalogue of tracks and develop the good taste that makes the difference. David Rodigan barely even mixes tracks in his sets, but they're amazing. Jah Shaka doesn't even use two turntables in his sets yet what he plays is about as close as you can get to a spiritual dub mix. It's all about the selection and context, which are hugely social affairs and far more complex than the masturbatory turntablism of some DJs, which is about as important to the art as the guitar players who shred like madmen, yet it makes no difference to you emotionally. Joe Satriani is a skilled guitar player, but I feel nothing. David Gilmour has never shown highly technical skills in his music but it reaches the depth of my feelings. In the same note, Skrillex is a good sound designer, but he's irrelevant in underground UK dubstep because he has no taste, no sense of subtlety, no capacity to hold back and make a trip.

TTPrograms 10y ago

DJing is interesting because, while people who listen to DJs would not notice any difference in this approach, people who are familiar with mixing or are DJs would say strictly that this is not DJing. This is in contrast with, say, playing the violin. There's no debate over if somebody is actually playing the violin - one does or does not. I think the point of this, beyond any snobbery, is that there is a craft to DJing that is of great value to the DJs and those who are familiar, but its impact on the typical listener happens to be negligible. So if you're interested in DJing because you primarily care about others' responses to your DJing, this is a satisfactory route. If you're interested in learning the nuances of a craft involving highly technical and intricate mixing then that's an altogether different path.

Daishiman 10y ago
> I think the point of this, beyond any snobbery, is that there is a craft to DJing that is of great value to the DJs and those who are familiar, but its impact on the typical listener happens to be negligible. Some DJs have played sets with incredible and weird tracks that blow your mind. Other DJs can play the very same track and it sounds like crap. The difference lies wholly in the track selection and being able to read the audience and the situation. DJ is in no way a "highly technical and intricate craft". You can teach a monkey to mix effectively in two weeks. It takes years to understand a musical genre, have a good catalogue of tracks and develop the good taste that makes the difference. David Rodigan barely even mixes tracks in his sets, but they're amazing. Jah Shaka doesn't even use two turntables in his sets yet what he plays is about as close as you can get to a spiritual dub mix. It's all about the selection and context, which are hugely social affairs and far more complex than the masturbatory turntablism of some DJs, which is about as important to the art as the guitar players who shred like madmen, yet it makes no difference to you emotionally. Joe Satriani is a skilled guitar player, but I feel nothing. David Gilmour has never shown highly technical skills in his music but it reaches the depth of my feelings. In the same note, Skrillex is a good sound designer, but he's irrelevant in underground UK dubstep because he has no taste, no sense of subtlety, no capacity to hold back and make a trip.