D-Jam

Congrats! 🙂

I think Terry_42 hit it right on the head. I couldn’t have said it better.

I never judge someone by the gear, software, or even what they play. I judge on how they sound, how they play, and especially how much do they challenge both themselves and the crowd.

The debate in the future needs to come to that. To get people to push themselves as opposed to just “going through the motions”. All the videos NI puts out to show off gear is a constant example of not only variety in setup, but also workflow. The recent Felix Da Housecat video is different from the others (can’t remember any names). As opposed to one-shot samples, he’s showing how he likes to use loops, pieces, and hot cues to remix and produce on the fly.

The people I come down on are those who seemingly do Jesus poses way more than play. The ones who always play “safe music” and never take a risk. The ones who seemingly are getting famous by selling all sorts of controversy and image, but not musical creativity or talent.

The reality is cover charge has to be a balance between what the headliner is costing you versus what you think the market will pay. If one is charging $80 just to walk in, then it had better be a small, intimate, “rich man’s playground” loaded with hot girls to justify the price.

In all honesty, I won’t pay more than $20 to see a bigger headliner. If it’s local DJs that I know are not pulling big fees, then I won’t pay more than $10.

5Raw, post: 42925, member: 9991 wrote: Are you using a MacBook?

Never owned a Macbook…only had friends who had problems like crashes, and we found that heat was a problem.

I only have a Mac Pro at work. My personal choice for Laptops are Lenovo Thinkpads.

I wish I could say this is a new thing. I’ve seen shades of this even before the DVS was invented.

It’s one of the reasons I sound cynical at times, and push the notion of how much this industry is mainly on popularity and less on talents.

Chin up…move on…look for the next thing.

BigChipsHI, post: 42570, member: 853 wrote: I think I have this problem where I try to get my mixes “PERFECT” with each and every transition. I’ll listen to the outgoing track outro a handful of times to figure out and see (on the waveform) exactly where I want my transition to mix over, self admittedly obsessing over this aspect of my mix. Trying to get the phrasing perfectly aligned to achieve a “perfect” mix… which I am now realizing is an absurd goal and is causing me to waste a lot of time relistening to the track over and over again. Having taught and trained myself this method over the last year, I feel like my mixes lack creativity now and I rely too much on watching the waveforms and using the preview player to cheat (so to speak). My mixes just seem so stale to me now.

It’s ok to be a perfectionist. Here’s what I would suggest:

1. Make mixes to upload…not just “for fun”. When you plan sets, record yourself, etc…you’ll push yourself to get things solid. Also don’t be afraid to hit the “stop” button on the recorder, set up your mix again (or with a new track) and then re-record it (splicing it all together later). This is how I’ll see what works and what doesn’t. That or plan out your whole set in advance.
2. Realize you’ll be your own worst critic. I’ll listen to my mixes and hear things I wished I did better or wonder what I was thinking…but I also know most people won’t catch the little things I would. Remember you’ll probably be listening to your mixes over and over while most people will listen once or a few times. Push yourself, but don’t get hard on yourself. This is supposed to be fun after all.
3. Use the visuals, but don’t rely on them. I don’t see anything wrong with looking at the waveforms or even using hot cue marks to tell you when to blend in or fade out. This is the beauty of digital…but also the “new idea” on putting pieces of scotch tape on your vinyl. The preview player is merely so you can listen quickly without dragging a tune to a deck and such. I only tell you though not to treat beatmarkers as solid. Trust your ears first.
4. If you think your mixes sound stale, then really look into WHAT you’re playing as opposed to HOW you’re playing. I personally like mixes that jump around different sounds related to one “scene”. So a deep house mix that plays jazzy stuff, smooth/mellow stuff, Latin-induced stuff, uptempo jackin’ stuff…all intertwined nicely…that’s a good mix. You’re supposed to take people on a journey, but I see too many DJs hand off 40-80 minutes of one sound or 40-80 minutes of the sounds everyone is playing. Go digging, find unique stuff you like, take chances.

ALSO…if you have a lot of one genre, but are getting bored, then play with another one. This is one of those tips I gave on beating the saturation blues. I recently made a new trance mix, and am loving it. However, I checked out some sets from the recent Ultra in Croatia and felt bored…because my mind is craving to do a deep house mix, perhaps produce a funky house tune I wanted to do, and even get around to making more old school mixes.

I have moods…and thus trance isn’t my mood right now. You should do the same if you’re bored. Get off your current mood and try another one.

GIMP is a free piece of software similar to Photoshop. InkScape is a free piece of software similar to Illustrator.

Pixlr.com is also a Photoshop copycat…only totally in-browser.