Groschi

Of course it’s more satisfying for a DJ who got kicked out to say that the venue went broke because of that. But i’d assume that most of the time it’s the other way round: The venue already has financial difficulties and tries some change of concept as a last rescue effort, firing the DJ in the process. When that doesn’t help, they close down, as they would’ve been forced to anyway. Seems like a more realistic explanation to me, for most of these cases.

“Educating” a crowd is one of the most fun parts in DJing in my opinion. I find it incredibly rewarding when people are approaching me saying “i’ve never seen it that way before”.

I wouldn’t really worry about quality at iTunes. AAC is a younger and more advanced format than mp3 and files bought from iTunes (~256 kbit/s average bitrate, slightly varying) should compare very well to Lame –v0 (that’s how amazon, emusic and many others encode their files) or 320kbit/s mp3 files.
Actually, blind listening tests done some time ago by the hydrogenaudio community have shown that all common audio codecs in VBR mode (even crappy wma) are sufficent to reach transparency at reasonable average bitrates of 200-320 kbps.

Edit by Moderator:
Sorry offtopic ranting removed. We do not support ranting like that. You can always express your opinions, but please start a new thread if you like (not offtopic hijack another) and watch the language and stay polite.

Hee Won Jung, post: 31008, member: 948 wrote: In the day where everyone listens to their favorite tracks wearing shitty ipod headphones…99.9% of them dont really even know all the subtle nuances that a lot of producers put into their tracks.

*sarcasm warning*
Oh, you’ve got that one wrong. Those are fashion accessories. We don’t wear them for their sound but for their looks. Or just so everyone can see that we can afford the newest lifestyle product the crapple corporation forces us to buy if we want to be taken seriously by other incredibly hip people. Of what use is the greatest sound quality if you’re not looking super cool while wearing it? What? Skullcandys sound like crap you say? But look at those flashy colors!

Lukynumba7, post: 30867, member: 1744 wrote: Like Terry_42 said before, its not really essential as much with sync but everyone should still know how to do it. Even if you use software with sync, software screws up. Case in point, my Traktor grid points got all jumbled up causing sync to be useless. Technology isn’t exactly 100% fool-proof otherwise IT guys would be out of a job right about now. However, it really comes down to what you’re playing and how you mix personally.

If you play lots of house tracks with 128 bpms and intros and outros, you’d probably want to learn how to beatmatch in the case that software messes up or you have to eventually play without software (vinyl or CDJ’s). But if you play music where the tempos are all over the map and just cut from song to song anyway, its really not essential.

Also, part of the reason (my belief) beatmatching even exists is to seamlessly connect two songs (or more) without losing a beat for the people who are dancing to your music. To be honest, if you were dancing and all of the sudden you weren’t going the same speed as the music, you’d feel quite awkward. Its like if you were driving 30 mph and the speed limit suddenly changed and you didn’t notice. All the cars around you are going faster and you are going slower.

I get what you’re saying, but that’s really not my problem here. This forum is pretty much populated by EDM-DJs and i totally get your point for this range of styles. But set foot into several rock-/indie-venues and you’ll discover: no one uses beatmatching there. And it’s also not about using the sync button either, which just does exactly the same semi-automatically. We simply have no use for both, because this music is not made for it and if you try, it will sound really bad; it doesn’t suit the flow of this music at all. That’s why most indie-djs rather prefer a faster paced and less smooth style based on quick drops and fades. The same thing also applies to dozens of other styles outside the EDM-Range.
I really don’t wanna downplay your skills and your abilities to beatmatch. I do get that it’s an essential skill in the EDM-game. I’d just wish you guys would look a bit beyond your own cultural horizon before you dismiss DJs in other genres, where things tend to work a bit differently, and where techniquies essential in one genre not necessarily have to apply to others.

Terry_42, post: 30837, member: 1843 wrote: Beatmatching is a boring and skill thing to learn Groschi I agree, but it is a basic tool.
In any genre you can come to the situation where you need it. Last wedding I did I had the wedding walz going on and they folks loved so much walzing around, that I wanted to extend it. So I had to manually beatmatch the 3/4 of the next walz into it to blend it together and even pick a harmonically matching next walz.
I did not use beatmatching before or after that on this wedding, but I was glad I could do it at that time.

It is the same today as a carpenter does no longer need to manually fit the kitchen table to the legs of the table, he has CNC gear to do it for him. But he still needs to learn it. It is a basic skill he needs.

Also we do not talk about something hugely complex. I see it with many students, that beatmatching is something that you explain and within a week even the worst anti-talent can do it. It is just that many DJs do not want to put a weeks effort in learning a basic skill.

To compare this to scratching is totally wrong. Scratching is a performance art and has nothing to do with basic DJ skills. Easily distinguished by the fact: Scratching can get you laid and beatmatching not so much…
Compare it to a guitar player: Playing chords is a basic thing, but actually not needed if you play lead guitar (you play riffs right). However playing chords is a basic skill and you can ask any lead guitar player that they can do it…

Yes in todays world you can get away in many things without learning the basics, but it is a thing that can haunt you sometimes…

I have to disagree strongly. If i’d see any application for beatmatching in my particular niche (which is Indie Rock, Garage, Oldschool Punk &-Hardcore etc.), i’d already have taken the time to learn it. Sure there are some rare cases where i actually could pull that of, but i woudn’t like it personally. Every time i hear someone beatmatch underground rock styles it sounds kinda wrong to me, even if it’s in the remotely danceable realm or on the borderline between indie and dance music. In a rather dance-centric set i could see that, but with the more rock-centered selection i’m spinning, i’ve never been in the situation where i thought “Man, if only i knew how to beatmatch this transition would be so much better”. This kind of music isn’t so much about transitions as each song is designed to work on its own. All i’m supposed to do is to avoid any uncomfortable silence between them.
Apart from that, the tempos are all over the map and i would feel severely limited in my programming if i had to think too hard about playing songs in a compatible BPM range. To make things even more BM-incompatible, most of the songs start and end apruptly and their song structure works best if it’s left alone.
IndieRock/Punk is definitely not in the realm of beatmatching. If beatmatching is part of creative expression, then the decision not to do it is just as valid. I prefer to use my spare time for discovering new and old obscure music, as this is what truly sets you ahead of the game in indie-land.

Kent Sandvik, post: 30794, member: 3967 wrote: Yes you could call it any test you want but in real life going back to the original master and fix issues that show up in MP3 files is for me a real life example where lossy codecs are not so transparent as some people naively believe.

That’s totally not the point i’m trying to make. What i’m talking about is to first verify in an objective way that these issues exist in the first place and if lossy audio compression is really so flawed as you (to qoute your own words) so “naively believe”. Because that’s what you do. You say, “I’ve listened to both, mp3 sounds like crap, just believe me because i’m a professional.”
And i say “first do a real and proper blind listening test, beacuse that’s the only way to verify that a state of the art mp3 codec (which usually means lame with at least vbr setting –v2, i’m not talking about low-bitrate files of course) really introduces the problems say you are hearing”. This isn’t about me defending lossy audio compression at any cost. It’s about bringing some objectivity into the discussion. And when you’ve done that test and reached a conclusive result (a positive test result means a significantly bigger success rate than 50% at a high enough number of test passes, 16 times is standard practice), i promise i’ll believe you, whatever the conclusion might be. Accept the challenge?

Maximlee, post: 30822, member: 2165 wrote: It surpirises me that almost everyone is defending mp3s compared to WAV.

I don’t. I’m voicing my concern about the way people voice their opinions pro or contra lossy audio formats without a proper foundation. Most people tend to believe whatever they’ve heard first about such a thing. My own experience (based on my own blind listening tests i’ve done some years ago) is that i can’t tell any difference between an uncompressed cd-quality wav or flac file and a high bitrate lame mp3. But… don’t jump to any conclusions from that. Those tests i did only prove that my humble self can’t hear any difference. There sure are people around with younger, better trained ears and with better playback equipment. They might hear things that my ears aren’t quite able to pick up. That’s why i say you should try it out for yourself in an objective and scientific way, to be sure what you’re talking about. As i already said, our brain can trick us when we know we’re listening to a lossy or a lossless file.