Phil Worrell
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Phil Worrell
Participantyeah what Vintage said… 🙂
ParticipantHey Boomdraw, very well said great response, love it and to hear it from a youngster. Your eyes and ears are open, try to keep it that way!
Here is an answer to an age old question and I think you have the answer.
What makes good music ? -Whatever the individual likes is the answer. Not what half the world likes right now. We are all individuals and music each has a different meaning to each of us.
The thing about being a DJ is we have to adapt somewhat to playing the popular music please the majority of the crowd whether we like it or not. That said we can play what we like at home and sometimes experiment with the crowds to see what works at that time and what does not.
For example Phil Morse I believe said in the masterclass at some point that Armin Van Buuren he trance master / top DJ etc is a big fan of chill out music apparently and listen to it as his preferred genre to the stuff he does.
From the early emergence of DJ their has always been an underground and there will always be an underground. Depends if what you like is the current trend or not, so in that case you are spot on to say it has cycles. So it is down to choices, do you want fortune and fame or be the cool underground DJ? or something else?
ParticipantWaiting for the drop?
Right with you there Eliah, from what I’m told it is the same everywhere. A lot of DJ’s are trying to get away from the media frenzy of the EDM craze, but at the same time it is hurting people financially.
Sure the youth follow the crowd and what is popular, not necessarily what is necessarily good. Especially when they all ant to be accepted as part of a group in one way or another. It is a way of connecting.
We are seeing the first signs of EDM dying. Well for a start kids are getting hurt or dying at these large festival / raves. Media are starting to push this and they are drug fueled. Which is everyone knows but does not want to admit. Soon enough the headline DJ’s will start to get the blame for it all, then the genre.
Europe is having a bit of a resurgence of old school house with the deep house creeping in. In the UK several chart toppers recently have been deep house related. Maybe the next thing or at least a resurgence. At least it is having a renaissance here. I’m enjoying it if some of it is getting a little weird.
I think like most music trends they have a limited life span. In the UK I loved early house and rave tunes through the mid 90’s. When jungle, drum and bass and then speed garage genres hit. I got bored of those so quickly it turned me off the music.
It will be a similar thing with EDM. When the crowds start to bore of it and the amounts of money made begin to drop the big companies will get out of it and move onto something else. Just a matter of time, and those with other music tastes will be waiting.
The place if you want to spin techno the place is Berlin from what I know. Hey Richie Hawtin spends most of his time there 🙂
Hang in there the evolution is coming.
ParticipantDJ Cheeku, it does not matter which software you use, it only matters what you do with it.
ParticipantSoftware is a personal preference. My preference is Traktor, i tried out the big three.
Worth trying out the demo’s to see which you prefer. If you are comfortable with VDJ and it give you what yo want now and some additional items fo further exploration stick with that.ParticipantYou know the term DJ in my opinion does not mean much these days. It is a general term anyone can add to themselves. It just says I play music back to back and I can select tracks. Well anyone can do that with an MP3 player by creating a playlist. SO not difficult. What is difficult is being able to read a crowd and select the right tracks at the right time.
There is no exam no qualification for this profession. Along with anything in music and certain arts the only way to prove you credentials is to to show it. To do that you have to persuade someone to let you do that. So go do your thing, listen learn and have fun. Maybe even earn some money along the way. Define to people who you are by what you play and how you play it. Keep the crowd happy and you will be happy.
Keep spinning, scratching, playing, remixing, mashingup and generally loving the music….
ParticipantFor me, it is not having aching arms at the end of the night after carrying the boxes back to the car. 🙂
SO many things better in digital though, track selection, convenience , ability to manipulate tracks on the fly. with looping effects etc to make the mix more of you than the original artist. Having all the track info in front of you instead of having to keep it in your head. Although having the important bits is the sign of a good DJ.
A reporter interviewed Albert Einstein. At the end of the interview, the reporter asked if he could have Einstein’s phone number so he could call if he had further questions.
“Certainly” replied Einstein. He picked up the phone directory and looked up his phone number, then wrote it on a slip of paper and handed it to the reporter.
Dumbfounded, the reporter said, “You are considered to be the smartest man in the world and you can’t remember your own phone number?”
Einstein replied, “Why should I memorize something when I know where to find it?”
ParticipantYep DJ Cheeku, tip is talk to the parents find out what they want, then talk to the kid find out what they want and get some agreement between them as to what and what not to play. Try and get a playlist from this way beforehand.
Keeps everyone sort of happy. Usual problem you can keep some of the people happy some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.
ParticipantThose pics and the descriptions were awesome Vintage.Great share. love it. 🙂
ParticipantInterjecting again DJ Vintage, you know this better than I sir. 🙂
Wilesy, Are you from the UK? (I am from there although not any longer)
I would start with some slower stuff and build from there, play a few classic to get people going but nothing current. Save that until the second set. Try some stuff from the mid / late 90’s. Just thinking tracks the person having the birthday grew up within their teenage years. Give them some memories. Gradually bringing it up to date. PArties generally stay with known tracks there are too many to choose from. Looks through the Now Cd track listings see if you can find any remixes / mashups on a DJ pool / itunes / beatport etc. You may pop in the odd track of yours and see how it goes, you maybe surprised. I have been at parties where it starts commerical and turns into an underground rave. However that is usually the exception to the rule. Depends on the crowd. Nothing wrong with dropping / chopping in a few big original versions of the tracks either.
Good luck..
ParticipantDJ Vintage and I joke around a little sorry to have confused you DJ Cheeku. Good luck and keep coming back if you need advice. Terry and Dj Vintage are always happy to assist and to that matter me too.
When I was your age I was delivering newspapers in the morning whilst still at school listening to the old hiphop and buying turntables from second hand shops and sales. Trying to piece together a system anyway I could. I got amps and speaker from these sales too. Trying to scratch records I bought after listening to the radio to learning what I could about the music.
I experimented with everything I could get my hands on. Different mixers, EQ units, amps, turntable setups etc.
Took me until age 19 to get my dream of owning a pair of technics 1210’s. I got there, played a few parties, bars and clubs in my time too. I observed a lot and talked to a lot of folks which is really important. Had a lot of fun in the process, so anything is possible.
Now of course you have the internet at you disposal with so much great info and contacts available.
Participantwhich ones make the best door stop ?
Participantok well I’ll take 2, DJ Cheeku can take the other two and you still have two to play with. Deal ? 🙂
ParticipantWell you could always lend him some CDJ’s to practice on DJ Vintage. 🙂
ParticipantMy main systemhas no jogs now and scratching is about the only thing I miss them for. I would love NI to make a modular jog wheel with a select button, pitch adjustment slider and nudge buttons and I’m there. Don’t want much do I 🙂
Still DJ Cheeku good luck with the keyboard option. It certainly can be done and will take some getting used to. Then it is like any new system you just have to set it up, tweak it a bit to fit your own workflow.
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