The dj pushing buttons vs. producer/performer debate

I think it boils down to the envy thing that some people have. And we all now that you can get angry if you envy something and that anger leads to hate and that leads to the dark side 😉

Why do I say envy?
Because there is a person, who is obviously very successful (like Deadmau5) and all he does on stage is push some buttons during a performance. So the envy is more obvious then say a guitarist or keyboard player. As the time put into playing guitar is much more obvious when you see someone doing it and there is a slight chance that you cannot do that yourself (which is wrong, you can you are just to lazy to practice).

The second thing is that there are many DJs out there who do not (IMHO) deserve to be called that. Not because they cannot do some things, but simply because they lack any creativity and passion for music.
While there are some skills a DJ can learn, and should in my opinion, like beatmatching, at least basic music theory (harmonics) and the like, anyone can buy a controller and mix 2 songs together half decently.

So the creativity and passion for music needed to DJ good are less obvious to the audience and the less you do “act” when DJing, the more envious they can get.
When I had my residency in Berlin in loved to get into the crowd after my set and ask people what they liked, as I thought this would help me get better in my sets, but most of the time, even when they praised my as the best DJ of the evening, they could not express why… and honestly my skills were not better than the other DJs…

I even see this when I just go out to enjoy music. One of my best parties was with a DJ guy (that sadly I cannot recall his name) that brought 2 iPods and a mixer that could not have cost more than 50 to 100 bucks and the evening was totally awesome. On the other hand I was at a local club where a controllerist showed up who obviously had great skill, but the club was empty within 30mins of his performance.

So my bottom line is:
A good DJ is not defined by the skills he has, nor the gear he uses.
It is defined simply by the audience and if you can fill a stadium (like Tiesto) and all you do is beatmatch your own songs together, obviously you are doing something right if creativity and passion for music are involved.

I am just passionate about being passionate about my passion. Which is music 😉
It is all for love 🙂 If you do it with love, people will know.

I used to be a producer long before getting into the digital DJ thing – or to put it better, I used to make my own tracks long before I made my own DJ mixes.

So I guess, a guy like me (coming from a producer’s background) stating that DJs and producers are EQUALLY artists, has some extra “weight” on the argument.

As Terry said, in a nutshell, its all about your passion, the love you got for the music and the love you got for what you do. You can be an artist even if you simply DJ with two decks or if you are making sort of a live performance.

You can be a lazy ass boring guy, even if you DJ or you make one of those generic, “downloaded-this-sample-CD-and-made-a-track-out-of-10-loops” producer.

TLDR – the “DJ” or “producer” definition ALONE, CANNOT define if a person is a real artist or not.

P.S – I do disagree though, that filling up a stadium means that you must be doing something right (artistically). In most of the cases, it can only mean you must be paying a lot to marketeers, or your marketeers must be doing something right. And frankly Im tired of people thinking that the “big” guys are envied (edit to add: not aiming this particularly to you Terry) – sometimes its just simply that I dont agree aesthetically with 13 in a douzin generic, overplayed and over-heard musical concepts. Britney Spears used to fill stadiums too – didnt make her more of an artist to my ears and Im definitely not jealous of her musical skills. 😉

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.

Ok…I should have clarified then.

At a wedding, corporate affair, etc…I fully understand and agree. That’s where you’re mainly about playing requests and pleasing your client.

At a bar or club…no. Plus “taking risks” can also be popping on some wild mashup that you’re not sure the crowd will like, or doing a live remix of some popular tune to relieve the boredom of playing it for the 1500th time.

I used to work in a club where the head DJ always ridiculed anyone who didn’t play what he called “safe music”. Was it any wonder the only crowd that club saw were folks who normally go to wedding receptions? Was it any wonder no one who was into the scene/music would ever come? Was it also any wonder that this club had a short life before it went out of business?

When it comes down to the club/bar scene, no one ever became big or grew by playing it safe.

I actually long time ago stoped trying to distinguish all the differences especially in electronic music world. I dont know why but it seems the times we live in allow us to be a producer, traditional musician, writer and a DJ.
All in one, and I dont have any problems with this at all. I don’t mind creating music with laptop If it is something you enjoy then why not. Many artist these days for example go from analogue to laptops, later they comeback to find new ideas etc.