Stazbumpa
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Stazbumpa
ParticipantMy view:
This is an exercise in marketing and it comes from America. But cast your minds back and this is simply history repeating itself. Back in the 90’s The Prodigy happened, and when they happened and sold records by the truck load the US record industry had no clue how to package and neatly display a band that was the complete opposite of that concept, and so the word “electronica” was born and applied. We Brits scratched our heads and wondered what the hell you were on about. Electronica as a term simply didn’t make sense and was ignored.
And so it is with EDM. A term coined to package and sell music to American kids because the label bosses don’t really know what else to do.
ParticipantIt’s completely do-able mate, just keep your lady in the loop. If you’re onto something good then she’ll most likely be cool with you hammering away at the computer for a bit longer than usual one week to get that fab idea you had for a tune just right, the week after its all about her and the little one.
Like anything else in life, it’s a balancing act but you will be fine I can tell your priorities are in order 🙂ParticipantI have one on the way too, due March time. I already have two, all I can say is that it’s difficult but not impossible. Admittedly my production has stopped in the last couple of years but that’s more to do with buying and doing up a house rather than the kids. What you do need is an understanding partner who doesn’t mind you ignoring her for an evening or two a week. Just make sure you make it up to her and junior the other nights!
Your family is way more important than making music, as long as you remember that and put the production in its proper place you will probably find everything a lot easier to juggle. I’ve managed to DJ just about every weekend, but I always treat my lady and children when I’m not gigging.Congrats by the way 🙂
ParticipantI set mine so that each track played hits the -3/0 mark and then the recording in traktor I set to about -8 or thereabouts. It gives you plenty of headroom for adjustments in Audacity with a nice solid sound from your mixer.
ParticipantGlad you took the plunge and went for it mate, but I think we could all tell you were itching to do it anyway 🙂 You think you made some mistakes yet still had people saying they enjoyed it, remember that bit and continue your journey young padawan.
ParticipantDo it! Play your tunes, make mistakes, realise few people care and are more interested in what you play, learn from the experience and, above all else, enjoy it.
September 24, 2013 at 11:54 am in reply to: DJ I met pushed me hard to perform at one of his regular hookah lounge gigs – I'm nervous. #44563ParticipantYour harshest critic is yourself, so bear that in mind because everyone else will be more forgiving. The people you’re working for sound pretty cool too since they’re insisting you give it a go. Relish that kind of support and remember it well. 90% of the crowd don’t care about the nuances of your mixing, as long as you play good music and pay attention to them then the battle for the crowd is pretty much won. Enjoy yourself 🙂
ParticipantBeat matching by ear isn’t just for “just in case” scenarios when your carefully selected digital kit goes tits up. Beat matching teachings you something fundamental, a sense of rhythm. Beat matching using your ears will let you get into the flow of your music selection far better than staring at a screen ever will. Keeping time musically is always best done with your ears, musicians may have a sheet of the notes in front of them but its their ears that keep them in time with the rest of the band.
And speaking of staring at screens all night, it’s a laptop and not a portal to another universe. It displays information that you need to see once or twice. I stare at mine for a long as it takes to find my next track and then a couple of glances to see where I am a bit further into the tune. The rest of the time a DJ should be focussing on the crowd. If you can’t mix without looking at a screen then in my honest opinion you’re doing something wrong at a basic level.ParticipantI will as politely as I can announce that you’re talking complete bollocks. You see, beat matching by ear is completely necessary because beat grids fail, as do bpm counters. When I say fail, I mean that they tell us the wrong information and the mix then sounds like a pair of trainers in a tumble dryer. What you’re talking about is a complete system fail, like the laptop exploding. Even so, some of us take our job seriously enough to have back up in the form of a usb stick or some cds to get us out of jail free, so to speak. In that situation, using your ears to continue entertaining will be quite useful I would imagine.
ParticipantThe only pet hate I have is the sync button. I use the wave forms on Traktor to get an idea of where I am in the tune in a hurry, but the point I want to make is that even with the visual aids you still need to learn to beat match by ear simply because this technology can fail, and beat grids and bpm counters are known to lie to us. Besides, staring at your laptop all night just isn’t cool.
ParticipantWould it be possible to organise tunes in RB and Engine, but have them on the same usb stick? Or am I just being stupid?
ParticipantI’d go for Grin Reaper for a remix/production moniker, not sure about it as a DJ name, but it could work.
ParticipantHappened to me Saturday just gone, a gaggle of girls walked into the club and requested a tune that finished 2 minutes previously. They were hot so I gave it a while and played it. This was early doors so it didn’t matter.
“Play something good” always crops up at gigs, as does the awkward silence they give me when I ask them what.
ParticipantNo it’s not a bad thing as a rule. For production purposes the tweeters need to be in line with your ears, so it depends on how much higher off the table the foam pads (good idea to have) put the monitors in relation to your chair with you sat in it. Ideally the monitors should form an equilateral triangle with one apex meeting just behind your head. I’m using Adam A7 monitors by the way, seriously worth investigating.
Just my tuppence on the subject 🙂
ParticipantDell e5520, hi res DJing goodness @ 2ms latency and a third of the price of a Mac.
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