Welcome to my blog.
I’m a music journalist for one of the UK’s best digital dance music magazines Data Transmission, and a house and techno DJ who’s been performing in London and Hong Kong.
Having done an MA in Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, I’m interested in exploring the boundaries between different genres of electronic music, as well as the boundaries between the theoretical and practical sides of DJing.
I also like art exhibitions, films, fashion, and any other cultural products that intrigue me and deserve my praise or criticism.
Here’s my latest mix (summer2010):
Contact me at djrex1@gmail.com
Hi,
Was curious to know if you were interested in reviewing my new album Crystal Love?
http://vipultima.com/promo_sheet.php?releaseId=226
tx
David
Just read your article on Touch DJ. I’m a dev on the team for an iphone app (easymix) that does sort-of DJing, for what I know of it.
We actually deliberately sided on the ‘not DJ’ side of things (which may have cost us in terms of public appeal, btw, but that’s what you get for being anal about that sort of things :) ), so we tagged it as a mixing app, because that’s what it does, it lets you mix sounds.
Now when does that become DJ-ing ? You’re mentioning EQ & Filters but I can’t believe that would be enough. As a dev I’m trying to think features, and I’m torn as to what I should add there. Is being able to mix your own sounds the key to DJ-ing ? In which case that’s mainly the selection, not so much the ‘live’ side of things which makes the DJ, no ?
And I added, as a purely geeky feature, a ‘random’ button, which I had to tweak quite a lot to make it sound like it produced real music. Now my comment/question is (sorry I’m straying but I’m warming up to the subject, and hey discovering somebody out there is interested in the theoretical aspect is making me chatty), do you think that CAN be automated ? To me (non-musician, I have to repeat) it does sound close to the real thing, but the key question is whether is is even doable :)
When the DJ mixes live, I’m guessing he reacts to the audience, and I suspect that would be the one thing you can not reproduce technically.
But were I to try and produce a tool or automaton for a DJ, what would be my variables ?
- A way to produce a preselection of samples categorised by target age, theme, etc. ?
- A way to quickly select and mix given a preselection (that’s the easy bit)
- and to automate things, I’d need the parameters to produce music: what makes you choose to mix a given bass to a given beat, drums, then lower the bass, etc. ? How do I choose my transitions other than randomly ?
Ok, I’ll stop my rambling there :) Good post though !
Thanks for your interesting questions.
First of all I wanna say I believe that DJs from different backgrounds have different technical skills and values. For me, as a house and techno DJ, there are 3 essential aspects of DJing:
1. Track selection
2. Programming
3. Mixing
1. Track selection: Dance music is like fashion – it’s about trends and progression. For me, a dance music DJ should always play the most upfront tracks in his/her own style in order to push the music forward.
2. Programming: Tracks are actually like building blocks of a set. With deft programming a DJ can make full use of the potential of the tracks in different situations through the ups and downs of the musical journey. You mentioned that reaction to the crowd is essential to DJing, and it is indeed inseparable from programming.
3. Mixing: Good mixing ensures that the flow is right between the tracks, and hence the progression of the set.
The question about DJ automation is indeed very interesting, and has been heated up with the advent of DJing software like Ableton, Final Scratch, etc. I rmb Sasha, one of the pioneers who uses Ableton for DJing, has said that although the programme beatmatches for him, he doesn’t think that the machine has done his job, because he’s still the one who chooses the tracks, mixes the tracks in key and programs the set.
I think those qualities are acquired through experiences and instincts – it’s like when you mix and match clothes, how do u make urself look good and what’s the definition of ‘looking good’ are questions that can hardly be addressed in a way that the computer can understand (if there’s one pls tell me I’ll be really interested :) )There are programs out there which can calculate and suggest combinations of the tracks according to the keys of the tracks to you, but at the end of the day, it’s really the DJ who chooses the tracks to generate a ‘vibe’ or ‘groove’.
I find the question about producing a preselection of samples categorised by target age, theme, etc very interesting, but I think at the moment it’s virtually impossible to do that perfectly. It’s because there’re so many variables in DJing: the size, sound system, equipment setup, regular customers of the venue, the timeslot you play, the DJs that play before and after you… and most importantly, the evolution of dance music is so fast that it can hardly be categorised or defined in a perfect way – as a result I think at the moment it’s impossible to create such a programme or machine. You’ll never know in the future though!
Hope it helps.