On Real DJing Craze new Slaves Routine video

On ‘real DJing’

The debate about who is a ‘real DJ’ goes on and on…and probably will never stop as new technology comes in, although ironic that a lot of the turntablists have on the sly embraced digital via Serato and Scratch. A friend posted this video from DJ Craze, a response to Daniel Tosh and others who say ‘Anyone can DJ’ – which is actually correct, anyone can…and that’s a good thing.

There’s DJing which is supposed to be about playing tunes for people to dance to or enjoy, and there’s people just watching and nodding – DJIng as ‘performance’ and ‘art’ so thus has no real function. That’s not ‘real’ DJing to me, that’s masturbation. Wikki wikki shit, which is nice for about 5 minutes, but is boring past that because you can’t usually dance to it, and after a while you’d rather hear a full tune rather than 5 second bits. There’s a reason that scratch DJs only get a few minute slot at DJ battles, or during gaps or ‘solo breaks’ hiphop gigs, it’s like giving the drummer a solo – impressive for a short while, but any longer you want to go get a drink, or leave.

Also reminded me of a clip I saw posted last week (I can’t find it sorry, Facebook search is now officially shit), which looked really cool with a guy using a pair of those new CDJs that can use USB sticks and was synced to a laptop, but seemed to be playing all pre-prepared pre-beatmatched loops. He didn’t touch the headphones once, nor the slider/bpm. Is it ‘real’ DJing to cheat like that? What about adding tape and marks to records which you can only play during a scratch battle? How is that different to rocking up with Ableton then? Just cos you’re using new decks that look like CDJs but can take USB sticks, or ones that plug straight into your laptop as controllers or using Serato/Scratch, then you’re just using the pretence of #realdjing, using the decks as a mask or distraction from the fact you’re just playing samples like anyone with just a laptop and a Launchpad?

To my mind DJing is more like freestyling, you start with a few tracks, you might even plan a whole set, but if something isn’t working, you have a better idea, or get a request and feel inspired you can just go somewhere else…prepping all these ‘routines’ and flashy stuff means you can’t just play records people want to hear, or more importantly need to hear (two separate things those). Which is the point, no?

And if everyone stops and looks at the DJ – or even worse the DJ nerds who watch the DJ constantly as if they are a new sort of trainspotting- then that to me is not a good party, it’s not a space where people will let themselves go. How are people going to lose it on the dancefloor, reach that point where you hit the sublime if they are watching someone perform tricks, or self-consciously watching others? It’s like being taken out pf the moment, like breaking the fourth wall on TV – it can be so jarring, that it spoils that experience where the time, place and music combine into a special moment. That’s how I feel about scratching outside of say, a DJ battle or a few minutes in a hiphop show. Performances are for art galleries and stage shows, not the club.

DJing is about playing music to dance to, or listen to…if anything gets in the way of that – from ‘chatting’ over it, to scratching, to endlessly looping or the other real DJ crime – constantly using the EQ or filter effects – then it’s detracting from the music. If it’s a ‘routine’ or ‘performance’ then it’s music hall, it’s theatre, it’s something for a short stint in a gallery or between sets in a club, it’s organ grinder’s monkey time, it’s showing off. Don’t pretend that is ‘real’ DJing though…

DJing is about selecting a playlist of music that an audience might enjoy, in a sequence that makes sense, that will take them to another place, or just make the night fun. It’s true you can do that with an iPod if you’re that good at selection, it won’t matter that you can’t scratch up a storm…DJs who have to ‘fiddle’ should put their egos aside and let the music speak for them, for it’s the music is why they are there, it’s what got them there, it’s what pays their wages? There is a place for both performance DJing as well as normal DJing, but I feel whenever this ‘real DJ’ thing comes up, it puts on a pedestal exactly the sort of ‘skills’ I’d hate to hear on a night out. It might be clever, it might be cool, but I’d not want more than a few minutes of it, and I suspect many people feel the same. Otherwise why do they cheer when the DJ drops and actually plays more than 3 seconds of something they actually know – Super Sharp Shooter, or It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop, It Takes Two or One More Time? The rest of the time they are thinking ‘ooh that’s nice dear…but I wish I knew WTF this was, and I’m getting bored…’ – hence they cheer out of a sense of relief. Thank FUCK I know this one, a reprieve from the dancing monkey skills.

With any of these things, from mashups to scratching, you have to think: what am I adding to this? Is it better or worse? If scratching, looping and ADHD multi mashups were adding so much, why do people tend to go back to the original artists, and people play the original songs on the radio after decades of these things, even officially released ones? It’s because it’s derivative, and most of it, although fun, relies on the original but doesn’t transcend the original. There are exceptions, but they aren’t the rule.

It’s the rule I live by, when I create a mashup, remix, mix, video or whatever I always am much more critical than most because I think – does this really stand up on it’s own? Against the original? Is it something else, or just trading on the original? Not everything I’ve done meets that point, but most of the stuff that doesn’t get released certainly fails on these points. They add nothing, and are obvious (although as I’ve learned with Captain Obvious – my obvious is not someone else’s obvious, so I learned to let some of the better ones go, because mashups are ephemeral like pop music, sometimes you can miss that…but don’t ever think that they are art or deserving of high performance!)

Comments

One response to “On ‘real DJing’”

  1. DJHDD avatar
    DJHDD

    Interesting Tim, I’m not going to get into the whole debate as it’s a bit boring nowadays, the word DJ originated to describe “Disk Jockeys” mainly radio jocks that used to talk over the selection. Nowadays I’d like to see it replaced with the initials BJ (no not for blow job) but for Button Jockey as the disk seems to be disappearing. I also have stopped using headphones as they were only really used to cue or match in the next song, now that everything’s harmonically labeled & synch buttoned, it’s just a matter of pressing the button at the right time. Which is very similar to what it was in the beginning before we tried any of this beat-matching stuff. As I’ve only really done video AV sets in the last 5 years I now consider my self a “backroom” performer (or VJ) & I’m glad I see everybody’s back to me, as they are now watching the screen. I’m back to letting the music & visuals be the star.

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