theres a clear distinction between critique and being rude - unfortunately many people seem to be unable to distinguish between the two.
cri·tique /krɪˈtik/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kri-teek] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, -tiqued, -ti·quing.
–noun
1. an article or essay criticizing a literary or other work; detailed evaluation; review.
2. a criticism or critical comment on some problem, subject, etc.
3. the art or practice of criticism.
–verb (used with object)
4. to review or analyze critically.
nothing wrong with 'detailed evaluation' in my eyes...
(but as this is highly subjective matter - there will always be people with varying degrees of acceptance of critique and equally varying definitions of 'rudeness' and it will be a 'feel as you go' process where the moderators will play a role in setting the boundaries in order to keep the forum pleasant)
when is a critique (OK).
I agree with John. Negative criticism of someone else's mix is an immature and more importantly, completely unnecessary tactic.
Is it really a good idea to chime in on the Mara Trax RA Podcast post to tell everyone that the mixing sucks? Seriously, someone took the time to tell the world that? I'm embarrassed to be from the same city as this person.
Is it really a good idea to chime in on the Mara Trax RA Podcast post to tell everyone that the mixing sucks? Seriously, someone took the time to tell the world that? I'm embarrassed to be from the same city as this person.
i actually say that when i hear something and thinks its good but dont think its my taste. not when i think its sh!t.New Guy wrote:One mans sht is another mans gold.
When critisizing mixes, the proper way to give (in a way) a "negative" feedback (if ones wants to give a negative feedback at all) is to say that it's a good mix but not really my taste.
Seriously.... there are way too many bad DJs out there to be not critical about this. Sure, the tightness of live mixing depends on the circumstances in the club, but there are a lot of other factors that are actually under the DJ's control independently from the club PA: choice of tracks, mixing in beat or off beat (i consider just layering the bassdrums bad mixing when both tracks walk completely diffrent beat passes), originality...
I believe it's exacly that intention - don't get or give negative feedback - that leads to the current situation of most DJ sets being just plain fucking boring. DJs prefer to play it safe - short transitions at the end of the tracks, no technical playing with the records, play recent hits, a straight sound without any excursions into different regions of dance music, no experiments... nothing that could by any chance polarize, because polarization leads to the possibility someone might not like what you're doing.
fck it, DJing is performance art, and art needs polarization, it needs to open up people's minds, it needs to make an impression. The way there is difficult and constructive, critical feedback is a major support. Because you need different impressions and opinions. It's not the critics who know everything better, it's the ones who don't want any critique who think they already know everything better.
Getting critique doesn't mean you have to listen to it and do what it suggests, it's there for you to consider it, to take it as a dialectical approach within yourself. What's the problem with saying "no, I don't agree with you" to someone who shares his own viewpoint with you?
And when someone gives you critical feedback, you know he listened closely to what you were doing, he thought and reflected about it, and he shares this mental work with you. You should be grateful for that. Critique isn't something negative, it's something positive!
I experienced a lot in the club culture that people don't want or don't know how to deal with critical feedback. As a result, there's lot of bullshitting around, people pretending to be nice to each other when they actually don't give a fck about each other. There's no reflection, no constructive thinking, and as a result there's only plain, boring creative emptyness. And a lot of people who think they are good at what they are doing because no-one tells them they actually aren't.
C'mon, how many DJs are practising at home? I see so many DJs playing out who don't even know their own records because they never tried to mix them before. It's a situation I just can't accept, it ruins the conception of DJing as performance art. People should practice, they should ask others for their opinion, they should try to reach something instead of believing they are already there.
If you can't deal with critique, ignore it, but then don't blame the critics!
And finally, of course I'm talking about constructive critique here, not about pure negativity and sh!t like that. We all agree that we don't need that! But as I said, I see critique as something positive and (potentially) stimulating, not negative and destructive.
I believe it's exacly that intention - don't get or give negative feedback - that leads to the current situation of most DJ sets being just plain fucking boring. DJs prefer to play it safe - short transitions at the end of the tracks, no technical playing with the records, play recent hits, a straight sound without any excursions into different regions of dance music, no experiments... nothing that could by any chance polarize, because polarization leads to the possibility someone might not like what you're doing.
fck it, DJing is performance art, and art needs polarization, it needs to open up people's minds, it needs to make an impression. The way there is difficult and constructive, critical feedback is a major support. Because you need different impressions and opinions. It's not the critics who know everything better, it's the ones who don't want any critique who think they already know everything better.
Getting critique doesn't mean you have to listen to it and do what it suggests, it's there for you to consider it, to take it as a dialectical approach within yourself. What's the problem with saying "no, I don't agree with you" to someone who shares his own viewpoint with you?
And when someone gives you critical feedback, you know he listened closely to what you were doing, he thought and reflected about it, and he shares this mental work with you. You should be grateful for that. Critique isn't something negative, it's something positive!
I experienced a lot in the club culture that people don't want or don't know how to deal with critical feedback. As a result, there's lot of bullshitting around, people pretending to be nice to each other when they actually don't give a fck about each other. There's no reflection, no constructive thinking, and as a result there's only plain, boring creative emptyness. And a lot of people who think they are good at what they are doing because no-one tells them they actually aren't.
C'mon, how many DJs are practising at home? I see so many DJs playing out who don't even know their own records because they never tried to mix them before. It's a situation I just can't accept, it ruins the conception of DJing as performance art. People should practice, they should ask others for their opinion, they should try to reach something instead of believing they are already there.
If you can't deal with critique, ignore it, but then don't blame the critics!
And finally, of course I'm talking about constructive critique here, not about pure negativity and sh!t like that. We all agree that we don't need that! But as I said, I see critique as something positive and (potentially) stimulating, not negative and destructive.
"In my life I widened a lot of holes!" (Jeff Milligan, talking about slipmats)
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chrisdisco
- mnml maxi
- Posts: 919
- Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:31 pm
i agree with pretty much everything you wrote. a really insightful, well thought-through post. respect.Red Kite wrote:Seriously.... there are way too many bad DJs out there to be not critical about this. Sure, the tightness of live mixing depends on the circumstances in the club, but there are a lot of other factors that are actually under the DJ's control independently from the club PA: choice of tracks, mixing in beat or off beat (i consider just layering the bassdrums bad mixing when both tracks walk completely diffrent beat passes), originality...
I believe it's exacly that intention - don't get or give negative feedback - that leads to the current situation of most DJ sets being just plain fucking boring. DJs prefer to play it safe - short transitions at the end of the tracks, no technical playing with the records, play recent hits, a straight sound without any excursions into different regions of dance music, no experiments... nothing that could by any chance polarize, because polarization leads to the possibility someone might not like what you're doing.
fck it, DJing is performance art, and art needs polarization, it needs to open up people's minds, it needs to make an impression. The way there is difficult and constructive, critical feedback is a major support. Because you need different impressions and opinions. It's not the critics who know everything better, it's the ones who don't want any critique who think they already know everything better.
Getting critique doesn't mean you have to listen to it and do what it suggests, it's there for you to consider it, to take it as a dialectical approach within yourself. What's the problem with saying "no, I don't agree with you" to someone who shares his own viewpoint with you?
And when someone gives you critical feedback, you know he listened closely to what you were doing, he thought and reflected about it, and he shares this mental work with you. You should be grateful for that. Critique isn't something negative, it's something positive!
I experienced a lot in the club culture that people don't want or don't know how to deal with critical feedback. As a result, there's lot of bullshitting around, people pretending to be nice to each other when they actually don't give a fck about each other. There's no reflection, no constructive thinking, and as a result there's only plain, boring creative emptyness. And a lot of people who think they are good at what they are doing because no-one tells them they actually aren't.
C'mon, how many DJs are practising at home? I see so many DJs playing out who don't even know their own records because they never tried to mix them before. It's a situation I just can't accept, it ruins the conception of DJing as performance art. People should practice, they should ask others for their opinion, they should try to reach something instead of believing they are already there.
If you can't deal with critique, ignore it, but then don't blame the critics!
And finally, of course I'm talking about constructive critique here, not about pure negativity and sht like that. We all agree that we don't need that! But as I said, I see critique as something positive and (potentially) stimulating, not negative and destructive.