DJ ing with laptops

[MINIMALTECHNOHOUSE]

It still comes down to this... Beatmatching! The essence of djing is beatmatching . Where in a new day and age people. It's not about holding 2 tracks with each other for a couple of minutes. It's about giving a freaking great set for your audience. Filling in it the way you want. Freedom that's what's it all about. Somebody over here said he liked that Villalobos has a train wreck every once and a while. Well I don't, it breaks the flow down and instead of listening to his great track selection, you're listening to beats walking away from each other. Saying that gives a feeling to the music is total BS.

i totally agree that trainwrecks are out of the question, and that DJ's need to keep it tight, but i honestly dont hear bad beatmatching very often, any DJ worth his salt, can get tunes synched up in seconds. they shoudnt be on the decks if they can't.

But isn't what I'm doing exactly same thing? I don't pre-warp my tracks, I do everything on the fly. Warping tracks with the same tempo takes me about 10/20 seconds, the same amount of time that a vinyl dj needs to beatmatch a track. But there also producers (Villalobos, Ion Ludwig for example) that cut there tracks in arrangement. Those tracks take me up to 1 / 2 minutes time for warping. The same amount of time a vinyl dj needs for these kind of tracks.. So what's the problem? It's only a different style of beatmatching.

Look I'm totally against preplanned/warped sets. And those dj's that use MIK in there's sets, those guys are total pussies. And I'm not even going to start about the guys who are using sidechain compression in there mixing.. But there is an art in Ableton mixing, it's the same art as vinyl/cdj djing it's only a different medium man...

If you havnt tried using ableton as a 'third deck' give it a go, use a pitch slider instead of a mouse, its much more fun, trust me....

[S.D.L]

It still comes down to this... Beatmatching! The essence of djing is beatmatching . Where in a new day and age people. It's not about holding 2 tracks with each other for a couple of minutes. It's about giving a freaking great set for your audience. Filling in it the way you want. Freedom that's what's it all about. Somebody over here said he liked that Villalobos has a train wreck every once and a while. Well I don't, it breaks the flow down and instead of listening to his great track selection, you're listening to beats walking away from each other. Saying that gives a feeling to the music is total BS.

i totally agree that trainwrecks are out of the question, and that DJ's need to keep it tight, but i honestly dont hear bad beatmatching very often, any DJ worth his salt, can get tunes synched up in seconds. they shoudnt be on the decks if they can't.

But isn't what I'm doing exactly same thing? I don't pre-warp my tracks, I do everything on the fly. Warping tracks with the same tempo takes me about 10/20 seconds, the same amount of time that a vinyl dj needs to beatmatch a track. But there also producers (Villalobos, Ion Ludwig for example) that cut there tracks in arrangement. Those tracks take me up to 1 / 2 minutes time for warping. The same amount of time a vinyl dj needs for these kind of tracks.. So what's the problem? It's only a different style of beatmatching.

Look I'm totally against preplanned/warped sets. And those dj's that use MIK in there's sets, those guys are total pussies. And I'm not even going to start about the guys who are using sidechain compression in there mixing.. But there is an art in Ableton mixing, it's the same art as vinyl/cdj djing it's only a different medium man...

If you havnt tried using ableton as a 'third deck' give it a go, use a pitch slider instead of a mouse, its much more fun, trust me....

I sometimes do, the nudge function is awesome! But I'm just a laptop kind of guy. I rather sit behind a computer screen then put on my records.. For every person a different medium

[AVX23]

I dunno. All this hibbidy jibbidy about being able to "do more" during an ableton dj set because you don't have to waste time beatmatching or holding a blend is kinda weak. The last thing I wanna hear is someone butchering the sht out of some tracks by not letting them play long enough or transitioning out too quickly/abruptly because they "can." That sht annoys the hell out of me. And layering multiple tracks isn't always the bees knees.

I can understand your point, but surely that's the difference between a good DJ and a bad one.

shouldn't matter how they do it, only that they do and they do well with it.

besides - it's not 'hibbedy jibbedy' it's fact.

You can do more, the layering possibilities are endless.

if you are good at utilising it - it's going to sound great, if you aren't - it will sound rubbish.

Seeing as we can't simply travel the world executing anyone who dares make a mess of a set with ableton or otherwise - you are going to have to accept that for every good dj - there's a bad one, and for this - there may be a multitude of reasons - bad equipment, bad circumstances, lack of skill, lack of any good taste in music, lack of timing, bad transitions, lack of control in an engineering sense etc etc.

Also - ask yourself this - what exactly is the musical merit of being able to beatmach ? Is this process itself actually lending anything musically to the performance ?

People need to let go of the old values and start embracing / forging the new.

[fl0w]

so some people argue that laptop djing doesnt sound "human"...

and some people argue that electronic music doesnt sound "human"...
who cares what they say

(note: I use a pair of Technics but I have nothing pro or against Ableton, MixMeister and so on...)

[plastik]

Also - ask yourself this - what exactly is the musical merit of being able to beatmach ? Is this process itself actually lending anything musically to the performance ?

well I dare say yes. it does lend something musically to the performance in terms of flow of music melodies, rhythm and clearness of sound. if you can't beatmach you ain't a proper dj. if you don't beat match during your set, you're a "music selector", not a dj, imho.
that's why so many people actually can dj with ableton and with the help of technology.
I'm not against it, I dj with ableton but somebody would say "learn to walk before running".

[steevio]

It still comes down to this... Beatmatching! The essence of djing is beatmatching . Where in a new day and age people. It's not about holding 2 tracks with each other for a couple of minutes. It's about giving a freaking great set for your audience. Filling in it the way you want. Freedom that's what's it all about. Somebody over here said he liked that Villalobos has a train wreck every once and a while. Well I don't, it breaks the flow down and instead of listening to his great track selection, you're listening to beats walking away from each other. Saying that gives a feeling to the music is total BS.

i totally agree that trainwrecks are out of the question, and that DJ's need to keep it tight, but i honestly dont hear bad beatmatching very often, any DJ worth his salt, can get tunes synched up in seconds. they shoudnt be on the decks if they can't.

Ha ha, listen to a few sets recorded live in clubs..... even by the 'big' players....

Is it me, or is 'sloppy' mixing more common than people are making out..... EVERY traditional dj set ive seen and heard has had a few 'moments', where the mixing isnt 100%....

I mean, i aint saying full on trainwreck (where the fck did that come from) but just slight imperfections that let you know someones working hard to play the fucking music, not just twisting nobs....

maybe we go to different clubs mate, obviously nobodies perfect, but i dont hear much bad beatmatching.

[steevio]

It still comes down to this... Beatmatching! The essence of djing is beatmatching . Where in a new day and age people. It's not about holding 2 tracks with each other for a couple of minutes. It's about giving a freaking great set for your audience. Filling in it the way you want. Freedom that's what's it all about. Somebody over here said he liked that Villalobos has a train wreck every once and a while. Well I don't, it breaks the flow down and instead of listening to his great track selection, you're listening to beats walking away from each other. Saying that gives a feeling to the music is total BS.

i totally agree that trainwrecks are out of the question, and that DJ's need to keep it tight, but i honestly dont hear bad beatmatching very often, any DJ worth his salt, can get tunes synched up in seconds. they shoudnt be on the decks if they can't.

But isn't what I'm doing exactly same thing? I don't pre-warp my tracks, I do everything on the fly. Warping tracks with the same tempo takes me about 10/20 seconds, the same amount of time that a vinyl dj needs to beatmatch a track. But there also producers (Villalobos, Ion Ludwig for example) that cut there tracks in arrangement. Those tracks take me up to 1 / 2 minutes time for warping. The same amount of time a vinyl dj needs for these kind of tracks.. So what's the problem? It's only a different style of beatmatching.

Look I'm totally against preplanned/warped sets. And those dj's that use MIK in there's sets, those guys are total pussies. And I'm not even going to start about the guys who are using sidechain compression in there mixing.. But there is an art in Ableton mixing, it's the same art as vinyl/cdj djing it's only a different medium man...

you reading me wrong bruv, i'm not comparing ableton mixing to vinyl, i was just commenting on the fact that most vinyl DJs who play out can usually beatmatch well.

[PsyTox]

It still comes down to this... Beatmatching! The essence of djing is beatmatching . Where in a new day and age people. It's not about holding 2 tracks with each other for a couple of minutes. It's about giving a freaking great set for your audience. Filling in it the way you want. Freedom that's what's it all about. Somebody over here said he liked that Villalobos has a train wreck every once and a while. Well I don't, it breaks the flow down and instead of listening to his great track selection, you're listening to beats walking away from each other. Saying that gives a feeling to the music is total BS.

i totally agree that trainwrecks are out of the question, and that DJ's need to keep it tight, but i honestly dont hear bad beatmatching very often, any DJ worth his salt, can get tunes synched up in seconds. they shoudnt be on the decks if they can't.

Ha ha, listen to a few sets recorded live in clubs..... even by the 'big' players....

Is it me, or is 'sloppy' mixing more common than people are making out..... EVERY traditional dj set ive seen and heard has had a few 'moments', where the mixing isnt 100%....

I mean, i aint saying full on trainwreck (where the fck did that come from) but just slight imperfections that let you know someones working hard to play the fucking music, not just twisting nobs....

maybe we go to different clubs mate, obviously nobodies perfect, but i dont hear much bad beatmatching.

hmm, I hear a lot of big name dj's making serious beatmatching mistakes often enough, so that's also why I think that it's an integral part of what makes a good dj.