Which DJ skills are most important for you

[roland]

Can you please tell us what you think technical ability is?

technical ability in this case is just making transitions which aren't a complete catastrophe.. (in my head are now ellen allien and magda cause they were the last ones i saw) .. and pls don't go like the usual "everyone is good, everything is subjective, you can't compare acts

deejaying was and is a competitive thing.. artists perform different behind the decks.. if you can't hear, i can't help

@shiva.. ok so you say the good girls doesn't get booked because womens are perceived different..

yes i'd really like seeing the good ones beeing booked and that's why i critize the ones which are celebrated now cause they are imo technically not that good.. so obviously the pretty girls doesn't get perceived different from me..

don't understand why you brought this genetic thing up.. nerver said anything like that.. and pls don't put me in the sexist corner.. cause like i see it we agree that there are female deejays who obviously get bookings for other reasons than their ability...

and of course males suck too and get bookings for different reasons f.e. lützenkirchen.. when he was in vienna he didn't even spin.. he just played tracks from ableton.. i was shocked..

who are the male alpha males?? look how this whole "everything is subjective" thing brought us.. there's not even a small consens which handfull of deejays are technically the best.. i could name hundreds but lets just like above think of the ones i saw over the last months.. that were rhadoo, matthew dear, carl craig, ricardo and raresh..

compared to the females i've seen, they just couldn't reach this level of skill.. and i begin to think like shiva said the reason for that is that bookings are mostly made by guys and lots of them perceive women different..

[Alex M]

You forgot stage diving.

Most important IMO.

[Themis]

@shiva, no one says its a genetic thing really.

look at the german and europe big festivals, you will always find magda and cassy maybe ellen alien and monika kruse

of course this has to do with the labels that are involved like cocoon (cassy) and minus (magda). i think this two labels/booking agencys are the big players so their artists play everywhere

which brings us to the next problem, their is no fresh blood in the scene, the big agencys dont make contracts with new DJs.

if i see lineups like Love Family Park i could throw up. its the same for years now. i dont drive 700 km to see ricardo play some uninspired commercial festival sound, worse case b2b with luciano, for 2 hours - about the other artists i dont even want to think.

[djshiva]

@shiva, no one says its a genetic thing really.

look at the german and europe big festivals, you will always find magda and cassy maybe ellen alien and monika kruse

of course this has to do with the labels that are involved like cocoon (cassy) and minus (magda). i think this two labels/booking agencys are the big players so their artists play everywhere

which brings us to the next problem, their is no fresh blood in the scene, the big agencys dont make contracts with new DJs.

if i see lineups like Love Family Park i could throw up. its the same for years now. i dont drive 700 km to see ricardo play some uninspired commercial festival sound, worse case b2b with luciano, for 2 hours - about the other artists i dont even want to think.

I never said it was a genetic thing. I was mocking the only differences, as if there is really any inherent difference. The differences are social and societal, but no one really wants to acknowledge that. I was just being sarcastic, but I think sometimes that is lost with language barriers. :/

If anyone is actually interested in a conversation about what can be done to encourage and welcome women in this male dominated field, I would LOVE to have that conversation. Say the word.

And yeah Themis, I think we are seeing the same artists all over the place due to booking agencies and the like, but there is definitely fresh blood out there. I think it really comes down to what I would call "internet crate digging". Same concept really.

Do we actively seek out new artists and fresh blood that don't sound like everything else? I think maybe we as DJs do, but do promoters? No. They are gonna go for what brings people. It's the unfortunate truth and it's something I have been chatting with my local people about today. As long as the big names pull people, that's what we will be inundated with.

[infernal.techno]

who chose "other skills"

[infernal.techno]

which brings us to the next problem, their is no fresh blood in the scene, the big agencys dont make contracts with new DJs.

there is plenty of fresh blood out there

why are we looking at the big european festivals as proof that there isn't?

[Themis]

didnt meant it like that, of course somewhere is always fresh blood, but it needs a damn long time for them to reach the surface and the big booking agencys are not helping ..

and for women its even harder ..

i cant fly or drive to another country on a hunch to some underground underground fresh blood private party in some basement for 4-5 hours ..

so the festivals are kind of important, to spread the word about an artist.

[miniKAT]

"Other" skill, but equally important:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYlE905u9x4