Archive for the 'Music' Category
Live DJ Remixing #3: How To Get Ideas
The video that you can watch at the end of this piece is what led me to write this three-part series on live DJ remixing (missed the other parts? They’re at Live DJ Remixing #1 – Get The Software & Sounds and Live DJ Remixing #2 – The Gear).
I’ll happily admit: as a traditional “A-to-B” DJ, I was awed and inspired. It’s what drove me to push this idea of “taking it to the next level” – because let’s be honest, growing in this industry isn’t going to come from just playing music, but performing as a live act.
Live DJ Remixing #2 -The Gear
We kicked off this series talking about the software end of the deal in live remixing. But banging on your laptop keyboard and mouse can only take you so far. If we’ve noticed anything from those who perform well in live remixing, it’s that you need the right gear for the occasion.
Thankfully with technology the way it is, you have a plethora of options at your fingertips. You can spend a little or a lot and still get great results. Let’s have a look at the hardware options available to you.
Live DJ Remixing #1 – Get The Software & Sounds
Back in January, we made the New Year’s resolution to learn something new. To make an attempt to go beyond our normal realms of DJing and just try to “take it to the next level”. Some of you are already taking on this idea in our new Scratching For Controller DJs course – but this is just one way of making your DJing stand out. Another is the newer methodology of fired samples, loops, and chopped up pieces of music – a major element of what is often called “controllerism”.
Today’s article is the first of a three-part series where we’ll get you started and explore the world of basic controllerism, and give you some ideas on how to bring these techniques back into the basic DJ set. We’re going to start things off with software and finding sounds to use.
5 Smarter Ways To Buy Music Online
Last time in Is Music Worse Than It Used To Be?, we talked about whether creativity has been lost in dance music. I didn't agree with that conclusion, and more felt we're simply saturated with product – yet there's still plenty of good music to be found.
So if you still find yourself on your favourite online shop, going over loads of music, and feeling like nothing is reaching out to you, here's a whole host of ways to fight the "saturation blues".
Is Music Worse Than It Used To Be?
Dance music's recent mainstream acceptance as "EDM" has brought about a fury from certain elements in the artistic/underground scenes, which is nothing new in itself – it happens whenever anything "underground" finds love from the mainstream.
From articles like a recent one in SPIN Magazine to those carried by a plethora of blogs, many DJs, critics, and producers have been claiming that the music has hit a creative zero. That we’ve lost that innovative spark that can do things like make one sound explode into a plethora of ideas and genres, as has happened in the past. That it’s lost its soul.
Superstar DJs: We Know You Sometimes Mime. So Why Hide It?
Lately, it seems to be a regular occurrence to see well-known superstar DJs outed for what I call “miming a set”. That is where a big-name DJ will play a pre-recorded mix while pretending to DJ at a large club or festival.
First, it was Steve Angello, and now David Guetta has been busted several times for this… both artists using the rationale that a visual / pyrotechnics show had to be in sync with the music. Even Fatboy Slim got up to a bit at the Olympics closing ceremony.
