Jump to content

LIVE DJ!!


Howie22

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Unfortunately, a significantly large part of the most recent generation (or three) of club-goers only go to clubs where DJs spin discs (or cue MP3s from their computers). Live music, with actual musicians performing on stage, is something very foreign to people brought up on producers' tracks and rhyming to beats. It's all rhythm these days, and actual melody ideas are completely foreign to what passes today as pop "music." Don't get me started...

 

:mad:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

So you have the conception that all DJs only press play? Unfortunately, that's what many do, and that's why many people see DJs as having no talent.

 

 

That's OK. A lot of musicians barely do much more than that, which is why so many people see bands as having no talent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

So you have the conception that all DJs only press play? Unfortunately, that's what many do, and that's why many people see DJs as having no talent.

 

 

Nah, I've done a bit of DJ work. You have the same issues as in a band of trying to play the right songs to get the crowd going. Tougher than many would think.

 

Still, playing songs from a laptop isn't really a live show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Nah, I've done a bit of DJ work. You have the same issues as in a band of trying to play the right songs to get the crowd going. Tougher than many would think.


Still, playing songs from a laptop isn't really a live show.

 

Yeah, I don't put on much of a show as a DJ even using a controller, but I do a little beat mixing. There's no comparison between learning to play an instrument and learning to push buttons or make scratch noises. 45 years of playing guitar and I never stop learning new places to put my fingers in the fretboard. but I'd still rather see a good DJ than karaoke!

 

Actual live music can't be beat. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Good DJs and good musicians share one important skill, pacing the audience by determining what song to play next.

 

I don't think a deceased DJ can do that.

 

Therefore one must assume all DJs are live.

 

And yes, I don't like to share our gigs with DJs any more than most other musicians do.

 

But the real culprit that steals our work is Television.

 

Yes, TV.

 

Examples:

 

Before TV, people had to go out to be entertained with music

 

In the 50s and early 60s, TV was black and white with narrow audio bandwidth (midrange only) and a tinny speaker, people had to go out to be entertained with music

 

 

In the late 60s through the 80s the color was bad and the sound still tinny, people had to go out to be entertained with music

 

 

Then came Cable TV with huge screen TVs and 7.1 surround sound. No longer did you have to go out to see/hear a band. PLUS the cable TV subscription can easily run into a couple of hundred dollars per month - there goes the entertainment budget.

 

And TV is an addictive drug. The worst drug problem in the US (and most of the world).

 

Drug I say?

 

Yes.

 

 

The average American watches 6 hours of TV per day.

 

Just say "No" to TV. If you watch it, you are part of the problem that is putting musicians out of work.

 

And it's not even Live TV.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Good DJs and good musicians share one important skill, pacing the audience by determining what song to play next.


I don't think a deceased DJ can do that.


Therefore one must assume all DJs are live.


And yes, I don't like to share our gigs with DJs any more than most other musicians do.


But the real culprit that steals our work is Television.


Yes, TV.


Examples:


Before TV, people had to go out to be entertained with music


In the 50s and early 60s, TV was black and white with narrow audio bandwidth (midrange only) and a tinny speaker, people had to go out to be entertained with music



In the late 60s through the 80s the color was bad and the sound still tinny, people had to go out to be entertained with music



Then came Cable TV with huge screen TVs and 7.1 surround sound. No longer did you have to go out to see/hear a band. PLUS the cable TV subscription can easily run into a couple of hundred dollars per month - there goes the entertainment budget.


And TV is an addictive drug. The worst drug problem in the US (and most of the world).


Drug I say?


Yes.


  • The TV watchers brain waves are very similar to the users of various drugs and also hypnosis (which is why TV is such a powerful sales medium)

  • Those who quit TV have severe withdrawal symptoms - try keeping your TV off for a month, and see if you can do it

  • TV programs have to keep escalating in order to satisfy the drug craving - stronger drugs are needed. Which is why we went from "Father Knows Best" in the 1950s to "Desperate Housewives" and "Sex In The City"

  • The TV drug user cannot separate the drug induced experience from reality. We've all read the interviews from stars who play evil people on TV. If they go to the grocery store or shopping mall the drug users will shout obscene insults at them, as if they were the characters that they portray on TV.



The average American watches 6 hours of TV per day.


Just say "No" to TV. If you watch it, you are part of the problem that is putting musicians out of work.


And it's not even Live TV.


Insights and incites by Notes

 

 

Great post. Agree with all, guilty of some. I'm trying to turn it off and just play and that's working. Time to just go out and see some music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Nah, I've done a bit of DJ work. You have the same issues as in a band of trying to play the right songs to get the crowd going. Tougher than many would think.


Still, playing songs from a laptop isn't really a live show.

 

 

Then playing songs from instruments suddenly makes it a live show? Bands that play songs and don't interface with the audience suck just as much as a DJ running a list of tunes through media player. How many professional acts are out there that use a laptop (or other artificial source to produce a sound) or tracks to enhance their show? Then you could say it's not truely "live" because they are using tracks to compensate, which is synonymous to playing songs from a laptop. One advangtage to DJ vs live music is I can do a show from 9 to 2 AM with no dead air because the PA doesn't need a break (unless the stupid breaker pops).

 

I do agree it is about playing the right songs to the right people, this is simplified by interacting with the audience, they all have opinions on what they want. It's not like the live band days when we couldn't do a cool song because the guitar player thinks it's gay (but really doesn't know how to play it or even wanted to attempt to play it).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Nah, I've done a bit of DJ work. You have the same issues as in a band of trying to play the right songs to get the crowd going. Tougher than many would think.


Still, playing songs from a laptop isn't really a live show.

 

 

Then playing songs from instruments suddenly makes it a live show? Bands that play songs and don't interface with the audience suck just as much as a DJ running a list of tunes through media player. How many professional acts are out there that use a laptop (or other artificial source to produce a sound) or tracks to enhance their show? Then you could say it's not truely "live" because they are using tracks to compensate, which is synonymous to playing songs from a laptop. One advangtage to DJ vs live music is I can do a show from 9 to 2 AM with no dead air because the PA doesn't need a break (unless the stupid breaker pops).

 

I do agree it is about playing the right songs to the right people, this is simplified by interacting with the audience, they all have opinions on what they want. It's not like the live band days when we couldn't do a cool song because the guitar player thinks it's gay (but really doesn't know how to play it or even wanted to attempt to play it).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Then playing songs from instruments suddenly makes it a live show? Bands that play songs and don't interface with the audience suck just as much as a DJ running a list of tunes through media player. How many professional acts are out there that use a laptop (or other artificial source to produce a sound) or tracks to enhance their show? Then you could say it's not truely "live" because they are using tracks to compensate, which is synonymous to playing songs from a laptop. One advangtage to DJ vs live music is I can do a show from 9 to 2 AM with no dead air because the PA doesn't need a break (unless the stupid breaker pops).


I do agree it is about playing the right songs to the right people, this is simplified by interacting with the audience, they all have opinions on what they want. It's not like the live band days when we couldn't do a cool song because the guitar player thinks it's gay (but really doesn't know how to play it or even wanted to attempt to play it).

 

 

This was simply meant to be a rhetorical, humorous thing because they are using "live" to describe something that is in no way live music.

 

Y'all are bit sensitive on this issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Great post. Agree with all, guilty of some. I'm trying to turn it off and just play and that's working. Time to just go out and see some music.

 

I turned off the TV in the 1980s: no cable, no antenna, no converter (full disclosure I have a DVD player and do a rented movie every now and then).

 

We were a Nielsen home one year, and had absolutely no entries on their form with the exception of about a half dozen rented movies.

 

Instead of watching TV

     

    So I've never seen The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Taxi, Desperate Housewives, The Sopranos, Cheers, Glee, American Idol, any "Reality" Show, or anything else. What did I miss? Chewing gum for the eyes designed to put me in a hypnotic state in order to sell me something (either goods or a political opinion).

     

    After turning the TV off I learned it is much better to live your life by doing things than to live your life vicariously by watching actors pretend to do things.

     

    Unfortunately, I can't see any way to get our audience away from the TV Drug and back into the bars where they belong ;) but I'm not going to be a part of the drug that is ruining my business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...