The DJ Booth

[kwote]

What's up everyone,

I've got an article to share with you discussing why video recording yourself when you practice will allow you to gain a greater awareness of your flaws and what to do to improve those flaws. Enjoy!

Magnifying Your Flaws

[urca]

Hahahaha! That's cute, it's like you think you're actually creating music or something! "Nailing the song, not nailing the song...." it's already been nailed when the musicians recorded it, you're just playing the record of it.....

[Carlos.S]

Scratch DJ's are not real DJ's. Period.

[Tgrimley]

A real DJ is someone who lets the music speak for itself and not blabber through each song or scratch each and every song to death.

[g.bird84]

Hahahaha! That's cute, it's like you think you're actually creating music or something! "Nailing the song, not nailing the song...." it's already been nailed when the musicians recorded it, you're just playing the record of it.....

Spot on. He's been served.

[m.shaw87]

Proper DJs like Todd Terry, David Morales, Masters At Work actually created music as well as playing it. They are what would consider DJs.

[kwote]

:lol: I got served? :facepalm:

Whatever. I don't need to convince anyone who's not down with scratching what is and isn't musical. That's an old argument that got put to bed ages ago. Dj's that hate on scratching are only shooting themselves in the foot. Go back to playing with your controllers and be quiet.

[g.bird84]

:lol: I got served? :facepalm: Whatever. I don't need to convince anyone who's not down with scratching what is and isn't musical. That's an old argument that got put to bed ages ago. Dj's that hate on scratching are only shooting themselves in the foot. Go back to playing with your controllers and be quiet.

What a prize Muppet. Only dogs with fleas and cats with ticks should scratch. Go back to yo mummies basement and please be quiet.

[Lord Lav]

Big up Kwote! I'm a fan of the likes of Todd Terry and David Morales. They produced great tracks as well as being good DJs but I also have a huge amount of time for all the scratch DJs and Turntablists out there. Personally I find it rather funny that some peeps don't see it as musical. Of course you're more than entitled to your opinion though. If there's nothing to it and shouldn't be done then why are the DMC's and other DJ competitions of that ilk so popular? Why do high profile artists take decent scratch DJs on tour with them? Why are some scratch DJs even being used in Orchestras? Why is DJ Q-Bert so highly regarded in many circles? (Obviously not this one). I agree that turntablism did get a bit too noodly at one point and sometimes it still does for me. Personally I feel that it should be as enjoyable to listen to as it is to watch (it is music at the end of the day) but then the likes of C2C came out and brought the musical element back to the art form, which was why they were so successful. I challenge anyone that says they're shit DJs! One of the best DJ sets I ever saw was Mixmaster Mike. Watch him perform live! Dude can mix, scratch, beat juggle and ignite a crowd into a frenzy. Sounds like many peeps here are impressed when a DJ can just mix and choose what tracks come on at the right time. Mixmaster Mike can do all that and more! If you're talking about creating music that's not DJing, that's production. I don't think you can judge how good a DJ is based on the tracks they produced. That's like saying Rick Rubin is a great DJ. I'm not saying that simply having good judgement for which song to play next isn't enough. There are DJs that I respect that don't even mix but they have an excellent sense for playing to the crowd and knowing what songs to put on where and when. That doesn't make them any more or less a DJ than anyone else. I'm just saying that scratching well (and that includes not over doing it) is enjoyable and entertaining to listen to for many people and adds an addition expressive element to DJs that do it. Same with beat juggling. What are you gonna do ban scratch DJs because you don't like it nor understand it? You Nazi's! Haha

[Manipulate]

Good shit Kwote. Sorry to hear about you getting "served"?

[Anderton]

Hahahaha! That's cute, it's like you think you're actually creating music or something! "Nailing the song, not nailing the song...." it's already been nailed when the musicians recorded it, you're just playing the record of it.....

It may have been nailed when the musicians recorded it, but it took the engineer to do the recording and choose the mics and placement, and in conjunction with the producer, to mix it and apply processing. Then it took a mastering engineer to put the final touches on the music. Like recording or mastering, DJing is just a different way of relating to music. No one disses mastering engineers because they don't play the music they master. There's a great video on the NI site that demos their controllers. If you close your eyes, you think the DJ is just playing a song. If you look at what's happening, that "song" never existed - it's being constructed in real time from bits and pieces of music, as well as one-shot samples. I know plenty of DJs who play along with existing tracks, I've jammed on guitar with some of them. Then there are the DJs who make their own loops to bring into the mix. A really good DJ has a skill set and talent, a really bad one doesn't. But that's the same for anyone involved with music on any level.

[Manipulate]

It may have been nailed when the musicians recorded it, but it took the engineer to do the recording and choose the mics and placement, and in conjunction with the producer, to mix it and apply processing. Then it took a mastering engineer to put the final touches on the music. Like recording or mastering, DJing is just a different way of relating to music. No one disses mastering engineers because they don't play the music they master. There's a great video on the NI site that demos their controllers. If you close your eyes, you think the DJ is just playing a song. If you look at what's happening, that "song" never existed - it's being constructed in real time from bits and pieces of music, as well as one-shot samples. I know plenty of DJs who play along with existing tracks, I've jammed on guitar with some of them. Then there are the DJs who make their own loops to bring into the mix. A really good DJ has a skill set and talent, a really bad one doesn't. But that's the same for anyone involved with music on any level.

Yeah I agree, but it's also important to realize Kwote is talking about SCRATCHING. When he says "nailing the song" he's talking about scratching, not mixing in somebody else's music. Scratching is fundamentally different from mixing or arranging, which is what most DJs do, and what most people think about when they're talking about DJs. Scratching, on the other hand, is directly and inherently linked to your hand movements. In some aspects it's even more directly related than a guitar. Any minute movement or vibration in the hand that's on the record is going to be picked up in the sound. It's not just a matter of timing and rhythm, you also need steadyness and control in the record hand or you can end up warbled or off pitch from where you want to be. So, what Kwote is talking about is very relevant in the context of scratching but yeah, it makes very little sense in the context of normal DJing.

[Lord Lav]

Yeah I agree, but it's also important to realize Kwote is talking about SCRATCHING. When he says "nailing the song" he's talking about scratching, not mixing in somebody else's music. Scratching is fundamentally different from mixing or arranging, which is what most DJs do, and what most people think about when they're talking about DJs. Scratching, on the other hand, is directly and inherently linked to your hand movements. In some aspects it's even more directly related than a guitar. Any minute movement or vibration in the hand that's on the record is going to be picked up in the sound. It's not just a matter of timing and rhythm, you also need steadyness and control in the record hand or you can end up warbled or off pitch from where you want to be. So, what Kwote is talking about is very relevant in the context of scratching but yeah, it makes very little sense in the context of normal DJing.

+1 to both Anderton and Manipulate's posts here

[davisjam]

The main thing - to start! Do not be afraid and do it! I enjoyed it =)

[JohnMurati]

I Use a similar technique myself.

[ionication]

"scratch djs" still exist?