Do DJ's actually do something?

JustAsk said:
Started with this back in '87 when i was in "Standard 7", my dad bought me a Citronic dj console.

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Was the start of the best days of my life. Over the years went thru Gemini belt drives, Gemini dual decks, Stanton dual decks, CDJ800's, Denon DJ DNS5000's...

These days the dj gear can generate an acapella/instrumental on the fly, can pull in and dj with spotify, and Laidback Luke djs with his phone.
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you may have had loads of fun but IMHO you were unlucky because when i finished school in 1984 and went on to University the first starter system i used was a pair of Technics SL1200s and a Icemix 6000 mixer at the varsity radio station, (hardly a starter system in anyones books at that time because in those days you couldn't get better) and then i became an apprentice DJ at a club where we had 3 x Technics SL1200s and a large desk mixer in the main DJ setup around 1985. So i was lucky with equipment all the the time i was always playing with the best that money could offer back in the day, and i suppose i was lucky to play in some of the clubs that i did play in.

It took me around 9 to 10 years of DJ'ing to land up at a club where there was no turntables with a pitch control - but throughout my early DJ career in the eighties and nineties and beyond i was using mostly SL1200 turntables wherever i DJed - and then the first CD based setup i used was one of those ultra expensive Denon CD based decks in the days before mp3 became standard and CD was the digital medium of choice - the DJ console with that Denon setup cost something ridiculous back then like R200k or thereabouts back in those days and i couldnt even figure out 60% of its functionality at all - i was only doing basic stuff with it and i did not do it much justice in terms of the technical stuff it was capable off ..... though after that club i gave up DJ'ing in the mid 2000s ..... though i have to stress it was because of the drug culture that began pervading the clubs and not because the digital systems were too difficult to play with ..... in fact nowadays with autocuing and auto syncing in even basic cheap DJ consoles linked to a laptop absolutely anyone can become a digital DJ, though many of the old school vinyl collecting guys i know are sticking to the SL1200s - but a brand new SL1200 mk7 costs close to R30k each nowadays in ZA whereas we actually used to find them at around R2k each (2nd hand) back in the day and at the time i stopped DJ'ing they were R7k each (brand spanking new with the plastic covered packaging still intact ...... those were the MKII versions)
 
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Prawnapple said:
dubstep-skrillex-wikipedia-5843847680
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Overly compressed time warped baselines and drums. At least he makes the music himself.

But pressing play on a macbook can give a better show than most DJ's.

 
RedViking said:
deadmau5 is a legend. Won't call him a DJ. He is an electronic artist.
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He called us loud. :/ Was somewhere in there. Actually at the back getting drinks. Cramming 30k people into that place wasn't the best idea.


Think South Africa scared him away. XD
 
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naughty001 said:
okay - so everyone who hates DJs fiddling with their knobs ..... this is for you

knobless-mixer.jpg
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You'd rarely touch the mids or highs unless you're trying some effect which you will **** up. But the 2 lowest knobs "Lows" are severely important to not go into FOH clipping and hot (those 2 red dots at the top of the channel meters).

Other knobs than the EQ... I would sometimes use a filter to high or low pass out a track instead of simply fading it out. The xone 4d is special, it has filter shapes and a LFO you can sync with BPM so you can effectively create a sidechain on the spot.
 
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Moosedrool said:
You'd rarely touch the mids or highs unless you're trying some effect which you will **** up. But the 2 lowest knobs "Lows" are severely important to not go into FOH clipping and hot (those 2 red dots at the top of the channel meters).

Other knobs than the EQ... I would sometimes use a filter to high or low pass out a track instead of simply fading it out. The xone 4d is special, it has filter shapes and a LFO you can sync with BPM so you can effectively create a sidechain on the spot.
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fair points though i would have different reasons for reducing bass but yep there are reasons to reduce the lower frequencies and more than one or two as it goes - but the above seems to have gone above your head in that it is simply a joke and not a discussion on the technical merits or lack there-off as far as DJ'ing equipment goes :p ;)
 
real djs are turntablists, everyone else is a knob turner and sync master simp

 
naughty001 said:
fair points though i would have different reasons for reducing bass but yep there are reasons to reduce the lower frequencies and more than one or two as it goes - but the above seems to have gone above your head in that it is simply a joke and not a discussion on the technical merits or lack there-off as far as DJ'ing equipment goes :p ;)
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It’s funny. Though you will get your volume turned down or foh will kick you out. Your dj equipment is not as expensive as their PA system.
 
When they are making their names and coming up, yes, they do something.

However, when they reach the top and hit the mainstream, many start working with shadow producers and their ''live'' sets are presets with some improv. This is particularly true of the new wave of attractive female ''business techno'' DJs who double up as Instagram models/influencers. They are as much a marketable brand as they are a DJ.
 
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