how important is the need to educate your listeners

imo theres a fine line between introducing new ideas and sounds to your listeners, and getting all headmaster on them force feeding people something unfamiliar.

i'd be the 1st to admit i really push techno onto people who spout classic lines like "techno is mindless music with sirens and people yelling 'techno techno techno techno'", but thats purely because i hate ignorace. however i do feel like sometimes you clever bods on here get so absorbed in trying to force a different sound that you forget that genrally people like familiar music so the best was to introduce a sound is through baby steps.

maybe i'm being nieve (as usual) but thats the vibe i sometimes get

Good topic Mangafish.

Personally, my musical tastes range from classic stuff (not just techno of course) to the pretty "far out" - a dancefloor set (for me) should be about leading the audience on from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Whether that constitutes as "education" or just a different night out is not for me to say...

here here good topic indeed.

I feel if you are booked to play at a Techno club then the punters should be well up for whatever you throw at them(in my dreams anyhow)
But playing at otherkind of nights i.e.trance,hardcore,hard dance whatever,then choosing records can be quite tuff because they seem to want stuff that goes donk donk or stuff that has somthing they can latch on to(vocals,melodies ect)so anything other than this is an education to them I suppose.
The best thing and this has allready been said is to give them what they are expecting for a while and then hopefully they will become more open to somthing a little more abstract,minnimal,dark or deep.
Its the same with producing records you can get away with somthing a bit different with a couple of more familiar sounding tracks.

Surley it is your job as a DJ-musician to "educate"and introduce people to a sound they are not used to infact its the best part about it IMO.

Yeah, preaching never seems to work for me,
always best to approach it from a different angle for different people...

Depends whether you are playing to a whole crowd or just trying to get an individual into i suppose. Luckily the world of techno is extremely varied and you can usually find a style that appeals to everybody.

Start with that and then throw in a few unknowns and build it from there, hey presto, one open mind!

If only it was that easy, but its still my theory :)

I`m not a Radio 1 DJ.
I have always played what I liked, and tried to read the crowd, but to just play what is expected of you, is to be nothing better than Top of the pops.
I don`t try to preach, but I think to play new and fresh and to introduce new ideas is important.
Otherwise how would new ideas come about.
There are those that take the risks, and those that pick up on it a lot later.
Taking risks is obviously more dangerous, but more rewarding.

Have to agree with risks

yea god dam it, at my last gig i played "the ace of spades" by motorhead hahaha :bash: :lol: :lol:

It's certainly important to keep pushing things forward, but to what extent an artists does this, very much depends on where and for whom they are performing.

A public performance is all about entertaining people, but there is usually room for some education (I think it was KRS-1 from BDP who coined the phrase "Edutainment"). It's the performers responsibility to judge how far they can push things without alienating their audience.

As far as individual compositions go, I don't think there should be any boundaries whatsoever. Artists and labels should be free to create whatever sound they want (although commercial pressures can often make this difficult).

The great thing about Techno is that the majority of people in the scene are open-minded by nature, so they usually welcome a bit of experimentation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dirty_bass

There are those that take the risks, and those that pick up on it a lot later.
Taking risks is obviously more dangerous, but more rewarding.

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agreed

Quote:

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Originally Posted by romelpotter

:bash: :

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ace - of - spades
ace - of - spades



(say it with me in time with the bashing emotion, it works beautifully)

:lol: :lol: tasha ;)

everything on this tip is turning around for me this year.
i was the one to play the weird stuff and never get booked, having to put on my own parties for a niche/minority audience. then i'd be disappointed that everyone was on drugs and couldnt just enjoy going to musical landscapes they'd never previously visited.
aisde from still wishing to push the envelope on the collective subconcious of received music to the masses, i rethought one of my daily axioms and concluded i should attempt to get as far into 'the mans' territory and give music to the culturally starving millions without actually bending my tastes, so still playing tweaked out records that can expand minds.
this year i have got main residency at a student night, and am doing loads of other nights as people begin to hear me play more and more they have more that they can relate to and connect with, so they're not frightened of the music anymore.

they are still afraid of the pure deviance, but that doesnt stop us sometimes.

Nah, it`s just thst all this glitch and minimal and stuff is dead trendy right now, in london anyway.
They go crazy for it in soho.
You`ll soon be playing to new media scum in hoxton.
People just like this.

HTTP://WWW.TRASHBAT.CO.CK
http://www.trashbat.co.ck/current_trailer.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by romelpotter

yea god dam it, at my last gig i played "the ace of spades" by motorhead hahaha :bash: :lol: :lol:

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not the techno cover version then

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dirty_bass

Nah, it`s just thst all this glitch and minimal and stuff is dead trendy right now, in london anyway.
They go crazy for it in soho.
You`ll soon be playing to new media scum in hoxton.
People just like this.

HTTP://WWW.TRASHBAT.CO.CK
http://www.trashbat.co.ck/current_trailer.html

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hee hee, i havent caught any episodes of that yet due to sound engineering bands every friday night.
i am in full agreement with you though.
though i'm also playing electro, dub techno, electronica............ at a student night!!!!
and the clientele........ 90% very attractive women 10% guys.
it defies belief it surely does :clap:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dirty_bass

Nah, it`s just thst all this glitch and minimal and stuff is dead trendy right now, in london anyway.
They go crazy for it in soho.
You`ll soon be playing to new media scum in hoxton.
People just like this.

HTTP://WWW.TRASHBAT.CO.CK
http://www.trashbat.co.ck/current_trailer.html

---

Nathan Barley ha ha ha , chris morris is class

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dirty_bass

Nah, it`s just thst all this glitch and minimal and stuff is dead trendy right now, in london anyway.
They go crazy for it in soho.
You`ll soon be playing to new media scum in hoxton.
People just like this.

HTTP://WWW.TRASHBAT.CO.CK
http://www.trashbat.co.ck/current_trailer.html

---

hehehe classic tv that

tis always a tricky one to do...??

if you come across someone who drops the "techno is mindless" line then it is difficult to explain to them without getting on a soap-box a little bit. these people take many times to have it explained to them OR actually go to a party to find out first hand.

if it is to a room full of punters who expect a certain genre of music that is familiar then it is wise to test them by dropping an unknown or unusual track occaisionally and gauge reactions. track selection here is important as it will be recieved better if the NEW track sits in the mix more fluidly rather than dropped (un-announced so to speak).

don't forget that there is always a percentage of the crowd that haven't heard much at all and certainly don't know tracks as well as a DJ does. they just want a certain "feel" of sound that suits the environment of the club.

there is always a percentage that are the train-spotters or chin-strokers who will always comment about your selection - pays not to listen to them too much as they are generally over it all when they have to start to criticize everything.

a commercial crowd are also fussy and generally want anything that is progressive (ie: beige). if it sounds even remotely energetic or busy they will leave the floor. you tend to just play radio edits to them.

ON THE OTHER HAND....Try playing a live set at a party and you'll soon realise how easy it is to be a DJ and avoid total disconnection of a dance-floor......playing live is the most horrendous experience most of the time. sick of having people come up and request tracks etc. A live set is always experimental and fresh and often just gets everyone in the room staring at you or going to the bar.??