Vinyl is art...

[RDR]

I dont fancy lugging a RAID-Array around with me to gigs.

:lol: Dont then.

Mountains out of mole hills. One of the golden rules is to ALWAYS back-up. Multiple copies etc etc.

No-one would blink an eye if I said that i took backup copies of my live set with me to a gig.

How different is it to taking spare needles? Aside from the different process, you're still taking spares.

[the_psychologist]

If you can't back your DJ collection up with a single 300GB drive, then you may want to think about sifting the chaff out a bit.

It boggles my mind that people still think backup is some mysterious process. You copy your whole DJ folder to another physical drive. Done. If both locations fail, then the gods have decided that your DJ career should end. Don't fight it.

[RDR]

If you can't back your DJ collection up with a single 300GB drive, then you may want to think about sifting the chaff out a bit.

It boggles my mind that people still think backup is some mysterious process. You copy your whole DJ folder to another physical drive. Done. If both locations fail, then the gods have decided that your DJ career should end. Don't fight it.

Its simpler than that.

A single 20 CD wallet will easily contain all the music you could possibly want for a 2 hour set. And using CDJ1000/800 will mean decent control over the music.

Funnily enough i would always take a few pieces of vinyl for scratching purposes. What is a DJ if he cant scratch? I even take Vinyl if i do a live set for the same purpose.

I've always thought that to restrict yourself as a DJ to a particular style/genre/equipment base is foolish in the extreme. I mean you dont see the best guitarists only capable of playing one style, or in fact not being able to pick up a bass and use that.

Its laughable to me that there are DJs out there who cannot operate a CD deck/A turntable/Ableton/Any mixer presented to them.

Call yourself a DJ? The definition of DJ encompases many different skill sets and abilities andif you havnt got them all - get learning, because if you dont, you can be 100% sure that someone else well.

[the_psychologist]

Its simpler than that.

A single 20 CD wallet will easily contain all the music you could possibly want for a 2 hour set. And using CDJ1000/800 will mean decent control over the music.

Funnily enough i would always take a few pieces of vinyl for scratching purposes. What is a DJ if he cant scratch? I even take Vinyl if i do a live set for the same purpose.

I've always thought that to restrict yourself as a DJ to a particular style/genre/equipment base is foolish in the extreme. I mean you dont see the best guitarists only capable of playing one style, or in fact not being able to pick up a bass and use that.

Its laughable to me that there are DJs out there who cannot operate a CD deck/A turntable/Ableton/Any mixer presented to them.

Call yourself a DJ? The definition of DJ encompases many different skill sets and abilities andif you havnt got them all - get learning, because if you dont, you can be 100% sure that someone else well.

Yes, this is also critical.

At least spend some time learning how to beatmatch in case you somehow get stuck with shitty CD decks or something.

The ideal for me would be lappy running Live, wallet of CDs in case my laptop fails (or I just want to use a CD on top of everything else), and some vinyl for chucking into the mix and scratching (not that I'm good at it yet). This can all be condensed down to one smallish bag if you plan well.

[clubsynthetic]

nae point in being able to use them all if your shite at all of them.. I would rather see someone able to juggle/turntablism on decks incorporated into techno etc rather than someone sounding mediocre on ableton live. its not a prerequisite to play all forms but helps.

one may also be restricting themselves with what they can do within a particular format (music output wise/skills etc) by jumping at the chance of getting something newer quickly.

I don't think records are deed and buried. but i like to watch the artist i'm looking at do some amazing things visually (controlling the music) as well as musically. I'm scared that newer formats will give artist the option of how much they "feel like" playing live and how much is just automated. with old instruments like guitars artists were forced to play completely manually, i.e Hendrix with the guitar etc - looks and sounds amazing to me - nowadays artists have so many layers not all can be controlled at the same time manually - which kinda removes some o the magic away for me..

Isn't that any why your average uneducated joe blogs likes hardware better than software, cos you can see how much shit your doing on it (or more of it anyways) and it looks like more fun to play than software based stuff?

[dirty_bass]

nae point in being able to use them all if your shite at all of them.. I would rather see someone able to juggle/turntablism on decks incorporated into techno etc rather than someone sounding mediocre on ableton live. its not a prerequisite to play all forms but helps.

one may also be restricting themselves with what they can do within a particular format (music output wise/skills etc) by jumping at the chance of getting something newer quickly.

I don't think records are deed and buried. but i like to watch the artist i'm looking at do some amazing things visually (controlling the music) as well as musically. I'm scared that newer formats will give artist the option of how much they "feel like" playing live and how much is just automated. with old instruments like guitars artists were forced to play completely manually, i.e Hendrix with the guitar etc - looks and sounds amazing to me - nowadays artists have so many layers not all can be controlled at the same time manually - which kinda removes some o the magic away for me..

Isn't that any why your average uneducated joe blogs likes hardware better than software, cos you can see how much shit your doing on it (or more of it anyways) and it looks like more fun to play than software based stuff?

Interesting way of looking at things.
And yes, the new formats can, if the "artist" in unscrupulous, be very automated.
But then it`s up to those in the know to keep these people in check really.
Both the promoters and the Punters should keep aware of what is happening.
I`ve seen many hardware live acts miming liive. Most of the psytrance lot play from dat and mime.
The infamous Lab 4, famed for their live act (and very nice guys) totally fake it, play a CD and just mime behind mountains of keyboards.
So the technology is almost irrelevent, people will get away with faking it, if we let them.
Lets not lose too much perspective though, how hard is it really to play 2 records together? It`s not that much of a physical task either.
However, the whole point of a DJ is to play music that gets people moving by playing great music. Why do we expect them to perform now?
Is the music so droll we are bored of dancing and now need to stare at the DJ and wait for them to entertain us like a dancing monkey?
The dance music scene has always been driven by the music, and when it becomes driven by the cult of personality, it becomes wrong in my opinion, and we get people like Tiesto and that whole crock of shit that comes with it.
It slowly becomes another form of pop music then.
Dancing monkeys and organ grinders.

[clubsynthetic]

Interesting way of looking at things.
And yes, the new formats can, if the "artist" in unscrupulous, be very automated.
But then it`s up to those in the know to keep these people in check really.
Both the promoters and the Punters should keep aware of what is happening.
I`ve seen many hardware live acts miming liive. Most of the psytrance lot play from dat and mime.
The infamous Lab 4, famed for their live act (and very nice guys) totally fake it, play a CD and just mime behind mountains of keyboards.
So the technology is almost irrelevent, people will get away with faking it, if we let them.
Lets not lose too much perspective though, how hard is it really to play 2 records together? It`s not that much of a physical task either.
However, the whole point of a DJ is to play music that gets people moving by playing great music. Why do we expect them to perform now?
Is the music so droll we are bored of dancing and now need to stare at the DJ and wait for them to entertain us like a dancing monkey?
The dance music scene has always been driven by the music, and when it becomes driven by the cult of personality, it becomes wrong in my opinion, and we get people like Tiesto and that whole crock of shit that comes with it.
It slowly becomes another form of pop music then.
Dancing monkeys and organ grinders.

i suppose technology isn't important at all, just what one is doing with it. I just get the feeling that the more technology allows one to be lazy, the more one will be in general.

The reason i expect djs to perform is the fact that thats what separates them these days from any other old dj. Indeed, the music is the most important thing. I just cream when i see a good performer play good music. As long as the music is good. If not, the artist in question looks very, very bad. I think its charisma what gets me by the baws.

i would have given my right arm for Gayle San when i seen her play at dogma.