Joris Voorn on the future of DJing

[SlavikSvensk]

interesting interview

*Do you still beatmatch?
No I don’t do any pitching at all. All my tracks have beat markers and the computer beatmatches for me.

*People say that’s not the true essence of DJing. Beatmatching is something DJs should do.
What is the definition of DJing?
That is a question that we, as a scene, are trying to answer now. I’ll admit it did feel quite awkward when I stood on stage for the first time after so many years of playing CDs and vinyl, and didn’t have to beatmatch. I suddenly had a lot more time on my hands. The weird thing is that people think DJing is beatmatching. But by letting the computer take care of timing, you can concentrate on the music.

*So what’s your definition of DJing?
DJing is playing music for people. It is knowing what music to play, and when to play it. It’s about being creative with the music you play and making it your own. It’s about making people dance, that’s it. Some things about DJing will never change. For instance, it will always have to be done in real-time. You will always have to plan two or three records ahead.

*Couldn’t the computer just do it all? You could just turn up and press ‘play’?
At the end of the day, you’re also there for your own fun. If you ever find yourself just pressing ‘play’ and not controlling the music in real-time, then you should probably find something else to do.

Joris Voorn Interview About the Future of DJing | DMb | Dance Music blog

[davethedrummer]

Really good answers aren't they?
I know people moan and groan about the beatmatching thing
but he's right, essentially a DJ has to be able to do his thing in real time
and make those choices of tunes, and no, you can't program a computer to do it for you
there's just too many variables, you have to be there selecting it yourself.

the old dub dj's never used to mix , in fact they normally only had one deck :
play the vocal side
play a silly noise with a wozzle ( sound fx ) box whilst flipping it over
play the dub on the b side ( mc chats over the top at this point )

REWIND SELECTA !!!!!

[CTRLS]

and no, you can't program a computer to do it for you
there's just too many variables, you have to be there selecting it yourself.

you seen those radio sites that learn your musical taste? they're getting pretty good at it. in theory if you collect enough data to predict a club crowd... worryingly, you probably can program a computer to perform an alright set, selecting tunes and mixing by itself, in a few years. sorry to hijack but can you imagine going out to see a computer spin? i don't know whether to be scared or excited :lol:

[qUE]

you seen those radio sites that learn your musical taste? they're getting pretty good at it. in theory if you collect enough data to predict a club crowd... worryingly, you probably can program a computer to perform an alright set, selecting tunes and mixing by itself, in a few years. sorry to hijack but can you imagine going out to see a computer spin? i don't know whether to be scared or excited :lol:

You are way too close to the truth. I'm a developer of live music production systems, fortunately the only things I allow for pre-production wise are pre-note/sound sequencing, maybe human impossible effecting and nothing else. I personally feel you're cheating an audience if you make it so you can literally press a key and everything happens. Ableton/equivelent currently allows you to do this with sounds and effects, it's far too easy to sit there with pre-sequenced loops and effects and just wave your arms then maybe press a key. The only thing missing at the moment is switching the laptop on, pressing a key and going and jumping around in the audience. Maybe next? If not now?

The fact is, who has the name, who's making the money? It's as far from underground as you can get.

[davethedrummer]

you seen those radio sites that learn your musical taste? they're getting pretty good at it. in theory if you collect enough data to predict a club crowd... worryingly, you probably can program a computer to perform an alright set, selecting tunes and mixing by itself, in a few years. sorry to hijack but can you imagine going out to see a computer spin? i don't know whether to be scared or excited :lol:

like the "genius" on itunes you mean ?
unfortunately at the moment , because all my tracks are either promos or underground techno tracks
the old itunes "genius " still can't work out what the **** I am listening to.
every time I've tried it (for a laugh )
it's said something along the lines of: "sorry mate but if you started listening to PROPER music I could help you"

but I'm sure it won't be long before we can all upload our curret chart to the event website
and they can program an automatic "dj BOt" to mix it all for us

the worlds first automated rave?

the only thing is you don't have to pay the DJ
or put up with their shitty attitudes or drunken behaviour.

next step : get rid of the need to have people at the event at all.

[CTRLS]

like the "genius" on itunes you mean ?
unfortunately at the moment , because all my tracks are either promos or underground techno tracks
the old itunes "genius " still can't work out what the **** I am listening to.
every time I've tried it (for a laugh )
it's said something along the lines of: "sorry mate but if you started listening to PROPER music I could help you"

but I'm sure it won't be long before we can all upload our curret chart to the event website
and they can program an automatic "dj BOt" to mix it all for us

the worlds first automated rave?

the only thing is you don't have to pay the DJ
or put up with their shitty attitudes or drunken behaviour.

next step : get rid of the need to have people at the event at all.

i didnt even know itunes had one. there are ones that handle drum'n'bass pretty well at least. i'm a dj as well and am not crazy about robots taking over my job but arent you at least curious to see how good a computer can dj and if its potentially better then humans? i am.

[CTRLS]

I essentially agree and i love a well done ableton/traktor set but i still think it's got ways to go as far as sound quality is concerned, and traktor/ableton mixes also tend to feel really stiff compared to nicely beatmatched mixes. Unless something really drastic happens, tempomapping/timestreteching/warping will always mean a loss in sound quality and i'm not a fan of how it tends to lock everything with an iron grasp to the tempo. its convenient but not very funky. Also, the fact that all the music (more or less) is being done on computers with digital plugins now means the highs are harsher then they were a decade ago, timestretching will only make this worse.

If you've got your gear in order, like summing through an allen & heath or something and knowing what fx generate evil highs and things like that, you can get things sounding pretty decent. that almost requires sound engineer/producer level skills though and most laptop djs wont have those. i've seen quite a few laptop sets that really fell short and i think we'll be seeing more of those in the future untill either experience or technology fixes that soundquality issue.

[Darkmode]

I agree he made some very good points I'm turning to digital DJ'ing I know how to beat match & I know how to program a set I don't need to prove my self on the decks with vinyl

I'm looking forward to getting into digital DJ'ing as it looks like a lot of fun & looks very creative with what you can do with it

I know there is a lot of vinyl purists turn their noses up at digital DJ'ing saying it's not real DJ'ing or that it's cheating but it's best to let people like that get on with it as they will only get left behind

I'm starting to feel limited using vinly as there is loads of good music getting released that is digital releases only

[Igneous]

I agree with most of what you've said Darkmode.

The last gig I played at, in feb, there were no turntables in the building. I had to struggle through my set on the latest pioneer cd decks which I'd only used once before.

I think these days, people should just try to ignore the format that people are playing music on & just judge the music on what they hear. If it sounds phat then it doesn't matter how the DJ is doing it. The last couple of parties I've been to the best set have been on the 1s & 2s funnly enough though.

The only slight consern I have is the cost of being a current DJ these days. Your looking at a couple of grand at least to get a Macbook, the software & hardware just to get started in digital. I just can't afford to spend that much on a hobby.

[The_Laughing_Man]

I agree with most of what you've said Darkmode.

The last gig I played at, in feb, there were no turntables in the building. I had to struggle through my set on the latest pioneer cd decks which I'd only used once before.

I think these days, people should just try to ignore the format that people are playing music on & just judge the music on what they hear. If it sounds phat then it doesn't matter how the DJ is doing it. The last couple of parties I've been to the best set have been on the 1s & 2s funnly enough though.

The only slight consern I have is the cost of being a current DJ these days. Your looking at a couple of grand at least to get a Macbook, the software & hardware just to get started in digital. I just can't afford to spend that much on a hobby.

You don`t need a macbook
A well set up pc will serve you just as well.
I`ve never had my set up crash and I`ve been playing live pa`s for years.

[DannyBlack]

Playing music for people who want to dance. Format is no issue any more really.

[Technologic]

Playing music for people who want to dance. Format is no issue any more really.

This.

The prefered format is entirely down to the artist, some love vinyl, some love, CD's etc etc, just personal preference really and when it comes to the crunch, it doesn't really matter as long as people are having fun.

[SlavikSvensk]

i thought the interview was really interesting, and he has a major point to make...if you don't have to beatmatch anymore, why bother?

i get it and i agree, in many ways. most djs, particularly those who are concerned primarily with record selection and smooth mixes, are better served by digital media and technology than traditional turntable mixing. not beatmatching frees you to do a lot of other stuff, and to expand the experience you give the audience in many ways.

that said, there is a certain spontaneity and energy that i've only ever seen with a dj using turntables. jeff mills circa "live at the liquid room," derrick may when he's not bored, clade young, ben sims, etc. taking that "danger" out of the set saps the energy. so i think there will always be a place for traditional turntable mixing, and i will always get a special enjoyment out of seeing a truly masterful dj.

[Darkmode]

At the end of the day it don't matter what you use as long as you play good music & get people dancing


years ago when the electric guitar first came out people who played with acoustic guitar slated the electric guitar saying it wasent real guitar playing

also the same when the synthesizer came out people said music made with a synthesizer wasent real music

which is a bit simular to people who saying DJ'ing with a laptop isn't real DJ'ing

musical instruments & music technology has changed & moved forward through the years to which gives artists the tools to be more creative & I don't see anything wrong with it at tall!

[markandrew]

At the end of the day it don't matter what you use as long as you play good music & get people dancing

been saying this all along digital djing is where its going but vinyl is gettin phased out tho if you think beatmatchings important theres Digital Vinyl Systems if it aint then ableton alot of venues don t have 1210s anymore just cdjs

[SlavikSvensk]

what someone plays and how they play it are two separate issues IMO.

At the end of the day it don't matter what you use as long as you play good music & get people dancing

years ago when the electric guitar first came out people who played with acoustic guitar slated the electric guitar saying it wasent real guitar playing

also the same when the synthesizer came out people said music made with a synthesizer wasent real music

which is a bit simular to people who saying DJ'ing with a laptop isn't real DJ'ing

musical instruments & music technology has changed & moved forward through the years to which gives artists the tools to be more creative & I don't see anything wrong with it at tall!

interesting analogy. of course, acoustic guitars have remained relevant musically, so i'd argue traditional DJing will as well.

[basslinejunkie]

i find it hard to take anything he says seriously,considering he once was an excellent techno dj and now plays borderline house. and shit house at that.

[lunatrick]

I think the guys very talented - frankly he can play how he likes - esp as he's probably playing a lot of his own productions anyway, in which case the lines between a dj set and a live PA are blurred.

However when I see Rithie Hawtin mixing on four decks with no headphones on just playing a bassline here and a beat there and f*cking about with effects (badly imo) it does make you wonder....but perhaps thats just Ritchies problem. :)

I've moved to Traktor scratch and there's no way I would go back, I use it in vinyl emulation mode so I'm still mixing live. The effects are good and also it's much cheaper as I'm only forking out for one track for £1.50 instead of 6 or 7 quid for maybe only one track I want. Also there's no problem with getting parcels delivered - just so much easier. I can spend ten or 15 quid and feel like I've got half a new record box.

@Igneous - I use a Dell laptop and once you tweak it (switch the wireless card off and play about with the latency) it works fine.

has anybody heard the rumours that Technics are stopping manufacturing of 1200's/1210's soon?

[Igneous]

@Igneous - I use a Dell laptop and once you tweak it (switch the wireless card off and play about with the latency) it works fine.

Cheers for the tip. I've got a Dell laptop, might have to look into getting some software & hardware. I had Final Scratch for a couple of years which was good but the software went haywire on my puter so I got rid.

[lunatrick]

Cheers for the tip. I've got a Dell laptop, might have to look into getting some software & hardware. I had Final Scratch for a couple of years which was good but the software went haywire on my puter so I got rid.

you do really need to dedicate the laptop to it to get the best setup...but even one a few years old should handle it esp. if you get the external audio-8 interface which is excellent.