DJs who use fake turntables/don't mix -Fraud?

I like to dance. I especially like House because I think it really shows who’s a good a DJ and who’s not.

I’ve noticed that a lot of “DJ’s” unpack a boat load of equipment but mostly they are playing digital pre mixes. I’ve even seen them fake “scratching”. A lot of people don’t seem to have a problem with this, and I do know that some digital turntables allow you to mix digitally - I’m not really talking about that.

What’s the point in buying all of this expensive equipment if you’re essentially playing from your Ipod? Is it THAT easy to be a DJ?

yes, DJing is that easy. You ever listen to music at home and dance to it? Did you do a bad job of it?

When I’m the DJ, only good songs get played. I’ve never had this happen with any other DJ. Funny how that works.

I just can’t get my head around the notion that anyone would deliberately scratch an LP. That’s like a mortal sin where I come from.

Scratching noises from LPs are strictly humorous sound effects that denote an unpleasant back-to-reality crash from a pleasant daydream. Even then, the disrespect that is being shown toward the vinyl makes me cringe.

I don’t think they’re actually putting scratches on the LP, at least not deliberately. Check it out.

I’ve caught djs faking scratching too. Most real hip hop shows these days are a very specific thing, though. When I go to a real hip hop show, I will see real cutting and scratching.

If I’m at a regular club, I won’t. That is why I don’t go to regular hip hop clubs anymore. I do go to reggae/dancehall clubs, and they do have the real turn tables up there along with the computer. Sometimes they fake it, sometimes they don’t.

One might almost think that they are not proper musicians! :eek:

If I’m DJing at home, I can’t really dance, because I’m busy with the turntables.

It’s not the same thing as just choosing recorded music to play–though the same term is used to mean that, in contexts other than dance music.

That’s not what “scratching” means.

I was working at a pharmacy some years back, and one of the student pharmacists said she was going to Chicago for a week with her fiance. I said something like, “Great, Chicago’s supposed to have a great music scene!” She said, “Yeah, me and my boyfriend are going to see this one DJ. . .”

And my soul broke.

Going. To CHICAGO! To see. An effin’ DJ.

AAAAAGGGGHHHHH! Fingerprints all over the vinyl! Almost as bad as making scratchy noises!

People. Only handle a record at its edges. Discwasher is a good product, but it can’t perform miracles.

Yes, yes, we get it. Hip hop isn’t real music.

I get the feeling that you’re being disingenuous.

Didn’t say that.

I will say that a turntable isn’t a real musical instrument, though. :stuck_out_tongue:

It sounds like she knew more than you did. Chicago is one of the great centers of dance music. Consider the third and fourth items on this program of music events at the Chicago History Museum. Or this feature story from the Reader.

Fair enough. I think Chicago is just one-half of a word, with the second half being “blues.”

This brief post in a forum frequented by sound mixers perfectly illustrates the problem:

http://www.sactalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1053&p=3695#p3695

Exactly! exactly…smh…shameful.

It’s actually pretty damned amazing what a turntable in the hands of a skilled DJ/scratcher/whateveritistheycallthem can do. I went to one rock show to see a band that plays “real musical instruments”–and lots of them–only to be just absolutely floored by the opening act, Kid Koala. I’m purposely linking to a video with a little bit of opening banter to kind of give you a sense of his personality and some anecdotes on dj-ing, but get to the 2:10-ish part of the video if you want to see turntables really being played like an instrument.

Or here’s something directly from the soundboard with good quality. Guy fucking floored me.

ETA: Actually, I’m an idiot: Drunk trumpet would probably be the best example of him using the turntable as a more traditional melodic instrument.

I think that’s one of the things that people who havn’t experienced a good Dj don’t understand. A DJ who knows what they’re doing can floor you.

I would relate it to the experience of hearing a really good song you like on the radio that you’ve never heard before. That feeling x 20 and the songs keep coming to the point you can’t even wonder who’s it by.

Now not all people can be good. But after seeing that, and then seeing a guy getting a paid gig to stand around with equipment not plugged in…it makes me feel some sort of way

I know exactly what you mean.