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?
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’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.
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. . .”
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.
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.
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