OK forgive me some quick shameless self-promotion.
Firstly, my nightclub Berserk is on March 20th at the Burdekin; the special theme is horror, so dust off those vampire fangs or serial killer masks and start practicing your scary face / voice.
Secondly, things are progressing with my solo music project, Scalar. I've uploaded a couple of new songs to the myspace: Nebulaic (will not be on the forthcoming album) and Isolation Space (will be on the forthcoming album). I've also arranged for mastering, so the album is on its way to production and should be coming out in the next few months! Exciting stuff. Go have a listen and see what you think. Influences would include Black Lung, Architect, S:Cage, Converter, all that Hymen / Ant-Zen kind of stuff.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Should industrial DJs beatmix?
OK I'm returning to this blog in 2010 with what I think / hope will be a controversial topic: should industrial DJs beatmix? I'll start off by making my viewpoint clear, then come up with some justifications.
I think that industrial DJs don't have to beatmix, but it is a good thing if they do, and they don't have much of an excuse if they don't / can't.
When I decided I was going to be an industrial DJ, I bought a pair of decks and a mixer (off a friend, for a good price I'll admit), and taught myself how to beatmix. For those who don't know what it is, beatmixing is a standard technique of DJing where a DJ playing a song mixes the next song in at the same speed and on the beat so there is a seamless transition between songs. Pretty much any DJ in any style of electronic dance music will know what this is and know how to do it. Yet many industrial DJs do not and do not know how to do it. Why? And is this ok?
I generally beatmix my songs. Sometimes I don't. If I have a song I want to play at a point in a mix and it just doesn't fit in the BPM spectrum (it's impossible to beatmix a song that is more than 10% or so BPM faster or slower than the song you're currently playing), then I won't. If I am finishing a set on a song that I just want to go and dance to, rather than fit in with a set / mix, then I often won't. But generally I beatmix. Why? Two reasons.
First: It makes sets sound better. It just does. People like the sound of songs in a mix flowing together. It works and helps make the set sound like a mix of great music, rather than a random mp3 jukebox.
Second: It helps you introduce new music to a crowd. Really? Yes. If I play random song X by random band Y that nobody has heard before, it might not go down well and people might drift off and get drinks etc and never give the song a go. If I play well-known club hit Z and beatmix into random song X by random band Y, then people who are dancing to well-known song Z will, in fact will be forced to, dance to song X, because you are playing them both at the same time. This is something I've noticed many times. Nobody likes to leave the floor while their favourite song is still playing, and if you are playing two tracks at the same time, then they have to dance to the random unheard one, and they may well continue dancing to the new random one since they are already there and have been dancing to it (kind of against their will) for the last 30 seconds.
So it seems like it can be a good thing to do. Is it hard? No.
DJing is not that hard. Even beatmixing is not that hard. It's not as hard as learning to play an instrument, or learning how to play a sport or a dance style or a trade. It's really not that difficult. You need to be able to count, to have a basic sense of rhythm, and to understand (at a basic level) phrasing. Anyone can count and can be quickly taught to understand phrasing and with a bit of practice get a sense of rhythm and timing.
Can I play some good industrial music without beatmixing? Of course. Many people have done so and will do. But seeing as it is such a trivially easy skill to learn (I taught myself in a couple of months, and could have done so much more quickly if I'd put more time into it), I can't see much excuse for not being able to do so, especially when it can really help a set work and give the dancers / punters a better time.
Thoughts?
I think that industrial DJs don't have to beatmix, but it is a good thing if they do, and they don't have much of an excuse if they don't / can't.
When I decided I was going to be an industrial DJ, I bought a pair of decks and a mixer (off a friend, for a good price I'll admit), and taught myself how to beatmix. For those who don't know what it is, beatmixing is a standard technique of DJing where a DJ playing a song mixes the next song in at the same speed and on the beat so there is a seamless transition between songs. Pretty much any DJ in any style of electronic dance music will know what this is and know how to do it. Yet many industrial DJs do not and do not know how to do it. Why? And is this ok?
I generally beatmix my songs. Sometimes I don't. If I have a song I want to play at a point in a mix and it just doesn't fit in the BPM spectrum (it's impossible to beatmix a song that is more than 10% or so BPM faster or slower than the song you're currently playing), then I won't. If I am finishing a set on a song that I just want to go and dance to, rather than fit in with a set / mix, then I often won't. But generally I beatmix. Why? Two reasons.
First: It makes sets sound better. It just does. People like the sound of songs in a mix flowing together. It works and helps make the set sound like a mix of great music, rather than a random mp3 jukebox.
Second: It helps you introduce new music to a crowd. Really? Yes. If I play random song X by random band Y that nobody has heard before, it might not go down well and people might drift off and get drinks etc and never give the song a go. If I play well-known club hit Z and beatmix into random song X by random band Y, then people who are dancing to well-known song Z will, in fact will be forced to, dance to song X, because you are playing them both at the same time. This is something I've noticed many times. Nobody likes to leave the floor while their favourite song is still playing, and if you are playing two tracks at the same time, then they have to dance to the random unheard one, and they may well continue dancing to the new random one since they are already there and have been dancing to it (kind of against their will) for the last 30 seconds.
So it seems like it can be a good thing to do. Is it hard? No.
DJing is not that hard. Even beatmixing is not that hard. It's not as hard as learning to play an instrument, or learning how to play a sport or a dance style or a trade. It's really not that difficult. You need to be able to count, to have a basic sense of rhythm, and to understand (at a basic level) phrasing. Anyone can count and can be quickly taught to understand phrasing and with a bit of practice get a sense of rhythm and timing.
Can I play some good industrial music without beatmixing? Of course. Many people have done so and will do. But seeing as it is such a trivially easy skill to learn (I taught myself in a couple of months, and could have done so much more quickly if I'd put more time into it), I can't see much excuse for not being able to do so, especially when it can really help a set work and give the dancers / punters a better time.
Thoughts?
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