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?
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Good post.
ReplyDeleteMy opinions on DJing come from the more pure dance music worlds, such as the psy scene.
In these scenes, the type of style you play defines the parties you play at and the time at which you play. If you get known for playing prog, you play during the day. If you play 155+BPM dark Russian stuff, you get the pre-dawn set. People see the DJ names on flyers and they know what to expect.
I tend to think this makes more sense than every 45-60min set having it's own journey from 128-145BPM. So in this sense I think each DJ's set should consist of matierial at a similar BPM and therefore yes, the DJs should beatmix it.
Having said this, I can also take a great deal of pleasure in having a few beers while listening to a DJ play music that is nostalgic. Like some Depeche Mode or NIN while talking shit with friends. This is obviously not possible to be beatmixed, but if one were to play this kind of stuff primarily then they really shouldn't call themselves a "DJ" as such. I mean sure the people providing this music are technically disc jockeys but in this day & age it's really not enough to cut it. While this kind of thing has it's place, it's not progressing the scene, in fact it's regressing it, and it's just background comfort-music. And to move forward and provide a satisfying club experience, the music needs to be decidedly more engaging. And this means, IMHO, seeking new music, defining a style, progressing the scene and fxxking beatmixing! :)
Great article. Coming from the angle of a non-DJ who is a musician that would like to DJ one day...I personally am not a big fan of DJs that are pretty much just Winamp on shuffle mode. But it has its place.
ReplyDeleteBasically I see DJing as having many levels, ranging from putting on a vinyl and pressing play (which almost anybody can do) all the way up to people that do tricks, and use multiple decks simultaneously. As a musician, as a creative person, and as someone that questions and thinks and analyses things, I appreciate it a lot more to watch someone perform using skills that required time and effort to learn.
Put another way...if I pay $100 for an event, I expect to see someone do something that most people can't do. If I pay $10 for an event I'm not fussed. For a club, I go to hang out with friends and dance to music that sounds good. Most of the time I don't care what the DJ is doing. But it does add to the experience if the DJ plays something new and fresh to my ears (i.e. mixing together 2 different songs), if the DJ is dancing and having a good time on stage, if the DJ uses "alternative controllers" (kaoss pads, ableton launchpad, drum machines, the list goes on).
One other thing is that...if I don't know the songs, then how do I tell the difference beween what is played exactly as is, and what is being mixed? Most of the time, people can't see what the DJ is doing, let along understand. Many times, you see a DJ fiddling with things without affecting what you hear. Yes I know sometimes you are just listening to the other deck on headphone :)
I could go on about this forever! So to summarise, and bring it back to the scope of industrial DJs....I assume you mean at local clubs like Berzerk and Die Maschine etc, I don't mind if the DJs don't beatmix, but it would be a lot nicer if they did :)
-Ben X Tan
http://benxtan.com