quoted 6 lines The derisive snort is also exactly what I'm talking about. DJ's> The derisive snort is also exactly what I'm talking about. DJ's
> realize that being a good, recognized DJ means something. It means you've
> proven yourself in a way most others can't. In my version of the future,
> being a good, recognized DJ won't mean that you had negotiated any rite of
> passage but simply that you have what it takes up top - an emphasis I would
> like to see more of.
It'll do the same to DJ'ing as sequencers did to music making....
Sequencers mean that pretty much everyone has the technical skills to
make music, without having to endure the "right of passage" of
learning to play an instrument. It means that the genuinely creative
people out there are producing innovative music that couldn't have
been made without the new technology. It also means that any kid can
make a techno choon in their bedroom, without requiring any genuine
talent, so there's a lot more crap out there too.
Something which removes the techincal skills from DJ'ing will have the
same effect: all the good DJ's will use the technology to do creative
things that would never have been possible before, and maybe there'll
be a *few* really good new DJ's who'd have been detered by the
difficulty of using vinyl. But there'll be lots of new button-pushing
DJ's who have no creative skill at all....
The advantage of the right of passage is that it weeds out those who
aren't commited to what they're doing.... It means that if you go and
listen to a DJ who's bothered to learn to beatmatch well, they
probably really *care* about the set they're playing.... In your
brave new world, that won't be true.... The best will be better, but
the norm will be mediocre....
Cosmic