IDM Mailing Archive

On Wed, 19 Jul 1995, Kent Williams wrote:

quoted 2 lines Doh! T's a nice kid but he's either been kept in a barrel for

> Doh! T's a nice kid but he's either been kept in a barrel for > most of his childhood or he's dumb as a sack of hammers.

It's not that uncommon among DJ's to not understand musical structure. Almost every time I go out these days I hear a DJ mix together two tracks that are off measure. House and techno tends to stay around 8 measure progressions and it sounds funky when a DJ isn't aware of this and drops in a track on the wrong measure. Just last weekend my partner and I played at a party at a friends house where the DJ mixed two tracks which were on the wrong beat in the measure! This guy was somebody who was getting flown all over the country to spin and he can't even figure out where in the measure he is! Oh well. I'm not a classicly trained musician myself but that's rediculous! -robert --> __ _ _ _____ _____ _____ / _\ | || || _ \|_ _|/ _ \ / /_\\ | -- || |_) | _| |_ | (_) | ______________ /______\\____/|_____/|_____|\_____/ ( *electronic* ) "Thanks for the technical data. It sure is nice to read something useful for once, instead of all that noise about useless Roland x0x boxes." -metlay

On Wed, 19 Jul 1995, rbcIII wrote:

quoted 6 lines Almost every time I go out these days I hear a DJ mix together two tracks

> Almost every time I go out these days I hear a DJ mix together two tracks > that are off measure. House and techno tends to stay around 8 measure > progressions and it sounds funky when a DJ isn't aware of this and drops > in a track on the wrong measure. Just last weekend my partner and I > > Oh well. I'm not a classicly trained musician myself but that's rediculous!

Back in the old days, DJ magazines would print the BPM and the key of the track. A good DJ knew how much a track would transpose when sped up or down, and would try to keep things in key and sounding "right". Nowadays, records are slapped on the wheels 'o steel at random (or so it seems). Sometimes it's cool, most of the time it's shit. There's a lot of wankers spinning records who ain't DJs in my book. While we're slagging lack of skills, there's a major trend towards not tuning the bassline to fit the rest of the song. For instance, the bassline of Seefeel's "Spangle" on AI2 is a 1/4 step (1/2 a note) flat. If you're going to do the rest of the song in the traditional Western 12 tone scale, for God's sake tune the bassline too. In Rock and other genres of music, Producers are paid to listen & fix stupid shit like this, but since Techno is all self-produced, some really awful stuff slips by. Granted, most people don't even notice this out of tune bassline stuff, (humans have a harder time distinguishing pitch at lower frequencies) at least consciously, but after talking to a lot of people about it, and pointing it out to them, I've decided that many of them eventually decide the track is fucked up, and quit listen to it. Anyway, enough griping. Tune your basses, please (transpose up two octaves - that makes it easier). chill che

quoted 5 lines Me: For you, Tyson, it's four beats, y'know BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.

>Me: For you, Tyson, it's four beats, y'know BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. >T: Can I come over to your house and you can teach me this stuff? > >Doh! T's a nice kid but he's either been kept in a barrel for >most of his childhood or he's dumb as a sack of hammers.

Put it this way, most dj's I know barely know how a PA system works...ie. whys it so bad to have the levels max'd out? hey look, it's our store... temple of sound imports/711 yates st./victoria b.c./v8w1c6/vox 604-920-0869 fax 604-380-0121. some stuff we do on CFUV FM 102 (Victoria B.C.) LOUNGE WORLD sat.night 3-6am (eettss ammbient!!!) <==2 years old in june!!! and some stuff friends do on said station ESCAPE VELOCITY alt friday nights 10:30-12:30 (much much faster than...) also. GRAVITY, Victoria's very own ambient coffee-house on at 9pm sunday nights at Java Tea b& Coffee house.

In my day, a DJ just FELT it, not ascribing Juilliard music school theory to what is essentially a ghetto innovation (the entire concept of two turntables, a mixer, and playing your own tracks; be it hip hop, house, or reggae dub plates). You're so precious. DJ T-1000 --just feelin' it, baby

On Jul 24, 12:24pm, DJT1000@aol.com wrote:

quoted 6 lines Subject: Re: True Encounters with the rave Generation

> Subject: Re: True Encounters with the rave Generation > In my day, a DJ just FELT it, not ascribing Juilliard music school > theory to what is essentially a ghetto innovation (the entire > concept of two turntables, a mixer, and playing your own tracks; be > it hip hop, house, or reggae dub plates). >

Well far be it from me to sneer at people who teach themselves, as being self taught means you come up with your own way of doing things. But you have to know SOMETHING -- you have to at least have some vocabulary common to the rest of the species with respect to the subject at hand. I marvel at the idea of a kid who made it through 18 years of school and home life without absorbing even the most fundamental concepts. Too much TV or something.

quoted 2 lines You're so precious.

> You're so precious. >

Why thank you. I think.

quoted 1 line DJ T-1000

> DJ T-1000

Respect to the Detroit crew, AO! -- I'm a good little doggy! kent.williams@cadsi.com [Kent Williams/CADSI/2651 Crosspark Rd/Coralville IA 52241/(319)626-6700]

quoted 1 line You're so precious.

>You're so precious.

I hear that.

quoted 2 lines DJ T-1000

>DJ T-1000 >--just feelin' it, baby