"Brock @ Motormouthmedia" wrote:
quoted 5 lines My 0.02 - it's difficult to actually DJ this stuff and do it well (simple> My 0.02 - it's difficult to actually DJ this stuff and do it well (simple
> crossfades don't count in my book, even ambient DJ's will do more than that,
> layering and using effects and eq's), only a few folks I know of like
> Mixmaster Morris and DJ Lovegrove (Sonic Soul, DC) can pull it off on the
> technique tip and spin interesting records at the same time.
When I first started djing, I though mixing artists like autechre, afx,
squarepusher was just about impossible. Then when I finally learned how
to beatmatch more straight ahead techno and jungle, I found that IDM
wasn't that much harder, you just have to pay a bit more attention
because things aren't always so straight forward. Also, people in IDM
land are a bit more open to using strange time signatures, which always
makes things really interesting. Nowdays, to me, mixing ae is as easy
as mixing dave clark...
The other thing that makes it a bit harder then your average house music
is that the range of tempos that you'll come across is extreme. I've
seen morris go smoothly from jungle to triphop to electro to super slow
crunchy beats. Some of these tempo changes you can easily make (ie:
triphop to jungle) and some you can't. That's when serious creative
mixing comes into play. Don't be afraid to do things like move the
pitch control while the records playing or go from 33 to 45 in a
breakdown.
quoted 5 lines From my own experience, it's kind of unrewarding to be an idm DJ in that you> From my own experience, it's kind of unrewarding to be an idm DJ in that you
> can't pull off a lot of the "tricks" that work so well with other
> styles...scratch-style mixing usually disturbs the flow of the track unless
> it's subtle, and doing stuff like dropping out the bass or tweaking the eq
> just isn't as effective as when you're working with bass-heavy, 4/4 rhythms.
Occasionally, I rather enjoy doing tricks with this kind of music,
including cutting, scratching and going to town on the mixer (especially
if it's a djm500). Also, I think it's pretty damn rewarding when you've
got two crunchy/clicky/distorted/melodical tunes locked in and talking
to each other.
quoted 3 lines And while fluid beatmatching is prolly the best mixing style with this kind> And while fluid beatmatching is prolly the best mixing style with this kind
> of music, it's often difficult because tracks have odd rhythms or sound so
> dissimilar it's nearly impossible to make'em blend well.
Same as any other genre, some tunes work in the mix and some don't.
That's the hard part: knowing what to mix/how to mix it and what not to
mix/how to cheesebox it.
quoted 10 lines On one hand, I love this music for that very reason and it's a challenge to> On one hand, I love this music for that very reason and it's a challenge to
> spin it out. But on the other, it's hard to play idm to a crowd and get any
> kind of reaction other than a trainspotting neck craning over the decks. I
> kind of got jaded about all that a year or so ago, stopped buying as many
> straight-up idm records (the music also started to bore me), and playing
> more electro/techno/deep house sounds. Somewhat more engaging to actually
> DJ, and certainly more effective when you play it live to a crowd. So it's
> kind of a catch 22, some of the best music can be some of the most boring to
> spin as a DJ. Any other idm jocks (Lance, Teep, etc?) have opinions on
> this?
I'll agree with you. I used to buy 5:1 idm to everything else.
Nowdays, I find it rare if I pick up something that would strictly fall
under the heading 'IDM'. Straight ahead dance music can be more
engaging to spin because you get more immediate feedback, in the form of
dancing. But I still get more of a charge of playing
ambient/downtempo/dub/etc because I'm a big stoner and I like it like
that.
:-)
the other brock.
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