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What constitutes a good DJ?

What do you guys think makes a DJ good? Is it mixing, track selection, technical ability or is it something more intrinsic like the ability to move the crowd?

"Tresor never sleeps"

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has to be mixing
Howcome hardly anyone in this section of the forums

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Originally posted by DJ Mindphyx has to be mixing Howcome hardly anyone in this section of the forums

we're just starting out.

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"Tresor never sleeps"

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I think it is a (mix of track selection + mixing) * moving the crowd = one hell of a good dj.

Also in my personal opinion a DJ with a good disposition is gonna just rock the house. You can feel the vibe just comming out of them when they are happy like that.

Yo it's fuquacking.

Last edited by fumanchu182 on 07-29-2003 at 11:34 PM

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Mixing and tracck selection

Forget About The Drama, Its All About the Muzik

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Originally posted by translucent What do you guys think makes a DJ good? Is it mixing, track selection, technical ability or is it something more intrinsic like the ability to move the crowd?

all those make-up a good dj.
a good dj wouldn't exist with one of those qualities missing.
except for maybe technical ability. a dj can still rock the house with just good records and tables, and nothing else.

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64 BIT MONSTER

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Someone like Mark EG just watching him is ehough!

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IT depends on the party Ruben. I believe you refer to the clubby atmospheres. However, I've spun at house parties where you're mixing abilities don't mean much at all. It could be smooth as butter but you'd get dirty looks if you weren't spinning the latest pop-mercial tracks. Recently I spun at a party where I was throwing Hindi Bollywood tunes using the Cue & Stop buttons only!! :O

At the end of the day it's the ability to move a crowd.

Raj
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LEVEL :: Progressive Weekly :: Toka Lounge :: rajdeep Ori Tails James

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all of the above make a killer DJ, but if you cant mix you are not gonna cut it!

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Track selection---
feeling the crowd---
Creating a mood-----

mixing is just a prerequisite

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I would say the ability to move the crowd is essential. You can have the best taste in music...and mixing to boot but if nobody is dancing, and not just dancing...going into a trance like state...you've still got ways to go as a dj. Track selection is important, but if you cannot switch between the planned order/mood of the set to something that the "crowd" wants...it means you need more practice. I agree with RobSig that "mixing is just a prerequisite." A mistake here and there is ok, but we know when you trainrecked But at the end of a set, it's all about us losing control to the music that mattered.

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Being able to read a crowd. No matter how great you are at mixing and track selection, you have to have that natural ability to know what the crowd wants and when it is a good time to mix it up/surprise them a bit. I don't think this is something that can be learned...either you know how to do it or you don't. I once saw a show where the energy was way up, then all of the sudden a Tony Bennett song was mixed in. It was the perfect switch to chill the crowd down for a few minutes, get them ready for another build up. Never would expect a Tony Bennett song to keep a club moving but it did. Ended up being the highlight of almost everyone's night. So when it comes down to it, a great DJ is a great showman...they know how to captivate the crowd and keep that attention all night

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Originally posted by Tek Tric Being able to read a crowd. No matter how great you are at mixing and track selection, you have to have that natural ability to know what the crowd wants and when it is a good time to mix it up/surprise them a bit. I don't think this is something that can be learned...either you know how to do it or you don't. I once saw a show where the energy was way up, then all of the sudden a Tony Bennett song was mixed in. It was the perfect switch to chill the crowd down for a few minutes, get them ready for another build up. Never would expect a Tony Bennett song to keep a club moving but it did. Ended up being the highlight of almost everyone's night. So when it comes down to it, a great DJ is a great showman...they know how to captivate the crowd and keep that attention all night

Exactly.

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"Tresor never sleeps"

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You charisma in the booth means a lot because it makes the crowd feel like you are one of them...

Music, my drug; dance, my ecstasy.

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1. selection/reading the crowd
2. mixing
3. programming
4. tricks (i'm a sucker for these)

i agree w/most on the mixing thing, not as important as number one. . . actually, i've heard djs play out the track, drop mix or just blend into another song w/a beautiful intro. . . or fading in some crazy beatless track in b/t (is that trick or just good selection?). . .anyways, mixing is nothing if your bag aint deep

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In my opinion MIXING the right music at the right time is key. Being able to read the crowd and take them where they want to go when they want to go is important. And I can't stress MIXING enough.

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i think the both the right track selection and great mixing skills make an awesome dj, also when playing live the ability to interact with and pump up the crowd.

Trance... it's a religious experience-sky

" Dancing in the moonlight waiting for the sunrise..im not moving from the dancefloor"

Live. Love. Dance. Trance!- Sky

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People Dancing = A good DJ. Recently, people have been more focused on a DJ’s technical ability and
Track selection. Having a good track selection is important, but to some people a good track selection is having the latest music. Some DJ’s get ostracized just for playing songs that are 6months old. I’m sorry but this is ridiculous. These trends are more evident in New York and slowly surfacing in other states. What people need to understand is that a DJ is there to make you dance. Go to a club to dance and have a good time. I you want to spend the whole night critiquing sit at home and write a thesis.

"Here's my counter-offer to your counter-offer: go fuck yourself."

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Last edited by Royce Haven on 01-29-2004 at 10:15 AM

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Originally posted by Royce Haven People Dancing = A DJ. Recently, people have been more focused a DJ’s technical ability and Track selection. Having a good track selection is important, but to some people a good track selection is having the latest music. Some DJ’s get ostracized just for playing songs that are 6months old. I’m sorry but this is ridiculous. These trends are more evident in New York and slowly surfacing in other states. What people need to understand is that a DJ is there to make you dance. Go to the club to dance and have a good time. I you want to spend the whole night critiquing sit at home and write a thesis.

My setiments (sp?) exactly!!!!

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that's what i think most people mean by track selection. . . not necessarily the same white labels that circulate among the superstars or well connected. . . not the lastest CD-R of some track that won't be out until miami . . . but stuff that makes me go "ohh shit!" and get off the couch/wall/pole and DANCE. . .or just keep me dancing until i regret giving up stimulants a few weeks/months/years ago. . .

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Originally posted by Royce Haven What people need to understand is that a DJ is there to make you dance. Go to a club to dance and have a good time. I you want to spend the whole night critiquing sit at home and write a thesis.

That's why some people always have fun when they go out and some people never have fun and always leave every party with complaints about the DJ.

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good djs have fly dj hoes.

occasional provider of half-decent posts

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oh, i forgot to add that one. . .thanks j :p

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Well clean mixing isn't essential....

For me the trackselection does it..and if thats okay i forget the fact that some crossovers weren't that smooth at all. Plus if the trackselection is damn good the crowd moves anyway.

To me a crowdpleaser is a somewhat shitty dj because he is easily tempted to throw his artistic value aside and go for the save sound that is to be seen as the sound of the masses. I know from experience that you can touch and move the masses yet relatively unknown to your type of sound too with just adjusting your mixstyle a bit and try to make one hell of a trackselection. If the vibe is good you will hear nobody complain..not even those who only knew the commercial and well-known songs. If you manage to please your crowd without changing too much of what u use to mix you are a great dj. Thats gotta be the challenge... and not go and play for the crowds just throwing on what you think they like.

I'll have to add that i see the term crowdpleaser as a dj that spins a more party sound of the decks to make the large majority happy. When doing that u drift to far away from your own way of mixing. It's safe and working..but the real fans notice that this is not a sound that sticks in your mind forever.
So i'm not saying this about a dj who plays his style that is just so energetic and make the crowd go wild. He basically can't help it that his style just pleases so much of the crowd. This dj hasn't got the intention at first to just play anything what the crowd likes yet he is pleasing them.

Crowdpleasers are dj's with the likes of DJ Jean..and nowadays people like Tiesto and Armin can be put in that corner too playing more a sound of which they know sells than to be busy with the music they like the most theirselves.

We know angels don't exist
yet we see them all the time

What is our reality then!?!

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Track Selecion is key. Everything else is irrelavant when it comes down to the core elements of a quality set. Ever heard of David Mancuso....? It's all about the music, not the mixing. Mixing is just the icing on top. David Mancuso's sets at the Loft are absolutely legendary, even though he didn't mix. Kool Herc started a revolution in music with nothing but the most basic and rudimentary of mixing skills. I think a lot of DJ's focus too much on technical mixing skills, and forget about the importance of what's really coming out of the speakers. If you can really find the right tracks, and feel the crowd, then all you really have to do is crossfade in and out, and you can accomplish the same exact thing as a DJing droppong 2 minute beatmixes.

"We are dealing with the best-educated generation in history. But they've got a brain dressed up with nowhere to go."
-Timothy Leary

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