iPad DJ

[lendetomp]

Soon everybody will be able to dj...

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/05/ipad-dj-rana-sobhany/

[Steve Graham]

Re: iPad DJ

everybody already thinks they can

[Corven]

Re: iPad DJ

for all you know she could just be playing a premixed set on itunes on one ipad while surfing the internet on the other

[88Mariner]

Re: iPad DJ

maybe the term "DJ" should, you know, have some definition to it.

These kids are laptop jockeys. There is no disc involved.

[88Mariner]

Re: iPad DJ

i think this quote from theo parrish is good:

the idea that we have all this technology – never before in history have we had this amount of technology, and we’re taking things that we’re not necessarily creative with: the technical mind, forcing them into it. For instance...«

(brings the volume up on the Herbie Hancock tune again)

»I’m pretty sure Herbie didn’t want this digitally downloaded. I’m pretty sure. He probably didn’t even have it in mind to have it spun somewhere, DJed or pitched up and down. But the idea is when you pitch something up and down the record still remains a record. When you take it out of this form you no longer associate this imagery with that individual, these sounds. Now they become abstract concepts. “Who’s Herbie Hancock? Who gives a fuck, I got that song.” See that’s where it goes, and that’s the danger. It’s convenient, ain’t got to carry around records. Ain’t got to worry about customs. You can bring your whole collection to a party. Your whole collection? I mean, I walk into a party and I know you got access to 50.000 records. 50.000! You know what I’m going to expect out of you? I’m going to want my DNA changed! (laughter) You’re going to have to change my DNA because you got 50.000 records and an hour to play. An hour to play? How the fuck are you going to play 50.000 records and an hour to play? Alright, OK, change my life! I walk in, my life is not changed. I leave, I’m mad. I’m at the door, I’m starting with the promoter because I’m drunk, and they told me the guy had 50.000 songs to play. "I came in with expectations and I had six gin-tonics, dammit! I want my money back. You better not pay him tonight! Don’t pay that DJ nothing! Next time I come here I want to hear the guy with 20 records in his box, and blows my mind." That’s what I want. That’s what necessary, and you can’t compartmentalise that. You can’t see that for a dollar a drink. And that’s the danger of these times – because I think they can co-exist – but the problem is there’s too much convenience. These are dangerous, oh, they’re dangerous! Records are dangerous things ‘cause they’re fragile, they get dirty, scratches on ‘em, and now because everything’s commodified, this is worth, what? 50 dollars on eBay or something, I don’t know. But it’s a piece of plastic, it’s fragile. If it gets cold, it’ll break. If it gets, hot it’ll warp. Your files are not going to warp, your files are not going to break. That’s the argument. It’s more durable, it lasts. Not if they turn the lights off, not if they pull the plug, not if your shit crashes, you lose your whole library. All because some fool spilled a beer on your laptop. Now you ain’t got no more music. What you’re going to do? At least you can wipe these off (wipes a 12” on his shirt ). Can’t wipe your Pentium BXP5 off. Nah, you’re screwed. You’re hoping your boy got it. That’s the other part of it too. That’s the other scary thing, it’ll take you the better part of ten years to collect, in my opinion, the amount of vinyl that’s worthy of being presented to other people. Take you, what? A couple minutes? To download somebody’s whole collection. Now the question is, is it worth the convenience? Maybe. But are you missing out on all of the knowledge that goes into looking for those specific records? Specifically, because you know ‘so-and-so’ played on this record, ‘so-and-so’ played on that record, are you going to take that time and get your knuckles dusty, and go meet another crazy obsessed individual just like yourself? You got to take that time. Oh, you can meet somebody online, their name is James and they got a big dick and big eyes. What is that shit? Motherfucker’s name is Jones, she got 36 double D’s, no! You meet somebody at the record store and they’re picking out records. See, that’s the problem with a lot of things now: the community is going from being something where you go out and have conversations with people and deal with individuals. Now everybody can hide behind these phoney masks. Do whatever they want. You never know what you’re getting. And that’s a whole ‘nother cultural aspect that’s changing and we need to talk about. But more importantly, what I want to focus on is that you can’t replace a record collection with a file collection. There’s no way to replace it, and it’s up to every one of you if you’re interested in playing music out, to decide if you’re going to deal with both types of formats. Realise, they’re two different types of camps, you’re really cutting yourself off from individuals who respect the idea of collection. It’s a family and they will be able to tell if you don’t have those records. And they’re not going to look for you for those records. They’re not going to be interested in replacing an important piece that you might have lost or damaged. If they knew that you went the cheap way and just downloaded it anyway, that’s the other part of it. Now, there’s ways to make them coexist; I don’t know what they are. I’m not here to tell you that. That’s not my job. I know what I believe in. I see the different technologies people are implementing and I think it’s cool. But I think it’s dangerous because I’m in the business of a record label. I sell records. So, until they develop legislation to make it profitable for me to put my stuff in that format, I’m not going to mess with it. Because basically, (holds up a 12”) let’s say this cost five dollars. If you can get it online for a dollar and then you can give it to eight of your friends, for free, what’s the point of me being in business? I got to eat. I can’t put out something that’s dangerous. I make house music. I got to make a top ten house hit, you know, because otherwise I’m not going to pay my bills. That’s where it has the potential to become dangerous, to eclipse what’s going on, until legislation changes. Making it, not just profitable but at least - damn - instead of giving away my music that you paid a dollar for, can you at least make it so if you give it to five people, just pay five dollars for it? You know, you’re going to give it to five people, at least pay five for it. Get the coding right. I know there’s people working on it now, to get the coding right, so that the artist that makes this music that’s going into digital format can at least eat a little. I mean, I think a dollar’s too low for a download, personally. And then also you get disenfranchised in the process. I mean, let’s say the database gets scrambled. You got Herbie Hancock - Sleeping Giant online, in a file. Then you got John Cougar Mellencamp in a file. Shit gets jumbled, you pull up an image of Herbie Hancock, it’s not Herbie Hancock, it’s John Cougar Mellencamp. You put history on that guy, hell, Herbie Hancock becomes John Cougar Mellencamp, John Cougar Mellencamp becomes this beautiful keyboard player. Seminal guy. Then it all changes. Those are the kind of silly mistakes that can happen overtime, and that’s my biggest issue with a lot of it. It’s that we don’t get to give the imagery of who really is doing the music. Who’s doing this? That gets lost. It becomes the machine, you know? But, you know, it’s America, it’s the Western world, we like convenience. We love convenience. It’s convenient. Mmh!! "I’ve got 70.000 records at my disposal! Oh sorry, files at my disposal. It’s convenient (laughs)!" And they wonder why they can’t go see certain people in concert anymore. Because it wasn’t convenient for them to be there. They don’t see the convenience in showing for a concert for a 1.000 dollars when they got signed for 50 million. It’s not convenient (laughs), it’s just dangerous times. You just got to use this technology responsibly. A little bit of taste. And everybody who plays vinyl or aspires to play vinyl, tack 30% onto your fee. Just ‘cause you’re bringing records. Tack 30% on. A vinyl surcharge, 30% (applause), you know? (laughs) Let everybody else sort it out. “He wants 30% more? ‘So-and-so’? Why?” “He’s bringing vinyl.” “Oh, watch out for these vinyl guys, watch ‘em!” You got to fight! It’s a fight! Alright? (pulls out a record) Lil’ Louis again, this is Why’d You Fall. This song is one of the first I heard the human voice incorporated into something contemporary in terms of dance music and I was just buzzed out. I remember the first time I heard it, it blew my mind as usual. You go into the spot and he’s playing this weird little vocal thing that goes somewhere totally different. So here it goes. Turn it on this side, make sure I got it.«

(music: Lil’ Louis & The World - I Called U (Why’d U Fall))

»Now you can see how he took that ”Why fall” and went into that keyboard part and kept moving with it. And what I thought was interesting was that the track didn’t really take off until the second part (sings the melody). And there’s the additive and subtractive part of it that kind of harks back to the kind of thing James Brown was doing, with the engineering on it, you bring certain parts up and back. It changes a lot. And that’s prevalent in dance music. Because you got people moving, but then when you’re able to move these parts, which are huge parts of the arrangement, depending on when you bring them in, when you take them out. You can really bring people’s emotions up. Now, there’s a song I did recently, it’s coming up on my new album, and I really messed with that idea. You layer and you layer and you layer and you take back. And basically it’s based on the same groove over and over. Ah, this part will be edited from the online part, because it’s unreleased, so – please! We can’t have any of my shit out there like that, please.«

[RiseandShine]

Re: iPad DJ

sad

[TomTom]

Re: iPad DJ

Soon everybody will be able to dj...

Dunno how often I have read this sentence when new Hardware/Software toys came out but it was never true and never will be.

[Steve Graham]

Re: iPad DJ

^^^ exactly

[lendetomp]

Re: iPad DJ

Mate, i couldnt even get close to being able to DJ with a miracle. Keeping a beat may have something to do with it, and the fact that i cant! Should see me trying to play Rock Band!!
Its never really bothered me in the past how a DJ has played music in a club as long as i've enjoyed whats been played.

[TomTom]

Re: iPad DJ

^^ more should do it this way imo. If you let a bedroom DJ work with equipment he doesn't know and take the BPM display off, he will be completely lost. A true DJ will play with whatever is there and can also play in Darkness because it's in the blood and it's NOT the technical toys. New technologies makes things easier but they still don't make you a DJ..that's for a part natural talent mixed with year long practice and experience. It also includes a boat load of work not to be Joe Average playing the Beatport Top 20 up and down. Creating and improving a "social network" and getting in contact with producers/DJs directly to have something in the box that others don't have is something that defines a professional DJ for me. Not holding anybody back from mixing for fun because it is fun but please don't call you a DJ and mean it. True Djing is so much more than mixing 2 tracks together.

[lendetomp]

Re: iPad DJ

^^^ Very true.

[Feliti]

Re: iPad DJ

True Djing is so much more than mixing 2 tracks together.

Exactly. As far as you can mix 2 tracks with any hardware, that's just the beginning, the same way if you are a race car driver, you should know how to shift gears.
Of course now everyone with a computer and virtual dj or ableton or traktor, is able to beatmatch and connect two tracks, not soon, not now, years ago!

[Kat]

Re: iPad DJ

everybody already thinks they can

sad but true

[maddlingo]

Re: iPad DJ

I watched the video in its entirety and she is definitely doing some innovative things with apps that are only several weeks old. I can see Sasha djing with Ipads in the future.

[DancingQueen]

Re: iPad DJ

Dunno how often I have read this sentence when new Hardware/Software toys came out but it was never true and never will be.

Here, here!