premixing: yes or no?

K

KevinKostner

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 24, 2010
Messages
1,258
Location
The TrapHouse
I'm friends on facebook with a few of the most popular DJ's in the Chicagoland area. Anyways, a few regularly put up free mixes to download and whatnot and I'll play them while I'm cruising with the guys or throw one on while we're partying. Anyways, I went to a club Saturday night and one of my favorite DJ's was spinning and it was pretty obvious to me he was not live mixing. A solid ten minutes of his "mix" was song for song, transition for transition, ect. the same as his mix that he put online a few days ago. Honestly, I lost alot of respect for the guy but I guess as a whole the majority of the club patrons probably don't follow him enough to realize what was going on. It might have been going on for longer than 10 minutes but I went to another room after a while and it was someone elses set when I returned.

1. How taboo is this to do?
2. Is it any less bad if he's video mixing at the same time?
 
I heard Astral Projection dialed in a show in Toronto once. They tossed in a mix CD and partied. So the rumor goes.

It depends. If I'm paying cover to see the DJ, the guy, you know...spin records, then yeah I'd be pissed that its dialed in. Its like finding out some rock band lip syncs or something for a concert, Dragon Force sucks live. Or something.

If there's cover, to get in the door, you know, and the DJ is there as a feature...an added bonus item in addition to girls and booze...then I dont give a fudge. Fack, I was in a club once and the DJ LITERALLY CUT CROSSFADED to the next track and was like hhhhhuuuh? No beatmatching just pure cut to the next track with the crossfader...and people did not give a shit.

I felt like I was nailed up the ass by a large bearded man.

So...there's that.
 
Oh man....the first time I saw a pre-recorded set I wasn't too happy. First of all the kid played minimal which killed the whole vibe that was going on, and all he did was press play on his traktor. I walked behind him to see what he was doin, and that was jack shit. He didn't even use the built in effects....:\

For me, I don't like to not know how everything will fit. I spend a lot of time working out which tracks go where , the flow, mix times etc. I see what fits in Traktor at first so I don't waste CDs trying to build a setlist. I practice it over and over to where there is pretty much no flaws other than an occassional mismatch when I perform live. It happens :-P

But yeah.....I prefer to premix my sets, but not have it recorded. I only do this, so I can provide a better performance, not to be a fake.
 
whatever sounds good. i'd rather dance to a good set that's premixed than a dj trainwrecking.

most psy "live" acts are just pushing play and pretending to turn some knobs anyway. astral is a known offender, along with many many others. when you look closely you can often see that the equipment they are supposedly manipulating is not connected to anything (not even power). this is what i have a problem with. why do they all have to act stupid, as if they would play synth arps with a fader on the mixer (yes, i've seen that. seriously, wtf?) or even worse: act their some kind of star with "put your hands up in the air" stuff and all that.
why not just dance to your own tunes (like cosmosis) or go for a beer or, even better, come down from the dj booth and dance with the crowd!
 
Black said:
whatever sounds good. i'd rather dance to a good set that's premixed than a dj trainwrecking.

most psy "live" acts are just pushing play and pretending to turn some knobs anyway. astral is a known offender, along with many many others. when you look closely you can often see that the equipment they are supposedly manipulating is not connected to anything (not even power). this is what i have a problem with. why do they all have to act stupid, as if they would play synth arps with a fader on the mixer (yes, i've seen that. seriously, wtf?) or even worse: act their some kind of star with "put your hands up in the air" stuff and all that.
why not just dance to your own tunes (like cosmosis) or go for a beer or, even better, come down from the dj booth and dance with the crowd!
Click to expand...

It's pretty hard for a DJ to trainwreck to me. I guess I'm not that hard of a critic, but a few rough transitions isn't a big deal to me. Just get your drops in and hit the sirens and it's all fine by me.

If a DJ premixes and uses the same mix at multiple shows or club nights or publish the mix online before hand and advertise it, it's really lame to me tho. But if a DJ premixes a sick mix or like 15 minutes of a mix into an hour set and uses it, it's not that bad.
 
Black said:
whatever sounds good. i'd rather dance to a good set that's premixed than a dj trainwrecking.

most psy "live" acts are just pushing play and pretending to turn some knobs anyway. astral is a known offender, along with many many others. when you look closely you can often see that the equipment they are supposedly manipulating is not connected to anything (not even power). this is what i have a problem with. why do they all have to act stupid, as if they would play synth arps with a fader on the mixer (yes, i've seen that. seriously, wtf?) or even worse: act their some kind of star with "put your hands up in the air" stuff and all that.
why not just dance to your own tunes (like cosmosis) or go for a beer or, even better, come down from the dj booth and dance with the crowd!
Click to expand...

yea, i dont like that, if i pay to see someone perform, i want it to be something special, something they are putting their passion into right there, the way i see it, i could have listened to a cd of theirs with my friends if i just wanted to hear good music.
 
I don't really like the idea of premixed sets, especially if I am paying money to see a DJ. I am willing to make exceptions if there is something else to make up for it.
 
Pre mixed sets are shit as you cant read the crowd reaction and play what they want and I dont see the point anyway? If you cant put a good set together with decent mixing live then you are a disgrace to the scene. If I put a night on and a dj played a pre mixed set they would not be getting paid for it.
 
radiohshifter said:
yea, i dont like that, if i pay to see someone perform, i want it to be something special, something they are putting their passion into right there, the way i see it, i could have listened to a cd of theirs with my friends if i just wanted to hear good music.
Click to expand...

well, it totally depends what you expect from a party and why you go there. i myself go there mainly for the music, the people and the dancing and frankly don't give a shit what some dude on a stage is doing or not :)

the argument about reacting to the crowd is a good one in theory, but in my experience doesn't hold in practice. i've seen countless dj sets where a dj started playing shit music, people would leave the floor, but the dj continued playing the same shit until the end of the set (and yes, in most cases i'm absolutely sure it wasn't premixed). sad, but reality.
 
Black said:
well, it totally depends what you expect from a party and why you go there. i myself go there mainly for the music, the people and the dancing and frankly don't give a shit what some dude on a stage is doing or not :)

the argument about reacting to the crowd is a good one in theory, but in my experience doesn't hold in practice. i've seen countless dj sets where a dj started playing shit music, people would leave the floor, but the dj continued playing the same shit until the end of the set (and yes, in most cases i'm absolutely sure it wasn't premixed). sad, but reality.
Click to expand...

You should see how James Zabiela mixes. He really feels the crowd and makes everyone go crazy. Of course, not every DJ can mix like Zabiela.
 
An example of why premixing is shit. A well known DnB producer played at a local night and his usual stuff is mainly liquid, he was on after the UNCZ crew which is straight up dirty jump up DnB so as soon as he played his 1st track the crowd died and people slowly left the dance floor -the dj saw this and switched styles and within 1 tune the floor was packed again and everyone was buzzing. Had this been a stuck up yank dj whom struggles to get his ego thorugh the club door playing a premixed set they would of been stuck on the wrong vibe and the dance floor would be empty and he would not be booked again. Plus my mission on every rave is to bombard the dj with bare requests in the hope a tune or two I asked for gets played, well you dont get that with premixed sets.
 
If I go to a set to see a specific DJ, and they suprise me with a pre-mix, I would be sick to my stomach. Especially if I pay to be there. In alot of the nights I go to you can get right next to the decks anyway, everyone would know if he wasn't doing anything.


My question is:: Okay, some people are gonna do it cause they're fucking lazy frauds, but why be a DJ if you don't wana DJ?
 
Zabiela approaches the other end of DJing where you are doing so much live its basically live PA, live remixing - same category as PVD or hawtin. These are the DJs DJ, people we don't mind dropping 50 $ + to see.

I think the DJs that don't give a shit are prob paid in drink tickets and a small percentage of cover maaaybe. If everyone is wasted and just want to hear some MJ remix and some house with Kesha thrown in and get their freak on, why not put on a mix CD when u need another drink or take a piss? Its like wedding or event Djs ur paid to do a job and that's it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top