Michael Aregood (maregood@comcastpc.com)
Fri, 10 Sep 1999 12:28:12 -0400
You're right, i should have phrased that differently. "crowds of people who
*don't care* what makes a good dj" would have been more what i was getting
at. A crowd that would be happy with a mixtape... A mixtape with lots of
trainwrecks on it ;P
I in no way meant to imply that the concept of a good dj was elusive or
difficult to grasp. Nor did i mean to imply that it is the responsibility of
the crowd to know what makes a good dj (i think that was the accusation =))
It's totally the opposite!!! It's the dj's responsibility to deliver what's
appropriate and cast out stuff he thinks people will bite on.
But you raise a good point... the point is people need to be kept happy. If
there was a dj playing music i didn't like, had no beat matching skills, yet
had a room full of people bouncing and/or on the edge of their seat, i would
not hesitate to give him credit. Bring him out of that environment
however.... and it might be up for debate. Good djing boils down to
versatility. Track selection, technical skill, experience reading crowds all
help. I was just saying in my previous mail, that i know people who are
pretty lacking in these areas that get paid.
I think that this issue is a little bit deeper than "if it's good, one
dances if it's not, one stands". That statement is true. But WHY does it
SEEM good? You can take a good song and play it in a place/to a crowd/at a
certain time, and you can feel it go over like a lead balloon! "Good" music
that i've rocked the party with one night, and played the next night in a
different context, has at times been totally inappropriate. It's definitely
not that simple, and being in touch with this is key if you're a dj. Sorry
if i beat some dead horses with this mail....
thinking out loud,
aRgo
-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Takagi [mailto:jtakagi@millennianet.com]
Sent: Friday, September 10, 1999 2:18 AM
To: acid-jazz@ucsd.edu
Subject: Re: 1.Topic to chat about
Michael Aregood wrote:
> Combine that with crowds of
> people who aren't in tune with what makes a good DJ and club owners that
> don't give a shit, and zoweeee, an overpaid sucker is born!
How is it that there are crowds of people unfamiliar
with what makes a good DJ? I think it's much simpler
if one is "slightly" ignorant: if it's good, one dances.
If it's not, one stands. The trainspotters/gawkers
are just as much to fault for the overpaid sucker DJ,
if not more (from which I cannot exclude myself).
Simply because I have a relatively clearly formulated
idea of the type of music I like and the way I like
to hear it presented gives me no right to accuse others
of not being able to grasp the elusive essence of good
DJing.
Jonathan
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Fri Sep 10 1999 - 18:31:44 MET DST