I vote for #2.

we just have to accept both. because they are djs one just has more talent and the other has more field experience.

Do you think scratching is essential for DJing?

Not really ...

Not really...you can do better than that..

What do you guys think makes an exceptional DJ.

i for vote for number 2 also. i learned to mix first so i never really got into scratching. i'm to lazy to learn now.

Hmmm....I am the same..cant scratch but tend to be very entertaining. But I will learn eventually.

heh...if you don't move the crowd, you ain't shit. Scratching, mixing, looping, triples...all fun stuff which can add to the show...none of which means a damn thing if you can't read the crowd and/or lead the crowd. Bottom line...if it ain't a party, you ain't a dj. (the older I get, the meaner, I guess)

this is what makes a dj.(in no particular order)
*the ability to mix seamlessly(under any circumstance) sorry no train wrecks
-if u cant mix kool-aid dont try and mix beats stay the fuck out of the kitchen!
*the ability to scratch( u dont have to be the best but good enough to add the salt and pepper to the dish) and just becaue u know how to scratch doesnt mean u have to do it all night.
*the ability to entertain(this is for u boring djs, that dont say shit all night)
*the skill to manipulate the crowd into what u want them to dance to , not what they want you to play(some of you sell-outs know what im talking about....suckas!)
*and yes....i truly 100% believe in this...using a turntable(of any sorts)
-dj = disc jockey... disc jockey came from someone spinning records(get it ?)
*the knowledge to move forward with todays technology
*the swagger to pimp hos all night
*the skills to sample, loop, run efx correctly without sounding like shit
*to be able to mix different styles of genre
*the ability to mix differently, use different techinques to mix(lemme explain, its like those idiots that play mortal combat that use the same move to beat u every time, try something different!)
*the skills to not play the same songs every week, in the same order(u wick wack pieces of shit) switch it up !!!
*the ability to read a crowd(if ur dance floor is empty get a clue, and end ur so-called career right now)
*the ability to play off of any mixer, any turntable, cd player, mp3 player, any system.... if ur just stuck on what u know... than ur just like ur dad, and dont wanna change, go on ur slippers and stay home with the wifey
* if given a play list, u should be able to rock that playlist no matter what, use ur mix skills... oh dont have any ? give it up.


REASONS WHY NOT TO BE A DJ.
* u have downloaded part or ur whole entire collection off of limewrie/napster or any of those poor sounding web sites, or ur friend hooked u up.
* u see how much pussy the dj gets and decide u wanna do it to get pussy
* u have no life.
* ur friend tells u should be a dj and work for him for 75 bucks
* u think u will get free drinks for working at a bar or nightclub
* u think it would be great to make 10 bucks an hour(losers go home!)

REASON TO BE A DJ
* u absolutely love music (u see urself spending most of ur life, or already spent most of ur life breathing, talking, dreaming about music. spending most of what u earn on music or equipment)

word. I agree. ive been making my living and paying my bills from djing for a long time. i enjoy it to the fullest.

I agree with part of your list...

This Is Why I Love Spending My Little Bit Of Free Time on this Forum.

im just being honest. if u really got into djing for anything besides loving music. i just dont know. i might come and kick ur ass.
i remember playing with my dads stereo when i was young just turning the music volume up and down got me excited, made me feel like i had control(maybe im a control freak) like i was radio jock or somethin'

my best friend is a dj and he plays at one of the better clubs in town...he uses the DAC controller with virtual dj....

he bought two turntables and scratch live, after playing on it a couple times he sold the shit LOL

i was like serious ? ur just gonna continue to be a push button dj ?


one word

SAD.

As an old-school dj that carried 8 extended milk crates everywhere I went with those heavy ass 1200's in the 200 pound wood case, with that huge as mixer I will say this. If your playing music and getting paid then your a dj. No matter how good are bad you are. So this topic should be about good dj's and bad dj's. Defined that way because some dj are just more talented than others or less talented :) . You can be a good dj but not the best is what I am trying to say.

To me a good dj is one who can mix, knows how to move the crowd, and is not afraid to show creativity. When I say creativity I mean,,,, say your an urban dj and you introduce country or rock into your mix and you keep the crowd pumped and on the floor then my friend your a good dj. I for one can scratch a little and transform but real talk most people hate scratching unless your in a contest. The mix is the most important thing, playing the right songs and how a dj interacts with the crowd is very important as well. If your not doing any of the above in this paragraph then you are what I consider a bad DJ.... FYI just because you didn't carry crates or come up the old-school way does not mean your not a good dj hell I have met some really good DJ's that started 2 years ago but they practice and are serious about that craft.....

If you really want to know if your a good dj skills wise try this, take you BPM's off the screen and mix 30 songs that you don't normally play and put tape on the wave forms so you cant see them. This will tell you if your a real dj fakers will not be able to do this as they depend on the software to do it for them. If you have been lucky enough to learn how to beat match by ear you won't have any issues with this....if you can do this skills wise your a DJ.... just my two cents..... Big a*k*a Funkytownstopix out.

Poor Roach ... If you were such a good friend, you should have been over there TEACHING Him how to use those tables. Hahahahahaha

i never even knew he sold the turntables or had problems untill after.... he sold them.

i would have showed him a lil somethin somethin, but hey hes ur friend too !!??
u might have known more than i did, and he knwos how i feel about djs that push buttons to play music...

i just wished he would have stuck with it a little bit longer !

it takes time, u have to practice, i sat in a basement for 3 months before i played in front of anyone.

not everyone can pick it up as quickly as u matt.

i think u had the basics down in 2-3 weeks. fuck :)

I was kinda pissed when he sold them too .. He gave up like after 2 weeks but never asked for any help. Only problems he could have had were operator error.

I don't think he really wanted to learn anything new or a new style.

Eh Its good he sold them though cause i could have gotten Him 1210 MK5 Grandmasters for the same price as he paid for the 1210 MKIII's.

#1 Turntablist
#2 DJ

in jamaica, the dj is the mc.. how bout them apples (no matt daemon)

damn i messed up the quote thingy... ahaha

Yes in Jamaica we do it all DJ, MC, Dance with the ladies. We only play maximum of 40secs or the 1st punch line of any song. Our vibe is different and crazy. People come out from 11pm and stay on the dancefloor with high energy until at times 8 in the morning. When I first got to the US I felt as though I was not doing a good job. Then I found out that people only dance for a while then stop.

hehe, its weird ...
i been djin for 18 years now, and i remember u could play a 10 minute version of a song and people never got tired of it
now... peoples attention span is sooo short
u play two minutes of a song and thats it. u lose peoples interest after that
unless its the hottest song out.

True indeed.

Being able to "scratch" does NOT make you a "DJ"......

its part of being a dj. and im not a scratch dj. but i know how to do it a little(enough for the salt n pepper)

some have more skills than others...Scrathing is not my thing but like Henry I can do it.

I am right there with you!!

Personally I can't stand the 3 hour sets of the mega-mix/quick-mix/500 song medley style of DJ-ing that some guys do... very annoying. I always think of the crowd. If they are NOT responding... then yeah.. mix out of the track sooner... but if they are into the song... LET IT PLAY!!! Some of the "quick mix" style jocks I have seen just have their faces GLUED to their screen searching for the next track. NEVER looking at the crowd.

very true. i dont understand how those djs do have their faces glued to the screen the whole time ???!!!
i pick a song in a matter 20 seconds, line it up in one 8 count, and bam flirt with some hos
i swear, im sooo a-tuned to the songs, i can be in any club and know when a song skips, or there is little bit of a remix or something in the song has been adjusted
i can be talking to someone and know when my break is coming or even if im takin a piss, i can just fell that i need to get my ass back in the booth
the people that taught me, taught me very well. just never had anyoen teach me how to scratch, but im ok...nothing fancy

To me... both are DJ's... but #2 is more experienced on entertaining a crowd as #1 is more experienced in knowing/what can be done with the equipment.

It really all comes down to experience.

#1 is the dj.. anyone can do #2. anyone can play what a crowd wants to hear and get them dancing with an ipod.

if the crowd isn't dancing to #1, its a wack crowd.

what about me how do i fit in

been djing 3 years practicing hours a day n i still suck. Like idk what im doing wrong but like when i see people like jazzy jeff (famous big name djs), steve dub(kids from forum), some of the kids i dj with and i am like damn wtf am i doing wrong lol. like ya sure i can mix ya i am getting way better hearing my breaks but wtf am i doing because there are some musically talented people out there and in these forums.

But thankfully bar owners havent caught on yet lol :)

i would say end ur career now.

I say chrischip is on his way to being DJ #2.... in 10 years. Just add more experience.

DJchirschip If you really want to know what's wrong ask the people in the crowd turst me they will tell you what you want to know...

Believe it or not I'm far from being a hack. Everyone who hears me live says I am good so maybe I exxaggerated a bit its just compared to some especially scratching I am far behind.

I think #1 is where all the talent really is, Turntablist for sure.

#2 is more where I fit in, and I dont respect myself as much as other DJ's that I know who kill it scratching.

The best however is obviously when a dj does both 1 and 2. I am suprised no one had mentioned DJ AM on this post yet I would also say he also a #3:

#3 = 1 + 2 but can also be so creative with his song selection and blends it makes other DJs be like....oh shit! Respect.

ya i mean mixing i rarely fall off beat and can beat match basically prior to even loading the track like say im playing a 119 track n im bringing in a 121 bpm track i know - 1.2 pitch n i should be close. minor adjustments made within lik 3 beats (bass clap bass). i can pretty much scratch like every 20 scratches i do 10 will sound awful 5 will sound confuses 3 will sound bas 2 will sound all right if not damn goood => go figure...

basically i want to get nasty to where if i am with all dj's people be like damn kid can dj... n i want to get so good i can play hip hop to a nursing home n have them jumping or an old antique track to college kids n make em move.

Steve how do u get ur gigs if u don't mind me asking. I currently have a tuesday, thursday saturday resdency at a bar, and a friday residency at a steakhouse but i am dying to get "better"- (higher paying and at more exclusive spot gigs)...

How can i go about doing this?

I have mixed feelings about scratching. I think its icing on the cake but I strongly believe that song selection and mixing is more important than scratching.

I think scratching is all about muscle memory. I started with the baby scratches and worked my way up to flares, etc... I think people should go through the steps of learning the easier scratches first then evolve to the next. I've seen sooo manu djs who swear by the Qbert scratch video andthey can do all the fancy bells and whistles but cant do transforms, baby scratches, etc...


If you work out your forearms a lot you'll have more stamina to scratch longer, learn muscle memory, etc...An exercise my boy taught me was get a round dowel stick, tie a rope to the center of stick, and put a weight on other end of rope about 4 feet long. Then proceed to hold out the dowel in front of you arms straight out and twist the dowel so the rope loops around the dowel and brings the weight up. I used to do this in between scratch sessions but beware your forearms might look like popeyes in a few months.

ok quick ?:
Do "real" dj's still get nervous before big gigs even though they have done them a million times before. I have a huge 21st birthday in 36 hours and i am shitting bricks lol.

yah then dont try video with a screen over ur head. it would be brutal for u lol.

I look at Djing like a piece of cake...Rocking the crowd effectively is like having soft moist cake, and scratching is the icing...No matter how good the icing is it wont matter if the cake taste bad...but good cake and the right icing, well now we have a winning combination...

that was cute as phuck DJ Ace

I think this puts says it all...

Watchwww.youtube.com

I just think a good DJ knows he's playing someone else's records.
He knows what a crowd will like within 5 songs.
He doesn't diss other DJ's for how they spin, if he's better he just does it.
He doesn't have to justify his technique to anyone because if he's getting paid, people want him there.

I'm just tired of people trying to make other people feel bad about their choices for their profession. If you can be happy at what you're doing, and you're making money, and people have a good time, so be it. I just don't understand the haters that have to put DJing in a box. It sounds like they are the ones that don't have the right skills and want to keep you locked into what "THE NORM" should be.

If you can rock a crowd with a Wii controller, do it! Watchwww.youtube.com

Tips, tricks, scratches, effects, backspins, backflips and funny suits don't make you a DJ.
Simple put...
A "TRUE" DJ (disc Jockey) must have the ability to program a room.
Further defined - To be able to adapt to any scenario in the show that you are playing and knowing how to read a crowd to the full potential. Bring the entertainment through the music that you play. This does not mean that you have to move crowds at the largest clubs. You can also program a social lounge!
IMO ;)

listen ...
backflips definately make a dj.

funny suits do not.

LOL. I was gonna use "shiney suit syndrome" but I didn't think too many cats would remember that sample and get the joke.

Just a metaphor hommie...dont see it as being fuzzy? LOL