selection is always #1, how you put it together depends on the music, the timing, the vibe in the room, and the crowd. There is no rule here...

If you can't blend, you have no BUSINESS scratching......

Not sure how this is even a a question. Blending.

True, but following that course of thought SCRATCHING would be more important, since blending is expected of you and everyone can blend than scratching is whats really going to set you apart.

Syncing

You can build a house on a weak foundation if you want to. But you KNOW it's going to collapse. People are beginning to become more musically aware as the time of everything sounding like everything else is slowly ending. You can't just slam everything. Scratching is cool, but you can't rock a MIXED crowd if all you can do is scratch. You have to have ALL the tools. Knowing your music, reading the crowd, blending, scratching, and even MC'ing. I KNOW you know that. But it's just better to be able to do as much as possible.

So which is more important, a foundation or a roof?

Blending I think is important, I like the fact that if you blend well, the crowd doesn't even realize that the track has been changed and they continue to dance. Where as scratching prompts them that the track is being transitioned or that you just dropped an instrumental and are now bringing in the lyrical version of the track.

Just my 2 cents.

Blending = cake
scratching = icing

If there are 5 cakes and only 1 has icing....which are you goin for

Can we shut this down?

So you put the roof on first? If you got skills like that I ain't mad at you.

that all that needs to be said

not true you could scratch all night and still do better than most dj's mixing imo goes back to this post

I actually like my cake with no icing
but I like scratching with my mixes

thats what hip hop djs are my favorite
I do appreciate a nice smooth mix, depending on the song and mood
but some crisp cuts adds that extra spice

but knowing what to play and when to play it to get certain reactions from the crowd, takes the cake

stick to the question at hand Sir....lol

What does that have to do with blending or scratching?

But I do agree that....























Both the cake and the icing are going to suck without the right ingredients.

; p

^^ This.

Both tools in the arsenal are obviously preferable if you want to attack a set head on though.

Ice cream cake from baskin robins is the best. Oreo crust, ooh man, can't beat that.

Blending

Are there people who think scratching is more important over anything else? This is just a weird discussion. Is this one of those threads where its like a qbert vs david guetta or some shit? Is that what your trying to get at with this?

Dudes don't want to learn, and master the basics. That's why there are so many trash DJ's out and about now. Just MY opinion. Scratching is great, when used PROPERLY, instead of a crutch for dudes who can't beatmatch.........

This had me lmao....is guetta doing 3style this year too?

Are there really DJs out there like this? Is this going on where you live?

I dont see any of that here. All the newbs use sync and waveforms to beatmatch. I seen more of that pre-serato.



What you didnt hear? Hes practicing his jesus pose, heart hands knob twist for his pre-recorded set.

Not really I was just trying to see what different DJ's opinions are, Personally i love blending but i'm not a great scratcher yes i want to learn to scratch better but i could honestly live without it.

Scratching generally takes more time and practice to learn, let alone master.
Blending seems far more basic and can now even be done with a "sync" button.
(Although, one must still develop an ear for proper phrasing and mixing in key.)
As far as which is more important, I would say blending in a dance club environment, and scratching in a hip-hop/battle type scenario.
I think scratching is more challenging and a better way to express your own unique interpretation of manipulating recorded music..

Blending is much more fundamental. It's a whole lot easier than doing advanced scratches, although there's some DJ's who ONLY practice scratching and can't even blend while reading the waveforms.

But I'd say if anything is more important than simply blending, it would be timing. I hear some DJ's who NEVER blend into the right measure, and it's pretty annoying. And if they have to drop a song that has no intro, or a song that just has to be dropped in and it doesn't come on the usual 1, it completely throws things off.

Ugggh, I'm part of a group of Facebook that thinks Blends are "coming back, on the rise, etc..etc.."...

It's even a Territorial thing...

Cats are claiming that the best "Blends" come from places like Queens, etc..

First you have to define exactly what a "Blend" IS in todays terms.

From what I understand, it's basically taking an ACAPELLA and putting it over a different BEAT to create a REMIX of said song so that you've got something that basically rejuvenates the ORIGINAL ACAPELLA's song.

Now that being said, historically, Kid Capri and other MixTape DJ's had a few signature "Blends"....

Being from JERSEY, we always called them MIXES....and to us it was nothing special...

You HAD to be able to MIX, be it two different complete songs (with beatmatching of course), or an acapella over a beat...It was always the same to us...

The reason why I say all this is because apparently NOW a "Blend" SPECIFICALLY means putting an acapella over a beat, not necessarily beatmatching 2 different songs.

So y'all gotta first define what every one agrees what a "Blend" is...

exactly all they are is a remix, how hard is it to play a acapella over a beat? dj's have been doing this since the beginning of dj'in! why is it a big deal now?

i did this 20 years ago along with many others

beat: Nairobi - Funky Soul Makossa

acapella: Judy Torres - No Reason To Cry

my remix of the two: Watchwww.youtube.com

The reason why I posted up is because I think some cats are responding to what they think the OP meant as a BLEND as being regular MIXING.

Supposedly, NOWADAYZ, a blend is an Acapella over a Beat....not just the ability to beatmatch 2 different songs.

we know what a blend is, the ability to transition from one song to the next without someone realizing when one started and the other finished


who the h#ll invented this slamming records in? like mixing doesn't matter & who renamed the remix a blend?

Joee, I'm telling you...

They've got a DIFFERENT definition nowadays...

THIS is what everyone is considering a "Blend" - Watchwww.youtube.com go to 4:30.

right what they call blends is actually a remix i get it

Blend is a DJ who wears a mask

:-P

nm

is this going to be a thing now?

the DMC world "Blend" championship


and this years winner is this guy "Blend is a DJ who wears a mask"

Dude, they already have Blend "Battles"....

Boggles the mind....

If you want to have the title of a "DJ" you have to learn how to mix music. Thats the foundation of it all.

Still think this question is weird. I scratch a lot and have never thought it was more important. Thats like asking what is more important blending or body tricks. I love blending too and Im not good at body tricks and yes I want to learn to do body tricks, but I could honestly live without it.

I think some people have scratch envy in here....

You do realise that IS what the DMC started as right?!

Lol, Im in the same facebook group. Blending the way they do it is not that serious. So easy. Take two setup/premixed tracks, hit record, post to facebook. Some of those guys are easily impressed.

hence the name "DISCO MIX CHAMPIONSHIP" i know and it was boring as hell……we don't need to get back there

Vinyl and 1200's Group?

I mean, I respect someone who can do a good "Blend", but again, it's something that IF you learned how to beatmatch properly, came with the territory.

Then of course you get the whole, just because 2 songs have the same BPM, doesn't necessarily mean you should put them together...

Then there's the thing of finding the RAREST acapella, etc...

Oh, then there's the songs "Blended" together in the WRONG KEY.....

Man look...I just can't...lol.

To me, you HAVE to be able to MIX (Beatmatch) first...That's the foundation...

Then "Blending" and "Scratching" are icing on the cake...

I thought that was a "mashup"

it was called a remix than a masup now a blend

Yup, thats all they do in there, blends lol. Exactly!!!! You have to to be able to beatmatch first. Everything else is just for flavor.

oh these crazy kids

No, a Mashup is "supposed" to be 2 different songs from 2 different genres.

No Blend = Remix

Mashup = 2 different songs from 2 different Genres

It's also regional/racial/political (almost)

A Mashup was a phrase coined by a newbie DJ who thought they were inventing something new because it was now "easier" to mesh songs digitally using laptops and software.

This was done back in the day, as far back as Run-DMC's Walk This Way..

Because they don't do it anymore. It's all edits and pre-mades now




LOL the term blends has been around since the 80s, hence the nostalgia

Johnny is correct on those old tapes, people used to refer to them as blend tapes.





It's not that it was special, it's that it was a part of DJing that barely exists anymore.

It's like my favorite thing to say back during the mashup craze.

"Do you know what we used to call mash-ups back in the day?

.... DJing"

C'mon man... serious?

lol, yes good one...

Sorry in advance for this long winded response (I am getting over the flu so I am glued to the internet right meow.)


Regarding DMC (Disco mix championships)

The very first year the DMC took place in 1985 (UK) it was just that, a mixing competition.
That all changed the next year when Cheese won the world title with turntablism / scratching.
So one year (1985) of no turntablism vs 1986-2015 (nearly 30 years) of pure / or mostly turntablism (at least from the champions.)
Keep that in context when saying DMC started off as a mixing championship, while technically true, lets be real, It was always about the turntablism...
Enough on that...


I'm no OG by any means (started in 2000) but to the hip hop DJ's (or even top 40 DJ's) then and before a blend was simply playing an instrumental with an accapella (Regardless of genre's or era's used.)
Just as DJJOHNNYM_vSL3 stated.
However I have seen the term blending being more loosely used to refer to mixing these days and perhaps in the DJ days before Hip Hop the term was used that way as well. Just terminology.

Also the term mash up was really popularized by Z trip and DJ P, referring to a blend or remix that crossed genres and or eras. Some of us know how out of hand the "Mash Up" era was, filled with the corniest or just plain bad pre made blends / remixes known to man.

On another note I always thought of a remix as something that is pre produced. Like the remixes found on the b side of a dance record. Like a Dirty Funker remix of some Metallica tune or something like that. Or a hip hop single that was paired with a new instrumental / production that may have added guest verses or changed up the song a bit (was a great way to extend a songs shelf life.) Once again, just terminology.


Regarding slamming transitions.
Seemingly more popular in New York (I'm a west coaster, so I'm no expert here,) it is a legitimate transition technique IMO. Just as some may get tired of hearing slam transitions all night, one may also get tired of hearing 8 bar mixing transitions all night.
I like to employ various transitions (mixing transitions, live blends, slam transitions, juggling transitions and other tricks so on and so forth,) but only with purpose. Using a huge array of techniques or even just one is pointless if the song pairing (programming) is not on point or effective in the first place. I think different transition techniques can help overcome some song pairing obstacles but that's another thread.


And finally in regards to the OP's question.
I also find it to be a strange question like SELECT stated. But with some more context like certain posters have added throughout the thread, it starts to become a more valid question and I think there are some solid points in here.

And I like the icing on the cake analogy for scratching or using any turntablism type stuff in a club / dance setting. But remember everyone's cake is different and people are seeking different cakes at different times. All that matters is that it taste's good and is somewhat balanced in some way.

And don't throw your cake in people's faces.

^^^well said

^^^yes to disciple

I always find it funny when people are thinking they are being original, when in fact they are doing something someone already did, a long time...

I told y'all....

It's not a game....

www.djjohnnym.com

"All DJ's must have Serato Scratch Live on their laptops - No exceptions"....

I just can't...

Them dudes in that group are hilarious. Always trying to one up each other with some blend shit that don't even sound right together. You got a few that are nice, but the rest are not.

lol, like I said...I just can't...lmao.

It's funny to see them get amped over the "tightest" blend...

Hey, as long as they're "mixing"....

Then they want to throw people out when someone says the truth about how shitty the mix was. LOL. I guess you re right, at least they are mixing. They are a bunch of divas though. LMAO

Watchwww.youtube.com

Whenever I hear the term blend...this is the first one that comes to mind

Watchwww.youtube.com


I think a lot of it is just new cats rediscovering old stuff. Being around the thre3style stuff lately I hear all these people talking about "tone play" as if it were some totally new thing when messing with tones has been going on at least since 91' if not earlier and really got popular around 93' with 8 ball then kinda died out a few years later

That Kid Capri - Stephanie Mills/Impeach the President Blend back in 1989 is by far the most popular here on the east coast, not sure if the west coast ever felt it.

Boom, there it is...

An Official "Blend" battle...

God bless 'em...

At least they're mixing....

I just can't...lol..

But there are a lot of Legends in there....

link ?

facebook link ?

www.facebook.com

I quit that group a while back. The conversations were dumb and I got tired of the constant notifications.

lol...

Agreed the convos are the worst. It's a train wreck for me, I can't stop watching.

Umm...Y'all have mail....

The lack of headphones is real