nice video. i've said this before, but i believe the real serious people who want to get into video mixing will need to do a lot of pre-production/pre-editing. this video clearly backs my statement. good work kris.

100% True and the exact reason I bought Final Cut Express.

Awesome mix Steel!

Nice video Steel... And agree with Twizzle, having premade samples and overlays can lift a video mix even further.


Congrats on the cool video Steel :)

It seems like most of video mixing is already mix
so the dj's dont really do a lot of mixing


note*i have no knowledge of video dj'ing,

Yo Steel yo sick for that one, the video is hot my man keep doing your thing!

sick video steel. im gonna do one today but i dont have the full verison so it will have the watermark on it. im gonna run it through my capture card on my pc and get it up by 1500. thats 9am EST.

DJChope, the style I do is a Mshup video style. It's typically 2 songs over top of one another. Not mixed but overlaid. I didn't do a lot of mixing because I've noticed over the years that energy is created from Scratching and slamming mixing just keeps the energy your already at stable. So mixing is hard to do a crazy energetic demo. If you wanna know more check out some of the mashup videos I've made on youtube you'll see what I mean.

Thanks for all the love guys!

Very well done mix Kris, much respect from the "Crazy Guy"

r

Lol thanks man are we good now? I really don't want beef with anyone, it's not my thing bro.

We be good mon, also noted on our forum.
MUCH better approach, good job steppin' up in the heat.

Isn't it like 4AM in Arizona?
Not even 7Am here in Boston, u been up all night?

Have a great New Years

"CG"
d(-_-)b

sorry but... mwhahahhahahah... that should win prizes for pure comedy.

Steel - is that a projector or green screen you're using to get the video behind you? I love the effect! I like the showmanship too ;-)

A few comments (please don't take this personal, just trying to be honest and trying to give constructive criticism):

1. while you say that scratching keeps up the power and tension, I think you need to improve on your scratching.

2. I am not sure how the whole set would be perceived if people would not see you, just the video output on screens

3. it would be cool if you would not have to get back and forth from/to your laptop. As you have a TTM57... you should be able to choose the tracks directly from your mixer. Making it a more seemless appearance.

4. what you demonstrated is what should be possible with VDJ right? I mean... it is by far not what VSL offers, IIRC you did not use any of the effects, not even did you change any crossfader effect? Not saying that you *have* to use the effects... But basically you blended a few videos, no offense.

5. I find the quick forth and back blending while scratching/doing heavy crossfader movements/cuts rather disturbing. I know you said in the other thread you find it cool but I think if you crab for example this is rather disturbing seeing the video flickering. My personal opinion.

6. It seems like your personal appearance is part of your show. This needs to be integrated better, like when you move your hands, gestures etc. are sometimes quite off and not in sync to what is being heard ("you're listening to the world greatest" while you already brushed your shoulders few seconds ago).

7. Easter egg? Cue to the last few frames of your youtube video :) Thought it was funny seeing you in a suit and then... just in shirts :)


You said that you are the most paid VDJ - I expected to see more. I mean the concepts are there, partly, but ... it ain't ready yet.

Nice video. (However, I actually liked the Pioneer Tao demo better!) Im so fired up to get this in the club!
Was this with SL or VDJ?
The only thing I really agree with (or would have said) from nik39's post is that the 50% scratch fader curve is a bit obnixious when scratching (not a bash on you Steel...more of a note to self for future). Not sure what effect would be better (becuase it is cool to see the scratching video).... Anyone have any suggestions? The only thing I could suggest is to possibly assign the cue fader for some of the scratching and just overlay the videos (set the cue crossfader to the center position), vs. the crossfader and the repeated strobe effect (mix it up a little bit more).... I haven't practiced enough to be quick with assignment of the 57SL buttons (I typically too relay on my hot key assignments!... need to change that!).

it seems like in every thread you always hate. you start off by saying positive statements but finish with negative. don't knock this guys hustle. your even critizing his clothes. Steel has been a big help with trying to get guys off the ground with video. It also comes across like your a "know it all". i'm not staring beef but sometimes you don't need to have some tact.

Well I think he staged both his audio and video samples very well.
As I said in that other thread, the visual can be confusing when scratching it.
If you scratch the audio like you normally would and when the break comes along let it transition normally it might look better.

I kind of agree with that, i think when watching videos it is best to have smoother movement. Even though scratching is nice sounding, visually it looks chaotic and would probably induce a seizure in some people.

Although Steels first video of the SL-V was cool, there will always be room for improvements, and in that regards I gotta agree with most nik39 said.
He only meant it as constructive critizm, as he also pointed out.

I too feel that scratching video, as if it was audio, can be annoying. It can be damn cool with scratch samples (video ones), but regular music videos are packed with fast shots, and when you start scrachin it, it gets "spasmatic", just an overdose of flicker, and video delays...

To compensate for that (at least VDJ has this), one should operate the video crossfader and audio crossfader independently at times, during a set.. Where you dont want the scratchin flicker.

But this is all deetails, techicallity... Steels video was pretty cool ;)

Although, as some already said, its not really showing how SL-V as better than other solutions. But that might not have been Steels intention either.

Good promo vid for SL-V & Steel, and if someone think they can do it better, go nuts ;)

Another alternative to scratching the video is find and loop choreography/dance action from your cued track or sample and let it share the screen with a fade or cut transition. This works particularly well with dry boring video tracks that are must plays.
This is also where video effects play a major part. I have a midi shortcut that gives me a instant split random transition that really lets them visually work TOGETHER in sync very well. Its just enough of each for viewers to find interesting. This also is a nice option with multiple effects and video like shadow dancers in an overlay.
There is a lot more creativity to be had beside scratching if you concentrate on what is happening on the screen as well as what is coming out of the speakers.
It takes twice the concentration, but it's worth it.

Another suggestion is to use a recording program like Fraps to study what you are doing as it's nearly impossible to mix and watch closely at the same time.

my point is that nik39 seems to be pikcing on the small things, instead giving him props. i don't think steels was looking for us to judge his performance(or clothing) but to show how smooth the video works however you want to utilize it.

Yeah it was a bad attempt at a green screen (my first attempt) just having fun with it.

For nik39 I did the whole set with videos I hadn't used yet in serato so what i was doing was setting cue points. I find it easy to do that with the laptop. Wasn't trying to reallt show all the features of Serato Video was just trying mostly to experiment with the whole green screen thing. The set was thrown together I have better everything. Better videos, better scratches, better intros. It was mostly just for fun. I had to be done live as in you only get one take with a DVD recorder. I didn't plan any of the transitions as I would a battle or a real demonstration.
I don't know where you got the quote that I'm the highest paid video DJ. Cause thats not true I can name a bunch of people that most likely make more then me. Roonie G., 2nd Nature, Kris P., Jordan Law, DJ Fin-S, etc.
I have been doing video for a long time and i do enjoy it very much and for a first run through with those vids in that random order without changing transitions I think I did pretty good.

I agree with you on the scratching though I do want to get better, but I sure so does every DJ who scratches. I don't want to get worse! Lol

Yeah It wasn't meant to be the coolest thing anyone had ever seen I just threw it together from a couple other demos I had already done. I don't ever have my whole library converted yet I'm about 20% through it so far. So I have a long way to go.

Thanks for the feedback can't wait to see your video nik39!

no worries Steel, it was cool ;) you got loads of showmanship, where most djs would stand still in their booth, you own it.. I can easily see you getting paid well ...

To show what I mean by manipulating audio and video seperately, here are two videos that has a style I like... (and the point here is NOT what hardware/software was used, cause it probably might as well be made in SL-V, and if anyone find it offensive, I hope the Serato mods will remove them, cause thats NOT the point)

Watchwww.youtube.com

Watchwww.youtube.com

You will see cleaner visual cuts, and operation of video and audio independently, making it smoother and more pleassant for the guests..

And I bet Steel will produce LOADS of great vids in years to come, he is after all way ahead of all that starts now ;)

Cool vid Steel, it had entertainment value written all over..

Lol Dude WTF! Lol I just downloaded your audio mixes from your profile. Bro your telling me I need to get better at scratching? Really? Man if one of the guy that work for me scratched like you do I'll tell them to practice at home. Lol

I'm listening to it right now are you serious bro?

With the hyper critical comments you made I though you'd be on some other level that I wasn't at. Lol

All your scratches are off beat. Lol Like way off beat! lol

Yeah my gesturers didn't sync up cause I didn't sync it together very well but my scratches where on beat! lol

You kill me bro. kill me.

Good times nik39

Hey guys maybe I'm being to hard on him, correct me if I'm wrong you guys have to listen to him demos on his profile.
Like they are ok. Not good enough to be talking the way he's talking though. He uses an echo effect on his first transition and its off beat! lol

Good times.

Oh that wasn't me at the very end of the video thats a guy that works for me. We made him one too. So he was setting up for his.

Yeah Larry D is good man! well I've noticed something with this thread a lot of cool guy that do video have been talking to each other a lot more, it's cool.

Steel...good ish

dude! what's up Knick Knack! Hey if you all don't know Kinck Knack This guy Runs AZ! He's the man!

lvmez, stop whining around. Thank you. If Steel is a ream man, then he will know how to handle the constructive criticism. No need to start crying around for you.

Of course I do NOT know everything, if I was I would be somewhere teaching you. I just posted MY POINT OF VIEW, which I think explained why I think they are valid points. I am very new to video mixing, so I am judging from a noob point of view. you may think this is not needed, but see it this way: The average joe aka customer is also new to video mixing. You want to sell this VDJ service, you need to know what the average joe thinks about it.

Furthermore... there was at least one person before me who said something negative without even explaining the reasons - but you start running after me crying foul. Go figure.


Again, I dont think steel is around to fish for compliments. If there is something he can improve and people tell him, that is by far more helpful than people just saying "cool". At least thats how I feel about my work. It is nice and I am greatful if people give props, but it is more interesting to see and to talk about the things which can be improved.

Furthermore, DJ Steel is a professional VDJ, in his words the best paid VDJ. I am judging him as such,... not as beginner. If I was able to do such a show as he did, I would be extremely happy and content, because that would be my limit (actually it would be above my limits, but if it was I would not been able to do it ;) ). It would be more than an insult to judge him my the average DJ's skills.



dj steel, okay, I was not aware of that (cause actually you said something different). That explains a few things. However, I just expected much more ... because you tried to build up some tension/excitement in that other thread where you announced that you were going to post something... you said:


... so I judged this video by what you said was going to be the "sickest video ever". Maybe I just took your words too serious. But I hope you understand my point of view now.



If that was a misquote, I truely apologize. I just thought I read mp3rick quoting you on that in your other demo-video's-thread.



Full ack. :)



Sorry to let you down, but I aint playing in your league. I find it *very* hard to coordinate a audio spectacle *and* a video spectacle at the same time and I am not sure if I ever will be able to do something like you VDJs do.


At least you had a good laugh. :) As previously said, I am not playing in your league. That does not mean I can not criticize, cause I know how it should suppose to sound like.

Also I did not post the mixes like "hey look, I demoed SSL", it was more or less a live session at a small bar where I can basically play what I want to play. Of course this is not a finished product I would advertise with and show to customers. If you are in doubt of what I am capable off, send me a PM and I will redirect you to some of my serious work. But... again... I am not playing in your league.


Feel free to criticize me. But... do it in a professional way. Post it in the appropriate thread. This thread here is not about me. This is about your video.

I am a bit disappointed to see you to sidetrack the discussion from your video by talking about how good or bad my scratches are.

Man Nik I'm cool with everyone that includes you but dude you come across as Hyper critical man! You put me on the defensive man. I actually liked your song selection on your demo cause it was all on the same energy level and a bunch of tracks I don't hear. Man every thing has it's place.

All DJ's should be promoters, I'm gonna say everything I do is amazing. Cause thats my job man.

I am hypercritical, but I dont mean it in a negative way and I do not see it as something bad. I really see constructive criticism as an opportunity to improve, not as a way to downtalk someone or to diss. Yes, people *do* get it wrong quite often, but that is not what is meant. Probably my lack of skills being not able to properly express it.

STEEL thanks for the love, don't know about running AZ though. We need to link and rap ASAP...

Wanted to comment on your last comment Steel..."all dj's should be promoters"

Promotion and marketing is crucial to establishing yourself as a DJ and building a loyal following. Take advantage of networking opportunities, myspace, and other mediums to get your word or message out. If you don't do it, who will? Network, shake hands, talk to everyone, and build relationships. Have a business card? You should be passing out business cards like they're candy!

i.e. If the night you're doing doesn't involve a promoter and the club isn't marketing it, be pro-active and make a quick simple flyer yourself, or invest into a graphic designer and have one made. Going above and beyond is what will seperate you from other DJs at your club/venue/bar.

Networking is key, anyone reading these posts can see that STEEL is well tied to major parts of this industry (Promo Only, Serato, clubs, etc). How? NETWORKING. Steel has networked and worked extreme overtime to get to the point he's at now...take notes and learn.

Oh and just as your scratches where NOT on beat all the time, my scratches were not off-beat all the time either ;) Haha.

Lol I feel ya Nik39 typing can be misleading


Knick Knack hell yeah man you still got my number right? hit me up man.

it's my opinion. i think you are very quick to critize. and please don't start talking shit, "stop whining around". please don't be an internet tough guy i just feel you like to critize on matters that don't pertain to the subject. you like to write very long opinions to try and come across smart or right. you intitled to your opinion but you come across like a "know it all".

lvmez, *lol* at your "internet tough guy". As I am writing long opinons to "come across smart or right". I just want to explain why I think this way. Quick to criticize? Haha. I *always* criticize unless it seems to be perfect to me. How many things do you know in world which are perfect?

However, to put this at rest, you are entitled to your opinion. Those who can deal with it will appreciate constructive criticism.

Oh, and dont act like I was just posting the negative points. If you had known my posts you would had known that I also give props where its due.

exactly my point. you always end with critizism. just can't say something positive and leave it at that. so if things aren't perfect, you need to try and correct them? i hope you have alot of free time on your hands. and by the way, who made you in charge of correcting things that aren't perfect? we are all intitled to our opinions. wether they are good or bad. my point is that this forum is so that we can share information to better one another, have fun and just bullshit once in awhile. no need to always add critism.

From an outsiders view, the SSL forum is pretty rough at times;) hehe.
It follows the old "Jante Law" (look it up.. lol)
But how about getting back to topic?

Its a lot more interesting to read/interact about video mixing than pro/con sides of Nik ;) I'm sure he's a nice guy inside his rough image! hehe. JOKE.

New Years Weekend you all.. cheer up, party and enter 2008 with a huge grin and group hug ;)

I agree. We understand what nik's about we should probably leave him be. Damn anybody every had one of those weeks where they lose two gigs for random ass reasons? I just did. I lost a really cool sunday day when I dj from 2 to 9 due to corporate being afraid to build a night and I lost my friday due to a promoter coming in with his own guys. Even though in this same week I also gains two nights a wednesday night doing video! Whee! And a monday doing......I have no idea yet. But what a weird week. So if anyone is looking to book me on a friday doing video in let me know! lol doesn't hurt to ask I guess. Lol

Hold on Hold on I got a better one: Will DJ For Food (Video Mixing for money Preferred)

lvmez, if you want to keep stuff private and don't want feedback it is easy:

Do NOT post it on a public forum.

Now that was easy, wasn't it?

Funny thing about forums.
If you look at the lurker ratio, it's always lopsided.
Right now its 31 logged in, 93 guests here.
Seems by the posts I read that people get cut up here in the battle of egos.

On our site now its 268 users and 553 visitors online.
Our users tend to be less aggressive as a lot, and we have many non licensed users seeking information and that tilts the scale somewhat.
We tend to welcome, be kind and cultivate these users into licensed Pro users over time and most find the camaraderie more to their liking than not.

Cutting people up is not good for the forum environment.
You can speak your mind without alienating people and calling them names, its non constructive.

If "networking" is going to work it takes many people involving themselves unselfishly.
Intimidating members is going to drive them away, not involve them, net gain zero.

Kris, forging ahead with video is gonna open doors for you, it has for me.
I took the leap years ago against all odds, and now I hold the cards.
As I described in that other thread, the impact of large screen with jpeg slide shows of candids as well as live video camera feed coupled with a huge video collection sweeps people off their feet. One gig leads to 4 every time nearly with many repeat bookings. Its the best move I ever made against the trendy anti computer dj nay sayers, and I survived with most of them riding in the rear car now behind the 8 ball playing catch up.

If you knew Low Fat Al, you would know that he broke open the video dj thing in a first of its kind show in Vegas last year in a brand new club...BECAUSE OF VIDEO.
With the connections you have already, you should have no problem capitalizing on this format once club owners see the impact it has.

i get it now. your perfect and that gives you the right to critize everyone. it just seems that your uptight and need the to always correct fellow members. just chill and relax. your probably the best dj on the forum who makes the most money. just no reason to be a "know it all".

Who was I correcting? Just as you are giving your opinion about me, I was giving my opinion about this video.



Seems like you got nothing. Read again. Try it slowly.

Oh and BTW, it is "you're" not "your". Yes, I am correcting you now.

you just made my point.

Glad that I could help you.

You guys are killin me. Oh just so you all know I used Serato video tonight all night and it was perfect.

Steel, great vid man, I gotta ask though, how did you run VIDEO-SL without the watermarks? It's not out for another 2 weeks, is Serato secretely hooking you up?;)

Now as far as nik39's criticism that accidently took over this thread, I gotta drop my 2 cents. There are 2 types of people in most of show biz, the creative ones and the technical ones. The creative ones produce music, then the technical ones come in and master it. The creative ones direct movies while the technical ones pick out lenses and film stock. The creative ones DJ at the club while the technical ones run the sound board... Well, there's a million variations but you get the point ;) Sometimes each of the type dabs into the "other world." Producers try to master while engineers try to produce, directors try to photograph while the DPs direct the actors and pick out the shots, the sound guys try to DJ while the DJs try to wire up the venue. And while both know a lot about each others' different professions, results aren't always the best.

djsteel is the creative, nik39 is the technical. It's as simple as that. While Steel was out to have a good time and throw something together to show everybody, nik39 was under the common impression that anything you put out for the public needs to be as polished and as pristine as possible. nik39 does screw up in his mixes, but he admits so in huge disclaimers. He puts his mixes out just to prove to everybody that he does in fact know how to DJ, since most of his posts are of highly technical and feature-specific nature. And I agree with a lot of the technical things he has to say, as he agrees with mine. However, I do not agree with his criticism of djsteel's scratching, as it was pretty on point.

Anyway, people like nik39 and djsteel need to unite and conquer :) And great things happen when the two types pair up. What kind of great things? Oh I don't know maybe a little company from New Zealand that took over the entire DJ world in a matter of just a few years. And it wouldn't have been possible without their ear to the streets with the likes of djsteel or without the technical expertise of the likes of nik39.

I produce too! I just threw that together to see if the green screen idea worked. It didn't work that great I look like I have a projector on me. lol I need to do it over with a brighter screen. It's whatever.

Too answer you question. Yes Serato had picked some people to test the plugin that were already familiar with video and owned the 57. So we've been playing around with it. I have a full version which I used last night at the club and am using NYE as well for the first time. I'm super excited! I've owned the other products as well. VDJ and the DVJ's. I've been doing video for a really long time already so it wasn't hard to transition over to Serato.

I hope that helped answer your question. Nik is cool no hard feelings. It's all good. I respect anyone who cares enough about DJing to be on this Forum all the time geeking out with the rest of us. Lol

Hey Czar,

I feel a little bit offended if anyone thinks I am "just" the technical guy ;) Yes, technical stuff is interesting, but it is also the music and the heart which keeps me driving mostly, I want to emphasize that part. Saying I am just the wire guy and not a DJ would hurt my feeling a little.

Okay, rereading your part... you didn't say it. :)


Nah, thats not the point here, the point is that the expectations were pretty high as dj steel said by himself "I've got the sickest Youtube video ever rendering right now hopefully will be up in a couple hours. I made it with Serato video, Its cool. I can't wait to post it."



True, true.



Thanks for expressing your opinion in a nice way (even when we disagree) instead of throwing shots.

And thanks for the kind words overall.

Happy new year to y'all (that includes you too lvmez :) ).

happy new year to you too. LOL^^^^it seems someone doesn't like to be critized. Czar was simply making an observation.

I am all up for criticism. I just explained how I feel. Ratio. Feelings. Two different things.

I think the point that is being proven here is pretty simply. If you say the Sky is blue Nik will say its orange. If you change you answer and say Yeah it is orange he'll tell you what are you talking about the sky is clearly blue.

My deal is this, if you tell me my hair cut sucks and you have a mullet I don't think I'm really gonna think your opinion hold any weight. It's like a fat person telling me I need to work out. Nik can't scratch to save his life and he was telling me my scratches weren't up to his standard. Some things you gotta consider the source you know? If Q-Bert told me that then I guess I would care more.

Its never cool to tell someone they have a problem unless you yourself can offer a solution. People who do that all the time just end up having no friends. If I tell a friend their scratches suck I show them how to correct the problem they are having to the best of my ability. If I don't know how to help I keep my mouth shut. Its just good people skills.

here is a little video i did. the quality is poor(need a better camera and capture card). its not good but it shows some of the effect towards the end. not to high jack this thread but for some reason when i hit instant double i get a pause in the video. it that because of my processor speed or something else. the computer i made it own is my Imac 20" Intel Core 2 Duo with 2gb ram with a 128 vid card. here is the link Watchwww.youtube.com

great point.

No it's not a good point. If someone comes up to me and says, "I'm a really good 100m runner I can run it in 12 seconds" I know that's crap even though I doubt I'd get near 12 seconds over 100m I know that some people can run under 10 seconds. When someone reviews a film in the newspaper and says Arnie's acting was wooden they don't have to be fantastic actor themselves to know that. You learn by watching other films and seeing people who are better.
Nik knows a lot about music and listens to a lot of music with scratching so he is well placed to critique djsteel.

i feel you, but this case nik always points to dj's weaknesses. this is a forum. we are not here to be critized for everything we post. we are here to learn from eachother. and if your not the best dj yourself, then there is no reason to constantly point others flaws out.

Well we all have weaknesses imo.
Constructive criticism is always welcomed.
Nobody is that perfect unless they have an ego bag over their head.

Nice vid Steel... good luck tonight with the video. D-D-DJ Steel... the Video Killa!

way to not take it personal.

lvmez, the problem is that you're wrong in your last post. the ability to critique is based on knowing the subject, not the ability to do it yourself. steven spielberg cant act, but that doesnt mean he doesnt know what makes a great actor.

put yourself in the limelight, expect criticism. im not defending nik, im just saying, its really pointless getting emotional and upset over something that was bound to happen anyway, wether it was nik or someone else.

i agree, but unless your the steven spielberg of djing, there is no need to critize every post. are the steven spielberg of djing? that's what i thought.

are the steven speilberg of djing?

are you asking if im the steven spielberg of djing, or if nik is the steven spielberg of djing?

either way, you missed the point. djing = acting. steven spielberg cant act. he doesnt need to.

like i say, im not defending him, im just saying dont be so sensitive.

Pretty sad you missed the point again steel.

Do all the people who write critique's in hiphop magazines rap better if they tell jay-z's album was not a 5-mic album? Do they *have* to rap better?

Steel, I am not a good scratcher if you want to point that out. That does not mean I do not know how it supposed to sound like.

good strong argument nik32, i mean discussion...hem hem.

K-Boogie, nice demo. I would guess the issue with the video 'delay' when using instant doubles is the key frame rate (based on what I have read).
I have the same issue when using instant doubles....like a 2 second black screen until the video is sync'd with quick audio change. The program I use to encode (imTOO MPEG converter) does not offer key frame rate adjustment....so I am going to try Handbrake with the Serato suggested settings next.

I DJed NYE with Serato video (first case I know of someone actually doing it) It was perfect ran great people went nuts and are still asking me about it. It's almost here. I'm excited guys!

nik...you MUST be female cause there's no guy that i know that can argue like you can. cheers to that.

lol.

Word :)

So your female?

lool
When in doubt check the profile Steel.
She's got a hell of a smack down, now don't she....lool

Too funny

steel I'm only half way through reading this topic just wanted to tell u that good times is mine you can't have it.

ok just read the whole topic. Let me try to bring order to this madness. First of all steel nice vid. I appreciate anyone helping out with tutorials or whatever on video since it is a fairly new technology especially to serato. Second I agree with nik on his comments. I don't want to bash steel cause like I said I'm just learning video and wish I knew as much as steel as far as video sl, and I will eventually,... However, I was expecting a Jordan laws type video, which imo is very professional. Jordan laws video mixing is so good that its easy to forget hat hes actually a great dj. I wasnt expecting to see steel in front of the screen looking like one of the growin up gotti boys (don't get mad dude), but that's your peroative. I guess I'm more technical and not a showman. I think if you have a free second to dance, hand gesture or whatever, there's probably something important you could be doin to make the next mix better. After all nobody goes to a club to watch the dj, they listen to the dj. And now with video people are gonna watch the video and don't want to see the dj dancing to the video. Maybe I don't know what I'm talkin about. Anyway I did like the video and all the videos and appreciate the effort u DJs take to post this stuff. Also the scratching wasnt that good steel. Sorry to burst your bubble. Don't try to find a clip of me scratching so u can bash me there are none. I'm a bedroom dj. This is my hobby and I'm not good at it just trying to learn.

sorry for the long post






Good times

"ah dude you're just hatin."

"you cant do better so you cant criticise"

"yeah, well, you suck. im a professional you're just a bedroom guy you dont know what you're talking about"

"man if youre a bedroom dj then you need to shut up, i been rocking parties out like a pro for years an you dont do anything you cant tell me nothin until youv paid your dues or showed me you can do better."

..................

i thought id just save a few people the hassle of replying. id expect lots of the above kind of replies. stevie o, i agree with everything you said.

that's funny^ b4 I read the last sentence I was about to get on you... No homo.

I didn't read all the bullshit cause it was getting out of hand. I did read that this video was thrown together really quick and that justifies the fact that it isn't quality material but just showing people what can be done with the new plug-in. If it was some type of promo shit for what you do dj steel, I would have said "I'm not hiring you".

People are quick to say others are hating when we don't agree with the majority.

This also threw me off:



because I don't think your scratching is on point either. I know some will most likely take this comment as hate. I hope you don't.

I am the worst dj on here...you can search sylert on youtube when your up at night downloading music and watch my horrible videos and then everyone can feel better about themselves ;-) hows that sound! gooood. pllus i have some other entertaining videos for all of you

where is steel to defend his scratches. There clearly are enough people in agreement that the video wasnt that good and his scratches in the video were not on point. Maybe it was red light fever. Either way I want to thank steel for the video

c'mon people... Steel may not be the best scratch DJ in the world and the video wasn't made to be some kind of professional tutorial but at least he put something up for cats to see the product..... with all the problems people are having (especially PC people) or people who's computers aren't up to spec, I think it was pretty cool of him to take his time to do that. Nobody else has done so.... at least this cat is tryin to do something to show people. If you don't like it, don't watch it... or do something better... he's not putting it up saying.. "look how good DJ Steel is" he's just tryin to help out so ease up on this dude.

I've only known how to scratch less then a year but I know how to DJ I know how to program and make people go nuts all night till we kick em out. That why I work 6 days a week. I don't really care if other DJ's like how I scratch or if my video was good or bad. Your opinions are neither here nor there. If you like it great if you don't I'm not losing sleep.
I was attempting to show you guys what you have to look forward to with Serato video. I am excited about it cause I've been using it every day and I know how sick it is. I did that last video on the fly live to show how the program does everything I want it to. You can even see me adjusting volumes and setting cues on tracks I've never actually played before. The point was not to be the most amazing DJ on the planet with that demo it was to show you guys the program. If you want I can make an Amazing demo that will leave most of you trying to figure out what the hell I was doing if you want me too.

So you all can spend all your time saying this or that about me and who ever else, it doesn't matter. The really good DJ's I've met have always been super cool and love what they do. Haters seem to never make it to the top (they are to busy hating to practice). So I'm gonna go edit more video for my show tomorrow. You all have fun let me know what you guy decided on me making that really cool video.

nice video bro,all good dj steel.

Thanks bro!

The fact that you're replying.... isn't like losing sleep over this whole thing? :P


Don't trip djsteel. Do your thing. Thanks for the demo btw.

Guy puts himself out there and catches shit... aint dat aboutta bitch.

Steel - it was all good in my book. The part that gets me is that you have it working.. I'm stuck to just checkin moving faders and hoping for more, but only stuck at a glaring bug of white vid screens.

KaGeN... get a mac. lol

The way of the forum... hahaha :P

damnit sixxx, I'll use a mac, when you honestly admit JohnnyM kicked your ass.

hahahaha! I think you mean the other way around. lol

It's cool I expected that type of response from people no big deal. Thx for the support from of you that get it. Check me out on my US tour that starts today!

Good luck on that tour!

Where can we find the tour listings? It's not on your site.

Damn nik39 is that u on your profile..she's a sexy little motherf*cker for real!

Yo on the real djsteel f*** these cats who give crazy hate for no reason. Remember this, even when u are the champ some people will still hate u and what u do. And when u place yourself in a public forumn this is what happens..u become a target. Hell, when a boxer wins the title alot of cats ain't happy; they just known who the target is now! Keep doing u, keep spinning and helping out as u do.

whas good steel. i finally checked out the video dawg. good work. i'm gonna show u some tricks on how to composite yourself in front of our video mix so it looks SICK!

Show me! cause I need to learn lighting bad!

Here is my idea steel. I should just do it instead of trying to explain it but here goes.

First you put an over the shoulder video cam on your rig while you do the video mix. The reason for this instead of a head on view like you did, is so I get a stationary hard edge (the rig, the laptop, etc) which I can use that hard edge to mask out the background for the next step.

Capture the video out of your VSL laptop with a dazzle or whatever the hell you use.

Now you have two video files. The over the shoulder cam of you mixing. The video capture of the live mix out of the laptop.

Lay the over the shoulder video up in FCP or whatever you use. Create an 8 point mask and use the mask points so only the dj rig, coffin, laptop, etc can be seen. Use 2 masks if 8 points is not enough. Position the dj rig in the lower part of the screen so you have plenty of screen real estate left for music video.

You'll now have a big alpha area that's masked. Line everything up in the timeline and lay the music video capture in so it shows in the alpha area.

I think you get the idea. Of course if you have a proper green/blue screen to stand in front of or any high contrast solid background that can be keyed, you can do a real color key and have a full motion mask instead of my idea with the 8 point mask.

You see where i'm going with it. Hell, maybe i'll just do it.

Most of that went over my head bro. I figured out how to do it right it's all in the lighting. I'm going to a studio that specializes in green screen so they can worry about the lighting etc. Lol

A swift definitely interested in this.

Ok fam. Instead of trying to explain it, I just went ahead and did it. It's 1.5 hours straight live video mix, camera on me and captured output from vsl. The two images are keyed in post like I said. It's rendering now, the whole 1.5 hours. I'm gonna use it as part of my kit (on DVD). I'll post a snippet of it steel so u can see what I'm talking about. It certainly won't look as good as a professional studio but it's not bad for what I have.

The biggest problem was the 1.5 hour length. I could do a much better job on a 10 minute mix, since the file sizes would be more manageable. You have no idea how much disk and rendering time a 1.5 hour live mix is chewing up.,

Stay tuned.

Looking forward to this to which i am redoing my press kit as well...

Ok, rather than wait for the rendering I'll explain with some screen shots:

First I record the video mix with two recorders. One is capturing video output from Serato. Nothing special there, just full screen music videos and audio.

Second recorder is just a camera on me standing in front of a green screen. I record the entire mix on both, live, non-stop.

Here is me, this is a screen shot from the LIVE video capture:

www.anewsome.com

So now I have two recordings. I lay them both in final cut. The video mix on the bottom. Using a key, I get rid of everything green in the cam shot of me. I use a matte to clean up stuff that is not green. The key and the matte turn everything except ME and the turntables to alpha (see through). So the video shows up behind me, full screen.

The final video looks like this:

www.anewsome.com

I guess it's pretty simple once I explain it.

thats dope swift. i'm planning on doing the same thing, i already have the green screen, tripod, and lights at the office. what do you think about this....shooting yourself on the green screen, and key it in with a solid black background, thats it. then when you load up that clip on a deck, use the luma black effect, and you'll be layed over the current video playing. it might look pretty cool, but i havent tried it yet.

that would be cool steven but you would not be spinning live. it would just be a picture of you spinning over some video right?

yup, just a watermark and shameless promotion over the video playing out loud. so if you shot yourself on the green screen and chromed it with a solid black background, or white, and add your logo and dj name, using the white or black luma effect should just overlay your image over whatevers playing.

kinda like when you watch the nfl, and they show the stats of the player on the lower part of the screen, you see their moving image, not a still shot, along with their stats.

Very NICE A-SWIFT! Always diggin your style bro... Keep up the good work guys and girls...

i like shameless promotion. i guy i know has himself in some of his remix video edits. nothing wrong with that.

yo swift is it possible to do this live in the club or your mobile gigs.

absolutely and for pretty damn cheap too. all you need is something that can key multiple video sources live in real time. edirol v4 comes to mind (less than $1,000).

i was thinking about this.....but i havent tried it yet. i think if you shot yourself on a greenscreen, and keyed it in with a solid white background, that might work better. if you did it with black, and triggered the black luma effect, it might turn everything thats black on you transparent, in my case, my hair, eyebrows, anvil cases, etc. i think white might work better....i think.

the reason that video pros key on green or blue is for that reason. serato should be able to key on any color although i haven't taken a look at that feature. there is also the possibility that you can write your own effect to do the key. but you didn't hear that from me.

I thought we all agreed to keep that secret and not to spread it out??

;)

we did. my bad. the mods need to help out and delete that thread.

swift just opened up a can of worms

Awe-swift .... how can we do closed captioning and spell words backwards or make new words appear on the screen?

not sure how you do it? i use final cut for the simple stuff. motion for more advanced stuff.

the easiest way would be to just type the words at the exact moment of the sound and and pick parameters to change how it appears and mixes, but that would take some kind of new video editing software, huh?

1.5 hrs aswift lol

took me almost day to finish edits and renders on my 1.3 hr mix over night render down .

Gotta love the chapter maker features in final cut pro.

A really good example of the green screen keying is the scratch video on youtube of that japanese Dj
whp is standing in front of his tables in an all white world and then all these things happen around him to the scratching.
I think it was for technics mixer maybe?

You can go to final cut pro theres a closed captioning system.

But if you just want words on screen.
There is an effect generator. that has text generation.

new editing software? i dont know how many times i can post final cut pro can do this. easily.

Let's see the video!!

whoomp there it is

web.mac.com

realy like your edits and motion graphics nice work.

the maskshit is wild

thanks man. i was just trying to do a setup to *show* steel what i was trying to explain what i wrote above for steel. after i got that far deep into it and had all the capture equipment setup, i was like "fuck it, might as well make a mix"

lots of mistakes and stuff but the set was unplanned, yada yada. next one will be straight ILL. thats a promise.

Nice work swift I need to take some final cut classes at the apple store and step my game up.

holy shit, that was dope swift!

hey swift, what fader transition did you use in the first mix from nelly furtado to hollaback girl?? i'm not in front of my mixer now, so i cant check.

that first transition is not a serato transition. serato is set to LATCH transition the entire mix and i never change it. that first transition was done in motion, and i didn't make it either. it's a free one that comes with motion. i think its called sliding glass panes or some shit.

i also learned that you need to backtime the video clip when using that effect. thats why when the sliding is happening, it looks like my scratch is not lined up with the sound. i didnt notice til after it was rendered. not gonna fix it.

either way, it looks dope. it'll be cool to make a few of those videos, probably 20-30min long, and just let them play at the beginning of the night while people are still coming in, then go all the way live when you're ready. or use those videos for your pee breaks.

fuck. bandwidth exceeded.

Exceeding bandwidth and unavailable, lol

it was fun while it lasted

swift, whats up with the tearing? Is it the finished video not being properly de-interlaced or are these the original video sources not being de-interlaced?

I remember you (or someone) else said that on tv's int wont cause any problems... but on the PC its quite annoying.

Or is it a SLL problem? How did you capture the video output?

On the mac, when you connect the DVI to TV adapter the only output options you have interaced options. The TV out of the mac was captured with a DV capture box.

I'm not worried about this, I don't connect to capture boxes at the club, I connect to TVs. A pro capture solution would be to capture VGA output or do a DVI capture directly with high resolution. I don't have any hardware to do anything like that though.

I see.

Yea Ive noticed it too. Being using the same Dv route i get a little tearing on fast motion clips. not from source from recording.

I also realized alot of old capture dv boxes where only at 12 bit not 16bit audio.
So I got one that was 16 bit.

i have canopus ADVC-100 so the audio is good to go. but it can do 12 bit with a dip switch

Now THAT is what I call a good mix, Aaron you are too critical of yourself.
Crossing genre is one of my favorite styles specifically because I do lots of mixed age groups. To bring it all together like you did expresses the ultimate in creativity.
I just wish I lived closer to you to watch you operate.

This really illustrates the tasteful use of scratching and only during transitions. The blending of audio and video was wicked and with no clashes that I heard really.
I enjoyed it thoroughly and passed it on to several others, sorry if we burned your bandwidth and pissed off your server.
If you guys missed it, you really missed it.
I played it twice totally focussed on what you were doing with it.
To do that on the fly is exactly what I was talking about earlier.
Good job mon, good job.
Hope you can get that back up for others to see.

Bandwidth exceeded, i wanted to see swifty's work :(

great, and now that i read rick's post, the bandwidth was used on vdj guys!

post it on youtube or sumthing... please...

What a waste of bandwidth that was....lol
Actually it was PCDJ admin, Cue and VDJ admin.

The file was 700mb, no way that is going on utube.

I'm sure Aaron will figure something out.

That was really cool. Video mixing seems fun and profitable.

piggy!

the first 5 minutes of this mix are posted on youtube. it's crap quality so i'm not promoting it. i've also deleted all other copies of that mix becuase its pretty shitty and the mixing is not very good. guys that know me, they know i can do better but other people seeing it might think i'm a wavie.

Lol i found the youtube vids nice work.

I like your edits. on the other videos.

My favorite video

Aarons house with 4 djs on one table

I just wish I had a house big enough.

And that many friends with dj setups.
Real nice.
Your house must party central aaron.

Gotta agree.

i just want for people o see the video-SL plugin @ work... and your did that esp with the promiscuous loop...

thanks

dont forget, this started as an excercise in trying to illustrate what i was trying to explain to steel about doing a proper key. i think i did that well so im pretty satisfied with the result of that part.

i also laid the foundation of how i'll do my demo dvd. pretty happy about that too.

thanx for the the help a-swift. How did that break look to ya as far as the batch info and does any of the black look faded to you at all?

well h.264 will defintely grey up ur blacks a bit. i just accept it as part of the low bitrate tradeoff. batch info and video looked real good.

thanks for reminding me those were posted up there. i deleted all that stuff. i keep all my current video edits on myspace so people are used to looking there anyway.

thanx again a-swift looking forward working with you in the near future...

DJ steel I really enjoyed your video mix. It was very creative.

On the flip side, Nik39, I think everyone should respect other peoples work. If you see a painter you don't tell that person your painting strokes needs improvement. Those are very harsh words and thus not being respectful of the other persons work.

One can criticize yes but be more respectful especially if you don't personally know that person. If not you will create enemies real fast and thus distance yourself from coworkers, family and friends.

If you judge someone then DJ Steel has every right to judge your mixing skills. He was not changing the subject he had every right to critique your work.

I person should never talk the talk if they can't produce high quality work.

My two cents.

Yo dj steel, i flipped your audio and borrowed it for my logo just a little tester. hope u don't mind check it out...Holla!!!!

myspacetv.com

we all wish we can talk about nik39s skills but I have seen him dj and the dude got skills

True. I think I do, honestly. Criticizing someones work does not meant at all disrespect. I think its quite the opposite cause you show you spent time on watching, and writing a critique.... and that you actually cared.



Haha... you know what I read first? "If you see a panther you don't tell that your stripes needs improvements" Hahahahahaha.



Sorry, I don't think my words were harsh at all. Basically what I said was that the scratching was not good, and not on time (among a few other points). I dont think this was uncalled esp. since a few people who actually know the 101 of scratching agreed here in this post (and also by PM, not kidding).

Also, De Leon, I don't think I would have said anything if prior to posting this video, DJ Steel announced:



Now you tell me whether that was the sickest video ever...



Sorry, I think you missed the point.

He has every right to critique my work, when we talk about my work. He knows where to find the thread to my work, as he has listened to it. He should feel free to slap me on that thread.

This thread is about his work.

Also, as previously said by various people... you don't have to be a superstar MC to judge a superstar MC. Just because you can't execute the same skills, does not mean you don't know how it supposed to be executed.

As said, my scratches may be sloppy, but that does not mean I don't know how it supposed to sound like.

I hope that makes sense, Leon.