click on the the "tap bpm" area and type djam

the words track info will disappear, then open an empty crate that has one track with the words

"Stop staring at my shit"

1st part I always do, 2nd part just thought of

I think he means he wants to stop himself from staring at his own screen while djing...

haha on the 2nd tip. I think I may do that. I used to write all sorts of shit on my white labels.

As for the dj am thing, I've tried that at least 100 times and it never works. I click on "tap" the use type "djam" and hit enter and nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?

yes!

@buttonfreak

try type "inam"

You could try putting your laptop off to the side... waaaayyyyy off to the side. If it's not right in front of you, you're less likely to look at it. One thing that really helped me avoid looking at the screen was getting a midi controller. Now I don't have to touch or look at the laptop for things like hitting cue points, looping, and effects.

as far as the am mode goes, you don't need to type "djam" click on the tap bpm spot and just type "am"

use some turntables and your ears

I'm on am macbook, does that change anything?

i try not to avoid it. too many bad requests and bad people.

yep.

laptop off to the side ftw. I don't understand why people put their lappy front & center...

dj am helps me out ;)

just hit your brightness buttons f1 it will turn the screen off, f2 to select tracks

lmao I thought you meant trainspotters.

to stop from staring at the screen just press the space bar, yeah you still might stare at it, but you can't see the waves or if your on a mac, keep your brightness very low and after selecting songs, drop the brightness all the way which turns the backlight off

I used to have the laptop infront of me. This started to become a problem cause I couldn't see ppl's reactions on the dancefloor. So now I have the laptop stand off to my right side. Plus if your a good looking DJ "girls" do want to see your face they don't want to see a laptop infront of you. However if you are familiar with mixing vinyl than you shouldn't have to look at the screen as much. But use your ears.

I hear ya man. It's like you select a track, mix it in and now back to looking for tracks and repeat. This adds up to a lot of screen time. My cdj's show the songs on the decks so that has helped a lot for me but I am guilty as well. If I can help it I will never place the laptop straight in front of me. That is so lame in my opinion. At home it's ok but at the show, put that thing to the side. I don't really have any tips on how to look at it less. Better organized crates maybe? Or just try to think in your head of songs rather than browse the crates by bpm,

I gotta get better about that myself... I spend a lot of time "screen gazing" just looking through my crates trying to figure out what song I wanna play next....

the crate scroll of death and it gets more tense when you see the outro is coming and you haven't found a song yet.

I know the feeling, so it's good to have a banger or two in the prepare crate just in case... and the pretty colored waveforms are kinda hypnotizing, and if there are hot girls dancing that helps alot!

man yall slipppin, you cant just move the lappy to the side like its all good you got to put in training son, the best training tech ive found is to set up a folding table about 15 feet back from a 1080 HDTV, plasma if avaliable, then set your gear up and get ready to spin but before you start the jams turn on the nastiest hottest porn flick you can find, push play and start spinning, youll learn to ignore your lappy in NO TIME.....advance users can gain additional expertise by bringing a live training partner, PRACTICE AND ENJOY!!!! LMFAO!!!!

damn Bezzle...I'm not even going to ask how you beatmatch in that scenario...

I really don't care if people look at the screen... it's the digital age...people are gonna get the song 1 way or another.... just focus on you being able to play the tracks better than the person staring at your screen.

Off to the side has had the best results for me.

@djyoshi - It's really about paying attention to what's important as opposed to sitting there scrolling for tunes and watching waves as opposed to just using my ears.

- laptop to the side
- if you 57 or midi controller, you can scroll crates/tracks without touching your computer
- load song, beat match cue, look at the room (not in your laptop) and think of a song (or 3 more songs in advance - ctrl+f, put it in prepare or drag to new temp crate, so you can just browse/scroll to that temp crate
- mix, play with efx (in your controller) - that shoudn't be a laptop staring scenario
- also, zoom out the waves - waves will be really slow - at least you can see the whole track just incase you might need to know the break

I already use an all midi setup, but I like the idea of zooming out all the way. I'll give that a go.

part of your 'screen gazing' is from not feeling the speed of the music - try some turntables
and probably using visuals to match - use your ears instead - they are more accurate too

Watchwww.youtube.com

Its on here what you have to do to hide track names

Ya, I used records for 10 years. So while I definitely know what you mean I think the "feel" you're talking about comes from doing your own mixing not from whether or not you use records or cd's to do the mixing as opposed to faders on a midi controller.

I don't want to use turntables when I'm playing wav's and mp3's. I want to use turntables to play records with actual music on them and a midi controller to play wave files and mp3's. And I see people using serato with TT's all the time who screen gaze so I'm not so sure that's the answer.

Im talking about the feel of table turning. sure some guys with tables stare at the screen instead of feel the record. but if you want to stare at the screen less you have to use information thats not one the screen - plater rotation

The only thing I look at the screen for is song selection - and a minimum of other information from time to time.

What information do you get from platter rotation? I get my information from the speakers.

speed

not the rotation, but good vinyl djs can see that record like you can see the serato waveform display. it sounds crazy, its true.

if you have your record labels marked, the "clock" or position tells you where the "one" is when juggling - and also very helpful when scratching/drumming

it's far more natural to look at the vinyl, rather than the screen

Ok, I know all that. But you don't get any of that from staring at serato records. I thought that's what we were talking about. You can't see the breakdowns on serato code records. I guess you could mark it for juggling.

I honestly hate having my MacBook right in from of me but that's my only option, since I use a Battle style coffin and a Xstand :( . Anyone know a solution for this?

right, well the answer to that is know your music better

With the interface pluged in press space bar job done :-)

nothing to see anymore :-)

i used to think it was bad to stare at the screen, but now i really don't think it matters. You still can spot skill whether the dj is gazing or not. Alot of dj's don't really use headphones to mix every song, myself included and when i don't use them i look at the screen.

saves your ears for when it does matter.

kills your eyes - and connection with the crowd

true, sometimes i try to kill that connection early on. :)

i just look for movement outta the corner of my eyes, so another girl doesnt ask me if im going to play rihanna, right after i played a rihanna song or some 'rap music' or 'techno' after ive been playing all rap and house all nite, just not in the 3 minutes shes been there.(of course techno is anything edm related to them)

bitches That stand next to the Dj and wait till there song comes on, . gets me frustrated I ignore them even more I act like I'm busy

well yeah - there are times when I will gaze at the screen just to pretend to be more occupied with something important

i hate having that thought, because every once in a while you will get a good request. but thats like 1 outta 30 times. and then its when its house its right when i'm going into a few hip hop songs or vice versa.

Knowing when the break happens isn't really the problem. And staring at a rotating platter so you can "feel" the beat looks about as stupid as staring at the screen.

thats why you dont stare at the plater, you touch it with you hand

Please explain what you mean. You keep your finger on the platter the whole mix? And from the way the speed of the platter you get "information" about the tune. No offense, but if that's what you're saying that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

keep staring at the screen then

You should learn to explain yourself better.

I'm totally missing your point too, dude. & there's no need to be an arsehole about it....

Im pretty sure if what I am saying is the "stupidest thing I've ever heard", even if it were only half that stupid, certainly it would not be worth listening too. And now Im "an arsehole" for suggesting that I wont help with my "stupid" advice or insight?

um... ok

Yeah sorry dude, I'm at work & only read the first half of his post, my bad :/ I've had a pretty shitty day, but that's no excuse.






I'm still curious as to the advantages of keeping a hand on the platter? Do you mean when pitch-riding unquantized music? Just trying to understand where you're coming from.

Ya, I was a bit of a jerk there, sorry. It's the internet and all...

I still have no idea what you mean though.

A couple hours with real vinyl usually helps me with lookin at the laptop screen....

I like to beat match by ear but I think most people still use the waves as quick reference guide. Feeling the mix in your ears is still the best for riding out those long blends or when putting acapellas over beats.

Not using a tool that's available to you (the waveforms) doesn't make you a better DJ. There's amply time to check the waves to beatmatch a song, fine tune your mix in the headphones, look at the crowd, look at girls, etc. The only people who give a shit if you're looking at the screen are other DJs...and they are standing there at your gig hating on you for looking at the screen, you're working, and they're not, so fuck em.

Step 1. Grab a fork.
Step 2. Gouge your eyes out.

Put your computer off to the side, kinda like how you used to have your record crates.

+1.

Well acutually it depends, ive been a victim on occassion but i see alot of DJs who ALWAYS do this, but youll be looking at the screen to find your next track, look to see its loaded, watch the wave forms, set your Fx, look for you next song, think of what crate somethings in, ect ect ect......next thing you know your in a situation where the crowd could have left and you wouldnt even know it. Im not saying you shouldnt look at the screen but it is importanct to realise its easy to get caught up in the machine

Then this discussion should be about "making sure to look at the crowd."

The same could be said for vinyl. You'll be looking in your crates to find your next track, make sure the needle is in the right spot, beatmatch, set the FX on the mixer, look for your next song, think of what the jacket of the next record looks like, etc etc etc......next thing you know your (sic) in a situation where the crowd could have left you and you wouldnt even know it.

there is a difference there though, with the exception of looking through your crate your looking at an inblocked view of the crowd and your moving focus across the scene, also alot of that (like setting FX on a mixer and beatmatching) can be done without taking your eyes offf the crowd, since you constantly moving focus its hard to get stuck starring in ione position and its easy to remember the crowd, acutually it promotes changing your focus between many activitys...with a laptop its telling you to focus on the one important thign witch is the screen

get on the mic for a second... it forces you to take your eyes off the screen and connect with the crowd.

Yes, it "CAN be done" without taking your eyes off the crowd, just like you can do with Serato. My point is, there's a difference between looking at the screen and still paying adequate attention to your crowd and everything else you need to look at to be a good DJ, and not taking your eyes off the screen the whole night. The latter is obviously a problem, but a lot of older DJs hate on people who look at the screen at all, and a lot of DJs who are more worried about their credibility than their party rocking ability want to see cool by not looking at the screen at all...I'm saying it doesn't make you cool, other than to a handful of DJs who, if they are there to give you shit for looking at the screen, aren't working on a night that you are.

very true, the latter is a problem, we call it screen gazing, see thread title, now lets solve it lol

lol very true in general, i caught myself falling into this habbit, which is ridiculous considering im trying to do right by "real DJs" and there arent any for hundred of miles from me lol

If you don't have personal standards than what the fuck are you doing it for. Do right it right for it's own sake imo.

edit "do right for it's own sake"

see this sounds like good advice but it gets sticky when you ask what exactly IS right

It's so much better to have the laptop off to the side. Using it directly infront of you makes you look like a tool like your glued to the screen and blocking off any energy recieved from a crowd. If you can't mix w/o waveforms then you shouldn't be a DJ. Practice!!

Your "right" is not my "right." I rock crowds. That's what I'm worried about. I don't give a fuck about "keeping it real." I can mix vinyl, I can beatmatch with my ears...hell I can mix vinyl without headphones (I wouldn't do it all night, but in a pinch, I could make it work for a song or two, switching DJs.) Serato gives us a visual tool, and if you want to not use it, that's fine, but that doesn't make you right and someone else wrong.

I like the laptop in front of me because it's handy...but then I'm taller than 5'4" so I can see the crowd over the laptop just fine. The only people having the laptop in front of you makes you look like a tool too is other DJs who are more worried about image than party rocking.

I would say ONLY if you're using a BIG ASS LAPTOP and ALSO if you're using a laptop stand.

"The only people having the laptop in front of you makes you look like a tool too is other DJs who are more worried about image than party rocking. "

and I agree with this...

but I would change "party rocking" to DJing... I hate that term. lol

+1000 on all this, i dont believe the crowd gets any energy from seeing you, honest truth is that most spots we spin they could care less if anyones even up ther, but having it in front of me does seem to make a better workflow

DJing is such a broad term though, the wedding jock who is just droppin a playlist is DJing, rocking a party is a level of djing ability

You can always throw on a gay porno on your laptop. It will keep most of you mens from gazing at your laptop (unless you are into big cocks)

You select music for a living, if you don;t think you have better taste than other people then again, why even fo it?

fuck my typing sucks. Damn these sausage fingers.

fixed

"+1000 on all this, i dont believe the crowd gets any energy from seeing you"

I don't agree with this....

They can either get energy from you or not....

It's all up to you.

ROTFL

go gaze at some hoes

lots of dj booths back in the days(and still in someplaces) were/are not even within eyeshot of the crowd.

It's not so much worrying about looking like a tool as it is changing your focus. It's easy for me to get sucked in to what I'm doing and forget to watch the crowd's response to the music, so i get where buttonfreak is coming from on this. At home practicing when there is no crowd to think about it's even easier to reinforce the habit of getting sucked in. In my home setup my laptop is way off to the side now. I can still see it to pick songs and such, but it's not right in front of me. When I'm done with picking tracks, it's more convenient to put my focus elsewhere. I also start every practice session with a couple of tracks on actual vinyl. Not to 'keep it real' lol but because it helps me keep my focus on the music and not the process. I still keep my laptop in front of me when performing just because it's an easier workflow that way, but now it's not a habit to stare at the screen so much, it's become habit to put my focus elsewhere.

Fixed...

I have this problem too. If I'm not checking out the waveforms to see where drops and breaks are, I'm constantly digging through my library looking for the next couple songs to play.

I always have my laptop to the side and I still stare at it a lot...

it's not an image thing for me - I find with the laptop in front of me, my focus tends to go off the crowd and I get even more sucked into the screen.

I like to be able to engage the crowd and just interact with em when I'm djing... i find it can really help to build energy in a set.

I still dont get this. I keep the laptop right in front of me. After i mix in every song im watching to see whats going on out there. Does it take you 40 seconds to figure out if people are liking the song? It takes a quick glance and then you can go back to what you are doing.

This board is full arguements about common sense topics.

well what im saying is your not gonna have people walking through the door of the club krunk ready to party, then stepping onto the dancefloor and getting sad pissed and leaving because they cant see the DJs face

Like I said, do what you need to do...if you personally have an issue with staring at the screen at the expensive of looking out at the crowd, then you do whatever you need to do to fix that...put the laptop off to the side, close the lid after you drop each song, whatever. My beef is with people who lord over other people for not doing it their way.

I guess its hard to understand if it hasent happened to you but what we are saying is we get so sucked into the comp and all it can do that you forget to even check if people are enjoying the song because your looking at the screen trying to find the next song, then you throw it and watch the waveforms to make sure everything is lined up right (yes i know use your ears but i see nothing wrong with having a 2nd form of monitor) and while your watching the waves you have the library in view so your kinda instintivley looking at your library so when you mix out your still focused on finding your next song......you havent looked away one time and the crowd may have left.

Another way this can happen is what i was a victim of, if your playing a small room and not so much in a booth (think bar or mobile gig) you can kinda look creepy lookin at the crowd cause your pretty much just starrin at 1 group of people so ill look more at my laptop to keep from starrin and end up forgttin about them

In my eyes this means you are mixing too quick. Songs are 3-4 min long. Theres plenty of time to mix it in, watch the crowd for a few seconds, then go back to your thing.

FORGETTING ABOUT THE CROWD???/

Wtf are you even doing in the club if you seem to "forget" about the crowd.

SMH at this shit sometimes. And im a rookie noob. This shit is common sense man.

This is my favorite setup but it's simply not what american crowds want. They want to see the dj front and center. Trust me, I would love nothing more than to just hide out in the dj booth and mix an watch the crowd from a vantage point. They do that in the UK and their vibes at club is about 1000 better than here in the states. I've tried it before but the crowd gets weirded out by it.



lots of dj booths back in the days(and still in someplaces) were/are not even within eyeshot of the crowd.

maybe you guys are just short but im not that tall (6'2) & u can still see me with the laptop there...maybe try lowering the laptop or something. truth is the crowd doesnt care, only another dj who has an opinion smh

the issue isn't whether or not the crowd can see your face over the laptop or what other dj's in the crowd might think... it's that dude was looking for advice on how he can avoid getting sucked in to paying more attention to the laptop screen than to the crowd. that's the only reason placing your laptop off to the side was brought up in this thread. the point is the focus of the dj's attention, not what other people might think....

that's the point of this thread. thebuttonfreak personally has an issue of staring at the screen at the expense of looking at the crowd and was looking for ways to fix that...

Question: What gear are you on? You said you're on a MIDI only setup. Does it offer feedback to let you know what state the software is in? For example, if you have an effect on in the software does your MIDI device tell you that the effect is on and which deck it's routed to or do you have to look at the laptop screen to see that?

by not looking

Bingo!

Personally the main reason I started putting my laptop to the side I just wanted to get a look at all the fine ladies on the dancefloor directly infront of me. And they do see me, wave, flirt now that they can see my face. I even call the fine ones out on mic and be like "fellas that girl right there needs a drink or shout em out" It does make a world of difference. It's def better than starring at a screen half the time. If my friends are in the booth i'll point em out like "ohhh damn she's got some nice tits" lol...feel me

I can't count the number of times I've heard the punters go on and on and on about how awesome so and so DJ was just because he was jumping around and looking like he was super into the music - doesn't matter that he was an average or even sub-par technical DJ...

Some of us get so caught up in the technical side of DJing, we forget that the average partygoer actually loves to see a DJ really get into their music.

I guess it applies a little less to your average top40 clubber since all they care about is hearing their song and hearing it next, but if you're doing headline and/or performance-oriented gigs where you are the main focus of the party, acknowledging and building energy off the crowd both musically and physically can add a little extra something to a set.

Some people just like seeing a DJ excited at the music they're playing...

when I started marking my records I looked at the screen a lot less. when I started syncing my cue points to the mark on the record I looked at the screen even less.

I know that when I load a track that my first cue point is going to be at 12 oclock on the record. I use a foot pedal on the 57 to load my tracks so once I figure out my next track I don't even have to touch or look at the laptop to start my next mix.

I also use drop to cues extensively which also is set-up so that my cues always land at 12 oclock. My cue points are always in the same spot (unless I retap the cue buttons on my dicer) and I can navigate through my tracks without looking at the screen.

[if anyone needs help with getting your set-up like this, hit me up)

The Dicer is also a good tool to cut down on your screen gazing, especially if you use the custom pages and you use Dice Tools to color code the buttons.

I really made an effort to find ways to look at the screen less after watching a couple of my friends with their eyes glued to the screen all night. They weren't even doing anything fancy with serato just playing tracks. No cues, loops, or anything but they're eyes were 80% on the screen and it just irritates the hell out of me to see a good DJ (who can play vinyl or CDJs too) get locked into the screen. I decided that I never want to look like that.

It feels good to be focused back on the turntable. There is so much you can do with vinyl control and a Dicer and it all in the right spots.

yup