The Future of Djing?

[darrel855]

I maybe purchase 10 songs a year from beatport . I like this one right now http://shop.eckorecords.co.uk/ecko-mp3.php

[Karlos Santos]

Do you guys think sites like Beatport and Stompy are going to have everyone playing the same tracks at the same time?

I dont think so... There will always be a million DJs in bedrooms and clubs playing the Beatport Top 10 but you gotta dig deep to get any decent respectability in my eyes.

If i a guy plays a few big tunes then digs out something id forgotten about then something ive never heard then whacks on a huge tune im more inclined to listen than the same old monkey set that i know anyone with a Beatport account can do.

I hear what your saying , as music becomes easier to access maybe more people will just play the same stuff BUT theres so much music out there to choose from and for me a good DJ puts a quite a few suprises in his set .

If i dont go "oh sh*t i aint heard this in ages" a few times im likely to get bored just listening to new bangers.

[JesC]

Do you guys think sites like Beatport and Stompy are going to have everyone playing the same tracks at the same time?

that has been going on for sometime, the same dj's playing the same tracks they got off beatport, blogs, etc.

The way to stand out in this game is to either make ur own remixes or do them on the fly. Or play tracks that are not heard, I have always been open to share setlist with other dj's here on this site.

[movement23]

Yeah I know what tracks you're talking about the OH S#$% tracks maybe at the end of the set. I heard a few of those this last weekend! I also think as its becoming easier to produce your own tracks maybe that will differentiate Djs quite a bit also.

[midian]

The Future of DJing for me can be summed up in one word: Performance.

DJing will cease to be DJing and will become a full on act. Not just in the sense that people will stop just using decks and using MIDI etc, but also Live instruments routed through setups like ableton. Guitar, Bass, Drums, Sax, whatever.

The second realm of expansion in terms of performance will be in moving beyond just being a largely sonic experience. The integration of stuff like live art, be it painting (graff or whatever), performance (dance, theater etc), full on visual experiences (Full multi screen VJ sets, video camera installations), and even stuff like interactive installations (motion sensing dance floors, walls, Wiimote like stuff etc).

IE: Imagine a full theater performance (play/dance type thing) witha fucked up cool story (made for drugged ppl) that had interactive walls/floors all around it (on stage and not) and VJ visuals linked in with it, linked in with a live DnB/Dubstep/Electro Band (guitar, drums, DJ, producer, Sax, etc) which linked in with the play....

A lot of work... BUT would or would that not blow your fucking mind into a million little pieces.

[Kaon]

The Future of DJing for me can be summed up in one word: Performance.

DJing will cease to be DJing and will become a full on act. Not just in the sense that people will stop just using decks and using MIDI etc, but also Live instruments routed through setups like ableton. Guitar, Bass, Drums, Sax, whatever.

The second realm of expansion in terms of performance will be in moving beyond just being a largely sonic experience. The integration of stuff like live art, be it painting (graff or whatever), performance (dance, theater etc), full on visual experiences (Full multi screen VJ sets, video camera installations), and even stuff like interactive installations (motion sensing dance floors, walls, Wiimote like stuff etc).

IE: Imagine a full theater performance (play/dance type thing) witha fucked up cool story (made for drugged ppl) that had interactive walls/floors all around it (on stage and not) and VJ visuals linked in with it, linked in with a live DnB/Dubstep/Electro Band (guitar, drums, DJ, producer, Sax, etc) which linked in with the play....

A lot of work... BUT would or would that not blow your fucking mind into a million little pieces.

fuckin ay. hadnt thought about this. very true

[nicolas]

Midi and analog controllers, touch sensitive screens, controllers hooked up with our brains, mp3, vinyl, cd'c, whatever format appears, whatever you wanna try (as long as you're good at it). I think the future of djing is not in any particular format or tool, the great thing about "the future" is the amount of resources you will be able to use.

When I started playing I used to download the charts of my favorite Dj's (not all the tracks but those I really liked). And then: familiar labels, blogs, websites such as progressive sounds, myspace, groups in FB anything familiar with my taste. Beatport is great source to get your music, and sometimes some of the featured tracks are good (I'd consider this "digging" as well), but the internet is just too big to be depending on one website.

Pd: classic tracks are always good, not everything has to be about the strangest newest stuff over the net. Both are great.

[Damien1138]

The future holds more freedom. Both musically, and politically. I think that we, the DJs, are the modern day minstrels, reflecting our time through the tracks we choose. But we are no longer bound to the composition of the music as the tools given to us by NI, Maudio, Rane, or whoever allow us to jump cues... a feat not thought possible 20 years ago. In those 20 years alot of ish happened that got the music industry to where it is today. I see a comparable amount of ish to happen in the next 20.

[cmcpress]

The Future of DJing for me can be summed up in one word: Performance.

DJing will cease to be DJing and will become a full on act. Not just in the sense that people will stop just using decks and using MIDI etc, but also Live instruments routed through setups like ableton. Guitar, Bass, Drums, Sax, whatever.

The second realm of expansion in terms of performance will be in moving beyond just being a largely sonic experience. The integration of stuff like live art, be it painting (graff or whatever), performance (dance, theater etc), full on visual experiences (Full multi screen VJ sets, video camera installations), and even stuff like interactive installations (motion sensing dance floors, walls, Wiimote like stuff etc).

IE: Imagine a full theater performance (play/dance type thing) witha fucked up cool story (made for drugged ppl) that had interactive walls/floors all around it (on stage and not) and VJ visuals linked in with it, linked in with a live DnB/Dubstep/Electro Band (guitar, drums, DJ, producer, Sax, etc) which linked in with the play....

A lot of work... BUT would or would that not blow your fucking mind into a million little pieces.

I think both true and not true. Basically you're saying DJ's will become more like musicians (performers) which is good, but people don't always want to go to a venue to lavish attention on the DJ. A large majority of people go to bars to have a dance and pull. That kind of relies on the "performer" being as unobtrusive as possible. Jonny herpes ain't gonna pull Kathy mattressback if she's being ushered over to the DJ booth or staring at Golden DJ as he pulls off a reverse backflip whilst simultaneously glitch-fucking Kylie Minogue.

I welcome the fact that DJ's can join musicians in the spotlight, but there'll always be your "ambient" DJ being a social-groove-facillitator, albiet in a more sophisticated way.

[DvlsAdvct]

I think the future of the DJ is up in the air right now. It's so sensitively tied to the technology that no one can really know what a "DJ" will be years from now. To an extent, I think what Midian said has already happened a number of times. Lots of different acts these days were formed by DJs (Radiohead, for example). But that's not DJing anymore.

DJing is going to cross a border. Right now it is at the point where anyone with soulseek and a cracked version of Traktor can be a DJ. But in a few years that won't be the case. It will once again come full circle with where vinyl was years ago. The DJ is going to need to be able to instantly access their music and mix and move on the fly. 4 decks will become the necessity, live mangling and glitching will become the norm. It won't be about mashups, but about remixes.

I think that, with the change in the music industry, people will be cycling through new music so quickly that it will be the responsibility of the DJ to cycle just as fast. eMusic puts up something like 500 trance albums a weeks (granted, lots of it isn't purely trance, but you get the idea). Big tracks will still happen, but hits will come and go a lot faster, requiring the DJ to stay one step ahead of many, many smaller steps.

The main competitors of the technology will go the way of touch screens and eventually wireless HID, like the wiimote. I am not a big fan of this direction as I really do love my knobs and buttons. Losing the tactile sense of the turntable was one thing, but when theyt ake away all of my touchy-feelies I will be very sad.

I think that in 5 years there will not longer be any excuses for trainwrecks, or for sub par mixing. Yeah people will still use SSL or TSPro with turntables, but even they will be using controllers for the 3rd and 4th decks.

I also think that the recording industry will either adapt or die, either way making music even more accessible, especially to, what will eventually become, licensed, registered DJs. You will probably be able to pay a fee to ASCAP (as well as the other licensing houses) and have instant access to their entire catalogue.

That's the start, in my mind.