song selection importance?

[djas]

@Kaon i agree 100%

Ive seen a DJ in UK called Norman Jay and hes an awesome DJ.
Ive seen him mixing his arse off and picking amazing tunes.
But ive also seen him sat behind a pair of cdjs just fading tunes in and out and not bothering to mix but his song selection was so unbelievably good no-one cared about the mixing.

It is definitely situational.

+1.

[Kaon]

yay, I get to throw my two cents in! wooooo

I think with what we're working with now the song selection is just as important. The thing is that the mix isn't what that 10% is anymore. It's what you do with it. It's the loops, EQ's, effects, mashes, etc.. Sometimes doing nothing will be just as potent as the most complicated beat juggle and effect drop.

But, in the end, it comes down to the type of crowd you have. Mixing back and fourth, two decks at a time, nothing special, could make everyone really happy, song selection being the key.

so yeah

yea very well put

[Whitey]

wise man once told good DJing is about %90 song selection %10 mixing
this would only be relevant to vinyl mixing and the guy came from an oldschool funk background.

I come at this discussion from a different angle. I can't put %ages on the split, but I use mic interaction too with my crowds. I hate just mixing music all night without having any interation with the crowd, although I'm not advocating a 1 hour stand-up routine here.

I think the music selection is the most important contributing factor for a great Dj.

I have a mate who can't mix for toffee. He's tried, but his terrible sense of rhythm means that he just can't do it, no matter how much he's tried, but he is an excellent Dj and gets great crowd reactions and I love seeing him work from time to time as his choice of music is always spot on and he always has something interesting to say. He is very engaging and gets great crowd reaction at nearly all of the gigs I have seen him play.

I tent to take the positives from his style as well as adding my own. I can mix and this adds to my performances without doubt as in maintains the energy on the dancefloor, but I also like to add a bit of myself to the night by interacting on the mic too.

How do you guys use the mic or don't you?

[V-Hoff]

You make a good point Whitey.

Right now I'm in transition between the "regular inocent crowd" and the "amateur DJ" somewhere like a "wannabe DJ".
Sometime ago (5/6 months), before I started with Traktor PRO, I was that person that didn't mind if the DJ is faking or not, if the DJ only changes the volume at the right time and always add the same effect.
Now I understand much more of music, mixing, effects, loops, pitchs, keys, beatmatching. I know if the DJ is doing some complex moves or just regular common moves.
90% or more of the people still are in the first stage in the "Electronic" Music World. These people you can interact easily by beeing a Charismatic and Happy DJ. But once the crowd understand how easy is to just put two music together (as now they understand how easy is to play an easy music at the piano for ex.) they will want more, and the Charismatic and Happy DJ will now needs to show some real stuff.