What do live performance DJ's actually do on stage?

[kalifire]

It's a question that's been troubling me for years. You see them, these performance DJs'. The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, DJ Whatever. They're up on stage in front of a very large number of people performing carefully preprepared (possibly pre-recorded) mixes. And all the time, they're very theatrically touching their mixer dials, as if fine tuning their equipment to a micro degree, with seemingly no discernable effect.

You know what I mean. They hunch over their equipment, studiously surveying the wealth of knobs available to them, and apparently randomly choose one. They lean in, touch it to no discernable effect, then violently lift their arm as if they've achieved a monumentally intricate result.

Is this a performance thing? Is it part of some kind of act? Or can they actually be making any earthly difference to the sound?

[cornish hick]

You've nailed it first time

[eastynh]

Some of them are modulating synths live and triggering loops live. It is not as easy as people think

[stuartbert two hats]

When you mention Chemical Brothers, are you talking about their DJ sets or their proper live performances?

[ollllie]

http://www.soundonsound.com/people/matt-cox-midi-tech-chemical-brothers

Some bedtime reading for you

[6t6o6m]

A few years ago, my friend wanted to see Duke Dumont at Reading, and as you have described, I felt a bit indifferent towards it. He was rubbish....

However, we caught Wilkinson before hand and he was absolutely superb, mixed brilliantly and got the crowd going even though it was a mid afternoon set.

[Matt42]

This is an awful thread 

[JayBalls]

I've had most of my "DJ" experiences in the rave scene at drum n bass raves n the like, they are usually beat matching the tunes so fiddling with rpm though the "EDM" deejays I've seen (on tinternet mostly) are playing pre mixed stuff and just clicking play, so yeah pointless waving and pointing.

oh and bouncing don't forget to bounce

[Junglist1981]

Chemical Brothers aren't DJing and are actually doing quite a lot. They live sequence all of their tunes off the cuff which is by no means easy to do, and as a result no 2 sets from them are the same. What they do translates very well I think, every time I've seen them they have been unbelievably good and the atmosphere has been electric.

 

[kalifire]

9 minutes ago, ollllie said:

http://www.soundonsound.com/people/matt-cox-midi-tech-chemical-brothers

Some bedtime reading for you

That's a great read, thank you. Perhaps the Chems were a bad example.

[musky]

10 minutes ago, ollllie said:

http://www.soundonsound.com/people/matt-cox-midi-tech-chemical-brothers

Some bedtime reading for you

Interesting read. Thanks.

[JayBalls]

6 minutes ago, kalifire said:

Perhaps the Chems were a bad example.

Yeah imo in one category you have, chems, deadmau5 then in the other you have avicii and martin garrix 

I'm a deadmau5 and chems person

[Padgey]

Press play and then wave their hands in the air at random intervals! 

[Homer]

There is a difference between DJ sets and live sets. When they DJ, they are mixing other people's 'records' mainly. When live they are doing the described things above in the thread to recreate their own tunes.

[rosssss224]

Using their ears and the turntable pitch control they are manually manipulating the speed of two or more tracks at the same time in order to keep them in time with each other thus creating a new listening experience. They are also counting bars so the phrases of tracks are in time and acknowledging the key of tracks by ear (generally) so they sit nicely together. 

I 10000% gurantee no one can do that well without it sounding like a drunk horse galloping without years of practice!

 

[Junglist1981]

To be fair there are undoubtedly some DJs playing big festival gigs who do very little.

That's not to say that I don't think DJ sets are valid on big stages at festivals, so long as the DJ in question is pouring their heart and soul into it and displaying some skill.

By far the best environment in which to appreciate a DJ is a small, dark, sweaty nightclub.

[rosssss224]

I do cringe when I see DJ's on massive headline stages...proper dj's should be heard and not seen and like it that way!

[eFestivals]

13 minutes ago, Homer said:

When live they are doing the described things above in the thread to recreate their own tunes.

Not quite. In nearly all cases 'the tune' is prerecorded and they're pressing play.

Or in the Chem's case, pressing play many times for many things, but still pressing 'play'.

[rubenz]

1 minute ago, rosssss224 said:

Using their ears and the turntable pitch control they are manually manipulating the speed of two or more tracks at the same time in order to keep them in time with each other thus creating a new listening experience. They are also counting bars so the phrases of tracks are in time and acknowledging the key of tracks by ear (generally) so they sit nicely together. 

I 10000% gurantee no one can do that well without it sounding like a drunk horse galloping without years of practice!

 

Only nowadays you can do all that with a press of a button and have all your tunes organised in key by computer so they have to tweak the knobs etc hard!

Joking aside there's a big difference between some chancers like Steve aoki, Swedish house mafia and David guetta who play their own tunes and point their fingers in the air and djs who can create something a bit more spontaneous and off the cuff. 

[rubenz]

6 minutes ago, rosssss224 said:

I do cringe when I see DJ's on massive headline stages...proper dj's should be heard and not seen and like it that way!

I don't want to come across an old git as I think dance and electronic music is amazing at the moment with loads of great djs and records but I do find it odd when people all point towards the djs at certain events rather than dancing with other people on the dancefloor

[Smeble]

My wife's work hired a very well known DJ to play at their xmas party and essentially all he did was put on an iPod, sit in a chair and play with his phone for 2 hours.

i never have got the whole 'superstar' DJ thing, so you are paying money to go see a person play other people's music whilst twiddling some knobs( oo er) and wearing headphones on one ear. Nope don't get it. 

[ollllie]

I'll just leave this here.

There are DJ's, and then there are DJ's

Edited May 30, 2017 by ollllie

[Smeble]

46 minutes ago, Junglist1981 said:

Chemical Brothers aren't DJing and are actually doing quite a lot. They live sequence all of their tunes off the cuff which is by no means easy to do, and as a result no 2 sets from them are the same. What they do translates very well I think, every time I've seen them they have been unbelievably good and the atmosphere has been electric.

 

So are they actually creating any music you know 'live'

[Junglist1981]

1 minute ago, eFestivals said:

Not quite. In nearly all cases 'the tune' is prerecorded and they're pressing play.

Or in the Chem's case, pressing play many times for many things, but still pressing 'play'.

Think that's slightly harsh on the Chems. Undoubtedly they fire off a load of loops, but they manipulate the sound quite heavily whilst completely re-arranging all of their tunes live on the fly into one great big seemless blend. 

They press play and twist nobs.

And press buttons.

There are definitely some acts where I question how much they're really doing though. Underworld being one.

 

[Junglist1981]

2 minutes ago, Smeble said:

So are they actually creating any music you know 'live'

Yup, using synths.