my top sets of the weekend

[BenRW]

infectious @ se1, friday night:

 

Ed Real - never really seen him play b4 and omg he is a beast on the mixer. permanently performing some sort of trick with filters or eq. Loved the technical performance and he played some banging tunes as well which is always nice

 

donna birt - not seen her play out b4 and was very impressed, and a gorgeous looking girl on top

 

tidy vs storm @ the emporium, coalville

 

Paul Maddox Live - truly amazing. Absolutely loved every minute and was a very good warm up for...

 

Euphony (lee haslam b2b guyver) - saw them play b2b at tw4 (i think) and was impressed then, but this time they blew me away. Started off with carte blanche which turned me into a hot sweaty mess to the extent that i had to have a break from dancing for quite a bit of the set to recuperate

 

 

and of course every1 else playing at these events played blinders, but these really stood out

[LiquidEyes]

QUOTE (benrostwood @ Nov 14 2004, 11:57)

permanently performing some sort of trick with filters or eq.

Yuk. I'd rather hear a set of blinding tunes, mixed straight. When you put certain DJs in front of a mixer with filters/effects/etc, they act like they've just got a new toy and turn into an attention-seeking idiot.

 

Too much unnecessary use of filters = irritating.

 

Now I'll contradict myself and say I'm pretty impressed by good scratching (a la Eddie Halliwell etc) but that is because I like the showmanship, and it actually takes skill to scratch! And I still wouldn't want it to be over-used.

[BenRW]

this wasn't over use

 

was just the right amount

[LiquidEyes]

If "permanently" manipulating the EQs/filters isn't "over use", what is?

 

I'm generalising a bit, but I kinda think that if a tune is boring enough that you have to piss around with the filters to make it more interesting, then maybe you should play a better tune instead. Personally speaking, if I think a record has a boring bit, but is otherwise a good piece of tuneage, I edit it on Cubase and burn it to CDR -- that way you can be infinitely more subtle in your manipulation of the track.

 

There's only so much you can do with filters anyway, and most DJs I've seen are not exactly subtle/musical/discerning in their use.

 

That said ... if you thought Ed Real was good then fair do's.

[LiquidEyes]

I think what I am basically whining on about is DJs "trying to be clever". (My all-time pet hate is DJs who, without any regard for good taste, bring in the kick drum of the next track during a breakdown!)

 

Invariably DJs are not as clever as the producers who made the tunes in the first place. So what a DJ thinks is "improving" the track, is actually detracting from the subtlety of the track in the first place.

[Lisa]

I have to agree with LE here, nothing annoys me more than flange overkill etc grrr

[BenRW]

the difference between a good dj and a gr8 dj is working effects (incl filters, eq, flanging, scratching etc) in with the tune, not over the top of it

[LiquidEyes]

The difference between a shit DJ and a good one, is whether they understand and appreciate the tunes in enough depth to judge whether performing a certain effect will improve the listening experience or actually detract from the original track.

 

The distinction between "effects over the top of the tune" and "mixing the effects in with the tune" is a bit fuzzy. There are no rules in DJing, other than what sounds good. It's all sound, and it all enters our ears in one piece... a DJ needs to understand the correlation between "what he's doing" and "what is perceived" by the listener.