What ever happened to spending years practicing things?

Unfortunately in this day it seems that people are too lazy to spend months / years practicing and honing skills and talents and would rather either: hire someone to do it for them, use a sync button, etc.



Gone will be the days when we can watch talented people like this who have clearly spent much of their lives practicing what they love…



It will be the equivalent of loading a midi sequence of the chords and melodies into the keyboard and hitting play… then calling yourself a keyboard player.






Do I make a valid point?

Yeah - i think this is indicative of the world we live in at the moment!

We currently live in a society where alot of people place more value on fame, fortune, money etc, then they do on actually getting really skilled and proficient in something, and really wanting to master a specific task etc.

I think alot of people just want to get ‘famous’ as quickly as possible - and certainly aren’t prepared to spend years learning a craft!

Rob, you are definetly correct. I’d much rather be able to play a paino live like that then sequence in a load of midi chords besides learning is part of the fun. I grew up dj’ing on 1210’s and part of the fun was finding which tunes went well together and holding them in beat. I :slight_smile:

Nah Rob. It all depends of what music/style of house music you are looking at.

Have you ever seen on of the vids KiNK posts?





Have you ever seen Johannes Brecht performing?




Chromeo?

Henrik Schwarz?
Just to name a few.

I do think we need to encourage more producers to really experiment and try and come up with their own unique sounds.

Otherwise, if pretty much everyone is using the same synths/presets/FX’s/plug-ins etc, too much music is going to sound too similar.

Not sure what you mean. Have you ever heard that track on youtube with 30+ rock tracks that all use the same 3 chords? They don’t actually sound all the same.


True, but there is a trend at the moment for lots of stuff that might make new producers tracks sound pretty similar - for example, you can now get sample packs, midi packs, channel strip presets, and also stuff like famous producers releasing plugins that create their own unique sound just by turning one or two dials.

If too many people use the same synths and stuff like i have mentioned above, i think there’s a danger of a lack of experimentation and variety - especially from people new to production.

Also, I just see lots of tutorials around where everyone seems to be using the same synths and plugins etc, in pretty much the same way! 

Let’s all just assume that people that don’t have their own style/sound or strive towards it aren’t really musicians. They are more like ‘interpreters’ .

never will that day be gone. you will always have people that will perform the instruments they love to play. by instruments being hard to master and to play lends itself to the idea they will be around forever.

nice vid roben. dude jammed! u can see why chicks love musicians.:w00t:

Unfortunately technology is slowly stripping away the “art” of DJ’ing. It used to be about beat matching 2 records using just your turntables and your ears. Now they’ve created CD decks that have a sync button as well as a BPM counter meaning that anyone can become a superstar DJ!

Becoming a superstar DJ has never been about mixing ability… its always been about picking good tunes, networking and self promotion. Nothing has changed as far as i can tell.

OK then, its just become easier to hit the ground running! If you have 1000+ facebook friends and have access to the download charts then you’re good to go!



DJ in a box! Just press play… :wink:

If you are using the download charts in your sets you are probably about 6 months behind… any good DJ will build up a network of friends and colleagues and blag upfront tunes.



or do re-edits or mashups of different tunes.



Just playing the beatport top 100 will not get you past the first couple of levels.



The 2 routes i currently see to DJ success is



a. Be an amazing prolific producer

b. be a great networker and schmoozer and make friends with the right people.



The best bet is a combo of the 2… have an act where one half is the technical genius and the other half is the network guru sceenster.

Phil I was being sarcastic! :smiley:



I’ve been DJ’ing for about 7yrs now and am well aware of what is required in order to be a DJ.



I was just adding to what Roben had started the thread off with… I personally prefer to use vinyl as its what I first started learning to mix tunes with and you can’t beat the feel having to manipulate the record in order to keep the tunes in time.



I totally agree that to be a good DJ you need to know your tunes! Anyone can check out the latest charts and expect their mix to be an instant hit, but its finding those diamonds in the rough that no-one has hold of that starts to make your mix sound unique! The ability to take a crowd on a journey through mixing is where its at!! :cool:

Yeah sorry i strayed off topic a bit…



The mastery of the art of DJing is something to be admired… unfortunately these days its not something it is really required.



I guess it was the same thing when drum machines came along or midi sequencers. people worried musicianship would go down the tubes and it probably did.





but now you have the art of programing engineering and producing to make up the slack… no less worthy art forms IMO.



Technology will always shift the perspective of Art from one medium to the next.



Although for me i get a lot of enjoyment sitting down with the Guitar or keys and either learning a new song or jamming away.

Only way to be a big DJ these days is to be a big producer, look at Avicii, a handlful of big tracks the last couple of years and he’s now in the Top 10 top DJs in the world, touring the world and getting paid well playing to 1000s.



The days of getting big from being a good DJ alone is gone, which may be why good DJs just use ghost producers.



You may be excellent at building a car, but it doesn’t make you a professional rally driver.

[quote]Roben (20/12/2012)[hr]Unfortunately in this day it seems that people are too lazy to spend months / years practicing and honing skills and talents and would rather either: hire someone to do it for them, use a sync button, etc.



Gone will be the days when we can watch talented people like this who have clearly spent much of their lives practicing what they love…



It will be the equivalent of loading a midi sequence of the chords and melodies into the keyboard and hitting play… then calling yourself a keyboard player.



Do I make a valid point?[/quote]



Who is doing that and calling themselves a keyboard player though?



Being able to play the piano and being able to produce electronic music and two very different things. The point is made unwittingly in this thread that it would takes months / years to learn to play the piano / keyboard… doesnt leave a lot of time to learn how to produce, sequence drums / rhythms, mix, master, use software, program synth patches, etc etc…



Paddy

[quote]davidmclean (21/12/2012)[hr]True, but there is a trend at the moment for lots of stuff that might make new producers tracks sound pretty similar - for example, you can now get sample packs, midi packs, channel strip presets, and also stuff like famousproducers releasing plugins that create their own unique sound just by turning one or two dials.[/quote]



There certainly is a trend for this but is it going to make these new producers successful? I would say no.



Think of all your favourite producers at the top of their game right now. Are they using sample packs and synth presets? Dont think so…

[quote]en1gma (24/12/2012)[hr]Unfortunately technology is slowly stripping away the “art” of DJ’ing. It used to be about beat matching 2 records using just your turntables and your ears. Now they’ve created CD decks that have a sync button as well as a BPM counter meaning that anyone can become a superstar DJ![/quote]



No its not. Being able to beat match 2 records on 1210s was like a child being able to walk… just the beginning.



Being a Superstar DJ and rocking clubs all over the world took / takes a hell of a lot more than that.



The technology is irrelevant…its what you do with it!

Mabey spend less time focusing on what other people are doing or how they are doing things and just worry about yourself?



if your gonna get stressed over everything that others do that may annoy you then you dont really have a pleasent future ahead. just smile be happy and do what makes YOU happy, **** the rest…