With the passing of Avicii, I have to ask: What is it exactly that DJs do?

I have no idea what goes into performing electronic music, especially live.

First of all, they are not performing music. They are playing recordings of people performing music. Or just playing electronic sounds people put together using software which creates music.
 
The other weekend they had a 2 person "band" in the bar I was at.
One dude played keyboard, sax, and flute. The other guy was a DJ. The DJ dude was turning knobs and and pushing shit the entire time and it had literally zero percieveable effect on the music. I was sitting like 10 feet away and was watching the whole time. He even stepped away for about 2 minutes and nothing changed.
Watch the band called "the XX"

They have 3 members:
1 bass player and 1 guitarist (who both sing)
And a DJ.

He's the most important member.
 
Watch Richard D. James spin decks. Actually I think he just hits play on his laptop. But he makes cool music.


Some of what he plays live is already premade but I cannot fault Richard for that the man is a legend and his first two records under the Aphex Twin banner are some of the greatest music I've ever heard

For me the best DJ I've ever heard is Carl Cox. One of the finest DJ's around and started out with vinyl and then switched to CD DJ's like everyone else. Still the


Also the Sasha and John Digweed are well known for producing some of the best mix albums. the two Northern Exposure albums being the cream of the crop in regards to mix records
 
I dont really do hard drugs but the idea of being paid to travel all over the world and play music without needing anyone else is very attractive.
 
no axwell or like mike and dmitri vegas wow. then again more mainstream have chainsmokers and harris less edm etc.
Dmitri Vegas is the shit. Saw them last year in Hollywood. If they had a residency in Vegas I’m sure they would be in the top ten.
 
Some of what he plays live is already premade but I cannot fault Richard for that the man is a legend and his first two records under the Aphex Twin banner are some of the greatest music I've ever heard

For me the best DJ I've ever heard is Carl Cox. One of the finest DJ's around and started out with vinyl and then switched to CD DJ's like everyone else. Still the


Also the Sasha and John Digweed are well known for producing some of the best mix albums. the two Northern Exposure albums being the cream of the crop in regards to mix records


Sasha and Digweed I used to jam to back in the day but there music hasn't aged well. Same with older D&B like Photek and Sqaurepusher.

Do you listen to Seth Haley aka Com Truise? I think he's on Aphex Twins level in terms of layering. The guy is a genius. It's hard to find anyone who can craft cuts like him.



 
i would say there is a lot of variety when it comes to DJs, and the ones people in this thread are shitting about are either:

a. the less skilled ones
or
b. the ones who play music they don't like.


a person DJing off his laptop/ipod isn't the same type of DJ who knows and uses actual equipment.
a person who uses actual equipment can still play really crappy trance, dubstep and edm, but there is also real good artists in those genres.

for instance, if you hate dubstep because you only associate dubstep with Skrillex or Excision, then you've just not heard good dubstep yet.
 
Sasha and Digweed I used to jam to back in the day but there music hasn't aged well. Same with older D&B like Photek and Sqaurepusher.

Do you listen to Seth Haley aka Com Truise? I think he's on Aphex Twins level in terms of layering. The guy is a genius. It's hard to find anyone who can craft cuts like him.




I disagree to a degree in regards to S&J, I think some of their stuff still holds up today but like you said some of it sounds dated but that is to be expected with a lot of electronic music from the 90's

Com Truise is pretty alright and I do enjoy what he has produced. The shit he produces is not groundbreaking in my opinion but is definitely firing on all cylinders.

Also Boards Of Canada are a great duo from Scotland who have produced some fine Ambient Techno


The same goes for the duo Autechre from the UK.


i would say there is a lot of variety when it comes to DJs, and the ones people in this thread are shitting about are either:
for instance, if you hate dubstep because you only associate dubstep with Skrillex or Excision, then you've just not heard good dubstep yet.

Dubstep today is pretty bad for the most part today. I am however a big fan of the original dubstep that was coming out of South London in the late 90's to early 00's. Digital Mystikz, Loefah, and Distance are some of the best Dubstep I've heard. My biggest problem with the genre today is that has become extremely predictable and boring.

Stuff like this though is straight fire. Quality
 
I disagree to a degree in regards to S&J, I think some of their stuff still holds up today but like you said some of it sounds dated but that is to be expected with a lot of electronic music from the 90's

Com Truise is pretty alright and I do enjoy what he has produced. The shit he produces is not groundbreaking in my opinion but is definitely firing on all cylinders.

Also Boards Of Canada are a great duo from Scotland who have produced some fine Ambient Techno


The same goes for the duo Autechre from the UK.





Dubstep today is pretty bad for the most part today. I am however a big fan of the original dubstep that was coming out of South London in the late 90's to early 00's. Digital Mystikz, Loefah, and Distance are some of the best Dubstep I've heard. My biggest problem with the genre today is that has become extremely predictable and boring.

Stuff like this though is straight fire. Quality



fuck yeah brotha! distance is my top5 musical artists. the skrillex of the world give dubstep a bad name imo. BOC is also in the top5, and music has the right to children is an amazing audio experience.

have you listened do Distance's new LP? it's tightttt.
 
fuck yeah brotha! distance is my top5 musical artists. the skrillex of the world give dubstep a bad name imo. BOC is also in the top5, and music has the right to children is an amazing audio experience.

have you listened do Distance's new LP? it's tightttt.

Oh, yes yes I have and its good shit. The biggest problem I have with the electronic genre today is the fact it is has become easy for anyone with a modest budget to even hardly any budget at all to produce music and thus you have the market saturated with so many individuals and groups who produce sub par and unoriginal material.

I have myself produced electronic music since late 2005 under the moniker Morphine Machine. I mainly produce Ambient, Dark Ambient, Downtempo and similar genres of electronic music as well as mixes.

This is from my first Psytrance mix album I


And here is first Psytrance track I produced that is featured on my 2010 album DIGITAL HEMORRHAGE


I am currently in the process of working on a new album that has been in production off and on since 2013.

Below is my current setup

Hardware
Marshall 100 Watt Solid State Amp
Goth Explorer Guitar
Boss GT-10 Effects Pedal
Dunlop Wah Pedal
Access Virus TI v2 Polar Synthesizer
Rode NT USB Microphone
Custom built PC running both Windows 10 x64 and Linux Mint (16 GB RAM, i7 3770k 3.5 GHz overclocked to 4.0 GHz, EVGA 970 GTX)

Software
Goldwave
Cubase
Pro-Tools
Spectrasonics Omnisphere
Absynth
Alchemy
and various other software synth VST

Below is the song The Conqueror from a Thrash Metal album I recorded back in mid 2005. It was never released and not many have heard the songs I recorded because the production quality isn't great.
 
I honestly don't know what they do except for play and mix music on a laptop and get people amped with vibrations.

I work near where EDC just happened, and the people walking out of there this morning look like smelly hobos.
 
Oh, yes yes I have and its good shit. The biggest problem I have with the electronic genre today is the fact it is has become easy for anyone with a modest budget to even hardly any budget at all to produce music and thus you have the market saturated with so many individuals and groups who produce sub par and unoriginal material.

I have myself produced electronic music since late 2005 under the moniker Morphine Machine. I mainly produce Ambient, Dark Ambient, Downtempo and similar genres of electronic music as well as mixes.

This is from my first Psytrance mix album I


And here is first Psytrance track I produced that is featured on my 2010 album DIGITAL HEMORRHAGE


I am currently in the process of working on a new album that has been in production off and on since 2013.

Below is my current setup

Hardware
Marshall 100 Watt Solid State Amp
Goth Explorer Guitar
Boss GT-10 Effects Pedal
Dunlop Wah Pedal
Access Virus TI v2 Polar Synthesizer
Rode NT USB Microphone
Custom built PC running both Windows 10 x64 and Linux Mint (16 GB RAM, i7 3770k 3.5 GHz overclocked to 4.0 GHz, EVGA 970 GTX)

Software
Goldwave
Cubase
Pro-Tools
Spectrasonics Omnisphere
Absynth
Alchemy
and various other software synth VST

Below is the song The Conqueror from a Thrash Metal album I recorded back in mid 2005. It was never released and not many have heard the songs I recorded because the production quality isn't great.



excellent stuff. i wasn't sure what to expect, but i thoroughly enjoyed it. especially the first track. had a very strong rhythm, vibe and experimental feel to it. good audio samples as well - psychonautic!

the thrash song had a good sound/feel to it as well.

i too want to eventually get around to recording some of my electronica/keyboard songs, but i am not a very good audio recorded/editor, so perhaps if i ever get around to it, i'll contact you for some advice!

i'll def. check out more morphine machine on your soundcloud when i get the chance
 
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