We have been in a bit of a hermitage recently, as we figured out what the future held for The Proof.

Not to say we haven’t been busy – as we have been working on getting a pile of back catalog material out there for you to listen to.

http://www.junodownload.com/labels/Boom+Tish/releases/

There is also some new material on its way from Bromide Dub and The Filterbrats as well as a couple of other exciting projects on the horizon.

So, don’t think we have gone away yet.

Just mulling over it all…

Then I had another realisation. When I was starting to go out, one night I went to a Rave where I swear, the DJ was just playing the same 4/4 Kick Drum for 2 hours. It sounded like a metronome, and it got boring really, really quickly.

Well.. it's got swing, I guess.

Another angle – what would a funk drummer be like, if he played metronome straight, all the time? How about for two hours. How about, if we replaced the drummer, with a metronome? A metronome that didn’t shift? How unnatural would that be?

Now, I realise, we are talking about electronica. Which is the home of drum machines and quantised drums. But also remember, that ‘swing’ is generally a very subtle shift, a gentle sway, almost like for example, wow and flutter on a turntable. Besides the point the anyone who has heard a 909 running knows it’s not going to have perfect timing, put that through some tape, onto a turntable and you have what would be otherwise metronome rigid beats, giving a little organic movement, just through its method of playback.

Further to that, referring back to this concept of internal timing, a DJ manually beat-matching is never keeping the tempo exactly the same. Sure, they are generally going to stick with a range that ‘feels’ right to them, but I guarantee, it is also going to shift as the DJ gets excited, the crowed grows, those peaks and troughs come through, all these things.

Now, I hear you say, ‘but you can change the BPM easily with software, and everything will just follow’ - that’s true. I occasionally do; But it’s always a conscious decision, and to be honest (go-on, personal reflection time) – I now tend to stick at 110, 128, 136, 140 and 170bpm, depending, basically, on the genre that I am playing.

What has happened to all those infinitesimal amounts that exist between these whole numbers? Infinitesimal amounts that, when I used to mix, I didn’t have to think about, that just worked their way between two different tunes?

Now, lets look at the other side, where I find myself now.

Many (most) modern electronica is produced on a DAW Sequencer, which essentially, is as accurate as, well, a calculator. Even swing is a precise, measured function, not something that drifts. From there, potentially never actually existing in the analog world, it is mastered (also potentially in the box, and highly unlikely through something as random as tape), stored digitally, perfectly, then played back on a computer, and matched, perfectly, unwavering right up until the point of conversion to a analog signal to head off to the speakers.

Hmm..

Oh yes, it will be cleaner, more precise, potentially punchier, louder and so many more things. But can it breath; with you any-more? What happens when we do that over several hours?

A little history behind the evolution of my style of DJing first, then a disclaimer of sorts, and then, I would like to put forward some thoughts that I have been having recently about the mechanics of DJing, the engagement of the the process of mixing and how drastically technology has effected how I view DJing.

A what?

DJing, for me, was something that I was described as doing. I didn’t really ever know what I was trying to do had a name, till I saw I guy on TV mixing music together. I started by commadearing the stereo at parties while in my school years, and essetially had a desire to reduce the amount of silence that eventuated from having to pull one CD or Record out (or off) and put another one on. I realised that if I had two sources, I could flick between them quicker, and after a little research, found you could use these things called a mixer to actually blend between one track and another. No more gaps!

The secret to my seamless mixing

Then, I realised that I wasn’t the only person doing this. Apparently, people had actually been doing it for a while. So much for thinking I had discovered something new! I then found, that these people, were called DJs.

The start of gear lust.

So, before long, I have a pair of SL1200s and a Numark mixer. Bought the turntables in England and the mixer off Greg Churchill. Bear in mind though, I didn’t know any DJs, and really, I didn’t have a clue what beat-matching was to much later – I was simply looking for tracks with intros and outros that would go together nicely.

Then one day, I stumbled across a guy in a video.. this guy..

The guy can own most scratch DJs with those two simple, vanilla, common as samples. Have you really reached a level where you need to worry about instant doubles and multiple hot cues?

I spend many many nights after that, making some good awful noises and busting crossfaders with scary regularity. I think Johnny at Livesound (the local distributor of Numark at the time) got quite sick of me hitting him up for replacements (which is just one of many ironies in my life, as years later, I ended up working for him). Eventually, I learnt the difference between a baby scratch and a crab, a orbit and a triple clip flare.. I also learnt that not all faders were made the same. But I was still essentially playing one tune, scratching over it, and then fading in another.

One night, many years later, a met another DJ, a Mr Jared Jackson, who in time became one of my best friends, and I got to watch, for the first time, someone actually match the tempo of two tunes together. Wow. This was something new! I had been buying House (well, to be honest, hardhouse and happy hardcore) tunes for years and hard never actually seen them put together like this. It was something new to practice, as now I would be able to stitch two tunes together even more seamlessly. He also started to convey to me, this concept of the ‘third tune’ – what happens when two tunes come together perfectly and start interacting with each other – creating something greater than the sum of the two parts (Jared also showed me something that took me even longer to get – regarding syncing the tunes BPM to Internal Clock, but more about that later). I kinda understood what he was talking about, and, as is in my nature, set of to gain a further understanding of what he was on about.

Then one day.. I came across this chap.

Now, just while you continue reading, consider this – would that performance be so captivating (and if it isn’t, this article really isn’t for you) if he had all those tunes perfectly synced together using a button? Would him throwing down 20 billion loops and 50 trazzillion hot cues and effects make it better? Really?

Oh, did I mention that many years ago, I realised I was going to end up only playing to other DJs?

Fine by me.

Anyhow, I practised, I learn’t how to mix on three decks, I could Hotmix and Scratch, and then something came along that threw all my thoughts about DJing into Chaos. The SYNC button.

I first came across it while working for Livesound as the Numark Representative. I had been one of the first in the country to use Final Scratch (Tracktor on BeOS), then quickly adopted Serato Scratch when it became a stand-alone product (and not a pro-tools plug-in – remember those days?), and then came Virtual Vinyl – Numarks CUE (a re-branded Virtual DJ) with timecode control.

The Hockey Puck. A broke one at that.

I had never really come across this concept of being able to replace manually beatmatching with setting track BPMs and having the software do it for you. In fact, Virtual Vinyl did something that I still haven’t seen elsewhere (feel free to correct me here) – it would sync the tunes, and the use the turntables pitch control in a sort of relative mode – based around the two tunes being synced together. You still had to drop it in the right place, and you still had to check the phrasing was right (and the tempo sometimes, to be fair) – but you didn’t have to spend much time or effort making sure the BPMs were the same. If they were slightly out, you could nudge the pitch and you were locked in. Awesome! You still had to pay attention, but you could throw tunes down, and now had plenty of time to muck around with loops and effects (wait a minute.. I could actually muck around with loops and effects while manually beat matching as well.. you could loop in the software, and well, guitar pedals on the effects sends people! and well, Jeff Mills had to contend with three turntables.. and well.. I still wouldn’t consider myself on par with Jeff Mills.. hang on.. let me hit the cue buttons some more.. more layers of effects!)

When I left the role representing Numark, I decided that I wanted to get back into three deck mixing. At that time (and still, really) all the TC solutions were geared towards 2 turntable control. After a little bit of research I switched over to Traktor Scratch, and with an additional phono-preamp, started mixing again on three decks. Hell. That was a bit of an effort – I had to pay attention again, like, get involved with my mixing and, well, pay attention!

Around this time, controllers were also starting to come more readily into the market, again, pushing this concept of internal mixing and the SYNC button. I initally resisted it, like many ‘vinyl’ purists – TC was enough of a step, but you still had to beat-match, hell, I used to even feel guilty using Virtual Vinyl’s SYNC functionality, and I still had to deal with analog drift! However, it had been part of my role to demo these things, so I had started to play with them.

And they got me.

I suddenly realised, that I could forget about the mechanics of beat matching, and instantly have 4 tunes playing, in time, not drifting, and just focusing on playing with the mixer, loops and effects. DJing was suddenly a whole lot easier! Complex mixes I could never do with turntables (well, I could, but it would have taken, well, a lot more practice) and I could now take off to go to the toilet, mid mix, and not worry about anything doing out. Easy.

So. Now my turntables have gone (I still have one, but really don’t use it much) and I use Traktor with a Xone 1d, Empath and wiring system that uses the forth deck as an effects send from the mixer.

You know what though. I am seriously considering going back to three turntables. Why?

Well.. It was more fun.

Oh shit son. What?

Yep. You know what, I can now do perfect mix after perfect mix, seamless, with piles of effects, cues, whatever. Easy. And you know what else? I don’t feel like DJing.

Observe.

Rough as hell by today’s standards. But you know what? Looks like a lot of fun.

The Disclaimer

You noticed I put that in a real big font? It’s cause its a big one.

These are my observations on DJing, based on a style I have derrived from many years of mucking around mixing, and I sure don’t profess that this is the only one true god, sorry, way into heaven, sorry, method of DJing. That would be ignorant, and very closed minded. Looking at some of my influences above, you may already understand a little of my personal preference in style of DJing.. oh.. here is another one..

When I talk about DJing, it is generally as a personal reflection. What do I (or you) personally, get out of DJing? I am well aware many punters don’t actually know or care a whole lot about what is going on up in the DJ both, just as long as it sounds good. This article isn’t for them. It’s about me (you). About me (you), and why I (you) DJ.

I DJ as a method of expression, release, form of meditation, and so many other things, DJing means different things to different people.

This is what has always be special to me about mixing, and you know what, I have lost it. Being cynical about the actual scene aside, I dont feel that drive to mix like I used too.. and recently, going back and listening to some old mixes, I don’t mix as well as I used to either. Sure, I am mechanically tighter, but my investment of my soul into it, has gone.

So. I have to ask why.

There has never been more, or better music available to us.

Say whatever you want. If you are prepared to put the time in to find it, you will find something that is going to blow your mind. You might have to dig, but then, we all used to have to dig, in crates, back in the day. Even Beatport – which is sometimes falsely portrayed as the McDonalds of music, serving up the top 100 electro/dub/brostep tunes to a new DJ near you, you can find some phenominal tunes in there – you just have to be prepared to spend some time listening to music in order to find it, and really, DJing is about listening to and finding new music, isn’t it, wasn’t it?

I have access to all the gear I could want.

Sure, there is always a new toy to lust after. NI’s S4 or the E&S DJR 400 Rotary Mixer come to mind. But I certainly have no shortage of gear. Compared to mixing with a second hand turntable and a hacked up mini system, I am spoilt for choice (although Ad-Hock networks for the TouchOSC on the iPad is giving me headaches). So its not that either.

I can mix.

Hell, with the power of the SYNC BUTTON, I can mix without even having to think about it… even using loops, effects, I don’t have to engage as much at all..

So what is it then?

Your getting old. And cynical. And probably senile.

Well. Probably. I seem to have started talking to myself as well. But no, that’s not it.

I have thought long and hard about this. I have talked to other DJs about it, and I seem to be noticing a wee bit of a trend. It’s almost like having to work a little harder for it, made the result a little more rewarding.

Here is three things I just don’t get anymore. Ready? Cause this is where I go all esoteric and spooky hippy on your arse.

I don’t find myself falling deep into the speaker any-more.

You know that point, where you have been working the mix, listing to one tune on the monitor, one in the cans, pushing, pulling the spindle, adjusting the pitch, and wham.. they lock together.. and you fall.. down.. the rabbit hole.

You know what that mind-state actually reminds me a bit of?

It's a heart, wait, a cat, no, a turntable..

It is suggested (and shown) that looking at these things creates an increase in Alpha Brain Waves (Alpha-Theta, some would say), in short, a form of active meditation, bought on by fixation by the conscious mind. I would propose, that the act of manually beat-matching actually brings on a similar state, differn’t from the concious thought required to manipulate effects or cues, and it is a very (eventually, when you are on form) gentle act of focusing on a quite specific action that can basically bring on a, wait for it… a trance like state.

Now, don’t worry, I am not planning on starting to play Goa-Trance, but I have also done a lot of mediation exercises over the years, which can ultimately be summarised as developing the ability to intensely focus on something and I have found a side effect of manual beat-matching is very similar.

So yeah, I don’t get that with Sync.

I don’t get (as much) of the musically induced Head Rush.

Now, I might be the only person who gets this, and if that is the case, I don’t care, cause it’s a hell of a buzz.

You might know that point. Two tunes, locked in, zen mixing moment on.. and well. Basically, its like a nice pill peaking just at the tunes lock and drop.

No? Just me? Ah well.. sucks to be you. I get a free head rush. Well, I used to, I don’t as much any more, and I wonder if it is a combination of the above, and my final observation for this article..

Where has all the tension gone?

I firmly believe that the imperfections of the mix, in itself created a level of conscious/subconscious tension that resolved when the mix was completed.

Two tunes are close in together, but analog drift, wow and flutter, dust in the pitch fader, the green eyed monster, all combined to create a state that would be never in, never out, a tight sway or swing, and drifting tension that two metronomes so close, but still always just slightly drifting in and out would cause. Similar in the way that a delay under 10/15ms is perceived by the brain as being part of the original sound a mix performed on two turntables is considered to be ‘in’ but will always create a slight tension, probably not even consciously noticed, and of course, the better sync, the less this effect will exist.

Oh yeah. So?

So nothing. I told you about half way that this was borderline introspective diarrhoea. Some people think about cars, I think about DJing.

Anyhow. I am now considering venturing back into the world of manual beat-matching; three decks, loops and effects.

It will be hard. I will probably have to get back into regular practice. Might even have lost a little of the old tightness on the decks.

People will probably start commenting on my ropey mixes. It won’t sound like the whole mix was fabricated in the computer.

But you know what. I have a funny feeling that eventually, with enough practice, and enough time being forced to actively listen to the mix. I might find the soul of DJing again, in the sync.

Oh, and don’t get me wrong – I am also going to keep on developing the all internal, midi clock sync methodology as well.. I just think you might see it venture off more and more into the realms of hybrid dj/live/software/hardware land..

Footnote: Internal Sync

Project for you.

1. Take a tune, take a turntable (something with a pitch control).
2. Hit play.
3. Close your eyes.
4. Adjust the pitch till it feels right to your body. Wait. Adjust. Adjust again. Let it sit for a bit.
5. Welcome to internal sync.
6. We all have our own internal metronomes. It just takes time for us to figure out what we are tuned to.

Also – pop over to DJ Tech Tools for the post that motivated me to finally put all this down – http://www.djtechtools.com/2010/11/15/what-is-the-right-amount-of-hard/

I have decided to compile all my various sites into one, so eventually, the Technical Sessions, Bromide Dub, Subtle Form, and the rest will be merged into The Proof. Much easy to look after.

So, if you want to keep up to date, make sure you subscribe, if you already have, sorry if you get some strange update emails or the like. Just working things out.

As always, thanks for the update. Heaps of very, very cool new stuff coming soon!

I thought it was about time I collapsed all the work I have been doing into one coherent site..