While I don’t get behind the decks very often anymore these days, at one time I was actually a pretty decent DJ. I started spinning when I was fifteen on a pair of crappy Gemini turntables set up on a board laid on top of a few milk crates in my bedroom. A good chunk of my first records were purchased from some guy in Elgin that I met at Gramaphones. Looking back on those records now, I realize that while they bring back some fond memories, the tracks themselves pretty much suck. After teaching myself to spin fairly well and upgrading to the industry standard (and in my opinion still the best turntables money can buy) Technic SL-1200 mk2s, I managed to hone in on a few styles I wanted to concentrate on spinning (prog-house, breakbeats, and minimal techno). I bought records like mad. To this day I have a ton of vinyl spanning from deep house to hardcore to drum n’ bass. Eventually some fellow DJs and I decided we wanted to start a production company to throw parties under. We threw them everywhere: Mexican restaurants in the suburbs, lofts in the city, fields, an abandoned racetrack, even some with huge rave companies up in Madison. To each event we were picked up for, we lugged our headphones, needles and record bags. Parties were busted, cops showed up, people went to jail. This was all part of the process, and it made things much more interesting.
So why am I going on about all this? Because recently I have realized that the DJ is dying. While there are tons of people out there mixing songs together into sets, the entire idea of what an actual DJ was is falling to the wayside. I realize that this is the digital age, and everything is slowly adapting to it. However, the basics of DJ culture are now disappearing along with that adaptation.
My biggest gripe concerns the way sets are actually being put together. I’m sorry, but if you are not using some form of turntables, you have no right to call yourself a DJ, unless you mean one on the radio. I don’t care if you can sequence songs on your Mac. A mouse is not a tool in spinning. I would never pay money to see some kid click start/stop on Ableton (or any other software) on a laptop. That’s complete crap. Anyone can match a bunch of preset beat markers together. It’s irritating to think that people actually buy into that garbage. It’s even more upsetting that these Mac-Tappers consider themselves in line with those who have spent years learning to actually spin records properly.
A step up from the Mac-Tappers are people that get MP3 turntables and CD turntables. While this is a little better, it still lacks some of the important aspects of DJ culture. I have seen some of digital turntables that actually spin like a normal wheel so you can supposedly use touch the same way you would on an actual deck. I don’t know how realistic these are, but I guess it’s better than nothing. However, most of these need programs run through computers to organize files and whatnot. Along with these programs, one usually sees a visual layout for each song. This is a crutch, and once again takes away from the allure of the real thing. When you can see your beats hitting and whether your other track matches these or not, it’s obviously not as hard as having the fine-tuned ear necessary to be a real DJ. Also, you can see when and where all the breaks in the track are, meaning you no longer need to know everything about what you’re spinning. A good DJ knows his records well enough to have the previous song die and mix at the proper time with the new one without visual aids. At least CD turntables don’t usually give you this help, but they still aren’t much better. But this isn’t the end of my issues.
Another jarring problem with all these digital DJs is that nobody buys records anymore. Vinyl was the most important thing in DJ culture up until a few years ago. You had to actually hunt for records. You physically had to go to a record store and rummage through tons of bins to find songs you wanted. You had to pick up records you never heard and take the time to listen to them all. Plus, out of print records were just that- out of print. Finding one you wanted was extremely hard, and usually came about by trading with someone or just diligently searching for long periods of time. Nowadays, if some kid wants a track, he just downloads it. Anyone can get any track at any time they see fit. Before your sets were defined by what you could get your hands on. This helped to make sure people had different things. No longer is this true. It takes no effort to get music for sets by having it sent to your computer. Beyond this, the record shop used to be a place to socialize with others also interested in spinning. You talked to them about new artists and where to get the best records. You chatted about which needles were the best and what labels sucked. I hardly think iTunes gives the same sort of experience. Not to mention, records aren’t cheap, so you had to make sure you were picking out the best tracks for your money. With digital songs, you can just download thousands and then decide to go through them later, simply deleting what you don’t want. Some might argue cheaper is better. I argue that it kills the culture.
While some may think these are stupid complaints and that I need to just “get with the times,” I know for a fact that there are many out there that share my view. The amount of effort and talent is severely lacking with these digital DJs. While I could easily get behind a set of MP3 turntables or Ableton and put together a set, those who were brought up using these new means would most likely struggle if they were placed in front of two Tech-12’s and a mixer with a stack of vinyl.
