shitty mash-up dj's

[-evil-duerr-]

I just heard the worst bootleg of CCR's "grape vine" and coburn's "we interupt"..... fucking garbage. There seems to be a growing trend of wack dj's trying to latch onto the "mash-up" style of mixing, and it's sad.

Theres so much more to creating a mash-up mix than having a set full of half-assed bootlegs put together with ableton 6 + all the same ableton effects you've been hearing in midi mashup sets for the last couple years *YAWN*.
I've been listening to this variety of mixing style lonnnnng before it became the big dj trend. It pains me to see something I love so much get dragged through the mud by legions of unimaginative trend followers.

for the love of god, make it stop

[mojo]

hear here

[Phrenetic]

this is what i have recently gotten into, i like doing cool reconstructions.

i know what your talking about, i can also tell when something sounds way too ableton. I know when a mash-up sounds good

[Revolver]

ya man...i see alot of that.

a pre recorded set on albelton with a guy behind a laptop wiggling around turning knobs on what looks like the ubiquios evolution midi controller...

[Phrenetic]

if your gonna play pre-recorded mash-up dont fake it

[dj_soo]

this is a huge reason i refuse to label myself a "mashup" dj

[omega_image]

welcome to last year.

[rawb]

GOD I HATE THAT WORD SO MUCH

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by dj_soo

this is a huge reason i refuse to label myself a "mashup" dj

Yeah, but your mashups are good.

That one you led into Crazy on Chop Soo-ey has been stuck in my head for the last three weeks.

[-evil-duerr-]

Originally Posted by omega_image

welcome to last year.

^ha ha a year?, longer than that dude your tripping. I remember reading mixmag articles about it, giving tips how to make your own bootleg using audio editing/looping software.. I can't remember what year, but it had to have been before the rise of ableton live.

[dj_soo]

Originally Posted by ebbomega

Yeah, but your mashups are good.

That one you led into Crazy on Chop Soo-ey has been stuck in my head for the last three weeks.

yea well, i generally just consider them "mixes" or "blends" :)

[Kraig]

I'd like to add lame Mash-up producers to the mix. -- This goes for House / Breaks / Hip Hop, etc.

I've heard some horrible, HORRIBLE productions that have me wondering what idiot or what company would pay to have this released digitally or pressed to vinyl.

[-evil-duerr-]

Originally Posted by dj_soo

this is a huge reason i refuse to label myself a "mashup" dj

the term has been sullied by all the garbage thats flooded the scene no doubt.
it's too bad.

dj soo is a prime example of someone who is bringin something to the table with this misunderstood mixing discipline. Not tryin to blow any smoke, but yer sets are admirable.

All these ableton punks nowadays could take a schooling from the boys at solid steel. Dk and Strictly Kev's sets are lessons on what is succesful djing (in my opnion i guess). A combination of all techniques, omni-tempo and multi-genre, yet still maintaining a feeling of unity and continuity from start to finish.

[dj_soo]

^ The term should never have been used in the first place.

You either have a "blend" or "mix" which is done on decks in realtime or you have "remixes" which are done in the studio.

What the term "mashup" seems to have done is legitimize lazy Djing, sub-par production, or - in most cases - both.

That being said I don't think i'm bringing anything all that new to the table - all I'm doing is mixing music I like - and I happen to like a whole lot of different music - rather than playing music i think it "clever" or "ironic." Hiphop DJs were doing this for years before hiphop was a musical genre... and the guys who were at the forefront of the resurgence of multi-genre mixing (Z-Trip, DJ P, Coldcut, Food & DK, etc) were simply going back to the heyday of hiphop DJing back in the 70s: mixing, cutting, and blending good, funky, and danceable tracks with no regards to "genre."

[omega_image]

Originally Posted by -evil-duerr-

^ha ha a year?, longer than that dude your tripping. I remember reading mixmag articles about it, giving tips how to make your own bootleg using audio editing/looping software.. I can't remember what year, but it had to have been before the rise of ableton live.

yeah "mashup's" have been around a lot longer than that, but it wasn't until abour 1-2 yrs ago that people started mass producing crap....

you'd hear mashups that never should have even been thought of, but it wasn't even near the level it got to at that point.

[stimulant j]

i still believe mashups should always be done live on the fly.

[Wood]

Originally Posted by rawb

GOD I HATE THAT WORD SO MUCH

it's a lame, lame word. it makes me think of all kinds of really lame stuff & i hate that it's the only word i can use to tell certain ppl what to expect when they listen to me n' soo.

anybody check DJ Knowledge's new mix?

[dj_soo]

^ you actually listened to that? I wouldn't waste the bandwidth - even here at work...

[-evil-duerr-]

Originally Posted by dj_soo

^

I don't think i'm bringing anything all that new to the table - all I'm doing is mixing music I like - and I happen to like a whole lot of different music - rather than playing music i think it "clever" or "ironic."

It's the attitude of simply mixing music that you want that is a hard to find quality in a sea of pretentious wannabe's who are into djing for all of the wrong reasons. Whether or not you are bringing any technical innovations to the scene, actually being genuine and playing from the heart is what counts. It's what I respect and expect to see in anyone who fancies themselves a DJ.

Hiphop DJs were doing this for years before hiphop was a musical genre... and the guys who were at the forefront of the resurgence of multi-genre mixing (Z-Trip, DJ P, Coldcut, Food & DK, etc) were simply going back to the heyday of hiphop DJing back in the 70s: mixing, cutting, and blending good, funky, and danceable tracks with no regards to "genre."

true words brutha, allll the wwwaaay back to the glory days of Kool Herc!

[dj_soo]

Originally Posted by stimulant j

i still believe mashups should always be done live on the fly.

especially now that serato makes it so easy to loop and create your own instrumentals...

I do think that some good remixes or "mashups" have been pre-produced, but they have to be a cut above just taking an acapella and putting it over an instrumental.

[omega_image]

^ding ding ding.........

[NinjaBoy]

I used to do a mash up show at the college radio station. You would not believe some of the crap people would send me.

I've gotten cd's where, none of the timing matches up. At all. The chours starts, then halfway through one of the sentence the beat kicks in....

Technology is great, it allows anyone with the dedication to make some great music. However, a lot of people who don't have any dedication at all have access to technology... and that's where the problems start.

[dj_soo]

the worst are the pre-produced mashups where the vocals and the instrumental are out of key.

do these people even listen to the crap they produce before sending it out? Or are they just tone deaf?

[Wood]

Originally Posted by dj_soo

^ you actually listened to that? I wouldn't waste the bandwidth - even here at work...

haha nooooo. looked too painful. every track on it is so-&-so's "mashup" of something. blech.

[-evil-duerr-]

Originally Posted by NinjaBoy

a lot of people who don't have any dedication at all have access to technology... and that's where the problems start.

that's probably half of it for sure.

I think all of these kinds of problems stem from the difference between people who chose to become "artists", and people who were chosen by art.

People who were chosen by art are ones who create because they have to. It's a relentless internal desire to create, express, share and change. They are the mavericks and pioneers, trend-setters and bringers of all sorts of goodness.

People who chose art on the other hand, will tend to imitate rather than create. Their focus will be on the aesthetic, the surface of it- and subsequently miss all of the subtleties and the very heart which makes great art beautiful.

at the end of the day art is about sharing something genuinely human. It should play with perception, tickle emotion and provoke thought. This kind of thing can't be faked and rarely imitated.

Fakers, biters, imitators, hacks and clowns a like share many different names. But it all means the same thing right? They're the shit that will fade away before anyone really notices they were around to start with.. they are the reason why proper dj's cant even hear the word "mash-up" without cringing.

the world needs more dj's who treat djing as an artform( or maybe just less shitty dj's, ya that would work).
I prefer DJs who started djing because they have a story to tell, not ones who started because they have some cliche rockstar dream complex to adhere to.