DJing vs Ableton Live
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 2:22 am
After seeing soo many arguments from DJ's about people using Ableton Live to play music in live venues, I pondered on it and came up with a few ideas that i'd love to get people's opinions on. I'm not sure if they've been posted here before, or not, so my apologies if it has been.
Reading so many discussions/arguments from DJ's about producers/musicians using Ableton Live to mix their music live I've noticed the only real argument they are saying is that "they're just 'pressing play'" or 'they're trying to be DJ's'. Yeah, this is true for some people who are too lazy to mix and learn how to properly DJ on CDJ's or Vinyl, but IMO it doesn't apply to producers who are playing their own tracks and interweaving samples, FX as well as tracks by other producers. There's actually a lot of work going into to create a 'set', rather than just mixing track after track together which is what traditional DJing is about (no credit being taken away from *good* DJ's here, it does take a lot of work and practice to be able to make a good mix).
My ideas are this:
- Because the of level of production that goes into making dance music now, there's no possible way to recreate it live, like rock bands do (yeah, there are electronic bands doing their thing, but it's still not up to the exact level of actually playing a well produced song, from what I've heard anyway).
- As producers can't recreate their music live, some resort to DJ'ing, an already established way of how people play out dance music. Or they make a live set on their laptop using Ableton Live, using samples and FX and loops and whatever else to tastefully spicen up their set, giving a live performance in the context of a club; where people would normally do a traditional DJ mix.
The other argument I hear is from non-electronic music musicians, like guitarists, singers etc saying the same thing DJ's are saying: 'They're just pressing play' or 'turning knobs & pressing buttons'. Yeah, true, the interfaces are knobs, buttons and faders but the thing is those knobs, faders and buttons are hooked up to FX, loops and whatever else that require knowledge and practice to be able to give off a certain emotion to the listeners/crowd. Turning these faders, buttons and knobs doesn't require the same mechanical skills it takes guitarist to play crazy fast lead licks, or a singer to be able to hit the high note, but it still requires practice and knowledge to be able to get a specific reaction from a crowd. Getting a producer that doesn't know what they're doing up on stage that triggers god awful distortions or whatever is the same as getting a guitarist up on stage to do a solo and they don't know how to play a scale.
I guess my point with this is that even though playing live on Ableton using triggers isn't as physically demanding as playing an instrument, it requires just as much practice and knowledge to get specific reactions from a crowd.
Finally, I'd like to bring these points together. Just because producers are on a laptop pressing buttons doesn't mean they're 'just hitting play', there's a lot of pre-production, knowledge and skill that is required to incite reactions from crowds. Yeah, it's boring as fuck to watch. But who the hell goes to a club to see DJ's carefully beat match 2 songs together on CDJ's or vinyl? It's about the tasteful transitions between songs, and the emotion it incites, not the way it's done. The most exciting gigs i've been to were the ones with the best stage show, nice transitions and crazy antics, and i could not give a shit as to what method they were using to play their songs.
Reading so many discussions/arguments from DJ's about producers/musicians using Ableton Live to mix their music live I've noticed the only real argument they are saying is that "they're just 'pressing play'" or 'they're trying to be DJ's'. Yeah, this is true for some people who are too lazy to mix and learn how to properly DJ on CDJ's or Vinyl, but IMO it doesn't apply to producers who are playing their own tracks and interweaving samples, FX as well as tracks by other producers. There's actually a lot of work going into to create a 'set', rather than just mixing track after track together which is what traditional DJing is about (no credit being taken away from *good* DJ's here, it does take a lot of work and practice to be able to make a good mix).
My ideas are this:
- Because the of level of production that goes into making dance music now, there's no possible way to recreate it live, like rock bands do (yeah, there are electronic bands doing their thing, but it's still not up to the exact level of actually playing a well produced song, from what I've heard anyway).
- As producers can't recreate their music live, some resort to DJ'ing, an already established way of how people play out dance music. Or they make a live set on their laptop using Ableton Live, using samples and FX and loops and whatever else to tastefully spicen up their set, giving a live performance in the context of a club; where people would normally do a traditional DJ mix.
The other argument I hear is from non-electronic music musicians, like guitarists, singers etc saying the same thing DJ's are saying: 'They're just pressing play' or 'turning knobs & pressing buttons'. Yeah, true, the interfaces are knobs, buttons and faders but the thing is those knobs, faders and buttons are hooked up to FX, loops and whatever else that require knowledge and practice to be able to give off a certain emotion to the listeners/crowd. Turning these faders, buttons and knobs doesn't require the same mechanical skills it takes guitarist to play crazy fast lead licks, or a singer to be able to hit the high note, but it still requires practice and knowledge to be able to get a specific reaction from a crowd. Getting a producer that doesn't know what they're doing up on stage that triggers god awful distortions or whatever is the same as getting a guitarist up on stage to do a solo and they don't know how to play a scale.
I guess my point with this is that even though playing live on Ableton using triggers isn't as physically demanding as playing an instrument, it requires just as much practice and knowledge to get specific reactions from a crowd.
Finally, I'd like to bring these points together. Just because producers are on a laptop pressing buttons doesn't mean they're 'just hitting play', there's a lot of pre-production, knowledge and skill that is required to incite reactions from crowds. Yeah, it's boring as fuck to watch. But who the hell goes to a club to see DJ's carefully beat match 2 songs together on CDJ's or vinyl? It's about the tasteful transitions between songs, and the emotion it incites, not the way it's done. The most exciting gigs i've been to were the ones with the best stage show, nice transitions and crazy antics, and i could not give a shit as to what method they were using to play their songs.
ha!