DJ's: Producing and marketing your own CD's

[markydefad]

The technology of today has reduced music production to a simple set of rules..the same beat...the same instrumentation...the same synth chords and electronic drum beat....reduced to such a level of simplicity that a 5 year old could mix with a weekend's training.

Back in tha day....WE HAD DIFFERENT STYLES OF MUSIC, created by DIFFERENT PRODUCERS, using DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTATION, with VARYING BEATS...the DJs JOB WAS TO TAKE THESE DISPARATE and SEEMINGLY UNLIKELY TO FIT PIECES and SEAMLESSLY MAKE THEM FLOW INTO EACH OTHER". And they did.

That's why we still revere the greats.

[QUINNY]

Maybe Discos (and dance music) would be more interesting today if mixing, heavy pounding 4/4 beats et al, hadn't been propogated way back then?

Old Fogeyitis alert!
Every generation has its heroes that previous generations denounce as being less gifted. We're just the wrong side of 50, eh?

[Mixmachine]

Regarding Larry Levan's mixing:

You have to bear in mind that this guy was using crap turntables, not technics or anything ".

Maybe our young friend doesn't know, but the original 1200 Technics TT were available back then, they were designed for radio play and very expensive, but top clubs of the day could always afford them. This turntables were as good as the new 1200MK2 for club mixing and many Deejays prefered and kept them until they wore out.

[born2disco]

Today, any kid can mix pre-fabricated beats together. It's easy. And yet, today the DJ is revered as a "SUPERSTAR"!!!

All they do is cut and paste and
"deconstruct" previously interesting tracks into boring, unlistenable mush.

erm..... right. I agree it's not hard to beat-mix these days, but there is a lot of skill and talent in being able to mix cleverly and to take the punter on a journey on the dancefloor.... and yes, I agree that most "Superstar" DJs are boring. But you are sounding like an old fart. There are loads of fantastic house DJs.... mainly unknowns without egos who rock our local discos every weekend.

[QUINNY]

[quote="born2disco"]

There are loads of fantastic house DJs.... mainly unknowns without egos who rock our local discos every weekend.

Let's hear it for the boyz!!!!! The unsung heroes. There's no denying that the quality of yer average DJ far exceeds that of 25 years ago. After all, they have all the combined knowledge to learn from. IMO, in provincial England, the general standard of DJing was pretty poor until the late '80s. I may have been one of the pioneers and rightfully think that we did something special, but I ain't so stupid to think that we were perfect or somehow superior.

Even though the beats are in a very narrow BPM range, and some records are almost identical in every way, I have nothing but admiration for today's jocks. Of what I've heard, the mixing is soooooo flawless and incredibly well thought out.
Maybe even I could do it?

[Forrrce]

Ho-ho. To house people, Larry Levan's reputation is largely built on two records - by Loose Joints & Peech Boys. They wouldn't be so sycophantic regarding this mysterious period in time when everythng was 'all good'. Get real - why is everything these guys played 'inspirational'?

No disrespect to the old guys, you know that - but I checked out the Mancuso gig in London a couple of weeks ago, which was rather anodyne - yet the 'in crowd' were cheering even when they didn't have clue what this or that particularly humdrum house cut was...and looked around in bemusement when Tamiko Jones dropped.

No other DJ could have charged £20 admission and kept his kneecaps after all that! No mixing? He'd have been stoned! Using pucks and what looked like Linn K9s on Technics, but not the pitch control? Laughed out of town and his mother's door egged like it was Halloween. "But hey, he's an original and we have to dig what he plays, 'cause he's the master who paved the way and...". Oh, button it. You know I like a grumble on this one - bring it on, muthaf**kas!

[QUINNY]

Oh dear, this eternal problem. How much respect to give to the previous generations.
Forrrce, I can see where you're coming from and to some extent, as a non famous and maybe not much worse DJ, I can get pretty pissed off at times. :evil:
However, I guess a lot is going to depend on whether their status was earned at the time or at some later date by a new generation. Mancuso, to be fair has never claimed to be a DJ, has he? Did he have immaculate taste? I don't know and I don't really care, but obviously for his devotees who've put him up onto the high altar in the holy church of Disco, he is a saint. Just 'cos someone's skill or taste is not to one's own taste or understanding, it doesn't mean they still can't be great, does it? As long as they did something that was defining at some period, I guess they deserve to be honoured, 'cos without groundbreakers the present, the now wouldn't exist. For me, the Jury is still out on this.
Or should we, for example, diss the old Jazz masters, 'cos in absolute terms, their skill is way below today's best?

And I'm known as the whinger around here!!!!! :lol: :o

[Bernie]

As long as they did something that was defining at some period, I guess they deserve to be honoured, 'cos without groundbreakers the present, the now wouldn't exist. For me, the Jury is still out on this.
Or should we, for example, diss the old Jazz masters, 'cos in absolute terms, their skill is way below today's best?

And I'm known as the whinger around here!!!!! :lol: :o

Quinny,

Very well said. I think you hit on something here. Just because we don't fully understand a person doesn't mean he/she wasn't relevant. Having spoken to Mancuso on several ocassions I can tell you that I could feel the energy of the past through his words. And yes, he said he wasn't a DJ just someone who liked to throw parties, but that simple desire helped spark an entire culture and musical genre. For that he and others with the vision should be honored. Had I just met him in the street I probably would have thought of him as a normal Joe

David Mancuso Interview

[Forrrce]

You're not hearing me correctly. I'm not criticising the old guard, I am aware and in awe of their collective legacy. Once again, the silly muppets who have little understanding of the music represented and tag along blindy to anything connected with disco's evolution, are the target.

[QUINNY]

Forrrce: Fair dinkum, but what if it's the muppets who've collectively elevated said person. What then? That's the case with Mancuso, 'cos I for one wasn't aware of him at the time. HE was a very local, very cliquey NY phenomenon, wasn't he? I genuinely don't know.
I'm the worst person to be discussing this, 'cos I generally don't get involved with historical time lines and who did what with whom at what time and to what effect. Life's too short. So tell me to shut up if I'm way off beam.

[Forrrce]

Quinny,
'What then?' is easily applied to everything and answers nothing. You like to misconstrue when it suits you, because you like being controversial - am I right?!

Maybe it's my line of work; the people I know, the people I hang out with, the people I hear. This re-occuring theme (by my hand, yes) is a topic I do find rather annoying - and I'll admit that there are some more personal gripes in there, too.

All told, I have spleen to vent - and I'm gonna get on with it!

:lol:

[Bernie]

Forrrce,

I was replying to Quinny's statement without regard to your previous statement. Sorry for the confusion.

[Forrrce]

Forrrce,

I was replying to Quinny's statement without regard to your previous statement. Sorry for the confusion.

Bernie, am I ever gonna have the justification to take a pop at you as well?!

:D

[QUINNY]

Forrrce: I just misconstrue.....it ain't deliberate. There are those of us who go through life being misunderstood and miscontrueing what others might say. I'm one of them. :cry:

Everything else aside, I can't quite get what your gripe is about. Sorry, I'm a simple soul, with simple needs.

[Forrrce]

Everything else aside, I can't quite get what your gripe is about.

...and don't want to, no doubt. My crusade will continue unhindered!

[QUINNY]

Forrrce: Help me out here. Are you pissed off with Mancuso 'cos he has fans who are muppets or are you just mad at the muppets themselves? Seems to me you're almost blaming the muppets for his bad DJing and (maybe dodgy) record selection and him for playing to them and cashing in. Either way, it doesn't sound like much respect going in his direction.

Must fly, we have Andy Sheppard tonight at Southampton Jazz Club and it's gonna be absolutely jam packed (i.e. I, along with the rest of the committee, have to get there early to set it all up). Circular breathing anyone?

[Forrrce]

Quinny,
No, I've nothing against Mancuso at all and have no reason to do so. The gig was nice but not a revelation, by any means.
My bugbear is that this exact set by anyone else wouldn't have been received so warmly; and serious critique about the merits of the sound quality wouldn't have been entered into. I've seen some of the same records clear the floor on other occasions, but if you're one of the type I'm referring to and in the presence of a legend, you'll not want to look as if you don't know what's going on, will you? Certainly wouldn't be cool to do so. You dance, smile, lap it up, make sure you enjoy it and have something to tell the grandkids. But Joe Soap spinning? Nah, get him off.
Any warmer?

Have a musical treat with Mr. Sheppard.

[born2disco]

Maybe even I could do it?

Even someone as dumb as me could!

And I do try to create something a little more danceable than "mush". :lol: Whatever, I love my mush.

[QUINNY]

Forrrce: Ah so its the 'bullshit baffles brains' scenario you don't warm to. Unfortunately the whole world is built on it. I guess you just have to bask in the warm glow of knowing bullshit when you see it and not getting swept away by it.

Andy Sheppard was supreme. There were some real moments.

[StuckIn1979]

Does anyone know of any good disco compilations that are mixed?

[bigpoppa]

Does anyone know of any good disco compilations that are mixed?

Actually, I have always liked the Dimitri series of Night at the Playboy Mansion series.

For everyone else - speaking of DJs, how can you have a thread talking about Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles and Nicky Siano and not mention where THEY all learned it from, Francis Grasso.

[Cdnbob]

Just to stir the pot up a bit

...all of the DJ names that have been bandied about in this thread mean absolutely nothing to me, and I think never did to a lot of people in the day. They're all unknowns who back in the day - meaning back in my club going days (77-92) and I was a serious club going person - I'd never heard of them and they didn't mean squat to any of us going to the clubs here. This is not to flame their reputations or skills as a DJ but these peoples claim to fame was I think purely limited to their local geographical sphere (meaning not outside of the respective city where they DJ'ed). Names like Levan, Gibbons, et al meant absolutely nothing unless you frequented a club they played at. I don't think I'd ever heard of Larry Levan until maybe a year or year and a half ago, while Walter Gibbons I'd never heard of until I started frequenting this forum. And if I'd seen their name on a record at the time, it wouldn't have meant anything to me. I'm saying all this, because I tend to feel that the large vast majority of people who were into disco, these names didn't mean a thing. I don't think a lot of people even knew the name of the DJ who was playing at the club they went to. And, not dissing the skills of people like Levan and Gibbons et al, I'm sure there were DJ's in your local club who were just as good or maybe even better than these people and who never sought out the fame or got the recognition.

To me it was never about the DJ, but more about the music and the artist. I'm not dissing any DJ cause having done it myself, I know its a skill and one that you must practice at to be good, but I always felt that if the music in the club was good, encouraged you to want to dance and was mixed so that you didn't know it was being mixed or wasn't mixed badly, then the DJ had succeeded at his job. (I've never understood how someone can become a "star/celebrity" because they DJ in a club?) I don't think I ever knew the name of any of the DJ's of the clubs I went to except for one or two here locally in Vancouver, and I only knew their names because they were printed on an advert for that particular club they played in in the newspaper.