Day 175: The end of beat matching!

This topic has come up a couple of times already here, so I'm not going to labour the point, I can sum it up in two points:

1.Should DJs be able to beatmatch? - probably.

2. ...but it's not the be all and end all, just as long as you are doing something awesome.

What inspired me to mention this again though was an interesting interview with Joris Voorn on Beatportal, where he touches on this very subject:

I don’t do any pitching at all. All my tracks have beat markers and the computer beatmatches for me.

I’ll admit it did feel quite awkward when I stood on stage for the first time after so many years of playing CDs and vinyl, and didn’t have to beatmatch. I suddenly had a lot more time on my hands. The weird thing is that people think DJing is beatmatching. But by letting the computer take care of timing, you can concentrate on the music.

This gets it pretty spot on in my book. If you can't see it like that, it's like you've been locked in a box for all this time, that now someone gave you the key to do whatever you want with it, you don't know what to do with yourself. Like as if having too many possibilities confuses you or something.

Those purists who are stuck on the 2 decks/beatmatch model are either idealists, or too old skool for their own good. Musical knowledge is essential for DJing, and beat matching/timing is a crucial part of that. For sure nothing is more satisfying than a cracking blend... but hey there is so much more you can get out of a mix now too.

I think it's amazing what is possible now, and means the scope for original ideas is wild. Maybe all this technology just made it harder for the boring guys... Hopefully the last you'll hear from me on the matter.

Read the full article on Beatportal here.
2/365

p&&l

bang!