DJ Assignment

DJ Assignment

 
In this essay, I will be explaining how DJing developed (using case studies) from the 70’s to the present day, also discussing the equipment used (and it’s development over the years) and fundamental DJing techniques which were groundbreaking upon discovery.

First however, it's best that I define what a "DJ" actually is:

A DJ can play various roles in the music industry. A DJ can be on a radio station playing music and sound effects (such as explosions and voices). However, the DJ is given a playlist by their superiors (most likely the people who manage the station) and it's their responsibility to play it because that playlist is aimed at a certain target audience and will most likely revolve around 1 or 2 music genre's. It's also the DJ's responsibility to answer calls from the listeners, this could be anything from a contest being hosted by the station to a listener simply giving their opinion on the playlist selected by the station.

On the other hand, a DJ can showcase their skills in front of a live audience, whether it be a prom or a dance club, a DJ playing live has one main goal; to play songs that will entertain the crowd and affect the audience by giving them the feeling they desire.

DJing has come a long way in it's growth and development, dating back to as far as the start of the 20th century, but in this assignment, I'll start from the 70s, a decade where it took a big turn, all the way to the present date; where so many changes have happened thanks to technology.


1970s 

 
The decade hip hop was born. The decade where the art of DJing/turntabilism was evolving. Here's an example of a technique that really got it running:

Beat Matching:

DJ Francis Grasso

Once considered a skill, now a basic and "must have" technique for all DJ's (which can easily be mastered due to technology), was discovered by DJ Francis Grasso in the late 60s/early 70s.

It's a technique where the DJ let's one track play, then using the headphones, selects another track that has the same tempo and plays it in time (if it doesn't have the same tempo, you'd time-stretch it so it would match). However, it's not as easy as it sounds as you'd have to keep note of the phrases and what song goes well because not all songs flow together, so it's ideal to have a playlist made.



Set Up:

The main equipment set up for DJ's during this decade were simply 2 turntables, a mixer (usually 2 channels, but more there have been more skillful DJ's down the years and some could use 4 channel mixers, even more), vinyls, headphones and speakers. The best thing that a DJ could have during these times was the Technics SL-1200 Turntable. Ever since it's release (and the release of later models), Technics has become the industry standard for DJing/turntabilism from the start (70s), through the 80s and up until the 90s.


Some features of the Technics SL-1200 are:

*Servo-controlled direct-drive
*EPA-120 tonearm
*Pitch controller - Allows you to change the speed of the platter (which also adjusts BPM of a song), ranges from -8% to +8%

Technics SL-1200

Stand Out DJ - DJ Kool Herc:

Born as Clive Campbell, he is best known as the founder of hip hop but is also highly respected as a DJ for what he did. He was considered as a "rebel" amongst his peers because he wouldn't do what most DJ's were doing at the time: playing the main bit of a song/album that everyone knows.

Instead, he'd play the break of a record, which got positive feedback from the audience but it'd only last 30 secs - 1 minute, and that's where the hip hop DJ's come in. They'd get the break of a record and elongate it so people can dance to it longer.




 


 

1980s



Another huge step in growth...

Scratching:

DJ Grand Wizard Theodore

The most common thing that anyone would associate DJing with. A technique "unintentionally" discovered by DJ Grand Wizard Theodore. Thanks to his mother asking him to turn down the music, he put his hand on the vinyl and heard the sound it made, then proceeded to expand on his discovery. Scratching can produce a unique sound by moving the vinyl record (spinning on the platter) back and forth. It's mainly associated in hip hop as you'd hear scratches (mainly in choruses/hooks) in many songs.



Scratching truly left it's mark on the world at the 1983 Grammy Awards during Herbie Hancock's performance of "Rockit". It was in this performance that scratching was truly exposed a bigger audience, including DJ's such as Qbert, Mix Master Mike (of the Beastie Boys), etc. Here's a video of the legendary performance:

Set Up:

Much like the 70's, the main set up in the 80's were still 2 turntables, a mixer, vinyls, headphones and speakers. However, instead of the Technics SL-1200, it was the Technics SL-1200MK2 model that was being used as turntables among DJ's.

Some features of the Technics SL-1200MK2 are:

*Quartz enhanced timing
*Aluminum die-cast cabinet with rubber base which reduces external vibration
*Resistance to feedback


How does it compare to it's predecessor?

It's simply a better model. It's has the same features but also has improvements, hence why it popular among hip hop DJ's at the time.

Technics SL-1200MK2

Stand Out DJ - Afrika Bambaataa

Respectfully hailed as "The Godfather", real name Kevin Donovan, he was apart of the notorious "Black Spades" gang before leaving them to create the "Zulu Nation"; an organization which is mainly based around music. Alongside Kool Herc, he's one of the initial DJ's to utilize break beats.  

His song "Planet Rock" with Soul Sonic Force is truly one of his crowning achievements to date as it's credited for helping the development of electro music (one of the reasons why he's the "Father Of Electro Funk). The song also took hip hop a few steps forward, experimenting with other genre's.




1990s

 
The 90s. The decade where DJing expanded and gained a heap of popularity.

Raves:

DJing gained a lot of it's British popularity through predominantly illegal squat raves. These raves became popular in the late 80s, and hit it's peak in the 90s. Acid house was a big part of this. Acid house used state of the art (at the time) synthesizers to create brand new sounds which were used to make this sub-genre of house music, and this became the primary genre of raves in the late 80s and 90s.

Roland TB-303 - The synthesizer responsible for the creation and development of acid house.

In the mid 90s, jungle drum & bass, techno from Europe and south London and happy hardcore became the main genres played at raves, all of which were produced to be easily mixed, as they all ran at similar tempos and had similar drum patterns. It was because of this that DJing started becoming bigger, as it allowed the audience to experience a seamless transition between songs which meant they could keep dancing while the track changes.


Hip Hop:

DJing gained an immense amount of popularity because of it's association with hip hop (acts like Run DMC through the 80's and Gang Starr in the late 80's and 90's). On the other hand, this proved to be a blessing and a curse because more and more MC's didn't require a DJ to perform as they could rhyme over instrumentals, which meant that DJ's were slowly declining in the hip hop scene.

However, some DJ's picked up on producing instrumentals and some songs ensured DJ's stayed intact in hip hop. An example of some of these DJ's and their crowning achievements are are:

DJ Premier:

*Contributed 3 times in Nas' classic album "Illmatic" ("N.Y. State Of Mind", "Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park)" and "Represent")
*"Unbelievable" for The Notorious B.I.G album "Ready To Die"
*"Mathematical" on Mos Def's album "Black On Both Sides"
*All Gang Starr (Guru as MC and Premier as producer) projects are highly respected by the underground scene.




DJ Pete Rock:


*"Juicy" for The Notorious B.I.G's "Ready To Die"
*"The World Is Yours" for Nas' "Illmatic"
*"They Reminisce Over You" for his collaborative album with C.L. Smooth "Mecca And The Soul Brother"






Set Up:

The 90's saw the birth of CDJ's amongst DJ's, however turntables were still in high demand.
The turntable set up still remained the same, consisting of 2 turntables, a mixer, vinyls, headphones and speakers. The Technics SL-1200M3D succeeded the MK2 model which included more features to make DJing a little easier:

*Reset button - Sets the pitch back to 0, disregarding where the slider was positioned
*Removal of the click at the 0 point in the pitch slider granted DJ's more control
*Dust cover hinges removed


How does it compare to it's predecessor?


Like the comparison between it's predecessor and the one that came before, it's simply a better model. However this time, it's much more accurate and convenient for DJ's for mixing (i.e. finding the specific point they desire, hence the removal of the "click"). On top of that, removing the hinges was a move forward as it annoyed many DJ's.

Technics SL-1200M3D

When it came to CDJ's, Pioneer were supplying the models back then and still are to the present day. The main set up for a DJ using CDJ's were the same as a turntable set up, instead you'd have CDJ's instead of turntables and CD's instead of vinyls. CDJ's would prove to be a instant hit amongst DJ's for one reason in particular: Convenience. Imagine a DJ having to go to all these venues carrying heavy crates of vinyls around with them, with risk of losing them or getting stolen. CDJ's offered DJ's everything a turntable set up can do, but only carrying CD's instead of crates of vinyls.

There were few prototypes before it, but the CDJ-500 was the ground breaker for Pioneer as it offered many things, such as:

*Jog dial - making things like selecting cue points easier (rather than putting tape on vinyl)
*Loop function
*An insight of where DJ technology was heading

CDJ-500

Stand Out DJ - DJ Craze:

DJ Craze

Three time World DMC Champion. In a row. He's the only person to achieve that feat. Craze (born as Aristh Delgado) specializes in genres such as hip hop, drum n bass and trap and is regarded as one of the best DJ's so far. He's been a DJ for Yelawolf and Kanye West. If there's one thing that makes him stick out in contrast to other DJ's: his style.



Below are 2 videos: the first is his winning 1999 DMC World DJ Championship set and the second is (if you take note of the start of the video and the vocal samples he uses) a challenge to all DJ's he considers "fake". In his Kanye West routine (second video), you get a much better idea of his style of mixing, but in both videos (different time periods), you can see he uses his "signature move" (look below the videos).

 

4:25 (signature move)

2:00 (signature move)

2000s - Present



In the 2000s, software began to replace hardware amongst new DJs. Although hardware was still in high demand, many DJs who were learning at that time started to turn to digital software to learn how to DJ.

EDM (Electronic Dance Music) grew very, very quickly in popularity in the 2000s. There were two ways that artists played EDM live; analogue recreation and performance, and DJing. Also, some EDM was produced deliberately for DJ's to mix.


Set Up:

For turntable DJ's, the set up still remained the same; 2 turntables, mixers, vinyls, headphones and speakers. As usual, a new decade means a new turntable model, however in the 2000s, Technics released two models (and as you can tell, each model has a new feature and/or has been improved:

Technics SL-1210M5G:

Marked the 30th anniversary since the release of Technics SL-1200 model. The SL-1210M5g model mainly had improvements:

*Pitch range increased from -8% - +8% to -16% - +16% (digital control)
*Blue LED light - shows you how much you adjusted the pitch
*Dampens out more unwanted vibration (in the case of a club DJ, the vibration would come from the dance floor)

Technics SL-1210M5G

Technics SL-1200MK6:

More improvements:

*Dampens even more vibration
*Improved accuracy in pitch control
*Better LED light

Technics SL-1200MK6

In 2010, Technics turntables ceased production because there were a shortage of parts needed to create future models.

 
On the other side, digital mixing is still on the rise with brands such as Numark, Traktor, Reloop and Denon proving DJ's with a digital format to mix on. But for now, we're gonna look at the Pioneer CDJ that came after the CDJ-500: the CDJ-1000, which then the CDJ-800 was released after.

CDJ-1000:

*First CDJ with the ability to scratch - so a lot of DJ's started to use it
*Digital display - you could see the music as it was playing, meaning DJ's could apply cue points much more accurately and gives DJ an advantage by letting them know if a drop is coming rather than actually waiting for it
*Master tempo function

CDJ-1000

CDJ-800:

*Auto loop - DJ's can instantly loop anything they want for however many bars (1/1, 1/2, etc) at the touch of a button
*Auto beat
*Two modes
- CD: Allows you more accuracy when changing tempo
- Vinyl: Acts like a turntable so you can treat the CD like a vinyl

CDJ-800

Ableton Launchpad:

Many DJ's today have this in their set-up. The magical thing about it is that it allowed DJ's to remix a track in front of a live audience. Features include:

*Has 64 buttons (8x8 grid) where you can assign audio/MIDI (looped or not)
*Allows auto-map control
*Brought DJ performance to a different level


Ableton Live:

(Note that it isn't in a DJ's set up)
Although it's one of the best software's to produce music on (Producers such as Flying Lotus use it), Ableton Live has proven to be a big hit amongst DJ's for this simple reason: It can easily find out the tempo of any song. This makes it easier for DJ's of all genre's, instead of spending time trying to find out themselves.

Ableton Live 9

Stand Out DJ - Andy C:

Although active from the 90's, Andrew John Clarke (real name, stage name is simply a shortened version) started gaining a lot popularity as of recent (around 2009) and is considered a pioneer for DnB, however he could prove to be an important pioneer for DJing itself. Andy C is the first DJ to mix music and visuals at his shows, you can see a demonstration below:

Hardware/Software:

Because a lot of production was moving away from hardware and onto software, not many performers were doing analogue recreations at their shows, so DJs were fully in demand. This meant that they were playing bigger venues and festivals, earning more money and becoming more a part of mainstream entertainment. This lead to the creation of softwares such as Serato, Traktor and Virtual DJ, which made DJing more accessible to a younger audience, and also minimized the number of cables and bits of hardware required to perform.

Analogue:

Pros:
*Cheaper
*Easier/faster to set up

Cons:
*Means you have to carry on crates of vinyls around
*Doesn't have much audio interface

Digital:

Pros:
*Can deal with things like distortion and soft limiting better
*Higher quality audio

Cons:
*Expensive
*Can't set up and use straight away


To conclude with my opinion, I think digital mixing is better than analogue because it offers more to the DJ, however I like analogue mixing better because it's harder to catch on but when you get good at it, you'd find mixing on a digital format much easier. Let's not forget that digital mixing makes DJing "easier", so if a DJ considers themselves to be really good at DJing, then they'll need to think how they'd compare to DJ's in the 80's and 90's.



Bibliography:


*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj1r6u8zLPo

Mainly for 70s and 80s

Director: Doug Pray
Title: Scratch (movie)
Year: 2001

*http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1909

Knowledge on Technics (models)

Author: Jordan Rothlein
Title: Industry Standards: Technics SL-1200
Year: 2013

*http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1910

Knowledge on Pioneer CDJ's (models)

Author: Jordan Rothlein
Title: Industry Standards: Pioneer CDJ
Year: 2013

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Kool_Herc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika_Bambaataa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Craze
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_C

Information for the Stand Out DJ's of each decade

Title(s): DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Craze & Andy C
Year(s): Unspecified