The art of USB-Jing
The Art of DJing: Avalon Emerson (2019)
11–20 of 60 posts
Re: The Art of DJing: Avalon Emerson (2019)
#12Avalon Emerson is such a great dj and producer. I’d love to see them live sometime - I’ve a great set from 2017 of theirs on SoundCloud that’s really eclectic. Love the style.
Couldn't agree more. I also saw her live djing in 2019, such a great and exceptional artist.
Re: The Art of DJing: Avalon Emerson (2019)
#13(2019) English link: https://ra.co/features/3392
Why them, when you could pick...
Jeff Mills https://ra.co/features/3436
Fabio https://ra.co/features/3631
or even like Louie Vega https://ra.co/features/3338
Re: The Art of DJing: Avalon Emerson (2019)
#14[deleted]
Re: The Art of DJing: Avalon Emerson (2019)
#15A few months on Hacker News there was a post about Mixxx[1], an open-source DJ software. It prompted me to download it and play around. It's very cool. Despite being a complete novice, I learned a few things after a dozen hours of playing around: * I don't have a physical controller, but I can understand why people always use them. Keyboard and mouse are not fully sufficient. * The built-in key and beat detection is…
[deleted]
Re: The Art of DJing: Avalon Emerson (2019)
#16Avalon Emerson is such a great dj and producer. I’d love to see them live sometime - I’ve a great set from 2017 of theirs on SoundCloud that’s really eclectic. Love the style.
I’ve seen her three times now. One of my favorites. Was surprised to see her on the front page of HN of all places!
Re: The Art of DJing: Avalon Emerson (2019)
#17(2019) English link: https://ra.co/features/3392 Why them, when you could pick... Jeff Mills https://ra.co/features/3436 Fabio https://ra.co/features/3631 or even like Louie Vega https://ra.co/features/3338
Do you have a problem with the linked article? As someone who djs occasionally I found it to be an insightful and technical look into Avalon’s process, and left me with some ideas for my own workflow.
Re: The Art of DJing: Avalon Emerson (2019)
#18(2019) English link: https://ra.co/features/3392 Why them, when you could pick... Jeff Mills https://ra.co/features/3436 Fabio https://ra.co/features/3631 or even like Louie Vega https://ra.co/features/3338
I think Avalon’s is most interesting from a pure technology perspective so suits here! They are all great though
Re: The Art of DJing: Avalon Emerson (2019)
#19A few months on Hacker News there was a post about Mixxx[1], an open-source DJ software. It prompted me to download it and play around. It's very cool. Despite being a complete novice, I learned a few things after a dozen hours of playing around: * I don't have a physical controller, but I can understand why people always use them. Keyboard and mouse are not fully sufficient. * The built-in key and beat detection is…
Song selection comes from hours of listening to music in the style you will be playing. Eventually, you will hear a riff from one song and it will make you think of another song. Those will be interesting to mix together. You might hear one song with a bass line that you really like with a melody line that is on the lighter side. You might then come across a song with a strong melody, but a bass line that could be punched up. Combine the two with some appropriate EQing, and make your own mix. After mixing for awhile, you will learn to listen in a different way than just someone listening to music.
Using a tool to beat match has always been considered "cheating", but it is obvious why it is a tool. Beat matching is probably the most technically challenging aspect. Eventually, you'll even get a feel for songs that are close in tempo--most music in a genre will be pretty close by default. Learning to ride this bike with training wheels is just an option I did not have. Being able to manually adjust the pitch/tempo (depending on equipment) without the auto tools becomes quite satisfying.
Some DJs talk about knowing what key a song is in, and if it will mix into another song. If you then have to adjust the pitch for beat matching, how does that affect the key of the song and how it now mixes? I've never claimed to do this, but after playing in school band I can at least hear the wahwahwah from something being out of tune (or was that the nitrous??). Maybe if you're mixing some prog-trance with sustained chords you might hear that, but I'd suggest finding a different place in the track to be mixing.
The physical controller is precisely why I love vinyl.
Re: The Art of DJing: Avalon Emerson (2019)
#20Avalon Emerson is such a great dj and producer. I’d love to see them live sometime - I’ve a great set from 2017 of theirs on SoundCloud that’s really eclectic. Love the style.
I met her briefly in 2014 through common friends in Berlin, and then saw her live in some early (before midnight) session in a semi empty small club in Kreuzberg. Some other friend and I then tried our luck at Berghain. We didn't make it. The San Francisco group did. Fun times nonetheless.