Computers, the root of all evil?

I told you the time would come for one of the biggest debates to hit the DJing world recently, computers. Some DJ's love the mobility and freedom they provide while other, more orthodox DJ's view the practice as "cheating". Here I'll explore into both sides of this issue.

First, a quick catch up for those not following the debate. There has been a trend recently for DJ's to use their laptops on stage with programs that emulate the A B deck configuration. Sometimes, these programs allow the DJ to auto-beatmatch tracks and add effects and filters never dreamed of in the analogue era.

The Progressives:

Many Dj's using these computer systems love the portability of it all. No longer do you have to come to the club with two big turntables and crates upon crates of records(back problems, anyone?). Instead you can fit your whole setup in a backpack.

Many of these "digital DJ's" also argue the practice is progressive for the industry as a whole. They argue that the time that used to be spent manually beat matching the songs can now be used to make more creative mixes that are more pleasurable for audiences.

The Orthodox

While there are some that argue the merits of laptop use there are just as many that will fight tooth and nail against the practice. These, usually older DJ's argue that computer use is "cheating" and especially take quarrel with the issue of auto beatmatching.

These DJ's believe there is something with the use of Vinyl that can never be replaced with a laptop and computer controllers.

Well Whose Right?

That's really up to you. Crowds have been rocked with nothing more than a laptop and similarly with a whole host of turntables, CDJ's and warm analogue sound. In my opinion the end matter is what comes out of the speakers, not how it gets there.

Computers, the root of all evil?

DJing: The Basics

The Gear

So as not to alienate all the readers who aren't DJ's I decided to post a somewhat brief tutorial of how the practice works.

To begin: where does the music come from?
Some DJ's use vinyl turntables like this Technics 1200 ( the industry standard)





Others have moved away from Vinyl and use CD's in devices called CDJ's
This is a Pioneer CDJ 1000 (the industry standard CDJ)


Now, once you have two turntables or CDJ's the sound has to go somewhere:
Where does it go? Both plug into what is known as a mixer
This is a Pioneer DJM 800, a common sight in nightclubs:


Here's a common setup, two CDJ's placed on either side of the mixer.


A new trend in the DJ world is the use of computers, but I will delve into that later.

Now you have an idea of the equipment, but what does a DJ actually do?


Mixing 101

For this example lets assume you have two CD's in the CDJ's that are both plugged into the mixer. For the sake of expliantion we'll call one CDJ "Deck A" and the other "Deck B". You play the song from Deck A, while the song is playing, you choose your song in Deck B. As the song is playing through the speakers in deck A you listen to your song in Deck B through your headphones, and perform what is known as "beatmatching".

There are a few ways to beatmatch, but we'll cover the most common one: the one ear method. Your objective is to match the two songs so the bass beat of one is indistinguishable from the other, creating a seamless transition between the two songs. As the song is playing from Deck A on the speakers the DJ "cues" the song from deck B into the headphones. From there one ear is used to listen to song A while the DJ holds a headphone with song B in the other ear. From here they adjusts the speed of the song in deck B to match song A exactly.

Once the song is beatmatched the crossfader is moved over on the mixer and a basic mix has been performed.

DJing: The Basics

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