Briggsy Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 This was something I noticed last week at EITP, but I forgot to mention it. Obviously, Eddie was also on the line up at EITP last week, and part of his rider is a Pioneer EFX unit. Jules immediately followed Eddie, and the EFX unit was still there - so Jules decided to use it - and I must admit, it looks like he's either got on at home, or been fiddling after Eddie in the past because it was evident that he's quite familiar with it as he used it quite well. So, I reckon Jules must have bought one with the intention of using it where its available. Do you reckon Jules might go down the EFX route before too long and use it as part of his regular rider? Jules has hinted in his diary over the last 6 months that he's open to new suggestions as to how technology can improve his sets. he said he'd spoken to Adam Sheridan in depth about Ableton, but decided that wasn't for him, and final scratch also wasn't really an option - so I reckon he's pondering an EFX unit to add something different. What do you reckon? Has anyone else seen Jules using an EFX unit in a venue thats had one before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonman Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 i've not seen him use one tbh. Good to see he is sticking CDJ and beatmixing himself rather than going down the Ableton route though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aza Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 Good spot Briggsy. I don't think it really suits him tbh. I like Jules' sets just plain and simple because when on form, he provides some quality entertainment choonage. I don't like the accapella thing either... Eddie on the other hand is fascinating to watch and it is amazing how he integrates everything in whilst still performing a quality set and something different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducky Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 I e-mailed Jules a while back about Ableton etc as he was keen on people's opinion. To me in my opinion i dont think any Dj should use Laptops/programmes such as ableton etc as i think this ruins what it is all about. Jules did say to me that he is looking very closely at Rane Serato Scratch Live http://www.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2006/12/djscottyboy/, so whether or not he decides to start using it? if he does i think it will be a shame! Jules and Eddie should stick to the Cdj's!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSheehan Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 you can still use serato scratch with cdjs.. the main advantage of it is, you dont have to burn cds. all your tunes are on your laptop!! you still have to beatmatch as usual so I dunno why jules hasnt used this yet, it'd save him alot of time that he wastes burning cds.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 With Jules editing down all of his tracks so much I'm surprised he's got the time in a track to play with many FX, usually the tracks he plays are no more than 5mins in length at most so would probably mean sacfricing a little beat match accuracy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted June 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 Jules tends to beatmatch "on the fly" these days anyway - he never spends a great deal of time beatmathcing, which is often why he has one too many stinkers at times. I remember watching him at Godskitchen last June at the side of the booth - he spent most of his time signing autographs, shaking hands and doing his usual banter and gestures with the crowd and did all of his beatmatching in the 10 seconds or so in the intro before he actually moved the fader over. Tiesto does it too. I prefer Armin's approach - the last time I saw him, he spent the vast majority of his time beatmatching - but he does it in a way where he's still getting the crowd going with his arms too in-between his adjustments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSheehan Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 Jules tends to beatmatch "on the fly" these days anyway - he never spends a great deal of time beatmathcing, which is often why he has one too many stinkers at times.I remember watching him at Godskitchen last June at the side of the booth - he spent most of his time signing autographs, shaking hands and doing his usual banter and gestures with the crowd and did all of his beatmatching in the 10 seconds or so in the intro before he actually moved the fader over. Tiesto does it too. I prefer Armin's approach - the last time I saw him, he spent the vast majority of his time beatmatching - but he does it in a way where he's still getting the crowd going with his arms too in-between his adjustments. You raised some good points there Briggsy!! Everytime I've seen him he's been the same, not payin much attention to beatmatching and more to signing stuff, which is admirable in a way I spose but he should concentrate on longer mixes coz his beatmaching is spot on!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted June 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 I spose but he should concentrate on longer mixes coz his beatmaching is spot on!!! Exactly mate - we all remember that awesome Jules from 1999 that did mixes for as long as intros and outro's allowed, combined with great selection of tunes that complimented the previous tune nicely. These days, the emphasis seems to have changed towards interacting with the crowd more (although I respect him for that too). I reckon if Jules could put a bit more time into beatmatching, and put a bit more focus into his set-building again rather than his now quite random style, we could see some of the old Jules again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tremor Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 Some great points raised here. I also noticed Jules using the EFX at EITP but wasn't sure which EFX unit he was using. I saw Eddie come back on stage during the set and he seemed to be egging Julesy on when he was using it. Julesy sort of shrugged at him and laughed as if to say... I dont really know what I'm doin but havin a bit of fun. That said he did do a good job and it was refreshing to see. Jules's mixing combined with the EFX in this set was spot on and I think it has to do with the environment. At the festivals Jules is playing to large crowds and is often a bit more detached from them - people cant get close enough to get autographs and stuff so its more about his performance and he concentrates on the mixing. In the more intimate club gigs where punters can get right up to the booth Jules is all about interacting with the crowd and tends to sign stuff and shake hands etc. I too have noticed that he hardly spends any time beatmatching the next track. I think under those circumstances he actually does very well at pulling off the majority of mixes but there are always some dodgy ones. I think maybe Jules has reached a stage where he just thinks beatmatching is almost second nature, he's played so many sets in his life he perhaps doesn't see that as a big deal in a set, he's very confident in his ability to beatmatch on the fly. Perhaps this is why he now chooses to spend the time interacting with people and having more of a laugh. I think it can basically have advantages and disadvantages. It would certainly be nice to hear some of those classic examples of a well thought out and planned mix where 2 tracks just flow into each other over 1.5 to 2 minutes but unfortunately it seems that now each track has its intro tailor edited to make a short 40 second - 1 minute mix about all that can be achieved as by that point your already well into the track. The editing Jules does is probably deliberately for this so that the mixing is now kept short and the oppertunity for crowd interaction maximised. Fair play to him though, alot of the time I really enjoy Jules's sets even when the tune selection appears random and there is an occasional bad mix cos he is up there loving his job and getting the crowd going and at the end of the day he's a great performer behind the decks. Its his personality as well as the DJing which makes him great to watch live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 i have thought about this in recent times - as he spends so little time beat matching i often wondered if he had done the 'Morillo' and beat synced all his tracks using a BPM editing programme - but i was sure he hadn't - i have faith in Jules! He just is very quick at beat matching - apparently (im informed by a reliable source) that eddie halliwell beat matches tracks in a maximum of 15 seconds - his ears are that good! Good to hear jules trying something new with the EFX - wouldpersonally love one of these badboys - but been pricey (more expensive than a cdj) its well well out of my reach for the foreseeable future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 eddie halliwell beat matches tracks in a maximum of 15 seconds - his ears are that good! not that good, as i've heard him f*** up on a number of occasions. 15 seconds though is certainly not to be sniffed at at my level! jules should be lightening quick at beat matching the amount of years he's actually been djing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 not that good, as i've heard him f*** up on a number of occasions. 15 seconds though is certainly not to be sniffed at at my level!jules should be lightening quick at beat matching the amount of years he's actually been djing. You know what i mean tho - to be able to beat match most tracks in that time is amazing :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aza Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 i have thought about this in recent times - as he spends so little time beat matching i often wondered if he had done the 'Morillo' and beat synced all his tracks using a BPM editing programme - but i was sure he hadn't - i have faith in Jules! He just is very quick at beat matching - apparently (im informed by a reliable source) that eddie halliwell beat matches tracks in a maximum of 15 seconds - his ears are that good!Good to hear jules trying something new with the EFX - wouldpersonally love one of these badboys - but been pricey (more expensive than a cdj) its well well out of my reach for the foreseeable future! I recall discussing this with you Bjorno mate (regarding Halliwell's beat matching). He can certainly get the jist of the tune lets say in about that time, and usually if it is slightly out he can recover it without us lot hardly noticing during the mix itself. Guy deserves credit there as when I have seen him he just looks so fidgety with EFX and all that he just cues up the tune and even scratches whilst having the cross fader in the middle during the mix. I aint seen him recently, but going on this new Cream 07 album I got he need not produce a track cos the live edits/efx he pulls off as well as mixing so enthuiastically is immense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 Realistically when mixing in a club you can get away with the beats not bein perfect upon cueing as you can manipulate the jog wheel to get it back on track easily without anyone really noticing as they're too busy having a good time (or should be) I think that if a mix is noticeably 'off' when you're out clubbing it has to be a real f*ck up, i've only seen a handful of DJs actually produce such a poor mix, but even then I didn't mind too much if it was a one off as everyone makes mistakes & when you've got the inevitable distractions of playing a massive event or you're working the crowd as Jules does it's thoroughly understandable. The thing that gets me is when a DJ continually messes up mixes, of the big name pro DJs I've seen only Oakie has managed to really play a stinker in terms of mixing, though Jules has had some 'dodgy' sets. Generally I feel when clubbing that I'd rather have a guy playing 'great' tunes with 'average' mixing than the other way round though. *NOTE* Any DJ that is playing out should be of a competant standard when it comes to mixing & I'm not saying anything to the contrary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted June 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 I think that if a mix is noticeably 'off' when you're out clubbing it has to be a real f*ck up I agree with that. I've heard a few sets live that sounded awesome in a club, and then they've leaked onto the net - and when i've played them back in a "normal" environment, some of the mixes have been shocking. I think the only soundsystem that won't cover up a dodgy mix is the Funktion 1 soundsystem - those things are crystal clear no matter what the volume is. It should be law that all clubs have a Funktion 1 system :mrgreen: lol jules should be lightening quick at beat matching the amount of years he's actually been djing. See, this is where I think DJ's need to be careful. I think all DJ's have that "peak" in their career where their at their optimum best - they've had plenty of years behind them to be able to beatmatch within seconds - plus their hearing is still pretty good HOWEVER, i've noticed that a lot of the older-generation DJ's, despite all their experience, can no longer beatmatch very well - and I think thats because they've gone past their "peak" - their hearing is damaged, so they can't "fine tune" as well as they did earlier in their career. They might still have the experience, but the ears have just "shut down" a bit to pretect themselves. Jules certainly can't beatmatch the way he did years ago, neither can the rest of the other older-generation such as Pete Tong, John Kelly, etc. I don't think those DJ's lose their beatmatching skills - I think their hearing has just deteriorated. I think its a bit like professional sports - once you've learnt the skills, they never go away - the body just detoriates over time, and the reflexes, timing and reactions just go. beat matches tracks in a maximum of 15 seconds See, i've never seen the point in that either. I can get a tune fairly accurate after about 30 seconds - but thats all it is - fairly accurate - its not spot on. In my opinion, the only way you can guarantee that your tune isn't going to drift out of sync after a minute is by actually beatmatching it and checking it for over a minute. If you spend 15 seconds beatmatching, you've only tested that tune over that duration of time - how do they know its not going to drift out from 16 seconds onwards? If i've got three minutes of a tune available to me to beatmatch over, then i'll use it - i may aswell. I remember on an old DJ website I ued to use - it had about 20,000 members - and there was a poll on there once about "how quickly can you beatmatch" - and I got slated for saying I took well over a minute or so. Yes, I could beatmatch a lot quicker, but I chose to spend a lot of time "fine tuning" it so that once I was in the mix, I wouldn't have to make any alterations. For me, its about the quality of the beatmatch, rather than the time you spend beatmatching. At the end of the day, people leave a club and talk about a DJ saying along the lines of "he was a good DJ - his mixing was flawless tonight". Again, I think is one of the problem amongst the pro DJ's - they spend 15 seconds beatmatching on the fly, but by the time they've brought the crossafader over on the 16th second, they've jumped out of sync - I think this has happened with Jules quite often. I've noticed Armin spends ages beatmatching - he does a quick beatmatch, does some signals to the crowd, and then starts all over again to "fine tune" it - and I reckon thats why Armin is the smoothest mixer out of all the Trance DJ's. Armin has never been my style musically, but I respect his DJ'ing ability the most out of all the Trance DJ's - his mixing is always solid. he hasn't got Eddie Halliwells turntable skills - but when it comes to mixing, Armin is miles better. Again, that backs up my theory that I reckon its all about the quality of the beatmatch rather than the time spent. I'm not going to think a DJ is good just because he tells me he can beatmatch in 10 seconds - i'm going to judge him on his mixing. If he's taken 3 minutes to beatmatch, and comes up with something thats better than the DJ that has spent 10 seconds beatmatching, then he's going to get more respect from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted June 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 *NOTE* Any DJ that is playing out should be of a competant standard when it comes to mixing & I'm not saying anything to the contrary *cuts and pastes this comment to Boy George & Ron van den Beuken* Possibly two of the worst DJ's EVER! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aza Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 Once you can mix fundamentally the rest comes down to how you work the crowds etc and judge reactions, which inevitably govern the structure and contents of your set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted June 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 Technical ability and mixing are soooooo 1999! Its all about keeping your hands in the air for long periods of time now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted June 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 Does anybody else think that the first photo looks like Graham Norton? I bet thats not the first time he's seen a few 12 inches either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducky Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 I like it Briggsy!!!!!!, very Funny!!! Some very good points, i totally agree with what Briggsy says about the beatmatching and the time taken. I think it also depends on the type of music you are playing. For example most people can get two tracks with a harder bassline in-line in a matter of seconds - not 100% but near, where's a more trancey track with not such a noticable bassline will take alot longer. But like Briggsy said they are never fully in sync and spot on until you have listened to them carefully for around a minute. I think Eddie's style of music with harder basslines is easier to mix than Armins more trancey stuff. Two tracks with harder bassline's is more noticable when out of time than trancey numbers.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissie Brown Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 Does anybody else think that the first photo looks like Graham Norton? Do you know who it is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted June 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 It's Paul Oakenfold pre-monkey haircut and pre-money grabbing days apparently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissie Brown Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 It's Paul Oakenfold pre-monkey haircut and pre-money grabbing days apparently YUK................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissie Brown Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 Have to admit that l don't really understand what you guys are going on about. :redface: When l go out l like to listen to the music, dance and have fun and as long as the tunes are good the mixing isn't that important. I've seen Jules loads of times and he is knows his job and does a great job of interacting with the crowd, he's first class in that dept and that's what puts a smile on my face, along with the music. I've seen and heard him make a few mistakes but so what, it wouldn't put me off going to see him again. I'm hoping to see Jules on 7th July at The Barracuda in Newquay. It's a great club but don't like where the DJ booth is situated as it is up high in the corner which detaches Jules from the crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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