Briggsy Posted September 21, 2008 Report Share Posted September 21, 2008 This is a topic i've not seen covered very often on any forum, yet its something that a lot of people seem to have mixed opinions about. Basically, do you prefer sets/DJ's that have a specific sound or style, or do you prefer sets/DJ's that are quite varied? For example, if you go to see Markus Schulz, he's always gonna have the same sound - dark, moody/dirty, Progressive Trance. Marcel Woods will always have that deep, metallic Tech-Trance sound. Above & Beyond will always have that floaty, girly, uplifting sound. Then there are DJ's like Judge Jules, who has always varied things up a bit - he's not an out-and-out Trance DJ, he's not a Techno DJ, he's not a house DJ - but back in the last 90's, he could mix them all up in one set and make them all sound really good together. Fatboy Slim is another DJ that will play a bit of breakbeat, a bit of Funky House and a bit of Electro, and it always sounds really good. I've never considered myself an out-and-out "text book" Trance DJ. I like many styles of music, and have never been worried about mixing them up in a set. Its not unusual for me to mix a bit of Techno in after i've played a bit of Hard Trance. If i'm playing a slower set, its not unusual for me to slip a few house tunes into a set. I'll even pitch some tunes up to fit them into a faster set - for example, most DJ's play Azzido da Bass - Dooms Night at 134bpm in a house, which i've always thought sounds too slow - so i'll pitch it up to about 138bpm and mix it in with some Tech-Trance because it works well. Personally, I think unorthodox sets are good AS LONG as there is some flow to the set. I don't like it when DJ's keep chopping and changing styles, going backwards and forwards throughout a set all the time - like Jules does these days. I've always been someone that likes entertainer DJ's - and DJ's that will do something different, such as Jules, Eddie, Richard Durand, etc - so perhaps thats why. What are your thoughts - orthodox styles, or unorthodox? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardaway Posted September 21, 2008 Report Share Posted September 21, 2008 Great debate, got me thinking there! i'd say i prefer the Unorthodox approach, purely as I like to hear different styles mixed together, I've never got into a set where one track sounds exactly the same as the last, and it doesn't really showcase the DJ's talents in my opinion. I've always felt that Unorthodox style keeps the crowd on there toes as they don't know what to expect next............ I like a variety of styles and you should play tunes that reflect your taste as a DJ, so what ever floats your boat I suspose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonman Posted September 21, 2008 Report Share Posted September 21, 2008 i always think it depends on how long you're playing for more than anything else. Anything up to two hours i tend to stick to house and techno now. But if i was to play for 4 hours i might mix it up a bit. I admire guys like Erol and Soulwax who literally dont care about the traditional way of mixing (beatmatching) and just PLAY tunes...the way i think it should be. Their sets are very varied and work. It's a skill, i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Mental Posted September 22, 2008 Report Share Posted September 22, 2008 Eh? Edit: Seriously, Orthadox or Unorthadox?! DJ style?! Are you seriously sure you like the music you listen to if that is a real question? ????? etc etc etc.... I'm clearly a bit tipsy, and I'll come back to this one tomorrow, but honest to God. ORTHADOX DJ SETS! GET OUT MORE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonB Posted September 22, 2008 Report Share Posted September 22, 2008 I'm clearly a bit tipsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted September 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2008 Eh? Edit: Seriously, Orthadox or Unorthadox?! DJ style?! Are you seriously sure you like the music you listen to if that is a real question? ????? etc etc etc.... I'm clearly a bit tipsy, and I'll come back to this one tomorrow, but honest to God. ORTHADOX DJ SETS! GET OUT MORE! Its called a discussion mate - thats what forums are for funnily enough. It doesn't mean I dislike music or need to get out more. I'm just asking whether people like the "text book", typical DJ where the chin strokers say you have to start calm and slow and build it up to something harder without crossing genres, or if they prefer the unpredictable DJ where anything goes and something a bit unexpected happens. Is that OK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonB Posted September 22, 2008 Report Share Posted September 22, 2008 Kitchen sink approach if it can be done in a good way I say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Mental Posted September 22, 2008 Report Share Posted September 22, 2008 Is that OK? :redface: :redface: :redface: :redface: I was in the shower there, and it dawned on me that I was on here last night. Bloody hell, I can only apologise! Rude as hell and didn't even make sense. As it happens I can see exactly what you mean. If we can try to forget the rubbish I typed last night, I'll try and explain what I really mean lol. Here goes... As I've said many a time before on here, I used to absolutley love trance, for the exact same reason you all do, from about 1997 til about 2003-ish maybe, and why I started djing in the first place. The reason I turned to the dark side wasn't because it was 'cooler' or 'more underground' or whatever, it was for the very same reason that you're on about Briggsy. That makes me feel even more stupid now because you've basically hit the nail on the head about me, and yeah this is a good topic. If we use your words, I'd say I was always into more 'unorthadox' sets, for example, Inside Out up here used to always have a right good mixture of dj's, but never really 'floaty' sort of stuff like Armin or Above & Beyond etc, which I was never really a fan of as I'd get bored with all the 3 minute long "hands in the air" breakdowns and it was all just a bit samey. Thats not to say that I didn't like their tunes, cos I did, but I always preferred a mixture of different things on a night out. For example, one of the residents then was Alan Belshaw, who would play allsorts, he was a warmup dj and was incredibly good at it, outplaying most of the guests on a regular basis. One that sticks out was when he played the Creamer and Stephanie K mix of Rapture when everyone else was playing the Riva mix. But at the same time he could have the wee arch to himself and cliche it up real nice by taking everyone on a proper musical journey and properly bang it out at the end. At the same time there were people like John Johnson, Corvin Dalek, Picotto, Marco V etc who were playing something that bit different, and my whole perception of dance music changed when I went to Pressure (Slam's night) in November 2001 when Carl Cox, Richie Hawtin, Slam, Silicone Soul, Ralph Lawson etc were playing. Sounds daft but that was when I decided I liked that sorta music better, because pretty much everything is 'unorthadox'. And the reason I like Hawtin etc is because its just non stop ideas, where its impossible to tell where 2 tunes, 3 loops and a bit of effects ends and another 3 tunes and a loop starts. He's not trying to be clever, he's just continually adding to the experience. I'll be the 1st to admit that it sounds crap on a laptop speaker, but when you're there! Ahem... In conclusion. Thats why I always liked Jules, and why people slate him, he's not afraid to play something different. 'Purists' / 'chinstrokers' tend not to be people who like techno / house / prog / whatever, but people that EXPECT an orthadox trance set! I'm sure I've got lots more, better put points, but I've had to come back to this post 6 times cos I'm at work lol. And once again my apologies. :redface: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aza Posted September 22, 2008 Report Share Posted September 22, 2008 It's all about the flow IMO. I would consider myself to be an outright trance DJ. However, that wouldn't stop me from playing a light/funky or hard trance set. Back in the day I didn't mind a bit of techno too... I think providing you have a smooth set and no apparent randomness (now this is where Jules comes in for me), I think it's fine. I think with the bigger names, namely the ones at the start of this thread, if A&B don't play a trance set then you may be a bit puzzled. With Jules, for me anyway, I kinda expect a few hear and there, however, sometimes some of the tunes can be a bit random and definately change the flow of the set completely. I haven't seem Jules play out recently that much, but his mix Cds certainly can be a bit random. Morever, the cd can even be made to fit that of one tune, for example, a slow set just to get one tune in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted September 22, 2008 Report Share Posted September 22, 2008 I think everyone likes a bit of variety, but within trance music especially, it seems that it 'has to be within reason'. Some DJs are clearly better at mixing up their styles than others. DJs like Armin & Above & Beyond don't really attempt to mix things up too much, their live sets are usually carbon copies of their radio shows. It's due to this that I've really become bored of seeing DJs of that ilk. PvD used to mix it up a lot more than he does now & it was awesome, his longer sets would usually involve him going off on a tangent for a little while before playing what I guess is his 'core' sound. Jules' ability to change up his styles has really gone downhill imo though, some of the random tracks he throws on these days are really shocking & nowhere near as good as they used to be. From a personal point of view I guess I changed my sound a couple of years back due to the fact that I felt being labelled as a 'trance' DJ pidgeonholed what you can & can't play, there was also the influx of tech trance which I think went a bit overboard & I got bored of it. I'm no Richie Hawtin or alike but I feel that playing what people loosely term as 'Prog' allows me a lot more flexibilty, I can play virtually anything I want & it still fits in to what people might term an 'orthodox' set. Being able to drop anything in one of my sets from a Tiger Stripes tune right thru to a remix by Cosmic Gate is what I enjoy & tailoring the style I play out is one of the most enjoyable aspects of DJing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wakey Posted September 22, 2008 Report Share Posted September 22, 2008 I must say I like the "Unorthadox" style of DJing. I used to play strictly trance, then I played strictly house and now I play a bit of a mixture house, breaks, electro etc. I think I prefer going to see a DJ that mixes it up a bit too as you get a bit of variety. Zane Lowe is someone who does this, you can hear him playing a lot of genres, also I think as you pointed out Briggsy I think this is what attracted me to Jules' style when I first got into clubbing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzY-LogiC Posted September 26, 2008 Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 OK, thinking loud here... prepare for a babble I rarely go clubbing, but when I do, it's often to see/hear a specific DJ do his/hers thing. That thing can be a few things depending on the DJ of course... i've seen PvD drop 'Billie Jean' in the middle of a trance/tech-house set back in 2002, which was QUITE a surprise... on the positive side When i later saw PvD in 2005 it was somewhat a dull experience. Even though he played loads of nice tracks, it was too much in the same style, and it became too monotone. It wasn't fresh or energetic enough. Being quite fond of experimenting with styles, genres and obscure tracks myself, i like it when DJ's drop unexpected tunes. I think my final words will be, that it's all about my mood. Both as clubber or as the DJ behind the decks. Sometimes what i need is just to dance away a few hours to the same style of tunes, and sometimes a mixture of house, breaks, electro and olskool is what i need to be set on fire, so ask me "orthodox or unorthodox?" and i'll answer both, while not really being sure 'unorthodox' is the proper expression.... i mean. every DJ has his/hers style(s). and they can change during the night (all depends on the DJ and the crowd). By saying 'unorthodox', it's like saying 'less correct'. No offence, thats just how I interpret the expression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Doctor Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 I have to say I think you've made a bit of an error by using the terms orthodox and unorthodox here. Unorthodox implies less frequent, less popular. I'd say that of all DJs in existence you'd probably get a more or less equal split between the two styles; those who mix and match and those who stick to one sound. If anything of all the DJs that regularly play out then they'd probably be more who are classed as unorthodox, since there are more DJs who have to cater for wide tastes and jump around than those who are purists. If then we're only talking about the big DJs in this discussion then your categories stand. The 'top' jocks will have a style associated with them, both out of musical preferences and conscious branding. I think this is unavoidable. Like fuzzy said, when you go to see a DJ you want to see them for the sort of music they're associated with, not a random stream of tunes. Plus they need something which can be associated with them to build an identity. In reality I think the optimal choice is to be somewhere in the middle, where you have freedom to play what it is you like, how you like and when you like, but still after this be able to draw a thread of consistency and reason through all that ground you've traveled at the end of the set. This is difficult but also rewarding. For what it's worth, playing in I'm orthodox...sort of. I'll play a set of whichever style one day then move to another the next, or blend between two if it will work. Playing out depends but for the most part I'm unorthodox and will play varied and interesting music. Then again there are always strands of consistency and it will be relative to the crowd, who's on next, what sort of night etc. Even for a cheesy gig I'll never play a tune I actually don't like, and always feel I can create a sound which is representative of that facet of my tastes. My most successful and interesting sets were at a night which I co-promoted while at university. Called Shuffle, the 'sound' was simply good music and we used to DJ back to back in three tune set pieces where we'd take it in turns to explore a genre. By the end of the night we'd been though punk, house, indie, ska, goth, pop, electro etc. etc. Unorthodox but we still managed to get the dancefloor moving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Mental Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 Wish my argument had been that well put mate! Good post that, I agree with everything there. Take it you're the same Spin Doctor that used to post on the JJ board back in the day mate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number2Fan Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 I just like certain records and I like hearing them when I'm out dancing, if I don't hear them I'm pi**ed off and if I do then I'm over the moon. I like to think I like a mixture tho, that's why I prefer festivals etc as you can try a good bit of everything as long as they are not all on at the same time in different tents. My fave is obviously Jules tho, as he plays tunes I love more than any other DJ I've experienced, when I start to dislike his choices I'll probably retire anyway now. I've gone thru most other DJ's and got bored of them or just moved onto a different sound to them, but Jules never seems to let me down. And he's always very nice to me when I speak to him. "You can't please ALL of the people ALL of the time." As the saying goes. Spin Doctor and Judge Mental, I know you both if you're from the JJ net board? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzY-LogiC Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 By the end of the night we'd been though punk, house, indie, ska, goth, pop, electro etc. etc. Unorthodox but we still managed to get the dancefloor moving. wow... that's how it should be done! I agree the Mental Judge, very nice put. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Doctor Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Take it you're the same Spin Doctor that used to post on the JJ board back in the day mate? Guilty as charged guv! Musically I've moved on quite a bit since those days, though you probably wouldn't guess it from the tunes in my sig right now, ha ha! I'd say I'm not quite as nieve in my outlook on things either. The benefits of a few years age, wisdom and playing out change your perspective quite a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Mental Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Indeed mate. I haven't listened to Judge Jules in about 3 years, but found this a nice board with nice people. Think we all move on to an extent, but nice to 'see' some old faces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number2Fan Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Moved on??? What??? I LOVE THE JUDGE AS MUCH AS EVER!!! Bless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Doctor Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Indeed mate. I haven't listened to Judge Jules in about 3 years, but found this a nice board with nice people. Think we all move on to an extent, but nice to 'see' some old faces. Exactly the same here. Nice bunch of folks and plenty of info about that cracking few years Jules had. Gooe enough reason as any to stay. Moved on??? What??? I LOVE THE JUDGE AS MUCH AS EVER!!! I din't say anything about not loving the judge! It's just the music he used to play and plays now aren't the same, and I've developed slightly different tastes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number2Fan Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Oh ok then. I think there was a bit of a JJ and clubbing overkill for some time, and I was put off going to see him because the place would be full of lager louts but I think at the moment I really LOVE the tunes he's playing. Can't wait to see him again next month!!! Just hope I get to hear cloud surfing, it might not be played out by then. Suits me perfectly, little bit of stuff I used to hear and some cool tunes to have a proper dance to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Mental Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 N2F, I canny be arsed calling you that anymore, so I'm going to call you Dave instead, that cool? Anyhoo, it wouldn't matter if Jules played Asian Gabber Bagpipe-tech, you'd still love it Actually, I could be on to something here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number2Fan Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Not Dave, Myfanwy!! You're probably right tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonross46 Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Yeah I will call you Dave too, paying hommage to the amazing freeview channel and also your favourite DJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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