Dance Music Scene

[Dark Energy]

Do you think the hole dance scene has lost its passion? Nobody seems bothered anymore for example, a lot of DJ's I see these days just sit on a chair and put tunes on through their laptop (not interested), personally I would not want to be paid if I didn't make the hole club bounce! Back in the day of vinyl I remember going without food because I wanted to purchase rare tunes! It seems the crowd is not even that bothered about the DJ or the music getting played these days. I remember back in the late 90's early naughties where 1000's of clubbers travelled miles to clubs/events; these nights were total euphonic, everyone in unison, (Homelands, Creamfields, Love Parade, to name a few). I realise the music industry as a hole has changed (for the worse IMHO) where most music is stolen (piracy) and available from ubiquitous sources. It's harder for a DJ to stand out these days because of this (in respect to repertoire anyhow). What do people on here think and do you think the dance scene will ever recover?

[Max Kane]

It depends which faction of dance music you're looking at really.

In terms of trance - no, I don't think it will never be as good as it once was.

Techno is flourishing at the moment & house-infused chart music is dominant

[Quadrant]

Noir's lyrics of "All about House Music" should apply to our beloved electronic music, and I agree with Dark Energy - it doesn't apply any more.

"I remember the back in the 80s when I first heard electronic music

I knew back then this illegal computer sound was gonna be my call

My heart got hooked on 4x4 beats when house took its journey with

Jack, Chicago and Acid House

Now my heart is hooked forever

It’s in my soul,

In my veins,

On my mind 24/7

Don't care if it’s Jazz-, Soul-, Tech-, Minimal-, Funky-, Vocal- or Hip-House

Name it, I love it.

It's all about the House music and it always has been.

I don't understand people who are satisfied with ordinary pop music

They just listen to whatever radio stations decide they should like - and my God, they like it.

Some people even think that house club's for weirdos only

Maybe they are right, maybe we are weird, maybe this music is weird

and maybe the clubs are overrated

We were in this for the love of music, for the love of beats, for the love of loops

for the love of loops...

It's all about the House music and it always has been.

If you're into House music the DJ scene is like a natural path to follow

And back in the days, DJs were weird people who like music in a weird way

Back then you'll have to be a nerd to become a DJ

Nowadays everybody wants to be a DJ

Nowadays everybody wants to be that nerd

It sickens me

If you are not in it for the love of the music

Would you please f*** off!

Hate those smart asses who think DJing is the easy way to get laid

Well, get a life!

I wonder what House would be like in the future

Wonder what the clubs would be like

Now that technology has taken over the DJ world

What will the DJ be like in the future

Let’s just hope that House music will keep its soul

Let’s just hope that DJs will keep their skin

But actually I don't give a shit

We don't give a shit

Because it’s not about how you do it

But why you do it

It's all about the House music and it always will be."

[Max Kane]

Quadrant you are a legend!

How apt.

Unfortunately I think that a lot of what is said in those lyrics has happened already and that is the problem the scene faces

[Dark Energy]

Great track Quadrant brings back some memories :-)

[Briggsy]

I think the two worst things that have had an impact on the Trance scene is:

1. The introduction of the DJ Mag poll.

2. The death of vinyl.

For some reason, Trance DJs really take the DJ Mag poll seriously - probably because that since Tiesto has won it, they've seen what financial benefits it brings. PvD won it - and milked it while he could, and now Armin is doing the same.

As a result of that, they've all priced themselves out of club gigs - which has resulted in a 'tiered' Trance 'ladder'. You've now got your 'Premiership' with Tiesto, PvD and Armin. These are, in most cases, unaffordable to most clubs now - so promotors/clubs are having to go for the 'Championship' DJs of Above & Beyond, Markus Schulz, Eddie Halliwell, Gareth Emery and Ferry Corsten. Because now that the 'Premiership' are unaffordable to most clubs, these guys have now become the headliners - and as a result of that, have then gained popularity due to gaining more gigs - and as a result, these have also put their fees up. So then, because some of these are unaffordable by some clubs too, its opened the door for your 'League One' DJs such as Tyas, Patterson, Durand, etc.

Gone are the days where they all Dj'd, took whatever gigs came along and realised they got paid to do a job that most people would regard as a hobby. Instead, they all want to churn out weekly podcasts. They all want to runs labels. They all want to produce (or pay someone else to produce a tune for them!). They all want to be a 'brand' with gay DJ logos. They all want marketing guys behind them to constantly 'whore' them out and try to convince the mugs that vote in the DJ Mag poll that they are the best. They all want to move into the next 'tier' hoping that one day, they'll also be the next Tiesto or PvD earning a 5 figure DJ fee that most of us have to work at least half-a-year for.

The DJ Mag poll started off as a bit of fun years ago - but now, for DJs and promotors, it seems to have become really serious. It means nothing to us - we all realise its just a popularity poll (often with suspect voting in place too!) - but for DJs and promotors, they really think it reflects how good a DJ is.

With regards to the death of vinyl - it means that right at the bottom of the ladder, you've got Djs such as us. The 'nobodies'. The DJs that years ago got gigs based on talent. These days, everyone is a DJ because its easy and cheap. So many DJs out there at the moment wouldn't have bothered years ago because 1. They'd have had to spend £7.50 per vinyl - whereas now they just download illegally (yes, it is obvious that people do it because you're hearing DJs playing tunes in clubs that haven't even been released!). 2. Learning to mix on vinyl involved months of learning. Now, people are using the beat counters and picking it up in days (if that). Plus everyone now has the same tunes. Gone are the days of those limited edition test presses where there were only 100 pressed, if you wanted one, you had to be up bright and early and down your record shop first thing on 'new release day' to get a copy. Even now, when tunes are 'given away' by producers to the first 50 people to 'like' their Facebook page or whatever - that tune is spread around the internet within hours for everyone to get hold of.

Sad, but thats my view of, in particular, the Trance scene at the moment.

[jaylo]

Briggsy every thing u should said there is so true , so easy for nobodys to start mixing now

A lot of people who want to dj download a cracked version of vertual shity dj the worst thing ever were u can select tracks in order and it will mix it for u, weres the fun in that

[Briggsy]

Exactly mate.

I've seen a few DJs using Pioneer CDJ 1000s using the beat counters to beat match too.

Basically, rather than using their ears to do the job properly, they move the pitch fader on one deck to the point where it just switches over from 137bpm to 138bpm - and then do the same on the second deck. Voila! Beatmatched.

Its quite funny when they do that and have a dodgy MP3 that drifts though - because they can't correct it and end up looking a tit.

[JasonB]

Hear Hear!

[Dark Energy]

Exactly mate.

I've seen a few DJs using Pioneer CDJ 1000s using the beat counters to beat match too.

Basically, rather than using their ears to do the job properly, they move the pitch fader on one deck to the point where it just switches over from 137bpm to 138bpm - and then do the same on the second deck. Voila! Beatmatched.

Its quite funny when they do that and have a dodgy MP3 that drifts though - because they can't correct it and end up looking a tit.

Ha yeah I have seen that happen as well. I was DJ'ing along side this kid a couple of month back and he started double beating I went over to see what was up and he said he couldn't mix without having both tracks in the headphones and this particular mixing did not facilitate that function! I could not believe it, I see a lot of people going down the Traktor route these days as well, I have nothing ageist Traktor but I much prefer the CDJ's which will never replace vinyl.

|Collecting rare and promo vinyl was just as much as a passion as DJ'ing for me (I imagine it was the same for you guys) think the best way for us DJ's to get noticed in this day and age is through our own productions, once again this market is saturated through piracy anybody can download cracked software and call themselves a producer, with the likes of Juno having quite poor quality control IMHO.

[JasonB]

Is it also the thing where their music sells diddly because of everyone downloading for free, so that's why the commercial watering down is happening to try to get some big sales if a major is interested, gone are all the major label dance imprints (well except for example Positiva but it seems EMI are now releasing Guetta stuff as a Positiv/Virgin co deal maybe to make Posi still look significant)

It seems AATW/3 Beat are having the biggest roll with commercial house tracks of recent (apart from Example Ministry seem to be struggling with their signings really!

[Number2Fan]

We're all getting old

[Max Kane]

We're all getting old

Speak for yourself

[Number2Fan]

Who are you then? Benjamin Button?

[Max Kane]

Who are you then? Benjamin Button?

I'm getting older but I still think I am far from being old! :shifty:

[Simcut]

Let's all hope DJ Mag goes out of print so the DJ Mag Poll stops that has definitely not had a good effect on Dance Music. It seems like we're living in an easily brainwashed society. A lot of so-called Trance fans are only interested in going to a club night if it has Tiesto or one of the other big guns there....depressing

[Max Kane]

DJMag has not had a positive effect on things but I don't think that it's the scurge of the scene in the same way that other factors have been.

If you look at the DJs that have retained credibility and their core fanbase they have done so by being innovative and pioneering new sounds and techniques (Sasha, Digweed, Hawton, etc). The trance DJs have essentially stayed on playing a very similar sound and eventually that has to get boring. I mean how good can producers make a super-saw sound or a sidechain effect?

The slowing down of trance music has also been a hugely negative factor as it has limited the niches. Prog trance was always my favourite incarnation but when headliners started realising the vast subtleties of the sound they started playing it more and more which meant that BPMs became reduced and warm-up DJs had to dig deeper and deeper. Tech-trance started to dissapear and DJs began refusing to lift the BPM too high in fear of not being able to play their favourite Arnej or Mat Zo track at peaktime.

As always once the majority catch onto something it gets watered down (look at dubstep at the moment) producing a handful of 'stars' (Schulz, Emery) but casting aside the innovation and interest.

Once everyone and his dog started playing more prog trance I started to lose interest, the rolling basslines dissapeared for longer breakdowns and more vocals and it all got way too stale. The adaptation for 'headliners' to start playing prog made sure it lost the essence of what made it interesting in the first place.

There are many culprits for this but it all comes down to what is popular and what 'sells'. Armin always had more of prog tendancy then the other big names and it worked for him - he got to number one and then did whatever he had to do to stay there. Above & Beyond are more popular (commerically) than ever before with their 'trance 2.0' (f*** OFF!) sound (if you heard last week's E-Mix you'll know what I mean) so they will not be changing anytime soon.

Aspiring DJs and producers get influenced by the popular stars of the time (certainly initally) and tailor their sound to mirror this & that imo is why we have seen the gradual elimination of new producers who bash it out and the overall turging of trance that we are lumped with now.

P.S. that may have been one big ramble - I typed as it came to me with no forethought!

[Number2Fan]

Plus one on that

PS Except the PS bit

[JasonB]

Most trance tunes are by Tiesto you know (or so according to file sharing networks)

[Craig Bradley]

Most trance tunes are by Tiesto you know (or so according to file sharing networks)

Lol I've seen ppl write on youtube the ferry corsten mix of adagio for strings is by tiesto lol

[Number2Fan]

God yeah, he made nearly every trance anthem on youtube!

[milkybarkid]

To be fair folks, we don't give him enough credit. Look at this beauty he wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6afGJ1iUfk

[Max Kane]

Without wanting to sound like the bitter old purist it really does make me laugh how clueless some of the younger "#trancefamily" type fans behave at gigs and in general. These are the people contributing to the demise of the scene with their endless feignt praise and refusal to accept any criticism.

f****** clueless best describes it I think.

Perhaps we should de-mystify the scene for them - I'll get them started...

The DJ did not make every track he plays

Tthe DJ is not a God

The DJ should not be screamed at during his set - he is there to play records and make us dance

The DJ is not some higher power playing etheral music which makes you cry, it's dance music - the clue is in the genre you tit! Dance to it and don't stand around hugging your mates and eulogising about how Armin changed your life.

The DJ is not there for you to video him, please put your mobile phone away

Everything Above & Beyond produce is not automatically 'the bestest track ever'

Anjuna Beats WAS better before 2005

Tiesto IS a dickhead

Armin is cheesy

Judge Jules WAS once credible and was actually pretty good

Tiesto did not write 'Adagio for Strings' it's a classical piece by Samuel Barber

Kings of Leon bootlegs are not credible and should not be heard anywhere outside of Oceana

Sure there are plenty more to add

[Number2Fan]

I think that just about has it actually.

Though I have once or twice videod jules for souvenir sake!

And Ayla does have the potential to make me cry but I would definitely be dancing at the same time. Ayla is probably my very favouritest track ever in the world though, and some of the sadness it brings is because things ain't like that anymore

[Max Kane]

And Ayla does have the potential to make me cry but I would definitely be dancing at the same time. Ayla is probably my very favouritest track ever in the world though, and some of the sadness it brings is because things ain't like that anymore

I was reading the Schulz forum after his latest MOS solo set and (I kid you not) a 22yr old guy wrote 'when he dropped Sky Traffic I cried tears of joy' :rubbish:

I mean seriously! MTFU.

My reply was simply 'Really? You actually cried?' then I got slated by all the other fanboys!