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Interesting read from a DJ's mind (Sven Vath)
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shahar
IsraTrance Team
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Posted : Jan 4, 2011 15:41:28
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http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=468192352133&id=57399808932
Very interesting read. While I feel for all he writes and identify with most of it, I still keep an open mind about the possible outcomes of the new technology on 'selecting and mediating'. It might just be that we will get... a totally new and amazing thing out of it. In the end it's all tools, and while I'm not sure you can "feel the music" as well when using computers etc., it very much depends on the mediator and selector in the end. Might be that while this technology takes something out of the equation it will insert something new instead. Haven't heard it so far, but I'm always listening. An open mind is also an important part of what this is all about. For sure it's gonna be interesting...
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"Be the change you want to see in the world!"
M.K. Gandhi
"There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self."
Aldous Huxley
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willsanquil
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Posted : Jan 4, 2011 19:02
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Mikkel Pihl
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Posted : Jan 4, 2011 22:52
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Here it is. Just took a copy-paste.
"Hey Mr DJ play that song - keep doin' it, doin' it - all night long"...
(Tony Touch)
...and that is exactly what it is all about: songs with fantasy and thoughtfulness, songs to freak out and to fall in love to, songs to sing along to, songs with heart and soul. However, it's also about instrumentals, no matter whether they are composed with the computer or made 'by hand', it's about songs with soundscapes that inspire longing and exude freedom. For me, it's about tracks that have the power of radiance, that tell stories or spread hope. Songs that sound and invite you to listen – sometimes abstract and extra terrestrial, sometimes well-known and catchy. Tracks that should never stop, that keep the moment, and turn all of us into the centre of the universe, exactly in that moment when they are played – played loud! And I'm talking not only about the DJs who pick the tracks, but even more about the listeners and the dancers – music that gives us what we are all searching for. Many a track shows us the hidden or crazy side of us, many tracks make us smile and some even make us cry. Music touches us and it moves us. Songs make us move, from Disco dancing via Breakdancing to cool groovin' and, of course, right up to ultimate raving. I need songs that simply keep me dancing on and on, songs that combine these two crucial elements: to feel the world that we live in, but at the same time to be able to forget it for a short time – only a really good song can do that.
"This House Is Mine"– Discover and impart...
(The Hypnotist)
Finding music that qualitatively stands out from the masses – this is my mission.
Visionary music that never lets you go.
Music that makes you curious for more.
Music that has the power to create something new and to unite people. Music by and for DJs, ideally in a forceful dance floor sound, however not conservative but free in arrangement and open for new ideas, especially open for the combination of old and new. It should be loud and powerful but also subtle, subliminal, soulful and silent, right up to experimental bizarre and totally weird. It must be authentic, not something that's copied and imitated. Revolutionary music that creates something new. This is my impetus and that is how music should be, this is what I'm looking for and that is what I want to reach. Searching and creating for 30 years... non stop!
"The Sound Of Music" – Techno, House and...
(Falco)
...Club Music – this is the custom-made sound for the dance floor. It was a very exciting time back then, when electronic sounds became more and more present and established in the clubs. I can vividly recall when I heard Kraftwerk for the first time in 1981 at the Dorian Gray. It literally blew my skullcap! At that time, the Dorian Gray had the best sound system in Germany and I felt like being in an UFO: laser lights and fog clouds ("Computerwelt" was playing) in combination with that music... that was all I would need! Since that day, electronic music has always remained the most interesting and liberating music for me. The musical revolution, especially the revolution on the dance floor, is an electronic one!
Of course, the sound as such is the determining aspect. Rebellious analogue sounds, for instance made with Roland machines with the famous magic numbers 909, 808,101 and 303, with the Mini Moog or the Korg Synths MS20 and MonoPoly, have probably formed the sound of House and Techno the most.
Over the last few years, there have been many comments as well as discussions on the sound of a vinyl disc (which is, by the way, still the main analogue music carrier). However, no matter how you look at it: a well-manufactured record, played with a good pick-up system on a good pre-amp / mixing console simply sounds better than any of its digital competitors. Vinyl is THE medium for everybody who sets high values on good sound.
I've always invested a lot of time in finding music. I used to visit record shops several times a week to check the latest records, exchange experiences with other DJs and producers and discuss about Techno and House music. Unfortunately, I only can afford this luxury two times a month now, due to time restraints, but the guys at Freebase Frankfurt are kind enough to send me the records home, as I'm on the road too often. Admittedly, I do miss the social environment of a record store and the exchange of information with the DJs on the spot. Besides that, I get many promos sent to me regularly. However, there has been no change in my 'listening ritual': I dedicate a lot of time to my vinyl listening sessions. My credo is to find and select new music, to connect it and to create a totally new musical journey out of it again and again, and that has been my style for the last 30 years. Substance and quality of that music have always been the essential part of it – no matter whether the music was abstract or melodic: my eyes and my ears are always orientated towards the dance floor. I come from the dance floor, I literally grew up on the disco floors in Frankfurt and Ibiza, and they are the reason I'm still performing. This is where my music should be able to unfold.
Technology & development: the famous turntables, my working tool – I was never interested in the development of playback possibilities...
For many years, DJs have not been interested in playback technology, as the only tool were turntables anyway. Mixing has been and still is essential for me. The challenge is to mix a set in a seamless way, especially when it lasts for several hours. For me, it is always connected with butterflies in your tummy, with stimulation and excitement. I would say that my strength is the improvisation, this "Let's try again!". While playing a set, it's a passionate task to work towards that point where you can let yourself fall back in such a way that everything works as if by itself. I start playing just like that, like I would play an instrument. The friction between two records always announces – sometimes subtle, but sometimes rather quickly – the next fugue. The music intertwines and totally new dynamics emerge in the mix and on the dance floor. Energy, even magic starts to flow around the room and this is exactly the moment when everything loses itself and when you have the feeling that exactly now – and exactly here – we are WE!
I could never imagine myself working with a 'sync button', because I would miss the tension and, besides that, something very essential: the fun of mixing! I'm also not a fan of effects and artificial breaks. Sure, some shenanigans with the equalizer are rather normal and can be indeed impressive when used but I want to emphasize that the music I play does not need any post-processing, edits and the like, as it already contains a certain originality and is not only able to keep its character, but to even develop and unfold it! Also as an author and producer, I would not be happy if my song was totally cut up and drowned in effects, I mean, what remains from your song then? There's a big fluctuation nowadays, the DJ acts as the producer and the producer acts as the DJ. Blame it on technology!
I am a DJ, a selector and mediator, my performance and my attention are fully dedicated to the music I selected and my crowd – and to the moment! The pressure on passionate DJs, who apply themselves to the music, the choice and the quality of their set, has risen enormously. Today, it's simply required that a practising or upcoming DJ has already produced a record. Ok, this may help, but what does it tell you about the qualities of a DJ???
Due to that technological progress, which was also initiated by producers and DJs, the DJ has difficulties to maintain his position as a selector and mediator. The industry has upgraded and is now on the cusp of destructing the arts and crafts of vinyl DJing with all those new software tools and digital possibilities. There is indeed a risk for the music that technology comes more and more to the fore, but the usage of effects and DJ tools can also lead into ..... The result could be a simple sound, static and dogmatic. That individual fascination would simply be lost and the magic moment is replaced by computation.
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Mikkel Pihl
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Posted : Jan 4, 2011 22:52
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Who would still be able to write good and ambitious songs in such a setting? Who would still need messages and moods in the songs when replaceable beats are predominant? The 'bit producers' and the 'loop-' and 'effect-lapjockeys' have also opened new doors for us, but the vast number of productions – and quality is often not the most important aspect here anyway – lose too much with the way this working method is now establishing. At least too much of that has become what is important on the dance floor.
After all, it was always the big consensus that songs have united the scene. Songs that have a beginning and an end, with a story, a concrete mood: "Knights of the Jaguar" is a prime example here, for sure. However, songs like this one depend on an appropriate medium that gives them room to unfold. After the announcement that the production of the ingenious turntable Technics 1210 is coming to an end, it should get more and more difficult to develop a feeling for exactly this in the present generation, and even more in the coming generation. What would a piano player say if he was confronted with the fact that grand pianos will not be produced anymore? However, he could continue playing on E-pianos – which have more possibilities anyway! Sad news, not only for vinyl DJs, because thus a part of our culture is slowly disappearing. An important part, without which this whole movement would not have been possible.
"Put the needle on the record..."
(Criminal Element Orchestra / M/A/R/R/S)
Although it gets harder and harder for me as a vinyl DJ to find my music, I do look forward to the coming years and to perform for you. Please forgive me if I play CDs here and there – you know I already did that in the past, too, and it may get a little more in the future. Anyway, vinyl is still the Champion's League for me and I will continue supporting and releasing it! I still consider two turntables and a mixer to be my instrument, for 30 years already, and nothing should change about that. Even more: I would be more than happy if many of the present and coming generation would share exactly this fascination for perfect sound, songs and moods with me and follow me.
I want to thank you for your confidence, your love, your interest and your sweat in the last 30 years – There was always love in the air and there always will be!
Thankfully, my passion for dancing and music has remained unchanged and, so that also in the future, it will be my biggest pleasure to perform for you on the decks.
I wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a loud (or quiet), but above all, a Happy New Year 2011!
See you on the Dance floor – let's dance!
Love,
Sven
P.S. Of course, I want to tell you more about my thoughts and experiences in the last 30 years. More about that later, maybe at the end of 2011, as I'm already working on that and will keep you updated.
P.P.S.
80 % of the DJs that are signed to Cocoon Artist Booking are playing vinyl.
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willsanquil
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Jan 4, 2011 23:21
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Bom*shankar
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Jan 5, 2011 08:53
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good read indeed. |
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Mike A
Subra
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Posted : Jan 7, 2011 15:19
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He just whines that what took him years to master can now be done with a click.
He says:
Quote:
| There's a big fluctuation nowadays, the DJ acts as the producer and the producer acts as the DJ. Blame it on technology! |
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Like it's a bad thing.
It's not bad, it's great!
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willsanquil
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Jan 7, 2011 19:06
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Login
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Posted : Jan 8, 2011 01:37
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I agree with almost all the ideals, except the vynil part.
And IMHO the lack of passion for djing is one of the things that have Psytrance parties boring as hell.
"The dedication to repetition — the search for nirvana in a single held tone or an endlessly cycling rhythm — is one of electronic music's noblest gestures." |
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Basilisk
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Posted : Jan 11, 2011 19:01
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I resonate with the evocative language expressed in the post but completely disagree with the underlying sentiment. New tools and technologies expand the range of possibilities. There are fewer limitations on creative expression through DJing now than ever before. To vaguely refer to some trend or another in digital DJing and decry the loss of some mystical golden age quality is disingenuous. With vinyl you can only do so much. With digital media you can do so much more. This is a good thing! Of course you need the vision and the insight into music to make use of all these new tools... but Sven is comparing his work of 30 years to some tasteless upstart browsing the Beatport Top 100 for tracks to slice and dice in Traktor. What about his forward-thinking peers? Still, as much as I find this to be somewhat ridiculous, I am glad DJs like Sven stick around and keep doing it in their particular way. It's just that he should remain open-minded about progress... especially given that it was another kind of progress (i.e. with Kraftwerk) that first led him to this music.
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Shiranui
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Posted : Jan 12, 2011 19:56
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I think that the move from vinyl to digital has brought about a change in focus of what being a DJ is about.
Being a DJ is now more about creation than selection. This can be both a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it.
On the one hand, there are very creative DJs who take tired tracks and make something new out of them--these are a very small minority though.
On the other hand, it is now very easy to build up a collection of tracks very quickly and very cheaply, and there is no such thing as a "rare track" anymore. No longer does it actually require effort to find good tracks--if a track is good it will undoubtably become popular very quickly. |
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willsanquil
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Posted : Jan 12, 2011 22:42
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Eh...I am loathe to make or agree with such blanket generalizations...
I don't understand your point of 'now more about creation than selection'
The new tech doesn't have to change the way you DJ - it simply opens up new possibilities that did not exist before. You can mix production and DJing if you choose, or you can just do 'normal' DJing like you used to, but without the hassle of needing to manually beatmatch in the moment.
I disagree that there are no such things as rare tracks. Just because most albums and VAs are pirated and are readily accessable doesn't mean that the unreleased tracks that artists and DJs pass around are any easier to get than they were before. and...popular very quickly? There is so much freaking psy music out there....I have been trying to voraciously consume as much music as possible in a variety of different genres but I still can't identify more than 5% of the music thats played out at parties and stuff, if that. Also, how does it not require effort to find good tracks?????????!??
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch...you must first invent the universe
www.soundcloud.com/tasp
www.soundcloud.com/kinematic-records |
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Shiranui
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Posted : Jan 12, 2011 23:24
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Quote:
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On 2011-01-12 22:42, willsanquil wrote:
Just because most albums and VAs are pirated and are readily accessable doesn't mean that the unreleased tracks that artists and DJs pass around are any easier to get than they were before. |
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That wasn't what I was talking about at all.
When you could only buy music on vinyl, maybe 1000 copies would be pressed of a single in the whole world, and then spread out with a given record store getting maybe 3-5 copies.
If the track was not a GIGANTIC hit, it would probably never be repressed, so when it sold out it was gone.
It was very easy to be the only DJ in your region with a given track.
Now small labels can easily put their music on a digital store and can sell any number of copies, and keep it up for sale for as long as that music store exists.
Also when producing electronic music was not so easy, not everyone was friends with a producer to get unreleased tracks from. I've been given unreleased tracks by exactly one producer who anyone cares about and that was a thank you for donating money. |
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Shiranui
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Posted : Jan 12, 2011 23:27
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When vinyl was the only way you could DJ, you could not even start DJing until you already had a collection of vinyl. As a consequence of this, most people who DJed started out as music fans and collectors who then became DJs after their friends said "hey you have good taste, you should DJ".
Now, the desire to DJ comes first, and the music collection comes second. |
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willsanquil
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Posted : Jan 12, 2011 23:56
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I think you are still making black and white statements unnessarily based on personal experiences which are not indicative of the entire DJ culture. For example, I am an aspiring laptop DJ and my music collection was first, and DJing/production was definitely second by a large margin...by like 6 years. I don't know anyone who actually DJs who wasn't a music collector/nut first.
Sure, it's 'easier' to be a DJ now in that you can spend an hour or two on rapidshare and get gigs upon gigs of music, and you can download software for free and mix it. How is this a bad thing? If you decide to stick with it and keep DJing, then your skills will progress and maybe someone besides you might eventually benefit from it. If not...then you won't, and no one will.
You still have to put in the work to understand mixing and you still have to find good music. That is, to me, the core of DJing and while tech may make that initial transition easier it doesn't mean you will instantly be a super star DJ.
Some of the things you say are true, but I fail to see how music being less-accessable and heard by fewer people is a good thing.
You would honestly prefer it to still be the days of Vinyl where music was excessively expensive and harder to find? Long live the Ektoplazm era imo.
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch...you must first invent the universe
www.soundcloud.com/tasp
www.soundcloud.com/kinematic-records |
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