Dj Looking For Work

[HardenedSoul]

No talent? Not performers?

Tell that to DJ Craze, The Scratch Perverts, Marky etc

If it's so easy I look forward to videos from the TV membership of double drops whilst phase mixing a ragga acapella on top. And don't forget the transformer scratch. Let's see you do the drumming technique too.

Anyone who thinks turntablism isn't a performance must be blind. Go watch some DMC World Championships.

The problem is 90% of people who self identify as DJs are glorified iTunes button pushers. The problem with DJing is that there is zero barrier to entry and therefore no quality control. Literally any 10 year old kid can download Traktor and start "DJing" in 2 minutes... Many do. As for the serious performers, they artists of some sort. They ability to get a crowd dancing for hours and taking them on a musical joyride and crafting a thematically unified multi-hour sound journey is undoubtedly an art form and a difficult one to master at that. There are many skilled DJs out the doing interesting things but they are not the majority.

Same goes for producer/DJs. These guys are composing and performing their own music. Super impressive but a tiny percentage of "DJs" write their own music. I give tremendous respect to those artists who write their own music and play multi hour sets of all original material, sometimes remixing it on the fly. I don't give respect to any random dude playing oth people's music on their laptop unless they have mad skills... Most do not.

Spot on.

These blokes who rock up with a MacBook Pro and a bunch of tracks on iTunes form 90% of the DJ demographic in this country. Like Eastern European models rocking up here trying to make it, most Western DJs only come here because they either couldn't cut it back home or their popularity - such as it was - faded.

My cynicism about today's DJs has its roots in my being spolit by London and European club culture. From the early days of Shoom, Delerium at the Astoria and the mad drives around the M25 looking for a Sunrise party in a field to the mad nights at the Manumission Motel, Ibiza but even before then, the likes of Norman Jay and Pete Tong (WAAAAAAY before he became a household name and played out of a shifty pub in Tooley Street with no-names like Gilles Peterson and Patrick Forge) gave me a different and, I believe, "gold standard" perspective.

[driedmango]

No talent? Not performers?

Tell that to DJ Craze, The Scratch Perverts, Marky etc

If it's so easy I look forward to videos from the TV membership of double drops whilst phase mixing a ragga acapella on top. And don't forget the transformer scratch. Let's see you do the drumming technique too.

Anyone who thinks turntablism isn't a performance must be blind. Go watch some DMC World Championships.

The problem is 90% of people who self identify as DJs are glorified iTunes button pushers. The problem with DJing is that there is zero barrier to entry and therefore no quality control. Literally any 10 year old kid can download Traktor and start "DJing" in 2 minutes... Many do. As for the serious performers, they artists of some sort. They ability to get a crowd dancing for hours and taking them on a musical joyride and crafting a thematically unified multi-hour sound journey is undoubtedly an art form and a difficult one to master at that. There are many skilled DJs out the doing interesting things but they are not the majority.

Same goes for producer/DJs. These guys are composing and performing their own music. Super impressive but a tiny percentage of "DJs" write their own music. I give tremendous respect to those artists who write their own music and play multi hour sets of all original material, sometimes remixing it on the fly. I don't give respect to any random dude playing oth people's music on their laptop unless they have mad skills... Most do not.

It is not true ! So Beatmatching is easier with traktor, it can even do it for you... but the HARDEST part of djing is having good taste, being able to read the crowd, matching songs up by key and things, finding fresh new beats that nobody else has, adding samples...

It has always been something people don't get, it is HARD as hell to be a good DJ, even if the basics of djing maybe don't look so hard, neither does singing, we can all sing without ANY practice, it doesn't mean everyone will be able to make you cry.

A good DJ can walk up to a crappy party where everyone is ready to go home and staring each other up and down, and get up there without any playist or anything and start banging music out for 6 hours or so and make everyone dance ALL NIGHT... a good dj is a boss, much like a good CEO and makes decisions for the whole party..

You might find real talent and sometimes beats skills, you might find a newbie is better than someone who studies for his whole life... that is true in every artform, some of the best books are written by people who don't know grammar, some of the best songs are written by people who don't know jack about music, some of the best english teachers never finished high school and can barely write english themselves.

It is what pisses people off about djing or anything, it comes easy for the natural, much like body building or running or painting...

[missionrat]

No talent? Not performers?

Tell that to DJ Craze, The Scratch Perverts, Marky etc

If it's so easy I look forward to videos from the TV membership of double drops whilst phase mixing a ragga acapella on top. And don't forget the transformer scratch. Let's see you do the drumming technique too.

Anyone who thinks turntablism isn't a performance must be blind. Go watch some DMC World Championships.

The problem is 90% of people who self identify as DJs are glorified iTunes button pushers. The problem with DJing is that there is zero barrier to entry and therefore no quality control. Literally any 10 year old kid can download Traktor and start "DJing" in 2 minutes... Many do. As for the serious performers, they artists of some sort. They ability to get a crowd dancing for hours and taking them on a musical joyride and crafting a thematically unified multi-hour sound journey is undoubtedly an art form and a difficult one to master at that. There are many skilled DJs out the doing interesting things but they are not the majority.

Same goes for producer/DJs. These guys are composing and performing their own music. Super impressive but a tiny percentage of "DJs" write their own music. I give tremendous respect to those artists who write their own music and play multi hour sets of all original material, sometimes remixing it on the fly. I don't give respect to any random dude playing oth people's music on their laptop unless they have mad skills... Most do not.

It is not true ! So Beatmatching is easier with traktor, it can even do it for you... but the HARDEST part of djing is having good taste, being able to read the crowd, matching songs up by key and things, finding fresh new beats that nobody else has, adding samples...

It has always been something people don't get, it is HARD as hell to be a good DJ, even if the basics of djing maybe don't look so hard, neither does singing, we can all sing without ANY practice, it doesn't mean everyone will be able to make you cry.

A good DJ can walk up to a crappy party where everyone is ready to go home and staring each other up and down, and get up there without any playist or anything and start banging music out for 6 hours or so and make everyone dance ALL NIGHT... a good dj is a boss, much like a good CEO and makes decisions for the whole party..

You might find real talent and sometimes beats skills, you might find a newbie is better than someone who studies for his whole life... that is true in every artform, some of the best books are written by people who don't know grammar, some of the best songs are written by people who don't know jack about music, some of the best english teachers never finished high school and can barely write english themselves.

It is what pisses people off about djing or anything, it comes easy for the natural, much like body building or running or painting...

I have DJ'd for years. I know all about matching songs by key (hello, Mixed In Key practically does this for you now), etc. If your measurement of a DJs skill is based on crowd response, then I'm afraid you need to accept that the crowd is "boss" actually. I can take Lee Burridge and pop him into some cheesy tourist club in Bangkok and he will booms big time because they are not into that kind of music. But any mediocre clown can get up there and play Madonna and the crowd will go wild....especially if its filled with girls.....so don't start with it requires "good taste," that is laughable. The more pop-40 your taste the more broadly popular you will be by definition. I would suggest it has more to do with your taste matching the crwod's taste. One DJ in one crowd playing one type of music would be adored while another DJ playing different music would be abhorred.

And reading the crowd? Really this is hard? You look out and if they are not dancing, you change the track... Come on, les not pretend this is rocket science...

Like I side, the barrier to entry is so low there basically is none. Any idiot can call himself a DJ and as one who has done this for years I'm not going to pretend that the letters D and J mean anything whatsoever. It's like the busboy in a restaurant in LA saying he's a model/actor....yeah that means a whole lot.... Bottom line is he's bussing tables.

[rattler]

No talent? Not performers?

Tell that to DJ Craze, The Scratch Perverts, Marky etc

If it's so easy I look forward to videos from the TV membership of double drops whilst phase mixing a ragga acapella on top. And don't forget the transformer scratch. Let's see you do the drumming technique too.

Anyone who thinks turntablism isn't a performance must be blind. Go watch some DMC World Championships.

Bet Mozart could've done that blindfold with both arms cut off in his sleep though

[Vale Tudo]

Work Permit , i woulnd worry to much about this , as the clubs will sponser you, also i think there is a clause somewhere that musicians dont need work permits? i stand corrected

VERY bad advice!

Not really,as ANYONE who's spent more than a week in Thailand should know that all the big clubs are owned by rich Hi-So mafia who EMPLOY Police as security and have them eating out of the palms of their hands!

There really are some people on here who walk around with their eyes closed,no wonder so many people post on here about getting ripped off by their prostitute wives but have ZERO common sense or street smarts,they are asking for it!

Edited October 3, 2012 by Vale Tudo

[Vale Tudo]

No talent? Not performers?

Tell that to DJ Craze, The Scratch Perverts, Marky etc

If it's so easy I look forward to videos from the TV membership of double drops whilst phase mixing a ragga acapella on top. And don't forget the transformer scratch. Let's see you do the drumming technique too.

Anyone who thinks turntablism isn't a performance must be blind. Go watch some DMC World Championships.

Who the hell are they?I've lived in Ibiza for many years and have heard of none of the above!

Now if you mention Carl Cox,Groove Armada,Eric Morillo,Fatboy Slim people might know who you're talking about!

[chiangmaikelly]

There really are some people on here who walk around with their eyes closed,no wonder so many people post on here about getting ripped off by their prostitute wives but have ZERO common sense or street smarts,they are asking for it!

22 posts and you know all about the Thai mafia and enough about the Thai Visa posters to call our wives prostitutes? Are you the kid who asked, do Thais believe in aliens?

[meom]

Work Permit , i woulnd worry to much about this , as the clubs will sponser you, also i think there is a clause somewhere that musicians dont need work permits? i stand corrected

VERY bad advice!

Not really,as ANYONE who's spent more than a week in Thailand should know that all the big clubs are owned by rich Hi-So mafia who EMPLOY Police as security and have them eating out of the palms of their hands!

I think you've got that backwards.

More often than not it's the club owners that have to kowtow to the police.

[HardenedSoul]

I have DJ'd for years. I know all about matching songs by key (hello, Mixed In Key practically does this for you now), etc. If your measurement of a DJs skill is based on crowd response, then I'm afraid you need to accept that the crowd is "boss" actually. I can take Lee Burridge and pop him into some cheesy tourist club in Bangkok and he will booms big time because they are not into that kind of music. But any mediocre clown can get up there and play Madonna and the crowd will go wild....especially if its filled with girls.....so don't start with it requires "good taste," that is laughable. The more pop-40 your taste the more broadly popular you will be by definition. I would suggest it has more to do with your taste matching the crwod's taste. One DJ in one crowd playing one type of music would be adored while another DJ playing different music would be abhorred.

And reading the crowd? Really this is hard? You look out and if they are not dancing, you change the track... Come on, les not pretend this is rocket science...

Like I side, the barrier to entry is so low there basically is none. Any idiot can call himself a DJ and as one who has done this for years I'm not going to pretend that the letters D and J mean anything whatsoever. It's like the busboy in a restaurant in LA saying he's a model/actor....yeah that means a whole lot.... Bottom line is he's bussing tables.

Spot on again.

This whole "take the crowd on a musical journey/odyssey" is complete and utter <deleted> unless you're playing to a real, musically-discerning crowd that you'd find at specialist clubs in NYC, London, Berlin, Ibiza and even Tokyo. The crowd at a typical Thai club don't know the difference between what D. Ramirez and, say, Louis Vega play because they're not sophisiticated and, for the most part, all they can hear is the 4/4 beat that characterizes the genre.

There's areally promising DJ at one of the well known farang-oriented clubs in Sukhumvit. I, personally, think he's got a fantastic ear but, a little while ago, he found himself frustrated by the midweek audience's inertia. No matter what he tried, they just stood around looking perplexed and uninterested. We;re not talking drunken, shaven-headed, tattooed morons with gutter-skanks in tow either - we're talking a young-ish, well-presented and up-for-it crowd.

He couldn't get why they weren't bouncing to his deep, minimalist tech-house with its trademark and somewhat boring repetition. I told him they weren't pilled-up gimps so he should try something with vocals and a topline melody. He slapped on Jon Cutler's "It's Yours".

BOOM !! Crowd rapturous without compromising the groove with cheesy shit. The guy's still one of the better DJs over here but sometimes these guys get too self indulgent and forget that it's not giving the crowd what they want, but what they need that matters.

[omnilangur]

I have to agree; a guy punching the air to a 4/4 beat is NOT a performer or an artist but I grudgingly accept that modern youth/club culture touts them as such.

As for DJing in Thailand, good luck but remember that club culture here - if you can call it that - is incredibly unsophisticated.

These people are spoonfed cheesy K-Pop and popular crap like Pitbull and Katy Perry and that's what they want to hear when they go out.

There is little in the way of an underground scene to drive homegrown musical innovation. Just go to Insomnia, Climax, Spicy, Shock 39 or Mixx and you'll understand what I mean when I say that any efforts a DJ makes to educate his audience are pointless . These people are still going crazy to Black Eyed Peas' "I've got a feeling" years after it was a hit, <deleted>.

Rappers who write lyrics and produce beats with music have talent. Most DJ's in Thailand can rap as well as produce and DJ, I'd say thats showing more talent than someone who can ONLY play a guitar or drums. good luck man, Thai's love karaoke and mainstream manufactured music, original music is never appreciated in Thailand except for limited tourist areas...

[tinfoilhat]

No talent? Not performers?

Tell that to DJ Craze, The Scratch Perverts, Marky etc

If it's so easy I look forward to videos from the TV membership of double drops whilst phase mixing a ragga acapella on top. And don't forget the transformer scratch. Let's see you do the drumming technique too.

Anyone who thinks turntablism isn't a performance must be blind. Go watch some DMC World Championships.

marky is playing up the street from me at bed, he will have a permit. Layo and Buswacka will be there next week.

call the director of entertainment at bed, q bar, insomnia, 808, club culture. They will know what you need.

Get a hold of Dave from Retox who brings names in many times a year.

Contact someone at UB Radio .

DO not ask the old farts on this site, as has been pointed out they are only good for information on what you cant do, which is anything beyond their peersonal experience

[HardenedSoul]

Indeed. Look for Champion Sound on Facebook.

[driedmango]

No talent? Not performers?

Tell that to DJ Craze, The Scratch Perverts, Marky etc

If it's so easy I look forward to videos from the TV membership of double drops whilst phase mixing a ragga acapella on top. And don't forget the transformer scratch. Let's see you do the drumming technique too.

Anyone who thinks turntablism isn't a performance must be blind. Go watch some DMC World Championships.

The problem is 90% of people who self identify as DJs are glorified iTunes button pushers. The problem with DJing is that there is zero barrier to entry and therefore no quality control. Literally any 10 year old kid can download Traktor and start "DJing" in 2 minutes... Many do. As for the serious performers, they artists of some sort. They ability to get a crowd dancing for hours and taking them on a musical joyride and crafting a thematically unified multi-hour sound journey is undoubtedly an art form and a difficult one to master at that. There are many skilled DJs out the doing interesting things but they are not the majority.

Same goes for producer/DJs. These guys are composing and performing their own music. Super impressive but a tiny percentage of "DJs" write their own music. I give tremendous respect to those artists who write their own music and play multi hour sets of all original material, sometimes remixing it on the fly. I don't give respect to any random dude playing oth people's music on their laptop unless they have mad skills... Most do not.

It is not true ! So Beatmatching is easier with traktor, it can even do it for you... but the HARDEST part of djing is having good taste, being able to read the crowd, matching songs up by key and things, finding fresh new beats that nobody else has, adding samples...

It has always been something people don't get, it is HARD as hell to be a good DJ, even if the basics of djing maybe don't look so hard, neither does singing, we can all sing without ANY practice, it doesn't mean everyone will be able to make you cry.

A good DJ can walk up to a crappy party where everyone is ready to go home and staring each other up and down, and get up there without any playist or anything and start banging music out for 6 hours or so and make everyone dance ALL NIGHT... a good dj is a boss, much like a good CEO and makes decisions for the whole party..

You might find real talent and sometimes beats skills, you might find a newbie is better than someone who studies for his whole life... that is true in every artform, some of the best books are written by people who don't know grammar, some of the best songs are written by people who don't know jack about music, some of the best english teachers never finished high school and can barely write english themselves.

It is what pisses people off about djing or anything, it comes easy for the natural, much like body building or running or painting...

I have DJ'd for years. I know all about matching songs by key (hello, Mixed In Key practically does this for you now), etc. If your measurement of a DJs skill is based on crowd response, then I'm afraid you need to accept that the crowd is "boss" actually. I can take Lee Burridge and pop him into some cheesy tourist club in Bangkok and he will booms big time because they are not into that kind of music. But any mediocre clown can get up there and play Madonna and the crowd will go wild....especially if its filled with girls.....so don't start with it requires "good taste," that is laughable. The more pop-40 your taste the more broadly popular you will be by definition. I would suggest it has more to do with your taste matching the crwod's taste. One DJ in one crowd playing one type of music would be adored while another DJ playing different music would be abhorred.

And reading the crowd? Really this is hard? You look out and if they are not dancing, you change the track... Come on, les not pretend this is rocket science...

Like I side, the barrier to entry is so low there basically is none. Any idiot can call himself a DJ and as one who has done this for years I'm not going to pretend that the letters D and J mean anything whatsoever. It's like the busboy in a restaurant in LA saying he's a model/actor....yeah that means a whole lot.... Bottom line is he's bussing tables.

I am sorry, but I think you have all the qualities of a very bitter old bad DJ that nobody hires. A good dj doesn't need to use software to mix in the right keys, they train their ears threw years of musical experimentation and that is what a good dj is doing with his headphones, double checking what he was thinking would work, and finding the right moment.. you must know that.

It is very hard to read a crowd, that is why most DJ's suck so bad, they ruin parties and eveyone complains.

I respect DJ's with original tracks or that alter most of they tracks they play, I truly do ! They are great producers and sometimes great performers and lots of the ones that get good gigs are good crowd readers too. It doesn't take away from Selectas, or the party boss.

Here is what makes the worst DJs

Bitterness, jealousy, bummer vibe, stuck in a time warp, overly technical, cry baby, bad taste, close minded, low energy level, jaded, uninspired.

Here is what makes a good dj.

Relaxed, Simple, open minded, lots of energy, good taste, empathy, fresh tracks, variation, risk taker, attractive in some way (not so say good looking) fun, easy going, loves to dance (most times) loves their crowd on the dancefloor, in the moment.

I know I book DJ's all year, I DJ myself at some of the biggest festivals in BC, and trust me, we pay thousands for the right DJ, sure there is thousands of kids that are trying hard, and good for them, but they don't get booked very often unless they are promoting the event or throwing parties, they don't make it most of them into the prime time.

Here are some great DJ's to check out from Canada :

Bassnectar http://www.bassnectar.net/freestyle/

Adham Shaikh http://www.sonicturtle.com/

Matt the Alien http://www.matthealien.ca/

The Librarian http://www.thelibrarian.ca/media/

Jpod the beat chief http://soundcloud.com/jpodtbc

Funk Hunters http://thefunkhunters.com/

Just to name a few of my fav,.. some make their own music, some don't, it doesn't matter, they are great, they are booked up all year..

[driedmango]

ps, one thing you will find out about ALL the best DJ's, I am not talking pop stars or party throwers, is they as a rule NEVER bitch about all the other people that dj, they are supportive of people having some fun like they do, they almost always are nice people... the Aholes and cry babies, the word goes around pretty quickly and nobody wants to play before or after them, nobody wants to dance to them, and then even if they are good nobody wants to book them.

[rattler]

I am sorry, but I think you have all the qualities of a very bitter old bad DJ that nobody hires. A good dj doesn't need to use software to mix in the right keys, they train their ears threw years of musical experimentation and that is what a good dj is doing with his headphones, double checking what he was thinking would work, and finding the right moment.. you must know that.

It is very hard to read a crowd, that is why most DJ's suck so bad, they ruin parties and eveyone complains.

I respect DJ's with original tracks or that alter most of they tracks they play, I truly do ! They are great producers and sometimes great performers and lots of the ones that get good gigs are good crowd readers too. It doesn't take away from Selectas, or the party boss.

Here is what makes the worst DJs

Bitterness, jealousy, bummer vibe, stuck in a time warp, overly technical, cry baby, bad taste, close minded, low energy level, jaded, uninspired.

Here is what makes a good dj.

Relaxed, Simple, open minded, lots of energy, good taste, empathy, fresh tracks, variation, risk taker, attractive in some way (not so say good looking) fun, easy going, loves to dance (most times) loves their crowd on the dancefloor, in the moment.

I know I book DJ's all year, I DJ myself at some of the biggest festivals in BC, and trust me, we pay thousands for the right DJ, sure there is thousands of kids that are trying hard, and good for them, but they don't get booked very often unless they are promoting the event or throwing parties, they don't make it most of them into the prime time.

Here are some great DJ's to check out from Canada :

Bassnectar http://www.bassnectar.net/freestyle/

Adham Shaikh http://www.sonicturtle.com/

Matt the Alien http://www.matthealien.ca/

The Librarian http://www.thelibrarian.ca/media/

Jpod the beat chief http://soundcloud.com/jpodtbc

Funk Hunters http://thefunkhunters.com/

Just to name a few of my fav,.. some make their own music, some don't, it doesn't matter, they are great, they are booked up all year..

Your idea of great and others may differ. Ask yourself this, in 200 years will anyone remember or play this again??

For me this ranks up there with Rap music, and thats not in a good way.

[driedmango]

who cares what anybody listens to in 200 years ? I have huge respect for many rap artists, as much as I do Bob Dylan, I am no blinded fool. I admit, as humans we all have influences that would suggest we have different taste in music or anything in general. It is the snobs who suffers themselves day in and day out.

[driedmango]

No talent? Not performers?

Tell that to DJ Craze, The Scratch Perverts, Marky etc

If it's so easy I look forward to videos from the TV membership of double drops whilst phase mixing a ragga acapella on top. And don't forget the transformer scratch. Let's see you do the drumming technique too.

Anyone who thinks turntablism isn't a performance must be blind. Go watch some DMC World Championships.

Bet Mozart could've done that blindfold with both arms cut off in his sleep though

Mozart couldn't do that unless he trained for years on end, and then he wouldn't have had time to compose his great music. So no, Mozart couldn't do that.

[Vale Tudo]

No talent? Not performers?

Tell that to DJ Craze, The Scratch Perverts, Marky etc

If it's so easy I look forward to videos from the TV membership of double drops whilst phase mixing a ragga acapella on top. And don't forget the transformer scratch. Let's see you do the drumming technique too.

Anyone who thinks turntablism isn't a performance must be blind. Go watch some DMC World Championships.

marky is playing up the street from me at bed, he will have a permit. Layo and Buswacka will be there next week.

call the director of entertainment at bed, q bar, insomnia, 808, club culture. They will know what you need.

Get a hold of Dave from Retox who brings names in many times a year.

Contact someone at UB Radio .

DO not ask the old farts on this site, as has been pointed out they are only good for information on what you cant do, which is anything beyond their peersonal experience

I remember hearing Layo and Bushwacka's Love Story for the first time on the terrace at Amnesia,Ibiza.Still one of my favourites!

I actually went to see Mauro Picotto at 808 with a few American friends,I'd told them he was massive in Ibiza.No-one had a clue who he was here and when I walked up to him playing and told him I'd seen him with his son around Coastline,next to Mambo's and the Sunset Strip in Ibiza he nearly fell over,lol!

My mate's over there all the time and he's pointed him out a few times as he owns a house there!

Had a great night and of course the music didn't disappoint!

[Scully]

20 odd years ago I was into the club scene . Starting with illegal warehouse raves and then moving onto a motorway service station car park for the after party.

Then it was very different when we were mixing vinyl and the doves were nothing like today (so I am told).

What I am trying to say is when the club scene first happened it was new and exciting. Nothing to me can replace those dance scene years so that is why any full moon party or any DJ, however hard they try will get me dancing.

I must be getting old

[rattler]

who cares what anybody listens to in 200 years ? I have huge respect for many rap artists, as much as I do Bob Dylan, I am no blinded fool. I admit, as humans we all have influences that would suggest we have different taste in music or anything in general. It is the snobs who suffers themselves day in and day out.

If I hit a trash can for 10 minutes with a stick its music.

[Sayonarax]

Get a work permit or my BiB friends will find you.

[Vale Tudo]

Get a work permit or my BiB friends will find you.

Get a life,or death may find you!

[chiangmaikelly]

Get a work permit or my BiB friends will find you.

Get a life,or death may find you!

If you don't have a life you are dead. Logic 101.

[Semper]

I wonder if the op got a job, or did he end up in the slammer for working without wp? His last reply to the topic was 13 months ago.

[Vale Tudo]

I wonder if the op got a job, or did he end up in the slammer for working without wp? His last reply to the topic was 13 months ago.

Saw him on "Locked up Abroad" last week,he's rocking Bang Kwang these days!