I know that, in the beginning, the idea of DJ Hero appealed to me. As a fan of house and related genres—Renaissance The Master Series Part 13, mixed by Hernán Cattáneo, just hit the Internet—I was looking forward to playing the role of a big haired animated DJ. But then I realized: what a minute, actually DJing isn’t that hard at all! Why bother playing a DJ video game when you can actually DJ?
It’s a similar argument to the one often used to belittle Guitar Hero: why bother playing on a plastic guitar when you can learn to play the guitar for real? Well, hot shot, because playing the guitar is hard; playing the guitar competently is harder still! But DJing? With technology today, it’s never been easier to pretend your Carl Cox or Jojo Flores.
Here’s what you need to be a DJ in 2009: a MacBook, preferably one with a lot of stickers on it; a pair of over-the-ear headphones (as much as for looks as it is an actual tool); some sort of mixing software that you can pirate in five second, like M-Audio’s Torq or Traktor; and, if you want to impress your friends, a mixing device, like this cheap one from M-Audio. Bam! You’re a DJ.
Of course, having this type of low budget setup won’t get you onto the cover of BPM Magazine, otherwise every guy named Joey or Nicky or Tony from Bergan County would be interviewed. But the fact is, DJing—beat matching, blending songs, etc.—really isn’t that hard to do. Yeah, there’s a skill (again, otherwise our friends from Bergen County would all be superstars) to it, but it’s awfully easy to trick your friends into thinking you actually have a talent. I say this having created plenty of “sets” in Torq and Traktor over the past two years.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that the barrier to entry to becoming a DJ is a lot less than it is to becoming a competent guitar player—there’s less of a “need” for DJ Hero than Guitar Hero. Will the game still be fun? Sure, probably. But I think you’d have just as much fun, if not more, actually DJing, even with a hastily put together, low budget setup.
That’s all.
“But then I realized: what a minute, actually DJing isn’t that hard at all! Why bother playing a DJ video game when you can actually DJ?”
Depends on what you define by “dj’ing”. Its VERY ignorant of you to claim that dj’ing is easy b/c you have played around with some software on your computer stringing some random tracks together.
If there is any skratching movements involved then its a whole diferent type of rhythms and skill. If you have ever tried skratching, been to a skratch performance, or listened to skratch music you would not be making a statement like ”
easy”
Oh valid point on “playing”. For every 100 kids that play an instrument (or DJ) maybe 1 is actually able to *shudder* write and create. I knew 20 kids in high school that could shred Master of Puppets on guitar, but only one who wrote original songs with full arrangments. And for games like this, if you don’t have rhythm, you were screwed from the start. Let ‘em buy gear, it doesn’t mean they can use it.
I have to agree here. Just because I take a picture of a tree with my DSLR doesn’t make me an Ansel Adams even though it would look nice thanks to the auto settings. Being able to use the advantages of a piece of software that automates everything does not require as much skill as it does to be able to do the same thing manually. When we talk about DJs, the majority of them did not begin when Torq and Serato came out. They started on crappy turntables and worked their way up to some good decks and built a collection of thousands of records that required listening to and mentally cataloging each one. If you can’t perform your mixes on 2 turntables (Vinyl or CD for that matter) with a normal 2 channel mixer, and no automatic BPM counter or beatmatching, then you shouldn’t consider yourself too talented. Trust me, I use the software too and could run mixes for hours on end, but would never suggest that I was a competent DJ.
That being said, the game itself seems pretty silly, but that’s what I thought about Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I found out that they’re actually pretty fun games (Games being the operative word here). But the difference between the games and what professionals do here is really no different from being ranked number 1 on Madden and being able to perform the same way on an actual field with thousands of spectators cheering (or booing) for you.
I’m not really a fan of house music like you are, but I’ve heard enough over the years to know that there are some incredible artists that do things with or without technology that the average hobbyist couldn’t replicate even with the same equipment and months of practice. So for those who haven’t amassed a certain amount of skill, this is the game for you. :-)
FYI as of 3:48 pm today, you misspelled “Bergen” county once, then spelled correctly once.
But dude I love this article.
I am absolutely stunned by your article — you are stating that all it takes to be a dj is *software*? Are you kidding? That is analogous to saying you are an awesome race car driver, just because you own a 94 Honda Accord and drive fast. “But hey, they both have four wheels and a steering wheel and a motor, so I MUST be a race car driver!”.
Just because software can mix for you DOESN’T make you a dj, as driving fast to the store to pick up your milk doesn’t make you a race car driver. Years of practice, skill, and live performance make you one.
And as for live performance, using software to dj is the unsexiest thing imaginable. I saw DJ Z trip in 2006, and he had 3 assistants carrying in his absolute MOUNTAIN of vinyl. He had a camera pointing down from above to watch the ritalin movement of his hands. His body flew all over grabbing and flipping vinyl — It was one hell of a show.
Fast forward to 2007, and Z trip swapped to Serato. He brought in zero crates, and flipped zero records that night. He looked geeky, like we all do, staring at the little screen, a slight LCD glow on his face. All of his showmanship died, sadly, when he converted over to Serato.
The barrier you have neglected is talent, perseverance, practice, showmanship, and dedication. Without that for EITHER guitar players or DJ’s you are just a kid in front of an XBOX360.
That comment was pretty much crap. First I think you’re failing to see his point. Yes dj’ing is hard but he’s saying why waste the time and money on hardware and software playing dj hero, when you can waste time and money working on being a real dj. Second, don’t tell anyone into dj’ing that vinyl is cool, cause the first thing i would’ve told that guy who made four people carry his vinyl is all his songs can prob fit on a usb thumbdrive. There are djs out here who won’t revert to software because they claim they want to stay true to the roots of dj’ing, no, they’re just to stupid to realize its better and prob, too scared to try to learn something new. Hell, TIMECODED vinyl on Traktor, Torq, etc. has the same feel, why not revert even to that? same feel, and only at most two disks. That show you went to might’ve been awesome, but I’m sure Deadmau5 and Sasha can knock your socks off too.
Your argument is kinda like saying, “hey, I can drive a car, so how hard can it be to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix?” The fact is, there is a LOT that separates you from Carl Cox and Jenson Button. Recognize.
Damn Skippy.
Yeah… I feel you. If the controller and game price together is anywhere near 300, you can pretty much grab a Traktor or M-Audio Torq and a midi controller, and really start making money and dj’ing. I actually do that, although I moved up from dj’ing and I’m more “live producing” with Ableton Live and a few midi controllers. Well I’m glad someone mentioned that because to be honest, you could pirate Virtual DJ for free and get into bars and parties for free. DJ’ing and producing music has never been easier to get into and enjoy, especially with this recession and equipment is half off MSRP. So the question ends up being do you want to be stuck in the house and waste money, or would you like to be a real dj?
Nicholas Deleon is an idiot- this article is BS.
This article is bullshit, even if you had software that automatically mixes for you, it takes alot more than that to be a good dj. The writer of the article obviously has no real dj experience because “making sets in torq and traktor” doesn’t prove anything.
In addition, it isn’t cheaper and easier to become a dj. On top of the several thousand dollars you need to spend to buy a mixer, cds / turntables, speakers and possibly a laptop and vinyl emulation device, REAL djs spend countless hours listening to new music, organising music, making their own remixes, reviewing their previous live sets and improving on them. No pirated software on a laptop will do this for you.
Blending and mixing songs is easy, but theres a difference between being able to mix songs and being able to DJ. A DJ is someone who can entertain anything from a small room to a stadium of 50000 or more people with not only their mixing and technical skill but also music selection and taste.
Yeah, Mixing songs and being a good DJ are totally seperate things, I’m a dj and its totally different making a little mix on your computer and saving it, in comparison to doing a show for a crowd, You have to worry about things like the “flow” of the floor, A dj is there to make people feel, its an art, Chooseing what music to play and how to play it, and wear to play it, if you stik to one bpm, and just mix in diffferent sounds of the same beet and genre, everyones gonna get bored, and the floor is gonna cleer.
What an absolutely ignorant article. You fail to realize that DJ Hero is a game, not a simulation meaning to replace real life DJ’ing or Turntabalism.
You also make yourself look even worse when you state that all you need to be a ‘DJ’ is some pirated software on your computer that you can mix some tracks with. It’s much, much more than that, my friend. That sort of attitude is why there is an overabundance of crap going around from punks who think that they are professionals because they can mix two tracks together unsuccessfully. Wrong. I would much rather people with actual passion and skill start DJ’ing, and we can let the dregs play DJ Hero, instead.
But seriously, it’s a game that’s meant to be played for fun, not to replace a real life hobby. The directors stated that they wanted to introduce aspects of DJ’ing, scratching and turntabalism to the general public, which they hope then influences some of them to start DJ’ing in real life.