As a professional Californian Futurologist, and with the ongoing controversy about how “green” Denon DJ’s products are, I got to wondering how the community feels about the visual aspects of DJing’s Future. In otherwords, how should DJing look in 2025. Forgive my levity, but I think it matters.
Should DJing look like a Tuxedo-wearing guy at a teak-coloured Opus-Quad with controls the same copper-bronze sheen as your kitchen cabinet handles?
Should it be a Twitch-babe or a gurning James Hype on a bejewelled and glittering XDJ, flashing like a Christmas tree with classic “too hot to touch EQ knob” moves? “Ow, the upfader burned my fingers”.
Should it be a bearded collector of Japanese Jazz vinyl on a smoothly-manipulated rotary mixer in the corner of a cool but poorly-frequented coffee shop?
How about video DJing, (as first predicted in 1985) where the punters can totally avoid making eye contact with a DJ to keep their focus on the monitors showing a wipe from 50-cent to Sir Mix-a-lot’s buns?
Or is the future truly Mojaxx in the Lab on a VR headset, rocking some virtual-vinyl? It’s great fun on your own, but how is it going to look to the crowd? Will Laidback Luke still be able to pull off the moves in a post-KFC @ Ultra Miami world? I think it could happen.
All of the above would be my guess. There’s always someone doing something ‘unique’ and a certain crowd that likes that specific performance. If I must choose one of yours, it’ll be the bearded collector.
On the other hand, every generation’s “artform” will disappear in the next. Sad but true.
Playing instruments > creating music with computers > commands in AI > ??
I’d use Automix if I could but I’m not Peter Hook. Talk about visual DJing, old Hookey and his treble boost twist became just as Iconic as Zoolander’s “Blue Steel”.
In my opinion djing should be done in a way that is comfortable for you, but also pleasing to the audience.
It should be not only a thing to look at, but enjoy, not by the hype, but in context of track selection and delivery to the crowd. The dj set should be like a story, like something meaningful. Many modern djs forgot this, they just send to people the best of… and go for a easy route. They don’t plan how to tell the story with their music. But what makes djs stand out to me is how they speak thru the music.
Well, maybe I am a bit oldschool, or maybe that’s the way I just think of djing as an art form of it self. I don’t like the premade dj sets with fakes doing the dj pose for an hour on Tomorrowland… It doesn’t appeal to me as something cool. I always plan my sets, every track has a meaning in the set. Of course always there is room for a change during the event, when you want get harder crowd to dance finally, but it should be all done in a tasteful way, and should not omit the directory of the planned musical journey.
But as always - this is only my opinion… everyone else have the right to agree or disagree. I will continue doing it my way.
I agree 100% when I mix my D&B I’ve such an array of different vibes that I might start with a selection of 1 type for a few tunes then transcend through into another, like a journey from happy/bouncy to dark & deadly.
All the new stuff now is about 3 minutes long almost forcing you to mess about with loops just to keep the mix going or just constant drops to see how many mixes you can do in an hr.
The old stuff ranges from 6 to 8 minutes long which enables you to really fall into the world of long blend mixes while still having the option to just drop a banger quickly if need be.
Take tunes like Deadside or Colonies by Bad Company, 2 rolling deep mystical types of track, then take The Nine an absolute rave banger by the same people, there were a lot more experiments back in the day with things like Ladies of Spain etc, everything is so generic nowadays.
Yep, I’m not fond of 3 minute tracks or radio mixes. Bit ironic you’re called AndyC though! AndyC being the master of squeezing 47 DnB transitions into a 60 minute mix!
One of my all-time greats to the present day is Digweed - maybe the very least flashy DJ visually. His sets to my mind are most often epic (and he still loves breakbeats) but if you watch him, he’s almost static, like the fifth member of Kraftwerk. It really is all about the sound and his visual style is that of an audio engineer, not a showman*.
(* I don’t mind showmanship, but music selection first for me, the number of green LEDs doesn’t matter. I mean it: I like Digweed but also early Partyboi69 from the Stingzone if you want a contrast)
Mojaxx in cyberspace, pictured yesterday
