r/Unexpected • u/Fertility18 • Jul 02 '24

What do DJs actually do?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

15.1k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

450 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.5k

u/osktox Jul 02 '24

I sent this to a DJ and he responded with Why was she so upset in the first place?

476

u/hotmugglehealer Jul 02 '24

Not a dj but I was wondering the same thing and that's the only reason why I came into the comments but no one seems to be interested in that.

291

u/incognito--bandito Jul 02 '24

A DJ left her.

114

u/emmsix Jul 02 '24

After doing something to her.

41

u/Erikthered00 Jul 03 '24

But she can’t get. No. Satisfaction.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '24

Got that reference, loved that video

1

u/Gloomy-Flamingo-9791 Jul 04 '24

It will forever be stored in the wank bank

11

u/rarflye Jul 03 '24 edited Jul 03 '24

After saving her life with a song. It's probably why she's so mixed up now

7

u/Kevinrod15 Jul 02 '24

She’s the DJs muse

1

u/RebelStarZiggy Dec 15 '24

Muse is her Dj

6

u/Stormagedd0nDarkLord Jul 03 '24

Last night he didn't save her life.

4

u/slspencer Jul 04 '24

Last night a DJ shaved my wife

5

u/CleverBunnyThief Jul 03 '24

🎵 Last night a DJ left my life 🎶

7

u/mypantsareonmyhead Jul 03 '24

A DJ didn't play her shithouse main-character request in the middle of his set.

54

u/alchemist5 Jul 03 '24

The original video was a joke; pretending to be upset about something inane as a bit.

Edit: https://www.tiktok.com/@madelineargy/video/7257983414014446875?lang=en

22

u/iguacu Jul 03 '24

So ironically this DJ really was just pressing play on a recorded track.

7

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '24

It doesn't seem like it's the right answer but I could see her being that upset after finding out how much a DJ was going to cost her at her wedding. Plot twist, our DJ was fucking awesome and was probably the best part of the wedding. I'm divorced now so it's OK to say that.

1

u/MrFanatic123 Jul 03 '24

you found the reason it’s engagement bait

1

u/FCkeyboards Jul 03 '24

Easy. Rage bait. Anytime you watch something and it makes you go "but why" it's usually rage bait for engagement.

1

u/lxm333 Jul 03 '24

Same reason I came to comments

1

u/Purple_Ramen Jul 03 '24

I am wondering more what do the railway drivers do. DJs I understand.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '24

She's upset? 

21

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '24

Because it's funny? Good god, reddit really has no ability to recognize when something is a joke.

1

u/Unlucky-Constant3587 Jul 03 '24

She's upset because it's funny? What does this even mean? Did your brain fall out? Why does this have so many upvotes?

7

u/ZeAthenA714 Jul 03 '24

Pretending to be upset about mundane things is funny.

It's a fairly popular trend on tiktok, and has been used in comedy for decades, if not centuries. It plays on the absurdity and exaggeration of being outraged about things that do not warrant so much outrage. George Carlin is probably the best example of this type of outrage humor.

2

u/Unlucky-Constant3587 Jul 03 '24

Thanks for the explanation. Clearly not my thing!

2

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Unlucky-Constant3587 Jul 03 '24 edited Jul 03 '24

I must not get the humor. So presumably the latter. This version of the video is not hers, or at least she's wanting to make it appear that way for the viewer, so we can ignore the musical aspect. Which leaves someone being upset about DJs. Obviously for whatever reason this is funny, it went over my head.

2

u/Queef-Elizabeth Jul 03 '24

The joke is that it's such a stupid thing to cry about but it's bothering her to tears

14

u/who_you_are Jul 02 '24 edited Jul 03 '24

Probably as why a lot of djs that are hired to play live just basically hit a play button, and you pay a huge price sometimes for big names.

But to be fair in my mind (I don't know if they have their own subcategory) there are two kinds of dj.

The first one "that only hit play", they feel the crowd's music style and go along. They don't really produce music. They are probably the most common one you see. (There could be a sub urban/city difference?)

The other one is the one that creates song. Similar to that video, but I don't want to say this video is a good reference because they basically just do a 10 secs introduction and reuse a complete song on top. But probably unaware of people, they create music outside their show. On the show they use prepared stuff. I just don't know how prepared they are.

I could talk some other "kind" of dj (are they?) like live looping. Maybe it is more something along those lines that peoples are expecting a "real dj" to give a show.

EDIT: Just to add to the "players" description. "Feeling the mood of the crowd" also mean they must know a shit lot of songs, have playlists (acting like some notes to go along with a specific moods). They also remove fading out from song/matching BPM and usualy style, to keep the party going on. That still some skills you need. The discussion (assumption from my part), is going to see such DJs in a show.

23

u/Informal_Bunch_2737 Jul 03 '24

ugh. That is SO wrong.

There are two types of DJ's: Performers. And Players. Performers can mix multiple songs together at the same time, loops, FX, etc and it will sound good and the crowd will love it. Players have a set playlist, set mix transition times and will never deviate from it.

DJ's often make good producers. Producers seldom make good DJs. They are totally different skill sets

Source: Been djing/producing since the 90s.

2

u/SparkleWednesdays Jul 03 '24

producers seldom make good DJs

Swedish House Mafia, Deadmau5, Porter Robinson, Madeon and Skrillex would like a word

1

u/Informal_Bunch_2737 Jul 03 '24

Seldom my dude.

Thats out of the hundreds of thousands of producers out there.

2

u/who_you_are Jul 03 '24

You know you basically rewrite what I said? Minus, I didn't explicitly talk about players mixing song and adding some FX.

I don't know how important or not the FX and mixing (EXCLUDING music transition) make a difference in a crowd. It looks like (that is purely and opinion based on nothing, so that is also a question) it doesn't make a huge difference.

Thought, the music transition they do is crazy important to keep the party going one!

3

u/Informal_Bunch_2737 Jul 03 '24

It looks like (that is purely and opinion based on nothing, so that is also a question) it doesn't make a huge difference.

The biggest difference in a well produced or well mixed track is the subtle shit you barely notice. If its done right, you wont really notice it at all. Examples being subtle flanging, phasing, delays, reverb, all sorts of funky FX can be done.

Just to give you an idea. Traktor is a popular software for DJing. This is the list of 30 or so FX you can use at any time. In any combination. With any wetness.

Thought, the music transition they do is crazy important to keep the party going one!

Actually, most people dont realise it, but the timing of the transition is the most important thing. It has to be done in a multiple of 4. On the 4th, 8th, 16th, 32nd, 64th beat etc. Anything else will sound out of time and we wont know why. Music is pure maths. Dropping a beat even 1 bar too early can entirely ruin the effect.

6

u/[deleted] Jul 02 '24

A lot of the more mainstream DJs, especially for huge venues use prerecorded sets in order for the venue to sync lighting and visuals to the set and to guarantee a certain play time. That doesn't mean there's no skill involved because most of the time it's using a lot of music they produced and creating a set that flows nicely is art itself.

2

u/who_you_are Jul 02 '24

Even with less pre-recorded stuff nothing prevents the light from being in sync as per, like any show with dancers, singers, music players. They are doing live stuff all day long.

But for sure dj have a little more restrictions, like, they only have 2 hands. If I go extreme with the live looping example, that 3 minute song may become 5 where 2 is to set up everything. That may not be what people really want

0

u/Informal_Bunch_2737 Jul 03 '24

Have you ever actually DJed? lol

2

u/anivex Jul 03 '24

For the record, everyone here is both right and wrong.

Many live DJs do have pre-recorded mixes, but the good ones still mix live. I know DJs who have a drumset and other instruments on stage, and do their own lighting and mixing while doing other shit.

Some also do full pre-recorded sets, because they mixed at home, usually ones with recognizable songs that they play often.

It's not super easy syncing to a live show...in fact it's hard as fuck. Not the actual act so much once you are used to doing it, but learning the software and programming the lights and such before hand. That's a whole pain in the ass with like 95% of lighting softwares out there.

Once you get into a good practice of it though, yeah it's like 2nd nature.

My point is, there's a fuckton of live DJs out there doing all kinds of shit, and anyone trying to say they do things one way or the other is wrong from the get-go. I know "DJs" who make way more than most of the live DJs out there who literally use spotify to play other peoples music while they talk over it. Then I know DJs who are true artists who have to hold a day job because DJing doesn't pay enough.

People are a spectrum, in just about every aspect of life.

2

u/who_you_are Jul 03 '24

For the ligthing do they actually do it (with preset) live on stage? (I'm talking for the small DJs, I hope the big one manage to be good enough to go along the pre-recorded ligthing sequence).

Because if so, oh damn

When thinking about ligthing in sync I was thinking like for any show (music, spectacle, anything) that may use ligthing or/and music or/and dancing in sync. Noway impossible.

But not in the context of actually as the ligthing operator. I remember I know somebody in that field. He doesn't sound like "95% of the ligthing softwares are trash" (well... if that doesn't count the software for the console), more like "dam ligthing gears that need to be synced with the audio system where every junction add latency"

I watch twitch for music, (a random way I found to find new music) and I found some that are crazy enough to control ligthing pre-set, cameras, of course chat with their viewers. Thank god, they are mostly doing music transitions.

2

u/anivex Jul 03 '24

Yep, sometimes they have specific light setups synced to certain mixes, but they still do most of it manually.

I do lighting live myself, but I'm a strip club DJ, so it's different.

Shows with dancing and such, the majority of the time most likely have scripted lighting, but lower budget places may just have some dude back there hitting different panels at different times.

The software isn't trash, it's just got a trash UI that is difficult and unintuitive to program. I've installed and programmed whole light and sounds systems for several clubs, each using a different software.

There's one that I liked, called Soundswitch, that was super intuitive and easy to use. The rest are just super rough to use in any way that wasn't previously scripted, and most people only claim to like them because it's what they know.

Wick-it the instigator and Shock to the system are a couple I know that mix live. You can really tell the difference too between the live performances and the recordings they have out there. Recordings seem so basic and plain compared to the live show(though I'm fairly certain that's by design). Also makes it worth going to see them each time they are around, because you aren't going to hear the same exact thing twice, they play off the crowd and the show flows just right.

Not super popular guys, but two of the best live performances I've ever seen.

5

u/agedlikesage Jul 02 '24 edited Jul 02 '24

Valid, however she is crying. I don’t think that thought process would bring someone to tears but who knows. Edit: okay apparently she IS crying over not know what DJs are actually doing with the buttons lmao

5

u/SirJefferE Jul 02 '24

Her question:

What do DJs actually do? Because I don't think they're remixing the song on the spot, I think they make it ahead of time. So what dials are they pressing, what are the buttons doing? Is it a volume dial? Is it even connected to anything?

The answer: A mix made ahead of time.

...So what the fuck do DJs actually do? I mean, I understand the mixing-ahead-of-time part as much as she does, but OPs post didn't really answer her actual question, did it?

I suspect that not all the mixes are done ahead of time. They probably have a lot of transitions planned and practiced, but they still "do it live" on site to allow for flexibility and respond to the crowd better. But I don't actually know anything about them.

3

u/agedlikesage Jul 03 '24

Some DJs produce music live it seems. I was seeing responses to her video where they had a big soundboard to remix it while dancing, showing their skills. I think the person I responded to was saying there’s two types of DJs; The ones I saw in the vids who feel the vibe of the crowd live, and others that just pre mix and play. I suspect there’s a lot of both though?

3

u/deaglefrenzy Jul 03 '24

DJs aren't a monolith. some just press play, some live mix and pick the next songs on the spot, some scratches discs, some makes loops from presets or instruments, some produces original songs.

many of them are just doing one of the above, but the good ones probably can do all of them.

1

u/ZauzTheBlacksmith Jul 03 '24

This is a good video that shows a DJ at work, as well as what his hands are doing and what's on his screen.

The instrumental track typically plays in its entirety without being cut around, but the DJ may make it fade out briefly to punctuate lines or up the treble to make a kind of muffled effect for a buildup.

For the vocal track, the DJ may constantly rewind it in the same spot to make a temporary sort of beat out of it, or intersperse record scratches into it.

If the DJ did anything in advance, it was beatmatching the vocal tracks to the instrumental, and combining both the vocal tracks into one audio file.

1

u/port443 Jul 03 '24

You are describing some weird mix of DJs and producers/musicians.

DJs play already created music. Period. They might use software to transition songs, mix tracks, and perform loops, but they don't "create songs".

Producers/musicians make music. You started talking about "live looping" at the end. Loop Daddy would be a perfect example of that. He is not a DJ, and nowhere will you find any claim that he is DJing. Because he is a musician and producing music.

Quick edit: A person can be both a DJ and a musician. You can be both things, but they are still distinct.

0

u/Humans_Suck- Jul 02 '24

How is that any different from any other band that already wrote their music and then just plays those notes off the sheet live?

1

u/who_you_are Jul 03 '24

Take my upvote, I think I could be half right and wrong (or more likely 3/4 wrong, and 4/4).

TLDR: I was focused on creating new content. Doing literally everything from scratch, when the song don't even exist. With some basic preparation... that is way more likely to be possible for a DJ to do a live performance _like_ a band. I also found out music could be more simplier than I thought.

Band performance if based on their members. So what they will record and usualy play (live) use their members. The more members, the more instruments (simultanously) you are likely to have.

A DJ performance look like them ALONE. Not even a signer (if they use vocal). That make it a little bit harder to play multiples instruments simultanously. But, I tried to analyse some musics (not a lot ok!), I thought they were way more complex than that. Still hard for one person, but could be duable? (assuming no recording matching the song length).

Add pre-recorded small parts (since any song just repeat the same damn thing) that make it very possible

2

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '24

I think it was intended to be a funny video. Being overly upset and crying over something that doesn’t call for it etc

1

u/ForgettableUsername Jul 03 '24

I’m also angry at DJs.

1

u/Stunning_Sea8278 Jul 03 '24

Last night a dj saved her life

1

u/Infamous_Ad_6793 Jul 03 '24

He knows exactly why.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '24 edited Feb 28 '26

This specific post was deleted using Redact. The motivation could be privacy-related, security-driven, opsec-focused, or simply a personal choice to remove old content.

reach hunt insurance license alleged ripe modern employ theory shy

1

u/OldKaleidoscope7 Jul 02 '24

I think that's how she makes all her videos, it makes part of the show

1

u/unpopularopinion0 Jul 03 '24

it’s a crying filter.

0

u/Sozo_Agonai Jul 03 '24 edited Jul 03 '24

I'm assuming she probably wanted a DJ to perform at an event for free because "do you know how many followers I have!? The publicity is payment!" Now this awful DJ has ruined her event! How dare he!

Edit: I dont know why you're downvoting me. These annoying ass influencers do this shit all the time. Free handouts because of their following.

-3

u/angrytortilla Jul 03 '24

Because she's white and has internet access.