General Music Chat

This question posed by Irminsul has been perplexing me for awhile now. The question was whether DJ's are instrumentalists or not.

I think it is not as cut and dry these days.

While I see that most here say "no" to that question, I lean to "yes", because the modern DJ, or so-called "DJ Elite" do not fit so easily in the former category of a person that drops a record on a turntable and maybe "scratches" the record occassionally, and little else.

What they are doing these days, is far more advanced than that. I would direct you to people like "Paul Oakenfold" perhaps one of the most famous DJ's today. His "music" and "remixes" are featured in albums, on the radio, in movie soundtracks, and the like. He has performed with the Boston Pops and a few other orchestras, with composers even writing pieces for him.

Conceivably, a musician could endure standing at attention during three movements of a Symphony, only to strike a triangle several times, maybe even just once. He is a musician, no matter how small his role, and his instrument is the triangle. Or maybe someone who plays the cymbals. He may strike them only once, now and again, and I suppose no one would question his role as a bonofide musician.

DJ's of the caliber of Paul Oakenfold, to me, could qualify as musicians, with their turntables being the instrument. Realizing of course, that it is, really a collaborative effort of sorts, with the original artists they sample or spin, even still, these DJ Elites, are the ones manipulating or playing the turntables and mixing the sound sources, whether music or sound effects, or beats, or mere bass lines, and manipulating, LIVE, all of these elements to produce music that is quite distinct, even amazingly so, than the original artists they are from. In some cases, the remixed work, is far more famous than the elemental parts they were derived from.

So, whether a musician or not, these days, DJ's are certainly performers. One could say they are arrangers as well. Possibly even composers. Why not artists?

Here is Paul Oakenfold performing with members of the Florida Classical Orchestra...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nHr_ZZJvKqg

I think I've come to the conclusion that it depends on what type of DJ the DJ is. Some of them actually play keyboards or other instruments in their live mix shows. I'd call them instrumentalists. Some even write their own pieces and play parts of them in their live shows. I'd call them musicians to the bone - both composers and instrumentalists. But some of them just spin records. I'd call them producers at best....second tier instrumentalists if I'm in a good mood.

But that's it.

Im old school and think of a DJ as a wanna be musician who spins records. The things Ive heard of the "musician" DJs just doesnt do much for my soul. Just my 2 cents, which isnt worth much these days.

I feel the same as John.

But some of them just spin records. I'd call them producers at best....second tier instrumentalists if I'm in a good mood.

Defintely not speaking about that tier. Only about the elites. The best.

But I think, whether they are playing a keyboard or not, people in that category, have a remarkable skill, in putting bass lines together with parts of sometimes dozens of other tracks, fading them in and out, in synch, matching pitches and intros and outros, etc... It takes a good ear and compositional skill to create the pieces they do.

And the resulting "remixed" work is uniquely their own, which is why they sometimes sell as many of their remixes on their albums, as the original artists did on theirs. The best of these have HUGE followings, millions of fans, who support their work.

But a composer writing for a DJ? A DJ performing with a well known orchestra? I think it is awesome when the lines get blurry, when such diverse genres collide, like two colliding stars in the cosmos. The resulting light is always magnificent.

good topic..and for once i can speak on both sides of the question.in the past i have been both a dj and singer/songwriter,i was a club/pirate radio dj and ive often played a dj set and headlined with my band at the same gig.but alass the question of a dj is this..there are two kinds of djs in this world.there are mainstream radio djs who play a tune stop tell you who it was and start another tune....
and then there are club/dance music djs who "beat mix" records ie sync both records to the same b.p.m and bring one tune in on the start of a bar and let the two records blend untill one fades out..now to beat mix(the right way) takes alot of work and you do need a good sence of music and timing.it takes a while to get it but when you do its fairly easy to mix for 4 hours and not break a sweat...
as for radio djs well you could train a chimp to sit back and spin tunes its just too easy,but to beat mix takes skill and practice..i understand that dance music never really hit america the way it did in europe but to watch someone like fatboy slim,or the chemical bros dj is a joy to behold
i would advise anybody who is unsure to check out an act called 2manydjs they mix rocknroll with dance music and its the dogs bollix..
so clubdjs are musicians in a sence..and lucky me gets to do both im just as much at home with a guitar as i am with a set of technics 1210s{decks} music is music it doesnt matter where or how its made if it feels good ....DO IT.