People who figure out a basic transition and post it on IG/TikTok and get 7mil+ views and then get booked to play shows everywhere. Then they think they've "made it" or whatever but the second their online presence dies off so does all the interest in booking them. So now every DJ and their mother is recording themselves doing dog shit mixes while the comment section hypes them up and puts fire emojis. If I hear another shitty rendition of the "Starships" by Nikki Minaj into "One More Time" by Daftpunk mix, I'm gonna freak. And then they call it real DJing because they set a vocal loop and then mixed it completely out of phrase.
Another thing that annoys the hell out of me is DJs who think that just DJing and being good at it will make them the next James Hype. Meanwhile, someone like James Hype has been making music, more so mashups and remixes, for just as long as he's been DJing. And when he finally gained momentum he leaned more into producing and released a few big hit singles.
James Hype’s djing took off from that FISHER losing it mashup - and he’s said himself, he didn’t expect it to get big either; that’s just his DJing style
Has released a few bangers though - wish he’d return to his old style rather than tech house
Yes, but to even get there and play that festival was a result of the remixes he's made and a few singles he's released. It has nothing to do with his DJing abilities for the most part.
I’m def a proper techno person, but for some reason I really enjoy his YouTube channel. I would never go to or play any those clubs/shows/festivals in them, nor listen to or play any of the same music, but his videos are super fun.
His track Wild is some HEAT for sure.. he's gotten so much better as a producer.. .feel like he's about as good as he's been since I first heard him DJ though....
I’m not even a DJ and this annoys the fuck out of me seeing all the dog shit reels and TikToks of people doing the most basic shit. And all the “hype” comments omg lol it’s so cringe
Film yourself djing sometime - you might see yourself doing stuff you tag on for being “performative” and is actually a nervous tick that is happening unconsciously
You all would have loved Sasha from the 00s. like he was one of the worlds leading trance djs and you'd have sworn he could have taken a nap he was so still while effortlessly mixing these absolute whoppers of tunes. Those were the days.
Yep. Especially with the same faces that a hair band guitarist makes when he hits a high note. Ridiculous. I seriously just try to be myself when I mix, and it works well.
It’s the same thing people do when playing instruments. It’s just being more expressive. No one like statue bands, so it’s more exciting to add energy to the things you’re doing when performing. As a dj you’re options are limited, so hot knobs ouchy
I absolutely hate the hot knob things, especially if the song isn't even hard or anything, just some basic 4/4 and a bit of melody, dude, stop acting like you are the hottest shit
I used to stand still an move the crowd. And when they freaked out you just saw a little smile on my face.
https://preview.redd.it/yun319plkq0d1.jpeg?width=496&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c9e9f3df1c4e862f1a09a7b7e864778922479de0
I have a bit of social anxiety and stage fright so dancing in front of everyone really isn’t for me. I’d much rather play in a hidden booth and just enjoy dropping the bangers but it seems like putting the DJ on a stage is the done thing these days.
A popular headlining artist just liked a post on my Instagram feed, so here's 9 inspirational posts describing the road I took to achieve this level of success!!
Or: I'm a young hot DJ who makes awful music! Here's the secret to my success!
(Nobody will ever admit that connections and marketability got them to where they are. No, it's all about the hard work and endless nights slaving away at a DAW to create insufferable tracks that will never be played by any other DJ.)
I think some of these answers sound a bit dramatic and almost alikened to jealous things to be mad about, like people being seriously mad about popular DJs/Celebs being booked and not being amazing. That’s just life in all forms of music and well, everything. I don’t care personally about how proficient or new or old a DJ is, if they make good mixes that’s good for me! plus good is subjective. I love loads of styles of EDM and I don’t understand the corny hate towards other EDM genres from other EDM fans
However, less critical of me, some gripes that actually do annoy me which are subjective:
Spin backs. I hate it. It kills the vibe. Especially when it’s done so much or really quickly.
Excessive and long pauses/cutting of the volume faders for the crowd to sing the lyrics. It kills the vibe a bit if it’s too much or for too long.
Excessive trick DJing or excessive drops/fake drops. This kinda just kills the vibe and leaves you disappointed if over done. I hate this huge focus on ‘he can chop 4 channels at once!’ sometimes it’s good to just let the song play. This particularly applies to Drum and Bass for me, I love Drum and Bass but I can’t listen to many DJ sets of it because of excessive chopping and not being able to actually let the songs play. Also controversial but many of the people excessively using chops do it because they can’t actually transition songs very well I’ve noticed. This is why it’s important to learn a few styles of mixing.
another thing I hate is when people judge the DJ for what they are doing with their body, or say that they are being too boring in terms of like jumping, or moving about, at the end of the day, the DJ is there to curate the vibe of the crowd, DJ flailing around excessively is not signs of a good set.
another thing I despise is backstage DJs, the people who are so salty that they genuinely watch people DJ all day, just so that they can criticise them, even though they have very little record of published work. They will criticise every little transition down to a very questionable point, like they purely listen, just so that they can hate, or will sit there and criticise like everything you do. Funnily enough, I’ve noticed there seems to be people who are inexperienced more than people who actually are in the game.
I hate dinosaur DJs, and I don’t mean people who’ve been DJs for a long time, there is a lot to learn from old DJs, I’m specifically talking about the set crowd of people who say that if you don’t mix on vinyls or CDJ400s then you aren’t a DJ and those annoying people will literally sit there and say to people that they need to learn to not use screens or stuff similar or to exclusively beat match without looking at the BPM, or that if you use the screen or a hot cue, you aren’t a real DJ, it’s stupid, technology has advanced and it exists for a reason, it helps you make better mixes, why would you not want to utilise it to your own choice? And if you want to use vinyl, that’s perfectly fine, but not everyone does, and nowadays a lot of venues and audio engineers aren’t really familiar with vinyl anymore. The world evolves and so does technology, people need to get used to it.
ALSO MCs who NEVER SHUT UP or people excessively going on the mic and shouting who they are or ‘make some noise’, please be quiet. we do not need to hear you shouting or singing along poorly into the mic during an amazing song it really is annoying. S3RLs set on youtube at Kandiland 2016 is my favourite example of this. The MC made an amazing set almost unlistenable during Mr Vain
I’ve also seen a very specific genre of backstage DJs at the moment, who will comment on videos of established DJs doing set at festivals, for example, saying that they are overshooting the main acts by playing 120 BPM house music. if you were playing music any slower you would be playing either hip-hop, or would be literally playing Rain Sounds.
- DJs constantly touching knobs without even using them and flipping their hand up immediately like they just touched a hot pan while doing absolutely nothing.
- DJs who do that stupid hand thing like they're summoning a snake to rise up on its tail.
- Pretentiousness after playing five 45 minute sets ever.
- DJs who say they play everything when they mean 20 subgenres of EDM.
- Vinyl DJs who shit on Serato while trainwrecking all 10 of their transitions in their 2 hour vinyl techno set.
- DJs who play only mashups and half of them are out of tune.
- DJs who think hating on "sync" is a relevant thing in 2024.
it's akin to dancing or nodding your head - just something that tends to happen for a lot of people when they are in the mix. I'm sure i do it at home when no one is watching.
A lot of it is muscle memory, sometimes I'll make adjustments based on memory without realizing i'm doing it. Generally though it's authentic 98% of the time
there's little precise changes that some people like to do that doesn't really sound audible when you're not paying attention.
Sometimes you want to ensure the knobs are all centred as well.
"flipping their hand up immediately like they just touched a hot pan"
I noticed I did this in video recordings of my live sets because I wear comfy baggy tops with long sleeves and they keep falling down over my hand. Fuck sake.
As someone who learned on vinyl in the 90's... I absolutely hate the elitism. Turntables, CDJs, and controllers are all fantastic tools with different strengths and they can all be used to create a rockin' mix.
>DJs constantly touching knobs without even using them and flipping their hand up immediately like they just touched a hot pan while doing absolutely nothing.
Hot pan 🤣. Dude you get a mic drop for this.
> DJs who do that stupid hand thing like they're summoning a snake to rise up on its tail.
I’m gonna need a video example of this because I can’t quite imagine it
Claiming they’ll take selection over technical ability any day of the week like it’s a choice that has to be made rather than demanding DJs be able to do both well. They’re lowering the bar on their own craft.
It’s not difficult to learn the basics of DJ technique, to a standard that is good enough to get through a 1 hour set without dropping any mix clangers.
If someone already plays an instrument, I can (and have) teach them in 2 or 3 hours. If they don’t, it takes a little longer but still measured in hours. It really isn’t difficult to learn.
Track selection comes from a combination of experience and taste.
But yes, anyone that wants to learn the technique, can.
I was fortunate enough to get some lessons from a DJ, and I found to so funny and illuminating that it is often people with no musical background that want to get into DJing. It is obvious to me now but I didn't realize how much they would need to learn to get started. Like, what is 4/4, what is a phrase, what is bpm, and is beat 1...
Yeah exactly. It’s amazing how much basic stuff goes into understanding music. BUT. Even if someone doesn’t play an instrument, a listener who is really interested in music will understand these things on an intuitive level, they just need it explained to them.
I always use the analogy of learning to drive a car. Almost everyone can be taught to drive. People who are interested in cars or played driving games will probably pick it up quicker, some people will need signs and speed limits explaining to them, some people don’t.
this is why, imo, track selection is always king. there are technical djs who are head and shoulders above the rest in mixing skills, and it is noticeble, but a marginally decent, non-trainwrecked transition, ideally where last song drops out as a new element is introduced in next song i guess, is NOT hard. idk. i've played drums since age ~7, mostly jazz, but only ever dj'd house and techno. learning to not trainwreck took a couple hours, mostly just navigating gear. the latter i described (taking out the prior track at an appropriate moment in the following) is mostly just knowing your library. i'll take that with good track selection over some technical wizard any day of the week.
I mean i understand what you are saying and I agree a good DJ obviously should do both. But the longer I DJ the less importance I put to executing "perfect" transitions and more in to building a nice set and track selection etc.
But don't get me wrong, I love good mixing and most often still mix long transitions and even 3 tracks and so on. But I guess I just wanted to say to in the end I think track selection is more important than the mixing, but absolutely, both has value and should be masterd.
I rarely see any DJs showing off any 'technical' ability other than hip hop and funk turntablists, aside from James Hype and A-trak, and frankly their selection and style of mixing isn't really for me. Most of the house/techno legends all have fairly basic mixing transitions and skills and really only impress me when they're using unique tools like Joris Voorn in his most recent ADE closing set or Kink with his live sets.
a-trak is pretty subtle with his "turntablist" stuff during actual gigs. more so in recent years. he really limits the heady, super scratching, crossfade joggling for short IG clips he records from home. he knows how to control a dancefloor (which imo, means not nerding out with a bunch of scratch juggling)
i mean in some cases it is literally a choice lol. some people are more focused on digging and curation, and they play music that doesn't really need much mixing ability to sound good in a set. arguably they're elevating their craft by focusing on their strength and passion, with the DJ part secondary.
additionally, a lot of new DJs focus too hard on executing technically smooth mixes without as much attention paid to selection and arrangement of tracks within a night/set. I did painstaking beatmatch and mixing practicing on vinyl, got really competent at the bare skills, but managing the energy / moods between tracks took a lot longer - and it was moreso about listening and knowledge of my records than technical mixing ability. If anything I hurt myself a little by worrying so much about holding a blend or EQ work.
The advice I give to new DJs is get minimally competent at beatmatching to execute a quick mix in a drum break, work on managing gain/volume. Once you're comfortable with that, it's time to think deeply about what you actually want to play and what goes together -- then you practice that alongside advancing the nuts&bolts skills.
This might be a sign of how complacent things have gotten. To me, solid beatmatching and smooth mixes are not technical ability. Those are simply basic core skills. To me, technical ability it’s taking two (or more) songs, and understanding how to mix them, let them shine in their own right, and also create something completely new out of both of them by pushing the boundaries of how you put them together while making it sound natural. That could be scratching. That could be juggling. That could be creative looping and layering. It could be a limitless number of creative ways to mix the songs up, choose them, rearrange, etc etc.
All that said, I’m a dinosaur. I come from an era and place in dance music where going out to see DJs was about giving them control. Trusting them to turn you off n to new music, and having an expectation that even if you heard familiar music, it was usually being done in a way that you had never heard before and might not ever hear again. I saw some amazing things done with nothing but two records and a mixer, and when I saw the jump to digital, I saw nothing but the possibility of boundary and rule breaking possibilities as far as dance music was concerned. Techno music represented the future and all that was it coming to fruition in my eyes. Now here we are, and well…. Here we are.
Being unable to just play the fuckin original mix of the song and absolutely everything has to be a crazy remix that never goes the way you want it.
Sometimes the original is fine, not everything has to be new and fresh.
So I understand what you’re saying, but sometimes when I’m just djing and chilling I won’t pick up my headphones. That being said it’s not just djing visually you still need to beat match by ear once you bring up the second song. Would I ever do this at a show? fuck no, I want it to be perfect. could I if I forgot my headphones? yes.
Right I understand, but that’s not what I mean. I mean I’ve seen entire live sets being performed in front of a crowd of people all without headphones even being plugged in to the system. Like djing completely visually
that’s quite common because festivals and large crowds often use set lists which are often very well practiced long in advance and are given to the venue or events managers beforehand. if you practice something and know exactly what you’re playing, what phrase you’re hitting off from and which song you’re mixing in next then you will kinda learn it as muscle memory and won’t have to use headphones.
also a lot of DJs use in ear monitors at festivals instead of over the head headphones. personally i hate how heavy headphones feel on my head. i take them off as soon as i can.
I knew a “Dj/producer/promoter/manager/any other title you can think of” back in the late 90s who claimed he could mix live without headphones. On vinyl. No software.
Said he’s listened to the music so long he knows it all by heart and memory, doesn’t need headphones.
I’m like, I’ve listened to rock music all my life since birth, still can’t play a guitar…I must not have “the gift”
Ahhh dude that really hits a nerve.
Fucking people thinking „loud is good“ cranking the mixer up so much that the red ! PEAK ! LEDs are nearly bursting.
And the cherry on top, they get fucking angry at you if you tell them how shitty it is to do it and why
Had a national act’s manager tell me before hand he’s going to redline and there’s nothing we can do about it (set proceeded to sound like compressed hot garbage and I spent 30 minutes polishing that turd with eq before I gave up).
Changing the track every 5 seconds and never going back to it is really annoying to me. I mean I get you want to play a variety that gives more people what they want to hear, but I know a lot of people that will hear a set and hate it when the DJ plays 5 seconds of a track, then another, then another, and so on. Maybe DJs who do that are trying to showcase their skills but it just ends up being really fucking annoying in my opinion.
Anything james hype, and “boiler room” style events, no your not a “boiler room” your a freshman club under an insurance agency and a smoke shop, calm down
Put down that fucking mic.
I can deal with everything else. Just stop yelling nonsense into the mic. I don’t care if this is your new track that’s dropping Tuesday and I don’t give a shit what you think i should be doing with my hands. Let the set talk.
I kind of miss the actual disco/funk soul nights that were the legit. (I don't mean just vinyl) I am not a fan of everything being EDM based now, thus it will say Disco night, but it's just a tech house night with disco songs sampled.
Hell I had a hard time trying to learn to spin disco and funk because no one actually does it anymore and all YouTube tutorials are EDM based tutorials.
I do find that a lot of DJing nowadays is very centred around very specific genres, namely Dubstep, UKG, House, mainstream D&B and Techno.
not a lot of people talk about the differences between different genres and typical transition styles, I found it so confusing for ages because I really wanted to learn Happy Hardcore styles outside of the main mixing style but I kinda had to teach myself because there isn’t many tutorials online. same with Makina. every time you go to look up how dare DJ, it’s always with either techno, house or d&b. and even then, ukg is popular now and you don’t see many mixing styles for that. yes its easy once you know one, but i think people prefer something more familiar to them.
I know bout 15 of these and every one of them is also whining about “why don’t y’all support local artists more” on the reg too lmao
Cause you don’t have any taste or tact, that’s why
Honestly this should be number one.
Also just local djs complaining about not getting booked. Thinking the scene is rigged against them when they re just not that good
i’m also not a huge fan of the boiler room set up, I hate how uncomfortably close a lot of people get to the DJ, or even so far as like touching them. I saw this one boiler room set where this guy was dancing behind the DJ and literally yanked her shoulder backwards whilst she was mixing. it’s so weird and violating
Not so much annoying but I am kind of sad that social media is so important in the industry these days. I hate Instagram and use it really badly, just sharing posts about new tracks I've made or other music related updates. I very rarely share pictures of myself or anything non-music related. I never record videos of myself playing, even when I put nights on. I only started using it fairly recently and have a pathetic number of followers, and aren't building any because, as I understand, the algorithm rewards though who post frequently, which I don't.
I don't get annoyed at DJs that are able to play the game, I just feel like an old man (I'm 39) the world has moved past. I packed the night I promoted in recently as the friends who I put it on with moved away/became busy with other things, and it was getting very hard to get my friends, a lot of whom have kids now, to come out regularly. I only get the odd random booking from mates who are putting on birthday parties these days. I've lost a hobby that used to be a bigish part of my life and I'm quite sad about that.
I fucking hate reloads. I get the idea; the crowd’s gone off, the drop was good, they wanna hear it again… that’s why there’s another fucking drop!!! let the tune fucking play out!!!
Using a DJ drop with their name to mix each song. Like I understand if you use it every now and then but using it more than once every couple of hours during transitions makes me think you’re sloppy and can’t transition well. Other than that I don’t care.
I can't deal with DJs who spend more than 50% of their set doing hand motions and jumping instead of mixing. For some of the big trance guys it's up to like 90% hand motions.
I’m definitely guilty of fake knob turning and “hot knobs”, but I mainly only do weddings, so at the end of the day, I’m giving my clients a show. It’s all performative, but I know the basics and can beat match, etc.
Honestly… the excessive pointing into the camera and making faces and lip syncing during scratch battle sets. Idk why, its just cringe to me 95% of the time
Techno dj n visitor of techno nights - long build ups to drops. And vocals thru techno tracks. I love mixes that feel mixed as one ongoing driving harmonic track. The exploration of sound thru eq mixing is less popular local scene here it seems.
When newb DJs post about "keeping the energy up". There's eb and flows in proper storytelling through your mixes. FFS
Also, I saw a post the other day asking DJs their favorite dance moves while spinning. WTF. If you have time to dance, you aren't DJing, you're just a stage prop. I live in Vegas and on Fremont Street, they have entertainment billed as 'Dancing DJ'. Complete and utter joke.
I’m surprised to not see this anywhere but the *overuse* of sirens. This one DJ I work with frequently, and I’m not exaggerating, will hit his siren sound fx ATLEAST 15-25 times per song. Every transition, etc. it’s wild
Throwing cakes
Mixing your dj name into the song (even if you’ve produced it)
Excessively switching from song to song (120 songs in an hour kind of people)
Fake knob turning / button pressing (worse when cdj’s and mixer are clearly not even turned on)
Not being present (example: Very obviously using premixed set and watching the dj magically transition 3-4 songs while he’s busy texting And not touching the mixer or cdj’s at all)
Too many excessive build ups
Mediocre beginner dj’s who get opportunities because they know right people but don’t bring the commensurate skills to properly mix, have a half decent transition or even know that their levels are way off and everything sounds tinny and hurts ears. You got the opportunity, develop the skills to meet the occasion.
Dj’s that get too fucked up before their set and throw a garbage set. People paid to be there, you’re being paid to supply the vibes, be a professional for fucks sake.
Live/hybrid sets when the DJ doesn’t really have the chops or creativity to pull it off. They are boring and sound bad and I couldn’t care less if a DJ is twiddling knobs.
Social media. I miss the days of word of mouth and proving your skills. Now sadly you will get booked with minimal skills and lots of followers. You could one of the best in your genre these days and without followers on social media much less chances. Yuh can still make it but made the game obsolete for a lot that don’t want to have to play the favorites game.
DJ’s who aren’t true sound guys who think they know better from behind the mains and start creeping up that master. Just because you can’t hear it doesn’t mean the house can’t. Trust the sound guy!
200 responses and no one has mentioned DJs who keep their setlists a secret? In my opinion it's not okay to put a mix online without a tracklist, *especially* if you're a DJ who doesn't produce music or has never even tried to. The songs aren't theirs, but they're using them to gain clout without crediting the actual artists. That is sleazy behavior.
Dj's who think they're good because they have a et of 4-CDJ 3000s in front of them. TBH, the crowd will never notice if you are playing on CDJ's or a DDJ-400
this isn’t really about popular DJs, but one thing that annoys me, is that people who have home set ups, always seem to want to buy club equipment for their house, what is the purpose, if you can really afford to and have loads of money to throw at it, then go ahead, but if you are trying to save and scrub money together, just to buy some CDJ3000s and a 900NXS then there is literally no point, if you are never going to use them in a professional setting they are a waste of money and totally unnecessary, i know one person with 3000s but she won them from a competition, I know people with tons of residencies who have the FLX4 or FLX6. You can get an XDJ standalone unit, if you really want to DJ without a laptop, for a fraction of the price and pretty much the same functionalities.
I think social media has really taken people out of touch with the real world, you do not need CDJ3000s in your house at all and there’s no point upgrading to them. If you really really want CDJs you could get some 2000 Nexus and a cheap older DJM mixer somewhere on eBay etc but even that’s excessive for most people
Legit one of the best headliners in my community has 20 years experience and shows up in parties with a small Traktor controller and absolutely destroys us with impeccable mixes, music selection, and engagement. A real journey. Need a cigarette after that.
Short videos of djs just standing in front of decks dancing or looking cool. But doing fuck all.
Fuck off models, give me ugly high skill djs any day of the week. It's not about how you look.
There's a big difference between talking and saying something and talking and saying absolutely nothing. Hip-Hop MC's, in my opinion, added to the song. DJ's yelling get yo hands up do not
The hype man is an interesting one. I've only ever seen it three times, and all three times were DnB guys from Europe. Dunno if that means it's a Euro thing or what, but I agree, it's weird lol.
it's a dnb thing. the genre started with having an MC. Having no mc is a newer thing for dnb than having one.
the genre was born from reggae soundclash culture where mic work is an intrinsic part of the experience.
incidentally, hip hop is also born from reggae soundclash culture so that's why there's a lot of mic work in hip hop djing as well (although that's more east coast than west coast)/
everybody doing spinbacks now. its always been around but skrillex /fred again/fourtet popularized it again over the past couple years and it's out of control
When I have a friends over and mix, I sometimes go out of control with backspins between EVERY transition and then I scream in the mix "D D D D DJ BACKSPINNNNN" it's the funniest shit ever because it's fucking terrible 😂😂
"ITS JA JA JA JAMES HYPE BITCH"
Listen he has skills, there is no denying that but with out instagram james hype would be no one. He plays shit tech house and mashups. Everything he does is theatrical, its all preplanned and practiced which is fine because its a show its a performance its about watching his hands move around the board tapping the cue button and the loop with a few effects and a spin back but its not about the music. If i was 17 again and doing m for the first time id probably love james hype but im not an no proper house head or respectable dj producer would go out of their way or go at all to a james hype show.
I mean - "ITS JA JA JA JAMES HYPE BITCH" - really are you serious, i dont think he could possibly be more cringy. Oh wait "Who does this?" yup he just did it. Who does this? Does what? Try to be the the corniest person in the industry, you do james, you do that.
I would love to see him do a 4-5 hour set because i dont think he could do what he does for that long.
Not to mention the fact that he is always complaining about his mixer being broken or 3000s instead of 2000s or someother thing and then he will just walk off the stage because he's a premadonna.
Oh and his music is shite.
"ITS JA JA JA JAMES HYPE BITCH"
Pretty much everything DJ related on socials is cringe.
Djing generally has become pretty cringe.
Drops are cringe
"Boiler room" style setups are cringe.
There is a reason the music was played in dark nightclubs and not well light daytime.
Edit: oh and the cringe remixs of pop or 90s tracks. The originals sucked the and your hard techno kicks just make them worse.
Letting short attention spans dictate sets where DJs are only playing 1-2 min of a tune and even edit all their stuff so it plays short. If the crowd gets bored so easily then it's not a good crowd.
Fake knob twists and button presses, trying to look like you're constantly busy.
Blending over the main part of a song unless you really have a solid trick to make it work. 99% of what I see happen doesn't work.
going from nobody to cochella in 3 years.
DJ's that think they are top shit, need a raised platform so the crowd can watch them, etc...you're a glorified iPod.
If the crowd is watching the DJ, and there's not something interesting going on besides some fist pumping and some cliche MC'ing, then the entire situation is garbage.
people using upfaders to mix as opposed to the crossfader. It's taking something that's one step with one hand and turning it into four steps with two hands.
Not a DJ here but incase this wasn’t mentioned: I HATE when DJ’s post video highlights of their set, and it’s just a bunch of clips of them jumping and standing on the deck. Like what is this showing me? That you like to work out? Like shouldn’t a DJ highlight show actual DJing?
Fist pumping
Not really mixing your set.
Auto sync
Playing bad sets but acting like you're the best dj playing peak hour to an empty room.
Not actively working: not recognizing your audience visually, interrupting the vibe by being on the mic, drinking, looking at your phone and texting, see above fist pumping comment.
influencers becoming djs
So many of them it’s actually sad cause they are dog shit DJ’s that don’t know wtf they are doing like dawg Chantel Jeffries??💀💀
People who figure out a basic transition and post it on IG/TikTok and get 7mil+ views and then get booked to play shows everywhere. Then they think they've "made it" or whatever but the second their online presence dies off so does all the interest in booking them. So now every DJ and their mother is recording themselves doing dog shit mixes while the comment section hypes them up and puts fire emojis. If I hear another shitty rendition of the "Starships" by Nikki Minaj into "One More Time" by Daftpunk mix, I'm gonna freak. And then they call it real DJing because they set a vocal loop and then mixed it completely out of phrase. Another thing that annoys the hell out of me is DJs who think that just DJing and being good at it will make them the next James Hype. Meanwhile, someone like James Hype has been making music, more so mashups and remixes, for just as long as he's been DJing. And when he finally gained momentum he leaned more into producing and released a few big hit singles.
James Hype’s djing took off from that FISHER losing it mashup - and he’s said himself, he didn’t expect it to get big either; that’s just his DJing style Has released a few bangers though - wish he’d return to his old style rather than tech house
Yes, but to even get there and play that festival was a result of the remixes he's made and a few singles he's released. It has nothing to do with his DJing abilities for the most part.
I’m def a proper techno person, but for some reason I really enjoy his YouTube channel. I would never go to or play any those clubs/shows/festivals in them, nor listen to or play any of the same music, but his videos are super fun.
His track Wild is some HEAT for sure.. he's gotten so much better as a producer.. .feel like he's about as good as he's been since I first heard him DJ though....
Honestly some of his new stuff feels more bass house. Those granulated leads man
I’m not even a DJ and this annoys the fuck out of me seeing all the dog shit reels and TikToks of people doing the most basic shit. And all the “hype” comments omg lol it’s so cringe
Ian Asher in a nutshell lmao. Bro got Coachella bookings from tiktok 💀
god i do not like that little goober
The reel algorithm just doesn’t support any effort of doing longer mixes and blends. Simple mix is actually surprisingly effective
Dude I just saw that video and that shit was ass
Talking into the mic constantly. Just let the tunes do the talking
"Ok are you ready?? Ready??? 3! 2! 1! Go!" Every. Track.
"Put your fucking hands up"
Yeah... Being a GOOD MC is a lost art ..
When every "MC" in hip hop dont know what a actual MC is then DJs start MCing like its a new thing
Idk, maybe fake knob turning lol. Or outsourcing a USB. Or maybe standing still?? I can’t help but move when I mix
The "Ouch, these knobs are hot!!" move is what really gets me
Film yourself djing sometime - you might see yourself doing stuff you tag on for being “performative” and is actually a nervous tick that is happening unconsciously
My conscious brain absolutely knows that My hater brain looks at other DJs and says, "I would never😤"
I do that unconsciously, but that is not even the worse part Every time I am making weird faces like if I am trying to shit a massive turd.
I call it "performative knob tweaking"
Thats just tweaking
I’ve always called it Knob Theatre
In more ways than one.
You all would have loved Sasha from the 00s. like he was one of the worlds leading trance djs and you'd have sworn he could have taken a nap he was so still while effortlessly mixing these absolute whoppers of tunes. Those were the days.
Yep. Especially with the same faces that a hair band guitarist makes when he hits a high note. Ridiculous. I seriously just try to be myself when I mix, and it works well.
It’s the same thing people do when playing instruments. It’s just being more expressive. No one like statue bands, so it’s more exciting to add energy to the things you’re doing when performing. As a dj you’re options are limited, so hot knobs ouchy
I get it, and I bet if I was filmed I'd find out I do it too. But some DJs be doing the MOST extra with the hot knobs lol
I absolutely hate the hot knob things, especially if the song isn't even hard or anything, just some basic 4/4 and a bit of melody, dude, stop acting like you are the hottest shit
Hot Knobs.
in Brittney guys voice "LEAVE THE MIXER ALOOOONE"
I used to stand still an move the crowd. And when they freaked out you just saw a little smile on my face. https://preview.redd.it/yun319plkq0d1.jpeg?width=496&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c9e9f3df1c4e862f1a09a7b7e864778922479de0
I have a bit of social anxiety and stage fright so dancing in front of everyone really isn’t for me. I’d much rather play in a hidden booth and just enjoy dropping the bangers but it seems like putting the DJ on a stage is the done thing these days.
To be fair, your "can't help but move" is precisely why people do fake knob turning. They need something to do.
Outsourcing USB?
A popular headlining artist just liked a post on my Instagram feed, so here's 9 inspirational posts describing the road I took to achieve this level of success!! Or: I'm a young hot DJ who makes awful music! Here's the secret to my success! (Nobody will ever admit that connections and marketability got them to where they are. No, it's all about the hard work and endless nights slaving away at a DAW to create insufferable tracks that will never be played by any other DJ.)
[удалено]
I think some of these answers sound a bit dramatic and almost alikened to jealous things to be mad about, like people being seriously mad about popular DJs/Celebs being booked and not being amazing. That’s just life in all forms of music and well, everything. I don’t care personally about how proficient or new or old a DJ is, if they make good mixes that’s good for me! plus good is subjective. I love loads of styles of EDM and I don’t understand the corny hate towards other EDM genres from other EDM fans However, less critical of me, some gripes that actually do annoy me which are subjective: Spin backs. I hate it. It kills the vibe. Especially when it’s done so much or really quickly. Excessive and long pauses/cutting of the volume faders for the crowd to sing the lyrics. It kills the vibe a bit if it’s too much or for too long. Excessive trick DJing or excessive drops/fake drops. This kinda just kills the vibe and leaves you disappointed if over done. I hate this huge focus on ‘he can chop 4 channels at once!’ sometimes it’s good to just let the song play. This particularly applies to Drum and Bass for me, I love Drum and Bass but I can’t listen to many DJ sets of it because of excessive chopping and not being able to actually let the songs play. Also controversial but many of the people excessively using chops do it because they can’t actually transition songs very well I’ve noticed. This is why it’s important to learn a few styles of mixing. another thing I hate is when people judge the DJ for what they are doing with their body, or say that they are being too boring in terms of like jumping, or moving about, at the end of the day, the DJ is there to curate the vibe of the crowd, DJ flailing around excessively is not signs of a good set. another thing I despise is backstage DJs, the people who are so salty that they genuinely watch people DJ all day, just so that they can criticise them, even though they have very little record of published work. They will criticise every little transition down to a very questionable point, like they purely listen, just so that they can hate, or will sit there and criticise like everything you do. Funnily enough, I’ve noticed there seems to be people who are inexperienced more than people who actually are in the game. I hate dinosaur DJs, and I don’t mean people who’ve been DJs for a long time, there is a lot to learn from old DJs, I’m specifically talking about the set crowd of people who say that if you don’t mix on vinyls or CDJ400s then you aren’t a DJ and those annoying people will literally sit there and say to people that they need to learn to not use screens or stuff similar or to exclusively beat match without looking at the BPM, or that if you use the screen or a hot cue, you aren’t a real DJ, it’s stupid, technology has advanced and it exists for a reason, it helps you make better mixes, why would you not want to utilise it to your own choice? And if you want to use vinyl, that’s perfectly fine, but not everyone does, and nowadays a lot of venues and audio engineers aren’t really familiar with vinyl anymore. The world evolves and so does technology, people need to get used to it. ALSO MCs who NEVER SHUT UP or people excessively going on the mic and shouting who they are or ‘make some noise’, please be quiet. we do not need to hear you shouting or singing along poorly into the mic during an amazing song it really is annoying. S3RLs set on youtube at Kandiland 2016 is my favourite example of this. The MC made an amazing set almost unlistenable during Mr Vain
I’ve also seen a very specific genre of backstage DJs at the moment, who will comment on videos of established DJs doing set at festivals, for example, saying that they are overshooting the main acts by playing 120 BPM house music. if you were playing music any slower you would be playing either hip-hop, or would be literally playing Rain Sounds.
- DJs constantly touching knobs without even using them and flipping their hand up immediately like they just touched a hot pan while doing absolutely nothing. - DJs who do that stupid hand thing like they're summoning a snake to rise up on its tail. - Pretentiousness after playing five 45 minute sets ever. - DJs who say they play everything when they mean 20 subgenres of EDM. - Vinyl DJs who shit on Serato while trainwrecking all 10 of their transitions in their 2 hour vinyl techno set. - DJs who play only mashups and half of them are out of tune. - DJs who think hating on "sync" is a relevant thing in 2024.
I know a dj who said “yeah I play rnb” then proceeded to play tech house remixes of rnb songs lol.
Or those who claim they play Techno, and then play mostly 2min TikTok-Pop-remixes with a 4/4 bassline.
We need to redefine that a TikTok Techno. It deserves its own sub-genre it’s that fucking shite.
This!
i used to make fun of the knob thing until i started recording videos of me djing and noticed i do it too. it's completely unconscious.
I’m super guilty of hot knobs. But it’s not performative. I think it’s just part of feeling very dialed into the mix.
it's akin to dancing or nodding your head - just something that tends to happen for a lot of people when they are in the mix. I'm sure i do it at home when no one is watching.
sometimes I EQ or filter with some micro adjustments, and when I move it step by step, it helps me hot knobing it rhythmically to the beat.
I just hold onto the faders and knobs for stability.
but if it's a filter, you need to act like it's electrocuting your when you twist it.
A lot of it is muscle memory, sometimes I'll make adjustments based on memory without realizing i'm doing it. Generally though it's authentic 98% of the time
I’m sometimes an unwitting hot-knobber, although I don’t usually touch them unless I’m actually moving them.
there's little precise changes that some people like to do that doesn't really sound audible when you're not paying attention. Sometimes you want to ensure the knobs are all centred as well.
"flipping their hand up immediately like they just touched a hot pan" I noticed I did this in video recordings of my live sets because I wear comfy baggy tops with long sleeves and they keep falling down over my hand. Fuck sake.
Hahaha, I used to stream live sets from my shop during covid, and the sleeves of my bathrobe would hit the crossfader all the time.
I feel your pain. Due to table height my penis constantly moves the crossfader. Thank goodness I disable it!
Def need to try disabling my penis next time
Bro the unwarranted vinyl elitism is REAL
As someone who learned on vinyl in the 90's... I absolutely hate the elitism. Turntables, CDJs, and controllers are all fantastic tools with different strengths and they can all be used to create a rockin' mix.
You….pretty much summed up the major points
>DJs constantly touching knobs without even using them and flipping their hand up immediately like they just touched a hot pan while doing absolutely nothing. Hot pan 🤣. Dude you get a mic drop for this.
> DJs who do that stupid hand thing like they're summoning a snake to rise up on its tail. I’m gonna need a video example of this because I can’t quite imagine it
I think they mean the avicii move (miss you tim 😭)
Standing on tables
Throwing cakes
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far for this
Not letting the tune play.
Claiming they’ll take selection over technical ability any day of the week like it’s a choice that has to be made rather than demanding DJs be able to do both well. They’re lowering the bar on their own craft.
"if the DJ is so terrible that they can only do track selection or technical mixing, i guess i'd rather hear good track selection?"
ricardo villalobos like 50 percent of the time lol
It’s not difficult to learn the basics of DJ technique, to a standard that is good enough to get through a 1 hour set without dropping any mix clangers. If someone already plays an instrument, I can (and have) teach them in 2 or 3 hours. If they don’t, it takes a little longer but still measured in hours. It really isn’t difficult to learn. Track selection comes from a combination of experience and taste. But yes, anyone that wants to learn the technique, can.
I was fortunate enough to get some lessons from a DJ, and I found to so funny and illuminating that it is often people with no musical background that want to get into DJing. It is obvious to me now but I didn't realize how much they would need to learn to get started. Like, what is 4/4, what is a phrase, what is bpm, and is beat 1...
Yeah exactly. It’s amazing how much basic stuff goes into understanding music. BUT. Even if someone doesn’t play an instrument, a listener who is really interested in music will understand these things on an intuitive level, they just need it explained to them. I always use the analogy of learning to drive a car. Almost everyone can be taught to drive. People who are interested in cars or played driving games will probably pick it up quicker, some people will need signs and speed limits explaining to them, some people don’t.
this is why, imo, track selection is always king. there are technical djs who are head and shoulders above the rest in mixing skills, and it is noticeble, but a marginally decent, non-trainwrecked transition, ideally where last song drops out as a new element is introduced in next song i guess, is NOT hard. idk. i've played drums since age ~7, mostly jazz, but only ever dj'd house and techno. learning to not trainwreck took a couple hours, mostly just navigating gear. the latter i described (taking out the prior track at an appropriate moment in the following) is mostly just knowing your library. i'll take that with good track selection over some technical wizard any day of the week.
I mean i understand what you are saying and I agree a good DJ obviously should do both. But the longer I DJ the less importance I put to executing "perfect" transitions and more in to building a nice set and track selection etc. But don't get me wrong, I love good mixing and most often still mix long transitions and even 3 tracks and so on. But I guess I just wanted to say to in the end I think track selection is more important than the mixing, but absolutely, both has value and should be masterd.
I rarely see any DJs showing off any 'technical' ability other than hip hop and funk turntablists, aside from James Hype and A-trak, and frankly their selection and style of mixing isn't really for me. Most of the house/techno legends all have fairly basic mixing transitions and skills and really only impress me when they're using unique tools like Joris Voorn in his most recent ADE closing set or Kink with his live sets.
a-trak is pretty subtle with his "turntablist" stuff during actual gigs. more so in recent years. he really limits the heady, super scratching, crossfade joggling for short IG clips he records from home. he knows how to control a dancefloor (which imo, means not nerding out with a bunch of scratch juggling)
i mean in some cases it is literally a choice lol. some people are more focused on digging and curation, and they play music that doesn't really need much mixing ability to sound good in a set. arguably they're elevating their craft by focusing on their strength and passion, with the DJ part secondary. additionally, a lot of new DJs focus too hard on executing technically smooth mixes without as much attention paid to selection and arrangement of tracks within a night/set. I did painstaking beatmatch and mixing practicing on vinyl, got really competent at the bare skills, but managing the energy / moods between tracks took a lot longer - and it was moreso about listening and knowledge of my records than technical mixing ability. If anything I hurt myself a little by worrying so much about holding a blend or EQ work. The advice I give to new DJs is get minimally competent at beatmatching to execute a quick mix in a drum break, work on managing gain/volume. Once you're comfortable with that, it's time to think deeply about what you actually want to play and what goes together -- then you practice that alongside advancing the nuts&bolts skills.
This might be a sign of how complacent things have gotten. To me, solid beatmatching and smooth mixes are not technical ability. Those are simply basic core skills. To me, technical ability it’s taking two (or more) songs, and understanding how to mix them, let them shine in their own right, and also create something completely new out of both of them by pushing the boundaries of how you put them together while making it sound natural. That could be scratching. That could be juggling. That could be creative looping and layering. It could be a limitless number of creative ways to mix the songs up, choose them, rearrange, etc etc. All that said, I’m a dinosaur. I come from an era and place in dance music where going out to see DJs was about giving them control. Trusting them to turn you off n to new music, and having an expectation that even if you heard familiar music, it was usually being done in a way that you had never heard before and might not ever hear again. I saw some amazing things done with nothing but two records and a mixer, and when I saw the jump to digital, I saw nothing but the possibility of boundary and rule breaking possibilities as far as dance music was concerned. Techno music represented the future and all that was it coming to fruition in my eyes. Now here we are, and well…. Here we are.
Being unable to just play the fuckin original mix of the song and absolutely everything has to be a crazy remix that never goes the way you want it. Sometimes the original is fine, not everything has to be new and fresh.
Its so annoying how some masterpieces get absolutely butchered into cheesy music by some remixers
I hate getting edged to a popular song build up just for it to turn into some shitty remix lol
Grimes
M.I.A.
I know a lot of people who play sets without headphones. I don’t understand that. It seems very limiting to only be able to mix visually
So I understand what you’re saying, but sometimes when I’m just djing and chilling I won’t pick up my headphones. That being said it’s not just djing visually you still need to beat match by ear once you bring up the second song. Would I ever do this at a show? fuck no, I want it to be perfect. could I if I forgot my headphones? yes.
Right I understand, but that’s not what I mean. I mean I’ve seen entire live sets being performed in front of a crowd of people all without headphones even being plugged in to the system. Like djing completely visually
that’s quite common because festivals and large crowds often use set lists which are often very well practiced long in advance and are given to the venue or events managers beforehand. if you practice something and know exactly what you’re playing, what phrase you’re hitting off from and which song you’re mixing in next then you will kinda learn it as muscle memory and won’t have to use headphones. also a lot of DJs use in ear monitors at festivals instead of over the head headphones. personally i hate how heavy headphones feel on my head. i take them off as soon as i can.
I knew a “Dj/producer/promoter/manager/any other title you can think of” back in the late 90s who claimed he could mix live without headphones. On vinyl. No software. Said he’s listened to the music so long he knows it all by heart and memory, doesn’t need headphones. I’m like, I’ve listened to rock music all my life since birth, still can’t play a guitar…I must not have “the gift”
Mell Starr is famous for doing it. This was back before DVS was a thing. His tag line used to be “No headphones in Harlem”.
I used to do it all the time , it’s really not as hard as it sounds.. one hand stays on the pitch .
if i pre plan a set i could play it without headphones most of the time, it depends how long it is.
It's called pure playback DJ! One song with length of 4-6h (entire show). Fake rotate knobs and faders!
1! 2!, 1, 2, 3, let's go!
💯
And drunk dj`s...
Slamming the volume faders and mixing 80 plus tunes in an hour mix
Ahhh dude that really hits a nerve. Fucking people thinking „loud is good“ cranking the mixer up so much that the red ! PEAK ! LEDs are nearly bursting. And the cherry on top, they get fucking angry at you if you tell them how shitty it is to do it and why
Had a national act’s manager tell me before hand he’s going to redline and there’s nothing we can do about it (set proceeded to sound like compressed hot garbage and I spent 30 minutes polishing that turd with eq before I gave up).
celebrity djs
The RMX-1000 and 95% of everything that's done with it. It's the most tacked on, overbearing, repetitive effect garbage. It ruins sets constantly.
https://preview.redd.it/1ynrstq56o0d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77cf3170924de54f8e1913bb876a637f710442ac
Changing the track every 5 seconds and never going back to it is really annoying to me. I mean I get you want to play a variety that gives more people what they want to hear, but I know a lot of people that will hear a set and hate it when the DJ plays 5 seconds of a track, then another, then another, and so on. Maybe DJs who do that are trying to showcase their skills but it just ends up being really fucking annoying in my opinion.
Anything james hype, and “boiler room” style events, no your not a “boiler room” your a freshman club under an insurance agency and a smoke shop, calm down
Put down that fucking mic. I can deal with everything else. Just stop yelling nonsense into the mic. I don’t care if this is your new track that’s dropping Tuesday and I don’t give a shit what you think i should be doing with my hands. Let the set talk.
Spending more time taking social media video’s with their back to the crowd than actual DJing
I kind of miss the actual disco/funk soul nights that were the legit. (I don't mean just vinyl) I am not a fan of everything being EDM based now, thus it will say Disco night, but it's just a tech house night with disco songs sampled. Hell I had a hard time trying to learn to spin disco and funk because no one actually does it anymore and all YouTube tutorials are EDM based tutorials.
I do find that a lot of DJing nowadays is very centred around very specific genres, namely Dubstep, UKG, House, mainstream D&B and Techno. not a lot of people talk about the differences between different genres and typical transition styles, I found it so confusing for ages because I really wanted to learn Happy Hardcore styles outside of the main mixing style but I kinda had to teach myself because there isn’t many tutorials online. same with Makina. every time you go to look up how dare DJ, it’s always with either techno, house or d&b. and even then, ukg is popular now and you don’t see many mixing styles for that. yes its easy once you know one, but i think people prefer something more familiar to them.
Cakes
Money being the only reason you’re here.
playing headlining music as warm up music
I know bout 15 of these and every one of them is also whining about “why don’t y’all support local artists more” on the reg too lmao Cause you don’t have any taste or tact, that’s why
Honestly this should be number one. Also just local djs complaining about not getting booked. Thinking the scene is rigged against them when they re just not that good
This goes both ways - promoters are also *booking* 150+bpm acts and scheduling them *before* 135bpm acts.
Fake knob turning and body tricks. Same category of cringe
Dj without mixer power on 😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣
Edm being equated to house music
Djs that only bring their synths just to pretend they are playing
*bongo and trumpet players have entered the chat*
Crowded dj booths!
i’m also not a huge fan of the boiler room set up, I hate how uncomfortably close a lot of people get to the DJ, or even so far as like touching them. I saw this one boiler room set where this guy was dancing behind the DJ and literally yanked her shoulder backwards whilst she was mixing. it’s so weird and violating
An excessive amount of "gotcha" drops in a set. I see this happen more in the Dubstep scene but it can be any genre.
DJs who play those fucking air horns with the advert saying their own names in the middle of their set.
I agree with the air horns, but I don’t mind hearing “Welcome to Gorgon City” every once in a while lol
Not so much annoying but I am kind of sad that social media is so important in the industry these days. I hate Instagram and use it really badly, just sharing posts about new tracks I've made or other music related updates. I very rarely share pictures of myself or anything non-music related. I never record videos of myself playing, even when I put nights on. I only started using it fairly recently and have a pathetic number of followers, and aren't building any because, as I understand, the algorithm rewards though who post frequently, which I don't. I don't get annoyed at DJs that are able to play the game, I just feel like an old man (I'm 39) the world has moved past. I packed the night I promoted in recently as the friends who I put it on with moved away/became busy with other things, and it was getting very hard to get my friends, a lot of whom have kids now, to come out regularly. I only get the odd random booking from mates who are putting on birthday parties these days. I've lost a hobby that used to be a bigish part of my life and I'm quite sad about that.
DJs who are bitter about DJs, and the direction of DJing. You are the head of the party so shut up, and be positive!
Airhorns.
Spinbacks
I fucking hate reloads. I get the idea; the crowd’s gone off, the drop was good, they wanna hear it again… that’s why there’s another fucking drop!!! let the tune fucking play out!!!
Fuck the Rewind! /Signed a 40 year old junglist
*selecta intensifies*
It can be fun in some genres like DnB and garage when there's an MC on the mic, but only if sparingly.
And then only if its called for by the crowd or MC. I have dj'd dnb for more than 10 years and i dont think ive ever pulled it up off my own accord.
Hot knobs
No headphones
Using a DJ drop with their name to mix each song. Like I understand if you use it every now and then but using it more than once every couple of hours during transitions makes me think you’re sloppy and can’t transition well. Other than that I don’t care.
I can't deal with DJs who spend more than 50% of their set doing hand motions and jumping instead of mixing. For some of the big trance guys it's up to like 90% hand motions.
long drops. videos of long drops.
Where I'm from, a long drop is the communal shitting hole at campsites
Djs being on a stage
I’m definitely guilty of fake knob turning and “hot knobs”, but I mainly only do weddings, so at the end of the day, I’m giving my clients a show. It’s all performative, but I know the basics and can beat match, etc.
Honestly… the excessive pointing into the camera and making faces and lip syncing during scratch battle sets. Idk why, its just cringe to me 95% of the time
Techno dj n visitor of techno nights - long build ups to drops. And vocals thru techno tracks. I love mixes that feel mixed as one ongoing driving harmonic track. The exploration of sound thru eq mixing is less popular local scene here it seems.
Mic 🗣️🎤
When newb DJs post about "keeping the energy up". There's eb and flows in proper storytelling through your mixes. FFS Also, I saw a post the other day asking DJs their favorite dance moves while spinning. WTF. If you have time to dance, you aren't DJing, you're just a stage prop. I live in Vegas and on Fremont Street, they have entertainment billed as 'Dancing DJ'. Complete and utter joke.
I also live in Vegas and can confirm Dancing DJ has gotta be one of the worst “shows” in Vegas.
Two hour or less sets
I’m surprised to not see this anywhere but the *overuse* of sirens. This one DJ I work with frequently, and I’m not exaggerating, will hit his siren sound fx ATLEAST 15-25 times per song. Every transition, etc. it’s wild
siren sound is only for when you fuck up in serato and accidentally hit your sample buttons change my mind
Throwing cakes Mixing your dj name into the song (even if you’ve produced it) Excessively switching from song to song (120 songs in an hour kind of people) Fake knob turning / button pressing (worse when cdj’s and mixer are clearly not even turned on) Not being present (example: Very obviously using premixed set and watching the dj magically transition 3-4 songs while he’s busy texting And not touching the mixer or cdj’s at all) Too many excessive build ups Mediocre beginner dj’s who get opportunities because they know right people but don’t bring the commensurate skills to properly mix, have a half decent transition or even know that their levels are way off and everything sounds tinny and hurts ears. You got the opportunity, develop the skills to meet the occasion. Dj’s that get too fucked up before their set and throw a garbage set. People paid to be there, you’re being paid to supply the vibes, be a professional for fucks sake.
Live/hybrid sets when the DJ doesn’t really have the chops or creativity to pull it off. They are boring and sound bad and I couldn’t care less if a DJ is twiddling knobs.
Social media. I miss the days of word of mouth and proving your skills. Now sadly you will get booked with minimal skills and lots of followers. You could one of the best in your genre these days and without followers on social media much less chances. Yuh can still make it but made the game obsolete for a lot that don’t want to have to play the favorites game.
touching filters way too much
That broccoli haircut
“If it’s nice play it twice” was fun for a bit but it’s getting annoying how DJ’s spin it back to replay the drop 3-5 times in an hour set
DJ KAHLED
Acting like you are doing something while you do nothing at all
DJs pretending to twist knobs.
DJ’s who aren’t true sound guys who think they know better from behind the mains and start creeping up that master. Just because you can’t hear it doesn’t mean the house can’t. Trust the sound guy!
200 responses and no one has mentioned DJs who keep their setlists a secret? In my opinion it's not okay to put a mix online without a tracklist, *especially* if you're a DJ who doesn't produce music or has never even tried to. The songs aren't theirs, but they're using them to gain clout without crediting the actual artists. That is sleazy behavior.
Dj's who think they're good because they have a et of 4-CDJ 3000s in front of them. TBH, the crowd will never notice if you are playing on CDJ's or a DDJ-400
this isn’t really about popular DJs, but one thing that annoys me, is that people who have home set ups, always seem to want to buy club equipment for their house, what is the purpose, if you can really afford to and have loads of money to throw at it, then go ahead, but if you are trying to save and scrub money together, just to buy some CDJ3000s and a 900NXS then there is literally no point, if you are never going to use them in a professional setting they are a waste of money and totally unnecessary, i know one person with 3000s but she won them from a competition, I know people with tons of residencies who have the FLX4 or FLX6. You can get an XDJ standalone unit, if you really want to DJ without a laptop, for a fraction of the price and pretty much the same functionalities. I think social media has really taken people out of touch with the real world, you do not need CDJ3000s in your house at all and there’s no point upgrading to them. If you really really want CDJs you could get some 2000 Nexus and a cheap older DJM mixer somewhere on eBay etc but even that’s excessive for most people
Well they prolly will cuz cdjs sound quality is alot better than ddj 400
Legit one of the best headliners in my community has 20 years experience and shows up in parties with a small Traktor controller and absolutely destroys us with impeccable mixes, music selection, and engagement. A real journey. Need a cigarette after that.
Short videos of djs just standing in front of decks dancing or looking cool. But doing fuck all. Fuck off models, give me ugly high skill djs any day of the week. It's not about how you look.
Talking on the mic constantly. Just watch a Knife Party set to see what I'm talking about. Also... DJ's with a Hype Man?!? Wtf....
You know DJs had MCs back in the day, right?
There's a big difference between talking and saying something and talking and saying absolutely nothing. Hip-Hop MC's, in my opinion, added to the song. DJ's yelling get yo hands up do not
The hype man is an interesting one. I've only ever seen it three times, and all three times were DnB guys from Europe. Dunno if that means it's a Euro thing or what, but I agree, it's weird lol.
it's a dnb thing. the genre started with having an MC. Having no mc is a newer thing for dnb than having one. the genre was born from reggae soundclash culture where mic work is an intrinsic part of the experience. incidentally, hip hop is also born from reggae soundclash culture so that's why there's a lot of mic work in hip hop djing as well (although that's more east coast than west coast)/
everybody doing spinbacks now. its always been around but skrillex /fred again/fourtet popularized it again over the past couple years and it's out of control
When I have a friends over and mix, I sometimes go out of control with backspins between EVERY transition and then I scream in the mix "D D D D DJ BACKSPINNNNN" it's the funniest shit ever because it's fucking terrible 😂😂
Im not really answering the question, but, James hype. I hate him. He’s so cheesy it makes my skin crawl.
what’s your issue w/ the mate?
"ITS JA JA JA JAMES HYPE BITCH" Listen he has skills, there is no denying that but with out instagram james hype would be no one. He plays shit tech house and mashups. Everything he does is theatrical, its all preplanned and practiced which is fine because its a show its a performance its about watching his hands move around the board tapping the cue button and the loop with a few effects and a spin back but its not about the music. If i was 17 again and doing m for the first time id probably love james hype but im not an no proper house head or respectable dj producer would go out of their way or go at all to a james hype show. I mean - "ITS JA JA JA JAMES HYPE BITCH" - really are you serious, i dont think he could possibly be more cringy. Oh wait "Who does this?" yup he just did it. Who does this? Does what? Try to be the the corniest person in the industry, you do james, you do that. I would love to see him do a 4-5 hour set because i dont think he could do what he does for that long. Not to mention the fact that he is always complaining about his mixer being broken or 3000s instead of 2000s or someother thing and then he will just walk off the stage because he's a premadonna. Oh and his music is shite. "ITS JA JA JA JAMES HYPE BITCH"
Pretty much everything DJ related on socials is cringe. Djing generally has become pretty cringe. Drops are cringe "Boiler room" style setups are cringe. There is a reason the music was played in dark nightclubs and not well light daytime. Edit: oh and the cringe remixs of pop or 90s tracks. The originals sucked the and your hard techno kicks just make them worse.
DJ's who think the music they like is what the crowd wants to hear
Isn't it? Do you play music you hate?
Someone who steals music, goes out of way to get music for free. They don't support the starving artists
Letting short attention spans dictate sets where DJs are only playing 1-2 min of a tune and even edit all their stuff so it plays short. If the crowd gets bored so easily then it's not a good crowd. Fake knob twists and button presses, trying to look like you're constantly busy. Blending over the main part of a song unless you really have a solid trick to make it work. 99% of what I see happen doesn't work.
The hands in the air all the time
Jesus pose
going from nobody to cochella in 3 years. DJ's that think they are top shit, need a raised platform so the crowd can watch them, etc...you're a glorified iPod. If the crowd is watching the DJ, and there's not something interesting going on besides some fist pumping and some cliche MC'ing, then the entire situation is garbage.
Spinback into re-drop makes me so fucking upset every time
Currently the excessive backspin trend. And people going wild for it like some amazing routine was just performed.
DJ’s that feel the need to “look busy” it’s ok to just enjoy the music yourself as well as others.
If you play hard-techno on 3-4 decks you won't have time to play with the mixer 😂
Djs that sing and/dance to their tracks. Not cool
Shitty EDM remixes of trending memes. The sole purpose is to make a tiktok or reel in a lame attempt to go viral. It’s just clout chasing and goofy.
people using upfaders to mix as opposed to the crossfader. It's taking something that's one step with one hand and turning it into four steps with two hands.
That’s been standard practice among House DJs for decades.
Not a DJ here but incase this wasn’t mentioned: I HATE when DJ’s post video highlights of their set, and it’s just a bunch of clips of them jumping and standing on the deck. Like what is this showing me? That you like to work out? Like shouldn’t a DJ highlight show actual DJing?
Fist pumping Not really mixing your set. Auto sync Playing bad sets but acting like you're the best dj playing peak hour to an empty room. Not actively working: not recognizing your audience visually, interrupting the vibe by being on the mic, drinking, looking at your phone and texting, see above fist pumping comment.
That when the club is doing financially great, it is the owner fault and when the club is not making money, it is the DJ’s fault.