What are you essential edits?
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:56 am
Eyeball wrote:Where would we be without people to correct the mistakes of Jazzmen?
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Re: What are you essential edits?
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:16 am
anton wrote:Lionel Hampton - Loose Wig (1944): I've edited out the last phrase (which is quite boring) and go straight for the outro.
Re: What are you essential edits?
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:08 am
zzzzoom wrote:
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:22 am
I personally love the concept of editing tracks that would otherwise not be appropriate for playing at dances (and I play several regularly), but be careful when stepping into the territory of editing very familiar tunes. I remember the disappointment of dancing to LCJO's "Happy Go Lucky Local", only to find that the DJ had decided to cut it off half way through! 
Jesse
Jesse
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:44 pm
I (obviously) think there's a lot of opportunity to be creative when DJ-ing.JesseMiner wrote:be careful when stepping into the territory of editing very familiar tunes. I remember the disappointment of dancing to LCJO's "Happy Go Lucky Local", only to find that the DJ had decided to cut it off half way through!
Personally, I would *LOVE* it if more people actually MIXED songs -- a la traditional DJs -- and did it WELL...
Of course, as a dancer, I'm not suggesting some sort of 20-minute "N0n-St0p M3g4m1X" hooha; people are too polite to stop dancing mid-song, and you don't want to be accused of ripping off Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers.
But you could easily* segue a couple 32-bar choruses of three different songs into ~5-6 minutes, then let the last one run out, so people have an opportunity to change partners. Do that judiciously -- a couple/few times an hour, tops -- and people, I hope, will be suitably entertained (and, dare I say, "Impressed" ?)* - Of course, "Easy" is a relative term... The mechanics of mixing -- beat matching, key matching, song selection, etc. -- are an art, and require a good ear and a tremendous amount of practice. Figuring out how to capture the key elements of a few songs, however, and making them fit into a reasonably succinct period of time, though... that's not exactly rocket science.
I would forgive, even welcome, not hearing a song played *EXACTLY* the way I remember it, if it means witnessing something unique -- something I've never heard before, lovingly hand-crafted on the spot (and, like I said... done WELL! See "Tremendous Amount of Practice" above.)
Especially (*cough*) ''Overly Familiar'' songs...
It would certainly elevate the (perceived) role of DJ above mere "iPod Monkey", IMHO...
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 5:20 pm
...similar to my facing the wrath of Shorty Dave when I edited out the long, rhythmless piano interludes in Gene Harris's "Summertime." It worked, but it interfered with Dave's "choreography" to the full version, so he yelled afoul.JesseMiner wrote:I personally love the concept of editing tracks that would otherwise not be appropriate for playing at dances (and I play several regularly), but be careful when stepping into the territory of editing very familiar tunes. I remember the disappointment of dancing to LCJO's "Happy Go Lucky Local", only to find that the DJ had decided to cut it off half way through!
In my defense, though, I had closely watched dancers dancing to that song for several months before undertaking that ever-so-daunting task. NOBODY knew what to do with those piano interludes; it just broke the flow of an otherwise fantastic slow-dance, mixed-tempo song.
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:33 am
Exactly my thoughts. One of the best Lindy remixes was taking Wade in the Water, speeding it up, and overdubbing it with (I think it was) "Cottontail." A bit sloppy at points, but brilliant idea! (And I'm not big a fast-Lindy fan.)OneTrueDabe wrote: I would forgive, even welcome, not hearing a song played *EXACTLY* the way I remember it, if it means witnessing something unique -- something I've never heard before, lovingly hand-crafted on the spot (and, like I said... done WELL! See "Tremendous Amount of Practice" above.)
Especially (*cough*) ''Overly Familiar'' songs...
It would certainly elevate the (perceived) role of DJ above mere "iPod Monkey", IMHO...
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:00 pm
Marcelo did it as a joke, not as fodder for dancing or to impress DJs. If it succeeded on either count, he'd probably be extremely surprised!Lawrence wrote:Exactly my thoughts. One of the best Lindy remixes was taking Wade in the Water, speeding it up, and overdubbing it with (I think it was) "Cottontail." A bit sloppy at points, but brilliant idea! (And I'm not big a fast-Lindy fan.)
Swing DJs are, in the end, essentially human jukeboxes. The value-add lies in reading the mood of the room. If beat-matching and remixes are what it takes to make a room jump, OK, I'm all for whatever gets people dancing.
But to me it seems like an overtly flashy way to stimulate interest in dancers, with a little helping of "hey look at me, I'm the DJ" tossed in. The best DJs I know play good music straight up, no gimmicks, no tricks -- and attract no attention behind the booth whatsoever until you are driving home afterwards and you realize you had a really, really good time thanks to him/her.
Yeah, I'm a grouch.
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:33 pm
I don't agree with editing in general. I think it panders to the dancers. People have been dancing long enough now that if there are some difficult sections in songs that you want to spin, you should just keep them in there.
Of course you don't want to be the "Bet you can't dance to this" DJ; there are so many versions of songs to choose from that I think it's preferable to just not spin a problematic version if it really is a floor clearer.
case in point, there are tons of better versions of Summertime [which makes it time to start a thread on this!].
Of course you don't want to be the "Bet you can't dance to this" DJ; there are so many versions of songs to choose from that I think it's preferable to just not spin a problematic version if it really is a floor clearer.
case in point, there are tons of better versions of Summertime [which makes it time to start a thread on this!].
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:16 am
Can anyone point me towards either a quick "How To", software recommendations or more succinctly the url of where that might have been previously discussed over on the tech side?
Thanks.
Bill
Thanks.
Bill
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:18 am
A free option:wspeid wrote:Can anyone point me towards either a quick "How To", software recommendations or more succinctly the url of where that might have been previously discussed over on the tech side?
Thanks.
Bill
http://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/
http://portableapps.com/apps/music_vide ... y_portable
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:11 pm
I gotta back Dave on this one; the piano interludes setup the energetic section right afterwards. Lawrence I think you should try playing the unedited version again and see what happens; so many more people are doing tango and blues now that I bet you'd get a different reaction.Lawrence wrote:...similar to my facing the wrath of Shorty Dave when I edited out the long, rhythmless piano interludes in Gene Harris's "Summertime." It worked, but it interfered with Dave's "choreography" to the full version, so he yelled afoul.
In my defense, though, I had closely watched dancers dancing to that song for several months before undertaking that ever-so-daunting task. NOBODY knew what to do with those piano interludes; it just broke the flow of an otherwise fantastic slow-dance, mixed-tempo song.
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 4:20 am
If editing helps the energy flow then I think it's really useful. I've found starting a song part of the way in can work well, depending on the music of course 
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:09 am
I have: many times. You have no idea how many times. *I* have no idea how many times, it's been so many. The interludes are just too long. It falls under the category of trying to force an agenda on the dancers too much instead of just making them happy. Typically, four or five of the "Exchange dancers" who heard in on the Circuit loved it because they knew they were supposed to love it; everyone else just looked around wondering what to do, including some rather well-regarded, nationally-acclaimed instructors. It gets annoying, making the groove of the other parts not worth it. The edit it out or don't play it.djstarr wrote:I gotta back Dave on this one; the piano interludes setup the energetic section right afterwards. Lawrence I think you should try playing the unedited version again and see what happens; so many more people are doing tango and blues now that I bet you'd get a different reaction.Lawrence wrote:...similar to my facing the wrath of Shorty Dave when I edited out the long, rhythmless piano interludes in Gene Harris's "Summertime." It worked, but it interfered with Dave's "choreography" to the full version, so he yelled afoul.
In my defense, though, I had closely watched dancers dancing to that song for several months before undertaking that ever-so-daunting task. NOBODY knew what to do with those piano interludes; it just broke the flow of an otherwise fantastic slow-dance, mixed-tempo song.
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:47 am
Isn't a DJ's job at a dance to make people, you know, DANCE ?!djstarr wrote:I don't agree with editing in general. I think it panders to the dancers.
The Promoter in me thinks: if you have a room full of people who paid to be there, yeah, you SHOULD be pandering to them! "The Customer Is Always Right," and all that...
If you want people to sit and listen, I would whole-heartedly encourage you to throw a Listening Party, or try to get a gig at a Coffee Shop[*], e.g. That way, you'll help manage people's expectations. It might also help you extend your audience -- there are a lot of people out there who can't dance, but who thoroughly enjoy listening to Jazz and Vintage Recordings. They might be too intimidated to come to a 'D'ance (with a capital 'D') -- but they'd relish the opportunity to engage with a crowd of like-minded music aficionados.
* - I totally mean that as a positive thing, BTW. I think Art House / Coffee Shops have an unfair "artsy-fartsy neo-Bohemian" stigma attached to them, but that's decidedly undeserved. As long as people welcome newbies, and serve to enlighten -- not snub -- the less-initiated, you'll always attract more and more followers, which helps promote (and preserve) a rich, healthy environment.
The key, IMHO, is to give the people WHAT THEY WANT. If what they want doesn't match what you give them, either they'll get disgusted and stop coming back (which to me means you've failed in your role as Entertainer), or you should look for new people who want what you have to offer. (Be warned, however, that it's a lot harder to find a NEW market than it is to cater to an existing one...)
All my two cents, of course...