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Re: computer music



>>powerbook shows have ranked among some of the
>>most boring/disappointing events i have gone
>>to.
>
>I would have to jump in and agree on this one...100%
>
>Although i also have a hard time with the whole "DJ" thing too.  Not that
>DJ's shouldn't have as much fame and fortune as guitar slingers...far from
>it...it's just more fun to watch paint dry than see these guys spinning
>prefabbed tunes.
>
>I was at a record store recently that specializes in trance/rave/techno/dj
>records and culture.  They have a dj turntable setup in the store and a 
>guy
>spinning.  I was watching with curiosity wondering how they were 
>generating
>the beats and synching them with the sounds of the turntables, assuming
>they were at least seperate elements that the 'talented' dj was assembling
>with his own creative flair.
>
>So, i ask the guy "how are the beats being generated and how are you
>synching everything?" and "do you have records of just beats, and is the
>other turntable playing other sounds?".
>
>Answer:  "No, man, it's all there on the record".
>
>
>Am i missing something?  Are there any DJ's here on the list that can 
>vouch
>for the effort and talent that it takes to compose on turntables?  Or is 
>it
>all premade for you on the vinyl, and your talent is 'record shopping'?
>
I'm not a DJ, nor do I play one on TV...

But I have been working with a really creative DJ for the last year, and
have gotten some insights into the art. There are the DJ's that just play
records and CD's all night. Then, a little further up the creativity
continuum, there are lots of records made specifically for DJ-ing, usually
with titles like "Phat-ass Breakbeat Bombz" or such, and these consist of
beats alternating with wierd samples from king fu movies, key lines from
obscire funk records, etc, and the DJ can use 2 of these records to create
a performance, layering a beat from one record beneath scratching a sample
from the 2nd. There's also the ancient technique of getting 2 copies of the
same record, cueing up a drum break on one, letting that play while you cue
the same break the 2nd, crossfading back an forth to turn a 1 or 2 bar loop
into a whole tune. I've seen this done, and it's really quite a feat of
synchronization to do it smoothly. Then there's the DJ's like Q-bert,
Spooky, etc, who really use the source records to create something new.
Fortunately, the guy I work with aspires to the latter. I think it's like
anything else in music, simple turntabling is no less difficult than
playing the "Louie Louie" riff sloppily, but doing something original and
creative takes a lifetime of study. Seeing a really good DJ at work can be
pretty eye-opening.

As far as the powerbook performance thing, I think it ultimately depends on
the music. Some years ago, I attended a concert of computer music by Carl
Stone and Yuji Takahashi. Takehashi is pretty well-known as a pianist that
specializes in the most difficult of 20th century works. He's less
well-known as a composer, but his pieces, which just featured him at a
computer assembling elements, were absolutely transcenedent.

____________________________________________
Dave Trenkel : improv@peak.org
Minus Web Site: http://listen.to/minusmusic
Minus MP3's: http://www.mp3.com/-minus-
____________________________________________