(I'm going to try posting this in 2 parts):
Some excellent points, Arturo.
My concern with these sorts of "mixes" is that they, to use a word you
brought up, put a "hyperfocus" on the DJ doing the "mix" and a minimal
(pardon the pun) amount of focus on the music being played by the DJ
in that "mix".
Having DJed myself, I've always played songs for others (whether it was
when I was a young boy with friends over playing my new records for
them on my one cheap record player; whether it was making tapes for
friends; whether it was for a crowd at a club or a party; whether it was
on my radio show or, later, syndicated radio/net show) for one reason:
to SHARE songs that I loved and wanted others to hear.
When I had doubles of a record, sure I'd do a few tricks; when I was
editing the syndicated show on the computer, sure I'd do some edits
and get some artist IDs in there, but my playlist was about sharing and
the artists, not about me as the DJ.
Now that I have a 13 month old daughter, I'm certainly not out clubbing,
so I'm going to be referring to recorded mixes vs. in-the-moment mixing
at a club or party: when a DJ--let's take Placid as an example here cos
Paul posts a lot of mixes on here (thank you, Paul)--I'll listen to the mix
and 2 things happen: #1: I'll hear songs I know and love and get to
re-appreciate
them through them being newly presented in the mix; #2: I'll hear songs I
haven't heard before and will want to track down and possibly buy (I
don't download anything illegally). When a DJ presents a recorded mix
with a tracklisting, we'll that's even better cos if there is anything I
want
to track down the info is already there re: artist/song/label. And I can
look at the tracklist and, even before I listen, see if there might be songs
in the mix that I'd like to hear again or new artists/songs I've yet to
experience.
With the recent Hawtin "mix", however, these things all go out the window
(and no, I'm not anti-Hawtin or anti-techology). Because of the way it
is put together,
without a tracklist I'm totally "up a creek" should something jump out at
me cos it could be literally one-bar of a song (and, yes, some DJs play
just a snatch of a song in their mixes, but they don't, like Arturo
mentioned,
play just a hi hat from one song or something else that "sliced). But in
the cause of the Hawtin presentation (I'll call it that instead of a "mix"),
there is a tracklist. I didn't recognize everything in his tracklist, but I
did recognize a name: Robert Owens--an artist I love. He was a featured
vocalist on a track listed as being near the end of the mix.
Well, poor Robert--if he actually truly is featured in Hawtin's
presentation--cannot
be heard. So if the track featuring Robert Owens was played by Hawtin
to share
it, that failed miserably.
(If this works, part 2 will follow).
Andrew
--
Andrew Duke--sound design/recording/composition/production courses:
http://andrew-duke.com/course.html
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http://www.audiobase.com/product/SACR
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http://www.phthalo.com/cat.php?cat=phth40
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http://cognitionaudioworks.com/read.html
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