Why DJ Quality Control Does Not Exist In The Rave Scene

In the previous chapter, I discussed the promoter's favorite strategy of booking as many DJs as possible. I examined both the pros and cons of this strategy, and the way in which promoters exploit this strategy. Finally, I mentioned that one of the "advantages" of booking many DJs was to make up for the lack of talent. While many of these DJs are not bad, they are not great either. Instead, many of these DJs are good for one hour.

Before I continue on there are a few things I must clear up. I wrote an article entitled "All Kinds of DJs" in which I point out that there are different motivations for being a DJ, different types of DJs, different styles of DJing, and different reasons for going to see DJs. With that much variety, I don't expect you to agree with everything I am about to say. Additionally, I wrote an article entitled "Why We Rave" in which I point out the different reasons people attend raves. There is a strong possibility you may not take the music as seriously as I do, so again you may not agree with what I have to say. I am well aware of the diversity that exists within the scene. Hopefully, I will make a few points you do agree with.

With that said I would like to explain what I look for in DJs. I judge DJs on the quality of their music, and on the variety. I judge DJs on the timing of their mixes, and the creative ways in which they work the faders, EQs, and FX units. Finally, I judge DJs on their ability to program a set by understanding both the emotion and energy of each track. I do not judge DJs on their physical dexterity, so being a DMC champion turntablist or a controllerist is not going to make me lower my standards. While I do occasionally enjoy watching DJs, I mainly go to hear them. Let me explain why most DJs come up short in the categories of music, mixing, and programming.

The Music

Let's face it, we all have different tastes in music. Due to the subjective nature of music, I do not have the right to say what is and is not good music. What I can say is that the more you expose yourself to music, the higher your standards will become. The more time and effort you put into finding music, the better selection of music you will have.

Prior to entering the rave scene, I was reading every music magazine I could get my hands on. I started with Mixmag, Urb, and DJ magazines. Eventually I expanded to Revolution, Mixer, M8, Ministry, Muzak, ATM, and Knowledge magazines. I read books on club culture, and spent countless hours listening to music samples on vinyl shop web sites. I kept track of EVERY track that interested me either on a piece of paper or in a text file on my computer.

When I entered the scene, I was appalled by the fact that most ravers knew nothing about the music. They knew the DJs but could not name the tunes. Let me be clear on something, you do not need to know the names of tunes to enjoy them. However, how passionate are you about the music if you don't make an effort to learn about it? I found it puzzling when these musically ignorant ravers told me they wanted to become DJs. What did they have to offer? If they didn't take the time to learn the music now, would things be different when they became DJs? I eventually realized most DJs didn't know much about the music either. For example, I would meet house DJs who never heard of some of the biggest house tunes. I did not expect them to own the tunes, I just expected them to have heard of them.

If the more you know about music raises your standards of quality, then less knowledge means lower standards. Through talking with many DJs I found they would visit records shops (in the 90's) once every few months and spend a few hours there. They would rely on luck instead of research. This limited effort was apparent in the quality of their music. I would be handed a mix and be lucky if one track remotely interested me. In some cases, I would have to eject the mix after the third track because the selection was so poor. Then a few days later I would force myself to listen to the whole mix because I felt bad.

To make matters worse, many DJs stick to one genre, and their poor selection ends up ruining that genre's reputation. When I first heard dubstep, it was by a Baltimore DJ named Joe Nice. The music was dark and dubby, and reminded me of reggae dub. The basslines were almost inaudible, but shook the room. As a dancer, I didn't particularly care for it, but I had a deep respect for it. A few years later it exploded on the scene. When I went to events the music was different. It was this generic, wobbly, screechy music where every track featured a gimmicky drop. Soon many of the old school ravers would despise it, and be annoyed by the next generation of ravers who worshipped it.

The Mixing

Timing is what gives goosebumps. Timing is having the vocal or the bassline kick in at the perfect moment. Timing is having two tracks build-up or break down at the same time. Again, timing is what gives goosebumps. Most DJs are content to just play a track the whole way through then fade into the next track. Their beatmatching is flawless, but their mixing is boring. I judge DJs on their timing, and most take the easy way out by playing each track in its entirety. I'm not saying it is wrong to mix that way, but it is not exciting.

The Programming

Programming is the art of telling a story with the mix. It involves understanding the emotional impact each track will have on the audience. It involves understanding the physical effect each track will have on the audience depending on the energy it gives off. A skilled DJ will read the audience. If the audience is tired, they will chill the music. If the audience seems rested, they will slowly build the energy back up. By understanding the audience's physical state, a DJ can keep them dancing all night long. Programming involves contrasting music so each track stands on its own.

Since most DJs are genre purists, programming has almost become a lost art form. Of course, that doesn't stop every DJ from bragging about its importance. I'll listen to DJs brag about how important it is to tell a story with their mix, then proceed to do a set where every track sounds identical. They'll do an hour of funky house, or funky breaks, or epic trance, or evil drum and bass, or "filthy" dubstep, or whatever. There is no change in tempo, no change in emotion, and no change in energy. How can they claim to tell a story, or work a crowd?

The Problems With Purism

Imagine a DJ started a set with your favorite tune. Then when the tune ends, the DJ plays it again. In some scenes it is common for a DJ to do a rewind and start a track over. You may get a kick out of it and cheer the DJ on. But if they play the track a third time, you may find yourself questioning the DJ's sanity. If the DJ kept repeating the tune, chances are the audience would try to boo them off the stage. As much as you may love that tune, I highly doubt you want to hear it on repeat for an hour straight. The biggest problem with purism is that some DJs spin tracks that all sound alike. It's the equivalence of listening to the same track on repeat.

On one occasion I was in the mood to buy breaks. I was on a digital download site, and I decided to check out their top tunes. I meant to load up their top ten, but by accident loaded up their top one hundred. Since I had nothing to do, I decided to listen to them all. The first few tunes really amazed me, but since each tune was going to cost me money, I became pickier and pickier. The more I listened to the tunes, the more they sounded the same. Soon I was giving each sample less and less attention. I found it very annoying how each track was nearly identical sounding. When I was done, I returned to the few in the beginning that had caught my attention. Listening to them again, I found they didn't impress me anymore. Had I listened to each track alone, my attitude would have been different.

Logic dictates that if tune "A" sounds amazing, and tune "B" sounds just like tune "A", then tune "B" should also sound amazing. Unfortunately, playing identical sounding tunes is the same as playing a tune on repeat. Too much repetition makes each track begin to sound annoying. Too many DJs have a collection of amazing tunes, but fail to contrast them so that they stand out on their own. The art of programming a set involves using diversity so that each track can make an impact. If you want that brand new dark, evil drum and bass track to send chills down the spines of your audience, you will want to avoid mixing it after a bunch of similar sounding tunes. Instead, mix a few melodic, jazzy tracks before hitting them with it.

Another problem with purism is that it divides dancefloors. When the drum and bass DJ ends and the house DJ takes over, the drum and bass fans wander off to hit the bar, smoke outside, find their friends, or find another room with drum and bass. A non-purist DJ has the potential to unite dancefloors.

It is possible for a DJ to spin a variety of tempos, emotions, and energies within one genre assuming they do not narrow their sound too much. For example, a breaks DJ can spin acid breaks, funky breaks, nu skool breaks, progressive breaks, and electro freestyle breaks to keep the sound evolving. They can slow the tempo down from 130 BPM to 110 BPM as found in the break of Size 9's "I Am Ready", slow the tempo down more and drop hip hop breaks, or speed the tempo up to 140 to 160 BPM with hardcore breakbeat. Some vinyl DJs would even use the 33/45 button to convert a breaks track into a drum and bass track and vice versa. Another approach is to use a turntable with a wide pitch and go plus 30% to convert breaks into drum and bass in a more gradual manner. I once saw a flyer where a DJ's genre was described as dark breaks. Why DJs limit themselves to one sound is beyond me.

Collage DJs

Chances are you have been to a rave where the house DJs each rocked the crowd for an hour, the trance DJs each rocked the crowd for an hour, the drum and bass DJs each rocked the crowd for an hour, and the breaks DJs each rocked the crowd for an hour. If the DJs are rocking the crowd, then what is the big problem? The problem is that they don't know what they are missing out on.

I think it is safe to say that everyone of us has at some point in time watched a short video of animals doing funny things, or a short video of amazing moments in sports, or a short video of accidents caught on tape. These collage videos can be extremely enjoyable for about five minutes, but any longer than that and they start to get boring. Ten minutes is about max for me, and there is no way I could watch them for an hour or more. By contrast, many of us can sit and watch a two to three hour fantasy or sci-fi movie. Some will even watch entire trilogies in one sitting. The reason we can do this is because of the diversity of emotions found in these movies. A great movie can offer mystery, action, adventure, romance, suspense, comedy, and tragedy. By offering a rich story, the audience stays captivated for the entire length of the film.

So when you go to a rave you may be perfectly satisfied with these collage DJs. But instead of offering you five minutes of silly cats, or five minutes of explosions, or five minutes of guys getting hit in the nuts, I'd rather offer you The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, the Matrix trilogy, the original Star Wars trilogy, the Back To The Future trilogy, the Godfather trilogy, the Harry Potter series, or the Rocky series. Do you see what I mean?

Part of the reason I'm writing this series is to get promoters to give DJs longer sets so they can captivate audiences with richer stories. However, not all DJs are capable of doing this. As the title of this chapter states, some DJs are only good for one hour. It takes a higher quality of music, a wider variety of music, a more advanced mixing skill, and the ability to program a set to captivate audiences for hours. Promoters need to start using quality control if this is to happen.

Egos and Gimmicks

Since most DJs are not that great, they rely on gimmicks to rock crowds. The most effective gimmick is to appeal to people's egos. Perhaps the most successful example of this is the hip hop scene.

Allow me to give you a crash course in the history of hip hop. It was quite common for funk and soul records of the 60's and 70's to feature a break section where the rhythm section would "cut loose". A DJ by the name of DJ Kool Herc noticed that some individuals would stand off to the side of the dance floor and wait for the break. When the break arrived, they would rush onto the dance floor and showcase their crazy dance moves. DJ Kool Herc decided to try an experiment where he would just play the breaks back to back for these "break dancers". He would even use two copies of the same track to extend the breaks. The crowd had never heard anything like it, and it became an instant success. Unfortunately, DJ Kool Herc did not beatmatch and so his transitions did not flow well. It was another DJ by the name of Grandmaster Flash who decided to combine DJ Kool Herc's method of playing the breaks with the disco technique of beatmatching. This new musical form became known as "the breaks" or "wildstyle". MCs would hop on the mic to stir up the crowd and lay rhymes over the beats. This music would later be called hip hop after a popular rhyming phrase.

Eventually a woman by the name of Sylvia Robinson decided to capitalize on this movement. She formed three men into a group and named them after her record label Sugar Hill Records. The Sugarhill Gang produced a rap over Chic's "Good Times" called "Rapper's Delight". The commercial success of this rap record caused other DJs and MCs to put out rap records. Grandmaster Flash did not write "The Message" and was originally opposed to it. He felt rap music should be uplifting party music, not gritty social commentary. He would later gain an appreciation for the record as it raised awareness to the inner city conditions.

Rap would become more and more political over the years, and by the 90's it evolved into gangster rap. This once uplifting party music had degenerated into garbage that featured violence, excessive cussing, and the degradation of women. The more shocking the record, the more popular it became. The rappers gave the lame excuse that they were simply telling it like it was, but they were just cashing in on shock value. The violence in the music had a negative impact on followers of rap as many became wannabe thugs. Rap became the cool music to listen to and appealed to the egos of the ignorant masses. Today, mainstream rap tends to glorify money, power, and sex.

What does this have to do with the rave scene? History shows us that egos and commercialization ruin scenes. The once fun party hip hop music degraded into violent, narcissistic music because it made people feel like badasses. While underground hip hop still remains true to its roots, it is greatly overshadowed by the garbage that is mainstream rap. Can the same thing happen to our scene?

My first true love for electronic music was with drum and bass. I used to spend entire nights in the jungle room. When I entered the scene, I noticed drum and bass culture had a lot in common with hip hop culture, and most drum and bass fans were also hip hop junkies. They had the same narcissistic attitude and primarily focused their attention on dark, evil drum and bass. The amount of DJs who spun this "badass" version of drum and bass far outnumbered the DJs who spun soulful, melodic, "intelligent" drum and bass. These DJs would spin entire sets of dark, evil drum and bass completely oblivious to the fact that every track sounded identical! As time went on, I found myself getting more and more annoyed with the average mentality in the drum and bass scene. I read an interview with Barclay Crenshaw, better known as Claude VonStroke, and in it he stated that he used to be a drum and bass DJ until he realized his audience consisted of angry men in hoodies. Even John B mocked this trend with his track "BlandWagon Poos".

Take the sick, badass basslines of drum and bass and slow the tempo down so it feels closer to hip hop and you have yourself dubstep. It's no surprise why it is so commercially successful and has completely taken over the scene in many areas. It's attracted a new generation of "ragers" who tend to consist of douchebags and slutty girls who both use such phrases like "swag" and "yolo". All a dubstep DJ has to do is drop track after track of sick basslines and these idiots go nuts for each drop. This is what is commonly referred to as "catering to the lowest denominator". Original dubstep was dark and dubby, but like hip hop it would be overshadowed by this other version commonly referred to as brostep.

Is my fear of the scene being ruined by egos justified? Let me share with you what I commonly deal with at modern raves. I will ask the first DJ what they are going to spin, and they tell me dubstep. Then they proceed to brag that their selection of dubstep is the "sickest, nastiest" dubstep. I ask the next DJ what they spin, and they too reply dubstep. They then make a point of bragging that their selection of dubstep is the "filthiest, grimiest" dubstep. The third DJ I approach also spins dubstep, and surprisingly brags that their selection is the "filthiest, nastiest, sickest" dubstep of the night. I ask the fourth DJ what they will be spinning, and they state that they will be spinning drum and bass. At first I'm relieved to hear someone is spinning something different, but then they go on to brag that their drum and bass is the "filthiest, nastiest, darkest, and most evil" drum and bass. Each DJ acts like they are a total badass, and for four hours I'm subjected to wobble, screech, wobble, wobble, screech, wobble, screech, screech, wobble, etc. I find myself wishing I could shove sharpened pencils into my ears. Egos ruin scenes.

Since the promoters are only giving the DJs one hour to mix, each DJ trys to pull out their biggest gimmicky tunes. The dubstep and drum and bass DJs focus on their tracks with the sickest basslines, while the electro DJs focus on noisy electro tracks. If you actually judged these DJs on variety and mixing ability, they would fail miserably. Sadly, the crowds fall for the gimmicks and hype these DJs up. Again, you may be curious what the problem is if everyone is enjoying themselves. The problem is that they don't know what they are missing out on.

The Pathetic Standard

While I complain that there is no quality control in the scene, I must point out that there is one standard that all DJs are expected to measure up to. They are not allowed to trainwreck. This means that all DJs are expected to beatmatch, and for years beatmatching was used as an initiation rite for aspiring DJs. Unfortunately, there are two problems with this.

First, being able to beatmatch doesn't make someone a good DJ. I judge DJs on the quality of their music, the variety of their music, their ability to tell a story with their music, their ability to cater to a crowds physical state, and their ability to time their mixes. Beatmatching has nothing to do with any of these. For years I've been listening to boring DJs beatmatch flawlessly.

Second, technology can now beatmatch automatically. Some are now saying that "anyone can be a DJ" because of this technology. The sync button has nothing to do with the quality of music. It does not encourage someone to spin a variety of music, it does not comprehend the emotional impact each tune will have on the audience, and it does not cater to the crowd's physical state. It does not tell the DJ when to start mixing a track in and when to mix it out. It does not decide if the mix should be a quick cut or a slow fade. It does not alert the DJ if the tracks are out of key with one another, or if the vocals are clashing. It does not work the faders, the EQ, the effects, or set loops. The sync button only beatmatches. To state that anyone can be a DJ in response to this button is to admit one of two things. Either the individual has no idea what all is involved with DJing, or the individual has pathetically low standards for DJing.

Since I have high standards for DJing, I don't have a problem with the sync button. There are more important things to focus on than whether a person is beatmatching manually or automatically. This does not mean I want to hear them trainwreck, as some individuals incorrectly assume. If the scene had higher standards for DJing, the sync button would not get the negative attention it gets. The fuss over the sync button only draws attention to the pathetically low standard we have for DJs.

Overly Accessible

The sync button has made DJing more accessible, but that's not the only way. Technology has made learning about the music easier, acquiring the music easier, transporting music easier, acquiring DJ equipment easier, and even producing music easier. In many ways technological advances are a blessing, but when it comes to quality control they are a nightmare.

In the past, learning about music meant spending hours in a record store, reading journals, or joining a record pool. To track down a tune meant inquiring about it at the local record shop or stumbling upon it. The mid to late 90's brought dial-up Internet, and some record shops went online. You could hear short low resolution samples, and place an order. The early online shops would take your order and send you a reply a few days later of what they actually had in stock. If you ordered 20 records, you may only get 5 of them. Later online stores kept real-time stock so you could order only what they had in stock, and set up an email alert for those out of stock. Ordering online still meant waiting weeks for records to arrive. You could spend years trying to track down some records. Most records may only have had one mix you were after, and ordering imports cost more. The average import used to cost me $10, and that's a lot for one tune. Record collecting alone is an expensive hobby.

Broadband Internet, wireless technologies, and smart phones (and televisions) have made learning about music and acquiring it almost too easy. Practically every tune in existence can be found on YouTube and social networks have made sharing these tunes a breeze. As a result, ravers today are more knowledgable about the music. Services like Pandora, Spotify, and SoundCloud increase musical awareness. If a raver hears a tune they like while in the club, they can hold up their phone and use a service like Shazam to identify the tune. Then they have multiple options to easily acquire it. Digital download stores offer music that is always in stock and can be acquired instantly. You can download only the mixes you want at a fraction of the price of vinyl, and discount offers further reduce the price. This is assuming you pay for your music legally. In addition to torrent sites, some DJs rip music off of YouTube or copy the entire contents of their DJ friends' hard drives. A library that took a DJ years to build up can be instantly copied for new DJs.

Spinning vinyl in the past also meant you had to own turntables and a mixer. If you consider the cost of turntables, needles, a mixer, and vinyl records, you'll realize that DJing is a very expensive hobby. DJs today can mix from their laptops with or without a controller; all they need is the right software. Most of the software is quite affordable and that's assuming the DJ actually pays for it. As mentioned early, spinning vinyl also meant you had to learn to beatmatch before you would be accepted into the scene.

DJing in the past also meant you were limited to how many records you brought with you. The average case and milk crate could hold 100 to 200 records. You could carry two cases with you if you didn't mind the weight. Part of preparing for a set meant figuring out which records to take with you. DJs today have it easy as they can carry every track they own on their laptop.

DJing isn't the only thing that has gotten more accessible with technology. Producing music in the past could cost thousands of dollars. The cost of synthesizers, samplers, drum machines, reverb boxes, compressors, equalizers, and multi-track recorders meant music producing was reserved for the very serious. But today you can get an entire studio's worth of equipment in an affordable digital audio workstation (DAW). Again, this is assuming you actually pay for the software. The music producing scene is flooded with just as many wannabe individuals as the DJ scene. And remember those gimmicky tracks the DJs drop? Someone has to make them, and many of today's producers also rely on gimmicks to sell their tracks. It's annoying how many people ask me to check out their new track, and I discover the entire track revolves around some gimmicky bassline. Some wannabe producers will even post their work-in-progress that contains nothing more than a build-up into a gimmicky bassline to promote their production.

I do not believe that rave promoters of the 90's had higher standards than they do today. Even then, the rave scene had its fair share of bad DJs. However, the underground nature of the scene, the cost of DJ equipment and vinyl, the challenge of learning to beatmatch, and having to choose what tracks to bring out all worked together to act as a mild form of quality control. Today the rave scene is more popular than ever, and DJing is more accessible. DJ equipment can consist of nothing more than a laptop, and music is more affordable, easier to learn about, easier to acquire, and easier to transport. Modern technology has even removed the initial challenge of learning to beatmatch. This all adds up to more bad and mediocre DJs than ever before. Promoters try to make up for this lack of talent by squeezing in as many DJs as possible into their events. With only one hour to mix, DJs rely heavily on repetitive gimmicky tracks. The accessibility of modern music production software has flooded the market with gimmicky tunes for these DJs. It is safe to say we need quality control now more than ever, but it does not exist.

So why does quality control not exist in the rave scene? Why is the standard for DJs so pathetically low that they simply have to avoid trainwrecking? To discover this answer, I had to take a step back and examine all the different promoters in my area. I found they all had something in common. As it turns out, one of my favorite things about the rave scene would also be its biggest problem. After three chapters of showing how quality control does not exist in the scene, I will finally explain why in the next chapter.

Josiah Cochran
March 13th, 2013