Would u??

[straycat]

seems to be a getting a nice amount of free publicity for the workshop from this thread. Was that the intention?

[Double Trouble]

Well everyone wasn't on the dance floor because if you didn't like it presumably you weren't dancing?

He played 2 tracks that I liked (a Prince track and a Rochford track) so I danced to those ones, but none of the others.

what do I know?

It's interesting you should say that...I was wondering the same thing about all MJ/Dance DJ's in general. In my day (late 80's, early 90's), DJ's actually mixed vinyl records together and there was some skill involved. I could understand someone providing lessons on how to mix vinyl and how to use twin decks, etc, but MJ DJ's, for obvious reasons, do not mix one track into another so I'm asking myself what technical requirements or skill is involved in playing one track after another?

[Andy McGregor]

seems to be a getting a nice amount of free publicity for the workshop from this thread. Was that the intention?

My guess is that Rocky started this thread with the sole purpose of promoting XXXX workshop. There's a whole group of people who will do anything to go against the advice of Rocky. Rocky is taking advantage of the situation to promote his chum's workshop - it's obvious now you mention it

[rtwwpad]

You're all at it. I imagine that's why Andy started the WCS thread, so he could promote Lee and his new materials he's giving out

[Dance Demon]

so I'm asking myself what technical requirements or skill is involved in playing one track after another?

I think technical skill, and playing music that fills a dance floor are two separate issues. For example, at Metropolis in Manchester, and at Weston, a great deal of time was spent by myself & Dr chill, setting up the sound system, getting levels right etc. We installed several tousands of pounds worth of sound equipment, and got it sounding pretty much spot on. However there are a great many "DJs" out there that have no real "technical knowledge" of sound systems. they turn up with their CDs or their laptops and play music, often fiddling with things that they know nothing about, then wonder why the sound isn't right.

DJing skill as in playing music that keeps everyone happy is a totally different thing. You could give 3 different DJs the same list of music, and they would all play it in a different order, dependant on how their reading of the floor is.
That is a skill that I would think is difficult to teach, because everyone's perception of music is different.

PS - I don't run DJs workshops.

[Andy McGregor]

LOL... yes that's the one. To be fair I can see how that works down near Worthing where people go to die, but if you played some of those tracks anywhere much North of there you would be strung up by your knackers and repeatedly beaten like a pinata - trouble is I think you might enjoy that...

I'm afraid that even considerably North of Worthing, there are weekly class nights where exactly these tracks would indeed fill the floor.

I can't blame DJs for playing them - as Andy says, they may be overplayed, but who can argue with a floor full of happy dancers?

And here is an email I received from a St Albans dancer who came to our Worthing dance last Saturday.

Dear Andy and Sue,
Thanks for the fun we had on Saturday, we spent the journey home
discussing dancing, men, tango, jive, chocolate and hot feet. Best
music I've heard for so long.
Love XXXXXX,
St Albans x

I don't know why I've deleted her name. It seemed like the right thing to do.

St Albans is a long way North of Worthing. In fact, it seems like these floor fillers are filling floors everywhere except South-West London - I think Rocky plays his music in the hole in a dance Polo.

Come on Rocky. Tell us what you think are the top ten floor fillers. I've created a special thread here.

[Lee Bartholomew]

Sorry Andy but IMO those songs suck eggs.

All of them are typical MJ songs you would hear every bouncy club DJ play. Then again most jivers would dance to a fire alrm. Infact, Let me tell you about the time there was some unexpected 'floor fillers'

I once went to a freestyle where the DJ forgot his CD's. Instead of using the CD's people were offering from their cars or my laptop with loads of MJ music on, he decided to hook up his portable radio to the PA!!!!

People were getting up and dancing to adverts !!!! Not just one or two people but a good majority !!!!!

Dancers don't listen to music in general. If you ask a dancer who sang the song that just played, most couldn't even tell you if it was a man or a woman.

The art of DJ'ing to mainstream MJ'ers is not the song itself, It is more about how the song 'feels' to them. They don't pay any attention to phases, lyrics, melody. Hell, 99% of them don't even hear breaks.

Im not saying that to have a pop at MJ'ers, im just saying it as an observation.

[Andy McGregor]

Sorry Andy but IMO those songs suck eggs.

You are not sorry at all. And you are wrong. Not only are you wrong about the music, you are wrong about the motivations of MJ dancers. You have nothing to do with MJ nowadays so please keep your contempt and poisonous opinions about MJ dancers to yourself.

I still don't seem to be getting the message across to Lee that I'd be delighted to be on his ignore list. Doesn't he know this is a MJ forum. He should run along and post on a forum where he does the dance and people might have an interest in his opinion.

[Lee Bartholomew]

You are not sorry at all. And you are wrong. Not only are you wrong about the music, you are wrong about the motivations of MJ dancers. You have nothing to do with MJ nowadays so please keep your contempt and poisonous opinions about MJ dancers to yourself.

I still don't seem to be getting the message across to Lee that I'd be delighted to be on his ignore list. Doesn't he know this is a MJ forum. He should run along and post on a forum where he does the dance and people might have an interest in his opinion.

You are calling alot of people wrong latley .

I still teach MJ and go to MJ dances so I don't know what you are going on about.

[Lee Bartholomew]

Worthing where people go to die

And just to correct Rocky.....

I have danced all over the place and I think the highest concentratrion of younger dancers I have seen is down around the Brighton, Hastings area (tunbridge wells too).

Richard & Jo who run Funky Fish in Brighton (Ceroc Fever) have the youngest crowed I have ever seen at a jive night. Most of their dancers are under 30 !!!!

The 'ones who go to die' only go to certain clubs where the teachers look like they are going to join them

LOL... yes that's the one. To be fair I can see how that works down near Worthing

Who said it works?

[Andy McGregor]

You are calling alot of people wrong latley .

I still teach MJ and go to MJ dances so I don't know what you are going on about.

I still don't seem to be on Lee's ignore list. I'm sure he posted that he'd put me there. Or was that another of the things he posted that isn't true?

[Double Trouble]

at Metropolis in Manchester, and at Weston, a great deal of time was spent by myself & Dr chill, setting up the sound system, getting levels right etc. We installed several tousands of pounds worth of sound equipment, and got it sounding pretty much spot on.

Yes I know how much effort you put into setting everything up in Manchester, but once it's all set up I can't see what other technical skill the DJ's need. I'm sure it's not the case entirely, but to the average non-DJ type person like me, it appears that DJ's just stick a cd in their lap top and pretend to look busy with a pair of ear phones. This is why I want to know, specifically, what these DJ lessons are about.

However there are a great many "DJs" out there that have no real "technical knowledge" of sound systems. they turn up with their CDs or their laptops and play music, often fiddling with things that they know nothing about, then wonder why the sound isn't right.

So basically you're saying to DJ's - once it's set up, load your cd into your laptop, press play, look busy with the ear phones but don't fiddle with the set up. It's not rocket science is it?

You could give 3 different DJs the same list of music, and they would all play it in a different order, dependant on how their reading of the floor is. That is a skill that I would think is difficult to teach, because everyone's perception of music is different.

I also think that filling a floor is something you can't teach so if there's nothing technical to teach and you can't teach the x factor floor filling skill then what will these classes be teaching?

[Dance Demon]

So basically you're saying to DJ's - once it's set up, load your cd into your laptop, press play, look busy with the ear phones but don't fiddle with the set up. It's not rocket science is it?

Weelllllllll.....not quite... If they know what they are doing, then they can fiddle with things if needed. For instance, each DJ uses a different laptop, with a different sound card. Some use professional DJ software, others use iTunes or media player...They all prouce different sound levels, and some may sound bassier or tinnier....so you can fiddle with the knobs if you know what you are doing. Also there are different ways to control the volume, and a lot of DJs don't know about that. This tecnical side can be tought.....but I don't think they are part of any DJs workshops that I know of.

[Franck]

Just to clarify, CJ wasn't sacked from Ceroc Scotland. An agreement was reached to part ways when he decided to launch teaching workshops and Mariachi nights.

[Andy McGregor]

You are calling alot of people wrong latley

Maybe their spelling is starting to get to me.

[Andy McGregor]

Weelllllllll.....not quite... If they know what they are doing, then they can fiddle with things if needed. For instance, each DJ uses a different laptop, with a different sound card. Some use professional DJ software, others use iTunes or media player...They all prouce different sound levels, and some may sound bassier or tinnier....so you can fiddle with the knobs if you know what you are doing. Also there are different ways to control the volume, and a lot of DJs don't know about that. This tecnical side can be tought.....but I don't think they are part of any DJs workshops that I know of.

When it comes to the technical side of being a DJ I think I found out enough to get by and then stopped looking.

But I'm sure I'm missing some short-cuts by doing this. I found a fabulous thing by accident recently. The headphone socket in my DJ laptop got a bit floppy (technical term) and I needed to pull it slightly to the left to keep the connection. So I looked into laptop sound cards and found this fabulous card from Creative that slid into a slot I didn't even know I had. I now have low latency which is probably fabulous if I knew what it meant. What I do know is that the sound I get from my PC seems to contain more detail and sounds a bit more crisp. And I've got 4 outputs and an input. I think I might even have two inputs but one is optical and I've no idea what that means either.

I'm giving the above example to show that there is a need for more technical knowledge. At least there is with me. Knowing what music to play is easy because you have a floor full of dancers who will let you know what they like and don't like. Sort of a flesh and blood measurement. It's the sound and technical "measurement" that I need help with.

[Bubble]

Then again most jivers would dance to a fire alrm.

One of my biggest gripes is, and will continue to be MJ playlists. I know that people are arguably deriving enjoyment from dancing to it, but even so, I'm constantly amazed at the trash that most dancers are willing to leave their seat to dance to. If I ever get a go on 'sack-the-DJ' I'm going to carry out a little test to see just how bad the music has to be before people sit down

In my experience there are very few DJs who play truly inspirational music almost all night long. I haven't been for a few years but the Rock Bottoms team could always be relied on for 1st class music; but then they have the legendary Jon Brett on board

[Andy McGregor]

Just to clarify, CJ wasn't sacked from Ceroc Scotland. An agreement was reached to part ways when he decided to launch teaching workshops and Mariachi nights.

Reading between the lines it sounds like CJ was asked to stop working for Ceroc as he was in competition. Unless Franck is saying that CJ could have continued to work for Ceroc it's quite clear that he was told he could no longer work for Ceroc. However, it also means he wasn't sacked due to any question regarding his ability as a DJ.

[djtrev]

So I looked into laptop sound cards and found this fabulous card from Creative that slid into a slot I didn't even know I had. I now have low latency which is probably fabulous if I knew what it meant. What I do know is that the sound I get from my PC seems to contain more detail and sounds a bit more crisp. And I've got 4 outputs and an input. I think I might even have two inputs but one is optical and I've no idea what that means either.

.

I am not sure whether that is what would be covered by 'sworkshop but any DJ worth his salt would know that if you are a laptop dj you would always have an external soundcard.The quality of soundcards in computers is very basic.

[Lory]

Reading between the lines

I don't think that's called 'reading between the lines'!