As I’ve grown listening to deadmau5 over the last 12 years, I have come to appreciate his brutal honesty more especially in an industry where everyone is so afraid to speak their mind
to be fair, he's been like this from the beginning back when i discovered him in 2007. People have always been saying he's a d!ck head. But he kept it real. Maybe now he is finally starting to open up a bit more on other subjects@@yanchentao988
@@imiccastill worth it for people to say what they really mean. Id rather someone hurt my feelings and allow me to recover from it, than lie to me forever.
Most DJs wouldn't admit it. I never seen a problem with it. It's more of a producer than DJ, but if you move the crowd, you move the crowd. No titles needed. DJ, producer, musician... He plays and creates music and people dance and like it.
yea if you ever see someone play a set in ableton, they control each instrument with the buttons to start and stop it. Besides sample, its generating sound in real time, not just playing an audio file. Its actually like way more high quality sounding that way because of the bit rate and lossy file types
if you can mix fine for your pre-record, you should be confident enough to do it to a live audience too. but the truth is out now with the big shows, it's so they can sync the lights up.
I think the mistake a lot of people tend to make is saying Joel is a DJ. He's not, hes said it multiple times. People have pointed out in this comment section and every where hes a producer. And while he definitely enjoys the technical aspects of things for a performance, you don't have to look far to see that yeah, most of his sets are the same. Go look at footage from all the We Are Friends shows he did, and you will see the same set over and over. He even says in this livestream he really prepares deadmau5 shows well ahead of time, meanwhile his Testpilot shows are "free wheeled" which is him doing actual mixing. (Although lets be clear, if you watch him DJ as Testpilot and know anything about Ableton, you know hes just launching clips and applying effects to put on a musical show). Nothing inherently wrong with this. You'll see the same people who complain about the Sync Button complaining about this. Bunch of old heads yelling about vinyl DJs, which I also love watching. People like Andy C are the bomb and watching him is just such a sight to behold. But at the end of the day, I don't see the people complaining getting their names on the line up. Sorry not sorry.
I'm surprised nobody has not taken notice of how he performs live. He knows how to DJ. But he prefers to play live with Ableton. Zeds Dead has done this, and Noisia. CDJ's are fun, But they are limiting, of course DJing is an art and has it's pros and cons. I know guys who have hybrid setups that use both Ableton and Rekordbox/Serato, etc. Ableton has something called LINK which allows you to sync both the DJ software and Ableton and use ableton as a drum machine, sampler, etc. Spices up things. But Joel actually uses hardware in his sets, not just mixing two songs together.
Gone are the days when Dave Angel would remove the steel plate from a 1210 during his set and use a screwdriver to fine tune the pitch. A true dj at work 😊
Well said... Even though the likes of Jeff Mills, Derrick May, Robert Hood, and Carl Cox are still DJing.... they don't make them like that anymore... Actual DJing is slowly becoming a lost artform... when it was about 2 or even 3 turntables and a mixer... It's all about the equipment and laptops and pad controllers... Sad to see
@@the_80skidthis is why I stopped going to festivals like 10-15 years ago. Smaller intimate clubs and venues are where the craft is still being done. Europe overall has a lot of strong local scenes. Not sure how it is in the states aside from maybe NYC and Miami.
@@anthonygato407 the term of “pre-recorded” these days is often conflated with a “pre-planed” set. i think that’s more of what joel is talking about in this video. while it does happen, rarely ever are there DJ’s that are literally doing nothing.
Respect for this brutal honesty! I told folks out in the audience this years ago ( when I grab the chainsaw it’s a sequence keeping it going folks ! ) That’s entertainment ! A show is there to entertain people not put the artists under some expectation of watching them recreate their entire production in front of an audience in real time. DUH! Your honesty is refreshing 👽✌️👍
People see live music to watch the artists preform their original work. Disregarding pop artists that lip sync, it would be insane to find out a band like Metallica or led zeppelin were not actually playing their instruments.
@@XenoTravis when your talking about Metallica in the same breath as dead mouse you seem to forget he’s playing all the tracks on the record. So it’s not really a very good comparison at all . And people that are into his music know this is how a vast majority of folks in this genre of electronic music perform…with turn tables and mixers x/ y controllers or filters. If you want to see someone play electronic music in a more tactile fashion I suggest someone like early Tangerine dream . ✌️👽
@@rebelllionlad8049 its about EDM, House, Techno, trance, etc. And if this kind of music is your jam, this is one of the best. Even still Tomorrowland is still top 10 of ALL music festivals across the world. Not sure who took a dump in your bowl of cereals, but your just bitter with no reason.
Back in the vinyl days it was so obvious that DJs prepped their sets in advance for major broadcasts. Listen to Oakenfold or Sasha on Radio 1 in the 90s and they are flawless - harmonically, mix points etc. They didn’t prerecord but they preprepared and their sets were all the better for it. It’s been going on for years and now with digital, it’s no surprise that major sets are prerecorded
@@Dubstone They were live sets from festivals broadcast on radio. You probably weren’t even born. Since you don’t seem particularly bright, let me help you. The video is discussing prerecorded sets. My point is in essence it’s nothing new. If you watch the video again, he makes the point that the stakes are too high not to prerecord major sets, such as EDC. My point also alluded to this. Maybe close your mouth and open your ears.
Any good DJ prepares (or should) their set before any large event, but that's completely different than pressing play on a pre-record audio hour long MP4.
As someone who has been on the dancefloor and also controlled the dancefloor (playing gigs), it doesn't matter if it's pre-recorded. All the audience cares about is if the music is good. Also, all these big events like EDC, Tomorrowland, Ultra etc. you pretty much already have to be a well known producer to even DJ at these events and I think pre-recorded or not, being a producer is way more prestigious than just being a DJ IMO. Personally I've never done pre-recorded but that's because all my gigs are tiny in comparison to the big guys.
So why does it even matter if deadmau5 a is there. If all that matters is that the music is good, couldn’t we get rid of the entire stage concept and create immersive dance events where it’s just music on giant speakers
@@robertlemiesz7143 same reason why people go to bars instead of drinking a beer at home. It's not always just for the music but for the experience, people, lights, sound etc. If you go see an artist who basically just plays a Spotify playlists then that's on you. I love going to see shows of my favorite artists because they'll usually play their new tracks that isn't even out on soundcloud or just in general make a great mix as well as what I previously mentioned in my first sentence. At the end of the day, nobody is forcing you to pay to go see them.
Can you explan what exactly 'Pre-Recorded Set' means? Does it mean that someone has recorded his own set and playing it at the event or is it just fixed tracklist orded that DJ would play at the event?
Things were better before edm became too popular. There were no prerecorded sets, no super expensive sold out festivals, no famous people there for the insta and no DJ’s who acted like they were superstars. When you went to a rave you always felt like you knew about something amazing that most people didn’t know about. Better times for sure.
Actually.... he started this. It was a couple of years ago, there were these two chicks (i forget who) and he trolled them mercilessly for "fake push button" and "filter knobbing". It was on his insta a number of years ago. So really, he brought this on himself.
@@honkeykong1985 I wish I could remember who he was trolling... All I remember was this vid on his insta where he was making fun of "dj's" for just touching the knobs and not even having their decks plugged in. It was like... 2012 / 2014. Two girl DJ's too.
@@ElletrommiMusic I kept thinking it was Knife Party... but thats not right. All I remember was him walking around unplugged decks and pushing faders and knobs, like he was doing something.
Isn’t it just great how many youtubers are struggling with censorship, and Joel drops one f-bomb after the other without any bleeps or muting. Love it 😄
Always loved Deadmau5 and his simpleness, he never pretends to be some sort of superstar virtuoso or anything like that. I'm a producer too, and most of the time I've had the opportunity of showing my music live, I don't have the equipment to do what I do on my computer. My specialty is not DJing and I make that clear every time I go to stage, I just make very basic mixes with subtle transitions to showcase what I do, so I don't think using pre recordings is something bad if your strengths are in music making and production.
Yes, people don’t understand the difference between a DJ and a producer, which is the real problem. People genuinely think anyone who makes or plays edm/techno music is a DJ by default, and that they should therefore be mixing live in order for the performance to be “impressive”. They are both completely diff arts/skills and it’s damn near impossible to truly be highly skilled at both simultaneously, unless you just have been practicing both skills for your entire life, which are super rare cases with guys like Fred Again.. and even those guys usually plan their sets/perform them ahead of time in order to properly synchronize the visual components, even if it is played or mixed in real time. Even if it is a live performance, it is still always planned at the least if it is part of a huge production value that uses visuals, like every major music festival. I used Fred Again.. as an example because he actually had a freestyle section in his set at EDCLV this year, but even he used technology that would make it arguable if it was truly DJ’ing and mixing, rather than just chopping and screwing or live sampling. AND THE HILARIOUS PART IS PEOPLE HATED THAT SET AND HAD ZERO APPRECIATION FOR THE ACTUAL SKILL IT TOOK 🤣🤣 People don’t realize that what most of what modern electronic music performers do in general, is not considered DJ’ing. It’s layering sounds and songs so their rhythms and tempos synchonize- which is the basics of DJ’ing- but considering most of the skills can be done by the technology people are performing on these days, it takes a very small degree of the technical skills of mixing that traditional DJ’ing requires. Using traditional DJ’ing skills/techniques leads to less clean transitions and mixes, and limits how many layers of sound can be mixed together at once, only the GOATS of DJ’ing can properly mix three-four diff layers at a time without it sounsing choppy and off tempo on certain layers. The hilarious thing is that usually the more “basic” and simple sounding mixes usually are what is actually performed live, while the crazy complex shit is extremely likely to be pre-recorded. Yet people have such a lack of understanding of what these artists skills are, or what they truly do as creators, that they just see someone up their on a stage and a dj board, and assume it’s all the same thing. And the reality is, whether people are aware of it or not, they usually prefer the pre-recorded stuff as it’s much more polished and refined, like in the Fred Again.. example I used above. Personally I have no problem admitting that I want a performance to feel perfectly executed considering I am paying hundreds-thousands of dollars in order to attend most festivals. If that means having some pre-recorded sections or the whole thing being planned ahead of time, then so be it. Most genuine DJ’s who only DJ or mainly focus on that, usually do it because they are not able to compose music from scratch the same way a producer would, which is why DJ’ing is the skill they focus on. And in the same way most people who just produce or mainly focus on that, usually are just decent when it comes to actual high level DJ’ing skills on a technical level, again which is part of why they focus on production rather than DJ’ing. As you said, people need to stop thinking every artist has to be some trascendent talent in ever facet. Appreciate what these people have created, and the skills they’ve cultivated for what they are, instead of comparing it to every other artist in the scene. Not every person is going to have the same performing style and vision which is why diff genres and subgrenres exist in the first place. The only person I have ever seen truly “perform” electronic music live, is HEY MOM NO COMPUTER, or other artists like that which use modular synthesizers. Those are the only people who truly “play” electronic music live since they are literally composing the sounds in real time on the hardware. Everyone else is just pressing play or pause on a pre-recorded track, with some digital platform and/or hardware to control it, to a lesser or greater degree. So rather than complaining about how one person’s style takes no skill, lets just appreciate all the different artistic forms that exist within this realm, and be glad we have so many creators and different artistic visions/perspectives because of that.
Feel like most this comment section is misunderstanding. He's never played a pre-recorded set in the sense of a literal audio file of the set being made ahead of time. It's pre-recorded in the sense that he has the tracks picked out ahead of time and pulled up in an Ableton Live session, since those are connected to his visuals. So he still has to 'mix' them live - he's not just pressing one button and calling it a day haha
he'd be on wax, i'd say ok. But honestly... i don't give money to people prerecording sets even if only speaking about track order selection. I listen to their music at home. If someone asks me one day to prerecord a whole set, i'm refusing his money because all the other artists around me would just be pretenders in my opinion. The guy did very good music though. I liked a lot of his tunes, and full of respect for his music. Anyway, to whoever read this, being able to improvise and be good, it takes much time and effort mixing in front of your wall, recording yourself, listening to your mixes, diggin your records, it's all a about training. then ya'll see, do i wanna be an IDM dj xho fakes it or ... just a dj, but a good one.
Lining up on Ableton is premixing... He won't be warping audio on stage if the lights and video are in sync... Only thing he said he does is use filters
WRONG! Pre-recorded is premixed, thus his comment about the visuals being in perfect sync with the music. See, you can't even believe it yourself it is so absurd.
Crazy how James Hype is using a clip of this to blow things outta proportion and only for engagement and all about himself. “i’M nOt a fAkE DJ lOoK aT Me”
Every set I've ever played even if live, I had a track list with what time stamps to cut between decks so that the mix sounds good. The rest of the time between switching tracks was used to play with the loops and filters. I hate these "non-dj" questions that sound like they come from someone who's never spun music before. If you know you have your first live gig lined up, you make a fire track list and figure out how to mesh together every song on that list, and in doing so, create your own hybrid tracks in between.
erm.. what.. Nope, never done that myself or known anyone that's ever done that. In a performance type situation that would make sense perhaps (album promotion etc), but a four to the floor DJ's job isn't (or wasn't) to do anything other than play tunes, feel out the vibe of the crowd and work together for an hour or so.
@@SchiesterMalG there's lots of uses for the term time stamp. It can also be used to signify a specific timeframe or cue in an audio or video recording.
No op is right. I have actually practiced and learned by memory sets like kaskade ultra 2016 and deadmau5 2014. Fredagain boiler room. There is so much work involved and one slip up ruins the flow. I do respect the fact skrillex fredagain and fourtet do complete "track listed" but free style djing and it can be sloppy and fun and just makes the crowed feel great. Fourtet will not allow a pre recorded set. But a PLANNED SET is much different. Every band on earth also does this.
@@ShiftyRightNow A planned set, (as in track order) isn't necessarily a bad thing for some DJ's, but the 'one slip up' element would make it a very intense, stressful experience for the 'DJ'. A set that's lacking life & 'in the moment' unique parts for the audience. If the track order was set-up & has to be stitched together precisely so it doesn't 'ruin the flow', I'd say this suggests a lack of skill & understanding when seamlessly combining tracks for an audience. These things should all be automatic, second nature, muscle memory in the flow actions. However, you've helped clarify the situation by using the term 'freestyle DJing'. Before that became a thing, it was & still is for most, simply called - DJing. Paris Hilton kinda changed the game & I can't see it stopping.
damn, i knew other artists did it all the time, but i always thought he had his own custom tech to render and transition between corresponding visuals in sync! it's what i'd wanna do, since you can dynamically change your set based on how the audience is feeling. if anything it's leaving the market open for something that hasn't been done yet.
I had genuine curiosity about his comment about pre-recorded sets and visuals. I thought the tech was there with wild amounts of automation with some human oversight by leveraging Ableton, MIDI, DMX, VDMX, etc. I listened again and when he said "so immaculately timed" I was reminded that this artist has a very keen sense of timing. He would pick up on things that I would miss. Maybe the live visual tech could fool the average festival persona but nobody can fool Deadmau5!
I mean what he said here isn’t entirely true. As someone who operates visuals for shows, just because it lines up perfectly does NOT mean they aren’t DJing live. We have software that lets us sync clips to individual tracks from the CDJ live. It’s called ShowKontrol. But each track has its own visual and we play them when the correct track is playing. So sure some people might pre record it all but a large majority at least outside of like “EDM” do not.
damn I remember when big timers would have some mini trainwrecks I actually miss that. To me the fact that music is "prefect" every where. Humans are imperfect and our music should reflect that more.
I watched Billie eilish preform at Osheaga in Montreal this year, she coughed and missed a couple words. It was really great actually to have a moment of pure humanity, that mistake made all the rest so much more real in a way
That's your opinion and it's valid no cap on that. But there are people who will say they paid for an experience and if it's not good or up to par then it's a bad experience. Just trying to play devil's advocate on behalf of people who think differently. I do like the viewpoint of a more humanitarian set, but people like well timed stuff too, and it's a blend of both that will be needed. Professional sets are dope, and hearing an off beat is humbling, take both to heart and express that to people who are chained to one side remember there are always different opinions none weighing heavier then the other.
btw - VJ's can still do visuals that go with the music! It doesn't HAVE to be pre-recorded, we have visual software and hardware which is similar to DJ's and producers.
Because djing is how non musicians become musicians. 😂 I say this as a dj myself. No realy learning to dj is 1000 times easier than learning an instrument. And producing is even easier because you can make all the mistakes in the world and still perfect it in the end. And now with ai making music anyone can do it. Tech beats talent every time.
@@roflryan1 As a DJ and an instrumental musician I agree that it's easier to learn the mechanics and the technical aspects of DJing. But what separates the great DJs is not just playing and mixing tracks. It's having a vision of what you want to create as a DJ and then learning how read and lead the dance floor and that takes time and talent. Same thing with producing dance music: sure it's easy to put together a track that's technically proficient but it takes real talent to create something that's exceptional and original. As far as "performing" pre-recorded sets? Hey, if the audience is happy....though calling it performing is a stretch.
If a band member messes up live, that only affects one instrument. The rest of the band keeps going. As a DJ, you're in control over ALL of the sound. If you mess up, it messes up the ENTIRE flow of the song and/or show. A DJ can go from a killer set to a failed set by accidentally hitting "Pause" or "Cue" on a live track.
@@AwooAdvocate Lead singers forget lyrics, lead guitar solos get tanked by broken strings, etc. These "DJs" are getting paid insane amounts of money for big festivals. I think they can take a few risks. But hey, if the fans are OK with the pre-recorded sets, I won't try to stop anyone from doing it. Just don't whine about the "risks".
0:41 Martin Garrix said in an interview that the visuals team see which next song is loaded into the system, so that they can prepare the visuals. It's a team that needs to closely work together to make it work. Not sure who to believe
Appreciate his candor, though this partially explains why I moved on from his stuff. I'll stick to DJ sets mixed on the fly though, thank you very much.
@@rtyprty Yes. I even appreciate the mistakes, even the big ones (worst one was was Crystal Method). It shows me that they care about their craft and respect the crowd. Saying nothing about vinyl and live sets.
I enjoyed fredagain at boiler room London. Thrre where screw ups and even people from the crowd would hit the decks on accident and pause a track etc. He even played the drum pad live. So i think his set was all live, but now honestly idk... idk anymore now that deadmau5 has come out and said this (about the massive festival's because you want it to be perfect and especially put on a show with the lights and effects. Another example would be TBD (skrillex x fredagain x fourtet) at coachella. There set was so sloppy at times i actually appreciated it knowing it was all live and they where even dropping tracks to try and make it harder for the next one to mix out of. Hahshs Fourtet dropped country riddim 3x lmao at once from a sample of Nirvana "teen spirit" so theres a group of worlds best DJs and producers who are the most booked and highest paid talent in EDM currently. Always like skrillex and his passion.
Guys… pre-recorded/ pre-mixed/ pre-prepared. Whether it’s Ableton or one long wav file. The mixing has already been done. If you like Deadmau5 and his sets then you know what the deal is. His shows look amazing, the cube looks bad ass. People watching live don’t really look disappointed. I’ve seen him live in godskitchen actually mixing. I think the guy knows how to mix 😂 as long as you’re not posing as mixing and trying to hide the fact you’re actually not then it’s just another form of entertainment in this day and age
@@Rumor. I would assume he only plays wav files. the sound quality of mp3 is trash in comparison. you might not notice when playing on your speakers at home or maybe even at smaller shows, but once you get to festival level sound systems, you can clearly tell the difference. Plus if he only plays his own music, he already has all the wav files on hand so why not
@@Rumor. i'm sure that big DJ's/producers can probably just reach out to other artists to get their music in WAV format and get the files fairly easily. I use both as well. I just mix at home as a hobby so its not too big of a deal for me to play mp3
DJing for me is all about vibing with the crowd so feeling what the crowd are feeling and drawing records that feel right. I'm surprised that most big festivals only have DJs playing pre-recorded sets. If you are playing all your own music though as a producer rather than a selector I kind of get the pre-recorded thing especially if it's part of a visual show like someone like Aphex Twin would do. We have an amazing lighting/laser engineer who understands our music very well and can follow what we are playing and do a really great job while freestyling it. :)
The lights are made to go with the beat. Even real cheap lights have this technology. I highly doubt most dj’s are playing pre recorded. I have heard famous dj’s train wreak. Paul Oakenfold being one of them. I’m happy when I hear a fuck up these days….
It's not just the order of the tracks it's also the lighting effects matching the tracks at the same time to make it epic for the audience If it was a live mix then there's a risk of the lighting being delayed
as a fan of music in general i thought electronic music fans all knew this? not to ruin christmas for you but if you go to a popular rap concert now you are listening to an ipad. if you wanna see live shit happen go watch a show that involves guitars and drums etc
pre-RECORDED means, that the set has already been played, recorded to a file and played back on the show. Apparently this is what is happening during most huge shows. pre-MADE means, that you've created the playlist at home, set the cue points, most likely practiced playing it, but on the event itself, you are still mixing it live. This happens mostly in clubs or on smaller-mid sized events. You still have the set under control, but there is a lot more creative freedom. Going YOLO and just playing songs that seems like a good idea to play next from your library is the third option, that is basically never seen on any bigger events. I've been to some bigger events where DJs still played pre-made sets (or routines as they are sometimes called), very much noticeable by the lighting, as Joel said. If you listen and look closely, you will notice a slight delay or mishaps inbetween the light's cues, since the light jockey doesn't know the set in advance, and just goes off by the fact that modern music is extremely repetetive and predictable. No idea why there has to be so much gatekeeping around this, and using sync for example. While you go to the event to enjoy the show, that is comprised mostly of 3 things: the music, the visual show, and the people around. An excellent show means flawless mixing (which is most easily done by pre-recording the set, in the sense of having one mp3 or whatever file, and pressing "play" at the start of the set and that's it), perfect visuals (which again, is almost impossible to do live, even when you are lighting music so predictable and boring like house) and friendly people, which you cannot really control, but.. You cannot have all 3 perfect, so you have to balance things out. Live DJing means not perfect visuals, or having to employ very good light jockey(s) and have quite an equipment. Having perfect visuals requires you to know what will be played. etc. Same goes with the sync button - it's a tool, developed to help DJs be more creative. If you do extremely high energy mixing, and jump around between genres or do some very rapid chops, you absolutely do not have time to cue in the track, adjust tempo, beatmatch and then proceed to mix.. you load the track, play, sync, and go straight into mixing. While yes, it does make the "good old classic" mixing basically worthless, and in some extremes can lead to very bad sounding set.. same goes with pre-recorded stuff, or just ruining the pre-recorded set by getting way too influenced by substances and overusing the most basic filters and effects. Everything is made to be used for something, and everything has its own reason. If the reason is not good enough, or is just objectively bad, then it probably won't be such a big deal and people would not be doing it. So stop stupidly gatekeeping
So he's never heard of ShowKontrol? The way the lights and things are on beat with a DJ is literally software like ShowKontrol. I wanna say I saw a video on Armin Van Buren one time that showed he used the 3rd and 4th CD players back in the day exclusively as SMPTE playback machines sent to FOH for the lighting. I'm not saying some aren't playing a pre-recorded set cause i'm sure there's several that do. But it's not hard these days to have lights sync up with DJ gear. Between ShowKontrol and a lighting guy that knows the music that's really all you need. The way Joel talks about these things is like he's never talked to anyone about anything related to their profession.
Literally, a DJs only jobs is to play music. We can debate who are the more talented DJs, but at the end of the day it's all about providing music for the listeners whether on the radio, at a wedding or at a major festival.
If the artists who do this would be honest to their audience and tell them you are going to a festival to watch a movie, not a live performance, then fine. However, there are thousands of DJs who don’t do this… go to Movement festival and you’ll see plenty. The idea that this is commonplace anywhere except pop EDM festivals and a handful of other instance (afterlife, cough) where sets are sync’d to visuals is ridiculous. Doesn’t mean those DJs can’t mix, just a shame that people expect a visual performance over a live musical one these days.
@@ThisIsDownstate that’s exactly it. Most of The audience doesn’t know what DJs actually do (or are not doing in this case, and those who do must not care. I prefer the dj tucked away in a corner in a dark room with no visuals myself, but I’m also in my 40s.
@ThisIsDownstate I know. I always laugh when I see that. Honestly I'm 44 so I came up in the vinyl and turntables Era when djing was an art form. I have noticed vinyl is making a little comeback
pre-recording sets gives the best show experience because many people behind the scenes can prepare.... proper laser and lighting programming.. moving stage and more relevant video elements..Why complain? you come for the experience.. how it's done doesn't matter...
I think what people tend to forget is that DJing and Producing are very different avenues. DJing has nothing to do with producing at all. It's just the ability to entertain a crowd with music. Producing om the other hand is making music from scratch. The only connection between the 2 is you can do both at the same time. Producers already make their music before hand so why would it be confusing that they make their set before hand? I think DJing, and/or Producing both require a lot of thought, and skill just one does it before the show, and the other does it during
Some of the coolest sets I've been to are pre-recorded, and vice versa I don't think it matters as long as it's clear that a lot of time, and effort is shown through what they've made
@@MonkeyNBananas I meant prepares as in pre-records. Lots of people getting it mixed up in the comments thinking he means “pre prepares” as in has pre picked tracks ready to go. That’s not what he means. He means literally the whole thing is mixed and he basically just presses play.
i would say he’s wrong about most sets being prerecorded, most the time they timecode visuals but the dj still plays and mixes them to taste. it’s maybe 50/50 depending on how detailed the visuals are. you have people like skrillex who are mixing on the fly
You can really tell the vibe difference from prerecorded and playing to the crowd djs , having a starter plan is good but even laid back Luke says you have to adjust certain crowds might now dig certain tracks etc
Agreed, I've been to most of the big events across the US back in my prime. (1999-2007) It's just not the same, the music the vibe, the people.... I didn't enjoy myself as much as I do at the two small local fests I now attend every year. It has become like a ritual reunion of friendships.
@@NicholasSeamans oh yes im sure there is, i was being an ass. i dont think that's a good "tip" though. i would not turn down a spot at a festival if it meant doing a pre-recorded set. could still keep things just interesting enough to feel like you aren't just standing there. just because you are using auto beat sync with preplanned out tracks doesn't mean you just have to stand there and pretend to twist knobs the whole time. some probably do that though
My interpretation of this is that he records an hour long mix ahead of time making sure that all the transitions are perfect. Then on the night he just hits spacebar and lets it run. He probably has a bunch of effects sends that he plays live (like delays, distortion and filters etc) he may even have the long audio file split into different channels so he can just send the drums to an effect etc etc. There’s quite a lot of scope for doing stuff under the humble banner of “twiddling filter knobs and clapping” like he says. But he is not actually mixing between the different tracks in the mix while he’s on stage.
yeah. That's exactly what it is. But doing it manually like switching the song each time is not that hard to do too, but it's understandable why a pre-recorded set is better because it doesn't allow error to happen when the song is switching.
I don’t think he just hits the space bar. I recall in the Ultra Miami b2b set with HI-LO something went wrong with one of the tracks loading and they had to pull up and mix in another track. But it makes perfect sense a DJ would think upfront about what tracks they would play and at what point in an hour or two hour long set. The hype of a live set might be too much noise to let creativity flow and pick the right tracks to make the set as good as it can be. It probably not as easy as they make it look.
@deadmau5 yeah i pre-record my sets too because of scheduling, sometimes i have to play mutiple venues back to back and i need each venue to be setup right, but the right channel is for requests ;)
DJing is selecting songs live on the spot if you’re playing a pre-recorded set then no you’re not a DJ, we can have a discussion on if that’s a bad thing or not but personally I would prefer to know they are at least triggering the tracks live, and it would be nice to have a little improv on top of that. If a full band can play a set on que than so can any DJ.
with prerecorded he means something else than we do ... we mean: u prerecord the whole set, and press play one time and done ... what he means is the tracks are prerecorded and he doesnt use midi and a synth
as someone has done live shows in a small venue most of my original track were pre recorded tracks to fill out the time slot if you a hour long set you better one hell of creative person or your run out of ideas thanks God for ableton live 😅
well ya.... the understanding is that youre up there because youre the creative powerhouse in the room... ya hardly anyone is capable of this. thats why there's one DJ playing to the many people. and why that DJ is paid significant money and requires a booking management person to handle the demand. i play actual sets as a real DJ yes. not a fake DJ. I plan no sets. I interpret the energy in the moment and channel the set. and i do it on shrooms and cannabis. there's so many easy ways to make bigger money faster i don't get why the need for the pressure" oh man this set is important I have no choice but to prerecord my set bro..." " hey, are you the DJ police? you have to tell me or its entrapment."
i feel like Deadmau5 be fightin demons.... like a lot of times he seems pissed off at humanity. hes super talented but there's just this vibe I get that he's deep down angry
The spontaneity is why people follow djs, not knowing what’s coming, the dj reading the vibe and dropping tunes to lift the mood. Those out there that still do that, you’re the true hero’s these guys are nothing more than human jukeboxes…with a shit attitude about it to boot.
does he mean pre-planned vs pre recorded? I see videos of DJs syncing up tracks on CDJs at festivals all the time. Not only that but skrillex pretty famously had to cut his set short at second sky because at least one of the cdjs stopped working
im guessing pre planned i dont know if people can get away with "prerecorded" or not. i was under the assumption 90%+ of DJs now have "pre-planned" sets. i mean who doesn't??? seriously??? trance DJ's? Tipper? who else lol
recorded. hence why he said all they can do is twiddle the filter and clap. yes, people are paying money for someone to essentially plug in a aux cord and stand on the table yelling 1 2 3 lets go.
@@ThisIsDownstate I don't doubt it happens I just would doubt its the norm unless you're one of the millionaire big time DJs like Deadmau5, david guetta, marshmellow, etc idk Ive just seen a lot of smaller artists fuck up mixes at shows
the term of “pre-recorded” these days is often conflated with a “pre-planed” set. i think that’s more of what joel is talking about in this video. while it does happen, rarely ever are there DJ’s that are literally doing nothing.
Yeah, I'm still a believer in the experience of synchronising with your crowd...the best djs dont stand there looking pleased with themselves. They are working every minute to bring up the vibe. I found his response a tad on the defensive side...but I am a fan of his music 🎶
No he is right. I have actually practiced and learned by memory sets like kaskade ultra 2016 and deadmau5 2014. Fredagain boiler room. There is so much work involved and one slip up ruins the flow. I do respect the fact skrillex fredagain and fourtet do complete "track listed" but free style djing and it can be sloppy and fun and just makes the crowed feel great. Fourtet will not allow a pre recorded set. But a PLANNED SET is much different. Every band on earth also does this on every tour. Its never just lets jam and see what happens. Edc is too big to mess up and ruin ur name. Now if djs fake fuckups like fredagain getting 4x people stopping the mix and that was preplanned. Id be pissed because that made me feel like he was actually mixing live, but gaurentee he planned every track in order giving him time do sample and mix in hybrid remixes and new sounds. Even tho his drum pad. He just plays along too a pre recorded produced by him track. I love it.
I think skrillex does live mixing even now cuz he not only plays same set everywhere but he also plays diiferent songs according to the audience tempo....and yes you can really see his transitions and hand gestures
1:38 that's the shit I appreciate. Prerecorded don't bother me if it's dope. But what I really appreciate is people who make shit I like and play stuff they made. You can have good taste in other people's music, I do to.. do something I can't, foreal... why am I even paying you? Unless you're a Mashup god
Between gigs in the private jets they have time to edit the sets on their laptops and just put it on the usb sticks. Look at their calendars to see how they hop between time zones. Incredible they still smile, wave and turn the filter knobs!
I get why these big artists do it. However, saying someone mime-DJing is "fake DJing" is an objectively accurate description. It's is corny & nothing to be smarmy about. I'm sure he's on point that it's a requirement for a certain level of stage show but he should lose the attitude. Having a lack of integrity doesn't make you a cool guy. DJ & Producer are two separate crafts. DJ/Producers are generally more well rounded & sophisticated than Producer/DJs. He can only play headlining spots to his fans & would suck at DJing in any other context. Dude blew up from a gimmick & marketing. He's is one of the first artists that contributed to turning DJing corny & the bastardization of DJ culture.
As I’ve grown listening to deadmau5 over the last 12 years, I have come to appreciate his brutal honesty more especially in an industry where everyone is so afraid to speak their mind
He’s respected enough to say whatever he wants, most other djs are afraid of damaging their names
to be fair, he's been like this from the beginning back when i discovered him in 2007. People have always been saying he's a d!ck head. But he kept it real. Maybe now he is finally starting to open up a bit more on other subjects@@yanchentao988
agreed, and that comes and bites him sometimes
@@imiccastill worth it for people to say what they really mean. Id rather someone hurt my feelings and allow me to recover from it, than lie to me forever.
Always loved his honesty!
Guess you also love his douchery. Honesty can be delivered with class and a modicum of respect at least.
Honestly fake
Honestly how shameless arrogant can he be !
Erm the only reason djs don't play live is because they can't.. Ever seen Carl cox fake it?
Most DJs wouldn't admit it. I never seen a problem with it. It's more of a producer than DJ, but if you move the crowd, you move the crowd.
No titles needed. DJ, producer, musician... He plays and creates music and people dance and like it.
The biggest issue here is people having different definitions of prerecorded
yea if you ever see someone play a set in ableton, they control each instrument with the buttons to start and stop it. Besides sample, its generating sound in real time, not just playing an audio file. Its actually like way more high quality sounding that way because of the bit rate and lossy file types
if you can mix fine for your pre-record, you should be confident enough to do it to a live audience too.
but the truth is out now with the big shows, it's so they can sync the lights up.
@@xsm5525 that's a lie, there are softwares that can read in real the waves of the music being played.
He's not a DJ he's a producer
so are those that pre record their sets :D
So you're the DJ Police.
*vinyldjpolice@@samikalastaja
so why does he "perform" in front of thousands of people?
because of women and money and wanting clout for having fire beats...no more, no less@@jaimeramos9497
I think the mistake a lot of people tend to make is saying Joel is a DJ. He's not, hes said it multiple times. People have pointed out in this comment section and every where hes a producer. And while he definitely enjoys the technical aspects of things for a performance, you don't have to look far to see that yeah, most of his sets are the same. Go look at footage from all the We Are Friends shows he did, and you will see the same set over and over. He even says in this livestream he really prepares deadmau5 shows well ahead of time, meanwhile his Testpilot shows are "free wheeled" which is him doing actual mixing. (Although lets be clear, if you watch him DJ as Testpilot and know anything about Ableton, you know hes just launching clips and applying effects to put on a musical show).
Nothing inherently wrong with this. You'll see the same people who complain about the Sync Button complaining about this. Bunch of old heads yelling about vinyl DJs, which I also love watching. People like Andy C are the bomb and watching him is just such a sight to behold. But at the end of the day, I don't see the people complaining getting their names on the line up. Sorry not sorry.
*cough* occularcentrism *cough*
I'm surprised nobody has not taken notice of how he performs live. He knows how to DJ. But he prefers to play live with Ableton. Zeds Dead has done this, and Noisia. CDJ's are fun, But they are limiting, of course DJing is an art and has it's pros and cons. I know guys who have hybrid setups that use both Ableton and Rekordbox/Serato, etc. Ableton has something called LINK which allows you to sync both the DJ software and Ableton and use ableton as a drum machine, sampler, etc. Spices up things. But Joel actually uses hardware in his sets, not just mixing two songs together.
czcams.com/video/50NbAM2jsDs/video.html
Gone are the days when Dave Angel would remove the steel plate from a 1210 during his set and use a screwdriver to fine tune the pitch. A true dj at work 😊
Well said... Even though the likes of Jeff Mills, Derrick May, Robert Hood, and Carl Cox are still DJing.... they don't make them like that anymore... Actual DJing is slowly becoming a lost artform... when it was about 2 or even 3 turntables and a mixer... It's all about the equipment and laptops and pad controllers... Sad to see
Lol underated comment 😂
There are still very talented young DJs out there. But they do seem to be in the minority, yes.
@@the_80skid what’s sad is that some of these top DJs can still DJ, they’re just not allowed to at these festivals
@@the_80skidthis is why I stopped going to festivals like 10-15 years ago. Smaller intimate clubs and venues are where the craft is still being done. Europe overall has a lot of strong local scenes. Not sure how it is in the states aside from maybe NYC and Miami.
Buddy, Andy C is still playing Vinyls and an actual live set and dropping triples within his 1 hour.
hes playing live but its a DVS setup not vinyl
was thinking the same thing. cant beat the executioner! 👊
Well hes superhuman so its understandable. How guys like him and AMC do that shit at that bpm amazes me
And the light show seems proper too. All these guys talking about visuals . Lol f#$koff
Glad to see Andy C mentioned here.
Love this guy . Always spot on 👏👏👏
ya... of course . playing prerecorded sets in a situation that everyone has been led to believe is a live set tends to make you appear always spot on.
@@anthonygato407 the term of “pre-recorded” these days is often conflated with a “pre-planed” set. i think that’s more of what joel is talking about in this video. while it does happen, rarely ever are there DJ’s that are literally doing nothing.
Respect for this brutal honesty! I told folks out in the audience this years ago ( when I grab the chainsaw it’s a sequence keeping it going folks ! ) That’s entertainment ! A show is there to entertain people not put the artists under some expectation of watching them recreate their entire production in front of an audience in real time. DUH! Your honesty is refreshing 👽✌️👍
Don’t bands do this?
@@r2worksee i imagine some bands don’t but in this situation we’re probably talking at least 50%.👽✌️
People see live music to watch the artists preform their original work. Disregarding pop artists that lip sync, it would be insane to find out a band like Metallica or led zeppelin were not actually playing their instruments.
@@XenoTravis when your talking about Metallica in the same breath as dead mouse you seem to forget he’s playing all the tracks on the record. So it’s not really a very good comparison at all . And people that are into his music know this is how a vast majority of folks in this genre of electronic music perform…with turn tables and mixers x/ y controllers or filters. If you want to see someone play electronic music in a more tactile fashion I suggest someone like early Tangerine dream . ✌️👽
Paul Kalkbrenner is one of the best. Listen to his Tomorrowland 2023 sets it is amazing. And Tomorrowland is as big as they come in festivals.
I've saw him perform on the Sonar tour, absolutely amazing!
dude tommorwland talking musicaly is very poor
@@rebelllionlad8049 its about EDM, House, Techno, trance, etc. And if this kind of music is your jam, this is one of the best. Even still Tomorrowland is still top 10 of ALL music festivals across the world. Not sure who took a dump in your bowl of cereals, but your just bitter with no reason.
And his set was live, both weekends. Trust me ;-)
Timmy Trumpet was a lot of fun too.
1:23 “Who are you, the DJ Police?” 😂
Back in the vinyl days it was so obvious that DJs prepped their sets in advance for major broadcasts. Listen to Oakenfold or Sasha on Radio 1 in the 90s and they are flawless - harmonically, mix points etc. They didn’t prerecord but they preprepared and their sets were all the better for it. It’s been going on for years and now with digital, it’s no surprise that major sets are prerecorded
Radio sets are a completely different thing, has nothing to do with the video or the discussion
@@Dubstone They were live sets from festivals broadcast on radio. You probably weren’t even born. Since you don’t seem particularly bright, let me help you. The video is discussing prerecorded sets. My point is in essence it’s nothing new. If you watch the video again, he makes the point that the stakes are too high not to prerecord major sets, such as EDC. My point also alluded to this. Maybe close your mouth and open your ears.
Any good DJ prepares (or should) their set before any large event, but that's completely different than pressing play on a pre-record audio hour long MP4.
Radio 1 Trance shows of 90s. I used to record them on the Walkman. Happy days.
there is a difference in pre-recorded and prepared sets. a big difference :)
Love to prerecorded sets, it makes my live set with two turntables spinning vinyl so much more authentic.
I played EDC in 2023 and did the whole thing live. It was not pre-recorded and all the visuals and lasers were also played live by a visuals team.
I think it's more so like Excision where the visuals are so fine tuned on beat that it just HAS to be prerecorded.
As someone who has been on the dancefloor and also controlled the dancefloor (playing gigs), it doesn't matter if it's pre-recorded. All the audience cares about is if the music is good. Also, all these big events like EDC, Tomorrowland, Ultra etc. you pretty much already have to be a well known producer to even DJ at these events and I think pre-recorded or not, being a producer is way more prestigious than just being a DJ IMO. Personally I've never done pre-recorded but that's because all my gigs are tiny in comparison to the big guys.
Complete bollocks
Hahahahaha, this is why EDM and all the big festival bullshit sucks. Give me 2 turntables a mixer a strobe and a little dark room any day.
So why does it even matter if deadmau5 a is there. If all that matters is that the music is good, couldn’t we get rid of the entire stage concept and create immersive dance events where it’s just music on giant speakers
@@robertlemiesz7143 same reason why people go to bars instead of drinking a beer at home. It's not always just for the music but for the experience, people, lights, sound etc. If you go see an artist who basically just plays a Spotify playlists then that's on you. I love going to see shows of my favorite artists because they'll usually play their new tracks that isn't even out on soundcloud or just in general make a great mix as well as what I previously mentioned in my first sentence. At the end of the day, nobody is forcing you to pay to go see them.
Can you explan what exactly 'Pre-Recorded Set' means? Does it mean that someone has recorded his own set and playing it at the event or is it just fixed tracklist orded that DJ would play at the event?
The time constraint thing is such a cop out. You plan a set out and have a some extra tunes just in case.
The issue is playing over time, not below it. Imagine having to cut a set abruptly because you went over time...
@@exilada800they have clocks in front of them and can plan when to cut or extend a track.
Things were better before edm became too popular. There were no prerecorded sets, no super expensive sold out festivals, no famous people there for the insta and no DJ’s who acted like they were superstars. When you went to a rave you always felt like you knew about something amazing that most people didn’t know about. Better times for sure.
Actually.... he started this.
It was a couple of years ago, there were these two chicks (i forget who) and he trolled them mercilessly for "fake push button" and "filter knobbing". It was on his insta a number of years ago. So really, he brought this on himself.
Yea its funny lmao. Joel was the one talking shit about DJ's pretending to do shit and now he says he likes to pretend as well
@@honkeykong1985 I wish I could remember who he was trolling... All I remember was this vid on his insta where he was making fun of "dj's" for just touching the knobs and not even having their decks plugged in. It was like... 2012 / 2014. Two girl DJ's too.
I think it was nervo but not sure
@@ElletrommiMusic I kept thinking it was Knife Party... but thats not right. All I remember was him walking around unplugged decks and pushing faders and knobs, like he was doing something.
It was Krewella he was making fun of
Can you post the link to the full livestream!!
I fuckin love him sm!
Isn’t it just great how many youtubers are struggling with censorship, and Joel drops one f-bomb after the other without any bleeps or muting. Love it 😄
yea his net worth is like, a hair under the highest paid youtube star so i highly doubt he cares if some vids get demonetized lol
@@TM-pi2rn This video is to keep his boat floating. YT is not his income.
@@SchiesterMalG Joel didnt make this and I'm sure he's not too happy it got made
Always loved Deadmau5 and his simpleness, he never pretends to be some sort of superstar virtuoso or anything like that. I'm a producer too, and most of the time I've had the opportunity of showing my music live, I don't have the equipment to do what I do on my computer. My specialty is not DJing and I make that clear every time I go to stage, I just make very basic mixes with subtle transitions to showcase what I do, so I don't think using pre recordings is something bad if your strengths are in music making and production.
Yes, people don’t understand the difference between a DJ and a producer, which is the real problem.
People genuinely think anyone who makes or plays edm/techno music is a DJ by default, and that they should therefore be mixing live in order for the performance to be “impressive”. They are both completely diff arts/skills and it’s damn near impossible to truly be highly skilled at both simultaneously, unless you just have been practicing both skills for your entire life, which are super rare cases with guys like Fred Again.. and even those guys usually plan their sets/perform them ahead of time in order to properly synchronize the visual components, even if it is played or mixed in real time. Even if it is a live performance, it is still always planned at the least if it is part of a huge production value that uses visuals, like every major music festival. I used Fred Again.. as an example because he actually had a freestyle section in his set at EDCLV this year, but even he used technology that would make it arguable if it was truly DJ’ing and mixing, rather than just chopping and screwing or live sampling. AND THE HILARIOUS PART IS PEOPLE HATED THAT SET AND HAD ZERO APPRECIATION FOR THE ACTUAL SKILL IT TOOK 🤣🤣
People don’t realize that what most of what modern electronic music performers do in general, is not considered DJ’ing. It’s layering sounds and songs so their rhythms and tempos synchonize- which is the basics of DJ’ing- but considering most of the skills can be done by the technology people are performing on these days, it takes a very small degree of the technical skills of mixing that traditional DJ’ing requires. Using traditional DJ’ing skills/techniques leads to less clean transitions and mixes, and limits how many layers of sound can be mixed together at once, only the GOATS of DJ’ing can properly mix three-four diff layers at a time without it sounsing choppy and off tempo on certain layers. The hilarious thing is that usually the more “basic” and simple sounding mixes usually are what is actually performed live, while the crazy complex shit is extremely likely to be pre-recorded. Yet people have such a lack of understanding of what these artists skills are, or what they truly do as creators, that they just see someone up their on a stage and a dj board, and assume it’s all the same thing. And the reality is, whether people are aware of it or not, they usually prefer the pre-recorded stuff as it’s much more polished and refined, like in the Fred Again.. example I used above. Personally I have no problem admitting that I want a performance to feel perfectly executed considering I am paying hundreds-thousands of dollars in order to attend most festivals. If that means having some pre-recorded sections or the whole thing being planned ahead of time, then so be it.
Most genuine DJ’s who only DJ or mainly focus on that, usually do it because they are not able to compose music from scratch the same way a producer would, which is why DJ’ing is the skill they focus on. And in the same way most people who just produce or mainly focus on that, usually are just decent when it comes to actual high level DJ’ing skills on a technical level, again which is part of why they focus on production rather than DJ’ing.
As you said, people need to stop thinking every artist has to be some trascendent talent in ever facet. Appreciate what these people have created, and the skills they’ve cultivated for what they are, instead of comparing it to every other artist in the scene. Not every person is going to have the same performing style and vision which is why diff genres and subgrenres exist in the first place.
The only person I have ever seen truly “perform” electronic music live, is HEY MOM NO COMPUTER, or other artists like that which use modular synthesizers. Those are the only people who truly “play” electronic music live since they are literally composing the sounds in real time on the hardware. Everyone else is just pressing play or pause on a pre-recorded track, with some digital platform and/or hardware to control it, to a lesser or greater degree. So rather than complaining about how one person’s style takes no skill, lets just appreciate all the different artistic forms that exist within this realm, and be glad we have so many creators and different artistic visions/perspectives because of that.
very well explained
Feel like most this comment section is misunderstanding. He's never played a pre-recorded set in the sense of a literal audio file of the set being made ahead of time. It's pre-recorded in the sense that he has the tracks picked out ahead of time and pulled up in an Ableton Live session, since those are connected to his visuals. So he still has to 'mix' them live - he's not just pressing one button and calling it a day haha
he'd be on wax, i'd say ok. But honestly... i don't give money to people prerecording sets even if only speaking about track order selection. I listen to their music at home. If someone asks me one day to prerecord a whole set, i'm refusing his money because all the other artists around me would just be pretenders in my opinion. The guy did very good music though. I liked a lot of his tunes, and full of respect for his music. Anyway, to whoever read this, being able to improvise and be good, it takes much time and effort mixing in front of your wall, recording yourself, listening to your mixes, diggin your records, it's all a about training. then ya'll see, do i wanna be an IDM dj xho fakes it or ... just a dj, but a good one.
Lining up on Ableton is premixing... He won't be warping audio on stage if the lights and video are in sync... Only thing he said he does is use filters
WRONG! Pre-recorded is premixed, thus his comment about the visuals being in perfect sync with the music. See, you can't even believe it yourself it is so absurd.
thank god he does
then is not "pre recorded" nothing is recorded previously, all mixed live.
you're confused.
Crazy how James Hype is using a clip of this to blow things outta proportion and only for engagement and all about himself. “i’M nOt a fAkE DJ lOoK aT Me”
Wait really haha - do you have a link to his video
@@ZigZagProductionStudio instagram.com/reel/CzyXwHNNMJU/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Every set I've ever played even if live, I had a track list with what time stamps to cut between decks so that the mix sounds good. The rest of the time between switching tracks was used to play with the loops and filters. I hate these "non-dj" questions that sound like they come from someone who's never spun music before. If you know you have your first live gig lined up, you make a fire track list and figure out how to mesh together every song on that list, and in doing so, create your own hybrid tracks in between.
Timestamp is a sticker on a record, WTF you all even talking about....
erm.. what..
Nope, never done that myself or known anyone that's ever done that. In a performance type situation that would make sense perhaps (album promotion etc), but a four to the floor DJ's job isn't (or wasn't) to do anything other than play tunes, feel out the vibe of the crowd and work together for an hour or so.
@@SchiesterMalG there's lots of uses for the term time stamp. It can also be used to signify a specific timeframe or cue in an audio or video recording.
No op is right. I have actually practiced and learned by memory sets like kaskade ultra 2016 and deadmau5 2014. Fredagain boiler room. There is so much work involved and one slip up ruins the flow. I do respect the fact skrillex fredagain and fourtet do complete "track listed" but free style djing and it can be sloppy and fun and just makes the crowed feel great. Fourtet will not allow a pre recorded set. But a PLANNED SET is much different. Every band on earth also does this.
@@ShiftyRightNow A planned set, (as in track order) isn't necessarily a bad thing for some DJ's, but the 'one slip up' element would make it a very intense, stressful experience for the 'DJ'. A set that's lacking life & 'in the moment' unique parts for the audience. If the track order was set-up & has to be stitched together precisely so it doesn't 'ruin the flow', I'd say this suggests a lack of skill & understanding when seamlessly combining tracks for an audience. These things should all be automatic, second nature, muscle memory in the flow actions.
However, you've helped clarify the situation by using the term 'freestyle DJing'. Before that became a thing, it was & still is for most, simply called - DJing.
Paris Hilton kinda changed the game & I can't see it stopping.
I didn’t play a pre-recorded set at EDC but I’m also not a big DJ
YOU WILL BE, I BELIEVE IT. KEEP KILLING IT!!!!
Just saw him last night @ breakaway music festival.
Please share the link to the full livestream.
czcams.com/video/F_bfeVYiIKM/video.html It's not the whole thing, but it's most of it
Makes since for the visuals to align right
Facts.
damn, i knew other artists did it all the time, but i always thought he had his own custom tech to render and transition between corresponding visuals in sync! it's what i'd wanna do, since you can dynamically change your set based on how the audience is feeling. if anything it's leaving the market open for something that hasn't been done yet.
I had genuine curiosity about his comment about pre-recorded sets and visuals. I thought the tech was there with wild amounts of automation with some human oversight by leveraging Ableton, MIDI, DMX, VDMX, etc.
I listened again and when he said "so immaculately timed" I was reminded that this artist has a very keen sense of timing. He would pick up on things that I would miss.
Maybe the live visual tech could fool the average festival persona but nobody can fool Deadmau5!
I mean what he said here isn’t entirely true. As someone who operates visuals for shows, just because it lines up perfectly does NOT mean they aren’t DJing live. We have software that lets us sync clips to individual tracks from the CDJ live. It’s called ShowKontrol. But each track has its own visual and we play them when the correct track is playing. So sure some people might pre record it all but a large majority at least outside of like “EDM” do not.
damn I remember when big timers would have some mini trainwrecks I actually miss that. To me the fact that music is "prefect" every where. Humans are imperfect and our music should reflect that more.
I watched Billie eilish preform at Osheaga in Montreal this year, she coughed and missed a couple words. It was really great actually to have a moment of pure humanity, that mistake made all the rest so much more real in a way
That's your opinion and it's valid no cap on that. But there are people who will say they paid for an experience and if it's not good or up to par then it's a bad experience. Just trying to play devil's advocate on behalf of people who think differently. I do like the viewpoint of a more humanitarian set, but people like well timed stuff too, and it's a blend of both that will be needed. Professional sets are dope, and hearing an off beat is humbling, take both to heart and express that to people who are chained to one side remember there are always different opinions none weighing heavier then the other.
What the fuck is "prefect" music?
btw - VJ's can still do visuals that go with the music! It doesn't HAVE to be pre-recorded, we have visual software and hardware which is similar to DJ's and producers.
LOL, thanks for the insight
The show police thing made me howl! 😂😂😂😂👽✌️
Thank You For KEEPING IT REAL!!
Wait, how is playing and mixing his set live any more "risky" than a band playing their music live?!
Because djing is how non musicians become musicians. 😂 I say this as a dj myself. No realy learning to dj is 1000 times easier than learning an instrument. And producing is even easier because you can make all the mistakes in the world and still perfect it in the end. And now with ai making music anyone can do it. Tech beats talent every time.
@@roflryan1 As a DJ and an instrumental musician I agree that it's easier to learn the mechanics and the technical aspects of DJing. But what separates the great DJs is not just playing and mixing tracks. It's having a vision of what you want to create as a DJ and then learning how read and lead the dance floor and that takes time and talent. Same thing with producing dance music: sure it's easy to put together a track that's technically proficient but it takes real talent to create something that's exceptional and original. As far as "performing" pre-recorded sets? Hey, if the audience is happy....though calling it performing is a stretch.
If a band member messes up live, that only affects one instrument. The rest of the band keeps going. As a DJ, you're in control over ALL of the sound. If you mess up, it messes up the ENTIRE flow of the song and/or show. A DJ can go from a killer set to a failed set by accidentally hitting "Pause" or "Cue" on a live track.
@@AwooAdvocate Lead singers forget lyrics, lead guitar solos get tanked by broken strings, etc. These "DJs" are getting paid insane amounts of money for big festivals. I think they can take a few risks. But hey, if the fans are OK with the pre-recorded sets, I won't try to stop anyone from doing it. Just don't whine about the "risks".
@@roflryan1Say that to modular synth and abbleton users 🤣
This is some real EDM talk.
Come to drum and bass ;)
(Not that Hedex/Mcdonalds DNB)
so not the goated dnb dj right now lol
@@RealTeeroh Goated? dont.... lol He is literally Ronald Mcdonald of DNB, Kids love him, big seller, but is not good for you 🤣
@@DNBCYPHER Classic DnB elitist mad cuz someone is too big and you might seem 'uncool' to like his music lol.
you what, kid? aint no one mad lol we all like a bit of mcdonald's every now and then lol@@RealTeeroh
@@RealTeeroh goat dnb dj? lol are you 15?
Motley Crue and Deadmau5 tour 2023!!!
0:41 Martin Garrix said in an interview that the visuals team see which next song is loaded into the system, so that they can prepare the visuals. It's a team that needs to closely work together to make it work. Not sure who to believe
I mean I’ve heard multiple artists screw up live at edc so obviously some artists do dj live even at big festivals
There is algorithms to predict the future waveforms and thus provide a guide to match visuals with audio
Appreciate his candor, though this partially explains why I moved on from his stuff. I'll stick to DJ sets mixed on the fly though, thank you very much.
yup. most people don’t care but there’s a special feeling you get when the dj is killing it and you know it’s all off the top
@@rtyprty Yes. I even appreciate the mistakes, even the big ones (worst one was was Crystal Method). It shows me that they care about their craft and respect the crowd. Saying nothing about vinyl and live sets.
I enjoyed fredagain at boiler room London. Thrre where screw ups and even people from the crowd would hit the decks on accident and pause a track etc. He even played the drum pad live. So i think his set was all live, but now honestly idk... idk anymore now that deadmau5 has come out and said this (about the massive festival's because you want it to be perfect and especially put on a show with the lights and effects. Another example would be TBD (skrillex x fredagain x fourtet) at coachella. There set was so sloppy at times i actually appreciated it knowing it was all live and they where even dropping tracks to try and make it harder for the next one to mix out of. Hahshs Fourtet dropped country riddim 3x lmao at once from a sample of Nirvana "teen spirit" so theres a group of worlds best DJs and producers who are the most booked and highest paid talent in EDM currently. Always like skrillex and his passion.
Guys… pre-recorded/ pre-mixed/ pre-prepared. Whether it’s Ableton or one long wav file. The mixing has already been done. If you like Deadmau5 and his sets then you know what the deal is. His shows look amazing, the cube looks bad ass. People watching live don’t really look disappointed. I’ve seen him live in godskitchen actually mixing. I think the guy knows how to mix 😂 as long as you’re not posing as mixing and trying to hide the fact you’re actually not then it’s just another form of entertainment in this day and age
what he mean he dosent play mp3?he only plays wav file?
@@Rumor. I would assume he only plays wav files. the sound quality of mp3 is trash in comparison. you might not notice when playing on your speakers at home or maybe even at smaller shows, but once you get to festival level sound systems, you can clearly tell the difference. Plus if he only plays his own music, he already has all the wav files on hand so why not
@@GamaLimits I was always curious how the Dj find every track in WAV format,me personally i have both.
@@Rumor. i'm sure that big DJ's/producers can probably just reach out to other artists to get their music in WAV format and get the files fairly easily. I use both as well. I just mix at home as a hobby so its not too big of a deal for me to play mp3
thanks for the info man@@GamaLimits
DJing for me is all about vibing with the crowd so feeling what the crowd are feeling and drawing records that feel right. I'm surprised that most big festivals only have DJs playing pre-recorded sets. If you are playing all your own music though as a producer rather than a selector I kind of get the pre-recorded thing especially if it's part of a visual show like someone like Aphex Twin would do. We have an amazing lighting/laser engineer who understands our music very well and can follow what we are playing and do a really great job while freestyling it. :)
I was thinking the same, some of these artists have dedicated lighting/visuals guys who will be able to time the right things immaculately.
The lights are made to go with the beat. Even real cheap lights have this technology. I highly doubt most dj’s are playing pre recorded. I have heard famous dj’s train wreak. Paul Oakenfold being one of them. I’m happy when I hear a fuck up these days….
Where ia he streaming to these days? Twitch still?
This is why you never miss a @deadmau5 show. I’ve seen him all over the country.
i mean, if its prerecorded, isnt it basically once you have seen it once you have seen them all?
@@nfmosphotos4624 exactly
This is why Bonobo live shows are amazing
It's not just the order of the tracks it's also the lighting effects matching the tracks at the same time to make it epic for the audience
If it was a live mix then there's a risk of the lighting being delayed
Ya'll have gotten weak... I used to go for the music, not the lights....
is this the entire interview?? or is there another full length video of this??
They made the edit from my longer recording: czcams.com/video/F_bfeVYiIKM/video.html
If the visuals are more important than the music, you are at the wrong concert.
You're right but I really enjoyed the cube v3 set
@chimneychap5142 exactly, cube v3 was a technical marvel of rendering gpu power and engineering
This pre-recorded set stuff is the new “ sync button discussion” 😉
the absolute state of EDM lmao
I can't imagine going to EDC knowing this
People care way too much about this lol. The music still hits the same. That’s like never watching a movie again because you know they’re fake
as a fan of music in general i thought electronic music fans all knew this? not to ruin christmas for you but if you go to a popular rap concert now you are listening to an ipad. if you wanna see live shit happen go watch a show that involves guitars and drums etc
I love this guy!
Deadmau5 earns his respect keeping it real all the time love and respect blunt people
Common dude, no respect at all, in what sense he's keeping it real when he's admitting he fakes his Dj set and justifying that. How de fok!!??!!!
You will grow to realize your mistake.
"fiddle twister knobs and clap" 🤣🤣🤣
pre-RECORDED means, that the set has already been played, recorded to a file and played back on the show. Apparently this is what is happening during most huge shows.
pre-MADE means, that you've created the playlist at home, set the cue points, most likely practiced playing it, but on the event itself, you are still mixing it live. This happens mostly in clubs or on smaller-mid sized events. You still have the set under control, but there is a lot more creative freedom.
Going YOLO and just playing songs that seems like a good idea to play next from your library is the third option, that is basically never seen on any bigger events.
I've been to some bigger events where DJs still played pre-made sets (or routines as they are sometimes called), very much noticeable by the lighting, as Joel said. If you listen and look closely, you will notice a slight delay or mishaps inbetween the light's cues, since the light jockey doesn't know the set in advance, and just goes off by the fact that modern music is extremely repetetive and predictable.
No idea why there has to be so much gatekeeping around this, and using sync for example. While you go to the event to enjoy the show, that is comprised mostly of 3 things: the music, the visual show, and the people around. An excellent show means flawless mixing (which is most easily done by pre-recording the set, in the sense of having one mp3 or whatever file, and pressing "play" at the start of the set and that's it), perfect visuals (which again, is almost impossible to do live, even when you are lighting music so predictable and boring like house) and friendly people, which you cannot really control, but.. You cannot have all 3 perfect, so you have to balance things out. Live DJing means not perfect visuals, or having to employ very good light jockey(s) and have quite an equipment. Having perfect visuals requires you to know what will be played. etc.
Same goes with the sync button - it's a tool, developed to help DJs be more creative. If you do extremely high energy mixing, and jump around between genres or do some very rapid chops, you absolutely do not have time to cue in the track, adjust tempo, beatmatch and then proceed to mix.. you load the track, play, sync, and go straight into mixing. While yes, it does make the "good old classic" mixing basically worthless, and in some extremes can lead to very bad sounding set.. same goes with pre-recorded stuff, or just ruining the pre-recorded set by getting way too influenced by substances and overusing the most basic filters and effects.
Everything is made to be used for something, and everything has its own reason. If the reason is not good enough, or is just objectively bad, then it probably won't be such a big deal and people would not be doing it. So stop stupidly gatekeeping
wrong.
Yeah wrong for sure lol. They are not mixing it live.
So he's never heard of ShowKontrol? The way the lights and things are on beat with a DJ is literally software like ShowKontrol. I wanna say I saw a video on Armin Van Buren one time that showed he used the 3rd and 4th CD players back in the day exclusively as SMPTE playback machines sent to FOH for the lighting.
I'm not saying some aren't playing a pre-recorded set cause i'm sure there's several that do. But it's not hard these days to have lights sync up with DJ gear. Between ShowKontrol and a lighting guy that knows the music that's really all you need.
The way Joel talks about these things is like he's never talked to anyone about anything related to their profession.
Based comment👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👍🏻🔥
Finally some honesty
Literally, a DJs only jobs is to play music. We can debate who are the more talented DJs, but at the end of the day it's all about providing music for the listeners whether on the radio, at a wedding or at a major festival.
If the artists who do this would be honest to their audience and tell them you are going to a festival to watch a movie, not a live performance, then fine. However, there are thousands of DJs who don’t do this… go to Movement festival and you’ll see plenty. The idea that this is commonplace anywhere except pop EDM festivals and a handful of other instance (afterlife, cough) where sets are sync’d to visuals is ridiculous. Doesn’t mean those DJs can’t mix, just a shame that people expect a visual performance over a live musical one these days.
100 percent true
Hence why they set up 4 cdjs. Basically a scam. But judging by the comment section, the average EDM fan doesn't actually care anyway lol
@@ThisIsDownstate that’s exactly it. Most of The audience doesn’t know what DJs actually do (or are not doing in this case, and those who do must not care. I prefer the dj tucked away in a corner in a dark room with no visuals myself, but I’m also in my 40s.
@ThisIsDownstate I know. I always laugh when I see that. Honestly I'm 44 so I came up in the vinyl and turntables Era when djing was an art form. I have noticed vinyl is making a little comeback
@iamjeffincarnate hell yes. Same here I'm 44. When I saw danny tenaglia it was like that. Most of the raves just had some lasers
Big festivals have to manage the lighting/ fireworks so it makes sense they prerecord most of it
pre-recording sets gives the best show experience because many people behind the scenes can prepare.... proper laser and lighting programming.. moving stage and more relevant video elements..Why complain? you come for the experience.. how it's done doesn't matter...
I love his honesty
I think what people tend to forget is that DJing and Producing are very different avenues. DJing has nothing to do with producing at all. It's just the ability to entertain a crowd with music. Producing om the other hand is making music from scratch. The only connection between the 2 is you can do both at the same time. Producers already make their music before hand so why would it be confusing that they make their set before hand? I think DJing, and/or Producing both require a lot of thought, and skill just one does it before the show, and the other does it during
Some of the coolest sets I've been to are pre-recorded, and vice versa I don't think it matters as long as it's clear that a lot of time, and effort is shown through what they've made
The thing is, if someone pre prepares a DJ set (as in pre records the whole mix) then it’s not actually a live performance
@@Lazlo-os1pu depends on what you mean by prepare
@@MonkeyNBananas I meant prepares as in pre-records. Lots of people getting it mixed up in the comments thinking he means “pre prepares” as in has pre picked tracks ready to go. That’s not what he means. He means literally the whole thing is mixed and he basically just presses play.
@@Lazlo-os1pu Exactly. The "performer" needn't be there, neither do I.
i would say he’s wrong about most sets being prerecorded, most the time they timecode visuals but the dj still plays and mixes them to taste. it’s maybe 50/50 depending on how detailed the visuals are. you have people like skrillex who are mixing on the fly
I'm ok with pre-recorded sets, what I don't get is why we all face the DJ and watch them instead of dancing around in any direction 🤷🏼♂️
Spot on.
Yeah that makes it all very weird.
Lmfao...i think because usually the visuals and light effects are in that direction
Because the Dj isn't DJing, i.e. Deadmau5
Tip: Stay away from the big over-produced festivals :D
tip: stay away from money and success
You can really tell the vibe difference from prerecorded and playing to the crowd djs , having a starter plan is good but even laid back Luke says you have to adjust certain crowds might now dig certain tracks etc
Agreed,
I've been to most of the big events across the US back in my prime. (1999-2007) It's just not the same, the music the vibe, the people.... I didn't enjoy myself as much as I do at the two small local fests I now attend every year. It has become like a ritual reunion of friendships.
@@TM-pi2rn There are plenty of people that have successful careers as a dj who do not play big festivals.
@@NicholasSeamans oh yes im sure there is, i was being an ass. i dont think that's a good "tip" though. i would not turn down a spot at a festival if it meant doing a pre-recorded set. could still keep things just interesting enough to feel like you aren't just standing there. just because you are using auto beat sync with preplanned out tracks doesn't mean you just have to stand there and pretend to twist knobs the whole time. some probably do that though
Cool. :)
My interpretation of this is that he records an hour long mix ahead of time making sure that all the transitions are perfect. Then on the night he just hits spacebar and lets it run. He probably has a bunch of effects sends that he plays live (like delays, distortion and filters etc) he may even have the long audio file split into different channels so he can just send the drums to an effect etc etc. There’s quite a lot of scope for doing stuff under the humble banner of “twiddling filter knobs and clapping” like he says. But he is not actually mixing between the different tracks in the mix while he’s on stage.
yeah. That's exactly what it is. But doing it manually like switching the song each time is not that hard to do too, but it's understandable why a pre-recorded set is better because it doesn't allow error to happen when the song is switching.
Personally I like the female DJs. At least they look sexy while they are faking it.
I don’t think he just hits the space bar. I recall in the Ultra Miami b2b set with HI-LO something went wrong with one of the tracks loading and they had to pull up and mix in another track. But it makes perfect sense a DJ would think upfront about what tracks they would play and at what point in an hour or two hour long set. The hype of a live set might be too much noise to let creativity flow and pick the right tracks to make the set as good as it can be. It probably not as easy as they make it look.
How about shambs? I seen ppl hate but I enjoyed it alot got some good recordings of you man!
showkontrol does the visuals to the millisecond live
Interesting. What I would do during a pre recorded set is to DJ it live but for me only to practice? I guess.
@deadmau5 yeah i pre-record my sets too because of scheduling, sometimes i have to play mutiple venues back to back and i need each venue to be setup right, but the right channel is for requests ;)
Then you should be ashamed
Dude you’re not headlining massive shows, there’s no excuse for you.
DJing is selecting songs live on the spot if you’re playing a pre-recorded set then no you’re not a DJ, we can have a discussion on if that’s a bad thing or not but personally I would prefer to know they are at least triggering the tracks live, and it would be nice to have a little improv on top of that. If a full band can play a set on que than so can any DJ.
why is the audio stereo af?
I’m going to turn up to world DMC Dj championships and play a pre recorded routine and see how it goes
with prerecorded he means something else than we do ...
we mean: u prerecord the whole set, and press play one time and done ... what he means is the tracks are prerecorded and he doesnt use midi and a synth
Hey sooooo. Djs are starting to total concert speakers with a special bass???. Is that a thing?
as someone has done live shows in a small venue most of my original track were pre recorded tracks to fill out the time slot if you a hour long set you better one hell of creative person or your run out of ideas thanks God for ableton live 😅
well ya.... the understanding is that youre up there because youre the creative powerhouse in the room... ya hardly anyone is capable of this. thats why there's one DJ playing to the many people. and why that DJ is paid significant money and requires a booking management person to handle the demand. i play actual sets as a real DJ yes. not a fake DJ. I plan no sets. I interpret the energy in the moment and channel the set. and i do it on shrooms and cannabis. there's so many easy ways to make bigger money faster i don't get why the need for the pressure" oh man this set is important I have no choice but to prerecord my set bro..." " hey, are you the DJ police? you have to tell me or its entrapment."
i feel like Deadmau5 be fightin demons.... like a lot of times he seems pissed off at humanity. hes super talented but there's just this vibe I get that he's deep down angry
Drum and Bass DJs all play live sets!!
The spontaneity is why people follow djs, not knowing what’s coming, the dj reading the vibe and dropping tunes to lift the mood. Those out there that still do that, you’re the true hero’s these guys are nothing more than human jukeboxes…with a shit attitude about it to boot.
Exactly! That's what I've always said! They can't program all those visuals on the fly.
I don't know, I feel like it is pretty obvious when you are watching them hit buttons and push sliders and nothing audible happens LOL.
Where is he doing these streams?
Xhamster
does he mean pre-planned vs pre recorded? I see videos of DJs syncing up tracks on CDJs at festivals all the time. Not only that but skrillex pretty famously had to cut his set short at second sky because at least one of the cdjs stopped working
im guessing pre planned i dont know if people can get away with "prerecorded" or not. i was under the assumption 90%+ of DJs now have "pre-planned" sets. i mean who doesn't??? seriously??? trance DJ's? Tipper? who else lol
recorded. hence why he said all they can do is twiddle the filter and clap. yes, people are paying money for someone to essentially plug in a aux cord and stand on the table yelling 1 2 3 lets go.
@@ThisIsDownstate I don't doubt it happens I just would doubt its the norm unless you're one of the millionaire big time DJs like Deadmau5, david guetta, marshmellow, etc
idk Ive just seen a lot of smaller artists fuck up mixes at shows
the term of “pre-recorded” these days is often conflated with a “pre-planed” set. i think that’s more of what joel is talking about in this video. while it does happen, rarely ever are there DJ’s that are literally doing nothing.
Bro acting like ShowKontrol and lighting controllers don't exist
Yeah, I'm still a believer in the experience of synchronising with your crowd...the best djs dont stand there looking pleased with themselves. They are working every minute to bring up the vibe. I found his response a tad on the defensive side...but I am a fan of his music 🎶
No he is right. I have actually practiced and learned by memory sets like kaskade ultra 2016 and deadmau5 2014. Fredagain boiler room. There is so much work involved and one slip up ruins the flow. I do respect the fact skrillex fredagain and fourtet do complete "track listed" but free style djing and it can be sloppy and fun and just makes the crowed feel great. Fourtet will not allow a pre recorded set. But a PLANNED SET is much different. Every band on earth also does this on every tour. Its never just lets jam and see what happens. Edc is too big to mess up and ruin ur name. Now if djs fake fuckups like fredagain getting 4x people stopping the mix and that was preplanned. Id be pissed because that made me feel like he was actually mixing live, but gaurentee he planned every track in order giving him time do sample and mix in hybrid remixes and new sounds. Even tho his drum pad. He just plays along too a pre recorded produced by him track. I love it.
well, you know, the "art" of dj'ing is constantly changing
if you just press play and then just edit the bass and treble and a couple other things i think thats okay, youre all good lol
I’m a DJ too when I click on a mix on CZcams
😂 i love him
I think skrillex does live mixing even now cuz he not only plays same set everywhere but he also plays diiferent songs according to the audience tempo....and yes you can really see his transitions and hand gestures
nope..maybe 1-2 songs
1:38 that's the shit I appreciate. Prerecorded don't bother me if it's dope. But what I really appreciate is people who make shit I like and play stuff they made. You can have good taste in other people's music, I do to.. do something I can't, foreal... why am I even paying you? Unless you're a Mashup god
Hello my friend 👏👏
it looks like he has a ponytail 😂 he should rock it
truth.
Between gigs in the private jets they have time to edit the sets on their laptops and just put it on the usb sticks. Look at their calendars to see how they hop between time zones. Incredible they still smile, wave and turn the filter knobs!
I get why these big artists do it. However, saying someone mime-DJing is "fake DJing" is an objectively accurate description. It's is corny & nothing to be smarmy about. I'm sure he's on point that it's a requirement for a certain level of stage show but he should lose the attitude. Having a lack of integrity doesn't make you a cool guy.
DJ & Producer are two separate crafts. DJ/Producers are generally more well rounded & sophisticated than Producer/DJs. He can only play headlining spots to his fans & would suck at DJing in any other context.
Dude blew up from a gimmick & marketing. He's is one of the first artists that contributed to turning DJing corny & the bastardization of DJ culture.