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A Trak starting a new DJ battle


ELGEE

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this could be really interesting. the battle scene needs non traditional battles like this (as well as the existing ones for traditional turntablism to continue to evolve of course) to break the dated stereotypes people from outside the scene have of what turntablism is and show how varied it can be.

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I would be interested to know how this will sit along side Threestyle and to some degree, IDA show category.

 

With A-Trak and Craze behind it, they'll suffer no bullshit I'm sure. But I'm not sure how how they will take a DJ battle away from the traditional DMC blueprint and not just end up with a Threestyle clone. I mean, I see how the they themselves do it, but I wonder about the DJs entering... Would it be a less skills heavy version of DMC with bans on Jackson 5, Livin On A Prayer, et al?

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They should make guys go back to using real vinyl and just a normal 2ch mixer or at least stop people thinking they are Jeremy Ellis by banning shitty cue point drumming.🙏🏻

 

That shit is weak sauce, I'm done with it already.

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They should make guys go back to using real vinyl and just a normal 2ch mixer or at least stop people thinking they are Jeremy Ellis by banning shitty cue point drumming.

 

That shit is weak sauce, I'm done with it already.

 

ugh, yeah, the cue point drumming has to stop soon. some of them aren't even doing anything else but drumming the beat of the track they're using the drums from. The worst offenders only do the kick and snare in a regular ass 4/4 with no hats... the fuck is the point of that?

 

not to be one of those guys who hate what battling has become, a lot because I never battled myself, but honestly the DVS route hasn't really been that great when seeing it on an aggregate. It just made people have an easier time producing their own routines, and at the same time exposing that they're not really that good creative, production wise or musically. Give me some sloppy 1998-2005 routines, and I'll probably be more interested in those than a lot today. Of course there a lot of cool dudes doing good shit, specially in the US which is still trying to keep the breakdown tradition going.

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That's my thoughts too, I'm not a modern battle hater either but I haven't really been that impressed with anything for a long time.

 

Crazes new slaves routine set the bar in regards to DVS routines IMO

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This battle will be good if it features direct (&live) feedback from the judges, like Craze joked that he will be the Simon Cowel of DJ battles.

 

Both A-Trak & Craze enjoy tremendous appraise for their battle credentials. If someone is allowed to become the Cowel of DJs, it's them.

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Guest broke

why's he wearing donald trump's toupee?

lol

 

 

HE NEEDS TO START BOYCOTTING THAT BARBER THAT FUCKED UP HIS HEAD

 

To be serious for a second though, I think A-Trak would run a good battle, he's probably one of the greatest all-round tablists that ever did it.

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You should pick a track name from a hat and you have one week prior to the comp to get a juggle sorted 😎

 

On a serious one though I think they should limit it on some way, no serato or preproduced pressed vinyl or something would definitely sort the men from the boys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then bambaata can bum the boys 😁

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Interesting. But I feel like people mostly just suck now, not sure what they could do to shake it up. Less rules, shorter rounds, more money for prizes... that's about it.

 

More money would be an interesting experiment in this context, but unless the judges are unbiased and unaffected by the crowd reaction, which unless its composition is only of people who are well versed in the consumption of those types of routines, I do think the added money could potentionally incentivise people to "play safe" and stray less from proven concepts.

Edited by props to the finger
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On a serious one though I think they should limit it on some way, no serato or preproduced pressed vinyl or something would definitely sort the men from the boys.

Naw, DMC Supremacy the past few years showed us that if you don't allow Serato, people just won't enter. Making routines with regular vinyl nowadays is way harder than it was 15 years ago, the record/vinyl industry has changed a lot.

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Interesting. But I feel like people mostly just suck now, not sure what they could do to shake it up. Less rules, shorter rounds, more money for prizes... that's about it.

More money would be an interesting experiment in this context, but unless the judges are unbiased and unaffected by the crowd reaction, which unless its composition is only of people who are well versed in the consumption of those types of routines, I do think the added money could potentionally incentivise people to "play safe" and stray less from proven concepts.

 

I don't think money would change how people made their routines. Judges area already biased, and crowds are already biased, so DJs who are going to pander to what they think will be popular are already doing that. See just about any Thre3style set using a ton of toneplay and purely tried and true club bangers for examples of that.

 

More money would just make more DJs able to justify putting the time it takes to make a great routine and giving up other opportunities/money along the way. It takes so much time/effort to put together routines, and unless you win world titles, the returns are very minimal.

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What rules would you have Jake?

As few as possible. For me the goal of a battle from an organizer's perspective should be to try and make the best circumstances they can for the DJs so the DJs can perform their best. If DJs can't come with their A-game because equipment they normally use is restricted, or they're forced to try to use certain music that isn't what they normally use, or whatever else, then you're going to get bad sets.

 

I think what stunted DMC's growth was having too many restrictions on the setup, and the scene was outgrowing the ruleset. 1200s and vinyl made sense when everyone DJed with 1200s and vinyl, and that's what they used at home. Woody and Rafik were doing some of their best routines in ITF because they could use Vestax decks and weren't limited to 1200s. A lot of the best battle DJs stopped entering because they used Serato at home, and it showed when DMC allowed Serato in 2011/2012 and a lot of the guys who got top 3 in nationals and worlds were guys who came back to battling after not doing it for years.

 

So minimum restrictions/rules is ideal, but maybe categories like ITF might make for more focussed and quality battles. I think Thre3style suffers a bit from everyone trying to be a jack of all trades/master of none. I like good pad drumming, but to me it has to do with DJing about as much as playing the keys does. I can appreciate someone doing a killer synth solo, but if it's a DJ battle they should get any points. Doing live production in a DJ battle is like me entering live producer battles with my DMC sets. So having a different category for live production or something could help, but ideally I would rather the judges just be qualified enough to be able to separate DJ skills from production skills and pick the best DJ.

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Fair point, I do agree with you on separate categories, The itf's back in the day were sick.

No doubt, it gave a lot of guys a chance to shine who weren't necessarily great all around, but were really good specialists. It's easier to make good quality stuff when you don't try to spread yourself too thin. A lot of guys in DMC would do a lot better if they just scratched or just beat juggled instead of half-assing skills they don't put much time into, or seem to even like.

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You should pick a track name from a hat and you have one week prior to the comp to get a juggle sorted 😎

 

On a serious one though I think they should limit it on some way, no serato or preproduced pressed vinyl or something would definitely sort the men from the boys

And thus making it even more limiting for modern audiences to get into. The less equipment/format rules = more avenues for creativity, more interest for younger Djs to enter and more chances to use contemporary music, which, going by atraks short talk about it at dj city the other week, is what they're all about.
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