01-08-2008 - 14-08-2008 August DJ Contest **CLOSED**

[t4e]

@ TranceOwnsLol

yes, really...you obviously didn't quite get the point i was making, judging from the quotes you posted....tech, minimal (i.e. "bleep blop") is not something the listeners of this station want to hear, also "pop" has no place in trance...'pop" is a music genre on its own and should stay away from trance (read my signature).


My advise to the people sending in sets for the contests is to take some time and listen to what is being played on AH, and most importantly spend some time in the Forums reading the reaction of the listeners.

Is what the judges are doing, they try to stay detached of their own tastes and judge it from what the listeners will want to hear, at least is what i do.
I openly dislike vocal tracks but i will never grade badly a set that has vocals in it because i know the majority of listeners will like them.

Instead i rate the sets based on flow, track selection and mixing skill.

Whats more to mixing than beatmaching?...what i just said above, track selection and flow of the set....with proper skill you can include one or two psy, tech or hard trance tracks into your set and make it sound awesome...and is where we come back to "flow"
I like to hear sets that have a nice build up not some "rollecoaster" sounds...jumping from genre to genre just cause the DJ likes the tracks.

I think the worst mixing i have ever heard was on Ableton, awfully off beat at every transition.
In that case "awful mixing" will be an appropriate feedback....the purpose of the contest is to have the best set play on AH not to give mixing lessons.

Exactly my point...anyone can download software from the internet and start mixing with it.

i don't know where you getting that from...i first tried it few months ago and is definitely not as easy as you claim.


i wish you luck in the future submission and maybe you can take some of the advice posted here and use it positively.

 

[dfx]

to add to t4e...

Shouldn't originality in style and track selections (although I do notice that you people encourage this, a bit) be encouraged?

yes and no. originality can be a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing. and experience shows that the latter case is the more common one. experiments usually result in a big "fail". the goal is to appeal to the judges and thus to the listeners, and experiments rarely do that. on the other hand, deviating from the overplayed ASOT stuff can be a big plus, but only if it's actually good tracks.

I don't know how you can mix bad at all in Ableton. I use it and I could probably teach my mom to warp tracks and beatmatch with Ableton in an hour.

so? some people still don't know how to do it properly. plus as i said before, mixing is more than just beatmatching, and this is especially true with ableton (as beatmatching is indeed much easier with ableton than with most anything else, so the real mixing skills lie elsewhere).

Ok...but you didn't tell me what's more to mixing.

may i suggest heading off to DJ Tutor - The Home of DJ Training online then for some tipps, and/or reading other threads in this forum (or opening a new one if there isn't an appropriate one yet).

Exactly my point...anyone can download software from the internet and start mixing with it.

no, exactly my point. yes, anyone with a pc can do it, but that doesn't mean they're actually good at it. which is why voting on mixing skills is quite necessary on software sets as well.

 

[JayCan]

just my 2 cents in this

DJing has much to do with knowing your tracks exactly and knowing your software/hardware...
It isnt possible to do a great set only on beatmatching, when the point of transition is in the wrong place of both tunes

So once again...KNOW your Tunes and KNOW your Hard / Software

Mixing is not a technical thing in first, its a feeling in first and in second its skill...but to feel...you must KNOW your Tracks and Know......blah


BTW: This is the first time since im here on AH, that such diskussions come over...
sounds for me a bit like a child that gets its Ice Cream stolen from a dog


So last word....KNOW your Tracks and KNOW your Hard / Software

 

[cdman14]

First of all i'm happy that my set won in August. It is my third month since i'm participating in DJ contest and winner for the first time. So, my advice is, do not give up, keep trying.
I wanted to post this earlier but i was in Salt Lake City for my annual Usana Health Sciences convention.
Anyway, i've seen lots of comments about the way judges make their decisions about the sets. I understand that some of us are unpleased with the results, but you have to respect everybody's opinion even if that somebody is the worst judge ever. As DFX was saying, this is a trance station and mixing is not piece of cake even if you use a PC to make the beat matching for you. The only reason i'm using a PC and adequate software is that i cannot afford DJ equipment, and when mixing in the club, that particular set is not intended for Ah.fm DJ contest.
I do congratulate all the participants in the contest. Don't give up hope and put your best in the next set. This radio station will compensate you. One of my dreams have finally come true.
Cheers to all DJs out there!

 

[Lazarus]

First of all i'm happy that my set won in August. It is my third month since i'm participating in DJ contest and winner for the first time. So, my advice is, do not give up, keep trying.
I wanted to post this earlier but i was in Salt Lake City for my annual Usana Health Sciences convention.
Anyway, i've seen lots of comments about the way judges make their decisions about the sets. I understand that some of us are unpleased with the results, but you have to respect everybody's opinion even if that somebody is the worst judge ever. As DFX was saying, this is a trance station and mixing is not piece of cake even if you use a PC to make the beat matching for you. The only reason i'm using a PC and adequate software is that i cannot afford DJ equipment, and when mixing in the club, that particular set is not intended for Ah.fm DJ contest.
I do congratulate all the participants in the contest. Don't give up hope and put your best in the next set. This radio station will compensate you. One of my dreams have finally come true.
Cheers to all DJs out there!

Congrats mate, well done!

 

[JeffreySource]

Again congratz mate... you beat me