No longer allowing serato or Laptop djing at Webbwerx Events

[WebbwerX]

I will no longer allow serato or rather laptop dj'ing. If you want to play Webbwerx, burn your stuff to CD. The set up between every set is ridculus at a Rave. At Robogirls we had 6 changes on main 4 on side, and at least one on 3rd. Each time there was some confusion and a major break in music.

LAPTOP DJS, Keep you laptops at the clubs, when the sound engineer has to help the dj change gear on every hour on every stage Laptop djs become a burden. I felt horrible for the kids standing there as Mark and the Dj struggled to set up one stage and run to the next to unhook a system and hook another personal serato system up. If this was a club where you are the only djing spinning all night it makes sense, but for a one hour set where people have to wait for you including the dj trying ot finsh their set before you, and the dj after you, and the kids, its just unfair a rude.

I am done with serato and laptops. Let everyone know, if you play for me, you will play on CD or Turntables. If you show up with a laptop and you are not a producer doing a Live PA with a rider sent to me at least 14 days in advance, your slot will be given away, PERIOD. It has nothing to do with your skills or serato personally. I just can't put the staff and audience through anymore of what happened on Saturday.. Robogirls is a prime example of how serato had a direct and horrible effect on my event.

I apologize to any Laptop dj who takes this personally, its just business, and what happened at Robogirls is bad business. I am sure other promoters will continue to book you and you will still have a successful career.

[SteverXL]

isn't it possible to have each stage, "serato ready?" Wouldn't that be the next progression just as it was to have cdj's on each stage?

[cosby]

Originally posted by STEVER-XL
isn't it possible to have each stage, "serato ready?" Wouldn't that be the next progression just as it was to have cdj's on each stage?

...or the next progression to being a professional promoter. aren't cdj's more expensive, larger, and arguably less reliable than serato? if you really, really hate technological advances, go vinyl only.

[WebbwerX]

it means buying one of those Serato Adapters for each one. There are other issues too. Each time serato is hooked up it needs to be sync'd. Also it means making the already extended booth long for a laptop, they still have to do the whole re-wire beween each set. Also not everyone uses serato, so I would have to find a way to just justify serato.

Here is where I am at:

1. Chaning wires every set.
2. having to buy a bunch of additional gear
3. calibrating between each set.
4. having more space taken up fo r a a laptop
5. The dj is bring a laptop which on two occasions the laptop DIED, and the DJ expected me to pay for it since it was my rave that caused the enviroment which resulted in it overheating. (both Apples)
6. how do I justify to one dj that the serato dj's can play but the traktor or what ever can not?
7. I hate MP3's on my sound system many dj's use crap and it sounds awful and there is no way to verify the MP3 is good enough quality to be pushed through 30k watts
8. (personal opinion) I think serato encorages piracy, djs are getting paid to play other peoples music, and making a living from doing so. Producers spend a lot of money to produce their tracks for a ninch market dominated by these dj's charging to play their music. when they burn CD's it makes me nervous too but at least they are forced to buy a CD. I am very supportive of producers, and hate the idea that one of the DJ's I have hired might be charging me $100+ and hour to play music they stole on their laptop.

pros:
I can make a couple of dj's who are too cheap to buy CD's at Staples for $14 per 50 happy.


Sorry, for a $100+ an hour to play other peoples music, you can spend the $1 or $3 to buys some CD's give me piece of mind, take some stress of my staff, not be rude to the Dj's before and after, and ruin my vibe with your special needs.

Note: never had a CDJ fail. I have had Sarato Fail now EVERY TIME IT HAS BEEN USED AT EVENT.

[Spun DJ Academy]

This can all be solved very easliy.

Conttact me directly if you are interested.

[LuvPuppy]

Originally posted by cosby
... aren't cdj's more expensive, larger, and arguably less reliable than serato?

ah, no.

[IrisSilverMoon]

what if you book a big name that only does serato or laptop set up?

i assume an exception would be made?

btw, its just as easy to play pirated music or crappy mp3's on CD's as it is on Serato or a laptop.

[Pipedream]

this is a fascinating issue, actually.

[cosby]

Originally posted by IrisSilverMoon
[Bbtw, its just as easy to play pirated music or crappy mp3's on CD's as it is on Serato or a laptop. [/B]

not to knock anyone, but how many cdj dj's use strictly red book audio cd's printed by record labels? the beef with sound makes no sense if everyone is buying mp3s from beatport or itunes (or stealing them) and burning them to a cd. the degradation of sound quality in mp3's isn't lessened by a file being burnt to cd.

[SoulKid]

I'm old skool so I love my vinyl heh

[T~Lily]

I don't think Travis is putting this up for debate. It is set.

I have witnessed this issue several times at raves and it is just too much. When dealing with 20-30 DJs a night it is easiest to have 1 formula so each DJ can have a full hour to play. It sucks to have DJs sets keep getting shorter as the night goes on.

[WebbwerX]

Originally posted by IrisSilverMoon
what if you book a big name that only does serato or laptop set up?

i assume an exception would be made?

btw, its just as easy to play pirated music or crappy mp3's on CD's as it is on Serato or a laptop.

I get a rider in advance with the contract. So far only one headliner has asked to use it, and their laptop died just before the perfomance forcing them to use CDs. They also tried to cahrge me for the repairs since my "rave" environment was the cause.

but how many cdj dj's use strictly red book audio cd's printed by record labels?

I can't think of any, hince my long explination about personal feelings that it makes it that much more tempting.

buying mp3s from beatport or itunes (or stealing them) and burning them to a cd

Some of the built in sound cards of the low end laptops that Dj's bring in are Horrible sounding on the sound system. Next as I said before, I can not verify the quality of the MP3 being played (this is true with CD's as well) and the mix between the crappy laptop and the crappy bad, rip just is awful. It has killed the dance floor.


The over all point is a mix of all these issues. I do ALOT of shows. And between the set up and tear on every set, the dj's bickering with each other because one has to disconnect and the other connect all at the expense of my audience, crew, vibe and event is not worth it. I went through hell for 7 hours on Saturday. I can assure this decision is not being made with our careful thought.


If a new system can be found where djs don't have to bring in personal laptops that can break or fail, and the quality can be garunteed, and there isn't a tear down and setup between each dj then I will reconsider. But that is the nature of this dj form and the nature of my events is 3 stages with 1 hour sets. I just won't pay anyone who jepordizes the quality of that time for the kids. Serato is not the answer.

[OK Party]

I can see a lot of fair reasons. There aren't that many DJs who really care about the quality of their MP3s and will drop 160-198kbps tracks which can be obvious in a set.

Not all djs have high end Macbooks (pro) and for PC laptops, the sound card can have a major effect on quality.

[quickster]

Originally posted by WebbwerX
I will no longer allow serato or rather laptop dj'ing. If you want to play Webbwerx, burn your stuff to CD. The set up between every set is ridculus at a Rave. At Robogirls we had 6 changes on main 4 on side, and at least one on 3rd. Each time there was some confusion and a major break in music.

LAPTOP DJS, Keep you laptops at the clubs, when the sound engineer has to help the dj change gear on every hour on every stage Laptop djs become a burden. I felt horrible for the kids standing there as Mark and the Dj struggled to set up one stage and run to the next to unhook a system and hook another personal serato system up. If this was a club where you are the only djing spinning all night it makes sense, but for a one hour set where people have to wait for you including the dj trying ot finsh their set before you, and the dj after you, and the kids, its just unfair a rude.

I am done with serato and laptops. Let everyone know, if you play for me, you will play on CD or Turntables. If you show up with a laptop and you are not a producer doing a Live PA with a rider sent to me at least 14 days in advance, your slot will be given away, PERIOD. It has nothing to do with your skills or serato personally. I just can't put the staff and audience through anymore of what happened on Saturday.. Robogirls is a prime example of how serato had a direct and horrible effect on my event.

I apologize to any Laptop dj who takes this personally, its just business, and what happened at Robogirls is bad business. I am sure other promoters will continue to book you and you will still have a successful career.

I fully support this. lalz!

[Loki]

Well whatever, it's not like anyone books me for all ages shit anyway



But for the record I can and do still rock all vinyl sets, just don't expect anything new

[WebbwerX]

Don't get me wrong I can see the advantage of Sareto. I play on live at home all the time. I think the software is really great and come a long ways. But in the enviroment that we are in it kills me to see the chaos it causes. And it was just too much on Sat. I have said it in the past that I might drop it. I mean having one Dj use it is enough of a headache, but having multiple dj's on multiple stages every hour is just too much. It's not much to ask that if you want to play for me you play on CD's if you have too, or vinyl.

It's just business.

[Loki]

No I definitely understand your side Travis, with the program getting more popular over the past year I've seen multiple instances of people not fully understanding all the ins and outs fully to be able to hook it up right or fast or fix anything that might go wrong. Hell I had to diffuse a mini-disaster at Shift on Friday.

Possible alternatives I might mention are if someone wants to use it, they bring their box before sound check and leave it there all night. Or if they have the Rane mixer with it all built in to bring that (which simplifies all the cabling bullshit).

Just a couple thoughts

[Mi'ka]

We had an experience similar to that @ Fusion. Last minute hook up for the DJ and then there were some difficulties for a good 10 minutes. I'm not saying this happens all the time...But we had to jump in a couple times to play a few tracks while everything got situated. So I can only imagine the stress of that scenario at a big event on multi stages!

I'm not knocking laptop, as Kala does laptop stuff at home with Abelton. It is awesome!

As someone that plays on CDJ's I would just like to add, if you want good quality sound please make sure you're buying 320 quality. Beatport, track it down, Juno, etc...all 320. You will notice a HUGE difference in your sound quality if you go lower in quality. It's really worth the $2.49.

[MaRbLe]

Anyone remember how great it was when everyone played records? LOL


Im still all vinyl, never played a CD once. Hell before long people will be able to advertise that as a bonus feature....I know Z-Trip does when he plays all 45's

[Loki]

Seriously no excuse to play anything less than a 320 ever, that goes for cdjs or anything else