Your opinion on the Dj's doing sets alone somewhere phenomenon

[Jetflag]

This is something that's been on my mind for a while now and I was curious to see what you lot thought of it.

so there's this curious and somewhat formulaic "thing" going on, presumably after covid snuk in in where you have

1 your (star) Dj.
2 a setting (the more generic ones involve some outdoor scene with shots of the environment)
3 him or her playing a set, all by themselves.





Am I the only one who finds this incredibly cringy and to a degree narcistic?

I mean nature/scenes and music? great. but why the need for the ott exhibitionism? like....why? whats the point of you wanting me to see how you twiddle the same eq knob (on the side of the mixing console that is muted) for the hundredth time, or you signalling the trees to "put their twigs in the air" during a breakdown? and its not like its just a couple of times for the "hey, i'm here too" idea. no. its a one hour constant look at me djing by myself.

I can't seem to grasp the entertainment value here, but that might be me.

Anyways, my two rant.. i mean cents. whats your thoughts on this?

 

[Julian Del Agranda]

Yeah I dislike it a lot too.

I understand the will to do "something" when any gig is canceled due to covid. But this seems silly.

 

[Archon]

I haven't watched these, like, at all.

Well, except for one of Eitan Reiter's Outdoor Sessions which was absolutely fantastic - it was #2 - but that was back in 2017. The entire set is unbelievably good, and it's actually a live performance, rather than just going between tweaking the EQ knob and smashing the sync button. It's actually really well done overall, and doesn't feel at all narcissistic.

Regarding your question - it's the typical case of seeing it for the first time and thinking it's interesting, but after 25 other people do the same it gets kind of generic. Overall, it's almost like every other video set broadcast - just with a different background. Absolutely not interested. Give me a good set, I'll go out and enjoy nature by myself.

 

[Archon]

I understand the will to do "something" when any gig is canceled due to covid. But this seems silly.

 

[Julian Del Agranda]

Don't really like that meme. It's rather silly.

 

[dmgtz96]

I liked Tchami's set on a skyscraper rooftop in Miami.
The cinematography and visual effects are actually pretty neat. A rooftop setting fits very well with his house style of music. Plus, he timed it right at sunrise - his set starts when the sky is mostly dark, and you can see the sky clearing up in the hour of his set.
I don't know if Tchami did any cringy DJ shit during the set. I was too immersed in the music, the lights, and the shots of the city to care much about what he specifically did. I think he just vibed and wasn't self-centered. In the drone footage you can even see the camera crew, which is pretty neat.
Overall, I would say it captures pretty well what it's like to be a DJ during 'rona while providing some artistic value and without feeling self-centered. I've tried watching other videos, but a DJ filming themselves on a boat, nature, or air balloon is too boring.

 

[Propeller]

It's about looking good on Instagram /YouTube. Looks much better than being inside a dark club.

 

[Jetflag]

I liked Tchami's set on a skyscraper rooftop in Miami.
The cinematography and visual effects are actually pretty neat. A rooftop setting fits very well with his house style of music. Plus, he timed it right at sunrise - his set starts when the sky is mostly dark, and you can see the sky clearing up in the hour of his set.
I don't know if Tchami did any cringy DJ shit during the set. I was too immersed in the music, the lights, and the shots of the city to care much about what he specifically did. I think he just vibed and wasn't self-centered. In the drone footage you can even see the camera crew, which is pretty neat.
Overall, I would say it captures pretty well what it's like to be a DJ during 'rona while providing some artistic value and without feeling self-centered. I've tried watching other videos, but a DJ filming themselves on a boat, nature, or air balloon is too boring.

oh yeah its not to say there's no good examples out there, one set I particularly like is this one by Pendulum
its a the very least well choreographed, setup in terms of fireworks and lighting and preformance with real instruments/vocals.
Compare this
to the above linked sunny lax thing and the latter is just. well...lazy

 

[dmgtz96]

oh yeah its not to say there's no good examples out there, one set I particularly like is this one by Pendulum
its a the very least well choreographed, setup in terms of fireworks and lighting and preformance with real instruments/vocals.
Compare this

to the above linked sunny lax thing and the latter is just. well...lazy

For sure, for sure.
At the end of the day, the effort and creativity show. Even if it's trendy, the good ones are enjoyable. The bad ones, like the Sunny Lax version, are exactly that: bad.

 

[Archon]

It's not that it's bad - it seems like it isn't - it's just that it's extremely passable (just like the music)...which is worse.

I agree overall, let there be some artistry to it, rather than just random drone/DJ shots. Play with the lighting, the elements, the angles... And play good music!

 

[Hoplite]

Honestly I don't mind the One person sets in some instances, for example when the djs play in their apartments:

Or the HOR Berlin format where the DJs play in the Techno Bathroom:

Both of the sets I linked felt more authentic to me than whatever the hell that Sunny Lax set was

 

[MDD]

I find them very cringy. Almost a little uncomfortable to watch and listen to.

 

[PegaSus]

Pretentious as fuck.

 

[MDD]

Pretentious as fuck.

You said that better than me

 

[Magdelayna]

If someone is playing a producer set,playing all their own tracks,in a unique location that is special to them - what is wrong with that? It shows a bit of creativeness at least. It wasnt a bad idea when everything was locked down last year.

 

[Jetflag]

If someone is playing a producer set,playing all their own tracks,in a unique location that is special to them - what is wrong with that? It shows a bit of creativeness at least. It wasnt a bad idea when everything was locked down last year.

its 1 hour plus long footage of someone pretending to do "do some important stuff" on his or her digital mixing console for most of the time, with intervals of them actually pressing a meaninfull button every 10 minutes randomly interchanged with random drone stuff of the local setting....

what is wrong with that?

no, whats good with that? what exactly is the quality here? Where is the alleged creativeness as opposed to formulaicness if you get my drift?

because if its all down too a selection of tracks and a location well sorry, but that to me is as "creative" as most post-modern paintings nowadays..

I can imagen like mentioned before someting well (cinema)choreographed, see my previous example of the Pendulum Spitbank fort set....or in case of say a producer set, you turn it into a giant (set) videoclip in where each track is given its own specific scenery depening on the mood or theme it tries to set, and each actual act of mixing/playing is shortly highlighted..but thats honestly not whats going on here for the most part it is?

 

[Jetflag]

here's another example in terms of format of doing something with film/location and in this case an artist album that, despite me not being all that much into Will's music even, is at the very least entertaining and fun to follow through. It has different indoor/oudoor scenes, intervals, a glimps into the creative process, experimentation, banter etc.


Now you and I @Magdelayna are both music makers and believe me when i say I totally get the lockdown problem and the need to create or expose yourself especially if you're a dj and your living depends on it....

But if the level of creativity here stretches no further then

*drone
*site
*zooming in on nonsense knop pressing for 1 hour.

then I dunno what to tell mr stardj other then he/she might suffer from beeing slightly creativly bankrupt in terms of videos at least and might be better of just putting a well crafted set on soundcloud no?

 

[Peenuts]

I guess it all comes down whether or not you think it's authentic. I think it could be good if the style of music fits the environment/location it's being filmed in.

Sunny Lax's big-roomy set in the forest most certainly isn't. And those close-ups of his face as if he's about to cream himself (36:00) is pretty disgusting tbh

 

[Hensmon]

I'm not a fan personally, sometimes also feeling it's stupid, but for different reasons from you Jetflag. I don't think there is anything wrong with it really, there is 0 harm or negative aspects to it, and sometimes if i'm cleaning or cooking and I want something in on the background having it up on my full screen is nice. As mentioned some can be really good too, but yeah usually it's when more effort is involved, like a live performance with real instruments. But if amount of effort an artist is perceived to be putting in is the deciding factor or what is or isn't good, then that feel thats a bit silly. We spend money to go see DJ's play, it's the same effort. Boiler room has been very successful on Youtube, the only difference is that people dance around them, it's the same effort for the DJ just with people.

My frustration is that It feels like style over substance has become the ethos of modern music. So much money in marketing, promo shots, shows with the best lasers and visuals, HQ drone footage, extravagant locations, stylised music videos...I would sacrifice all of it for a single incredible uplifting track. I watch Anjuna channel and sometimes I feel like they are having to compensate for how average things have got with all this flashy stuff. But they are trying to run a business and YT revenue might even make them more than track sales, so can we blame them?

 

[Magdelayna]

its 1 hour plus long footage of someone pretending to do "do some important stuff" on his or her digital mixing console for most of the time, with intervals of them actually pressing a meaninfull button every 10 minutes randomly interchanged with random drone stuff of the local setting....

no, whats good with that? what exactly is the quality here? Where is the alleged creativeness as opposed to formulaicness if you get my drift?

because if its all down too a selection of tracks and a location well sorry, but that to me is as "creative" as most post-modern paintings nowadays..

I can imagen like mentioned before someting well (cinema)choreographed, see my previous example of the Pendulum Spitbank fort set....or in case of say a producer set, you turn it into a giant (set) videoclip in where each track is given its own specific scenery depening on the mood or theme it tries to set, and each actual act of mixing/playing is shortly highlighted..but thats honestly not whats going on here for the most part it is?

Im not sure what youre getting so worked up about - yeah i dont agree with some DJ doing a generic set somewhere - but if an artist wants to go out to their favourite secluded spot and play their own tracks,which means something to them at that place,then it shows a bit of individuality imo.