Thread: Twiddling knobs And Other Things

I've been meaning to do this thread for ages but with one thing or another I end up forgetting.

It's mainly for the DJ's out there (Bedroom as well as club, pub and other such DJ's)

There seems to be this trend which i've noticed for quite a few years now (it seems to have been around since I got decks but it was more milder back then) of DJ's twiddling knobs on their mixers while a track is playing. For the life of me I can't understand why they do it.

Now i'm sure some will say "it's because they are adjusting the treble, bass and mids to get a good sound going" but I think it's crap. Since I started mixing (back in 92) I have never needed to stand there twiddling knobs and other such things.

I have a theory in that it's two things:

1) Boredom (twiddling thumbs syndrome)
2) Showing off

The average track these days is 7 minutes, it takes 1-2 minutes to beat match the track, leaving about 3-4 minutes of doing nothing (taking into consideration of intro-outro of both tracks). So instead of standing there, doing a few hand claps and other such things, they have to make themselves look busy, an illusion, a smoke screen of time wasting in the DJ world.

This in turn gives the DJ the opportunity to show off and make themselves look professional.

Thoughts?

During the mix, yes - during the track, no.

I'm always killing or softening the bass or playing with the treble during a mix but once its in, its in.

as doddz said.............. once its faded in, its in..... end of!!!


the knob twiddlers do it for the same reason they did it on TOTP....... to make it look like they doin summit realy important... when they doin fuuuuuuuk all!


if they wanted to do summit realy kool and give them some sort of real cred, THEY WUD LEARN TO SCRATCH!!!!

NOT stand there twiddling knobs for 5 mins and doin fuk all.


'look at me' idiots imo.

Originally Posted by Renegade Radio

as doddz said.............. once its faded in, its in..... end of!!!


the knob twiddlers do it for the same reason they did it on TOTP....... to make it look like they doin summit realy important... when they doin fuuuuuuuk all!


if they wanted to do summit realy kool and give them some sort of real cred, THEY WUD LEARN TO SCRATCH!!!!

NOT stand there twiddling knobs for 5 mins and doin fuk all.


'look at me' idiots imo.

AND THE SCRATCHING POINT IS THE MAIN REASON A VINYL & DECKS DJ WILL ALWAYS BE SUPERIOR TO SOMEONE USING CDJ OR JUST A BOX OF TRICKS FULL OF KNOBS AND PREPROGRAMED MIXES WITH AN AUTO BEATMATCH BUTTON.

Originally Posted by dodders

During the mix, yes - during the track, no.

I'm always killing or softening the bass or playing with the treble during a mix but once its in, its in.

I do this myself, but DJ's now are doing it when they aren't mixing. Here is an example:

Originally Posted by Renegade Radio

AND THE SCRATCHING POINT IS THE MAIN REASON A VINYL & DECKS DJ WILL ALWAYS BE SUPERIOR TO SOMEONE USING CDJ OR JUST A BOX OF TRICKS FULL OF KNOBS AND PREPROGRAMED MIXES WITH AN AUTO BEATMATCH BUTTON.

But you can scratch of CDJ's puffa. This has been a main feature on CD decks for about 10 years now.

It's all about showing off. The fact is you should never adjust the levels when the track is playing, simple as.

im not gonna slag off cdj tbh, though i personaly HATE using em


but please show me someone.... anyone, scratching etc..... even doing a propa hellfire wheelup on the other stuff i mentioned.


its all x-factor generation imo......... no need to practice and practice..... just press a few buttons and bang.....

again ill say....... sweet as a nut if your 15 years old and no money / space etc to buy the gear and have it set up so you can make your own mixes for you ipod............... but a dj????

they be puting beautiful people on stage with xbox and dj hero next and saying they are djs

very underground aye?

Originally Posted by China-Rising

There seems to be this trend which i've noticed for quite a few years now (it seems to have been around since I got decks but it was more milder back then) of DJ's twiddling knobs on their mixers while a track is playing. For the life of me I can't understand why they do it.

So instead of standing there, doing a few hand claps and other such things, they have to make themselves look busy, an illusion, a smoke screen of time wasting in the DJ world.

This in turn gives the DJ the opportunity to show off and make themselves look professional.

I've often wondered this every time I see a "so called" DJ on TV. I think like most people who mix, I pay close attention to try and see exactly what it is that they are doing, and why. I think you're right that it is just to try and make it look like they are doing something, they are probably getting paid a shitload of money, so whoever is paying them probably wouldn't be happy if they just stood there for 3-4 minutes in the middle of every track, lol. The thing is, for all of these knobs they are twiddling, I have never heard any change to the sound in the track they are playing, and I usually have a very good ear for that, so they are more than likely playing with knobs that are in no way connected to the channel the music is playing through, lol.

I was flicking through the TV last night, and there was some concert thing on channel 4, there was that ginger bird from girls aloud prancing about on a stage and miming some shit song, but what made me laugh, was she had some female "DJ" with 2 CDJ's and a mixer on the stage pretending to scratch, but yet the was no scratching coming out of my TV speakers, it made me giggle for a couple of minutes, then I turned it off.

Being a "DJ" is seen as a cool thing to do, so having one on stage with you just gives you more "cool points" with the kids I guess. Most people that don't listen to dance/rave music have no idea what a DJ actually does, and just assume they must be doing something, whereas anyone who has ever even tried to mix knows they are doing nothing.

I sometimes cut the bass on one track while mixing to emphasise the bass on the other track I'm mixing in, or completely kill the bass on 1 track for a bar at the end of a 8 or 16 bar loop (think "The Nine" if you're into DnB) but in general I don't mess with EQ's much at all.

hate to be bandwagon jumper but have to more or less agree with all the main points; when I was learning to mix in my bedroom 97+ I didn't do much "knob tweaking/twiddling" either except to alter the gains for sound purposes, such as low-fi treble tunes etc.....once the mix was going I pretty much left them alone, but always noticed this knob twiddling thing too and wondered why they kept doing it...and if maybe I was doing something wrong?!?! In some cases if you look real closely, they don't even alter the gain, they just sort of hold it....like it's a prized possession!! I agree, I think it is for showing off; it's to look "DJ-ey", it has no releveance to what you're actually undertaking..........let's face it, the routine of mixing is fairly basic; the skill comes from morphing and blending tunes and doing other bits like doubling and scratching as puffmeister mentions and other wizardry depending on how creative the DJ wants to get (not too many in recent years..) and although I only mix MP3s with computer software now, I try to get as close to the style I adopted when I had my decks (miss them days!! ) as I possibly can to be more 'authentic' sounding than not....whether that works or not is anybody's guess!

Good thread China, you definitely asked the question that I think has been on the mind of more than a few people here at one time or another!!!

It does crack me up seeing people like Norman Cook hamming it up for the crowd, doing the fake knob twist, fader slam, loop rolls and live FX on his own tracks

Controllerists yes I know I know controllerists lol touching the controller like it's hot or something like Ean Golden does, cracks me up too

I totally agree with all the above comments and couldn't have put it better myself: basically for mixing, whilst the track is 'live' on it's own, big no-no.

Although I've always found it difficult to find the right EQ in the cans (due to poor equipment, ears not finely tuned enough, etc.), you can't beat getting the right gains whilst mixing it in.

Slightly off subject, but since I started DJing Trance, I find it more important to blend the highs and lows and the blend it can give you can sound almost seamless - unsure how this would work with Jungle, although I've tried - suppose you could cut the bass off, but the blend just ain't there as it can be with 4-On-The-Floor beats

Reggae Soundsystem DJs would often play a song with hardly any bass on & lots of treble, then turn the vinyl over to the dub side & gradually turn up the bass.

Zabiela seems to have the whole technology thing licked .....utilising the ipad etc as well as scratching on the cdj's.


James Zabiela @ Positronic Yacht Party 2011 - YouTube

I will admit the temptation to touch the knobs does get to me once in a while but I do try to resist.

I DJ with Traktor Pro 2 now, but I did begin on Vinyl.

I must admit I do mix via the laptop, I know I should buy a controller but I just have not done so yet. I am only playing out a few times a year now at special events as I am all grown up (Old with kids).

For me the set I put together is where the skill comes in, tune selection (Deep House and Deep Minimal Techno TBH), having the set perfect in my mind long before I play the gig. So as when I do play I have all the transitions pre programmed not on the equipment but in my head. Knowing my set inside out allows me to mix without headphones I do it all visual through the waveform, and this allows me to connect much more with the people in the venue.

I have been known to drop the base out from time to time or twiddle the mid range and the gain in certain breakdowns, but I hope the tunes I select really do all the work for me.