I don’t really know much about the process of remixing a song but I can imagine it is a process that is like editing a video – layering tracks, adding beats, etc. They are clearly not doing that kind of editing live so they are basically playing something that’s already had some amount of that already done.
So what are they doing live besides maybe mixing between songs?
I just don’t understand what all the knob fiddling is about.
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Seen quite a few good explanations here. Definitely important to note the genre of music being played as well as the vibe of the venue.
Someone previously stated something similar but genres like trance and house tend to be long mixes where the dj’s job is basically to find an ebb and flow throughout the night so people enjoy themselves without burning out, primarily making the mixes sound smooth so there isn’t any silence at all the whole set.
A really good example of a more technical DJ is someone like DJ EZ, who’s pretty popular in ‘bassline’ music circles in the UK (but also pretty popular in general as he’s been in the industry for a pretty long time now). I can’t really explain fully what he’s doing in the clip, (I’d watch from about 1:30 onwards: https://youtu.be/yZW_U2yCB90 ) but the mix between the two songs is way more in this instance than just mixing the bass, volume etc. He’s doing stuff like live looping, messing around with the EQ, messing around with the speed of the next track and playing it like a sampler before he drops it in. Obviously this is just one example, sort of his trademark and it’s definitely something he’d practice by himself, but I wouldn’t see that as any different from practising songs as part of a band.
Also, regardless of genre, DJs will always have a few songs they know go well together so will tend to get those pre-prepared way ahead of time because they’ll know it’ll get the crowd enjoying themselves, but most of the time a good DJ playing in a smaller venue where their performance isn’t tied to the lighting or screens or whatever will mix on the fly according to the vibe.
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