DJ Culture in the Commercial Sydney Dance Music Scene

Montano, Ed

doi:10.12801/1947-5403.2009.01.01.05

Cited by 21 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is interesting to read the questionnaire responses of the female DJ (p. 25), who seems to invest considerable time in planning a set. This stands in contrast to some of the responses from DJs I have interviewed on the topic of planning versus spontaneity (Montano, 2009), who emphasized the importance of being able to adjust the flow of their music to the needs of the crowd. Of course, all DJs give consideration to what they will play prior to actually getting into the DJ booth, and so it is important not to paint DJing as entirely spontaneous.…”

contrasting

confidence: 83%

Response to Alinka E. Greasley & Helen M. Prior: Mixtapes and Turntablism: DJs’ Perspectives on Musical Shape

Montano¹

2013

EMR

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This commentary responds to some of the debates and issues raised by Alinka Greasley and Helen Prior's paper on DJing and musical shape. In particular, I focus on the use of technology by DJs, and how shifts within this domain are redefining the concept and associated skills of DJing. Technological change is having a significant impact on music production and distribution within contemporary electronic dance music culture. Tangible formats and their playback platforms are increasingly fading into the history of DJ culture, and have been replaced with computers and software. In the process, the physicality of DJing, and the values of authenticity this physicality informs, have been reframed and renegotiated in the discourse that circulates within dance music culture. I suggest that Greasley and Prior's work provides a solid foundation for further investigations into not only the specifics of DJing and shape, but also the broader technological, social and cultural contexts of DJing as a contemporary artistic practice.

show abstract

contrasting

confidence: 83%

Response to Alinka E. Greasley & Helen M. Prior: Mixtapes and Turntablism: DJs’ Perspectives on Musical Shape

Montano¹

2013

EMR

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This resonates with responses provided by the female DJ in Prior's (2012c) study which stressed the importance of choosing the 'right' tracks on the basis of mood and energy levels. It also supports assertions that a DJ's selection of what records to play, and in what order, is central to shaping a DJ performance Montano, 2009;Straw, 1993). Secondly, the DJs argued that there is existing shape inherent within the musical materials, and discussed the ways in which they use the existing shape of tracks to shape the overall mix.…”

Section: Empirical Musicology Reviewsupporting

confidence: 56%

Mixtapes and Turntablism: DJs’ Perspectives on Musical Shape

Greasley¹,

Prior²

2013

EMR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The notion of musical shape is widely used by performing musicians, but most studies have focused on classical performing contexts. This paper extends this research to DJs performing on turntables, chosen in light of existing evidence from a questionnaire study suggesting that shape may be a useful concept for some DJs. This paper presents an interview study investigating the use and understanding of musical shaping by three professional DJs with varied backgrounds. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings suggest that DJs do use the notion of shape implicitly when planning and executing their sets, and that playing sets without any shaping involves playing the music badly. DJs reported using the idea of shaping to modify a track while it was playing; to help control the transition between tracks; and in relation to the overall trajectory of a set. There was evidence that participants understood musical shaping multi-modally, through gesture and visual representation as well as sound; and results show ways in which DJs draw on heuristics to signify complex combinations of technical devices that create a particular musical shape or sound. The findings are considered in relation to existing work on performers' use of musical shape as well as work on the practice of DJs.

show abstract

“…Several perspectives on DJing have been offered and examined (see, for instance, Langlois 1992;Brewster and Broughton 2000;Butler 2005Butler , 2006Montano 2009;Greasley and Prior 2013), and there is widespread agreement that one of the DJ's and EDM producer's main roles is to create a dynamic dance night for the dancing crowd. 3 The DJ's interplay with the dancers is characterized by her/his awareness of and ability to both adjust to and move the clubbing crowd.…”

Section: Musical Expectancy and Tension In Edmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As previously indicated, not much of the research on EDM gives a detailed account of the musical features. However, the moments of building affective intensity are addressed by several of the scholars concerned with the music-theoretical aspect of EDM (Fikentscher 2000;Butler 2006;Montano 2009;Snoman 2009; Zeiner-Henriksen 2010; Garcia 2011), and especially the terms "breakdown" and "build-up" seem quite established within this literature. However, there is less consistency around the terms used to describe the section following the breakdown and build-up.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there is less consistency around the terms used to describe the section following the breakdown and build-up. Terms characterizing what the DJ does, such as "peaking the floor" (Fikentscher 2000), "peaking the crowd" (Montano 2009) "dropping (down) the bass" (Garcia 2011) and "dropping (down) the beat" (Butler 2006), occur frequently in this literature, but not a specific term defining the section as a whole. I therefore choose to refer to this section as "the drop", after its most prominent and audible feature, namely the reintroduction of the bass and bass drum.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

“Waiting for the Bass to Drop”: Correlations Between Intense Emotional Experiences and Production Techniques in Build-up and Drop Sections of Electronic Dance Music

Solberg¹

2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study investigates the correlations between theories of intense emotional experiences and production techniques used in electronic dance music (EDM), commonly known as "build-up" and "drop", which are designed to create tension and a heightened emotional intensity among clubbers. This is done by descriptive and interpretive music analysis, where spectrograms and a schematic model visually represent the dominant production techniques. Through a theoretical framework consisting of musical expectancy and gravity, an analysis of two recently produced EDM tracks suggests that i) extensive use of uplifters, ii) the "drum roll effect", iii) large frequency changes, iv) removal and reintroduction of bass and bass drum, and v) a contrasting "breakdown" cause tension and anticipation, which seem to correlate with a possible intensification of emotional experience. This is furthermore discussed and more broadly related to the club experience, drawing on the psychological concepts of Peak Experience, Strong Experiences with Music and Absorption.Ragnhild Torvanger Solberg is a PhD research fellow at Department of Music, University of Agder. Her primary research interest is the interrelation between EDM, emotions and movements, and through empirical studies Solberg examines how EDM induces and correlates with intense emotional and bodily experiences. She has a Master's degree in Musicology from the University of Oslo, where she also has worked as research assistant on the research project "Music, Motion and Emotion", and lecturer in groove-based music production.

show abstract

DJ Culture in the Commercial Sydney Dance Music Scene

Cited by 21 publications

References 10 publications

Response to Alinka E. Greasley & Helen M. Prior: Mixtapes and Turntablism: DJs’ Perspectives on Musical Shape

Response to Alinka E. Greasley & Helen M. Prior: Mixtapes and Turntablism: DJs’ Perspectives on Musical Shape

Mixtapes and Turntablism: DJs’ Perspectives on Musical Shape

“Waiting for the Bass to Drop”: Correlations Between Intense Emotional Experiences and Production Techniques in Build-up and Drop Sections of Electronic Dance Music

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About