This Is What a DJ Should Do if the Web Goes Down and You Have No on Line Connection

0:01 This video is definitely DJ related

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. This video is definitely DJ related. So, a bit of history first, and then of course to modern day. And this inevitably will involve not only every single person who watches this video, but in fact maybe you should share it because you need to wake people up and also inspire other fellow DJs. From anywhere around the world. So, when I started DJing many, many years ago, it was a double-deck console, citronic belt drive turntables, very dodgy, bounced all over the place, mostly 7-inch singles, a FAL amplifier, some party lights, which were basically light bulbs painted red, green and blue. You were actually really lucky if you had a mirror ball and the creme de la creme were pin spots.

And a strobe. And a smoke machine, because back in the day you could go anywhere and fill the room with smoke. And even if you didn't fill the room with smoke, it didn't really matter, because generally people would smoke in the room giving you a great effect. And digressing very slightly, but that's one thing that's missing. Agree if I'm right or wrong here. with a lot of venues now because everyone's got fire alarms smoke alarms and everything and you can't even use smoke not even haze or anything like that because you'll set off the entire village but back in the day it was vinyl then of course all of a sudden CDs appeared and everyone or a lot of people got rid of the vinyl don't blame you in many ways because it's heavy to carry around you know

You take with you a 12-inch single and that's far heavier than a CD and a CDLP. Now, of course, for maybe 20 odd years, that was the in thing, CDs. A lot of people did get rid of their vinyl. Some people kept it, some people just for posterity's sake or stuck it in the loft and that was it. And then, of course, we have the MP3 and the controllers. Laptop and everyone decided to go along the mp3 line, have hard drives and a lot of people now are playing from the cloud because it's so easier and of course depending on the controller, it's not the controller sorry, the program you've got, you don't even have to have the music because it's all there. You pay a subscription and if someone wants some track from 50 years ago, the b-side of an LP track 4, it's very likely you can play it.

2:41 Basically, you're stuffed, aren't you?

Whereas of course, if you've got CDs, MP3 or vinyl, it's touch and go whether you do have that track. But what happens, not when, but if the lights go out? So let me emphasise that. So let's imagine that we do indeed have some kind of blackout or the seat attack, you know, to do with the web. And all of a sudden you can't use any form of... And you're booked. Basically, you're stuffed, aren't you? Because if you are relying on streaming, then it's bye-bye your career forever or the time, of course, that the whole system is down. I'm not saying that will happen, but there's a possibility of anything happening. Now, again, please don't comment until the end of this video because I would absolutely love to hear...

Your perspective on this subject. And again, please share this video because it may help people. Now, if you are one of the people who have indeed got their vinyl up in the loft somewhere and you turn up and you open the box and it's been eaten by mice or whatever then hopefully they won't actually physically eat the vinyl but maybe a couple of slugs or cobwebs around the sleeves. But what I'm saying here Is that at least you have the hard copies. Now there's a film recently being made by Netflix and in the end there's a girl watching a DVD of Friends. Now that film can be watched and you may think, yeah it's great, you know, it's got, I don't know, it's just entertainment. But there are subliminal messages in that video and I think the last message...

Does involve us as DJs because you see when this girl goes into this room and there's a big flat screen television and a whole load of DVDs and a generator etc then that person is able to watch stuff okay you can't go online and watch anything but she has the possibility of sitting there even though it's a film By the looks of it, because there was a lot of them, the next 10 or 20 years watching movies. So what I'm getting at here is very simple. What I would... I can't tell you... This is only advice. Hopefully it's good advice. And that is look back in time to how DJs used to play because no laptops, nothing like that, no web, yet the DJ was able to entertain the crowd. Whereas nowadays if you are completely relying on streaming then just be wary. I'm not saying don't do it because of course it does have its advantages like I said earlier on in the video.

The downside of course is if the lights go out and you're using a controller with a program, it's very likely that certain parts of that program might not even be able to be used because it needs web access to gain all the information so you can use your music correctly. Now on the other hand there are controllers out there Denon have got some Pioneer like the RX, the XZ where you've got thumb drives, you've got your MP3s and you've got some kind of physical copy. It may be digital but it's definitely something that you've got whereas if you haven't got anything like that and you've just got a laptop and you think this is the way forward, if things carry on as they are it probably is the way forward in many ways.

But then also, one of the ways forward is to stick to original vinyl and CDs because you've got something that's tactile. It's real. It's a hard copy. Now if we go back and any DJ out there who is a vinyl DJ and was back in the day will agree with me 100% here. There's no doubt. When you walked into that record shop On a Friday or a Saturday, and there were a whole bunch of new releases or maybe even white labels, and the guy behind the counter or the girl only had say four copies of that one white label in your town, village or city, and you bought one of them, you were guaranteed to be one of the only people in that area to have one of those copies out of three or four or ten. It doesn't really matter, whereas nowadays...

7:37 Long as you download something, you don't really know how many downloa

So long as you download something, you don't really know how many downloads there are. You don't really know how many people have got it. Whereas back in the day, you were guaranteed to be one of the only people who had that particular hard copy of that track bar two or three in your area. I've got to be careful what I say because the algorithms don't like this sort of information being put out there because they want everyone to be happy and jolly and carry on as they are and you are, which of course you should be able to. But it's a little bit like opening your fridge and realising you've got a manky piece of broccoli, a half bottle open of milk that sell by date sort of, I don't know... Three weeks ago and one egg that if you put it in water, it will float. You see what I'm saying is you need to have a backup in life of everything because if the lights go out...

Have you got candles? If you've got candles, have you got, and if by the way, if you're old school like me, have you got four candles? Also, have you got a means of lighting the candles? Have you got maybe a big bag of rice, a big bag of pasta? And have you got means to get to water? Because if that goes off as well, then it's not going to look very good. Now also getting back to the DJ aspect, more and more people are definitely Getting into vinyl, because it's tactile, it's real. I remember maybe even 10 or even more than that years ago, someone asked me, a very good friend, can you do our wedding? Because, you know, we know you're a DJ. Well, I knew them anyway, family friends. And I said, yeah, I'll do it. I'll do it for free. I wasn't working that night. I said, two conditions. One is you supply me with Guinness all the way through the evening. And they did. I did not drive home.

9:47 Of course they were over the moon

The other one is I can bring vinyl and I would like to play old school music. Well, of course they were over the moon. During the course of the night, two or three people, if not more, came up to me, just looked at what I was doing and were like, love it, wow, amazing. Because people nowadays miss the jump, miss the needle, like skipping the beat or that crackle, that organic tactile... Feel of vinyl and also it's a great way of promoting yourself as being, and I'm going to choose my words here, I'm not going to say a real DJ because the definition of a real DJ is someone who can play all kinds of music or are very good at the music style they play, can keep a crowd going, can keep the dance floor happy. At the end of the night there's euphoria, there's an uplift in the room instead of shh.

Silence. So, in a nutshell, if you are considering getting rid of your vinyl or you're considering just streaming or you're considering maybe getting rid of your CDs, don't. On the other hand, if you're thinking about maybe, you know, just maybe taking your DJ work to the next level, then possibly consider Getting CDs. Even if you don't have a CD player, get them because you have backup, you have hard copies. It's the sort of thing that in the future can't be taken away from you because you've got the real thing. It's there. And as I'm sure everyone out there will agree with me, if you're an old school DJ like me and you've still got vinyl or your vinyl collection... There's nothing better than opening an original Earth, Wind and Fire LP or a Madonna 12-inch or a Michael Jackson Thriller 12-inch and just playing it and having the joy of having something that was produced, written, all the information is on the vinyl. It's just a wonderful experience. So again, I'll finish off with...

12:21 I will have in front of me the Opus Quad controller

Don't get rid of all of your real music, OK? And also, lastly, this video will go live now. And I'm going to be doing a live stream tonight on the YouTube channel Ellaskins anyway. And I'm going to be using... I will have in front of me the Opus Quad controller. I'll use that as the mixer, but I'm going to have my vinyl and don't know what I'm going to be playing yet. I'm going to have a couple of beers, enjoy myself because it's a Christmas kind of mix. No doubt there will be some form of copyright issues and somewhere down the stream there will be, you know, heads up. We've detected copyright audio. Your stream may be temporarily blocked. That's what usually happens. When that happens two or three times, I'll probably have to stop the stream. If it happens quite quickly, I will start the stream again. But let's say I'm playing for an hour and a half or so and then it happens, I'll probably call it a day. Also this evening as well, I will be giving away that thumb drive. I don't know if you remember, but I did talk about last stream.

I have a thumb drive with a bunch of tunes and I would like to give that to someone around the world. It could be anywhere. I don't care if it's the other side of the world, I will post it to you, recorded delivery, first class, and you will get that in January. So thank you for watching. Please leave a comment. It's really important to get your information because not only for me, I love to read the comments. I do apologise if I don't answer to all of them, but... There are other people out there who could maybe get some very good advice from you as well. What sort of DJ are you? Are you old school? Are you new school? Do you just play drum and bass? Do you just play house? Are you a party DJ? Are you a mobile DJ like me, also eclectic mix of anything and everything?

What styles do you prefer? What styles do you not like to play? What would you like to play? Do you think the people who are at your venue and at your events, do you think they're maybe uneducated in music and all they want is pop music? But again, that depends on what the gig is. Is it a party gig? Is it a bar? Is it a nightclub? Is it a wedding? Just let me know. So that's it really. Loads more videos to come. And I would like to wish you all a very, very happy Christmas and a new year. So in Welsh, nadolig llawen and ablwythyn nawydda, which is happy Christmas, happy new year. Thank you for watching. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.