Auto-sync or vinyl? Attitudes of DJs toward technology get academic

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Keith Brady surveyed more than 200 DJs for his dissertation about opinions towards music technology.

Browse any forum dedicated to discussions on DJing and you’re sure to find heated arguments about whether digital DJs are ‘real DJs’ or not, or about the importance of manual beat-matching.

Keith Brady, a.k.a. DJ Kaz, has written a comprehensive study on the attitudes of DJs toward new and old technology. It’s 52 pages long and jam-packed with useful information(including a short history of DJ-ing) and data he gathered via interviews and an on-line survey. The questions in his survey were answered by more than 200 DJs and he interviewed six performers, including our very own Moldover. His entire study is available to the public here.

Here is Brady’s summary of his dissertation:

A hot topic often debated in the DJ community revolves around what technology DJs use. The argument of digital vs. analog has been often argued over the last decade. In this dissertation a better understanding of why Djs are moving towards their current technology is carried out. Over 200 Djs were surveyed and six in depth interviews were conducted. The results are a summary of the views that Djs have and a conclusion is reached. Many Djs feel that with using more modern technology such as autosync that the DJ should better themselves in other areas such as effects, looping, etc. A general view among most Djs is that beat-matching is essential in order to be respected by the DJ community, a skill that should be mastered by all Djs. The topic of controllerism is also discussed.

5 thoughts on “Auto-sync or vinyl? Attitudes of DJs toward technology get academic”

  2. Pingback: Controllerism.com posts my dissertation I wrote for my Honours Degree entitled “The Attitudes of DJs” A study carried out to gather and understand the DJ communities’ current views towards various DJ technologies. | Book of Brady

  3. No one (except other DJs) cares about how you’re making people dance. What you do is more important than how you do it. If you think one option suits every situation, you’re wrong. There are times to “sync” and there are times to “swing” but that has to be up to the DJ in the moment with sufficient skill (with both) to make the decision. “A REAL DJ” should be able to appreciate and execute both.

  4. my short answer to this is that no machine can match up tracks and make the tracks automatically sound “right” together. the more you listen to what a machine does, the more you realize it needs to be tweaked. this can usually be done with software, but…learning to beatmatch with vinyl develops the djs EAR for this. when you start on software, you may develop this you may not. i’m flabbergasted in what i hear on the dancefloor from people using software who have not yet developed their ability to judge the sound! ack!!! just because a beat is “matched” does not mean the two tracks sound good together. sometimes NOT matching perfectly sounds better!
    i have spun vinyl for decades, i still do, but i am not married to it as an art form, i find i have much more expressive freedom with software and controllers, many die hard vinyl people see the light when they open their minds. i could talk a lot about this!!