Earlier in the week, Jauz took to Facebook to share a lengthy story about his set at Lollapalooza. In the post, he goes on to explain that he had prepared an epic set for his performance at the festival, only to realize once he was on stage that he had forgotten to transfer the set to his USB and was forced to improvise the entire show on the fly.
While the post seemed innocent enough, it prompted Laidback Luke to join in on a discussion via Twitter about the art of DJ’ing. In a series of Tweets, the Dutch DJ offered up his take on the skill that goes into his craft.
Let me start by saying I love @Jauzofficial As a dude and producer. But let me give some of you some tips to become more confident DJing.
— Laidback Luke (@LaidbackLuke) August 9, 2016
Just like producing, DJing requires a lot of learning. There’s a ton of theory involved which will benefit you, just like producing.
— Laidback Luke (@LaidbackLuke) August 9, 2016
It’s a shame that a lot of DJing producers, don’t stick enough time into developing DJing. It’s fun and so much more powerful!
— Laidback Luke (@LaidbackLuke) August 9, 2016
He then goes on to explain his view of proper DJ’ing, denouncing the idea of fully prepared sets while arguing that DJs should be flexible and able to switch things up on the fly.
Say I would have a ‘Lolla set’ I could mix at least 5 very different sets with this. I see my track selection as a deck of cards.
— Laidback Luke (@LaidbackLuke) August 9, 2016
Of course you can’t randomly swap tracks but there’s a lot of angles you can use to change the order. ie dropping into different drops
— Laidback Luke (@LaidbackLuke) August 9, 2016
But if you don’t know how to read a crowd: challenge yourself and play the whole tracklist in reverse! The possibilities are endless!
— Laidback Luke (@LaidbackLuke) August 9, 2016
The issue of what constitutes “true” DJ’ing is a cantankerous topic that gets brought up in dance music all the time, and Jauz and Luke won’t be the last to touch on it. Â Laidback Luke seemed friendly in his discussion, however, and his ability to engage in a civil discourse about DJ’ing has plenty of positive implications for the scene as a whole.
