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| Let's see; there's Electric Daisy, Electric Forest, Electric Zoo.....and now the first ever and probably last ever Electric Sun. In Jacksonville, at the Morocco Shriners complex. I say "last ever" because although the DJ selection was excellent and the music was excellent, there were issues. Like only 1 stage instead of 4, and DJ's like Tiësto and Cedric Gervais cancelling out! |
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| Running from 1pm until 10pm yesterday, the crowd was spartan at the beginning under the quite hot Florida sun! |
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| DJ Jacob Lyne (S) was playing when I arrived. He was the only main stage act I had never heard of but he did a great House set which had the dozens in attendance really moving. |
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| The guy has potential; gonna have to look him up when I get back to Orlando. |
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| After an hour he turned things over to Nick Terranova, better-known as Starkillers (USA). |
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| His mostly House set also got the growing crowd moving! |
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| The line was growing to get in. Nothing like EDC in Orlando though! |
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| As you can see, things were picking up! |
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| The only Orlando person I ran into! |
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| He got a huge round of cheers for his performance! |
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| Starkillers posing while headed off the stage. |
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| Next up, DJ John Dahlbäck (S). |
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| More house with a little Dubstep and a little Trance. |
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| They probably don't have this kind of heat in Sweden! You may recall my article in February about the best DJ's right now are from Sweden. |
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| Tiësto was supposed to follow him but people were commenting that Tiësto's Facebook page had reported that he was going staight to Miami and skipping Jacksonville! That was contrary to the Electric Sunfest Facebook page which on Friday was insisting that Tiësto was playing! |
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You can never go wrong with Go Go Girls! |
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| More house and quite a bit of Trance. |
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| For those that listen to Sirius/XM 51 BPM, lots of familiar music. |
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| Early evening crowd listening and dancing! |
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| Better perspective showing that the event did draw EDM fans, just not enough. Acosta took his 90-minute set through sunset into darkness. |
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| Orlando's own DJ Icey (USA) was up next and he quickly moved the music from the mostly House we had been hearing all day and into the Breakbeats! |
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| He was not shy about putting out some Old Skool classics! |
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| He plays completely off CD's; no laptops here! |
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| The crowd was at its maximum as a surprising number of people showed up after dark! |
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| More Breaks tonight as DJ Baby Anne is supposed to play on Day 2. Also on schedule today are BT and Robbie Rivera along with Orlando DJ John Debo. |
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| A good perspective of all the people here for Icey! |
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| Close up: No room to move out there! |
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| Icey turning the equipment over to DJ Reid Speed. |
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| She's tiny, the music was anything but! She moved into mostly hard-driving Dubstep. |
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| There was plenty of glitches at Electric Sun.....but a good time was had by all! |
There were a lot of DJ's that pulled out. Tiesto, Cedric, and now I just heard that BT won't be there today
ReplyDeleteTiesto said they didn't fulfill parts of their performance contract.
ReplyDeleteBtw..stop pointing out CD players versus laptop; it really doesn't make a difference. That bugs me the same way you call house music Techno.
DJ Beats Me = REID SPEED
ReplyDeletefirst time ive ever heard her & she's DOPE!!! really great way to end the fest!
btw great summary of everything it was very on point :)
Anon a 9:17am, thanks for the update. I was afraid that might happen today.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 10:05am, a little cranky today, aren't we?
Anon at 4:42pm, thanks for the info about DJ Beats Me. It was a fun day, notwithstanding the disappointments.
Just pointing out that you seem to think mixing on CDs is somehow magical compared to using Traktor/Serato etc.
ReplyDeleteIn the audience, you wouldn't be able to tell a difference in the sound quality and the guy on the laptop can improvise a hell of a lot better than the guy running with just CDs.
here is what the difference is!! the laptop does the work for ya! cd's you have to match up the beats! OK well some of the older DJ's the BETTER DJ's! I can DJ with a laptop/desktop!
ReplyDeleteI use Serato and it does NOT Dj for you. It merely plays the music, you still have to control it with a midi controller or the time code vinyl/CD.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest you know your Dj equipment/software before you comment.
Anon..DJing with Cd's is much more intense that with a laptop or any kind of program. You lose the art of DJing that way. It takes practice and skill to DJ with vinyl or CD's, where as programs like Serato..anyone can DJ. The whole art is lost. If you can DJ without a laptop or program, than you can call yourself a DJ. Maybe YOU should try DJing without your "programs" and see just how good you really are and then maybe YOU can comment on equipment/software as some kind of "expert"...
ReplyDeleteOk, I'm gonna weigh in this. Beatmixing with CDs, vinyl or Serato is still the same thing; you still have to know what you're doing and have the sense of rhythm and timing.
ReplyDeleteI'm self taught on vinyl back in the 80s, then CDs and now Serato. I'm not sure what you mean by more intense but I can still mix just as easily on CDs, turntables or with Traktor/Serato.
On Traktor, the laptop does help but only if your tracks are accurately marked in the grid. Serato is a vinyl emulation program so it's no different than mixing on CDs or vinyl. And contrary to one of you anon posters, it does not do the mixing for you. It does give you a view of the waveform but that's it.
I can do stuff with Serato that you definitely can't do with CDs or vinyl so let's keep that in mind too.
I think the original post that started this was that there is something special about Djs that use CDs. Regardless of your equipment/software, you still have to be able to hear what you're doing.
well the SOFTWARE I have! you pick the song/track HIT SYNC button! IT matches up the BEATS and then u just slowly switch it over!! how HARD it this? HMMM! NOT A REAL DJ like back in the day! when they used 12" vinyl>!!! it was a lot of work! NOW anyone can DJ! now its WHO you now not what you know! with these Laptops! It ticks me off! to see this! I would do the JOB for 3/4 to Half what they PAY dj's today!
ReplyDeleteif i was A club owner I would not pay as much as they do! I KNOW i could get a out of work DJ to do that for that much easy! then!
ReplyDeleteThanks for everyone's comments about CD's versus Laptops. It's an interesting controversy worth discussing.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I would call it a controversy. Different ways to Dj; that's really all it is.
ReplyDeleteTo the one Anon poster, it sounds like you're using either Traktor with the beat grid turned on or Virtual Dj. I've used both before but I like Scratch Live; it's more accurate and stable.
If they only way you can mix is using auto sync then you'd have a rough time on turntables or CD players. For me, I'd never go back to Djing with just CDs or vinyl; too restricting. I like always having 20,000 tracks with me.
As to the comments about pay, there's a big difference between some kid out of high school that goes and buys the equipment to start Djing and a professional who's been doing it for decades.
You get what you pay for. Give him some pocket change and a bar tab and see how that works out for ya. Just sayin. ;)
no the truth is you don't want to do all the work! vinyl is the best! and all ways will be!
ReplyDeleteI am sure some of the clubs I have been in pay their DJ's good and hear not so good stuff!
MY point is IF I am payin you to DJ your going to DJ not move a mouse around! and as posted before! anyone could DJ then!
and as far as stable use a Mac laptop! Like I see in the clubs I have not seen a PC CLONES laptop in any of the clubs I have been in!
http://distilleryimage7.instagram.com/fa5cd662f55511e1a73722000a1e8a9f_7.jpg
ReplyDeleteJust one example of a Scratch Live setup. That's the Rane 62 Mixer running the show. I'd put that up against someone limited to two CD players any day of the week.
Jumping in to comment on Electric Sunfest: dunno what they did for promotion up here in the Jacksonville area, but I first heard of it when a local radio station was giving away tickets to see Tiesto about two days before the event. I'd be willing to bet most of the town had no idea it was even going on.
ReplyDelete"That's the Rane 62 Mixer running the show."
ReplyDeleteIsnt that the point, the dj is not running the show.
Running the show as in the mixer, compared to a Pioneer mixer. Since we have several posters on here who don't seem to know how Scratch Live works, the Rane mixer has the sound card built into it.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a Rane vs Pioneer debate.
It has nothing to do with the Dj's ability.
It would be advisable to actually know something about both the Dj equipment and software and more importantly, how to use them before commenting on here.
My Point! is this and has been if you read it!
ReplyDeletewhen u use software your not REALLY A club dj! more like a Radio station DJ!
what do you want to do PLAY 6 songs at once? one at a time! MOst stuff played by DJ's are all ready mixed!
I get your point(s) you are LAZY and don't want to do the work of A real CLUB DJ!
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the ESF pictures, Starkillers was using a laptop and he is A REAL DJ. Both methods of playing offer advantages and it does not differentiate who is a REAL DJ or not.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of controversy in the club/concert business about the use of laptops. The controversy is NOT about DJ ability or quality and I'm not aware of any clubs or concerts that have banned them.
The controversy surrounds the ability of laptop DJ's to pre-program their entire set ahead of time, have the computer beat-match the entire thing and then just press START and stand their and pretend. Not that any of our DJ readers would ever consider such a thing.
I think this article kind of sums up the situation, partly:
http://notyourjukebox.com/2012/05/19/why-old-school-djs-are-complaining-and-you-should-too/
http://pioneerdj.com/english/products/player/cdj-2000nexus.html
ReplyDeleteTake a look at the new Pioneer CDJ.
Notice some of the features that are already available in various software programs? Wavefile view, the beat sync button?
You guys really need to stop getting so hung up on the whole "no laptops here" thing. The lines are getting blurred when it comes to what the hardware can do.
The focus of your discussion should be about what the person can do with the equipment.
Dj Smooth said.....
ReplyDelete>Take a look at the new Pioneer CDJ.
Nice piece of equipment!
>The focus of your discussion should be about what the person can do with the equipment.
Agreed.