How the trade has changed
Speaking for myself here but i cant help but notice how this business has changed over the past 20years i have been in it. These are just general observations and obviously there are exceptions.
Not just the equipment with the advent of DMX etc and moving from vinyl to CD then to MP3 but the whole perception of what a DJ is.
Most of my mates are DJ's and have been for a long time and it seems the newer DJ's coming up are nowhere near as technically minded as the previous generation. Even down to simple things like making / repairing your own cables the newer breed wouldnt know one ennd of a soldering iron from the other so will just go and buy a new cable rather that attempt a repair. Also where equipment and setups are concerned newer DJ's don't seem to know how their gear works and how to fault find (helped a dj the other night who had plugged the jacks from his speakers into the mixer rather than the amp and couldnt find why it wasnt working). :rolleyes:
When i first started if you wanted new lights you built them (light boxes) there were very few "effect" lights probably the best you could get was a helicopter.
Seems that with the advent of the "bedroom" DJ has sort of mixed things up every tom **** and harry think "hey this is easy i can make money at this" soo buy themselves some cheap gear and have a go. Something not working in your bedroom is inconvenient at someones wedding its a major problem but most i have seen are not equipt to deal with it either with spare equipment or the technical skills to diagnose the problem.
We have all moved on and upgraded our equpment as the years have gone on and we a massive range of lighting and effects which we can chose from which is awesome and audio equipment and amplifiers we wouldnt have dreamed of when humping a citronic thames 2 up a flight of stairs in the 80's.
Maybe its just me but i think there are certian requirements in a DJ that seem to be lacking in some as experience of us "old timers" doesnt seem to be passed down to new DJ's coming up.
What are your thought and of course memories of how disco's and DJ's were and how they have developed now?