Mix Master Mike: I respect any DJ who isn’t a ‘foot tapper’
When you’re watching star DJs perform, you don’t necessarily know if they’re actually remixing songs live, or if they’re just pressing the “play” button. So I asked the best turntablist alive, Mix Master Mike, how regular DJ watchers can discern good DJs from bad DJs.
“There’s a lot of people who can’t tell the difference, and that’s sad,” Mix Master Mike says.
“That’s why — when I do my solo shows — I make sure they have a camera on the turntables, just so they can see what’s going on.”
In other words: You pretty much have to see the DJs hands and turntables. If DJs have cameras and a video screen showing their work, you can at least see how hard they’re spinning.
I can attest to that. I stood behind Deadmau5 during a Hard Rock show last year, and scrutinized his every knob tweak. He’s really mastering his boards, not surprisingly.
But during the recent Electronic Daisy Carnival, I saw one or two DJ crews doing little more than dancing by their turntables, or waving their arms at the crowd to dance along with them. Weak Djs were rarities at EDC, but there’s always a few lazy apples.
Or as Mix Master puts it: “You got DJs who are working up there — and then you’ve got your foot-tappers and your fist-pumpers.”
On Saturday night, Mix Master and drummer Travis Barker will perform together at Club Nikki at Tropicana Las Vegas. (Read what Mix Master has to say about the Beasties and his marriage here.)
He mixes any songs he thinks works.
“I’m hip-hop, but I do other things. I do the dubstep, I do the electro. So I kind of make everything sound like hip-hop.”
Does he respect the new wave of electronic DJs?
“I have respect for any artist that’s getting their hustle on. If you’re taking something, and you can turn it into your own thing, then much respect.
“Anyone that’s just following the trend, then whatever — you’re just a follower. But if you’re taking the bull by the horns and you’re like, ‘I’m going to twist it into my own concoction,’ then you’re fine. Take it to different areas, if you’re going to do it.”
He does have this advice for DJs: Be inspired by more than fellow DJs.
“I grew up listening to Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, Robert Johnson, and I feel like I’m an offspring of those guys,” Mix Master says. “I like to play the turntable with the same amount of aggression and passion that they play their instruments.
“I’m inspired by jazz musicians and rock drummers,” he says. “For (some) DJs, there’s not much inspiration. It just shows when a DJ is just standing there. What can they show you except press-play?”
By the way, Mix Master has at least 100,000 pieces of vinyl records at his disposal.
“I have a basement-slash-studio that’s just full of records. I’ve bought so many records over the years of touring and traveling,” he says. “If I really want to go to record shopping, I just go into my own studio.”
This is how it's done:
