‘Isn't it just pressing play on other people's songs?’ This was not the reaction I was hoping for when I suggested introducing DJ lessons to a school several years ago. DJing is a misunderstood art form. In fairness, it's easy to misunderstand – the technical skills of mixing one track into another, remixing tracks to create a consistent playlist, and controlling the various elements of a mix to ride the mood of an audience are difficult for an onlooker to grasp. The artistic skill of judging what will fill a dancefloor, and keep it filled, is an even more ephemeral skillset – one that deserves special attention in music education.
Why teach DJing?
There are an increasing number of organisations providing DJ tuition in various formats to schools, supported by a range of study and assessment material. The London College of Music Exams has recently developed a three-tier programme – Debut (Grade 1 equivalent), Breakthrough (Grade 3) and Artist (Grade 5) – boasting a highly sophisticated syllabus focusing on manual beat matching, mixing and transitions between tracks.
Both AQA and Eduqas have supported DJing as a performance skill for several years, with OCR going even further in 2019 and offering a specialised assessment which includes rappers and MCs.
I am a big advocate of DJing as a school activity. There is no more fundamental way to teach rhythm, build up an understanding of the elements of production, or gain an understanding of how an audience reacts to different music. It's hardly surprising that many of the most successful producers and writers started their careers behind the decks. Nile Rogers, Mark Ronson, Diplo, Lost Boy – a whole host of the masterminds behind the soundtrack to our lives started off pressing play on other people's songs.
Based in London's Brixton, Grooveschool is an initiative which aims to bring DJ and production skills to young people. Founded by Richie Littler, Simon Parkinson and Damian Byrne, the organisation provides peripatetic tutors to local schools, runs DJ and production workshops, and organises masterclasses and one-off events with professional producers. It aims to benefit people by nurturing their creativity and invention, with a particular focus on low-income families; those not in education, employment or training (NEET); those in need as a result of unemployment; those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND); people in care and hospices; and the elderly, especially those with Alzheimer's.
Founder Littler says the idea came about in 2010. DJing was not readily available in schools at the time, and he kept meeting with the same frustrations when trying to introduce the skill into an academic environment. He explains that DJing is a great way to introduce young people to music-making and performing; the equipment needed to get started is relatively inexpensive, and students quickly begin building encyclopaedic catalogues of tracks in their chosen genres, together with mainstream pop and dance music.
Seeing the transformation in Grooveschool's students as they realise the power their music-making can have over their audience is simply amazing.
For many people, DJing could be their first experience of music-making – and one which allows them to connect with its power quickly and profoundly. Two turntables and a mixer can produce amazing results. A standard DJ controller which allows the artist to mix and scratch should have (at the minimum) two jog wheels, a crossfader and a graphic EQ. These can easily be sourced for under £100. From this point, students will quickly start building up their own armoury of equipment in pursuit of their ideal sound.
‘A powerful and versatile DJ system’
One of the latest additions to the market is the Opus-Quad from Pioneer DJ. The controller is the company's first four-channel standalone system and first standalone to feature a touchscreen display.
The Opus-Quad has a sleek and modern design with a wedge-shaped body angled upwards towards the user. The touchscreen display, mixing controls and feed information are all surprisingly clear, even in low-light situations. The controller is powered by a quad-core Intel processor, which gives sufficient processing power to run multiple audio tracks and effects simultaneously. The unit also has a built-in SSD drive, allowing for fast loading times and smooth playback.
In addition to the four playback channels, the decks support MP3, AAC, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, and ALAC file formats. The unit offers: a 10.1-inch touchscreen display with a high-resolution waveform view; two auxiliary screens, one above each jog wheel, which display track position, BPM and key; two jog wheels with LED rings that can be changed to different colours; and a four-channel mixer with EQ, gain and filter controls on each channel. Various built-in effects are also available, including colouration, beat and spatial effects. The instrument supports the standard software platforms rekordbox and Serato DJ Pro, and the touchscreen display is responsive and easy to navigate, with the unit's other controls on intuitive and easy to reach.
The Opus-Quad also comes with a variety of features that make it easy to learn and use, such as:
- A tutorial mode that walks users through the basics of the unit.
- A variety of on-screen waveforms and other visual aids that help users to mix tracks.
- A beat sync feature that automatically matches the BPM of two tracks.
- A key analysis feature showing the key of each track, making it easy to create harmonic mixes.
The unit represents a big shift in the scene. Typically, DJs have controlled two tracks at once – the playback track and the cued track waiting to be mixed in. As the name suggests, the Opus-Quad offers the ability to control four tracks at once, either remixing in real time or potentially running two rooms simultaneously from one controller. It is a powerful and versatile DJ system with all the features that DJs need to perform at a professional level, whether running two, three or four tracks.
Despite its huge power and functionality, the Opus-Quad is very easy to use; it took me less than half an hour to learn to navigate around the controller as a relative newcomer to this type of music-making. However, the unit is far from an entry-level price point, retailing at £2,899. It is also relatively heavy (13 KG) compared to other controllers.
So why would you ever want to be able to control four tracks at once? Is this approach going to become the mainstay of modern DJing? As more venues move away from traditional two-channel stereo audio formats, the Opus-Quad offers endless functionality and new ways to make music. There is huge potential to unleash the creativity of the performer; the only limit is the performer's imagination.
How the scene will develop to utilise the Opus-Quad remains to be seen. However, the instrument has all the ingredients to become a popular choice for DJs in the future. One thing is certain: electronic music-making is here to stay. I hope that the world of DJing and producing becomes a much more familiar part of our pedagogy.
Price: £2,899
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