Is tempo control important in playing reggae music?

[Guest]

so basically the skills for a reggae dj is to put the needle on the record and start it? other skills just affect the enjoyment... right?

[kalcidis]

stepping razor; That's not entirely true. Even though one turntable has been the norm for a long time in Jamaican music there has been sounds that has been »double-changers« since the early sixties. V-Rocket being one of them.

[stepping razor]

Poor mans sound cant afford two decks.I prefer the one deck when sounds play cos your in control totally of your tempo pitch control,I think there would be an uproar if shaka started using two decks.
peace

[Vinnie]

so basically the skills for a reggae dj is to put the needle on the record and start it? other skills just affect the enjoyment... right?

to put it simple yes

the true skill is to know what records to play that creates a certain 'vibe' in combination with sirens/fx and to top it of chant on his tunes

[Vinnie]

Poor mans sound cant afford two decks.I prefer the one deck when sounds play cos your in control totally of your tempo pitch control,I think there would be an uproar if shaka started using two decks.
peace

the point is (imho): there is no need for 2 decks only if you need a spare one lol

[stepping razor]

It depends if your a one man sound who has to select,engineer,sirens,chat at the mic and look for the next tune your going to play,some sounds have 5 people to do dem jobs, so the selector just has to select,but he also has a say in when the echo and sirens go off.
Keeping up with whats happening when the mcs want a hurl and pull up rewind selector.I like dances weather theres 1 or 2 decks that there is gaps in between some or a lot of the tunes so you can get the whole vibe of the dance, rather than a bombardment of tunes,sirens,chat and wheelys.I dont like it when they keep pulling up the tune every 20 seconds for 5 minutes let the tune run star.
Peace

[Guest]

I don't like sirens... especially when it's the cop's siren. last time (summertime), they stopped lone ranger show.

it looks like reggae culture in england is quite different from what I know. when you're talking about "a dance" or "a blues", does it happen in a pub?

isn't it strange to mix this "integralist" strictly-one-deck policy with the traditionnal english pub?

[stepping razor]

Big venues that hold 500-1000 people.
peace

[Guest]

oras wrote :so basically the skills for a reggae dj is to put the needle on the record and start it? other skills just affect the enjoyment... right?

to put it simple yes

the true skill is to know what records to play that creates a certain 'vibe'

I've always thought it was the selector's job! but I'm not an expert...

[leggo rocker]

Even if you don't employ any tunrtable-ism at all, the job still isn't about plonking a needle on the start of a record. ANy idiot can do that. It's about creating a mood, driving a mood, sustaining a mood and moving the mood on to the next place. That is a HIGHLY skilled job that not all DJs can do well. It has nothing to do with the size of your record sack, although at a long session you're gonna need lots of records to make sure you have the right tune for the right time.

This is selecting. Some people can do this, some can't.

In a Sound System the skill is also in the chanting by the MCs and the Sound Man operations, the mixing of the sound as records play and adding of effects.

The single deck is absolutely no problem at all in a Sound System set up because the MC will keep the vibe alive or even ramp it up as the record is flipped or swapped. There's no 'break' in the proceedings at all, far from it.

As for reggae business in a 'traditional' English pub. I think this is cool. While I prefer church hall venues, the concept of a pub in an English town becoming a reggae venue is almost like a rebel victory, reggae taking over. Once they sat and supped pints of ale, now they are skanking and smoking spliffs. What could be wrong with that?

I'm not a great lover of the siren sound, the less it is used the better for me. I prefer the DATC method, using interesting and amusing sound clips as FX. It seems more 'artistic'.