So If You Wanna Battle … A Q & A With DJ Vekked
PHOTO : PETER SAVIC
DIGITAL MUSIC
DJ Vekked is a multi-DMC and IDA champion , having just won a pair of solo titles and a team title as The Fresherthans with DJ Brace at the 2015 DMC World DJ Championships . He plans to drop an album later this year . You can find him @ Vekked on Twitter or at www . facebook . com / djvekked .
So If You Wanna Battle … A Q & A With DJ Vekked
CM : How do you define DJ battling ? How does the skillset differ from typical scratch DJing ? DJV : DJ battling is just DJing in a competitive setting with actual judges . The basic fundamental skills are the same . We still mix , scratch , etc ., but in a competition , you have a time limit and your goal is to push things to the next level . Doing “ normal ” everyday DJing doesn ’ t cut it . It ’ d be like entering a guitar competition and playing rhythm guitar . The goal is to try to win by showing you ’ re faster , more technical , more complex , more innovative ... It doesn ’ t mean that you have to be ALL of these things ; some people try to win through technicality , some through musicality , some through innovation ... That ’ s up to each individual DJ and their strengths .
CM : What are the judging criteria in DJ battling ? What makes for a standout routine ? DJV : The judging criteria isn ’ t super strict , but it comes down to :
1 . Technicality . Namely scratching and beat juggling , which are the main techniques used in DJ competitions because they are efficient at displaying skill within a time limit . This basically equates to difficulty and precision . Certain techniques are more difficult to keep on beat , so consistent rhythm is a factor in technicality as well .
2 . Musicality . Everything sonically falls under this , from the flow / smoothness of transitions to if your tracks and samples complement each other , if things don ’ t clash in key , if everything is structured logically ... You can ’ t just solo for six minutes straight and pull off as many tricks as you can without any structure or direction ; it still has to have a degree of musicianship . A set doesn ’ t have to sound like a song exactly , because it ’ s really a bunch of songs , but it still has to flow , be smooth , and sound good all together .
3 . Innovation . Technicality and musicality are a bit subjective in terms of HOW technical you should get , and what makes a set “ musical ,” but innovation is pretty set in stone . Are you doing something new ? Is it a smaller innovation based on something someone else did or is it completely original ? The underlying spirit of competition is to progress the art form ( rather than just feed an individual DJ ’ s ego ), so doing something new and creative that hasn ’ t been seen before is the most important part .
CM : You ’ ve been a big proponent of “ Patterns over Production ” over the years . What exactly do you mean by that and why is it something you ’ re keen on pushing ? DJV : “ Patterns over production ” is my motto to encourage DJs to focus on the actual “ patterns ” – DJ techniques , rhythms , combinations , etc . that they are doing live during the performance – rather than the work they do ahead of time in their audio software .
Production and DJing have always been very closely related , to the point that now , in the mainstream , a lot of people have difficultly telling the two crafts apart because so many big DJs or big producers do both to some extent . But barely any great producers are also great DJs , or vise versa .
So in a DJ battle , this is important because the focus is on your DJ skills and what you ’ re doing live within the time limit . I encourage DJs to put their time in composing what they ’ re actually doing live in their routine , and use production as polish on the final product , rather than spending all of their time producing the routine and then spending a tiny bit of time adapting it to be done live .
CM : How would you recommend someone with decent chops go about getting started in the battle scene ? DJV : Just jump right in . Do local DJ competitions , message DMC Canada about entering a local regional , look into how to apply for Red Bull Thre3style . Start studying the history of the sets in each format . DMC has been around for over 30 years , so it ’ s sort of the blueprint of all DJ competitions , but it ’ s important to know the history as well as studying how people have adapted to the exact format you ’ re doing . Also make sure you do it for motivation and because you love the art , not for prizes or accolades .
CM : Where do you see battling heading in the future ? Are there any trends that have emerged in the last few years that you find particularly exciting or discouraging ? DJV : I think it ’ s a very exciting time for battling right now . DJ technology has progressed so much and people have barely just begun to explore it . I would say DJs have only started to go outside of the intended purposes of new effects and features for about three years now . There ’ s an entire world of possibilities out there by combining traditional tricks and techniques with the new possibilities that technology gives us .
The only potentially discouraging part for me is that people seem to be a lot more concerned with the image and entertainment side of DJing than the art form these days , so even though we have all of these possibilities , who ’ s to say that there will even be a new crop of DJs who wants to push things further ? Sometimes I feel like I ’ m the last of a dying breed , but hopefully a new generation carries the torch .
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