Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 1 of 1
-
ItemThinking About Syncing. Examining the impact of 21st century DJ technology on the production and performance of Electronic Dance Music( 2022)The introduction of synchronisation (sync) to the DJ’s professional toolkit in the early 2000s proved to be controversial and divisive. Until that point, DJs had been so focused on beatmatching – the manual process of tempo-setting and alignment of tracks – that many dismissed sync as ‘cheating’. Concern over technology-assisted creative output is not unique to Electronic Dance Music (EDM); David Hockney’s investigation into the use of optical aids by the Old Masters highlighted similar perspectives in visual art. As sync has simplified some of the mechanical aspects of DJing, DJs have shifted away from building sets by sequencing pre-recorded audio – often made by other music producers – towards an approach that incorporates improvisatory composition and production. This thesis, comprised of a creative folio of performance works and a contextual review of their execution, is the result of a practice-led enquiry into 21st century DJing, distinct from the tradition of selecting and playing records on turntables. For my major work, Real Time, Online, I utilised the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) Ableton Live to arrange original works in real-time, and moved beyond audio to incorporate video synthesis and video mixing. For Locked Groove Mix 2, a developmental work, I arranged fifty-one loops, each representing only 1.8 seconds of original audio, in real-time as part of a long-form DJ performance. Through a process of reflective practice and critical review of technique and repertoire both pre- and post-sync, this thesis discusses how technology shapes and informs the realisation of a DJ set, highlighting how sync has catalysed a disconnect between the performer, their gestures, the source material and audiences, necessitating a rethink on how we demonstrate and recognise technical virtuosity in performance. It concludes by arguing that virtuosity in modern DJing is primarily a product of instrument configuration and pre-production, an amalgamation of formerly distinct production and performance techniques, and it identifies how sync’s affordances might inform future views on DJ practice and the presentation of EDM.