At least for one club – Cures and the Cause in Los Angeles.
The statement was issued by the club owner, who is also a respected DJ. Kenny Summit posted on Facebook, making it clear:
“Cure And The Cause ANNOUNCEMENT:
No more laptops in the DJ booth.
Unless you’re using it to control VINYL to do a turntablist type of set, a’la Jazzy Jeff type shit, or if you’re doing a LIVE thing where you’re actually programming shit on the fly. Keep your controller in your crib, dont come to work with training wheels. LEARN THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE already. Pioneer isn’t going anywhere any time soon, they ARE the industry standard, so brush up on how to use the CDJs already, get Rekordbox (its FREE) and buy a good USB stick for $40 that will store THOUSANDS of hours of music on it.
We opened this place to showcase talent. So, show us your talent.”
A laptop in a DJ booth really spoils the impression. A DJ looking into the monitor of a computer looks like he’s not playing, but throwing tracks to Traktor and presses the SYNC button (yes, we remember the SYNC button on CDJs, but that’s something else).
The post generated a feed of comments, which ranged from supportive big ups, to accusations of being close-minded.
One way or another, if you call yourself a DJ, you should know how to use the gear in the booth. “If you never touched vinyl in your life, you’re not a DJ” -said DJ Sneak, and he’s right. Educating yourself before going up to push the buttons is crucial. If that’s too hard for you, maybe you should stay by the other side of the booth.
