I have been a DJing now for ten years and have recently witnessed some incredibly intelligent Audiovisual shows from big name DJs that have only recently made the step from DJ to VJ and it got me thinking about my own DJ sets and weather or not I could break into the VJ world. From small club to huge stadium gigs, VJs continue to change the way we absorb music by enhancing the visual impact of DJs, bands and huge dance acts. Fifteen years ago VJing as an art form was generally unheard of. It started to emerge in basic form at the start of the 1990s in the underground dance music scene as visuals started to appear in new nightclubs. VJing is now a growing trend in clubs and much of this has to do with the emergence of new VJ technology improving accessibility and user-friendliness . I am going to look at what exactly a VJ does and how these new products and technologies have played a part in the transition from DJ to VJ. It is also interesting to look at what possibilities new VJ technology can offer in the near future.

The term VJing originally referred to those presenting video clips on music television, made popular by MTV. Eloïse Bouton believes the term has evolved and now stands for ‘creators of visual animations’. Today a VJ in a club is just like the DJ except instead of mixing sounds and music they mix visuals. Throughout the 1990s a new audiovisual format emerged in clubs where DJ and VJ would perform together.

Golo Föllmer and Julia Gerlach in their essay; ‘Audiovisions. Music as an Intermediated Art Form’ hold the view that for the most part, musicians and video artists only have loose contact during their performances:
“The connection between image and sound is rarely based on a technical link between the respective instruments or concepts that have been drawn up in detail, rather it is primarily based on rough outlines or on improvisation… Connections between music and image are primarily atmospheric, and it is rare that either level deals with specific content or narrative structures”. The development of new technologies is beginning to change this.

Metropolis magazine recently spoke to Coldcut (Voted no 6 in 2008 Top 20 VJs Poll – Djmag) about fusing the DJ and VJ. “Clubbers are used to a world in which the DJ and VJ have separate billing. The DJ is the star and the VJ provides a silent visual backdrop to his/her mix. No longer”, says Matt Black (one half of the acclaimed British electronica duo). According to Black, “Many VJs don’t use sound, they’re just content to mix silent images along with the DJ, a lot of what Coldcut does these days is audiovisual composition – not something where we put the visuals on after.” He explains, “to do this we’ve developed AV mixers, so like a DJ can bring in different sounds with the crossfader, we can do the same with audiovisual sources”.

Coldcut have also developed their own audio/visual mixing software ‘VJamm’ in order to enhance the club experience. Black explains that “VJamm is like having a piano but the piano plays sound and vision. So if I attach a keyboard to a PC running VJamm I can trigger audiovisual samples”. He gives the example of a sample of a dog barking and explains that with VJamm “I can have banks of several of those samples and play them as one would play a piano”.

They explain that the way this works in practice in one of their sets is that Black’s partner Jonathan Moore, mixes sound through the PA, while Black blends audiovisual samples into Moores mix. They claim the result is “a club experience that surpasses the usual in its integration of sound and video.”

The first piece of equipment that really made VJing accessible to the DJ was the Pioneer DVJ-X1, released in 2004. It was designed for professional use in clubs and was instrumental in brigding the gap between VJ and DJ. According to Stoke Poges (a Pioneer spokesperson, 2003) it allows synchronised digital audio and video to be manipulated and played back like never before’. Many DJs moved from vinyl to CD throughout the early noughties due to new cd DJ technology and the growing mp3 download market.

The Pioneer CDJ 1000 was released in 2001 and as it has progressed through its three updates it has become the industry standard DJ cd turntable. The DVJ-X1 looks almost identical except it has the flexibility and capacity of DVD. According to Pioneer (2003) the DVJ-X1 “not only creates and extraordinary outlet for creative expression, it also signals a brand new form of entertainment in clubs, bars and other venues and establishes a platform for dance music labels wanting to use visual content to help market their releases”. With the DVJ-X1 the user can manipulate DVD visuals in exactly the same way they would music. Real-time digital video scratches, loops and instant cues are all possible with the DVJ-X1, while the video and audio streams always stay in perfect sync, even when they are being reversed and pitched. (Pioneer)

In 2006 the DVJ 1000 was released which is basically a slight upgrade from the DVJ-X1. In 2007 Pioneer released the SMV-1000 mixer which solved a lot of problems as there was a lack of simple, user-friendly AV mixers on the market. Mark Grotefeld, (European Marketing Manager of Pioneer Europe) believes that “for a lot of artists this mixer will be the missing link that they have been waiting for. DJs and VJs around the world now have the potential to explore new avenues of creativity.”

With new technologies, especially the Pioneer equipment I mentioned, more big name DJs are putting on Audiovisual performances as well as DJing and this is enhancing the club experience. Clubbers feel they are witnessing something more original and forward thinking and the majority are aware of the massive amount of hard work the DJ has to put in to preparing an AV show so when it’s good there is an excellent crowd response, resulting in an all round improved vibe. DJ Yoda is a hip-hop / scratch DJ and has been at the forefront of the VJ revolution. Last year he toured the world with his ‘Magic Cinema’ show which involves several massive screens all around the DJ booth displaying mind blowing visuals to the crowd that he mixes in time with the music. In some venues they were even selling popcorn at the bar! Shows like this offer a new dimension to clubbing and play a key role in raising awareness of, and popularizing the art of VJing.

Despite this recent VJ phenomena there is still only a small amount of actual DJs that have made the transition to DJ and VJ, referred to as DVJ. Many DJs are happier to concentrate on the DJing while a VJ works independently of them, projecting visuals to form the backdrop of their performance. According to DJmag this could change in the near future as new products are coming onto the market to make the transition even more accessible.

There is a massive amount of work involved in creating and incorporating visuals into a DJ set. Addictive TV’s Graham Daniels told DJmag in October this year that many DJs are are just spinning music videos and not actually VJing. Daniels told the magazine that “Making video content is more accessible and affordable than it ever was but DJs can produce a track in three days. It can take weeks to make a decent audiovisual piece worth watching”. He believes we need a video sequencer to make it easier to create content, and “one that is as proficient in audio as it is in video”. According to DJmag ‘Ableton Live’ is an incredibly popular and respected piece of software and while it has extensive audio sequencing and live performance capabilities, it only has basic video capability. Resolume’s new ‘Avenue’ audio visual software will be more in favour of video. Resolume developer Edwin De Koning told DJmag that a lot of DJs use VJ software with Ableton and the Pioneer SVM 1000 however Resolume are trying to achieve a way to create an audio visual set from one computer.

Daniels believes that if the VJ art form is going to continue to grow, more people need to be creating content. He makes the point that the music industry can see the importance of video, especially now it can be delivered so easily with youtube and video ipods. What is the solution to making AV performances easier? Daniels suggests that “someone needs to make video editing software work with music
software (like the ReWire tool).” He refers to VJamm Pro, the software developed by Coldcut that I mentioned earlier. Daniels believes it has come a long way in that it has a better interface and is more stable however believes that the fact these programmes are made by small developers is making it harder for them to break into the market. It does not have the same backing as programmes like Ableton. Daniels believes that video editor ‘Sony Vegas’ is great as it works with beats and bars but not quite good enough for making music too.

AV shows greatly enhance a DJ performance, especially when playing to stadium size audiences. DJmag believe “There’s still some way to go before VJs break into the Top 100 DJ Poll or equally before DJs widely adopt visual production alongside their audio in the studio.” There are however new, cutting edge technologies that have just come on to the market that might change this view and will no doubt make the transition from DJ to VJ more real.

After using some AV software myself I found that these products are up there with the best and that is why they are becoming the new industry standard in visual production and are favoured among VJs from the Top 20 VJs Poll 2008 (DJmag):

The Edirol V4/V8 Portable Video Mixer has numerous real time features and “their constant demand on VJ setups makes them the most commonly requested piece of VJ hardware” (DJmag)

The Resolume Performance Video Software has live video mixing, multi-layer mixing, free-frame effects, beat matching features and is now accessible for both Mac and Windows.

The Adobe Aftereffect, which is a piece of video production software. Its interface has greatly improved and one can achieve neat video compositing. The Aftereffect CS3 is available for Mac and PC. It gives the user great control over the quality of video output and there are a lot a ‘VJ-friendly’ effects.

Lightrhythm visuals was founded in San Francisco by British born VJ Ben Sheppee. They are a label that release DVDs full of visual samples, graphics and other visual content. Pixel Addicts’ Mark Calvert says that “The stunning motion graphics from LightRhythm Visuals are designed by some of the technically driven creative teams in the world”.

Sources:

http://www.skratchworx.com/news3/comments.php?id=773
http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/content/press/DVJ-X1.html
http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/522/clubs.asp
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/themes/image-sound_relations/audiovisions/9/
http://www.cafebabel.com/eng/article/21637/vjs-to-steal-djs-spotlight.html
DJmag (July 08, Sept 08, Oct 08)

The three video clips are from youtube.com. The top is demonstrating the Pioneer SVM-1000. The first bottom one is Coldcut's live AV show and the second bottom is DJ Yoda's Magic Cinema Show Live from The Summer Soundsystem 2008.