DVJ
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[edit] Overview
DVJ, derived from the term "DJ" and its sister "VJ", is a term used to describe a combination of the two, in other words a DJ that performs live using an audio-visual music player, instead of an audio-only setup consisting of CD turntable players or vinyl turntables. This is not to be confused with a VJ, which usually refers to a host of a music video TV channel, or a visual-only performer separate from the DJ in a live environment. As the term DJ usually also applies to composers of music played by DJs, whether they themselves are performing DJs or not, DVJ has a similar meaning with composers in the audio-visual format. Although we may say "DVJ" to describe a Video-Jockey artist, the term comes from the industry standard Pioneer DVD-turntable called the DVJ. A more common name is simply DVDJ (DVD Jockey) or VJ (Video Jockey), however the latter, as mentioned previously, is ambiguous with TV music video channel hosts.
[edit] History
Visuals in one form or another have always been a part of live DJ performances, but until the advent of this form of performance, the visual aspect was largely limited to computerized strobe and spotlights, laser projectors and/or pyrotechnics. With the advent of DVD technology, especially once it became cheap enough for the average individual to create their own discs, a push was made for a device that would give a performer the same flexibility in accessing the music and video on the disc as with the "turntable-style" CD players commonly available for DJs. Pioneer Corporation became the first (and as of this writing, still the only) manufacturer of DJ equipment to produce such a device, the Pioneer DVJ-X1, first released in 2004. That design has been refined into the DVJ1000 released in 2006, which is generally regarded as the "gold standard" DVJ turntable today.
[edit] Operation
DVJ discs, as inferred above, are DVDs containing one or more music videos the performer wishes to play. The music and video contained on the disc can be anything the performer wishes, but as with standard DJs, the most popular genres are the various forms of electronica. In addition to the audio being sent to a sound system as with other player systems, the video component is output to a video projector or other visual display. The audio and video for the disc are then always in synch regardless of any scratching, mixing and other transformations the performer does on the media. This was a quantum leap over any previously possible method of performing with audio and video together, as the performance often had to be very meticulously planned so that the video being displayed matched the audio, and/or reqired a second performer handling video playback. This left little room for improvisation by the DJ.
In addition to the DVJ turntable players (virtually all DJs have two players for their "native" media of vinyl, CD or DVD; some have additional players to accommodate other media or mix multiple sources at once), "DVJing" requires the use of an audio-visual mixing console, which allows the DVJ to select sources for audio and video and to blend or mix them. Many mixers also give the DVJ the ability to perform simple transformations on the video. Just as an audio mixing console allows for changes in equalizer levels, dynamics and balance, an A/V mixer allows variations in hue, color saturation, brightness, sharpness, and other "TV-type" settings. They also allow for various types of transitions between video clips such as fades, blends, and wipes. A/V mixers are nothing new to the recording and performance industry, but they are more often found in the production room of a television station or the editing suites of a movie studio and are a new feature of live turntablist performances.
The relative simplicity of the performance using the DVJ turntable, along with the added dimension of video for the DVJ artist to expand into while composing, has resulted in some former DJs and recording artists moving up to this new media, where they are in high demand by nightclubs and rave party organizers. However, because the technology is still very new, and the players and projectors very expensive, "DVJing" is as of this writing still only a small part of the DJ and nightclub scene as a whole, and largely restricted to professional DVJs. Of course, as the technology becomes more widely accepted and established, the price of the central piece of equipment, the DVJ turntable, will become cheaper and should eventually be in the reach of amateur performers. Future advances in video processing may allow the DVJ to perform real-time advanced transformations on the video, such as polarization, color negative, digital color grading, and other digital filters.
[edit] Hardware
The most common setup for a DVJ includes two DVD turntables, an audio mixer, and a video mixer. The "gold standard" DVD turntable is the aforementioned Pioneer DVJ1000; it is, at its core, a DVD player with a much higher read speed than the average home theater player, and a buffer of memory that allows for quick jumps or backtracks in playback. This is coupled with a controller that emulates a vinyl record turntable; by rotating a control wheel, the performer can quickly search through a video, slow or speed up playback to match the playing track, and with a "scrubbing" motion quickly stutter forward and backward, producing the well-known "scratching" effect. Other controls that take advantage of the digital media include A-B looping, freeze frame, slow motion, and instantaneous pause/play (a traditional vinyl turntable requires a small amount of "spin-up" time).
Industry common brands for video mixers are Edirol and Videonics. These pieces of hardware simply accept multiple video sources and combine them in various ways such as fades, wipes, and a number of other transitions. Another common piece of equipment in the DVJ arsenal is called a switcher. Most digital turntables, whether CD or DVD, have a fader-start capability in which the crossfader of the audio or video mixer can tell a player to pause or play. By using these types of switchers (the Pioneer AV switcher is a very common example), scratching video effects can show the typical back-and-forth motion heard on audio. More advanced video mixers also have a chroma-key capability, known by most as "green screen" compositing. Currently, Videonics makes a number of mixers that will allow for this effect. VJ artists may play DVD tracks with a certain color in them that the mixer is told is the "chroma-key" color. The mixer will then locate this color on the track and replace it with whatever the VJ has chosen. Many times, he or she will use a camera and camera operator to take live video feeds of the dancing crowd and super-impose them on a video of something else to give a novel effect.
These various components are used by professional DJs and venues to provide a rich audio-visual experience for patrons. However, an alternate is up and coming on the heels of component-based DVD players and mixers, and gaining popularity among newer and less wealthy performers. Although considered to be less professional by many DVJ pro's, computer solutions such as OtisAV DJ, PCDJ, VirtualDJ, and Serato Scratch Live all deliver or plan to deliver video capabilities as well as audio. In this way, video mixing is be done within the computer which can then in turn plug into a projector or TV, eliminating the need for an external mixer in many cases. The software in fact uses the computer as an all-in-one unit; player, A/V mixer and monitor. Some software suites allow the use of external controllers that emulate turntables, allowing a similar look and feel to component systems without the added cost of the electronics of the player. To take advantage of this solution, many DVJ's are simply ripping their DVD tracks to external hard drives, thus lightening their load when carrying equipment to gigs. This solution is not only more compact, it's less expensive; the software and related external turntable controls can be purchased for a few hundred US dollars and used on any laptop with sufficient computing power and memory, while the Pioneer DVJ players retail for US$2500 apiece and thus even a basic component-based setup can cost far more than a top-of-the-line laptop, software and storage, especially if a sufficient computer already exists and thus doesn't have to be bought anew.
However, it is important to note that these systems are often far less reliable as huge DVD files on older, less-powerful computers can lead to skips, lagging and even crashes, all potentially fatal to the performance. Very powerful systems are needed to run these types of video shows. A computer can also be limiting in the number of outputs available; an audio DJ traditionally has a pair of headphones, through which the DJ can hear the unmixed output of the turntables, one in each ear. A DVJ needs similar capabilities with video, which requires multiple screens. This is relatively simple with component-based systems; a small flat-panel monitor or TV can be set up for each player and given the raw video feed of the player through a Y-splitter cable. A computer on the other hand must have the ability to produce at least two separate video outputs; one to be shown to the DVJ containing the raw images (in miniature) and any graphical software controls, the other containing the mixed video to be sent to the house (and generally also shown to the performer). This ability is uncommon, but becoming more so. The ability to view raw video in full-screen most often requires up to three outputs for the DJ plus the house feed; up to four video outputs in all, which is an exceedingly rare feature especially on laptops. On top of that, the extra processing capability required to render multiple video outputs can tax slower computers. Again, a very powerful computer is required for a software-based solution.
[edit] Names
DJ Roonie G (www.djroonieg.com) is currently the standard in the Audio / Video world. Winning the "Best Resident VJ" award at the 2008 Club World Awards by Club World Magazine, he shows his expertise with custom created videos and amazing scratching and blending of videos. Roonie, one of the main advisors of the developement of the Pioneer CDJ-1000, the DVJ-X1 and updated DVJ-1000, all now club standards, is a part of an elite team of video DJs knows as the Video Assassins. This group consist of Roonie G, DVDJ Unique (www.dvdjunique.com), Chris P, DJ 2nd Nature, and DVDJ G Funk. Be sure to check them out when they come to a venue near you!
