Move The Crowd

About the Book

The last two decades have seen the Art of the DJ grow and diversify into a global movement spanning countless cultural and musical boundaries. Focusing both technical and creative aspects, Buster Smith brings you a systematic approach to learning the skills and techniques of the vinyl DJ and tackles the deeper subtleties – how to prepare and plan a set, how to "read" the dancefloor and how to master the mindset required to Move the Crowd.

Featuring:

• Clearly illustrated technical explanations of the tools of the trade – their controls, functions and operations explained.
  
• Beginners, intermediate and advanced chapters taking you from learning the basics all the way to mastering beat mixing to devastating effect.
  
• An introduction to "Turntablism" – the language, skillz and techniques of this exciting new musical form.
  
• An explanation of the Smith System – a unique method of learning how to scratch and improvise creatively on the fly.
  
• An in-depth exploration of the psychology of the dancefloor – understanding the "hive mind" mentality of a crowd.

About the Author

After leaving school at 17, Buster Smith spent the next two years dodging university classes and learning to DJ the old fashioned way. When the academic authorities inevitably caught up with him he spent the following summer as resident DJ at Villa Cana in the Costa Del Sol, Spain. The experience of playing live 6 hours a night, 6 nights a week honed his mixing skills and gave him the opportunity to observe and eventually figure out the deeper dynamics of the dancefloor firsthand.

After returning to Scotland in 1994 and enrolling again at University he graduated in 1998 with a BSc with Distinction in Music Technology with Electronics. During the 2nd year of this course he set up North Street Music and started doing post-production and mastering for many of the dance acts and labels in and around Glasgow. In 1999 he added a post-grad diploma in Multimedia Communications specialising in distance learning. A year later in 2000, he started writing equipment reviews for the UK's top home studio magazine, Future Music. One day, he sat down to write a thousand word article that made it easier to learn how to scratch. By the time he finished five years later it had grown into this book.