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Things DJs do that make me leave clubs shortly after I arrive


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My biggest two pet peeves in Second Life regarding DJs are ones revolving around audio quality--I don't talk about it in Second Life itself because it would be incredibly rude, it's the equivalent of telling someone they're bad at singing:
 
Streams that have a bitrate of 64kbps. Come on now, if you have enough bandwidth that you can get on Second Life, you can almost assuredly handle streaming at at least 128kbps (I generally stream at 192kbps). Do people really not notice how bad 64kbps sounds? Pretty much everything above 10khz in frequency is essentially missing (for reference, a compact disc goes up to 20khz), and the frequencies that are left sound like listening to hold music on a cellphone. Swish swish.
 
The other irritant is when people who don't know what they're doing decide to tinker with compression settings in Sam Broadcaster (Sam Broadcaster with stock settings already sound bad enough, it's why I use Virtual DJ) so there's no such thing as a silent moment, so silence sounds like loud white noise, making everything sound worse than an FM radio station that isn't coming in all the way.
 
And nobody says anything, including myself. Generally, I just leave when people's streams sound like that. I'll make up some excuse as to why I have to go.
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I don't think I would notice the difference tbh. I play sound through the little speakers on the back of my monitor so 128-bit quality is probably wasted on me.

Two things that will get me to leave though, is DJs talking over the music, and hosts spamming gestures or begging for tips.

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Actually, you might notice it, since small speakers generally have a lot of treble, and treble is where these sorts of things are the most noticeable.  The bass range isn't affected at all when it comes to low bitrate audio.

And yes, it's annoying when DJs talk over a song you want to hear--unless it's at the beginning of a song and is just a tiny phrase or blurb at the beginning of the intro, or if they rewind it when they're done talking so you can hear the whole thing.  I usually have a special track I play (usually the Airwolf theme) when I want to talk, or sometimes I'll play a silent track when I'm talking.

And yes, hosts that spam gestures are seriously annoying.  I'm alright with hosts occasionally asking people to tip the DJ, or DJs occasionally asking people to tip the hosts, but when they're begging for L$ themselves, it's really tacky and annoying.  I do get annoyed with some clubs that require their DJs to constantly ask (like at almost every break) people to tip the hosts and donate to the clubs--I choose not to work at those places.  Same with the clubs that want people to continually insert ads into the music playlist.

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With all the gestures and chat going on, I doubt many would notice the actual quality of the audio in terms of dynamic range. Also, just as 90% of "professional SL photographers" aren't  and don't come close, the same is true with "professional DJ" in SL. among other creative genres.

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4 hours ago, Matty Luminos said:

Two things that will get me to leave though, is DJs talking over the music, and hosts spamming gestures or begging for tips.

Same. Being made to feel obliged to tip over n over ruins the fun. Thats why I love Belli so much, where we just dont do it. Can go and enjoy a party for the sake of enjoying a party. Love that a lot. It's bought the fun back, and folk can tip direct if they are really so inclined, pressure free.

Edited by rasterscan
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41 minutes ago, rasterscan said:

Same. Being made to feel obliged to tip over n over ruins the fun. Thats why I love Belli so much, where we just dont do it. Can go and enjoy a party for the sake of enjoying a party. Love that a lot. It's bought the fun back, and folk can tip direct if they are really so inclined, pressure free.

I agree. There's a big difference in the atmosphere between "they are doing it for the love of making money" and "They are doing it for the love of doing it." When I was learning Ballet long time ago, our teacher said "Do it for the art in you, not you in the art." And that still resonates with me.

I think a lot of SL was this way in the beginning, the "for the art in you" bit, nowadays it seems like the opposite is happening. And it's a sour taste in my mouth.

Edited by Alyona Su
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I truly feel all the pain here. Low bitrates are the bane of streamed audio everywhere and honestly, compression is the most-abused audio processing ever. As a singer I find it useful in extreme moderation on the vox channel but with even a fraction too much you start losing vocal dynamics and it's a real short step from there to the dreaded "hissing silences".

Fortunately I can't commit the sin of talking over the music, because if I'm talking I'm not singing. Some folks might think I gab too much between tracks but for me sharing something of the story behind the songs I'm singing and why I picked them for that setlist is part of the performance.

As far as hosts spamming for tips is concerned, I think the more experienced the host, the closer they get to about the right frequency. A good host will read the crowd and slip in a hint or two as appropriate with maybe one more during the last track of the set, a "last chance" kinda thing. I truly appreciate the hosts efforts to prompt folks to tip me but I don't want them at it all the time! For my part I will always take a minute at the half-way point of a performance to ask the audience to support the venue and its staff but otherwise I won't say a thing about it apart from to thank folks.

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7 hours ago, rasterscan said:

Same. Being made to feel obliged to tip over n over ruins the fun. Thats why I love Belli so much, where we just dont do it. Can go and enjoy a party for the sake of enjoying a party. Love that a lot. It's bought the fun back, and folk can tip direct if they are really so inclined, pressure free.

'Belli' not found.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/27/2020 at 10:22 AM, rasterscan said:

Same. Being made to feel obliged to tip over n over ruins the fun. Thats why I love Belli so much, where we just dont do it. Can go and enjoy a party for the sake of enjoying a party. Love that a lot. It's bought the fun back, and folk can tip direct if they are really so inclined, pressure free.

What/where is "Belli"?  I'd like to see it 😊

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4 minutes ago, Fmeh Tagore said:

What/where is "Belli"?  I'd like to see it 😊

"Belli" refers to Bellisseria, the name of the new Linden Home continent.   So you won't find it by searching for Bellisseria, but you can search on the in-world map for a region name that is part of the continent - such as "Corinth" or "Bellisseria Fairgrounds". 

Being a Linden Home area, the regions there have a covenant that prohibits commercial activity.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I DJ in SL and I use 192.  

 

As far as what I don't like?  Like many of you, "DJs" that talk on and on irritate me. I don't go to a club to hear people yak away.  I'm there for the music. I, personally, do not voice, but I blab a lot in local as does everyone in the sim I work. Gestures can be VERY distracting. My hostess will mention tipping maybe 2 times in a 2 hour set. I may say something about the guests tipping her. We don't get nor ask for multiple tips from any single person. Should they request a song after an initial tip then tipping is expected for that. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Can't stand when DJ's talk over the music.

Can't stand when...um, let me see...live artists...next song, um...this thing plug into that...don't run a tight set.

Can't stand when DJ's or artists don't engage with their audience.

Can't stand when live artists do nothing but covers.

Can't stand people who figure out how to make disruptive noises even when folks have voice chat turned off.  We're here to hear the music, not your baby voice object or whatever saying "have a nice dayyyyyyy-yyyyaaaayyyyyy" every ten seconds.

BUT but but THE but the but the the NUMBER ONE the number one number one one THING one thing one thing one thing THAT I CAN'T thing that I can't thing that I can't thing that I can't STAND thing that I can't stand can't stand can't stand stand stand IS WHEN FOLKS OVERUSE stand when folks overuse when folks overuse when folks overuse when folks overuse REVERB when folks overuse reverb when folks overuse reverb folks overuse reverb folks overuse reverb reverb reverb reverb

 

 

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On 1/27/2020 at 6:14 AM, Matty Luminos said:

Two things that will get me to leave though, is DJs talking over the music, and hosts spamming gestures or begging for tips.

There are entire genres of music dedicated to talking over the music... like what Dub is to Reggae... and basically the origin of Rap is talking over the music.

But yeah, we all know that ain't what these SL DJ's are doing...

gesture spam, over-talk, and begging are annoying.

Note on Bellisseria: no one asks for tips there because commercial activity is banned by the land covenant:

Quote

 *Activities and items that could be construed as commercial and for profit by Linden Lab are not permitted in the residential homes and houseboats in Bellisseria.

- I had thought it specifically called out tips, but can't find that. However the above does cover the situation.

 

Venues spam about tips to try and make their tier bill. My perception on this is that an SL Club is just not a viable business concept. If you want a club in SL, get a premium account, and use your 1024m to put a prim on the ground and rez some dance balls, then get people to show up. There was a club on the G-rated side of By City that for years was the TOP VENUE in all SL for Hip-Hop and soul and that was all it was... a prim on the ground, some dance balls, and a very basic looking 'boom box / DJ stand' thing that no DJ every used. The lack of any of the usual clutter was a large part of the draw...

 

Edited by Pussycat Catnap
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28 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

Venues spam about tips to try and make their tier bill. My perception on this is that an SL Club is just not a viable business concept. If you want a club in SL, get a premium account, and use your 1024m to put a prim on the ground and rez some dance balls, then get people to show up. There was a club on the G-rated side of By City that for years was the TOP VENUE in all SL for Hip-Hop and soul and that was all it was... a prim on the ground, some dance balls, and a very basic looking 'boom box / DJ stand' thing that no DJ every used. The lack of any of the usual clutter was a large part of the draw...

 

The trouble with that is, if you get 20 people on a 1024m parcel, it's hogging way more than its share of the region's resources. And if it's running events for several hours every day, that's going to impact on the other resident who live or have businesses there.  It's not necessarily the build itself that causes problems, but the number of people, and the scripts they're carrying. Probably wasn't so much of an issue in the past when everyone was wearing system clothing with sculpty cuffs, but SL is a very different place now.

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2 hours ago, Matty Luminos said:

The trouble with that is, if you get 20 people on a 1024m parcel, it's hogging way more than its share of the region's resources.

Maybe

However there is also less need to keep the venue running 24/7 if it's on a small personal plot.

That issue was a constant concern of the venue in Bay City - though the region they were on was otherwise mostly unpopulated.

These days mainland is such that it's easy to have a region where no one is actively there at the same time as the others.

 

There actually are a couple of popular clubs in Bellisseria - which are on 1024 residential plots. And because of the nature of this kind of land, there is no need for them to try and pack people in all the time. So they run events when they want to run events, and it becomes an actual social affair.

In this regard, the scaling down to a basic parcel improves things for yourself running the venue, your visitors that get actual engagement rather than being treated as portable ATMs, and your neighbors that don't have you there 24/7 as they would if you tried to go for a full quarter region plot on an estate somewhere.

 

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19 hours ago, Rabid Cheetah said:

Can't stand when DJ's talk over the music.

Can't stand when...um, let me see...live artists...next song, um...this thing plug into that...don't run a tight set.

Can't stand when DJ's or artists don't engage with their audience.

Can't stand when live artists do nothing but covers.

Can't stand people who figure out how to make disruptive noises even when folks have voice chat turned off.  We're here to hear the music, not your baby voice object or whatever saying "have a nice dayyyyyyy-yyyyaaaayyyyyy" every ten seconds.

BUT but but THE but the but the the NUMBER ONE the number one number one one THING one thing one thing one thing THAT I CAN'T thing that I can't thing that I can't thing that I can't STAND thing that I can't stand can't stand can't stand stand stand IS WHEN FOLKS OVERUSE stand when folks overuse when folks overuse when folks overuse when folks overuse REVERB when folks overuse reverb when folks overuse reverb folks overuse reverb folks overuse reverb reverb reverb reverb

 

 

All good points.

I have to admit I talk "one song into the next" because as a folk artist almost all the songs have history and traditions buried in them, I like to tell some of those stories or provide a link from song to song..  Lines like "...since we've touched on the subject let's be up-front and admit that in folk we sing a lot about death. Mostly in two ways, either dour and gloomy or upbeat and often almost dance tunes. Since I have two songs that show these two extremes and they happen to be in the same key I like playing them back to back..." (real example - used in last weeks set list to lead in from  a ballad telling of a tragic accident to "Twa Corbies" & "Shaking of the Sheets")

I would hope that there's a distinction between a mostly traditional repertoire and "nothing but covers" or I'm totally SOL. I write originals slowly and at infrequent intervals and not all of them ever make the cut to feature in performances. But is a traditional song that's been performed by hundreds of artists over several generations, each putting their own twist on it while it remains recognizable, still a "cover"?

Reverb is a touchy one. Completely "dry", a live set streamed out of a room you've gone to some pains to make as "acoustically dead" as possible is, quite frankly, going to sound like crap, particularly an acoustic set. But that doesn't mean you need audible repeating echo either. A little chamber or hall reverb is great and almost needed to give the effect of being in the venue but it really needs to be minimal and should never stray over into becoming a "delay" or "echo" effect. Personally I put a really minimal level of small-hall reverb on the vocal track and a tiny bit more on the guitar channel - that's it. If you sound like you're in a medium sized hall you're probably ok but the moment you are echoing like you're down in a cave somewhere, back it off and step away from the fx controls....

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