VJs: Visual World

Also in this section: 

Interviews:
Addictive TV
Hexstatic
VJ Anyone
VJ Motordrive
Mondo
Shmooz
Solu

Profiles:
Vixid & United
The Big Chill
Eclectic Method
The Chemical Brothers
Rock in Rio

Visuals, video and music: people are demanding it all and more from an entertainment experience these days – as evidenced by this ‘VJ’ issue going to press! Indeed, living in an age when you only need a mobile phone to make a video and even cars are coming complete with in-built DVD video players, we are bound to feel some bars and clubs are in need of a little bit of light refreshment. To stand out, leading music venues are going all out: communicating on as many levels as possible. (Most of us do have at least five senses after all!) Like club Eden in Ibiza with its innovative video curtain, club matter in London with its integrated audio-visual systems, and Mint club in Leeds with its new club Watergate-style overhead lighting panels, reported to be the first in the UK.

I, for one, know that kids of the ‘MTV Generation’ are growing up to expect a visual element to their music, whether it’s hip-hop or house, while sites like YouTube continue to show the massive popularity of video. At Pioneer, for example, we’ve put considerable effort into supporting a vlog (video blog), at DJsounds.com. In short, those looking to stay in touch with their clientele should really be looking to invest in this whole area because it certainly adds another dimension, focus and source of interest. These are exciting times.

Of course the quest to marry visuals and music can be traced back for centuries, but the ‘VJ’ acronym is somewhat newer, arriving in the late 20th century. It is thought early VJs introduced music videos on MTV. However, VJs of today may be poles apart. Video jockey: it seems to be quite a straightforward phrase, but I couldn’t begin to tell you about the controversy it can cause… VJing is now very much a 21st century artform, everything is in place, yet it’s such a large field and can still mean different things to different people. This is mainly because some VJs perform live visuals alongside a band or DJ; some incorporate their own music or (like a DJ) that of others; and some, perhaps better defined as audiovisual (AV) artists, produce/synchronise the audio with the visual, so what you hear is what you see. As video performers, some, such as Eclectic Method, Exceeda, 2nd Nature and Dan Tait, might even prefer to be called DVJs. Regardless, DJ and VJ cultures are coming together and for the past few years DJ magazine has run a Top 20 VJs Poll (alongside its Top 100 DJs Poll), which has definitely help cast more light on this scene.

When we released the second incarnation of our DVJ DVD decks – the DVJ-1000s – DJ Yoda featured in our press ads. He has used DVJs to enhance his show since we first introduced them in 2004 and puts it all down to digital Darwinism, saying that it’s a natural evolution of the species for DJs to spin videos instead of records. The American artist Gardner Post, a founding member of the pioneering video collective Emergency Broadcast Network (EBN), which provided visuals for U2’s Zoo TV Tour, also has attention-grabbing ideas. In 2007 he introduced the Baby Grand Master, which is basically a concert piano that has been modified to house a complete DJ/VJ set-up, including DVJ decks. You could say this highlights our changing attitudes to video instruments and video artists themselves.

However you look at it, Pioneer’s DVJs and, more recently, our new SVM-1000 AV mixers are opening up the artforms and being installed in venues around the world. DJs can finally ‘VJ’ using familiar tools and VJs can easily take control of the audio if they want. The DVD format has grown and digital technology has advanced, making the impossible possible and even probable in record time. You no longer need an expensive studio to create visuals and this has democratised the artform, while venues are obviously responding to this changing market. From installing plasma screens to 360-degree video walls, from illuminated dancefloors to overhead lighting panelling, there are countless ways that venues can provide a suitable canvas. One particularly satisfying aspect of my job is liaising with artists about their technical riders. Pioneer technology aims to meet the needs of artists and their audiences in order to stay ahead of the curve. So it’s great to know that the pioneers of this scene now have the finest, fastest AV tools, right at their fingertips, because Pioneer has been listening to them right from the start.

A lot of people bemoaned the loss of a visual dimension when music went digital and a fully artworked album cover was replaced by a line of text on a screen. But these days the identity of an artist and their music can easily be transmitted via music videos and live performance imagery. To this end VJ Anyone has worked with Sander Kleinenberg, DJ Semtex with Dizzee Rascal and D-Fuse with Beck. Such collaborations bring new ideas and viewpoints to the table. What’s more, newcomers to the field are grasping the entire AV artform and twisting and shaking things up like never before. The AV remix or mash-up is now legitimate, and much sought after, from Hollywood filmmakers to music producers and advertisers.

What was a nascent scene has blown up and gone global. People are looking for something new and now that digital technology in general has caught up with the ideas of artists, the only limits are ones of imagination. I cannot wait to see and hear what unfolds over the next few years!