Meet Rana Sobhany. She puts together some great beats using only two iPads and some apps. No laptop or synth needed – this gal’s an iPad DJ.
As she explains in the video, Rana is using some additional equipment for this presentation, but she can work with just her iPads and some apps – Groovemaker House, Looptastic HD, iDaft, AC-7 Pro, Pianist Pro and Sonosaurus Rex, to be specific.
Now, while Rana’s not exactly doing anything that another DJ couldn’t, she’s certainly carrying around a lot less equipment and& – assuming there’s a Wi-Fi network near or she upgrades to a pair of 3G iPads – can download new tools in an instant. [Destroy the Silence via Twitter]
Picture from Rana June
cooper
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 12:38 PMthat is not what DJing was ever about
Cal
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 2:43 PMI agree, playing vinyl was probably the hardest thing i ever learnt. now these kids are just beatmatching time signitures on a screen. not very hard at all. try spinning two records and beatmixing that!
Me
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 4:12 PMI agree, the DJ world has changed. But of course things were harder years ago! Don’t get me wrong, iPod decks make me sick (mainly because I loath MP3), but beatmatching is only one facete of live music production. You can’t tell me that if you had the option of beatmatching quicker you wouldn’t It would give you the chance to do so much more. More scratching, more keys, more effects, bigger mashups, sync to lighting, d-beams, synths, abelton, triggering etc.
The fact is kids (and adults like us!) can do things faster and (potentially) better, than ever before… get into it and stop this “In my day crap”.
And, if matching beats on 2 turntables is the HARDEST thing you’ve done… oh dear, you’ve got some learning to do.
Matt
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 8:08 PMI’m an MP3 DJ, and I respect the vinyl days and all, but thats not at all what DJing is about. Sure beatmatching has now moved from an impressive skill to a press of a button simplicity, but it’s this simplicity which has opened doorways for musical skill and creativity equally impressive as vinyl dj’s, and in a lot more ways, more versatile… Theres nothing like getting a crowd pumped to something u can do live, that would have taken hours in a studio back in the day. Honestly, I know how to beatmatch manually, but I am so happy that I don’t have to waste my time with that any more, I’ve cued 5 or 6 different songs into the headphones before settling on which track to change to to give the crowd the perfect mix, and they love it… Just like everything, music has to evolve, and just like everything, there is always someone in the background angry that it never happened earlier, I call them “Stuck in the past”
Dj_FAIL
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 4:42 PMIt’s not logic …. It’s Ableton. FAIL!
Dudeman
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 6:00 PMComment FAIL! It’s not the size of the sword, it’s how you wield it…
Gadget
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 4:49 PMLearn to beatmix, then tell the world how to DJ…. ipad is no DJ tool, u tool
Me
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 5:44 PMOk. Then I’ll learn to produce. Oh wait, done that too.
Dudeman
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 5:57 PMThe last time I checked, Dj’ing was about the tunes, reading a crowd and responding to them… Some of the greatest DJ’s the world has ever seen couldn’t mix for shit eg. Jose Padilla, Norman Jay MBE and the late great John Peel.
Dudeman
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 4:53 PMGood on you Rana for embracing new technology. I am impressed…
Bad on you, Me, for not appreciating the fact that mixing with turntables is, in fact, a lot harder that mixing digitally, if only for the reason that keeping things in key was a lot harder with vinyl – as the tempo is altered, the overall pitch changes too. True vinyl DJ’s understand this and base a lot of their sets around matching not only beats, but the relative key of tracks. So perhaps you have some learning to do, too, before crawling out of your digibox and dissing a perfectly valid comment.
Me
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 5:16 PMYeah yeah… and I used to walk to school through wind and rain, but now I drive.
And you make the assumption that I’ve not used turntables… shame on you, Dudeman.
Dudeman
Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 12:50 PMExSkweez me, my babelfish appears to be on the blink… your lips are flapping but you don’t seem to make any sense. Please direct me to the portion of my post where the alleged heinous assumption is supposed to have been purportedly inserted.
For someone who is familiar with the virtually forgotten craft of vinyl mixing, you all-too-easily dismiss this as Old Hat. This saddens me, Me…
I am, however, proud of you in that, even though you have embraced the technology that is the modern automobile, you choose to drive a vehicle that still allows you to experience the thrill of the wind in your hair, and the sting of the rain on your skin, just like the old days… or is that rust unintentional?
TEMPA T
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 8:18 PMyou deserve a leng in the back of the head if you think that’s dubstep. americans shouldn’t mess with uk music.
Remy
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 9:47 PMAll I’m hearing is blah blah blah. Different horses for different courses. There is so much music out there for each person different musical tastes, and the same with the equipment they use. Beatmatching, yeah an aquired skill, but in my opinion to be a good DJ you have to know how to scratch, and I can imagine that soon there will be an app for that too. Less bitching, go put your headphones on and do it the way that makes YOU happy.
anton
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 11:41 PMIs it just me, or does everything she does sound awful?
The transitions between beats were always horrible and jarring. Maybe I just don’t get this kind of music, but it seems kinda ugly as she implements it.
Me
Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 1:24 PMThere’s a fucntion called “Cue”. This is where DJ’s can hear certian music in their headphones (to make sure it’s going to work) before dropping it into the main front of house speakers for the audience.
She does mention this, although this is quite a rough overview and vid edit.
David
Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 12:30 AMDid you hear that sound? It was the sound of ART and CREATIVITY being sucked out of DJing. This doesn’t even qualify as DJing. The technology is very cool and there is potential, but this vid is a bunch of noise and trainwrecks.
JT...
Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 12:29 PMThat daft punk cue(10:30) was somewhat off.
I’m no DJ but I’ve messed about with DJ’ing software before and it was all done on one computer.
gargravarr
Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 3:29 PMI’m not going to pretend I have any knowledge of this type of music, but Rana is very cute.
Dudeman
Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 11:53 AMThis is possibly the most intelligent comment here! Not only that, but her mate in the background looks like the gay hitman from “The Mexican”(James Gandolfini?)