I've been a bedroom DJ since 96, sporadically making appearances at clubs, parties and on the radio over the years. Its the hobby that won't go away, and the one I wish I had more time for. I've written a bit about digital DJing before... the following is a feature request, a shout out to serato, torq, traktor etc. The first one to nail this feature gets my business :) Because hell, right now I don't really know who to patron and that gear is $$$.
Putting the user centered interaction design hat on for a second here - All the prep work I do with my DJing itunes library, BPM smartlists etc is an effort to aid me in one activity...
Selecting - The act of choosing a song.
This is the fundamental thing every DJ does regardless of style and skill. So many things go into selecting a song. Reading the crowd, BPM, harmony, vibe etc etc. As DJs become more experienced they develop huge repository of information in there brain about the songs in their library. Its generally referred to as "knowing your records." Id say you can split the skill of knowing your records into two categories.
1) Details about a song - When does the bass drop, how long is the track, what are the best cue points, how is it best EQ'd, when do I mix out, etc?
2) Relational information - Simply put, what do I mix this song with?
The former is already being tackled by all the digital djing solutions out there through a myriad of features. But the latter I think is a gold mine for innovation. Let me pose the question again... what do I play next? Software is not always going to be able to answer this question, but there are two related features that I think could help out, and play on what DJs already do intuitively with their brains and the information they soak up while playing.
When your practicing as a DJ a typical goal is to figure out what goes with what. Some people are more comfortable with happy accidents in a live situation, some people like to catalogue a mental database of perfect mixes. The more you practice and play out the bigger that list of tight mixes gets. What if there was some way of documenting these perfect mixes and discoveries? The simplest implementation would be creating a list of tracks that go with a selected track. Basically a "This Works" button so when you are playing a track you always have a list of mixes that you have deemed worthy in the past. There is nothing more satisfying than locking in a mix you have never done before. I would love to have a button that helped me remember those discoveries. Thinking about the UI the obvious place is in the library or list of sources found in most digital DJing apps. There could be a recommendation source for each deck that listed your saved mixes for the track loaded into the deck.
Secondly, and extending on the concept, lets bring data and recommendation into the scenario. Maybe you don't use the "remember this mix button" or you forget to. Regardless, you are still going to exhibit patterns in what you play. What if you could see the top 10 tracks you mix with any given track. The more you execute a specific mix the higher it will rise on the list. The idea being good mixes obviously float to the top. This is a feature that would become more useful the longer you spent DJing with it enabled. So there you go... track association for remembering hot mixes and a "top ten tracks you mix into this track" list for monitoring your DJing habits.
Seems like low hanging fruit to me! Pls implement and I will buy.
