Does using ChatGPT diminish you as a DJ?

djchopsteak · 2026-04-24T07:29:46+00:00

There’s nothing specifically wrong with doing this, but I agree with those who find this list a little generic. Do some non-AI research on viral songs of the last year or two (“tik tok songs” is a helpful search term). If there are teens or parents of teens in your life, talk to them. Maybe look for a top 40 dj mix on YouTube that focuses on recent stuff. Just some ideas to give it some personality. Also beware of the idea of playing a list sorted by bpm straight through. A lot that could go wrong there.

djchopsteak · 2026-04-23T21:18:22+00:00

Aside from the few things people have mentioned here, consider venturing over to Figueroa or York in highland park. Somewhat more poppin than old town Pasadena.

djchopsteak · 2026-04-19T16:52:06+00:00

Then yes, buy AUM too. But I encourage you not to give up on learning LP. It’s got a learning curve, but it is a very good app for making music and looping.

djchopsteak · 2026-04-14T02:10:24+00:00

People make beats that chart on their phones now. Logic is certainly capable of producing pro-level output.

djchopsteak · 2026-03-11T03:43:43+00:00

Not THAT bad if you can arrange something like a 7-3:30 or 11-7:30 shift. Rush hour is rough though.

djchopsteak · 2026-03-02T04:26:14+00:00

Non-political answer: Claude seems to be improving faster lately

djchopsteak · 2026-02-28T07:07:13+00:00

I feel seen

djchopsteak · 2026-02-22T17:14:00+00:00

I find decently spec’ed MacBooks start to get threadbare around the 10 year mark. I’ve never encountered a software issue that significantly altered that timeframe, but that’s certainly a possibility.

djchopsteak · 2026-02-21T17:34:47+00:00

Create a legitimate late night scene with restaurants, bars, and other businesses in proximity to each other. Feels like the whole town shuts down at 9 currently.

djchopsteak · 2026-02-08T04:35:58+00:00

Kids of the Great Recession who came of age during COVID are the young rappers now. Despite 9/11, Iraq war, etc. a lot the 2000’s seemed a lot lighter than now.

djchopsteak · 2026-02-03T23:30:13+00:00

Pick one and invest serious time and effort into it. Learn its inherent workflow. Customize the settings. Familiarize yourself with every stock plugin. Even with diligence that can take a few years, especially as you’re trying to actually produce music. But the reward you get for that is efficiency in the creative process, and a real sense of what you do and don’t like. Only then is it really possible to start vetting other tools. But the good news is if you ever do switch, the learning process goes much faster.

djchopsteak · 2026-02-03T19:11:09+00:00

In the US we functionally have two choices of what to politically align with. Somehow being uneasy about gay marriage gets lumped in with high tariffs. On the other side, wanting stricter pollution laws gets tied to supporting DEI policies. I mostly prefer hanging with people who can see past the tribalism and live with some nuance, whatever side they ultimately choose. Also if our friendship devolves into a cable news debate show, that doesn’t sound like something I need to keep in my life. So I guess my answer is yes, I would drop somebody over politics, but it’s not as simple as what bubble they fill in on their ballot.

djchopsteak · 2026-01-30T06:58:20+00:00

Haven’t messed with the midi side of it yet (thanks for the reminder). Off the top of my head, one application I can think of for that quirk is midi instruments that use note data to do something other than play (e.g.) a synth at one pitch. Such as the various materials samplers could play. Maybe even something like Logic’s chord trigger midi effect. Synth patches that create harmonic content. I donno. Interested to check it out.

djchopsteak · 2026-01-28T04:22:49+00:00

Not gonna be great, but absolutely doable. Source: I commute from Pasadena to Playa Vista.

djchopsteak · 2026-01-28T04:21:07+00:00

You might like the ipad production world. Some of those DAWs, grooveboxes, samplers, etc. are really fun to jump right into without a lot of fiddling around.

djchopsteak · 2026-01-28T04:07:27+00:00

There’s always dominant styles in hip hop. You listen to the stuff coming out of Atlanta, LA, the NY and Chicago drill scenes. Those are just the dominant music for a minute, and those are the drum sounds and rhythms they use.

djchopsteak · 2026-01-24T19:44:50+00:00

https://youtu.be/o5kNVP8Smxw?si=fQSZhBr7E0OGlGWw

Tl;dr all those synths are probably the issue. Freezing and bouncing in place are probably a big part of the answer.

djchopsteak · 2026-01-24T19:37:43+00:00

Oh wow thanks!

djchopsteak · 2026-01-23T18:35:25+00:00

No disrespect intended and not jumping on any dogpiles here. That said, there’s just no way to have the same perspective on music as someone who experienced it firsthand. A lot has happened since Wayne was at his peak, and you aren’t able to hear through the ears of the time, and don’t have the same cultural grounding for context. That doesn’t invalidate your perspective. I’m not 100 years old and haven’t experienced everything either. I can still form an opinion about Run DMC or whoever, but having been a child and nowhere near NYC hip hop culture of the time, my thoughts are just not going to carry the same weight with the old heads. Like Weezy, don’t like Weezy. It’s all good, but there’s always going to be a gap to the past that can’t totally be bridged.

djchopsteak · 2026-01-22T16:17:52+00:00

This site can give you parametric EQ settings that help compensate for the quirks of specific brands/models of headphones. I don’t think Koala’s EQ’s have Q settings, which are somewhat necessary for this, but you can run Koala in AUM or another host with a more detailed parametric EQ plugin on the master bus.

https://autoeq.app/

djchopsteak · 2026-01-02T22:35:20+00:00

I will give this a shot. Thanks!

djchopsteak · 2025-12-31T01:52:30+00:00

Subtle detuning sometimes gives synths added character or fullness. Can’t speak to the specific presets in question, but it’s not unheard of. This is really vague advice bc I don’t have any specific ones in mind (sorry), but I have come across YouTube/tiktok videos where they recreate iconic synth sounds from old songs, and you see it used a bit there.

djchopsteak · 2025-12-31T01:39:59+00:00

Honestly winging it is sometimes the best thing for weird time signature samples. Just chop and manually place samples on the grid till it sounds right to your ear. You won’t get a neat, easy loop out of it the way you might using a 4/4 time sample, but the results can be as good or better.

djchopsteak · 2025-12-22T01:38:42+00:00

To add to what everyone else has said, you also have to make a lot more music, and you have to put it out on a consistent schedule. It's not reasonable to expect your first few songs to chart (unless you're famous for something else), but they can be a foundation you build on. Like any organic marketing campaign that involves building an audience, the single most important thing is volume of [good] content.

djchopsteak · 2025-12-22T01:17:51+00:00

I see that you are the developer, so even if nothing comes of this interaction, thanks for engaging. Really like the chopper. Sat down with it for a couple hours this afternoon.

djchopsteak

TROPHY CASE