think this all rests on an absurdly limiting view of what DJing can be. it's not just about how you mix two specific records together, just as the production of a track isn't just about what presets you choose - oneman wasn't successful because he did that one stone cold/forgive blend really well - he was successful because he built an individual aesthetic around what he did and created atmosphere that lasted the entire duration of his sets.
Obviously one of the core aims of DJing is to create an aesthetic, that's exactly what I'm saying, it's just that from a personal perspective if a DJ's aesthetic is to give me records I already mostly know or sound like ones I already have, mixing them together isn't a powerful enough differentiator from just listening to the records for me. I often have those records and I could mix them together: why should I pay someone to do it for me?
whereas using mixing to then blend an upfront selection of music I didn't yet know I wanted but now find I do by the way they're being mixed and presented, well that's infinitely more compelling as an experience, for me at least. it's not an "absurdly" limited view on DJing, its a position based on experience of many of the myriad ways of DJing and considering their merits and intentions.
I make no bones that my interests are in DJs who can make people dance, blow their minds and push music forward. there are other motives for DJs: anthem bashing for crowd reaction, proof of technical prowess (hello sasha!), consolidation of their ego (hello tiesto!) but these bore me, in clubs.
in any case, comparing production, DJing and live performance in terms of their capacity to innovate misses the point for me completely. they are different things, and you can achieve different things with them.
well in 2011/12, when DJing is increasingly being simplified by technology (mixers with tempo lock, CDs that tell you the speed, tracktor & ableton-as-dj-tool that lock the phaze of records), DJing is increasingly converging with live performance, i was soundly reminded of this last year when I went to San Fran and told no one bothers with anything but Ableton anymore. not my preference but how things are going
fwiw i've tried ableton too, and decided it makes even unusual juxtapositions sound homogeneous and washed out - this is not to say that people don't do interesting things with it, but in my experience those who use it effectively tend to build fairly limiting parameters for their performances into the software eg kode 9/portable performing and rearranging their own music as opposed to using it as some kind of all powerful mash-up tool
agree with you on this one. it's lack of dynamic range in the mix makes everything quite lifeless. best used as a live remix tool, rather than making it try and be decks.
