[mb-style] Re: [mb-users] "DJ-mixed by" relationship type (again)

[Lukas Lalinsky]

I'm replying to MatthewExon's questions here, because wiki is not a good 
medium for discussions.

 > A more extreme example, also from Depeche Mode, is [DPM]. For this
 > album, the source tracks were completely remixed. The two tracks on
 > the album are composed of individual elements from all the source
 > songs, arranged in such a way as to produce what is, artistically,
 > essentially a completely new song. Is this a DJ-mix?

If source tracks was remixed only for this album, than it is clearly a 
remix, no? And then it's perfect example of  '[album] was remixed by 
[artist]' relationship type.

 > Let's say an album is a mix of 12 tracks, each of which comes from a
 > different album. How do you relate the individual tracks to the
 > original tracks?

DJ-mixes *are* compilations. In compilations each track is identified by 
track name & artist. I'm not interested in relating all tracks in 
database to original version (btw, what is original version?), I'm 
talking about DJ-mixes (or mixtapes what is more common terminology in 
hip-hop world).

 > What is the difference between a mash-up and a DJ mix? Many mash-ups
 > are essentially repeated cross-fades between two different tracks. The
 > same techniques are used for both.

Mash-ups are tracks, DJ-mixes are albums. And also techniques are 
definitely not the same.

 > Is it impossible for an individual track to be DJ mixed? Is it
 > possible to have a compilation where each track is mixed by a
 > different DJ?

Yes, it is possible but in *very* specific cases. For example this album 
(http://musicbrainz.org/album/35b41a07-6307-4ab8-8cbf-60f111b6c3d7.html) 
contain two DJ-mixes which are actually 
http://musicbrainz.org/album/7dba3efc-0b7f-413b-80e2-e026438476af.html 
and http://musicbrainz.org/album/f05ac514-2210-4b09-8b50-6c2a99642c51.html

 > Is it significant whether or not the DJ used the original source
 > tracks, or the final mix of the source tracks? Is this a
 > AdvancedRelationshipAttribute that should be added to this
 > relationship?

Is this significant to compilations? I don't think so.

 > Sorry I don't have an example of this right now, but: it's common
 > among traditional bands (such as brass bands), when playing popular
 > music, to produce "medleys". The medley consists of multiple songs,
 > each somewhat modified at the start and end so that the band can
 > smoothly segue from one to the other. Is this a DJ mix?

I think it's pretty obvious from name DJ-mix that this is not the same 
as medleys when band plays multiple songs. This have really nothing to 
do with DJing.

 > On that note: I think this relationship would be more generally useful
 > if it was renamed to "is a medley of" than "is a DJ-mix of". The way
 > you've described it, there's no particular reason that a DJ has to be
 > involved. The definition seems to be biased towards one particular
 > style of music, but it's more widely applicable than that.

As I said, I think "is a DJ-mix of" is unnecessary. And DJ-mixes are 
commonly used in two styles of music - electronic & hip-hop. I think 
this big part of database enough to have this AR type.

 > Many DJs produce things that I have no idea what they're called but
 > let's call them "speed mixes". They take many songs, maybe 30 or 40,
 > and play them each one after the other in a very abbreviated form,
 > maybe 30 seconds or a minute each. Are these DJ mixes?

What's purpose of these "speed mixes"? Are they only a tracks released 
on some album, or separated releases?

 > Please provide a description of the examples, not just the names of
 > the tracks. What is it about "Perfecto Fluoro" that makes it a DJ mix
 > and not, say, a remix? Remember that I've never heard that song, and
 > neither will anyone else reading the documentation, so the example
 > isn't much use without a description.

"Perfecto Fluoro" is *not* song, it is album. But, if you never heard 
that and you know nothing about it, why you want to edit it?? AFAIK is 
wiki documentation for editors. Am I wrong? And MusicBrainz editors 
usually edit music they know something about...

 > I see you've added the AdditionalRelationshipAttribute to this
 > proposal. Why? Do you have any examples of where it should be used?

No I don't have example, but I can easily imagine DJ-mix done by two 
DJs, where one of them have additional role.

-- 
Lukas Lalinsky
lalinsky at gmail.com