Looking for the Perfect Beat: The Art and Culture of the DJ

by Kurt B. Reighley and Annabeth Albert

Book Overview

"It's your soul playing with the rhythm, flying around in the beats."
-- DJ Q-Bert
They are music's vanguard. The reshape today's sounds -- house, techno, hip-hop, rock -- direct our feet on the floor, and influence the way music is represented in our culture.
"Don't look at the turntable as just this mechanism that you play records on. Apply yourself to it as if it were an instrument, and you can express yourself through the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671038699
• ISBN13: 9780671038694
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: MTV Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

DJ's and non-DJ's will truly love this book.

I am going on my 2nd reading of this book and I got 10x more out of it the second time around, it's truly fascinating how it takes you on a journey from early 70's and the first "true" DJ's all the way to the present state of dance music. Meet over 40 DJ's in interviews from all types of genres along with comments from the cream of the crop in the DJ world throughout the entire book. If you are a DJ, this book is a MUST....if you are thinking about getting into DJing or love the dance music scene this book is also a must (but in small letters). Every DJ is in search of that perfect mix and not the "train wreck" and this book is far from a train wreck like some of the other reviewers had referred to. I'm sure if you appreciate the DJ culture that you will also appreciate this great read.

Simply amazing!

This is simply the most amazing book on DJ culture ever written. Kurt Reighley's book, with its series of quoted excerpts from real, live top DJs, mixed with his cutting insights and scintillating bios of key players in the evolution of DJ culture offers a nice balance.

Superb, comprehensive, lively!

I really don't think anyone could ask for a better introduction to the how, the who, the why, the when of DJing. Reighley has definitely done his homework, as demonstrated from both the thorough retelling of DJ history and the numerous interviews with top-flight DJs, and that's exactly what I expected considering his past work. What really took me by surprise was the wealth of information he gathered (again, mostly from interviews with Big Name DJs mixed with his own experience) for those interested in starting out as DJs, from selection of mics and mixers to tips on establishing and maintaining a vinyl arsenal. And the fact that I enjoyed reading this so...much even though I have no interest in being a DJ myself speaks well of the quality of writing and the numerous insights into the nature of modern dance music.

An excellent buy!

Wow. What an awesome book. I don't like reading that much, but when I saw this book about being a DJ, and being a DJ myself, I had to read it! It was totally worth it.Buy this book!