VJing might not be as prevalent in the Middle East as in Europe, but one man is doing his best to level the playing field. That man is Cold Fusion, and here he explains how he VJs...


Equipment:
I don’t use traditional VJ equipment like video mixers to cross fade between DVDs or two laptops. My set up is primarily midi based; all clips are triggered on the fly and controlled with midi controller like a musician would do with audio. The equipment I use at the moment is the M-Audio midi keyboard to trigger the clips and Korg entrance as an effect processer and to sync the BPM to the DJ. Midi equipment has become more accessible in the last few years: M-Audio has some of the best and most affordable controllers on the market and is available at Cast Media. They come highly recommended and are very helpful. Korg can be found at www.korg.com.

Seeing triple
Visuals are usually divided into three categories: club visuals, concert visuals and corporate visuals, and the approach to each is different at a club. The VJ is usually set up in the DJ booth and mixing visuals along with the DJ in sync with the music, matching BPM and mood to the music being played. In a concert, the VJ is set up at FOH (front of house facing the stage) and is mixing live camera footage of the performers on stage and mixing in visual elements. The corporate side of visuals is very different; an area where my advertising background has come in very handy because it involves making or mixing visuals to very specific guidelines which the client specifies in advance. Flexibility on the project is very limited, but always fun.

Set up
Well the only real problem more often than not, is the fact that the DJ booths are designed by interior designers and not by people who know the technical requirement of a modern club which can barely fit basic DJ equipment. So setting up additional equipment becomes a bit of an issue. Just about any club with a decent set of screens placed in the right locations will do the job. But of late a lot of forward thinking promoters and clubs such as Chi, Barasti, Ocean club, New Dawn, Ohm events, A&R , Flash and Thrust events have really invested a lot and taken a real serious interest into making visuals a big part of their events. Even corporate events like Smirnoff, Heineken and Effect are also taking an interest into creating club specific visuals.

Eye catching
Addictive TV are one of the top VJ acts in the world and very innovative. I started of as a DJ and studied advertising and design. I guess it was a gradual and logical step to combine the dynamics of music, esthetics of design and back it up with a strong foundation and knowledge of advertising and branding. A lot of stock footage are readily and legally available for download on stock footage sites such as istockphoto.com, thoughtequity.com, revostock.com to name a few. I also use a lot of unique self made visuals, shot mostly when I travel during the summer.

Total clips
Copyright can sometimes be overlooked, but it is very important if a VJ is performing as the venue can get in serious trouble if they are found using unlicensed material. Out here it’s a bit of a grey area, no one really know what’s excepted and what’s not. The best way is to play is safe and not play anything overly exciting Every genre of music has a sense of mood and an era that it belongs to and I try as far as possible to keep those elements, style and mood of the visuals according to the music which needs a different set of visuals for different styles of music.

Mix it up
My approach to mixing is very much like a Dj mixes audio and I overlay it with effects whenever the DJ activates his effects. Technology allows me to do wonderful thing with imagery, scratch, speeding up or slowing down, reversing and manipulate video clips and live footage alike and the fun part of being a VJ. What happens when the music changes suddenly in a set? For one it throws you completely of guard but more often than not, most professional DJ and clubs don’t let the music go all over the place unless they are doing it specifically for that crowd. But I always have my clips close at hand

Seeing is believing
Imagine watching a really interesting movie with amazing sound quality and your room is lit up with beautiful ambient lighting, you’re sipping your favorite drink and have some really wonderful company but ….
your TV screen is off. See my point? Visuals in a club completes the clubbing experience, it adds that extra dimension to the venue that lights can’t and it engages an extra sense. If a picture speaks a thousand words, then with motion graphics the possibilities are endless.

Contact and Video links
www.youtube.com/vjcoldfusion
www.vjcoldfusion.com
www.myspace.com/dvjcoldfusion