Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an affluent district in West London, located north of Kensington within the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Market. From around 1870, Notting Hill had an association with artists. For much of the 20th century, the large houses were subdivided into multi-occupancy rentals. Caribbean immigrants were drawn to the area in the 1950s because of the cheap rents, but were exploited by slum landlords like Peter Rachman and became the target of white Teddy Boys in the 1958 Notting Hill race riots. In the early 21st century, after decades of gentrification, Notting Hill has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area known for attractive terraces of large Victorian townhouses and high-end shopping and restaurants. A Daily Telegraph article in 2004 used the phrase "the Notting Hill Set" to refer to a group of emerging Conservative politicians, such as David Cameron and George Osborne, who would become Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer and were once based in Notting Hill.
Notting Hill is in the historic county of Middlesex. It was a hamlet on rural land until the expansion of urban London during the 19th century; as late as 1870 after the hamlet had become a London suburb, Notting Hill was still referred to as being in Middlesex rather than in London. The origin of the name "Notting Hill" is uncertain though an early version appears in the Patent Rolls of 1356 as Knottynghull, while an 1878 text and New London, reports that the name derives from a manor in Kensington called "Knotting-Bernes,", "Knutting-Barnes," or "Nutting-barns", goes on to quote from a court record during Henry VIII's reign that "the manor called Notingbarons, alias Kensington, in the parish of Paddington, was held of the Abbot of Westminster." For years, it was thought to be a link with Canute, but it is now thought that the "Nott" section of the name is derived from the Saxon personal name Cnotta, with the "ing" part accepted as coming from the Saxon for a group or settlement of people.
The area in the west around Pottery Lane was used in the early 19th century for making bricks and tiles out of the heavy clay dug in the area. The clay was fired in a series of brick and tile kilns; the only remaining 19th-century tile kiln in London is on Walmer Road. In the same area, pig farmers moved in after being forced out of the Marble Arch area. Avondale Park was created in 1892 out of a former area of pig slurry called "the Ocean"; this was part of a general clean-up of the area which had become known as the Potteries and Piggeries. The area remained rural until London's westward expansion reached Bayswater in the early 19th century; the Ladbroke family was Notting Hill's main landowner, from the 1820s James Weller Ladbroke began to develop the Ladbroke Estate. Working with the architect and surveyor Thomas Allason, Ladbroke began to lay out streets and houses, with a view to turning the area into a fashionable suburb of the capital. Many of these streets bear the Ladbroke name, including Ladbroke Grove, the area's main north-south axis, Ladbroke Square, London's largest private garden square.
The original idea was to call the district Kensington Park, other roads are reminders of this. The local telephone prefix 7727 is based on the old telephone exchange name of PARk. Ladbroke left the actual business of developing his land to the firm of City solicitors, Bayley, who worked with Allason to develop the property. In 1823 Allason completed a plan for the layout of the main portion of the estate; this marks the genesis of his most enduring idea – the creation of large private communal gardens known as "pleasure grounds", or "paddocks", enclosed by terraces and/or crescents of houses. Instead of houses being set around a garden square, separated from it by a road, Allason's houses would have direct access to a secluded communal garden in the rear, to which people on the street did not have access and could not see. To this day these communal garden squares continue to provide the area with much of its attraction for the wealthiest householders. In 1837 the Hippodrome racecourse was laid out.
The racecourse ran around the hill, bystanders were expected to watch from the summit of the hill. However, the venture was not a success, in part due to a public right of way which traversed the course, in part due to the heavy clay of the neighbourhood which caused it to become waterlogged; the Hippodrome closed in 1841, after which development resumed and houses were built on the site. The crescent-shaped roads that circumvent the hill, such as Blenheim Crescent, Elgin Crescent, Stanley Crescent, Cornwall Crescent and Landsdowne Crescent, were built over the circular racecourse tracks. At the summit of hill stands the elegant St John's church, built in 1845 in the early English style, which formed the centrepiece of the Ladbroke Estate development; the Notting Hill houses were large, but they did not succeed in enticing the richest Londoners, who tended to live closer to the centre of London in Mayfair or Belgravia. The houses appealed to the upper middle class, who could live there in Belgravia style at lower prices.
In the opening chapter of John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga novels, he housed the Nicholas Forsytes "in Ladbroke Grove, a spacious abode and a great bargain". In 1862 Thomas Hardy left Dorchester for London to work with architect Arthur Blomfield.
Skrillex
Sonny John Moore, known professionally as Skrillex, is an American record producer, DJ, singer and musician. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and in Northern California, he joined the American post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead singer in 2004, recorded two studio albums with the band before leaving to pursue a solo career in 2007, he began his first tour as a solo artist in late 2007. After recruiting a new band lineup, Moore joined the Alternative Press Tour to support bands such as All Time Low and The Rocket Summer, appeared on the cover of Alternative Press' annual "100 Bands You Need to Know" issue. After releasing the Gypsyhook EP in 2009, Moore was scheduled to record his debut studio album, with producer Noah Shain, he ceased production of the album and began performing under the name Skrillex, distributing the My Name Is Skrillex EP for free download on his official MySpace page. Subsequently, he released the Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites EP in late–2010 and More Monsters and Sprites EP in mid–2011, both of which have since become moderate commercial successes.
On November 30, 2011, he received five Grammy Award nominations at the 54th Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and won three: "Best Dance/Electronica Album", "Best Dance Recording", "Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical". On December 5, 2011, the BBC announced. On December 12, 2011, he was named MTV's Electronic Dance Music Artist of the Year. Skrillex has won eight Grammy Awards and holds the world record for most Grammys won by an Electronic Dance Music artist. Skrillex has collaborated with Diplo and Boys Noize to form the groups of Jack Ü and Dog Blood respectively, it was announced on Moore's 29th birthday, he reunited with From First To Last and released a single named "Make War". In 2017, Skrillex mixed 8, the eighth studio album by rock band Incubus. In July 2017, Skrillex released another single featuring debuting solo artist Poo Bear. Moore was born in the Highland Park neighborhood of Northeast Los Angeles, but moved to the Forest Hill neighborhood of San Francisco at the age of 2, where he attended elementary school.
At the ages of 9 and 10, Moore attended a local boarding school located in the Mojave Desert LV, but moved back to Northern California. Both of his parents were Scientologists, he was adopted at birth by family friends of his biological parents and did not find this out until he was 15. By the time he was 12, his family moved back to his birthplace of Northeast Los Angeles. There he enrolled in a private academy school specializing in arts, the school used some of L Ron Hubbard's teachings, he was home schooled at the age of 14 due to bullying. In 2004, he learned he was adopted and dropped out of the program when he was 16. While a young teenager in Los Angeles, Moore would attend punk gigs in Mexican American neighborhoods in East and South Los Angeles, at electro club raves in the downtown's Silver Lake and Echo Park neighborhoods. From First to Last is an American post-hardcore band based in Tampa, Florida; the band is composed of lead vocalist Moore, lead guitarist Matt Good, rhythm guitarist Travis Richter, bassist Matt Manning, drummer Derek Bloom.
Dog Blood, a side project by Skrillex and Boys Noize, was formed in 2012. Their debut single, consisting of the songs "Next Order" and "Middle Finger", was released on August 12, 2012 on Beatport and iTunes; the song "Next Order" managed to top Beatport's Techno chart. Jack Ü is a duo made up of Diplo. Jack Ü's debut performance took place at the Mad Decent Block Party in San Diego on September 15, 2013, a nationwide tour that record label Mad Decent puts together in order to showcase different artists signed to the label. Diplo announced the project by releasing the Mad Decent Block Party lineup with Jack Ü playing at multiple stops on the tour. After some guessing by many of who Jack Ü was, Diplo came out to reveal that "Jack Ü... means Skrillex and Diplo together". In 2004, Moore contacted Matt Good of From First to Last about playing guitar for the band on their debut album. After flying out to Georgia, Moore was heard singing by three studio producers, Derrick Thomas, Eric Dale, McHale Butler, was made lead singer, with Good playing guitar.
In June 2004, Epitaph Records released the band's first full-length record with their new bandmate, Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count. After performing on several successful tours, two being the Vans Warped Tour and Dead by Dawn tour, they began recording their second album, Heroine with producer Ross Robinson; the album was released in March 2006 on Epitaph. With high record sales once again, the band found themselves part of many successful tours, until Moore started suffering vocal problems, causing the band to resign from several tours. After going through a successful vocal surgical procedure, Moore informed the band he would be permanently resigning to work on a solo career. FFTL's last show performed with Moore was in their hometown of Orlando at The House of Blues while touring with Atreyu. Moore announced, he launched a Myspace page displaying three demos. This led to Moore's first performance since his leaving From First to Last. On April 7, 2007, alongside harpist Carol Robbins, Moore played several original songs at a local art building.
After months of releasing demos via Myspace, Moore played on the Team Sleep Tour with a full band. The tour featured supporting acts Monster in the Machine and Strata. Moore made several demo CDs available on this tour, limi
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American rock band, formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1994. It was founded by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of Nirvana after the suicide of Kurt Cobain; the group got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War II, which were known collectively as "foo fighters". Prior to the release of Foo Fighters' 1995 debut album Foo Fighters, which featured Grohl as the only official member, Grohl recruited bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith, both of Sunny Day Real Estate, as well as Nirvana touring guitarist Pat Smear to complete the lineup; the band began with performances in Oregon. Goldsmith quit during the recording of the group's second album, The Colour and the Shape, when most of the drum parts were re-recorded by Grohl himself. Smear's departure followed soon afterward, though he would appear as a guest with the band starting in 2006, would rejoin as an official full-time member in 2011.
They were replaced by Taylor Hawkins and Franz Stahl although Stahl was fired before the recording of the group's third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose. The band continued as a trio until Chris Shiflett joined as the band's lead guitarist after the completion of There Is Nothing Left to Lose; the band released its fourth album, One by One, in 2002. The group followed that release with the two-disc In Your Honor, split between acoustic songs and heavier material. Foo Fighters released its sixth album, Silence, Patience & Grace, in 2007; the band's seventh studio album, Wasting Light, produced by Butch Vig, was released in 2011, in which Smear returned as a full member. In November 2014, the band's eighth studio album, Sonic Highways, was released as an accompanying soundtrack to the Grohl-directed 2014 miniseries of the same name. On September 15, 2017, the band released their ninth studio album and Gold, which became their second to reach number one in the United States and was the band's first studio album to feature longtime session and touring keyboardist Rami Jaffee as a full member.
Over the course of the band's career, four of its albums have won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album. As of 2015, the band has sold 12 million copies in the United States alone. Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl joined the grunge group Nirvana as its drummer in 1990. During tours, he wrote songs. Grohl held back these songs from the rest of the band. I thought it was best that I kept my songs to myself." Grohl booked studio time to record demos and covers of songs he liked and issued a cassette of some of those songs called Pocketwatch under the pseudonym "Late!" in 1992. Frontman Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home on April 8, 1994, Nirvana subsequently disbanded. Grohl received offers to work with various artists. Grohl declined and instead entered Robert Lang Studios in October 1994 to record fifteen of the forty songs he had written. With the exception of a guitar part on "X-Static", played by Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs, Grohl played every instrument and sang every vocal on the tracks.
"I was supposed to just join another band and be a drummer the rest of my life," Grohl said. "I thought. I enjoy writing music and I enjoy trying to sing, there's nothing anyone can do to discourage me." Grohl completed an album's worth of material in five days and handed out cassette copies of the sessions to his friends for feedback. Grohl hoped to keep his anonymity and release the recordings in a limited run under the title "Foo Fighters", taken from the World War II term "foo fighter", used to refer to unidentified flying objects. "Around the time that I recorded the first FF tape, I was reading a lot of books on UFO's. Not only is it a fascinating subject, but there's a treasure trove of band names in those UFO books!" he said. "So, since I had recorded the first record by myself, playing all the instruments, but I wanted people to think that it was a group, I figured that FOO FIGHTERS might lead people to believe that it was more than just one guy. Silly, huh?" Continuing, Grohl insisted.
"Had I considered this to be a career, I would have called it something else, because it's the stupidest fucking band name in the world."However, the demo tape circulated in the music industry, creating interest among record labels. Grohl formed a band to support the album, he talked to former Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic about joining the group, but both decided against it. "For Krist and I, it would have felt natural and great", Grohl explained. "But for everyone else, it would have been weird, it would have left me in a bad position. I would have been under the microscope." Having heard about the disbanding of Seattle-based rock band Sunny Day Real Estate, Grohl drafted the group's bass player, Nate Mendel, drummer, William Goldsmith. Grohl asked Pat Smear, who served as a touring guitarist for Nirvana after the release of its 1993 album, In Utero, to join as the group's second guitarist. Grohl licensed the album to Capitol Records, releasing it on Roswell Records, his new record label.
Foo Fighters made its live public debut on February 23, 1995, at the Jambalaya Club in Arcata and March 3 at The Satyricon in Portland. They followed that with a show at the Velvet Elvis in
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III, known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, film producer, actor. He is cited as one of the greatest and most influential artists of all time in hip hop, with Rolling Stone placing him in its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and labeling him the "King of Hip Hop". After his debut album Infinite and the extended play Slim Shady EP, Eminem signed with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and subsequently achieved mainstream popularity in 1999 with The Slim Shady LP, which earned him his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, his next two releases, 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP and 2002's The Eminem Show, were worldwide successes, with each being certified diamond in U. S. sales and both winning Best Rap Album Grammy Awards—making Eminem the first artist to win the award for three consecutive LPs. They were followed by Encore in another critical and commercial success. Eminem went on hiatus after touring in 2005 due to a prescription drug addiction.
He released Relapse in 2009 and Recovery in 2010. Both won Grammy Awards and Recovery was the best-selling album of 2010 worldwide, the second time he had the international best-selling album of the year. Eminem's eighth album, 2013's The Marshall Mathers LP 2, won two Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album; these were followed by 2017's Revival and 2018's Kamikaze, the latter being the best-selling hip hop album of 2018. In addition to his solo career, Eminem is an original member of the Midwest hip hop groups Soul Intent and D12, he is known for his collaborations with fellow Detroit-based rapper Royce da 5'9". Eminem has developed other ventures, including Shady Records, with manager Paul Rosenberg, which helped launch the careers of artists such as 50 Cent. Eminem has established his own channel, Shade 45, on Sirius XM Radio. In November 2002, he starred in the hip hop film 8 Mile playing himself, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself", becoming the first rap artist to win the award.
Eminem has made cameo appearances in the films The Wash, Funny People, The Interview, the television series Entourage. Eminem is the best-selling artist of the 2000s in the United States. Throughout his career, he has had 9 number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, he is the only artist to have nine albums consecutively debut at number one on the Billboard 200. With over 220 million records sold globally, Eminem is among the world's best-selling artists of all time. Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, the only child of Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. and Deborah Rae "Debbie". He is of English, German, Swiss and Luxembourgian ancestry, his mother nearly died during her 73-hour labor with him. Eminem's parents were in a band called Daddy Warbucks, playing in Ramada Inns along the Dakotas–Montana border before their separation. Eminem's father, referred to by his middle name Bruce, left the family, moving to California and having two other children: Michael and Sarah.
Debbie had son Nathan "Nate" Kane Samara. During his childhood and Debbie shuttled between Michigan and Missouri staying in one house for more than a year or two and living with family members. In Missouri, they lived in several places, including St. Joseph and Kansas City; as a teenager, Eminem wrote letters to his father, which Debbie stated all came back marked "return to sender". Friends and family remember Eminem as a happy child, but "a bit of a loner", bullied. One bully, D'Angelo Bailey injured Eminem's head in an assault. Eminem spent much of his youth in a working-class black, Detroit neighborhood, he and Debbie were one of three white households on their block, Eminem was beaten by black youths several times. As a child he was interested in storytelling, aspiring to be a comic-book artist before discovering hip hop. Eminem heard his first rap song on the Breakin' soundtrack, a gift from Debbie's half-brother Ronnie Polkinghorn, close to him and became a musical mentor to him; when Polkinghorn committed suicide in 1991, Eminem stopped speaking for days and did not attend his funeral.
Eminem's home life was stable. When her son became famous, Debbie was unimpressed by suggestions that she was a less-than-ideal mother, contending that she sheltered him and was responsible for his success. In 1987, Debbie allowed runaway Kimberly Ann "Kim" Scott to stay at their home. After spending three years in ninth grade due to truancy and poor grades, he dropped out of Lincoln High School at age 17. Although he was interested in English, he never explored literature and disliked math and social studies. Eminem worked at several jobs to help his mother pay the bills maintaining that she threw him out of the house anyway; when she left to play bingo, he would write songs. At age 14, Eminem began rapping with high-school friend Mike Ruby.
Creamfields
Creamfields is a major dance music festival series founded and organised by British club promoter Cream, with its flagship UK edition taking place on August Bank Holiday weekend, with a number of international editions held across various territories worldwide. First held in 1998 in Winchester, the festival moved to Cream's home city of Liverpool the following year, taking place on the old Liverpool airport, before moving to its current location on the Daresbury estate in Cheshire. Having begun as a one-day event with 25,000 people in attendance, the festival is now a four-day event with camping options, which attracts 70,000 attendees each day. Creamfields is now one of the largest electronic music festivals in the world in terms of attendance and size of stages, size and depth of lineup featuring headline performances from a wide range of mainstream and underground DJs and performers. 1999 Creamfields returns to its spiritual home of Liverpool - taking over the Old Liverpool Airfield in Speke.
Over 50,000 people flock to the first Creamfields in Liverpool to see performances from the likes of Basement Jaxx and Pet Shop Boys. 2000 Creamfields introduces the Live Outdoor Stage to its Liverpool festival, hosts its first international event in Dublin. Muzik Magazine names Creamfields "Event Of The Year", while The Guardian awards it "Best Event". 2001 Creamfields continues on its path to global domination - after a successful Cream residency at Pacha Club in Buenos Aires, Creamfields is introduced to the South American market, with an event that attracts 20,000 people. 2002 Underworld and Faithless headline Creamfields in Liverpool, while the Creamfields Ireland event in Dublin hosts a record-breaking crowd of 27,000 people. 2003 Creamfields' international expansion continues with events staged in Czech Republic and Argentina - where it was decreed by the secretary for Tourism & Culture as an event of "Significant cultural and Touristic Importance to the region of Buenos Aires and to the nation of Argentina".
2004 Creamfields is voted "Best Dance Festival" in the UK Festival Awards. The event is staged in Argentina, Chile, Czech Republic and Spain, which altogether brings in an audience of nearly 200,000 people. 2005 Creamfields is voted "Festival Event Of The Year" in the House Music Awards. Creamfields Argentina attracts a record-breaking 65,000 people - it is now the biggest one-day EDM festival in Latin America. 2006 Creamfields outgrows the Speke moves to its current home in Daresbury. 2007 The Chemical Brothers headline Creamfields in Daresbury, which sees its capacity increased to nearly 50,000 people. 2008 Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Creamfields becomes a two-day event for the first time. The diverse line-up includes the likes of Kasabian, Ian Brown and Fatboy Slim. 2009 Creamfields sells out for the first time in its history. It is named "Tourism Event Of The Year" by VisitLiverpool. 2010 Creamfields' capacity in Daresbury is increased to 40,000 people each day, the option of camping is introduced.
The festival wins "Festival Of The Year" at the Music Week Awards, beating the likes of Glastonbury and V Festival. Creamfields goes to Oz for the first time, staging four festivals across Australia. 2011 Capacity at Daresbury is increased further to 50,000 people per day, the international expansion continues down under with events in New Zealand. 2012 Disaster struck Creamfields, as adverse weather conditions meant that the fi nal day of the festival was cancelled for the first time in its history. As a result, £500,000 was spent on major site improvements, a contingency plan was put in place for wet weather conditions. 2013 Following adversity last year, Creamfields comes back bigger than ever. With an bigger capacity of 60,000 people per day, the festival site now includes a spectacular new main stage, interactive FX towers, explosive pyros and a gigantic firework finale. 2014 Creamfields continues to go from strength to strength, with the festival becoming a three-day event for the first time.
Headliners include EDM giants Calvin Harris and Tiesto. It has been held since 2006 annually on the August Bank Holiday weekend in Daresbury; the festival began as an offshoot from Liverpool's Cream nightclub. Other Creamfields festivals have been held in Abu Dhabi, Buenos Aires, Almería, Punchestown, Punta del Este, Alcala de henares, Vilnius, Mexico City, Prague, Santiago, Rio de Janeiro, Florianopolis, Belo Horizonte, Wrocław and Asunción. Creamfields Lisbon was held for the first time in May 2007. Creamfields Australia has been held annually since 2010; the first Creamfields festival was held in the UK on 2 May 1998 at Matterley Estate in Winchester, a venue that became known as the location of Homelands and Boomtown Fair. The lineup featured the likes of Pete Tong, Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Carl Cox, Roger Sanchez, Fatboy Slim, Tony De Vit, The Chemical Brothers, Judge Jules, John Digweed, Daft Punk performing DJ sets, live performances from Primal Scream, Finley Quaye, Run-DMC, Beth Orton, Laurent Garnier.
A single day/evening event, the festival attracted around 25,000 people. In 1999, Creamfields moved to Cream's home city of Liverpool, moving to the old abandoned portion of Liverpool airport and taking up the August Bank Holiday date it has retained since. Creamfields UK 1999, 28 August 1999:? Creamfields UK 2000, 26 August 2000: 40,000 Creamfields UK 2001, 25 August 2001: 50,000 Creamfields UK 2002, 24 August 2002
Disc jockey
A disc jockey abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays existing recorded music for a live audience. Most common types of DJs include radio DJ, club DJ who performs at a nightclub or music festival and turntablist who uses record players turntables, to manipulate sounds on phonograph records; the disc in disc jockey referred to gramophone records, but now DJ is used as an all-encompassing term to describe someone who mixes recorded music from any source, including cassettes, CDs or digital audio files on a CDJ or laptop. The title DJ is used by DJs in front of their real names or adopted pseudonyms or stage names. In recent years it has become common for DJs to be featured as the credited artist on tracks they produced despite having a guest vocalist that performs the entire song: like for example Uptown Funk. DJs use audio equipment that can play at least two sources of recorded music and mix them together to create seamless transitions between recordings and develop unique mixes of songs; this involves aligning the beats of the music sources so their rhythms do not clash when played together or to enable a smooth transition from one song to another.
DJs use specialized DJ mixers, small audio mixers with crossfader and cue functions to blend or transition from one song to another. Mixers are used to pre-listen to sources of recorded music in headphones and adjust upcoming tracks to mix with playing music. DJ software can be used with a DJ controller device to mix audio files on a computer instead of a console mixer. DJs may use a microphone to speak to the audience; the "disc" in "disc jockey" referred to gramophone records, but now "DJ" is used as an all-encompassing term to describe someone who mixes recorded music from any source, including vinyl records, cassettes, CDs, or digital audio files stored on USB stick or laptop. DJs perform for a live audience in a nightclub or dance club or a TV, radio broadcast audience, or in the 2010s, an online radio audience. DJs create mixes and tracks that are recorded for sale and distribution. In hip hop music, DJs may create beats, using percussion breaks and other musical content sampled from pre-existing records.
In hip hop, rappers and MCs use. DJs use equipment that can play at least two sources of recorded music and mix them together; this allows the DJ to create seamless transitions between recordings and develop unique mixes of songs. This involves aligning the beats of the music sources so their rhythms do not clash when they are played together, either so two records can be played at the same time, or to enable the DJ to make a smooth transition from one song to another. An important tool for DJs is the specialized DJ mixer, a small audio mixer with a crossfader and cue functions; the crossfader enables the DJ to transition from one song to another. The cue knobs or switches allow the DJ to listen to a source of recorded music in headphones before playing it for the live club or broadcast audience. Previewing the music in headphones helps the DJ pick the next track they want to play, cue up the track to the desired starting location, align the two tracks' beats in traditional situations where auto sync technology is not being used.
This process ensures that the selected song will mix well with the playing music. DJs may use a microphone to speak to the audience; the title "DJ" is commonly used by DJs in front of their real names or adopted pseudonyms or stage names as a title to denote their profession. Some DJs focus on creating a good mix of songs for the club dancers or radio audience. Other DJs use turntablism techniques such as scratching, in which the DJ or turntablist manipulates the record player turntable to create new rhythms and sounds. DJs need to have a mixture of artistic and technical skills for their profession, because they have to understand both the creative aspects of making new musical beats and tracks, the technical aspects of using mixing consoles, professional audio equipment, and, in the 2010s, digital audio workstations and other computerized music gear. In many types of DJing, including club DJing and radio/TV DJing, a DJ has to have charisma and develop a good rapport with the audience. Professional DJs specialize in a specific genre of music, such as house music or hip hop music.
DJs have an extensive knowledge about the music they specialize in. Many DJs are avid music collectors of rare or obscure tracks and records. Radio DJs or radio personalities introduce and play music broadcast on AM, FM, digital or Internet radio stations. Club DJs referred as DJs in general, play music at musical events, such as parties at music venues or bars, music festivals and private events. Club DJs mix music recordings from two or more sources using different mixing techniques in order to produce non-stopping flow of music. One key technique used for seamlessly transitioning from one song to another is beatmatching. A DJ who plays and mixes one specific music genre is given the title of that genre; the quality of a DJ performance consists of two main features: technical skills, or how well can DJ operate the equipment and produce sm