Review:
Doug Shannon's "Off The Record: The Handbook to Knowledge,
Money, and Success"
November
2002
Before the emergence
of "DJ culture" and "superstar DJ's," Doug
Shannon authored one of the world's first "how to DJ"
books: Off The Record: The Handbook to Knowledge, Money, and
Success. First published in 1982 by Pacesetter Enterprises
(and now out of print), Off The Record is intended for
those interested in the nightclub business.
The key word here
is "business." When you take the time period into context
- the end of the disco era - it's easy to understand why Shannon
places so much emphasis on the synergy between the DJ and a club's
financial success. For example, Shannon believes that because
disco "depends on self-gratification [via expressive dance
movements], the disco industry has a great deal of stability"
(p. 141). Notwithstanding the irony that disco "died"
roughly that same year, Shannon does reflect the thinking of
the typical disco-era club owner.
What is this mode
of thinking? During the disco era, nightclubs thrived on dancing
(usually to the latest disco hit, or to try the latest disco
dance). As a result, the club owners invested heavily in sound,
lights (Shannon calls light jocks "lighting orchestraters"),
and records. In fact, there was so much emphasis on dancing,
that some nightclubs paid DJ's bonuses based on sales per customer.
Shannon believes that
a nightclub's environment should be so dominant that a patron
will forget about his or her problems (p. 152). The DJ assists
this process by immersing the customers with aural stimulation.
According to Shannon, "if the volume of the dance music
is increased, while the low (bass) frequencies are accentuated
and the midrange and high (treble) frequencies are attenuated,
more people will dance" (p. 153). Moreover, "the highs
should be at a lower volume than the lows" (p. 158).
"Club DJ's are
entertainers," Shannon writes, "if the attendance is
at least three times the capacity of the dance floor ... the
floor should be filled a large portion of the night" (pp.
176-177). However, Shannon does note that it's unrealistic to
expect people to dance at the same time on any particular night.
A successful DJ "should
boost attendance within a period of three months or so."
Thus, it's important to get return customers. This is accomplished,
as Shannon puts it, by "working just as hard to have them
to return as it was to entice them to attend in the first place"
(p. 177).
While Shannon's book
has areas that are incompatible with today's clubbing environment
- such as the section featuring disco dance step lessons - the
book is a treasure-house of classic clubbing tips. After reading
this book, you may get the feeling that many of these concepts
have been forgotten.
Addendum To Last
Month's Tip: The 16" Record
Special thanks to
Jason Hart for submitting additional information to last month's
Tip of the
Month, which addressed how rpm differences led to beat matching.
As discussed, to get more music on one disc the labels introduced
slower "long-playing" records (LP's). In addition,
as Mr. Hart points out:
33 1/3 records were
first introduced in 1926 by the film industry on 16 inch discs
because they ran the same time as a film reel. They were synchronized
with the film, giving us "The Jazz Singer" a year later,
and ending the era of silent film. These were acetate/shellac
discs. Sometime in the early-30's, another company "introduced"
this same format for early syndicated radio shows. So, in 1948,
Columbia really just followed something that already existed
in professional markets (the difference probably being the 1
mil needle used in those earlier formats). I guess Columbia's
decision to go with this speed was due to existing hardware.
Last time I looked, someone was still manufacturing a turntable
for these archival 16 inch discs.
.
