The great pre-recorded DJ set debate has risen once again, and this time, it’s among artists James Hype and deadmau5.
The beef between the two was ignited as Hype shared a promotional video to his Instagram page for his new live show, SYNC. Within it, he references old comments from 2021 made by deadmau5 where he claimed DJs were often required to play pre-recorded sets at large scale events and festivals.
The video in which deadmau5 made these comments resurfaced in 2023, prompting him to respond and refute the debate, and re-iterate that he does not consider himself to be a DJ: “The fuck do I care. I’m an engineer first, producer second, performer third. Pre-recorded, on the fly, DJs, live PAs… who cares, everyone does shit their own way,” he said. “So maybe just try to have a good time?”
In Hype’s new SYNC promo, he says, “deadmau5 said that you had to pre-record your set if you wanted to sync it to visuals, I think this proves him wrong,” before triggering the deadmau5 logo to flash up around him in response to the sounds he plays. “This is my new live show, SYNC, and it really is live,” he concludes, before another, much larger image flashes up of deadmau5.
Anyone familiar with deadmau5 will know he’s not one to keep quiet, and he’s already responded both in the comments under Hype’s video, and via two of his own posts. In the comments, he writes, “Good shit! Now do it without MIDI and resolume. Hint: UDP socket / port 50000.”
He also adds, “If you’re going to map the top of that table, make it a projection with perspective with a height variable so you can adjust it at venues for the folks above deck height. Looks like shit if it’s just flat mapped like that.”
In his own posts, deadmau5 has shown himself using a CDJ to trigger the words “It’s not that hard” to appear on a desktop screen, and in another has mapped the CDJ to control the Elden Ring video game.
Though DJ and producer Louie Gonzo has weighed in under his post stating, “but you were the one that said u hadda [sic] pre record a set to sync visuals”, deadmau5 has responded claiming he never made the comments, and that things have been taken out of context. He says, “Didn’t say that. Much of the out of context brain rot you rely on as education may have put that in your head though.”
“Next time don’t bring a wet sponge to a tech fight. I can’t even imagine what it’s like renting a stage / film crew / video tech / audio tech to film a deadmau5 burn only to get ruined by a response made with an iPhone, 100 lines of cpp and MS paint. Feel better soon,” he later responds to Hype once again. At the time of writing, he has not yet responded to deadmau5.
Both James Hype and deadmau5 are playing shows this spring and summer. You can get tickets to see them via their respective websites.
