Light Riders

Simply put, they shoot or select visuals and visual sequences, upload them onto a computer, edit and filter them with software like Adobe Premier or After Effects and insert these into a loop. This forms the bank of visuals which the VJ then manipulates with live performing software such as Resolume or Motion Drive and a video mixer. And it8217;s the latest rage rocking Delhi and Mumbai.

8216;8216;Live video mixing is the future,8217;8217; drawls the headphoned Green, as he syncs the high velocity African trance piece with the visuals, till the two media synthesize into an all-sense stimulant that gets everyone tripping.

It8217;s Saturday night, the crowd is young-to-middling 30s, the moveable screen forms a million fluorescent colours broken into deep-bellied Oms, dizzy concentric circles, even a snatch of a Bollywood item number.

If the birth of MTV can be traced back to the Beatles8217; decision to film songs when their screaming fans became a security threat, urban legend has it that live video mixing was born in Berlin, when heavy rains transformed abandoned warehouses into party zones. VHS players were the first inspiration, but live video mixing actually took off with the rave parties of the 1990s.

8216;8216;It8217;s in the last five to six years, when more sophisticated computer software became accessible, that people from different backgrounds8212;art, computer science, film8212;came together to experiment with sound and visuals,8217;8217; says VJ JP. Though a cult movement in the West, the amalgamation is still young in India, available only at a handful of clubs in Delhi and Mumbai.

For most entrepreneurs, live video mixing was something they saw in the West, and then replicated in their own venues. 8216;8216;The first time I experienced the art was in Amsterdam. The impact on the people was simply mind-blowing. I thought it was just what hardcore nightclubbers in Delhi would want,8217;8217; says Sameer Gogia, owner of the happening nightspot Nasha, on MG Road.

One deterrent to the popularity of live video mixing is the cost. 8216;8216;The requisite software is still very expensive,8217;8217; says Miki Choudhry of Eau, the nightclub at Delhi8217;s Le Meridien. 8216;8216;Plus, few Indians have mastered the art.8217;8217;

At the moment, there are just a handful of VJs at work in India, like JP at Decibel and Fabric, Dave Green at Elevate all Delhi and Piku at Rock Bottom, Hotel Ramee International, Mumbai.

But senior DJ Rummy, whose proteacute;geacute; Chinu runs the show at Nasha, has no doubt the fad is here to stay. 8216;8216;It8217;s totally futuristic. The right combination of music and graphics goes a long way in elevating the mood,8217;8217; he says.

Most clubs8212;count Decibel, Odyssey, Nasha and Eau among them8212;go in for a combo of trance-Hindu mythology-psychedelic-geometric-film clip visuals to jell with their sound. Elevate, on the other hand, throws in a lot of natural, wild imagery.

8216;8216;It8217;s fascinating, what the visuals do to you,8217;8217; says Tarun, who hops between Elevate, Decibel and Eau with near-alarming regularity. 8216;8216;The best part is that it suits the mood, whether you8217;re into hardcore partying or just want to chill with friends.8217;8217;

Rummy, who8217;s seen it all, from disco to trance, says the experimental nature of live video mixing has now-appeal. 8220;With the new generation more open to experimentation, I see it livening up nightclubs in a big way.8217;8217;