Quite - I actually use CD's quite a lot when going abroad (for obviously
logistical reasons) and can mix pretty much as well on either (in otherwords
rubbish ;-) )
However when it comes to end of a slamming set playing on a sunset beach or
sweaty club - waving a little CD-R in the air at an excited crowd just
doesn't quite feel the same as a nice large slab of vinyl. Call me ol'
fashioned... bring back laser-disks that's what I say! :-)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Olaf Molenveld" <olaf@interactivelink.nl>
To: <mrfliz@rcn.com>; <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2001 9:04 AM
Subject: Re: NYTimes.com Article: The D.J.'s New Mix: Digital Files and a
Turntable
> not wanting to start a war vinyl VS cd's, but just some of my personal
> thoughts:
>
> "CD burners allowed disc jockeys to make a
> track at home, then play it on a club's CD player that
> night, but D.J.'s couldn't manipulate the music as they
> could with vinyl. "
>
> personally i think CD-sets with pitch etc. are just as easy to use as
> turntables......maybe it's different when you're a turntablist and/or do a
> lot of scratching, but i don't need scratching, so i only need to have an
> easy and fast cue option, pitch-slider and a way to pitchbend the
> music....no difference here between vinyl and CD's except maybe you can
cue
> somewhat faster when you want to start in a break or something...
>
> "At the same time, it is important to him that Final Scratch
> works through standard turntables. "It gives me the
> advantage of a physicality that not only I understand, but
> the crowd understands," he said. "People understand what a
> D.J. does now. It's just like how people became accustomed
> to freaking out when someone did something cool with a
> guitar. We don't lose that, but it opens these floodgates
> to a whole new potential."
>
> this is what i, as a vinyl DJ who turned to CD's in 1995 or something due
to
> money constraints, have been thinking a lot of lately....i can do a
> perfectly good set using CD's, but i am thinking of switching to vinyl
again
> only because of this issue: the magic of vinyl for the audience....i
> personally don't care about the medium, but it seems a lot of the people
on
> the dancefloor *need* to see a DJ spin vinyl to enjoy the music......what
do
> you think about this?
>
> Olaf
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <mrfliz@rcn.com>
> To: <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 6:38 PM
> Subject: NYTimes.com Article: The D.J.'s New Mix: Digital Files and a
> Turntable
>
>
> > This article from NYTimes.com
> > has been sent to you by mrfliz@rcn.com.
> >
> >
> > Great article on the state of live digital mixing....
> >
> > kevin kiernan
> > dj k-now
> >
> > mrfliz@rcn.com
> >
> >
> > The D.J.'s New Mix: Digital Files and a Turntable
> >
> > October 25, 2001
> >
> > By BILL WERDE
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ON a recent Wednesday night at Centro-Fly, a trendy
> > Manhattan dance club, Richie Hawtin was using two
> > turntables to play the latest and best techno, a crisply
> > syncopated hybrid of dark, electronic drum rhythms and
> > metallic high-hat and snare effects. Like so many other
> > celebrity disc jockeys on the international circuit, Mr.
> > Hawtin was mixing records together to imprint his style on
> > the night's music: he played two records simultaneously to
> > blend the drum kick of one song with the melody of another,
> > waited about 45 seconds before replacing the drum sounds
> > with a new album of more pronounced bass sounds, and
> > manipulated audio effects equipment to further tweak what
> > clubgoers were hearing. So it went for hours, Mr. Hawtin
> > adding and subtracting sounds and the crowd of about 600
> > dancing and cheering when they heard a mix they liked.
> >
> > The scene was typical for nightclubs across the globe; the
> > records Mr. Hawtin was placing on his turntable were
> > anything but. Mr. Hawtin uses new technology called Final
> > Scratch from N2IT Development, a Dutch company. The vinyl
> > records he places on the turntables may look like normal
> > albums, but they work as conduits for the 900 or so digital
> > files he has stored on his laptop computer. If Mr. Hawtin
> > places the stylus on the three-minute mark of the Final
> > Scratch vinyl, the technology interprets that as a signal
> > to play at the three-minute mark of the digital file he has
> > selected.
> >
> > Final Scratch is not the only music or technology company
> > looking to help a growing D.J. culture embrace digital
> > music. A variety of software programs allow D.J.'s to use
> > laptop computers to mix digital files without turntables
> > and include perks like sonic filters, synthesizer emulators
> > and samplers that can add well-laced loops of additional
> > music or vocal snippets. Traditional audio companies are
> > making equipment that allows D.J.'s to mix and edit digital
> > files from compact discs. All of this gives D.J.'s new
> > freedoms, both pragmatic and creative.
> >
> > Before the onset of home studios and CD burners, D.J.'s who
> > wanted to play a new track would have to secure studio
> > time, then make a dubplate, a fragile vinyl pressing that
> > costs about $50 and provides 15 or 20 plays before
> > deteriorating. CD burners allowed disc jockeys to make a
> > track at home, then play it on a club's CD player that
> > night, but D.J.'s couldn't manipulate the music as they
> > could with vinyl.
> >
> > A breakthrough came in July with the release of the Pioneer
> > CDJ-1000 Digital Vinyl Turntable. Featuring a
> > touch-sensitive jog dial that can be manipulated the same
> > way a D.J. does with vinyl - dragging a hand on the dial to
> > slow the tempo of the CD, using a finger or two to push it
> > faster, or "scratching" the CD back and forth, creating a
> > myriad of potential sounds through friction - the Pioneer
> > machine made believers out of many analog purists,
> > including New York D.J.'s like Aaron Albano, known as Ming,
> > and Freddie Sargolini, who goes by FS. Ming & FS recently
> > released an album of hip-hop and techno beats called "The
> > Human Condition" and have promoted it with frequent D.J.
> > appearances.
> >
> > "You touch the plate and it reacts like you're touching
> > vinyl," Mr. Albano said. "If you run your finger on the
> > side of it, it slows down the platter, just like a normal
> > turntable." The pair still spin mostly vinyl, but they
> > experiment more than they did before.
> >
> > "If we make a track now, we might do three or four
> > different versions," Mr. Albano said. "Maybe one will have
> > more bass, maybe one will be faster, and we'll play what's
> > right for the moment. If we hear a funny sample on the
> > radio or television, we might grab it and use it. We don't
> > have to go out and get records made. It's sped up the
> > creative process immensely."
> >
> > Audio companies are rushing to embrace the fertile
> > intersection of two exploding markets: digital music and
> > D.J. culture. "Except for the engineers," said Brian
> > Buonassissi, marketing manager for Pioneer's pro audio
> > division, "everyone who works in marketing and product
> > planning are all D.J.'s." (Mr. Buonassissi himself spins
> > discs as Granmasta B in San Clemente, Calif.)
> >
> > Because of the Digital Vinyl Turntable's price - $1,299,
> > with a street price of about $1,150 - "we expected we'd
> > only sell to professionals," Mr. Buonassissi said, but the
> > audience has proved to encompass "everyone from home users
> > to gearheads in search of a new toy."
> >
> > If the gearheads are excited about the CDJ-1000, they may
> > flip their propellers at the thought of Final Scratch, a
> > $3,000 hardware-software package that went on sale last
> > week. The software is loaded on a Sony (news/quote) Vaio
> > laptop computer that is connected by a tiny processing box
> > to standard turntables. (A version without the laptop will
> > go on sale early next year for about $600.)
> >
> > Conceived at a hacker convention in Amsterdam when some
> > programmers saw a D.J. run out of records after an hour or
> > so, Final Scratch allows the mixing and scratching of
> > virtually all formats of digital music to within a
> > millisecond of precision. And as those at Centro-Fly could
> > attest after hearing Mr. Hawtin's mix, it is impressive
> > when put to the test of an enormous sound system.
> >
> > Mr. Hawtin says the best part about Final Scratch is that
> > it is all contained on his laptop. "I don't travel with a
> > CD burner, and if you start burning a lot of CD's, you run
> > into an organizational challenge," he explained. Mr.
> > Hawtin's 900 files are stored within the Final Scratch
> > software, broken down by subgenres and easily
> > cross-referenced by a variety of search categories.
> >
> > With his frequent travel, having his whole set available on
> > his laptop creates time, in a matter of speaking. "In May,
> > I flew to England on a Saturday," he said, "played a gig,
> > flew back Sunday morning and had a gig that night in
> > Detroit. I had eight hours there and back. I went through
> > all my records, sorted out what I wanted to play in
> > Detroit, what I wanted to play in London, picked a couple
> > of tracks, re-edited them to create some special versions
> > and played them that night."
> >
> > Mr. Hawtin is quick to praise the freedom and spontaneity
> > granted by the digital realm. "This lets us evaluate what's
> > happening in the world as quickly as possible now," he
> > said. "I can take a snippet of some news or a popular
> > record and throw it in the mix in a completely different
> > way."
> >
> > At the same time, it is important to him that Final Scratch
> > works through standard turntables. "It gives me the
> > advantage of a physicality that not only I understand, but
> > the crowd understands," he said. "People understand what a
> > D.J. does now. It's just like how people became accustomed
> > to freaking out when someone did something cool with a
> > guitar. We don't lose that, but it opens these floodgates
> > to a whole new potential."
> >
> > Some of the greatest potential revolves around much more
> > mundane issues than digital revolutions may inspire. Mr.
> > Hawtin carries two crates of records to his D.J. sessions,
> > each holding about 100 albums. "I'll be down to one crate
> > by the end of the year," Mr. Hawtin said. "The only reason
> > I'm carrying as much music as I am now is that there is a
> > time lag between when I get a record and when I can
> > digitize it. I have plenty of room in my laptop for tracks
> > I may only play once a year, but that one time I play it,
> > it will make the night."
> >
> > Reducing the number of albums may turn out to be the
> > greatest advantage of all. "Do you have any idea," Mr.
> > Hawtin said with a laugh, "how much a crate of records
> > weighs?"
> >
> >
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/25/technology/circuits/25JOCK.html?ex=1005027
> 925&ei=1&en=48f1914efe805a99
> >
> >
> >
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>
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