A question about DJs and sound formats/CD-R's

TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Music Discussion
-- A question about DJs and sound formats/CD-R's

Posted by Pareez on Dec-10-2003 16:54:

A question about DJs and sound formats/CD-R's

Sorry if these seem like stupid questions but I got two of them so here it goes.

1) When a DJ plays songs from a laptop are those songs encoded in any particular format, perhaps a less common format that produces better quality?

When I saw PVD at the Guv in TO on Thanksgiving, his whole set was pretty much from his laptop, which was a G4 by the way. How did PVD store those songs on his laptop?

2)In regards to Promo CD-R's that DJ's release, do they do the same thing as everyone else and just burn the song to the CD or are they some sort of special CD-R, again, so that high quality sound can be re-produced?

Sorry if these are dumb questions, flame me if you want but had to get them out.

Posted by brian on Dec-10-2003 18:05:

Re: A question about DJs and sound formats/CD-R's

quote:
Originally posted by Pareez
When I saw PVD at the Guv in TO on Thanksgiving, his whole set was pretty much from his laptop, which was a G4 by the way. How did PVD store those songs on his laptop?

A while back in an interview I believe he said he stores them in AIFF format.

quote:
Originally posted by Pareez
2)In regards to Promo CD-R's that DJ's release, do they do the same thing as everyone else and just burn the song to the CD or are they some sort of special CD-R, again, so that high quality sound can be re-produced?

As long as it comes from something like a WAV or AIFF, its going to retain high quality sound. Most producers tend to just burn from that format or burn directly from a feature in their sequencer (which ultimately does the same thing--mixing it all down to a single file in wav or some similar format and then burning it from that mixed down file). No special CDR is needed.

Posted by rory21 on Dec-10-2003 18:19:

Paul uses 16bit *.aif files to mix from his laptop to Final-Scratch. Although you won't hear the difference, you will be able to feel the difference in a club on a big rig. Thats why vinyl sounds so much better than CDs when mixed. *.wav are very similar to *.aif files

Posted by Scottaculous on Dec-10-2003 18:33:

quote:
Originally posted by djrory
Paul uses 16bit *.aif files to mix from his laptop to Final-Scratch. Although you won't hear the difference, you will be able to feel the difference in a club on a big rig. Thats why vinyl sounds so much better than CDs when mixed. *.wav are very similar to *.aif files

The thinking that all vinyl is better quality than their 16 bit 44khz counterpart is flawed. A vinyl can only sound as good as the original recording. Most amateur (and some professional producers) record in 16 bit 44khz mode using samples from mp3s and CDs. Given that there are a good number of records release produced by fledging producers using said quality, it is a safe assumption to assert a lot of the records can produce no better sound than their CD counterparts.

Posted by auujay on Dec-10-2003 19:46:

quote:
Originally posted by djrory
*.wav are very similar to *.aif files

The only difference between wav and aiff is the bits are flipped (0=1 and 1=0) that and aiff is more of a standard on Macs while wavs are more the standard for PCs (of course both can play both, this is more of a legacy thing).

Posted by auujay on Dec-10-2003 19:47:

Posted by Pareez on Dec-10-2003 19:49:

Thanks for your replies everyone

Posted by b i n k u n on Dec-10-2003 21:18:

quote:
Originally posted by Scottaculous
The thinking that all vinyl is better quality than their 16 bit 44khz counterpart is flawed. A vinyl can only sound as good as the original recording. Most amateur (and some professional producers) record in 16 bit 44khz mode using samples from mp3s and CDs. Given that there are a good number of records release produced by fledging producers using said quality, it is a safe assumption to assert a lot of the records can produce no better sound than their CD counterparts.

hey scott

hehe i dun wanna start the whole CD vs vinyl thing again but although what you say is correct, the vinyl pressing process will warm up the sound and due to the natural quality of vinyl, the bass is warmer and the highs are tapered off creating a fuller sound then a 16 bit 44.1 recording.