Paul Van Dyk - unbelievable article!!

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Posted by trancedance on Feb-03-2004 20:25:

Paul Van Dyk - unbelievable article!!

"Wired" magazine, Feb 2004 The freewheelin' DJ, by Adrienne Day

When Paul Van Dyk goes on the road, he leaves his collection of vinyl and CD's at home. The popular Berlin-based techno Dj has gone entirely digital: He carries 1,000 select songs with him on a 60 gb Powerbook G4 that runs a harware-software tool called FinalScratch. He says he didn't like FinalScratch at first because it was designed mainly for mixing MP3's and other compressed audio files. "I'm a sound freak, "he admits - the quality wasn't high enough for him. So Van Dyk stores his tunes as uncompressed AIFF files instead, and for added refinement, he gives every track an extra smoothing for the dance floor. "Everything I play goes through the mastering setup of my studio," he explains,"so everything you hear sounds even better than the original record." Here is a peek inside his sound system:

PVD scratches songs using a FinalScratch dummy record that looks and spins like a regular 12". "It's just like playing a real record," he says.

The dummy record is placed on a deck connected to the scratch amp, which tells the Powerbook what part of the song to play and how to play it.

The computer sends the music signal back to the scratch amp, which translates it from digital to analog and feeds it out to the club's sound system.

Using a CD player, PVD can play a song into FinalScratch's memory buffer, then mix up to 3 iterations of that same song into each other.

Amazing article...I would never have guessed that he did this.

Posted by _Nut_ on Feb-03-2004 20:29:

Its been known for a while that he does this

Posted by apostrophe on Feb-03-2004 20:31:

he truely is amazing, dont you think??

Posted by TeKnoHe@d2025 on Feb-03-2004 20:39:

quote:
Originally posted by apostrophe
he truely is amazing, dont you think??

No. He makes all those "re-edits" and crap so it's easier for him to mix as well. If you're looking for talent check out somebody like James Zabiela, he's got talent.

Posted by dartrance on Feb-03-2004 21:21:

james who?

i have heard he bores people to death!

Posted by TeKnoHe@d2025 on Feb-03-2004 21:28:

quote:
Originally posted by dartrance
james who?

i have heard he bores people to death!

Click to watch

Those people don't look bored to me.

Posted by DJPrototypeX on Feb-03-2004 21:33:

wtf?!? come on! he cant even spin vinyl no more? i dont give a crap how much technology has advanced, nothin is better than hearin a set str8 off records...

Posted by T_2199 on Feb-03-2004 21:34:

quote:
Originally posted by TeKnoHe@d2025
No. He makes all those "re-edits" and crap so it's easier for him to mix as well. If you're looking for talent check out somebody like James Zabiela, he's got talent.

That argument is a bit stupid because he mixed so many sets without any re-edit of him (Paul_Van_Dyk-Live_at_Club_of_Colors_Hungary-11-08-1999 example)..

And his mixing is great too in those sets..

And it�s not that much easier to mix because when he spins a 2 hour set they�re maybe 4-6 re-edits in it the others are just ordinary tracks..

And you�re saying PvD has no talent ?! Excuse me that made me laugh!

Posted by T_2199 on Feb-03-2004 21:36:

quote:
Originally posted by DJPrototypeX
wtf?!? come on! he cant even spin vinyl no more? i dont give a crap how much technology has advanced, nothin is better than hearin a set str8 off records...

I�m usually not a PVD defenser or something but why should he mix with vinyls when he can afford vinyl scratch?? he has the vinyl feeling + better sound quality!!

you can�t tell even a difference because you see him working with his TT and not his gbook..

Posted by Stories on Feb-03-2004 21:39:

PvD's greatest asset is his ability to read a crowd and knowing when to throw down certain tracks and what time. He is also probably one of the best technical mixers out there... his mixing skills are impeccable, and to bash him for using the new advanced technology is just silly. If the technology is there, why not use it? Matt Darey would agree... as I'm sure M.I.K.E. would as well. Besides, for the most part, I like most of PvD's re-edits. (ie. Marco V's I Feel You re-edit and the Klea - Tic Toc (Magik Muzik Remix) re-edit).

BTW, Zabiela is quite cool... entertaining to watch too! Although he doesn't play trance... so I imagine a trance only freak would be bored at a Zabiela show...

Posted by Sand Leaper on Feb-03-2004 21:40:

quote:
Originally posted by DJPrototypeX
wtf?!? come on! he cant even spin vinyl no more?

http://www.finalscratch.com/fs4/loa...is_FS&sub=start

Posted by DeviantxPete on Feb-03-2004 21:41:

Whoa....Zabiela's spastic hand movements kicked ass!

Posted by TeKnoHe@d2025 on Feb-03-2004 21:44:

quote:
Originally posted by T_2199
That argument is a bit stupid because he mixed so many sets without any re-edit of him (Paul_Van_Dyk-Live_at_Club_of_Colors_Hungary-11-08-1999 example)..

And his mixing is great too in those sets..

And it�s not that much easier to mix because when he spins a 2 hour set they�re maybe 4-6 re-edits in it the others are just ordinary tracks..

And you�re saying PvD has no talent ?! Excuse me that made me laugh!

I'm not saying PvD doesn't have talent, but there are PLENTY of DJs out there with tons more talent than PvD who don't get recognized, or as much recognization as they should. People worship PvD all the time like he's the shit, yet he uses those re-edits in alot of his sets he does. Argue that he doesn't use re-edits in all of his sets and I'll come back at you with he spins alot of his tunes in his sets. They all use the same bassline which makes it very easy to beatmatch, there's no denying that.

Posted by Pointy on Feb-03-2004 21:46:

Man I seriously dont agree with big name DJs usin final scratch. They're meant to be everybodys mentors in the DJing world, yet they're killing the whole 'vinyl culture' by using fucken mp3s. Half the fun of DJing is searching for that one record which no one has, or some tune which has been around for years which everyone missed yet still sounds fresh.

Sorry PvD..you're a wanker!

Posted by Fire999 on Feb-03-2004 21:54:

quote:
Originally posted by DeviantxPete
Whoa....Zabiela's spastic hand movements kicked ass!

Yeah, you saw this [----] MUCH only. Go to Groovetech.com (if the site is still viable) and check out James Zabiela's sets...up close and personal. He does way more than scratching.

As for PvD, I am sure he's got a load off his shoulders for a while now. <---- how much does 20 Trance Vinyls weigh?

Posted by Swamper on Feb-03-2004 22:01:

I'm sort of sitting on the fence here...

but I would be very sad if this EVER became the norm and vinyl went away

The physical 'record' is a cornerstone of the whole culture, throw that out and you lose some of the sanctity/allure that comes with being known as the DJ playing that rare track everyone wants.

Posted by Sand Leaper on Feb-03-2004 22:01:

quote:
Originally posted by Pointy
Man I seriously dont agree with big name DJs usin final scratch. They're meant to be everybodys mentors in the DJing world, yet they're killing the whole 'vinyl culture' by using fucken mp3s. Half the fun of DJing is searching for that one record which no one has, or some tune which has been around for years which everyone missed yet still sounds fresh.

Sorry PvD..you're a wanker!

FFS people, start reading the articles properly!!!!

quote:

He says he didn't like FinalScratch at first because it was designed mainly for mixing MP3's and other compressed audio files. "I'm a sound freak, "he admits - the quality wasn't high enough for him. So Van Dyk stores his tunes as uncompressed AIFF files instead, and for added refinement, he gives every track an extra smoothing for the dance floor. "Everything I play goes through the mastering setup of my studio," he explains,"so everything you hear sounds even better than the original record."

For everyone else considering to reply here I recommend you do some reading on www.finalscratch.com to get somewhat of a clue what this is about. PvD and countless other DJs are just making use of the newest advancements in technology, and in this case there should be no complaining whatsoever since there is no abandoning of the vinyl feel. As for finding that oh so elusive track (which hardly is an issue any longer since it's all about promos DJs get 4 months before everyone else anyway), it has to be released in some form in order to actually get the AIFF file on your Powerbook, so you still have to do the same old record hunting.

Also, until the cost of Final Scratch is lowered considerably along with the risk of the whole program crashing mid set, oldschool vinyl will still be around for quite a bit.

Posted by T_2199 on Feb-03-2004 22:04:

quote:
Originally posted by TeKnoHe@d2025
I'm not saying PvD doesn't have talent, but there are PLENTY of DJs out there with tons more talent than PvD who don't get recognized, or as much recognization as they should.

They are tons of unrecognized Djs out there some of them are as good as Paul (in mixing terms), agreed!!

But no other Dj I can think off has the same style like Paul (fast, pumpin EDM) and can interact with the crowd the way Paul can..

What I want to say is there are other great DJs out there who can also perfectly beatmatch and mix as good as PvD but they all have another trackselection..

So I don�t think Paul is the shit neither do I listen to him all day but his style is unique and he�s a damned good DJ..

Posted by Floorfiller on Feb-03-2004 22:06:

quote:
Originally posted by Sand Leaper
FFS people, start reading the articles properly!!!!

For everyone else considering to reply here I recommend you do some reading on www.finalscratch.com to get somewhat of a clue what this is about. PvD and countless other DJs are just making use of the newest advancements in technology, and in this case there should be no complaining whatsoever since there is no abandoning of the vinyl feel. As for finding that oh so elusive track (which hardly is an issue any longer since it's all about promos DJs get 4 months before everyone else anyway), it has to be released in some form in order to actually get the AIFF file on your Powerbook, so you still have to do the same old record hunting.

exactly...pvd isn't gonna play a stupid mp3 he got off the internet. what he does is he either has tunes on vinyl or cd and then turns them into AIFF files to use in final scracth...

Posted by T_2199 on Feb-03-2004 22:13:

Posted by Floorfiller on Feb-03-2004 22:16:

quote:
Originally posted by TeKnoHe@d2025
Click to watch

Those people don't look bored to me.

you have to admit, even if scratching isn't your thing that the kids got skills...

on a different note...

OMG!!!! what is the first tune sasha start's with??? is that the unknown tune by Timo and Petter???

Posted by Lost Inhibition on Feb-03-2004 22:44:

Vinyl is NOT the cornerstone of this culture. Technology is. Electronically produced music needs to move on and away from early 20th century musical mediums. even the turntable is getting dated. just because a DJ would rather use a high quality AIFF or Mp3 file rather than a 12", doesnt make him or her any less of a performer. What i assume most people fear is that technology will make it too easy and thus the excitement of seeing your favorite dj live wouldnt be as good. That is bullshit
The whole point of going to a fucking party is to enjoy yourself, not stare at a person playing other people's music for 2 hours straight. IMO, the whole concept of big name DJ's is stupid, because anyone can learn to dj and get good at it, just like anyone can pick up a guitar and get good with practice or train their voice so that they can sing better. Paul has a particular talent in which he can become very empathetic with a crowd and knows which song will peak emotion. usually most big name dj's have that same talent at varying levels. so despite what way he uses to deliver music to a crowd, he'll still retain the ability to destroy a dancefloor.

Posted by Pointy on Feb-03-2004 23:28:

quote:
Originally posted by Sand Leaper
FFS people, start reading the articles properly!!!!

FFS mate, read my post again as you missed my point!!

I know exactly how final scratch works and yes, great idea!! But its gonna ruin the vinyl culture. Wow he uses AIFF, but you can also use the easily downloaded mp3. People are gonna start buying this after seeing all the big jocks use it and as if they're gonna turn their bought CDs into AIFF. They'll download mp3s n play them, destroying sales n never buying a vinyl again. I disagree with CDJs as much as i do Final Scratch - although i do enjoy the effects n things you can do with the CDJs. Personal opinion yes, I guess i just prefer the whole vinyl scene more.

And yes, PvD is still a wanker.

Posted by DJ Dingel on Feb-03-2004 23:39:

quote:
Originally posted by Floorfiller
OMG!!!! what is the first tune sasha start's with??? is that the unknown tune by Timo and Petter???

Nope. That tune started Zabiela and Sasha's back-to-back session that ended the night.

Sasha's opener is Life - Breaks And Banter (Fadas' Cheeky Re-Edit)

Posted by First Strike on Feb-03-2004 23:50:

quote:
Originally posted by TeKnoHe@d2025
I'm not saying PvD doesn't have talent, but there are PLENTY of DJs out there with tons more talent than PvD who don't get recognized, or as much recognization as they should. People worship PvD all the time like he's the shit, yet he uses those re-edits in alot of his sets he does. Argue that he doesn't use re-edits in all of his sets and I'll come back at you with he spins alot of his tunes in his sets. They all use the same bassline which makes it very easy to beatmatch, there's no denying that.

PVD is 'the shit'

A top dj will use alot of his own tracks and remixes in his set that is where the talent is having produced all the tracks yourself and then being able to spin them in your sets

& just because you have a good beatmatch does not mean the mix will sound good so saying the tracks beatmatched easely does not take anything away from skill of it ...

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