I'd guess this has come up before, but for the sheer sake of availability, I'm considering playing cd's along side my vinyl.
More than a few labels are only pressing cd's(think Acid Dance, Parvati, Demon Tea). I'm sick of having to settle on 2nd choice tracks just b/c I can get the rec.
But for the price of getting two cd players I could get a laptop and play mp3's just as easily.
Of course now I've gone from "I'll never mix cd's" to even worse by crouching over a screen. The upside is that I get to play what I want. Isn't that the real point of djing?

Love of music and making people have a good time...that's why I do it.

Nem

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quote:

Originally posted by Silas The upside is that I get to play what I want. Isn't that the real point of djing?

If that was the point i would still be in my bedroom playing to my cat..

If i got to play what i want- i wouldnt be working in some of the venues i do......... the whole point is to entertain and play to the crowd..

Great Freak, so you play out.
Does the crowd care what type of media their entertainment is delivered on? How about the guy that hired you?

The people that hire you will most definately care what medium you play. First reason is that they have to be able to support the format you use (Admittedly not much of a problem in these days. Only time I have any problems is when I'm in Scandinavia where they sometimes don't have 1200s).
Second reason is that most establishments will not like you using ripped material due to various licenses they have to get to play music, where it is clearly stated that you should not play dodgy stuff in your club/bar (not those words exactly but you get the drift).

Another thing is that MP3s tend not to sound so good on a sound system.
Not sure about Freak's club but I know of cases where some people don't care and others go balistic.

Another interesting point that's slightly different is that people are generally happier when they hear a set on vinyl compared to CD or MP3. It's a proven fact that people respond to analogue bass better than digital. Likewise if people get too much treble (Due to bad EQing etc.) then people will be more aggressive. What makes bass powerful is that you feel it as well as hear it. Naturally the analogue waveform is unbroken where as the digital is broken into tiny segments. It may sound the same but it doesn't feel the same.
Until CD is able to do this (And I'm not saying it's not possible) it will still be slightly inferior to vinyl regardless of the amount of tricks and gadgets you whack on a CD turntable.
I am not knocking CDs as I use them from time to time but I much prefer vinyl for this reason.
MP3s have not only got all the waveforms segmented but also have certain information missing due to compression hence it is the weakest format of the three.

I'm not saying you can't rock the crowd on CD decks as I have seen some really good CDJs do just that. But when you get two DJs of equal standard one on CD and one on vinyl, they could even play the same set but the vinyl set would get a better reaction. People would have felt it.

No doubt I will get my arse flamed to hell for this but hey, you can't argue with science. This wasn't set out to disrespect CDJs or anything just give a few facts.

Cheers
Nem

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Much appreciated Nem.
My ?'s were sincere, I didn't mean to sound rhetorical.
I'm surprised to hear such reactions to mp3s, i.e. licensing, from club owners. I read something to that effect on Isratrance's board the other day. He was dl'ing tracks, but complained that often the music didn't match the title. The replies were anything but sympathetic. Seems to me it's not nearly such an issue in the states.

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who's used a computer along side vinyl. Seems there would be a better format than mp3's. Something to avoid the problems caused by compression.
Given the choice I'd stick to wax, but it's just not an option. So if it wasn't a question of quality, between a laptop and two cds, I'd prefer the laptop.
-Silas

having had the performing rights sociecty guy (prs is the uk version of the riaa- ie, you pay a license to be able to perform copywrighted material) come round and write down everything you play etc, i wouldnt like to put myself in a position of being fined a potential £1000 per track for using downloads ever again. Its just not worth the risk personally.

I have a lot of cdrs- but they are backups and i have the originals on vinyl or compliations etc...in otherwords im bnot doing anything illegal- simply making it easier for me to carry 4 boxes instead of 25 boxes of tunes.

For me its a feel and a sound thing- i can also definately feel the bass more when its on vinyl as opposed to cd.... one of the clubs i work at has a shed load of bass bins and its noticeable.
That combined with the sound thing and there is no contest- mp3s in comparison tend to sound flat and dull and lacking in bass and transients.

One other important thing to note is the reliability of vinyl vs cd..

If you have crap or dust on a 12", it might pick some up or skip a groove but it will continue playing- when a cd goes tits up, its not the same- it goes into stutter mode and starts pissing about all over the place or pauses. When a record jumps in a breakdown i can pick up the mic and make a joke about it or something- when a cd does it its just plain embarrasing and totally disrupts the flow of the nite.

from my experiences my:

Worst case with CD: the denon in one of my big clubs doenst like cdrs full stop- and has trouble with some proper commercially sold cds...- result if i turned up with purely cd- no music all nite and me fired.

Worst case with Vinyl- stylus snapped in middle of scratching and maybe some earth noise

quote:

Originally posted by Silas Much appreciated Nem. My ?'s were sincere, I didn't mean to sound rhetorical.

Hey Silas,

No worries... didn't actually take it that way
Just give me any excuse to get up on my soap box.

Cheers
Nem

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https://www.mixcloud.com/Calvin_Karass/

quote:

Originally posted by Silas I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who's used a computer along side vinyl. Seems there would be a better format than mp3's. Something to avoid the problems caused by compression. Given the choice I'd stick to wax, but it's just not an option. So if it wasn't a question of quality, between a laptop and two cds, I'd prefer the laptop. -Silas

Yep I play using Traktor, CD's and Vinyl. Done well you CAN tell the difference, I can pull of stuff on the computer thats not possible on the Decks making Traktor a better option. As for MP3 not sounding as full or as good, that all depends on what you used to rip the tracks originally, what Codec you encode with, what Bit rate and sample rate you encode with. Done right, in blind taste tests you cannot tell the difference, in fact the error rate in those tests is over 60%. With Low Bit rates and that includes 128Kbits you can definitely hear the difference. at 160Kbits it almost always undetectable and at 192KBits or higher I challenge anyone to a blind taste test. If care is taken preparing MP3's the output is awesome. AAC is the next step in compression evolution and given the improvements over 10 years, 160 and 192KBPS AAC files are just incredible. It definitely helps to have a good sound system on the PC to start with. Remember Garbage in - Garbage out! Drive that into a sound system tested and setup for the PC (Sound checks usually take 10 mins or so)and its gonna be a killer night. Can I spin vinyl? Yep, but not nearly as well as I would like. Given time and considerable practice I will get there, but my choice today is Traktor 1 CD's 2 and Vinyl 3. That being said, learning to spin
Vinyl has definitely helped me spin on Traktor.

Phil

vinyl hands down for me!

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ah, the old vinyl versus cd debate...well

i'd say a mixture of the two