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Death of the DJ: How iPod is bringing democracy to the dancefloor
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| Spin Doctor |
A (somewhat) interesting article I read in the indy the other day.
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/news/story.jsp?story=514661http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/news/story.jsp?story=514661
| quote: | Death of the DJ: How iPod is bringing democracy to the dancefloor
By Ian Herbert, North of England Correspondent
24 April 2004
Some carried the elaborate third generation models with the iconic white earphones. Others settled for scratched, faintly retro first-generation versions and wore subdued plugs instead of the white ones they dismiss as fashion statements.
Every shade of iPodder of Manchester was out in force this week - and all were in search of the same new social event spawned by Apple's best-selling gadget.
It is "noWax" at Bar Centro - a music night which substitutes the DJ and his van full of vinyl with iPod owners who have all just walked in with entire record collections in their pockets. The budding DJs - or MP3Js as some like to be known - take a numbered ticket as they walk in and when a projector above the sound system flashes their number it is their turn to plug in and play three favourite tunes.
Before the inception of the event at a bar in Manchester's bohemian Northern quarter on Thursday night, noWax had already become firmly established at New York's APT nightclub, where anyone can play their own seven-minute set from two iPods which act as a jukebox. Growing crowds are also being attracted to the Dreambagsjaguarshoes bar in Shoreditch, east London.
NoWax is a play on the 1990s record label "Mo Wax" which boasted the virtues of vinyl. It was the idea of doing away with vinyl and superstar DJs that encouraged Neil Williams, a 31-year-old record shop worker, to try the concept in Manchester. "[Vinyl] DJs have some amazing skills but the democratic thought of not having anyone there who is the superstar DJ deciding the course of the night seemed appealing," said Mr Williams, as the sound of Luke Vibert belting it out revealed the night's latest iPodder to be a confirmed soul fan.
It soon clear that one of the initial noWax concepts - that iPodders who play dubious tracks should be booed off stage - was not catching on. There was the same reluctance to trash members of the iPod brethren in London, according to Raj Panjwani and Charlie Gower, two researchers from the trend-tracking firm Sense, who established the event there and were in Manchester for a show of support.
"I think it's a British thing," said Mr Panjwani, 33. "We're slightly more withdrawn. But it's probably right that people don't get bawled off. You've got to let people have their choice, step back and let them go."
London's experience suggests that anything goes. The range of music at a recent event included Gwen McRae's disco sound, Joy Division and even Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers' "Islands in the Stream", which made it on to the sound system with no sign of a mass walk-out.
Stephen Morning, 23, was taking no risks about Manchester's reaction to his rather heavy rock tastes, which include Hymn and Smashing Pumpkins. "My iPod's third generation but I just didn't bring it with me," he confessed. "I thought I'd check out what was accepted first."
Paul Allen was more sure of his tastes. He has his own band, buys stacks of vinyl and was the first person to step up and spin a number from the jazz soul band Amp Fiddler. "That seemed appropriate in the circumstances," said Mr Allen. "I've no problems choosing what to play, to be honest, as I love everything. The only trick is to make one track fit with the last one that played."
The event brought its challenges. A DJ spinning vinyl creates a sense of theatre that cannot be replicated by an iPodder fiddling with a dial. The iPod technology has its limitations - you can't speed up music like DJs can on their double record decks. But the corporate world already seems interested. The London event organisers are in discussions with the Homelands outdoor music festival in Milton Keynes this summer, while a sponsorship approach from a Brazilian brewery was quick to reach Manchester's organisers.
Mr Panjwani is encouraging other parts of Britain to try the concept too, through a start-up kit offered on the event's website www.nowax.co.uk and Neil Williams also has ideas about spin-offs.
"I like the idea of asking a celebrity DJ to come and select a few tunes to start an event off," said Mr Williams. "And if it works out well I'd like to take the idea away to festivals or even abroad to holiday destinations. With 10,000 tunes on the iPod I'd only need a small tent at Glastonbury." |
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| Vigilante |
That's pretty old dude.
It was posted months ago.....but it is still interesting :p |
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| DjCoz |
| quote: | Originally posted by Vigilante
That's pretty old dude.
It was posted months ago.....but it is still interesting :p |
I think you may be confusing this article with the one about the same thing in New York. If you read the article it talks about the New York club that did this also. If you click on the link you'll see the date is 24 April 2004.
I think Macintosh is going to capitalize on this and make iPods with pitch controls. It won't be a big change cuz it's not much different from PvD spinning off his laptop. |
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| alffla |
| oh..hm. interesting. but that's pretty weird. if i ever go to a party i'd never want an "MP3J" screwing around with an IPOD to be djing. a proper dj is so much cooler. :p |
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| ATL_Trancer |
| quote: | Originally posted by alffla
oh..hm. interesting. but that's pretty weird. if i ever go to a party i'd never want an "MP3J" screwing around with an IPOD to be djing. a proper dj is so much cooler. :p |
i more or less agree, but still think this is a neat idea... might be fun to attend something like this! :) |
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| dj root |
| quote: | Originally posted by DjCoz
I think Macintosh is going to capitalize on this and make iPods with pitch controls. It won't be a big change cuz it's not much different from PvD spinning off his laptop. |
the creative labs nomad zen has lets you change the pitch from .5x to 1.5x its also about half the price of the ipod, but doesnt have the super rad stylish looks. |
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| beema |
I can't imagine doing that, it seems like it would be dreadfully boring.
I mean, what's the difference between that and sitting at home, turning off your lights, and blasting your favorite mix CD? |
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| montie |
| i don't want to hear ty sounding mp3s on a club system |
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| auujay |
| quote: | Originally posted by montie
i don't want to hear ty sounding mp3s on a club system |
Well maybe the new lossless codec will catch on.
"Discerning customers and audiophiles want true CD audio, and now iTunes can give you that quality with the new Apple Lossless encoder. You’ll get the full quality of uncompressed CD audio using about half the storage space. You can copy music in this format onto your iPod or iPod mini, to take perfect audio wherever you go."
from http://www.apple.com/itunes/import.html |
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| [N]ûk|êû[Z] |
| another blow to the standard turntablism, why cant we just ing stick with 12"? first CD's then PC's now this, if you cant mix [or cant be arsed to mix] direct from vinyl then you dont deserve to be a DJ, plain and simple :whip: |
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| montie |
| quote: | Originally posted by auujay
Well maybe the new lossless codec will catch on.
"Discerning customers and audiophiles want true CD audio, and now iTunes can give you that quality with the new Apple Lossless encoder. You’ll get the full quality of uncompressed CD audio using about half the storage space. You can copy music in this format onto your iPod or iPod mini, to take perfect audio wherever you go."
from http://www.apple.com/itunes/import.html |
cool.
what is that the format itunes store uses, besides offering the mp3? |
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| auujay |
| quote: | Originally posted by montie
cool.
what is that the format itunes store uses, besides offering the mp3? |
Actually iTunes does not sell mp3s, they sell AAC (aka mp4). Supposedly they are also now selling this new lossless format but I went looking on iTunes last night and I could not find any indication that if you bought a song it was the lossless version. I have never bought anything from the iTunes store so I don't know exactly how it works, maybe when you buy a song you get both the AAC and the lossless version. |
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