If you’ve been to a club lately, you’ve probably noticed a significant increase in the use of CDJ’s and computer applications like Serato, FinalScratch and Ableton by DJs. Although I don’t have a problem with another DJs preferences, I don’t see myself playing anything other than vinyl in the near future. Why?
Forget the digital versus analog debate. Analog certainly has a unique, rich sound, but new digital files (both uncompressed and high quality compressed) sound pretty damn good. And whatever points digital loses in terms of sound quality are most likely covered by a significantly lighter “record” bag and access to a much broader catalog on any given night.
That said, digital does have a glaring deficiency; one I’m not sure any redeeming technical qualities can repair. It lacks character. Not in terms of sound quality, but in terms of the actual physical medium transmitting soundwaves through the air and into your earhole, which… um… vibrates some stuff and… uh… makes music in your head.
No, the character I speak of can only be described in much more (and much less) tangible terms… things like the musty smell of old record stores and thoughts of who might have owned a record before you and what they might’ve done while listening to it (I recommend cleaning old Barry White records thoroughly prior to use). The feeling of finding that classic disco/hip hop/jazz/whatever record you’ve been trying to find for three years at a thrift shop for a paltry $.75 or buying an absolutely terrible album purely for the art.
I fear these things have been lost, or at least are threatened by the rise of iTunes and Beatport; Serato and Ableton. Keep in mind, I’m not saying the digital revolution is without its benefits. And to be clear, there’s a part of me that’s tempted by all the new bright shiny DJ gear… I’d certainly be a better DJ if I had my entire catalog at my fingertips, but at what cost?
By the way, I found this article on the Big Black Disk site… it’s nice to know others agree.
One Comment
Well I’ve been thinkin about it and its a matter of more for my money..would I rather spend $500 to get one turntable without a single record or $500 to get a program like scratch live that I can use for my whole music collection and get the rest the gear later? I would rather have my whole music collection:D Ofcourse I don’t have the money for dj gear anyway, but when I do I will probably spin real vinyls as well.