Vinyl dying (for DJ's)

Phaedo

Well-known member
Seems to be pretty set in stone now that Vinyl in clubs is dying out. Pretty tragic that people like Youngsta had to switch just cos clubs can't be bothered to look after turntables.

Also CDJ mixes can sound so machine-like sometimes, can hear them a mile off.

Does anyone know why clubs have started phasing out turntables all of a sudden? Seems like its only really happened in the last year or two...
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I'm sad to see vinyl dying out but it seems inevitable. Most of the DJs I know have switched to Serato. From the point of view of cost of tunes, access to free downloads, ability to play mp3s of tunes you or people you know have JUST made, it makes a lot of sense. I still prefer seeing a DJ in a club not looking at a computer screen half the time.
 

hint

party record with a siren
Does anyone know why clubs have started phasing out turntables all of a sudden? Seems like its only really happened in the last year or two...

I think it's just a case of "something's got to give".

Over a fairly short period of time, it's gone from:

2 decks and a mixer
to
2 decks, 2 CDJs and a mixer
to
2 decks, 2 of the right kind of CDJs and a mixer

Add into this the fact that people are plugging and unplugging phono cables all the time to connect up Serato and Traktor, and suddenly turntables are being damaged and neglected.

I first came across a club with no turntables at all about 3 or 4 years ago, and I presume that trend has continued in the more mainstream clubs. In another 3 or 4 years it will probably be more common for DJs to come with a laptop and hardware controller, with the fallout of that move being that mixers will become neglected.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Hopefully vinyl will survive at parties/raves outside the club-circuit but then again I suppose its just easier carrying a laptop around than a bag of records isn't it (though I suppose more risky in case of loss/destruction)?
 

Elijah

Butterz
Yea I think at nights where it is specifically geared for vinyl selectors there isnt a problem. But generally most equipment in clubs is shit. Even CDJs. I played of some CDJ800 MK1s that where probably made in like 2001 last month and it was a nightmare, CDs skipping and allsorts.

I wouldnt bring my vinyl to a club that wasnt Plastic people or one of those kind of venues that is about the music, not just selling booze.
 

Elijah

Butterz
not always as straight forward as yea just play it off a laptop. So much music I have is on vinyl and I dont have mp3s and I dont care to rip it either. Once in a while I think I will do that just turn up with records instead if I know the club takes care of their goods.
 

Littlefoot

Well-known member
even more reason to use laptop / controller set up and just plug into the PA

Cheap converters on laptops and cheap audio interfaces sound like ASS on a big system.

Pioneer CDJs actually have pretty decent converters in.

I'm not massively bothered about what DJs use, as long as there is vibe and they are reacting to the crowd.

What winds me up is when people play rips from vinyl->bad needle->cheap mixer->cheap converters on computer->mp3d

Urgh horrible generation loss, why bother.
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
When I was in San Francisco last september, I was shocked when kid kameleon said he had to beg promoters to have a deck in their club as Ableton was the default.
 

Sectionfive

bandwagon house
Its a funny one because 99% of the gigs of I've ever done have involved hauling a sound system half way across in the county in a horse box followed by breaking our backs dragging bassbins up and down stairs, soldering leads half an hour before doors and gaffer taping half the room.
[/Martyr]

Its an easy night if you just need to bring decks ffs. Wtf happened Djing?

Dave Clarke used to stipulate the decks be a certain height off the ground before you could even book him and now people can't even get decks in fucking nightclub.


Have a word with your promoter or tell them to fuck off.
 

continuum

smugpolice
Dave Clarke used to stipulate the decks be a certain height off the ground before you could even book him and now people can't even get decks in fucking nightclub.

it's always been like that though apart from late 90s when Judge Jules and all them lot decided to fuck everything up!
 

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
To be honest, my biggest problem with the death of vinyl isn't even an issue of sound quality or whatever, it's the fact that everyone can become a DJ now off of their massive multi-gigabyte illegally downloaded music library on their computers. Quality control has gone down the shitter. Before you had to really think about what tunes you were going to pick up for your $20, because those were the tunes you were going to be mixing with for the next little while. A lot.
 

Sectionfive

bandwagon house
massive multi-gigabyte illegally downloaded music library on their computers. Quality control has gone down the shitter. Before you had to really think about what tunes you were going to pick up for your $20, because those were the tunes you were going to be mixing with for the next little while. A lot.

Thats why vinyl is still a mark a quality in most, you cant get all your tunes in 30 seconds and even you could you cant bring all 10,000 of them to the club.


Still its all down to selector all the same though.
 

joe.dfx

who knows...
sick boy got it 100%.

i kinda wish id never started buying mp3s and then gotten traktor.

i think id be a lot happier with 100 or so more 12s.

it's really easy to just drop 1.49 on something to play for a bit and then kinda forget about it.

i really don't feel a connection to digital files either. when i get a record or the records that i have all have a time & place associated with them that i never feel with mp3s (except for a very, very few like the first dubstep mp3s i bought off bleep/boomkat.)

i hate all the plugging/unplugging too. it's such a bitch if dj #1 has serato, then dj #2 has traktor, then #3 has serato.... : \
 

dave quam

Well-known member
Well back in my day, we used two wall fans and a sewing needle connected to a big horn with telephone wire. That's when REAL DJs existed.
 

Phaedo

Well-known member
So sound quality, personality, quality control and mixing skills all down the shitter. :confused:

I kind of get the "I don't care what you mix on" thing, selection and quality of the set should always come first. But it really bothers me that it seems like its gonna get to a point where the technical ability of a DJ is completely irrelevant. I love it when your listening to radio or whatever and someone pulls off a ridiculous mix, not just with selection but technically as well. Ben UFO dropping a Dizzee tune at the wrong speed or Youngsta or Chef's 3 deck mixes spring to mind.

Maybe in the real long run if this happened then any kind of specialist DJ would die out as well? If everyone's mixing is perfect every time then i can't see most DJ's getting anywhere if they don't produce, theres barely anyone who can do it now and those that do are all brilliant technically.
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
Since Ableton makes mixing ability irrelevant, it shifts the focus to selection and more significantly, performance. The west coast example given to me is of people like Glitch Mob tilting their APC controllers toward the audience. Once you're not mixing it's all about 'the show,' something we noticed in the US when we came with our London preconceptions like the value of accurate mixing over visible performance & use of the mic etc
 

nochexxx

harco pronting
on a more poitive note, i just put in an order for more dubs to be pressed and there's a queue to have them cut in time for my gig.
 
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