quoted 1 line>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
and 24 trax on (double) CD. I must say that's a very good idea (Save
the Vinyl!!!!!!!).
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Let me preface this by first stating that I'm a DJ and I use
1200-MkIIs and a Denon DN2000F for my mixing. Some other DJs have
told me that by buying CDs and DJing with them I'm "contributing to
the death of the industry." My question is simply: how is this so?
If a new release is available on CD and vinyl, I will purchase the CD
version unless there are extra tracks on vinyl (normally it's the
other way around), simply because in my experience, the CD format is
much more convenient. It's more portable, has much better sound
quality (especially for some low volume ambient music, where crackle
can really destroy the effect), and lasts much longer. The only
advantage that vinyl has over CD (imho) is that you have "hands-on"
control when matching beats. Functionally, I like using the Denon
better than the 1200s simply because it's much more precise in queing
and gives you an instant start (.01 second), compared to .7 seconds
for a turntable.
I realize that record companies have started to produce more and
more releases on CD alone, and are starting to reduce and eliminate
pressing vinyl of some titles, simply because CD appeals to the mass
consumer market where vinyl is only purchased by DJs, but is this so
bad? 1200s have been around since the 1970s, and haven't
functionally changed one bit. Maybe it's time we moved on to better
technology to produce better sounds. I know I've just opened myself
up to the opportunity to be flamed left and right, but let's face it,
digital audio and samplers are the wave of the future, and DJs that
are stuck in the old analog vinyl world because they don't want to
have to learn how to use any new equipment are going to eventually be
out of business.
It might not happen for another 10 or 20 years, but over even the
next few years I think it'll be harder to find some of the good
tracks on vinyl. The only reason why smaller recording artists use
vinyl to start is the price. It's cheap to do a small pressing, get
some DJs to play your work, and then eventually do a larger pressing
and maybe get signed on with a record company that will advertise for
you and probably put you on their compilations. CDs are becoming so
cheap now that you can do a one-off for about $30. If I just
recorded a killer track off my sampling keyboard in my own bedroom
onto a DAT player and it costs me just as much to make a couple
hundred CDs as it does to press a couple hundred vinyl, I can tell
you which option I would go for. Why take the huge loss in sound
quality, not to mention limiting yourself to such a small market?
It's still a little cheaper to do a small pressing of vinyl than it
is to do a small pressing of CDs though, so it might be a few more
years until this becomes a reality, but I can see it happening really
soon. Soon they will have digital mixing boards available, so you
could take a CD player with digital outputs, and provided you have
amps with digital inputs, you could get the cleanest possible sound
with no noise at all coming from the mixing board. Think of what
kind of new dimensions in sound quality this will open up.
Is this how buying CDs is killing the industry? This conversation
probably has more to do with the bpm list than it does with idm, but
I think idm'ers probably want to hear about things that will affect
the music they buy too, and I think there are a lot of people here
that are DJs also that might have good comments to add to this.
DJ's, let me know what you think about all of this. I am open to
your comments and criticisms, but please, if I offended you and you
want to flame me, flame me in private email so as not to waste
everybody's time by reading personal attacks here. Thanks for your
time,
Luke