So i decided to DJ in Vinyl again

[DJ Matt]

did my first all vinyl gig last saturday in over ten years.
been collecting all my favourite tunes on vinyl over the last few years but this was one of the the first times i brought them out of the house

i have to say it was really rewarding and had a rejuvinating effect on my love for the whole DJing lark. the crowd responded really well and commented on the quality of the music.

im a salsa DJ, so what applies to me may not apply to you but here are some differences i noticed.

using a computer its too easy to pander to the audience and this can become a downward spiral as you try to branch out too much, thus you can dilute the main heart of your musical style or even forget or lose 'your sound'.

with vinyl you are forced to go straight to the heart of what you are about, because you are not gonna waste 20/40 dollars on music you dont respect. simple as that. so in a way, vinyl kind of guarantees an 'all killer - no filler' environment which cant be compromised.
this means people need to come to your gigs to hear your choices. not that it isnt the case with a computer, but this is compounded with vinyl by its nature.

using a computer, you are looking at lists of music, sorting by BPM, Genre etc.. the process can feel robotic and impersonal. you begin to think like a computer in a sense. you also dont need to worry about REALLY knowing the song, because the computer tells you how long is left before it ends, etc...
you can choose a song in a heartbeat which means less priority is needed for planning.

with vinyl, you dont necessarily know the BPM. you feel it. you really have to listen to the songs.
you need to know the songs in order to mix them or play them seemlessly. you need to focus more when searching through the box.

with computer you can have tonnes and tonnes of music, but the great irony is that you are really only able to tap into that which you can organise or remember at any one time, which can be actually a very small amount. you only choose the "best tunes" that stand out to you (perhaps on the most immediate or shallow level) and you forget all those "slow burner" B-side type of tunes which can actually be the real best ones

with vinyl, you have a box of music there and a challange to get the most out of it you can, but the great thing is the records themselves make suggestions to you. you start looking and listening to those B-sides and trying them out. sometimes you buy a record for one tune, but the real Gem is track 2, you pull that one out at a party and low and behold it rocks the joint.

finally, vinyl is organised in a very organic way. as you look through and mix it, you begin to sort it accordingly. placing records next to one another that may go well together, etc. like a deck of cards after a card game. a computer just doesnt have that organic nature to it. you can sort by 'recently played' or you can make virtual crates etc...but, agh...its not the same.

final point.
vinyl really does sound better. to be honest, having never done a proper side to side comparison, i thought this was an urban myth to a certain extent, but hearing vinyl on a PA system at high volume (tunes i have on computer and know very well) there was no doubt in my mind at all, vinyl sounds way superior to my ears than its digital counterpart. now, this is also probably due to the fact that many digital masters were merely recorded from vinyl.


anyways, feeling very happy about returning to vinyl!
maybe some of you understand where im coming from

[Puregroove]

What I find is vinyl usually sounds better at high volume, and digital sounds better at lower volumes, interestingly. Probably down to the loudness wars.

[Dix]

I have to say that if I was back in radio or in a club 100% of the time where I didn't have to pack around all that vinyl, I'd love to spin records. I'd much rather cue my music on vinyl but, in the mobile business, no way I'd pack up, load & unload all those records. I miss cueing records. I hope that one day when I retire, I can get part time work, about 20 hrs a week, in an old small market radio station somewhere close by. So, I totally understand your excitement.

[monkeystyle]

Great post. I see a lot of people make vinyl Djs out to be elitist and snobbish, but you sum up very well why djing on vinyl can be such a pleasure. Might I add that tons (literraly) of music is only avaible on vinyl and I just don't see how a youtube rip or low quality Mp3 will do, so I still pick up tunes on vinyl that would otherwise not be in my collection, and that just add to the personalization of my selection.

[bradscott]

Nice post. I'm an all vinyl dj. I do a lot more mobile gigs, pool parties and afternoon gigs, and the crowd loves seeing records being played. I have no problems carrying around crates of records with me. #bodybyvinyl

[fueledbymusic]

Vinyl is the way to do it! BEING DIFFERENT is GOLD there. Everybody uses a computer and controllers these days. Although, I don't even DJ anymore. But when I do, I don't use the computer at all half the time. I just use the straight CDs

[monomer]

Agreed on all accounts.

Vinyl is the most human media. It's perfectly imperfect. Every pressing is different: not just from release to release, but every record that leaves the press is different. The label is in a different spot, the edges are never the same. You might get one with a bit more mold release on it from coming off early in the run. Every single one is different. Beyond that: each time you play it it degrades slightly: Every time you play it it's different.

I'm currently still cleaning my collection. Going through and finding gems that I've forgotten I've got and then remembering which shop I bought them at, were I was in life at that time. You get none of this with digital releases.

[monomer]

Vinyl is the way to do it! BEING DIFFERENT is GOLD there.

I'm about to put a bid in for my works family party.

I plan on hauling the 1200's out and a lot of rock records that my Father's given to me. I have SSL for the rest (it's hard to use, I keep grabbing the control record off when the track ends!)


I expect it'll be a good time.

[monomer]

final point.

vinyl really does sound better. to be honest, having never done a proper side to side comparison, i thought this was an urban myth to a certain extent, but hearing vinyl on a PA system at high volume (tunes i have on computer and know very well) there was no doubt in my mind at all, vinyl sounds way superior to my ears than its digital counterpart. now, this is also probably due to the fact that many digital masters were merely recorded from vinyl.

You might hit a nerve here with some. It's very subjective. A lossless format of digital media is technically superior, by the numbers.


You're very limited with dynamic range with vinyl, as you can only cut the grooves so wide and so deep. It's a blessing and a curse.

[DJDVD]

Nice work. I've been thinking about dusting my old vinyl off. There is so many djs out there. So easy to get in the game with a controller. At least with vinyl you're doing something different. What's old becomes new again. Plus you can do that thing where you put the records you want to play up on an angle in your box. I miss that.