RE: NYTimes.com Article: The D.J.'so New Mix: Digital FilesandaTurntable

From: Dirk van den Heuvel (dirkv@groovedis.com)
Date: Fri Oct 26 2001 - 19:27:38 CEST

  • Next message: Tim Spurway: "Re: NYTimes.com Article: The D.J.'s New Mix: Digital Files and a Turntable"

    Okay I made it past the first few messages without comment, but now I feel
    the need to weigh in...

    First off for those that don't know me I have been deejaying for almost 20
    years now. I started out on college radio playing new wave and industrial. I
    didn't beat mix at first--I didn't know how. But after a few club gigs I
    bought some 1200s and learned. I also started playing house and techno. I
    then moved onto to playing mostly acid jazz/trip hop. I play vinyl and CDs
    whether I'm spinning on radio or in a club--and have for the last 5-8 years.

    To me the important thing is the music. I think that a deejay has a
    RESPONSIBILITY to take his or her crowd on a journey and expose them to new
    music (you also have to make sure you don't leave people behind which may
    require to play more recognizable tracks as well). It doesn't matter to me
    where you got the music and what format you play it on, what matters to me
    is HOW you picked it. Did you just grab a compilation 'cause it was easy and
    convenient or because you saw some tracks on there you really wanted? Being
    lazy is being lazy whether it's playing tracks on a compilation OR ripping
    off the play list of some other deejay. It's one thing to go hear a deejay
    and fall in love with a track you heard and go play it, it's quite another
    to copy a deejay 'cause it's easy. I obviously have a vested interest in as
    many people as possible hearing and finding out about music..I HATE deejays
    that refuse to tell people what they're playing because they're scared of
    being copied. They need to be more concerned about spreading the music. And
    we could all live without the deejay snobbery (i.e. I have the 12", I have
    the promo, I have the test pressing, I have the DAT, etc.).

    Someone could copy my record collection today, but they couldn't copy ME.
    Because I'm constantly on the hunt for new music you'd have to rob me every
    week and more importantly you can't steal my "ear". You good grab all my CD
    compilations and that wouldn't automatically make you able to choose the
    good tracks off them or put them in the right sequence (and that would be
    just as tired as a deejay that bought another deejay's complete 12"
    collection but then almost never buys anything new). All good deejays are
    like that. Stealing their records would be like stealing an artist's paint
    brushes and paint...You wouldn't be stealing their "art".

    So if a deejays walks into a record store on Nov 1st and hears a white label
    test pressing and loves it and plays it, he/she is no better than the deejay
    that walks into the same record store an hour later to find the record is
    sold out but is able to pick it up on an compilation CD a month or two later
    and plays it. The first deejay maybe luckier. He/she may be quicker. But
    they're aren't better. However, let's say that white label comes out for
    real and is readily available IF you want it than the deejay that waits for
    it to show up on a compilation is weak and cheap. In other words deejays
    shouldn't be penalized if they play CDs (even if they're compilations--hell,
    there are some very obscure compilations out there), they should be
    penalized if they are slow, weak, or cheap. IMHO. :)

    Also keep in mind that a LOT of albums are only coming out CDs these
    days--so if you want drop some album tracks you can often only do so on CD.
    And some one who pulls out CDs of the Japanese only Sirkus compilation,
    Style:After Work, Catskills Straight Out The Cat Litter, 5AM Eternal,
    Outpatients 2, Arctic Circle, etc gets props from me--but pulling out the
    most recent Quango/Instinct/(insert name of domestic compilation series full
    of last season's big names here) CD will get you nothing but pity.

    And last but not least I got no problem with a deejay that shows up with a
    laptop full of tunes...(as long as they got those tracks the right way--via
    hard work).

    Dirk van den Heuvel
    President/GM, Groove Distribution
    "Your Guide To The Underground"
    http://www.groovedis.com

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Zachary Viggiani [mailto:zach@playmedia.ca]
    Sent: Friday, October 26, 2001 9:11 AM
    To: acid-jazz@ucsd.edu
    Subject: Re: NYTimes.com Article: The D.J.'so New Mix: Digital
    FilesandaTurntable

    I am going to get hit for being so terse on this, but in my mind djs play
    vinyl and jokers play cds out. it is one thing to come out and play an
    original composition on cd-r that is a animal of a different nature, but i
    have very little respect for a dj that plays cds, especially if they play
    compellation cds. it says to me that they put in very little effort into
    their music selection. that is just the way i feel, if you play them all
    the more power to you, but i personally have little respect for them.

    in my mind, it should be a personal point of pride that you know your shit
    and put in the effort to get vinyl even though in the end it all sounds the
    same coming out of the speakers. dj culture is build out of the 12" that is
    where you get your special remix's, that is where your limited releases, the
    odd b-sides that never make it to an lp. in my mind that is what it is all
    about.

    to me it is like if in the 80's a dj came out and played tapes. they do not
    have the history, or the cred.

    z.

    On 10/26/01 09:11 AM, "Olaf Molenveld" <olaf@interactivelink.nl> wrote:

    > i invite you all to go to www.expansions.nl and listen to some of my
    mixes,
    > and then tell me
    >
    > A) doi you think they're done using CD's, Vinyl, compilations or 12"es or
    > MP3's,
    > B) did you like the mixes? and
    > C) would you dance to the music? ;)
    >
    > Olaf (always curious and it's friday ;)
    >
    > ----- Original Message -----
    > From: Joao Neves <joao@triplebeta.se>
    > To: <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
    > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2001 2:33 PM
    > Subject: SV: NYTimes.com Article: The D.J.'s New Mix: Digital Files
    > andaTurntable
    >
    >
    >> Hello,
    >>
    >> This is my first post on this list, im not new to the list, i've just
    been
    >> lurking in the background for a while.. thought it was time to say
    > something
    >> here. Maybe i'll give an intro later on..
    >>
    >> In respons to your questions olaf:
    >>
    >> I thing what Heikki is trying to say here is that anyone can throw on a
    >> compilation cd and let it spin, this doesn't require any skill at all.
    Its
    >> like looking at a musican playing an already programed intrument, in
    other
    >> words boring. But it takes a skilled DJ to be able to mix a bunch of song
    >> through-out a session (notice: this can be done with either cd or vinyl)
    >>
    >> I myself have started to buy more vinyl then the last year or so, mostly
    >> because its more fun to play vinyl when DJing. Its hard to put your
    finger
    >> on it, but its something more magical over a peice of vinyl then a cd. It
    >> probably has to do with the thing that its a little bit rarer with vinyl
    >> then cds nowadays.
    >>
    >> And that is probably the reason we some people regard DJs who spin vinyl
    > as
    >> "realer" DJs. Everybody have cds at home, but not everybody have vinyl,
    >> expecially not.. rare, white-labeled 12inches. And of course, the whole
    >> DJ/Rap culture started out with "two turntables and a microphone" also
    >> making it more "real" to spin wax instead of cds.
    >>
    >> Now.. im not saying that I back this claims all the way, im just trying
    to
    >> explain, or lay out a theory at least on why some people do think this
    > way.
    >> I agree with the previours posters to this thread, that to mix vinyl with
    >> cds is ok, as long as it is done in a moderate way.. hehe.
    >>
    >>
    >> Regards
    >>
    >> Joao Neves
    >> Sthlm, Sweden
    >> http://www.joaoneves.com
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >> -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
    >> Från: Olaf Molenveld [mailto:olaf@interactivelink.nl]
    >> Skickat: den 26 oktober 2001 13:22
    >> Till: heikki kiviluoto; acid-jazz@ucsd.edu
    >> Ämne: Re: NYTimes.com Article: The D.J.'s New Mix: Digital Files and
    >> aTurntable
    >>
    >>
    >> could you clarify a little on this statement:
    >>
    >> "and if they aren't people calling
    >> themselves deejays and playing just compilation cds and cd-r:s containing
    >> already-released material."
    >>
    >> is it because it's to easy to buy a compilation CD? is it different from
    >> DJ's spinning and mixing with vinyl albums (instead of 12"es)? do you
    mean
    >> with compilation a compilation with radio-edits or do you also consider
    >> unmixed compilations with full 12" versions on it?
    >>
    >> about CD-r's with already released material: is this a music-pirating
    > thing,
    >> or something else?
    >>
    >> Olaf
    >> ----- Original Message -----
    >> From: heikki kiviluoto <heikki@enalahyysalo.fi>
    >> To: Olaf Molenveld <olaf@interactivelink.nl>; acidjazz list
    >> <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
    >> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2001 1:17 PM
    >> Subject: Re: NYTimes.com Article: The D.J.'s New Mix: Digital Files and
    >> aTurntable
    >>
    >>
    >>> on 26.10.2001 13:16, Olaf Molenveld at olaf@interactivelink.nl wrote:
    >>>
    >>>> what kind of experience do you have when you watch a DJ select 12"s
    > and
    >> put
    >>>> them on a turntable?
    >>>
    >>> well, if that dj happened to be - say - q-bert, i bet i'd sure have some
    >>> sort of experience.:)
    >>>
    >>> then again, if the dj happened to be your regular club dj who does neat
    >> beat
    >>> mixing and little gimmicks but not anything that special, no
    > extraordianry
    >>> experiences then..
    >>>
    >>>> i am honestly curious what it is about seeing a DJ
    >>>> playing vinyl vs. CD's.......is it that it's not common for people to
    >> have
    >>>> vinyl?
    >>>
    >>> myself being a vinyl junkie i just _happen_ to prefer vinyl over cds.
    >> vinyl
    >>> seems and feels more "real" to me. then again, i ain't bothered people
    >> using
    >>> cds as well as music has quality. and if they aren't people calling
    >>> themselves deejays and playing just compilation cds and cd-r:s
    > containing
    >>> already-released material.
    >>>
    >>> if any deejay stared using c-cassettes!.. that would rock!:)
    >>>
    >>>
    >>> --
    >>> Heikki Kiviluoto -> ddr rhythm/turku soul boys
    >>> turku, finland, europe
    >>>
    >>>
    >>>
    >>
    >

    -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
    zachary viggiani : http://www.playmedia.ca : 416.516.9110 xt.54



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