Digital dj'ing does not necessarily mean inferior sound

[DEGENERATI0N]

Im sure this topic has probably already been done on MBC but not anytime by me and I am amazed that there are so many people out there who still require things to be explained properly.


True: Vinyl does sound better than CD due to the limitations of the frequency range.

True: Compressing WAV to mp3 loses quality although 320kbps is virtually impossible to tell apart from WAV

False: All digital formatted music sounds like shit.


A: There is a whole set of deterioration factors involved with vinyl that range from needle quality, condition of the record, wiring connections, vibration, dust, counterweight settings and the list goes on.

B: The music is transferred from digital to vinyl in the first place so playing it on that format in full post mastered quality is essentially the music in its purest form, the thing people seem to have trouble understanding is the quality only gets lost when compressing it or switching platforms.


There is a big difference between being an crusty mp3 DJ and playing music direct from the artists studio or the mastering house.
Its definitely a concern that serato is being bastardized by the idiots who are out there flexing blatantly pirated music and clouding the real purpose and benefits of having all this awesome technology.

There are loads of djs using digital platforms to play brand new top quality stuff from themselves and and other producer buddies so provided you are playing full quality wave files or 320kbps mp3's there is no noticable sound diffrence between real vinyl and digital at all.

[nic]

well sometimes I bang 128kpbs in the club / bar, no one can tell (unless you have seen seen seen sound). I have bare girls dancing all over, iv got the laptop so i done need to pay attention hardly to the mix, all about the selection. just blaow blaow click click pass me another drink, im set.

since vinyl left teh scene djing got alot more fun. digital is great because it allows you to play ANYTHING ANYTIME brand new second hand it doesn't matter, hit up my mans blogs at lunch - blasting bassssslines that night. All fresh mind you, most of the stuff I play you wouldn't of heard before ya know? blaaaaooooww just like that i rock my cammo pants and a black hoodie, i aint no goodie goodie, russian bare dubs i collect mashing sets you wont forget bbbllllaaaaooooowwww bbbooooyyyyyyeeeeee. party girls in fluro underwear u best seen done watch out, stroking batty mans dem drum and bass snout, pon de toilet cubicles i hear a shout, there is no rescue degeneration, mammals dun count. blllaaaoooowwww. yyeeeeaaahhhh.

[fooishbar]

There is a big difference between being an crusty mp3 DJ and playing music direct from the artists studio or the mastering house.

mastered tunes sound better than unmastered tunes. if you're playing unmastered 320s, they're not going to sound half as good as mastered dubs (or even just mastered wavs/320s), especially on a system, and especially when you're talking about tunes with serious sub weight. end of.

[deviant]

O ordered $150 worth of shit from beatport a few weeks ago....... because the order was so large I opted not to do the WAV thing due to cost......

TOTALLY regret it now

320s sound weak weak weak

[DEGENERATI0N]

blaaaaooooww just like that i rock my cammo pants and a black hoodie, i aint no goodie goodie, russian bare dubs i collect mashing sets you wont forget bbbllllaaaaooooowwww bbbooooyyyyyyeeeeee. party girls in fluro underwear u best seen done watch out, stroking batty mans dem drum and bass snout, pon de toilet cubicles i hear a shout, there is no rescue degeneration, mammals dun count. blllaaaoooowwww. yyeeeeaaahhhh.

yea thats what i thought too.

[DEGENERATI0N]

O ordered $150 worth of shit from beatport a few weeks ago....... because the order was so large I opted not to do the WAV thing due to cost......

TOTALLY regret it now

I agree ive got some pretty crap bits from them aswell.
beatport is notoriously unreliable for file quality but that doesnt really stand against the sound of a 320 from logic or something like that.

[spin]

blaaaaooooww just like that i rock my cammo pants and a black hoodie, i aint no goodie goodie, russian bare dubs i collect mashing sets you wont forget bbbllllaaaaooooowwww bbbooooyyyyyyeeeeee. party girls in fluro underwear u best seen done watch out, stroking batty mans dem drum and bass snout, pon de toilet cubicles i hear a shout, there is no rescue degeneration, mammals dun count. blllaaaoooowwww. yyeeeeaaahhhh.

call up mosus and get out the chiesel, this is some of your finest work... you should turn it into a cave painting while your bush.

[same o]

[spin]

i play all sorts of files when im out and about, i think with digital we are teething and once these teenage mp3's are out of the game we can grow some sub sonic testicles and live up to the dream that is vinyl...

[Stray]

well sometimes I bang 128kpbs in the club / bar, no one can tell (unless you have seen seen seen sound). I have bare girls dancing all over, iv got the laptop so i done need to pay attention hardly to the mix, all about the selection. just blaow blaow click click pass me another drink, im set.

since vinyl left teh scene djing got alot more fun. digital is great because it allows you to play ANYTHING ANYTIME brand new second hand it doesn't matter, hit up my mans blogs at lunch - blasting bassssslines that night. All fresh mind you, most of the stuff I play you wouldn't of heard before ya know? blaaaaooooww just like that i rock my cammo pants and a black hoodie, i aint no goodie goodie, russian bare dubs i collect mashing sets you wont forget bbbllllaaaaooooowwww bbbooooyyyyyyeeeeee. party girls in fluro underwear u best seen done watch out, stroking batty mans dem drum and bass snout, pon de toilet cubicles i hear a shout, there is no rescue degeneration, mammals dun count. blllaaaoooowwww. yyeeeeaaahhhh.

lolz

bla blllaaaaooooowww!!

[nic]

moar about teh mastering job than teh format i reckon
iv bought some shcoking wavs from online shops, totally fucking smashed limited so hard its like a magnum icecream with a little handle at teh beginning and a massive black block pon the end

[fooishbar]

moar about teh mastering job than teh format i reckon
iv bought some shcoking wavs from online shops, totally fucking smashed limited so hard its like a magnum icecream with a little handle at teh beginning and a massive black block pon the end

haha word, plus most of the ninja tune dubstep releases sound better on chemical 64kb samples than vinyl.

[unsoundbwoy]

moar about teh mastering job than teh format i reckon
iv bought some shcoking wavs from online shops, totally fucking smashed limited so hard its like a magnum icecream with a little handle at teh beginning and a massive black block pon the end

scripticles x 10000000000

priority

1. decent mixdown
2. decent mastering
3. decent format

[deviant]

DUDE!!! you forgot number 1 priority!!! let me provide a revised version for you


1. awesome tune
2. decent mixdown
3. decent mastering
4. decent format

[FoundationStepper]

True: Vinyl does sound better than CD due to the limitations of the frequency range.

its a largely academic point when most systems are either high-passed or not massive enough to do anything justice under 30Hz

[Scholtzy]

True: Vinyl does sound better than CD due to the limitations of the frequency range.

its a largely academic point when most systems are either high-passed or not massive enough to do anything justice under 30Hz

But CD format goes down to 20hz. From a production perspective you don't need to go lower otherwise your just moving air / eating up headroom.

You miss out on a fair bit of high end too with vinyl, CD's have a way flatter frequency response. If you listen out for things like tambourines and hats they come through on CD better.

The source these days is most likely to be digital. Its not like vinyl creates frequencies that aren't there,...the reality is that the conversion process removes frequencies.

I agree about a well mastered release on vinyl sounding better than a half arsed digital master tho.

[FoundationStepper]

in my understanding, the resonant frequency of a tt arm (at least on 1200's) is around 15Hz. Its concievable that this, or harmonics of this, are what contribute to the supposed "warmth" of the bass sound in the sub 50Hz range. That and the general noise from physical pickup process

but, yes, it is largely just moving air

[deviant]

agree on the high-end issue....

CDs do tend to sound way clearer..... especially if the decks/needles etc are crappy or un-serviced, which they most often are in club-land.

[Direkt]

moar about teh mastering job than teh format i reckon
iv bought some shcoking wavs from online shops, totally fucking smashed limited so hard its like a magnum icecream with a little handle at teh beginning and a massive black block pon the end

Ken oath.

Got some Digital Soundboy stuff that was squashed to the fuck.

Gaydome.

[ctoafn_DMZ]

Since I moved to CDJ's, I'm enjoying DJ'ing so much more.

As long as you are using 320 mp3s, 99% of punter wont tell the difference and as for 1%, they are probably just DJ chinstrokers sitting up the back anaylsing it too much when they should be dancing

I pretty much only use beatport for all my tunes and out of the 2 thousands or so I've bought, only 2 have been rubbish.

[a1studmuffin]

[Smile on Impact]

moar about teh mastering job than teh format i reckon
iv bought some shcoking wavs from online shops, totally fucking smashed limited so hard its like a magnum icecream with a little handle at teh beginning and a massive black block pon the end

Ken oath.

Got some Digital Soundboy stuff that was squashed to the fuck.

Gaydome.

Same. and what's worse is when it's a good track, but it's so fuckin squished you don't want to play it. I can't stand the over compressed flatline subbass. It means the tracks have zero bounce. It's a major gripe of mine.

[mrj]

must we go over this again. again. again.

[same o]

yes we must, this is the internets

[JAMESSSS]

At least with Vinyl you really need to get it mastered at a house for vinyl still.

With digital I suspect the lure of giving it to your man Rudi who just completed an audio engineering online course and should have his diploma in the mail real soon for the mixdown and master is all too strong.

"Hey Rudi, let's make it louder, seen?"

[tee193]

donnie darko is better than requim for a dream.
dubstep is not as good as drum and bass
bill cosby or garey busey

[fooishbar]

At least with Vinyl you really need to get it mastered at a house for vinyl still.

With digital I suspect the lure of giving it to your man Rudi who just completed an audio engineering online course and should have his diploma in the mail real soon for the mixdown and master is all too strong.

"Hey Rudi, let's make it louder, seen?"

seen.

[deviant]

donnie darko is better than requim for a dream.

[JAMESSSS]

RUDI PON THE MIXDOWN

[Flash]

ruuudiiiiiiiii

[obliveus]

Bring back pause tapes, I say. They sound the best. Always got my parties rockin back in Grade 6. Def Leopard into Ramones into Sex Pistols into Weird Al Yankovic. It was pure bliss.



Ya'll got way better ears than I do, but the only thing I've noticed is that Serato DJ's (not CD) tend to get louder. I'm extremely mindful of this when I play and I'm always walking out in front of the decks to check the sound levels (unfortunately, quality doesn't factor in to this brain of mine). I tend to turn the bass up just a bit and the high down just a bit, as well. It's my way of "trying" to recreate my beloved vinyl warmth, though I doubt anyone notices...and I have no idea if this actually works, but someone told me once that I should do it with digital. Tell me if I'm mistaken.

I reckon all the guys I know now who play CD's are so fricken good with their CDJ 1000's that I cant even compare them to my experiences, i.e...

Vinyl = High School
CD = PhD's
Serato = Tradesmen

Regardless of sound, I love digital now. I'm officially converted. Not for the sound, but for the ease of buying tunes and transporting gear to, between and from gigs.

:my2cents:

[DEGENERATI0N]

With digital I suspect the lure of giving it to your man Rudi who just completed an audio engineering online course and should have his diploma in the mail real soon for the mixdown and master is all too strong.

"Hey Rudi, let's make it louder, seen?"

I guess that probably happens a lot out there, that might explain some of the dreadfully loud clounstep going around these days.
pends on who you know i spose.

[youthful_implants]

DUDE!!! you forgot number 1 priority!!! let me provide a revised version for you


1. awesome tune
2. decent mixdown
3. decent mastering
4. decent format

Yeah this is true tunes don't NEED to be mastered to play out they just need to be mixed well with some headroom to turn them up. I have had tunes sent back from one of the industry's most respected engineer where he's blatanty just whacked it through the L2 and I sent it back. Lazy tbh LOL

People who love vinyl mistake a limited frequency range for warmth which is easier to reproduce digitally in fact. S'why you are hearing more and more tracks with sampled crackles and analogue glitches in them it reassures the purists.

[spin]

Bring back pause tapes, I say. They sound the best. Always got my parties rockin back in Grade 6. Def Leopard into Ramones into Sex Pistols into Weird Al Yankovic. It was pure bliss.



Ya'll got way better ears than I do, but the only thing I've noticed is that Serato DJ's (not CD) tend to get louder. I'm extremely mindful of this when I play and I'm always walking out in front of the decks to check the sound levels (unfortunately, quality doesn't factor in to this brain of mine). I tend to turn the bass up just a bit and the high down just a bit, as well. It's my way of "trying" to recreate my beloved vinyl warmth, though I doubt anyone notices...and I have no idea if this actually works, but someone told me once that I should do it with digital. Tell me if I'm mistaken.

I reckon all the guys I know now who play CD's are so fricken good with their CDJ 1000's that I cant even compare them to my experiences, i.e...

Vinyl = High School
CD = PhD's
Serato = Tradesmen

Regardless of sound, I love digital now. I'm officially converted. Not for the sound, but for the ease of buying tunes and transporting gear to, between and from gigs.

:my2cents:

i hear that.

[fooishbar]

well sometimes I bang 128kpbs in the club / bar, no one can tell (unless you have seen seen seen sound). I have bare girls dancing all over, iv got the laptop so i done need to pay attention hardly to the mix, all about the selection. just blaow blaow click click pass me another drink, im set.

since vinyl left teh scene djing got alot more fun. digital is great because it allows you to play ANYTHING ANYTIME brand new second hand it doesn't matter, hit up my mans blogs at lunch - blasting bassssslines that night. All fresh mind you, most of the stuff I play you wouldn't of heard before ya know? blaaaaooooww just like that i rock my cammo pants and a black hoodie, i aint no goodie goodie, russian bare dubs i collect mashing sets you wont forget bbbllllaaaaooooowwww bbbooooyyyyyyeeeeee. party girls in fluro underwear u best seen done watch out, stroking batty mans dem drum and bass snout, pon de toilet cubicles i hear a shout, there is no rescue degeneration, mammals dun count. blllaaaoooowwww. yyeeeeaaahhhh.

hahahaah, what?

[Expert Knob Twiddler]

well sometimes I bang 128kpbs in the club / bar, no one can tell (unless you have seen seen seen sound). I have bare girls dancing all over, iv got the laptop so i done need to pay attention hardly to the mix, all about the selection. just blaow blaow click click pass me another drink, im set.
.

he-he-he...... yep!!

[tactik]

True: Vinyl does sound better than CD due to the limitations of the frequency range.

Incorrect.
Vinyl's dynamic range is smaller than CD's...
They sound different because they have to be mastered differently.
ie; for vinyl- everything below about 200-300Hz has to be mono and they roll off the high end about 17-18kHz.
Many of us enjoy the sound of vinyl, I don't know exactly why that is... It could be the way the RCA curve effects the audio. The way the mastering engineer tweaked the sound. The way the vinyl-crackle and hiss creates a very satisfying high-frequency sound (make a fat beat.. then chuck some vinyl-crackle over it.. oh yeah) Or even the way the stereo information is transcribed into a single groove that might also have an effect that our brains can notice/use.

As for digital vs record DJing.

I don't know... For me, there is a difference in skill. But not all that much.
Obviously, this autoBPM-autoMixing-"timestretch your songs at correct BPM" shit I've seen some cats do for their entire preplanned sets, is ballsack.
But if you are the kind of DJ that uses the extra time and freedom this stuff gives you.. then it's all good.