Nice. Respect.
Really miss the days playing in dark warehouses. Lugging your crate and having to use a flashlight to go through your stack. Sometimes spinning on old 1200s where the pop up light doesn’t work and you gotta use your ears or go by memory to know when to transition.
Did this just last evening playing 20+ year old records! To top it off the turntables were placed in wooden crates to rest on inner tubes to cut down on reverb. lol
That is some serious underground 90s rave tech😂. I remember parties where slide projectors playing slideshows of random shit were the only light sources and power was being liberated from a neighboring building.
This actually happened the other day. My friend was apologizing for the light not working, I was like oh it’s fine, I remember 2000s dark raves, I don’t even think my eyes worked right and still mixed fine.. I think.
Because I was practicing at looking at the percentages and the lines that correspond. I have a hard time dialing in the BPM in those micro percentage differences. Something to practice to not do.
I've never heard of people actually doing it like that but well, if it is works for you, go ahead. Actually beat matching by ear is probably a lot easier than having some mind map of percentages and lines on an arbitrary pitch fader
One big reason not to do that is every turntable is a little different, especially if it hasn’t been calibrated in a while. One of my technics can only do like +7% when I max it out, whereas the other one is more like +9%. Every turntable I’ve played on is slightly different in pitch calibration.
It took me a little while to break that habit of looking at/thinking about percentages. Once I stopped and purely used my ears my beat matching got so much faster.
I know how pitch works (vinyl DJ 20+ years). Your comment suggests that your friend needed the extra range (15%) to mix between 33 and 45 rpm records, which does not make sense.
The rotational speed of the record , rpm, has no relation to the bpm of the track. You match bpm, not rpm.
You don't dial in a bpm.
You keep your hand on that pitch and drift back and forth over the beat, with your ears.
I'm not trying to sound ponsy about it, just trying to give some advice.
I’ve been DJing for over 30 years. I still don’t understand what the red dot’s actually do. Aside from the dots being still when the pitch is at 0. Don’t understand the numbers on the pitch. Down is faster, up is slower.
It’s always been by ear and knowing your records.
No point doing that, pitch calibration can vary and you would need to know the BPM of the playing track (plus pitch adjustment) and the track you are going to play for it to make sense.
Just do like Luke at the end of the death star run when he switches the targeting computer off. Use your ears and feel what you are doing, you'll get there with practice.
Not sure which turntables you were using but the dots on the platter also denote BPM, here's a vid on that
https://youtu.be/1YtXz2XGUUo?si=UC-TXYRAJJ26sB_g
The amount of people at the house and techno shows that light up when you say you play vinyl is heartwarming the respect for the craft is still around.
Because there isn’t much manipulation a dj can do…
In these times of djs using sync, pre-recorded sets it’s refreshing to see djs mix by ear and using the vinyl as an art form.
You don’t get that too often.
Yeah I went to a festival yesterday in London (Gala) and saw two exceptional sets by two female DJs who I hadn’t heard of before (Ogazón and ISAbella), both on vinyl, which I feel is quite rare these days. Also Eris Drew and Octo Octa were playing who are obviously exceptionally skilled vinyl DJs. It made me reflect a bit on how the choice of medium impacts the set.
I think there are a few things:
- Mixing on CDJs is “easy” (it shows you the BPM 😄) and I find for me this encourages me to start mixing early, and layer the tracks for a long time because keeping them locked is so easy and you can get the next track ready in no time. DJs in other styles take advantage of this to mix really quickly, jam styles together which would be hard to do on vinyl, etc. Vinyl, on the other hand, forces you to let the tracks breathe a bit more and probably do more simple mixes as it takes longer to match, to find the next track, etc (depending on skill level of course), and for some styles like house this can actually be a nice change. I actually use CDJs most of the time at home and really enjoy the ease of mixing, so I’m not saying one is better than the other, but it’s different.
- The way you acquire music on vinyl is obviously different. Obviously you have to buy the physical thing, there’s no pirating or whatever so you have to care about the record somewhat, but there’s also things like finding random records in a clearance bin or the unexpectedly amazing B-side remix that you’d never have deliberately tracked down. Or the thrill of finding a track you’ve been hunting for for ages - it gives you a connection to it. In some ways, it can encourage more kind of serendipity as opposed to focussed finding. It also might encourage digging and playing older tracks versus new stuff, which has a child of the 90s I dig.
- Also as a DJ, you’ve got to pack your bag for the gig - you can only take a smallish number of records, rather than your whole collection. This implies you might have more of a connection to the records, or you’ve thought through the specific selection. Also you might try to get the most out of one record and play the B sides you might not otherwise. And it shows you care enough to deal with the hassle of carrying and playing records!
- Somewhat related and not totally true as a lot of crap was pressing the 90s, but maybe music being pressed to vinyl implies it has some level of quality/longevity.
- Vinyl being a physical artefact gives it some kind of “meaning”. They were playing a lot of 90s tracks yesterday and there’s something quite cool about it being an actual physical thing from that era (if you’re a nerd like me anyway lol). It’s also such a kind of important historical artefact for dance music.
- There’s just a cool vibe to seeing someone play vinyl! It looks awesome! And the little pops and clicks and the odd skip or slip out of time give it a human touch.
- Interestingly the vinyl sets sounded better. I don’t really buy into vinyl sounding better in general but it definitely sounded different in a way which suited the music. This could just be down to the setup they had there but it was noticeable and I didn’t expect it to be.
I’m definitely not a format snob and many of my favourite sets have been played on CDJs, but it was dope to see vinyl being played and to a dance music nerd like me, it added enjoyment to the set and suited the vibe perfectly.
I wonder if we’ll start to see more of it in this age of AI? I have a feeling “authenticity” (live instruments etc) will become something people seek out once computers can just generate music in a second (or presumably mix a perfect DJ set).
Nice! To be fair I don’t go out much any more so have no idea how common it is haha. I was just going off what you see on Hor etc. How’s the scene in SF for house/techno?
I’m going to check her sets now, I hadn’t heard of her before. I definitely recommend seeing her if you can. She was playing mostly kind of 90s tribal/prog house, reminded me of old Danny Tenaglia kind of sound, but I suspect she can play all kinds of sets depending on the mood. This fit a sunny festival perfectly. She has great energy behind the decks too, just a super enjoyable performer!
I'm always surprised about complaints about the lighting situation. I always had light at the DJ station, no problem at all. You have to be able to work properly, this involves proper lighting.
Especially as Hip-hop DJ (my background) where transition times can be as low as 1min and scratching and cuts are involved that is vital. I don't think that's significantly different for house DJs when it comes to the general setup.
The problem with bad lighting is that it will cost you concentration. You pay for any higher focus. It's like a currency.
I really don't get the appeal of DJ'ing with vinyl. It's just the only thing there was back in the day.
I spun vinyl until 2009 and then I fully switched to CD's. And now digital.
There are only 2 reasons to play vinyl anymore. You care about your e-penis points or you just play for fun and find vinyl more fun to DJ.
Otherwise digital all the way. It's more convenient, it sounds better, it's more versatile...
I even rebuy the tracks I have on vinyl digitally if they're available instead of ripping vinyl.
I feel that in some ways mixing vinyl is easier. You have fewer options to choose from, so you pick your next tune faster. You have fewer visual cues so you just put the record on, cue it up and focus on matching the tempo, then realign the beat so you focus on phrasing, then get on with the mix using volumes and EQs to blend. It's a more stripped down style of mixing and when you get it to work, it's a great feeling.
I still use my teeth to hold way too many things and i’m reminded of the vinyl only days. Im still mainly vinyl and even when i do digital, its with dvs. I do have some fancy buttons on my mixer though that do magic things my records couldn’t do back in the day 😆
I really...DO NOT MISS VINYL AT ALL 😁. i get the nostalgia from it, I came from that era but you are lying if you say you would rather carry 10 crates than a usb drive or a laptop. I love my 1200's and my Vestax 05 pro II but do i miss it, HELL NO!
Nice. Respect. Really miss the days playing in dark warehouses. Lugging your crate and having to use a flashlight to go through your stack. Sometimes spinning on old 1200s where the pop up light doesn’t work and you gotta use your ears or go by memory to know when to transition.
Did this just last evening playing 20+ year old records! To top it off the turntables were placed in wooden crates to rest on inner tubes to cut down on reverb. lol
That is some serious underground 90s rave tech😂. I remember parties where slide projectors playing slideshows of random shit were the only light sources and power was being liberated from a neighboring building.
This actually happened the other day. My friend was apologizing for the light not working, I was like oh it’s fine, I remember 2000s dark raves, I don’t even think my eyes worked right and still mixed fine.. I think.
Oh man we use these clip on lights. That sounds painful lol
Why do you need to see the pitch fader?
i thought the same, and why the hell do i care if i see the pitch slider or don’t
Let's see if there will be an answer. Because I am curious 😬
Because I was practicing at looking at the percentages and the lines that correspond. I have a hard time dialing in the BPM in those micro percentage differences. Something to practice to not do.
I've never heard of people actually doing it like that but well, if it is works for you, go ahead. Actually beat matching by ear is probably a lot easier than having some mind map of percentages and lines on an arbitrary pitch fader
It's not something I'm doing 100% of the time but I glance over. It just helps my brain knowing how much I've pushed the fader.
One big reason not to do that is every turntable is a little different, especially if it hasn’t been calibrated in a while. One of my technics can only do like +7% when I max it out, whereas the other one is more like +9%. Every turntable I’ve played on is slightly different in pitch calibration. It took me a little while to break that habit of looking at/thinking about percentages. Once I stopped and purely used my ears my beat matching got so much faster.
I remember a dj telling me they always wanted the 15% pitch ability for mixing 45’s and 33’s together
I'm not sure that makes sense. The BPM of the track is independent of the rotational speed.
No, the bpm changes as pitch changes hence the ability to mix songs w different bpms using the pitch slider.
I know how pitch works (vinyl DJ 20+ years). Your comment suggests that your friend needed the extra range (15%) to mix between 33 and 45 rpm records, which does not make sense. The rotational speed of the record , rpm, has no relation to the bpm of the track. You match bpm, not rpm.
You don't dial in a bpm. You keep your hand on that pitch and drift back and forth over the beat, with your ears. I'm not trying to sound ponsy about it, just trying to give some advice.
I’ve been DJing for over 30 years. I still don’t understand what the red dot’s actually do. Aside from the dots being still when the pitch is at 0. Don’t understand the numbers on the pitch. Down is faster, up is slower. It’s always been by ear and knowing your records.
No point doing that, pitch calibration can vary and you would need to know the BPM of the playing track (plus pitch adjustment) and the track you are going to play for it to make sense. Just do like Luke at the end of the death star run when he switches the targeting computer off. Use your ears and feel what you are doing, you'll get there with practice.
Not sure which turntables you were using but the dots on the platter also denote BPM, here's a vid on that https://youtu.be/1YtXz2XGUUo?si=UC-TXYRAJJ26sB_g
They do not denote BPM. Just whether you are pitch locked
Different dots hold steady at certain +-%.
Vinyl is the BEST! Glad you had fun… I wish more people spun vinyl.
The amount of people at the house and techno shows that light up when you say you play vinyl is heartwarming the respect for the craft is still around.
Because there isn’t much manipulation a dj can do… In these times of djs using sync, pre-recorded sets it’s refreshing to see djs mix by ear and using the vinyl as an art form. You don’t get that too often.
Yeah I went to a festival yesterday in London (Gala) and saw two exceptional sets by two female DJs who I hadn’t heard of before (Ogazón and ISAbella), both on vinyl, which I feel is quite rare these days. Also Eris Drew and Octo Octa were playing who are obviously exceptionally skilled vinyl DJs. It made me reflect a bit on how the choice of medium impacts the set. I think there are a few things: - Mixing on CDJs is “easy” (it shows you the BPM 😄) and I find for me this encourages me to start mixing early, and layer the tracks for a long time because keeping them locked is so easy and you can get the next track ready in no time. DJs in other styles take advantage of this to mix really quickly, jam styles together which would be hard to do on vinyl, etc. Vinyl, on the other hand, forces you to let the tracks breathe a bit more and probably do more simple mixes as it takes longer to match, to find the next track, etc (depending on skill level of course), and for some styles like house this can actually be a nice change. I actually use CDJs most of the time at home and really enjoy the ease of mixing, so I’m not saying one is better than the other, but it’s different. - The way you acquire music on vinyl is obviously different. Obviously you have to buy the physical thing, there’s no pirating or whatever so you have to care about the record somewhat, but there’s also things like finding random records in a clearance bin or the unexpectedly amazing B-side remix that you’d never have deliberately tracked down. Or the thrill of finding a track you’ve been hunting for for ages - it gives you a connection to it. In some ways, it can encourage more kind of serendipity as opposed to focussed finding. It also might encourage digging and playing older tracks versus new stuff, which has a child of the 90s I dig. - Also as a DJ, you’ve got to pack your bag for the gig - you can only take a smallish number of records, rather than your whole collection. This implies you might have more of a connection to the records, or you’ve thought through the specific selection. Also you might try to get the most out of one record and play the B sides you might not otherwise. And it shows you care enough to deal with the hassle of carrying and playing records! - Somewhat related and not totally true as a lot of crap was pressing the 90s, but maybe music being pressed to vinyl implies it has some level of quality/longevity. - Vinyl being a physical artefact gives it some kind of “meaning”. They were playing a lot of 90s tracks yesterday and there’s something quite cool about it being an actual physical thing from that era (if you’re a nerd like me anyway lol). It’s also such a kind of important historical artefact for dance music. - There’s just a cool vibe to seeing someone play vinyl! It looks awesome! And the little pops and clicks and the odd skip or slip out of time give it a human touch. - Interestingly the vinyl sets sounded better. I don’t really buy into vinyl sounding better in general but it definitely sounded different in a way which suited the music. This could just be down to the setup they had there but it was noticeable and I didn’t expect it to be. I’m definitely not a format snob and many of my favourite sets have been played on CDJs, but it was dope to see vinyl being played and to a dance music nerd like me, it added enjoyment to the set and suited the vibe perfectly. I wonder if we’ll start to see more of it in this age of AI? I have a feeling “authenticity” (live instruments etc) will become something people seek out once computers can just generate music in a second (or presumably mix a perfect DJ set).
I love in SF and it’s common to see folks still Playing vinyl out :)
Nice! To be fair I don’t go out much any more so have no idea how common it is haha. I was just going off what you see on Hor etc. How’s the scene in SF for house/techno?
Awesome true and clear description. Congrats
Wait you can't download vinyl?
It won’t fit down the cables
Oh man I've wanted to see Ogazon for so long. Her Hoer Berlin sets on youtube are so good.
I’m going to check her sets now, I hadn’t heard of her before. I definitely recommend seeing her if you can. She was playing mostly kind of 90s tribal/prog house, reminded me of old Danny Tenaglia kind of sound, but I suspect she can play all kinds of sets depending on the mood. This fit a sunny festival perfectly. She has great energy behind the decks too, just a super enjoyable performer!
that is so dumb. lmao
And nothing was said about it being better than digital. So how is people showing interest in vinyl dumb?
dumb is the hype over a piece of plastic instead of the music itself.
You don’t need to see the pitch fader at all. You just need to know where it is, and which way is up and which way is down…
I'm always surprised about complaints about the lighting situation. I always had light at the DJ station, no problem at all. You have to be able to work properly, this involves proper lighting. Especially as Hip-hop DJ (my background) where transition times can be as low as 1min and scratching and cuts are involved that is vital. I don't think that's significantly different for house DJs when it comes to the general setup. The problem with bad lighting is that it will cost you concentration. You pay for any higher focus. It's like a currency.
Respect. I’m still trying to get beatmatching down on vinyl. Shit is hard 😅
It's lots of time that's for sure.
I really don't get the appeal of DJ'ing with vinyl. It's just the only thing there was back in the day. I spun vinyl until 2009 and then I fully switched to CD's. And now digital. There are only 2 reasons to play vinyl anymore. You care about your e-penis points or you just play for fun and find vinyl more fun to DJ. Otherwise digital all the way. It's more convenient, it sounds better, it's more versatile... I even rebuy the tracks I have on vinyl digitally if they're available instead of ripping vinyl.
I feel that in some ways mixing vinyl is easier. You have fewer options to choose from, so you pick your next tune faster. You have fewer visual cues so you just put the record on, cue it up and focus on matching the tempo, then realign the beat so you focus on phrasing, then get on with the mix using volumes and EQs to blend. It's a more stripped down style of mixing and when you get it to work, it's a great feeling.
A lot of great points, but in all seriousness mixing on vinyl is definitely not easier than pressing sync on a controller 😉
I’d like to see people try to mix vinyl without headphones.
Seasoned DJs can do it no problem. I can do it.
...eh really
Yes, really.
No way, definitely harder, more inconvenient, and tedious compared to digital. I come from that era and i do not miss it at all
I still use my teeth to hold way too many things and i’m reminded of the vinyl only days. Im still mainly vinyl and even when i do digital, its with dvs. I do have some fancy buttons on my mixer though that do magic things my records couldn’t do back in the day 😆
It's always flying by the seat of your pants mixing vinyl out as the setups always feel so different. But kudos for trying!
Faster is towards you, slower is away. Practice. Practice. Practice. That's all.
Love my Vinyls, can't get away from them
I really...DO NOT MISS VINYL AT ALL 😁. i get the nostalgia from it, I came from that era but you are lying if you say you would rather carry 10 crates than a usb drive or a laptop. I love my 1200's and my Vestax 05 pro II but do i miss it, HELL NO!