MP3 Dj-ing

I say that digital audio mixing with no physical medium is the future. Whether this is MP3, OGG Vorbis, raw uncompressed audio data or whatever digital audio encoding. Ideally, we don't want to lose any sound quality, and the music should sound studio fresh. Fortunately most digital audio software/hardware mixers support raw uncompressed wav files. mp3 is popular because it makes efficient use of technology, but the downside is the loss in sound quality, but no one is saying you have to encode your cds as mp3s.
What makes mixing with digital audio interesting for me is that you can put all your cds & vinyl into a smaller physical space, travel the world with a wafer thin laptop (wish i had one), then retrieve them without having to hunt through your wallet/rack for the cd/vinyl and then be able to have fun and surprise people with new effects and new techniques that are only possible since the advent of this new technology. Also with the added bonus of being able to mix two tracks that are on the same album without having to make an extra copy of every cd you have!

My opinion is that the format and the medium that the music is put on to is irrelevant, its the music itself that is important, and of course, that the artists work is respected and that the time and effort put into making their music is rewarded by those who appreciate it.
 
Back to the quality of MP3 discussion, one of the guys over at MMC who is pretty much quality obsessed has found that if you rip your tunes at 630kbps max VBR using the latest lame encoder you get rips that most people couldn't distinguish from the original CD. File sizes are large (15 mb for an 8 min tune I think he quoted) but smaller than .wav by a long way.

Not tried it myself yet, but once I do I'll report back if people are interested.

And Rob Urk - Whats happened to the private messaging man?
 
just to point out a few things...

mp3 format only goes up to 320 kbps, the file size you mention (15 meg for 8 minutes) sounds like 256 kbps (roughly)...

at this data rate good encoders (like lame) achieve transparency but still won't cut it on big sound systems as too much material is lost (at 256 kbps, the stuff you hear is less than 20% of the original sound)... vbr/cbr won't make much difference at this level :)

wma and ogg vorbis formats are both geared to deliver better-than-mp3 quality at rates of 128 kbps and below, so they're pretty useless in the absolute quality stakes...

on the other hand, at 256 kbps you're only getting something like 5 to 1 compression ratio... seeing as a 60 gig h/d can hold close to 100 cd's, you might as well stick to uncompressed audio :)
 
You're right of course (that'll teach me to cross post without checking the facts/waiting to see how the original thread pans out) - it turns out that he was using 256-320K vbr combined with a load of mastering plugins to get what he described as "retail quality". How this would sound on a big rig I don't know but a lot will also depend on what goes on between harddisk and speaker (quality of soundcard, type of connections, all that cak).
 
I don't know how you find Cd/mp3 mixin easier. I've never mixed mp3's but i guess it's like CD's but lower quality sound. The disadvantage i find with CD's is the fact that you can't see the actual tune like you can with vinyl.
 
Yeah, also to expand on what Coling said:
There are certain ripping syndicates, that buy the music (or get a cd rip) to distribute to the mp3 punters. A good example of this are tracks with the word *gem* on the end. *Gem* being the ripping syndicate...
 
yeh but cds/mp3 offer so many other advantages, the big one for me being that your soundsource doesnt deteriorate in quality so that it will one day be rendered unusable
also using cue points can remove the need for seeing whats on the vinyl, as long as u know your tracks it doesnt matter!
 
well thats fair enough man, i have vinyl decks,a pair of numarks, but i whish now id gone for cds
trouble is when i bought them i didnt know much about cd decks and wasnt interested to know because i thought vinyl was the only cool way
also the cd decks then didnt have the funky features theyn have now that give em so much scope (cd decks that is)
 
the other thing is dislike about vinyl is playing when theres a lot of wind about and getting the needle blown around, that used to piss jme off constantly
 
Colin OOOD said:
I agree... you just have to be aware of where you get your CDs or MP3s from, and the effect you have when you aquire them through dodgy means.

Colin
Click to expand...
I think this is more of a casual listener thing rather than a Digital-DJ thing. If you are d/l mp3 you have no control over the quality (most things tend to be ripped at 128 or 192 if you are lucky) and the poor quality pisses you off - as has been pointed out about 7 gazillion times in this thread already quality is a problem (I really should have called the thread digital djing rather than mp3...nothing is stopping you using uncompressed if you need to)

As far as "seeing" the music goes (some other post in this thread somewhere) a decent digital app will give you far more visibility of the music than any vinyl/mixer combo.

At this point I would love to direct you to one of my mixes to demonstrate how far beyond vinyl you can push things digitally but ho-hum I never have been much for a stiletto in the throat and one of Mugsys concrete overcoats...
 
ok,does any1 agree with my logic: I hear about and try to find good tunes that I like. I then find them on Dc++ and listen to it on end. All the stuff I really like, I buy,because though its slight,there really is a difference in quality ANd,I wanna keep on supporting my favourite artists so that they can keep on putting out such good releases. I too would like to make my own shit== and I would appreciate peeps buying them,not downloading them.
Does this seem rite?
They track preview they sometimes give u on a label or recordshop website is usually not enough to listen to the tracj properly,so wot choice do i have but to d/l it???!!

:lmao: :punk: :tongue1:
 
That is generally the music lovers way, unfortunately I fear that the majority of people don't care enough about supporting the artists. They just download merrily and then claim that they "can't afford to buy the CD" and it's ok "'cos everyone else is doing it".

Sure, I'm not whiter than white and I do download the odd tune but I also buy a hell of a lot more music than most...which is essentially as much as I can afford to spend on music in a given month so the industry/scene isn't losing any cash 'cos I wouldn't be buying those tunes anyway...but then if I need them in a set they will be purchased eventually - if you mix 'em then consistent quality is as important as best quality.

Which leads me onto another question - how much did you spend on tunes last year?
 
Ok Ive had a read through this post and have a number of points to come back on....as someone who has been mixing for about 7yrs and into turntablism/scratching for about 4 of those I have a slightly different take on things :

My first point is in response to the "Vinyl is overrated" type posts here. I believe that many DJ's are blinkered to a paradigm of mixing where the DJ selects and beat mixes two tracks and does little else. If this is your style then so be it but I have always strived to try and push the limits of what can be achieved on decks. Im not saying everyone go out and start scratching - but be open to the possibility that your decks/mixer/music are analogous to an artists materials, tools and canvas ... as an artist would you rather be able to produce a generic print or a one-off masterpiece ?

Vinyl obviously has drawbacks of general audio grainyness and a box weighs a ton but looking at just the interface vinyl is a truly hands-on medium - something that you cannot achieve currently with CD, even cdj1000 style scratch decks, while very impressive, only give you an element of perceived control.

Moving on to mp3/digital formats - these have truly shown the separation between interface and underlying sound format. I have used final scratch and have been blown away by the seamless combination of digital media and traditional vinyl interface. As far as copyright issues go - since the explosion of mp3 large comemrcials have started to suffer the pain while indie's are beginning to flourish due to the breadth of exposure they can now gain. Mainstream commercial pop is 'throw-away' fast food for the ear , whereas true 'music' will always be collected, valued and pursued by the those it entertains.

</waffle> :)

peace...out,
Marc
 
far points marc, yet u dont get alot of scratchin wiv a psy dj set cos its all about choon selection, when to drop, seamless welding etc, as im sure u know, so i think afew bias answers will be found on this forum.

most of the hiphop djs i know scoff at my cd deks, while downloading SO much from da net and trying to mix mp3s!!! Its defo a 'snobber' culture vinyl mixin..........
oh yeah...and u cant get fuck all psytrance released on vinyl nowadays so cds are the way of the future.......... :byebye:
jim
 
"Its defo a 'snobber' culture vinyl mixin" - Without getting into an argument thats a bit of a broad generalisation. My point is that ignoring the fact that not much psy is released on vinyl - the CD interface provides you with merely a subset of the functionality of vinyl and without any of the tactile feedback.

Also there are a great deal of things which can be done 'in tha mix' that do not strictly count as 'scratching'. I dunno, I agree that music selection is always the number one priority but it would be nice to see psy DJ's getting a bit more interactive - even simple stuff like phasing or doubling up on the off beat with 2 copies would be good I reckon :)

Sorry to hammer the point but an analogy - if you were say a VJ doing visuals - would u rather have a slide projector or a laptop to work with ? :)

peace...out,
Marc
 
Jim said:
and u cant get fuck all psytrance released on vinyl nowadays so cds are the way of the future
Click to expand...
and when you do get a psy vinyl release it's only got half the tracks that its cd counterpart has :blink:
 
I don't get it. How can people not see that copying music is damaging the scene they purport to love?
Click to expand...

kinda depends on the individual's attitude tho - I d/l shedloads of stuff , anything thats good I'll go and buy on vinyl [I rarely buy cd's], stuff I dont like Ill delete. I also have no problems with keeping mp3s on my playa of stuff I own on vinyl.

mp3 is also handy for getting stuff that just isnt available commercially - e.g. live recorded mixes, out of print tracks etc

peace,
Marc
 
Colin OOOD said:
Ok... Most psy releases are on CD rather than vinyl at least partly because of the same copying issue... Vinyl manufacturing costs are far greater than CD, and I know for a fact (ie. I have been told by the label owner/managers concerned) that some psy labels have stopped doing vinyl because they can't sell enough for it to be economically viable. And why is this? One reason must be that so many people copy or d/l the tracks rather than buy them!
Click to expand...
Of course this does assume that people would purchase those same tunes that they are downloading were they not available on the FTP's/P2P networks.

I don't really buy that.

Decline in viability of vinyl is probably more likely due to the rise of CD as a viable DJ format - face it, since CD's became affordable DJ's have been the only ones buying vinyl. Can you still buy cassettes? No, 'cos you might as well get the CD. Same for vinyl.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top