Commentary: Old Habits Are Hard To Break…
Posted on February 7, 2010 with 0 comments
Old habits are hard to break; some are IMPOSSIBLE to break. I have one such habit and it is called “vinyl”. Now it has been debated (and will continue to be) that the recent technological advances in DJ equipment have made vinyl virtually “a thing of the past”. Instead of carting around 100 records for a gig a DJ can carry 200 tracks on a laptop and just plug-in using any of the “DJ-master” packages such as Vinyl Scratch, Serato, etc. Then there is the music distribution itself. The major labels are still CD only, with a few of them releasing a limited number of LPs or 12” singles on vinyl. There is a respectable number of independent labels that follow the same pattern of vinyl releases but many more of them are digital only. Finally we have the chosen media itself. We are in the digital age and that means we are saturated with technological wonders – musically speaking that would be the iPod. Where do I stand amidst all of this? My response is, “to each his own”. The reason for that is somewhat personal, and I am more that willing to share the details. Those who know me well know that sometimes I can be a bit stubborn about certain things, but they may not know exactly why…
First off, I am NOT against advancement. As much as I am a 70s and 80s kid I can still appreciate (some) music of today. My thing is that it has to appeal to me in a certain way in order for me to react to it. For instance there is an artist by the name of Rogiers who I am drawn to because his sound is “interesting”. When I listen to his tracks I hear musicianship – not just random noise, and that appeals to me. I approach DJ equipment in the same fashion – the piece of equipment MUST appeal to me. I have often been (and could very well continue to be) teased about my equipment because by today’s standards it’s “ancient”. I have two Technics 1210 turntables and a Pioneer CMX – 3000 CD mixer as my main output sources, and if I really wanted to dust off some music I could still use an additional output from a SONY TC-WE475 double cassette deck (that’s right, I said “cassette”). What? No Serato? No iPod? That’s correct – no software hookups, and no iPods. Why…because they don’t appeal to ME. I am a kinesthetic person, meaning I sometimes communicate by touch. But I also appreciate “visuals”, so I can best be described as a “touchy-feely-seeing type”. This is where my stubbornness for vinyl comes into the big picture.
I was a “collector” of vinyl records long before I decided to become a DJ – about 10 years to be precise. I would buy a record and just enjoy listening, watching it spin around on the portable turntable, looking at the sleeves, or reading the liner notes and cover art. I “touched” and I “saw”. Teaching myself how spin records was very easy because I continued to “touch” (vinyl – turntable – mixer) and “see” (label artwork – mental pictures as the record plays – breaks in the gooves), and that appealed to me more than anything else. I was not so much interested in become a “Turntablist” or “Scratch DJ”, though I loved hearing scratching in the early 80s rap records (“Roxanne, Roxanne” and Run D.M.C. joints) and seeing guys like Kid Capri or Jazzy Jeff doing their thing on TV. My niche would simply be to create an environment for dancing – period. When I play a record, you dance…end of story.
Nowadays I still play records, but when the occasion calls for it I will use CDs. Another DJ might go with CDs only. Yet another DJ (or “she-jay”) might use only Serato. My whole thing is this one question: “how does the music sound when the DJ is playing?” Compare this to having a hammer in your toolbox. A hammer is used to drive nails into the wall. You have the hammer and nails, but if you don’t use the hammer correctly, you could end up trying to drive your thumb into the wall – ouch! The point is that for me it’s not the “madness” (the equipment hype) but the “method” (how well you use your tools) that gets my attention. Are you driving a ‘nail’ or a ‘thumb’ into the wall? When I use my Technics 1210s I drive ‘nails’ into the walls! I choose to remain a “vinylsaur” simply because this is how I am wired. If the day comes when there are absolutely NO more vinyl records pressed, released, or sold then I will cease buying vinyl. Until that day comes this vinyl habit will be one of those that is IMPOSSIBLE to break.
My tools!
First off, I am NOT against advancement. As much as I am a 70s and 80s kid I can still appreciate (some) music of today. My thing is that it has to appeal to me in a certain way in order for me to react to it. For instance there is an artist by the name of Rogiers who I am drawn to because his sound is “interesting”. When I listen to his tracks I hear musicianship – not just random noise, and that appeals to me. I approach DJ equipment in the same fashion – the piece of equipment MUST appeal to me. I have often been (and could very well continue to be) teased about my equipment because by today’s standards it’s “ancient”. I have two Technics 1210 turntables and a Pioneer CMX – 3000 CD mixer as my main output sources, and if I really wanted to dust off some music I could still use an additional output from a SONY TC-WE475 double cassette deck (that’s right, I said “cassette”). What? No Serato? No iPod? That’s correct – no software hookups, and no iPods. Why…because they don’t appeal to ME. I am a kinesthetic person, meaning I sometimes communicate by touch. But I also appreciate “visuals”, so I can best be described as a “touchy-feely-seeing type”. This is where my stubbornness for vinyl comes into the big picture.
I was a “collector” of vinyl records long before I decided to become a DJ – about 10 years to be precise. I would buy a record and just enjoy listening, watching it spin around on the portable turntable, looking at the sleeves, or reading the liner notes and cover art. I “touched” and I “saw”. Teaching myself how spin records was very easy because I continued to “touch” (vinyl – turntable – mixer) and “see” (label artwork – mental pictures as the record plays – breaks in the gooves), and that appealed to me more than anything else. I was not so much interested in become a “Turntablist” or “Scratch DJ”, though I loved hearing scratching in the early 80s rap records (“Roxanne, Roxanne” and Run D.M.C. joints) and seeing guys like Kid Capri or Jazzy Jeff doing their thing on TV. My niche would simply be to create an environment for dancing – period. When I play a record, you dance…end of story.
Nowadays I still play records, but when the occasion calls for it I will use CDs. Another DJ might go with CDs only. Yet another DJ (or “she-jay”) might use only Serato. My whole thing is this one question: “how does the music sound when the DJ is playing?” Compare this to having a hammer in your toolbox. A hammer is used to drive nails into the wall. You have the hammer and nails, but if you don’t use the hammer correctly, you could end up trying to drive your thumb into the wall – ouch! The point is that for me it’s not the “madness” (the equipment hype) but the “method” (how well you use your tools) that gets my attention. Are you driving a ‘nail’ or a ‘thumb’ into the wall? When I use my Technics 1210s I drive ‘nails’ into the walls! I choose to remain a “vinylsaur” simply because this is how I am wired. If the day comes when there are absolutely NO more vinyl records pressed, released, or sold then I will cease buying vinyl. Until that day comes this vinyl habit will be one of those that is IMPOSSIBLE to break.
My tools!