LOVE AT FIRST REJECTION

VINYL X DIGITAL DJ RANT? COUNT ME OUT!

genius comment on RA

The other day a DJ friend surprised me with a Facebook post on the beaten vinyl-versus-digital-DJ war. For her, DJs who don't use vinyl are simply not DJs. On the post she determined that even if a DJ doesn't travel with his records, he should have, at home, a minimum amount of 150 vinyls. And she finished the sentence warning that she'd laugh off of all these poor fake-DJs who don't follow that "rule". A few hours later, she erased her post.
I find appalling how people take their time to criticize others without analyzing first themselves. This came from a person that, bit more then a year ago, affirmed to not be sure if she wanted indeed to be a professional DJ, saying she didn't feel inclined to travel so much. She was constantly hanging around in the club she was a resident being extremely self critical about herself and her performances, saying her own mixing was shit while alternating the euphoria and sadness that usually comes with cocaine. She was sweet but insecure, which is normal on this field, especially mixing the drugs in. Now that she feels finally legitimized from having decent gigs around the planet, showing on Facebook how happy she is to be on the road, she feels entitled to determine what it takes to be in the profession she was short ago not sure to be qualified for. Isn't that a bit ironic?

I believe the whole vinyl - cd - digital music discussion is a loss of time. It's like discussing what is better, digital or analog photography. 

 

There are mediums better for different people with different purposes. Sure, I may prefer the physical feeling of wax, and have the impression most DJs who are used to records mix better, but that alone stands for nothing. Sure, I don't usually like to see a computer on the dance floor or an artist staring at the screen instead of partying with the people, but who am I to judge how each person should perform their craft? I know numerous DJs who don't carry their records since years, and even some that never bought much vinyl, and are excellent professionals. Maybe because they spend less time trying to judge who is doing right or wrong and instead focus on making their own performances better, whatever medium they choose.
Take Lee Jones, for example; worldwide respected DJ and producer, resident of Watergate, and one of the coolest and humblest guys around. He usually doesn't take his vinyls when the gig is outside of Germany, as he observed that "in most places the audience doesn't care so much". So he prefers to travel light and have a wider library of music readily available.
That comes into account especially for beginners. For an early career DJ, chances are that the contractor won't be happy on paying 3 extra bags for your records, which you may need on a long tour.
Ritchie Hawtin said back in 2011 that vinyl purists are stuck in the past. Carl Cox has over 15000 records and doesn't take a single one of them out of his house in Australia anymore. Should we say any of them is less of a DJ?

I started off with CDs. Where I lived in Brazil was hard to get decent electronic music records. Plus, they were very expensive. On top of that, most record players in clubs either didn't work or didn't exist, which is still the reality in a lot of clubs there. I would have to spent years dreaming to be a DJ before I could buy enough records to make a decent library.
As I started going every year to Europe in 2008, I started buying records. First just because I loved having a physical object of the music. Second, because of releases that came only in wax. Third, because people told me it was better sound quality (which seems not to be the case); and forth, sadly, because of looks. Because some people legitimize - and hire me - more if I'm playing records. It doesn't matter if the tracks were mastered on a digital way or if the club has a digital amp making the sound of the vinyl similar to a wave file. If I play the same track digital or in vinyl, these people will respect me more - apparently the author of that post will respect me ONLY - if I do the latter. Even if I would mix worse, some people would be friendlier because I'm playing a record.
It's sad that people care so much about appearance pretending at the same time to be so open minded and understanding.
But well, since when was showbiz fair? You don't need to study acting to be an actor, you don't need to study photography to be a photographer, you don't need to study journalism to become a journalist. If you are a DJ with 20 years of experience, it doesn't necessarily bring you better opportunities then a newbie. Showbiz is simply not very "fair", and neither is life.
As Chris Andersen, editor of Wired magazine, alerted us in his book "Free": “as more people create content for nonmonetary reasons, the competition to those doing it for money grows…"
Therefore, hobbyists have more chances to make competition with established professionals. And no matter how nostalgic one feels, there is no turning back on that.

As an excellent article from Meoko concluded last year:
"The bottom line is, each format has its charms, and their overall differences in quality are often overwhelmed by differences in the quality of initial recording equipment, in mastering approaches, and in playback setup. So, buy and listen to what you like, a variety of both is always welcome!"


ps.: I don't want to mention the name of the person who did the Facebook post, as it's not relevant. She is also developing and will learn things in proper pace. I just used the case to illustrate my point.