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Having a couple gigs of fresh music I haven't listened to yet, that needs to be sorted, diamonds in the rough found, religiously beat-gridded...
...is like a giant Christmas present.
Then maybe I found one or two artists or producers or labels I have never heard of yet, and more research, and present finding ensues...
...a literally endless cycle of consumption, disposal of waste, and polishing the library of music that is an amalgamation of everything that it means to be "Me".
Yeah I have a bunch of artists I have on my beatport list, I listen to podcasts religiously, and then I check out the top 10 of each genre etc.
But really though, if I like the sound of something, I am going to play it. As DJs, don't we determine what is popular? :)
the thing is, for me anyway, it took ages to go through 50 pieces of vinyl in a shop. You have to pull it carefully out of the sleeve, put it on the turntable, needle, etc...play it for a few seconds, then if you don't like it, put it back. Do that x 50 and it's a lot slower than skimming through 50 tracks on beatport.Quote:
Originally Posted by deevey
Secondly, you have a record store guy filtering stuff for you. He might be not giving you tracks that he either doesn't want you to have, or doesn't know you like. Another negative.
Thirdly, the record store itself doesn't pick up everything - so again your range is being filtered and you are missing out on potential gems.
Fourthly!! Vinyl is sooo much more expensive than digital. Assuming you are holding the same standards for both vinyl and digital (and good DJs do :D) you can get 4 x as many tracks on digital as you can on vinyl. I used to pay 25 bucks NZ for vinyl, and maybe one of the sides would suck. For 25 bucks I can get about 11 tracks off Beatport or Juno!! Again...I'm assuming you are still getting really high quality, good music.
At the moment I've got about 8 tracks in my crate in beatport...in the olden days that would cost me a freakin fortune...8 x 25 bucks...argh. I'd have to drop a few for sure. Now...I can get em all :) And they are all good too. I've listened to each one about 10 x each to make sure I like them. Again...you can't do this in the shop, not enough time! You'd have to sit there all day.
As you can tell I like digital shopping :P
Forgot to make my point... lol.
I agree with your point that without the middle man in the form of the record store, there is a lot more crap. But once you have setup a good system, using artist and label favourites for example on beatport's website, you can begin increasing increasing your hit rate. You still need to dig, but like everything, practice makes perfect!
I totally agree dj's can decide whats hot, If you enjoy it and your mixes are tight then its all good + when you find tunes you love and they arnt commercially hot, people will come up and ask what it was or they will remember your set the next day due to the tunes they heard you drop. But theres no harm in pointing people in the right direction, not all dj's got where they are today without asking a few people for help :DQuote:
Originally Posted by DJ Nada
+ dont follow all the top tens on download sites because theres no passion in that.
You should come and try my internet connection sometime :PQuote:
the thing is, for me anyway, it took ages to go through 50 pieces of vinyl in a shop. You have to pull it carefully out of the sleeve, put it on the turntable, needle, etc...play it for a few seconds, then if you don't like it, put it back. Do that x 50 and it's a lot slower than skimming through 50 tracks on beatport.
I just don't "enjoy" shopping for music online the same way and feel I put much more thought into what I might, would, could or couldn't play on vinyl, having to wait for the download etc.... maybe I'm just weird :D
But damn dude, $25 per vinyl .. thats crazy money $10 was my average + you had the remixes / EP tracks to factor in as well as a nice lump of 12' goodness to cuddle. All things considered, price of pressing, printing, distribution fee's, rental ... vinyl isn't priced that badly.
It's as much a DJ's job to MAKE something new be hot as to play something already hot.
Gentleman,
Thank you for all the help.
Essentially, I've picked up on a lot of artists that I love, and that's what I've been mixing my demos to. What I didn't want to do though was show up to my first major gig with everyone looking at me going, "who the heck is Arty?"
So, I'm doing exactly what I need to be, but I needed to make sure I wasn't just being a total noob.
Anyways, thank you guys for your replies.
when you get tired of that find a remixed track you like --> click on the remixer --> listen to all his/her music --> click on also the record labels of said singles --> keep diggingQuote:
Originally Posted by photojojo
Once you start digging on a place like beatport, it becomes one of your favortie things to do.