ARTICLE: Stepping into the Digital DJing Void: Part 3 // The Execution:

[6.15.10]
I'm sitting at home sorting through an itunes playlist sorting my music by BMP and Harmonic Key. I'm mildly amused in a weeks time I would be playing out using Serato. Actually, I was totally freaked out. Even though I've never had a problem with Serato or my computer while DJing, I was mentally racing through all the reasons this was a bad idea. However gig was for a friend who really liked my taste in Mash-Up tunes and to my knowledge you can't get many vinyl Mash-Up tunes. [Breathing] I reminded myself it was a small gig at Mid City Coffee Shop in DC. No worries, no stress just dance music and good times.

[6.22.10]
I took my computer to a gig. As I started my set I spent most of the evening starring my computer down willing it not to crash. It was noticed by friends of mine who said I looked very serious while DJing. However that was the only real complaint, the evening was a success, you could even say it gave me back my DJ spark. People dancing and singing, everything you could want at a dance party.

Technology wise that first gig was pretty bear bones:
*Technic 1200MK-3D
*Pioneer 600DJM
*Rane Scratch Live: Serato SL1
*Sony Headphones

What I learned from this event was no one likes a DJ looking at a computer all night. Its a bit like watching paint dry with a lot of bass. So I was hell bent to my hands away from the computer. It was time to find a midi controller but not a mixer that was also a controller. That sounds like a lot of commitment and money for something I'm now sure if I'm going to really get into.

A week later I was standing in the Guitar Center at Baily's Cross Road taking with Christin G. my go to guy about musical toys. After some discussion about laptop DJ's, midi controllers and the state of the world economy, he directed me towards the Akai LPD 8. Under the guidelines that it would take a beating and not break my budget as I start tinkering with the world of Digital DJing.

Sure nut, it did all that and then more. Plugin, map out, and play. The only tricky part was where to put the controller. After some experimentation it eventually it ended up mounted on the table infront of my mixer. Making it easy to still DJ and fire off cue points. However it also made it easy to fire off cue points with your headphone cable when your dancing about in the DJ booth. FAIL. For the time being I will just have to be careful.

Then a few months later while surfing the net with my morning cup of coffee, I found what I was looking for on DJ TechTools. The Novation Dicers, they integrated into current set up with ease, were easy to set up and fun to use. These little cheap controllers are freaking perfect, with a little mapping I don't ever have to touch my computer.

Now that I've got a year behind me and 20 odd gigs later I've learned a few odd things:

1) Serato and my encoding process has put me back in touch with a lot of music I had not listened to in ages.
2) On that note I've learned more about my records and harmonic mixing as a result of my encoding practices.
3) Do not mix WAV and Vinyl during a set on a large sound system. Vinyl make your WAV files sound weak, hollow and its even worse with MP3's.
4) Digital DJing is a lighting rod for very heated conversation.
5) Don't stop mixing your vinyl as its a skill that can be lost without practice.
6) Stop looking at the freaking laptop.
7) Always remember your freaking control records
8) Large sound systems can make your track sound lack luster, work with the sound engineer during sound check to make your set sound good
9) Continue to buy vinyl, cause encoding records yourself give you more control over your sound
10) Quoting a shirt I saw in on Amen Omen "Serato should be earned".

Expanding on number 10. I agree, jet setter and controlerist have earned the usage of the digital platform. Have I? I'm not sure. Its great for Mash-Up, playing tracks I produce and amazing for helping me to organize the annex. However recently I was able to do an odd thing I feel. I built my crate of vinyl from front to back ordered by BMP and Harmonic Key. This organization allowed me to dig through my crate and craft and evening harmonically which I've never purposely tried to do. I have to give Digital DJing credit for exposing me to the theory and providing me the means start sorting my records in such a matter.


Equipment summary
-Encoding:
*Numark TTX-USB
*MacBook Pro 2.8GHz Intel Core 17 // 8GB of Ram
*CD Spin Doctor
*XONE Mixed in Key 4
*iTunes

-DJing:
*Technic 1200MK-3D
*Pioneer 600DJM
*Novation Dicer
*Akai LPD 8
*Pioneer EXF 500
*Rane Scratch Live: Serato SL1
*Sony Headphones

-Mobile Rig:
*Odyssey FZF5437T DJ Stand and Table
*Odyssey LSTANDM DJ Laptop Stand

ARTICLE: Stepping into the Digital DJing Void: Part 1 | Reasoning

August of 2008, I set myself some goals. Start DJing again, reconnect with the DMV DJ community and digitize "the Annex". These are the lessons learned during the past three years while trying to create a digital Annex.

Background:
I love vinyl nothing sounds, feels and smells like vinyl. My wife and family complain I have an unhealthy obsession with vinyl records. I would agree with my hart and soul. I dream about music, I will subject friends and family to hours of waiting while I dig in record shops or talk to locals about there scene. I've suggested to my wife about moving to a large house or acquiring a second storage unit for music equipment and vinyl storage (I'm only partly joking).

When I started fiddling with digital DJing it was with mixed emotions. I had just completed a thinly valid year tour of all the finest snowboarding resorts in the Swiss, German & French Alps. During which I was separated from my record collection for the first time in 6 years. I fell into a bit of a funk, which I pried out with the help of 2 local record stores, a lot of snowboarding and an independent radio station. When I got back state side I was hell bent ever to leave my record collection again. Around this time Serato made its debut and its adoption by the turntablist community gave me the motivation to give it a try. I had head of Final Scratch and seen ads for what would later become Traktor, but at that time I was a vinyl purist and looked down at CD, or any other media format.



I remember when I got Serato my computer at the time (and old macbook) was unable to handle the software so I had to use my fathers iMac. I remember him watching as I hooked it up to turntables and showed him how these "time coded" records could control the MP3. Both of us amused about at how old school technology was being used to control cutting edge technology.

I would be almost a year later that while working for a company in DC I would get a computer fast enough to handle Serato. At this point I had forgotten the pain of separation from my music and only lightly tinkered with Serato here and their. I had a hard time trusting new technology to not fail on me in the middle of a set. Especially as I had witnessed it happen to countless other DJs in small and large clubs through out DC. Plus I had 3 amazing record stores to pick up new tracks from (DJ Hut (R.I.P.), Capital City Records(R.I.P.), & Crooked Beat).



So I sold Serato to finance new DJM600 mixer, and for a few years I was back to my old vinyl purist self. Giving touring DJs hell when ever they busted out their CDs or computers.

Then the unthinkable happened Capital City Records closed its doors and DJ Hut followed suite soon after in 2007. My vinyl life line was cut off. I was left to the world of mail order vinyl. NYC shops online interface sucked, West coast distributors stoked a lot Junglecore that never really excited me much. I started importing records from Japan, France & England (the lions share came from England). This got costly fast and turned me off for a while.

Now we can pick up where the whole story began in the summer of 2008. I had just traded a Rane TTM56 Mixer for a used Serato SL1. Fair swap but I would later regret selling my beloved TTM56 (thats another story).

When we continue with part 2 of this story, I will regal you with the trials and tribulations of how I eventually found my work flow for converting vinyl.