Greetings from Tempe, AZ all.
I am a proud new owner of a pair of Numark TTX turntables. Been DJing digitally for about 5 years now, starting with a simple laptop/mouse setup and now using a pair of Numark CDJ400s to put out mixes. Ever since I fell in love with DJing and house music, it has been my goal to get a pair of vinyl decks, but never had the proper money in place to get what I felt was necessary (1200s of course). Then, a hip hop DJ buddy of mine informed me he was selling his setup in order to upgrade. I jumped on the opportunity and scooped them up.
After I got the decks, I spent the rest of the afternoon hunting my area for record stores that actually had a selection of Electronic music, which as you probably all know is way too difficult to do these days. Guess it depends on the area you live in. I would imagine it is easier in LA/detroit/chicago/NYC. I was lucky enough to score a small stack (15-20) of records ranging from slow deep house, tech house, jackin house and trance-esque tracks from the early eighties to early 2000s. After I labeled them with their respective BPM, I threw together a small mix of 5-6 records just to see if I could get the beatmatching down as I have it on CDJs.
I was thrown for a loop. I successfully matched up the records with a mishap here and there, being my own worst critic felt kind of sloppy but it's the first time I am even attempting beatmatching on vinyl decks. Now after this short experience, CDJs and all digital DJing seems handicapped and extremely easy.
The satisfaction I got from mixing vinyl I can't even describe to you.. I fell in love with DJing all over again and felt so gratified by the feel, sound, smell (of old records), and tacticle response of vinyl. All these new controller based DJs really do not know what they are missing. It is a sad state of affairs when the influx of new technology and pop music come together to create a massive blob of what they call "EDM" artists/DJs, blasting improperly compressed bangers over huge sound systems at over priced festivals.
That's a rant for another time though..
I've been on the web searching around for articles and old websites on vinyl mixing, most of them having to do with either Vinyl making a comeback of sorts, or it's pros/cons vs a fully digital setup/CDJs. Finally I found a community dedicated specifically to vinyl and not restricted to certain genres.
I suppose this is more of an introductory post for myself, but also I wanted to share my story with other vinyl enthusiasts who would be just as excited as I am for me.
My plan is to get as much house vinyl as I can, exploring the back catelogs of tracks I've never even heard before, bringing them back to life. Ebay seems to be the best option as far as lot purchases of vinyl go, as the record stores near me have only one or two measly rows of vinyl that is simply labeled as 'electronic'.
I also want to get the traktor scratch pro DVS to integrate the feel of vinyl with the underground tracks I've obtained digitally.
So yea, vinyl, vinyl VINYL
I am a proud new owner of a pair of Numark TTX turntables. Been DJing digitally for about 5 years now, starting with a simple laptop/mouse setup and now using a pair of Numark CDJ400s to put out mixes. Ever since I fell in love with DJing and house music, it has been my goal to get a pair of vinyl decks, but never had the proper money in place to get what I felt was necessary (1200s of course). Then, a hip hop DJ buddy of mine informed me he was selling his setup in order to upgrade. I jumped on the opportunity and scooped them up.
After I got the decks, I spent the rest of the afternoon hunting my area for record stores that actually had a selection of Electronic music, which as you probably all know is way too difficult to do these days. Guess it depends on the area you live in. I would imagine it is easier in LA/detroit/chicago/NYC. I was lucky enough to score a small stack (15-20) of records ranging from slow deep house, tech house, jackin house and trance-esque tracks from the early eighties to early 2000s. After I labeled them with their respective BPM, I threw together a small mix of 5-6 records just to see if I could get the beatmatching down as I have it on CDJs.
I was thrown for a loop. I successfully matched up the records with a mishap here and there, being my own worst critic felt kind of sloppy but it's the first time I am even attempting beatmatching on vinyl decks. Now after this short experience, CDJs and all digital DJing seems handicapped and extremely easy.
The satisfaction I got from mixing vinyl I can't even describe to you.. I fell in love with DJing all over again and felt so gratified by the feel, sound, smell (of old records), and tacticle response of vinyl. All these new controller based DJs really do not know what they are missing. It is a sad state of affairs when the influx of new technology and pop music come together to create a massive blob of what they call "EDM" artists/DJs, blasting improperly compressed bangers over huge sound systems at over priced festivals.
That's a rant for another time though..
I've been on the web searching around for articles and old websites on vinyl mixing, most of them having to do with either Vinyl making a comeback of sorts, or it's pros/cons vs a fully digital setup/CDJs. Finally I found a community dedicated specifically to vinyl and not restricted to certain genres.
I suppose this is more of an introductory post for myself, but also I wanted to share my story with other vinyl enthusiasts who would be just as excited as I am for me.
My plan is to get as much house vinyl as I can, exploring the back catelogs of tracks I've never even heard before, bringing them back to life. Ebay seems to be the best option as far as lot purchases of vinyl go, as the record stores near me have only one or two measly rows of vinyl that is simply labeled as 'electronic'.
I also want to get the traktor scratch pro DVS to integrate the feel of vinyl with the underground tracks I've obtained digitally.
So yea, vinyl, vinyl VINYL
