Is anyone here still rocking vinyl ?

[Angstrom]

Most people I know put their turntables in storage years ago and now exclusively use digital formats and software to play it. I've had some interest in releasing my stuff on a vinyl-only release, which is fine by me, but I'm a bit surprised it's viable .

Is there an actual market for 12" black plastic discs?
What is happening and who are all these people in my house, etc.
Signed, a baffled person.

[Stromkraft]

I've had some interest in releasing my stuff on a vinyl-only release, which is fine by me, but I'm a bit surprised it's viable .

Is there an actual market for 12" black plastic discs?

AFAICT there is for certain music. In some dance music styles, at least, vinyl have never really died out.

What is happening and who are all these people in my house, etc.

The only people I know of getting vinyl are DJs. But some number of younger persons also get vinyl, not only people trying to be hip. I suppose they buy all kinds of music, but I really don't know.

I'm contemplating a cassette release myself. I noted some Punk bands sell cassettes on gigs, not CDs. I have 4 decks in various condition I haven't used since I don't know. 2001?

You really don't need to sell that many copies to break even and after that every cassette is income like 100.000 plays on Spotify. I'd assume maybe not from a marketing stand point.

[locojohn]

I DJ exclusively from vinyl these days and regularly expand my collection. There's a lot to love about the process.

Andrejs

[Angstrom]

Interesting, thanks guys.
It will be fun if I can get myself onto vinyl again because physical product is satisfying in a tangible way that digital files just can't match. I might not have a decent set of decks in my place but I'm glad there's somewhere for this to potentially go.

I used to release a lot on cassette in a previous century, and that format was really nice back then. Everyone had a cassette deck and the duplication costs were minimal. As far as artwork I think I liked cassette booklets even more than gatefold albums. I can't imagine going back to releasing cassette though, that would be wild!

[Tarekith]

Interesting topic.

Just a few weeks back I had to clean out our storage unit and ran across my wife's decks and my Xone62 while unloading things. Thought it would be a fun chance to dust off my favorite records for an old school session, and it just so happened that my favorite album of all time (Download's "III") was also recently released on vinyl with a new re-master. I was interested on many fronts to say the least.

The hands on aspect was fun for sure, and it brought back a lot of really, really good memories. But from a music listening perspective, I just could not get into it anymore. So many transients lost, so much weird EQing going on to songs I thought I knew so well. I did really lament the loss of the huge album art giving each album a distinct identity though, that's something I don't think we'll ever see again I'm afraid.

[S4racen]

Most definitely still playing Vinyl, only buying stuff from the late 80's early 90's though...

Cheers
D

[Stromkraft]

I did really lament the loss of the huge album art giving each album a distinct identity though, that's something I don't think we'll ever see again I'm afraid.

Think again: Apple wins patent for virtual reality goggles. They are still working on this somewhat reputable people say. AR is Apple's coming big thing.

[Angstrom]

Most definitely still playing Vinyl, only buying stuff from the late 80's early 90's though...

Cheers
D

weirdly enough this release will feature a bunch of my unreleased stuff from the early 90s. Retro gold now!
I have boxes and boxes of this sort of thing.


Most of it is stems that I ran off because I only hired an A-DAT every month for a 5 day stretch. I'd multi-track onto the ADAT, then at the end of the hire period I'd run it all off to DATs. Alternatively I'd record effects or drums onto DATs, then when the ADAT came in I'd try and line it all up by ear. All the "archives" are terribly labelled, parts are corrupted, any archival issue you can think of is in there. However, I've been re-assembing stuff. It's prettty amusing. The potential label seems to like it, so that's good.

[Ajbbklyn]

Yes

[hoffman2k]

On both the consumer and pro audio end, I can report that turntables sell like hotcakes.
It also gives me a chuckle that "Vinyl-only DJ set" is something you'll see on flyers these days. Whats wrong 128kbps Youtube rips played from a USB stick?

[locojohn]

On both the consumer and pro audio end, I can report that turntables sell like hotcakes.
It also gives me a chuckle that "Vinyl-only DJ set" is something you'll see on flyers these days. Whats wrong 128kbps Youtube rips played from a USB stick?

You don't seem to get the point.

Andrejs

[jestermgee]

I love vinyl more for the process of listening to an album and enjoying the artwork and the memories I have as a very young kid discovering music through my parents collection. I no longer own any because I have a family and it is just too expensive to maintain and keep up with for the nostalgia not to mention the space it needs.

I have not really DJed with vinyl since I discovered CDs and digital music in the later 90s which made every aspect so much easier BUT I have always used tools like the Numark CDX (which I still have) and now I use a Numark NS7III with the motorised platters because I do love that hands on feel which I could just never be happy with static jog wheels, I like my scratch tricks.

I will say though that most self proclaimed vinyl DJs that I have met normally come attached with a "vinyl" attitude as if it's the only "true" artform. It's great that it still is appealing but from the conversations I have with younger DJs that use vinyl it's more a way to say "hey I am a good serious DJ and I have the wax to prove it". They are also the LEAST likely to actually engage with the crowd or take requests because they are "too busy" working it and have spent "all this time" preparing a setlist it's almost considered rude to upset their delicate artform. This isn't all guys mind you, some are great and know how to use it properly but there is nothing worse than a DJ constantly fiddling with his wax thinking he's king gizzard instead of being part of the party.

I just did a wedding last weekend and because it was a friends wedding I was chatting most of the night with people and socialising while also DJing and reading the crowd of 2-85 year olds, handing out lollipops to the kids that were dancing, getting those cheezy dance tracks on at the right times, operating and mixing the lighting and making sure both the groom and bride were smiling. I had no issue keeping the flow going, getting the requests and everything else into the night, changing the mood/tempo on the fly to cater for different age brackets without once having to stop and never having a break of silence. No way could I have maintained that level of effort and social interaction with the challenge of digging into crates as well as looking after my own kids and partner there too. I recall a few gigs when I was a CDJ where I was caught way off guard without things queued up properly and either having to play the next song on the album or have a break of silence while I fumbled for another CD.

Some DJs are better suited to just be a hidden jukebox because they are lousy at interaction with people, don't like to have challenges of requests thrown at them. I get my work from word of mouth and putting on a great show all round, not just playing music. With spotify and the likes why does anyone want to pay for someone to just play a setlist at a party? Most end users (that we are playing for) couldn't give a fig-rigz as to what medium you play off as long as you (and it is the DJs sole responsibility) give everyone a good time.

I could never go back to CD/Vinyl DJing after 15 years of modern digital goodness.

[jestermgee]

You don't seem to get the point.

Andrejs[/quote]

Point of?

[locojohn]

You don't seem to get the point.

Andrejs

Point of?[/quote]

The kind of fun you get playing vinyl records compared to digital, whatever bitrate.

[jestermgee]

The kind of fun you get playing vinyl records compared to digital, whatever bitrate.

Don't quite understand you there.

So you are saying that vinyl is more "fun" than using a digital turntable or CDJ. How exactly or is it just because it's fun to watch it spin ?

I've done it every which way and personally I have way more fun with something like Serato and some decent digital decks. Playing with loops, instant cues, mixing in beat loops, previewing dozens of tracks to find the perfect next song, Having an OCD curated collection of highly tagged and informative music carefully curated over decades, juggling 4 decks then throw in some motorised platters for your vinyl feel.... Then add on top of that instant digital downloads, the ability to grab a track and do some remixing of my own in a few hours and throw that into the mix. It's pretty fun to me.

Don't get me wrong, I know where you are coming from. There is a certain element that you get when you are a little more limited in your choices, when you can't just beat sync or sort things by key. I am a 10 year scratch artist too so that side is certainly fun but I would never say it is more fun for everyone just because it's vinyl. That's the attitude I was eluding to in my last post that DJs that are vinyl focused only believe it's the only way to do it. I think you are missing out on a whole extra world there though.