Grindin'

Found four records from my old collection buried underneath a box of Christmas lights. Joe Buddens - Pump It Up, Clipse - Grindin, 50 Cent - In the Club, and Lethal Weapon #60. If you don't know what Lethal Weapon is, its a compilation of around 6 or 7 songs with usually 1 or 2 hit singles along with some breakout tracks from other artists.

Granted, there was a lot of hissing and popping since i kinda fucked these records up when I was learning how to spin (and scratch on these haha, especially that damn 50 Cent record). Weird feeling to hear music pumping out of my setup with my computer off. I miss seeing my collection of records grow with all these crazy ass record sleeves and checking out the art work on some of them. My mixes would be confined to what's in my crate or whatever I could borrow until I saved up enough money to hit up Ultrasounz in San Bruno and buy a record or two. The first party I spun at, a house party in the high school day, I brought 30 records and played the shit out of all of them. Now I have thousands of songs on my hard drive and spend all this time indexing and organizing it. And then I think of my humble box of vinyl that I would rearrange in these different "progressions" and how I used to make notes in a 25 cent composition notebook of which play order worked best. 

I'm not trying to hate on how the move to MP3 changed DJ'ing. Many of the older DJ's say that it ripped some of the soul out of the art, made it too accessible and made the DJ indiscriminate of what they choose to play. I can understand that, definitely, there's some pretty shitty music out there and it seems like there's hardly any refuge for someone that doesn't want to spin whats on the radio and still get paid. 

Anyways, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I realized that I think I've been resting on my laurels a bit because of the technology itself. I pushed myself to practice a lot harder when it was just straight records, the decks, and my shit mixer. Not that I don't practice with diligence now,  I'm still grindin! I love what technology has done for DJ'ing, yet on the other hand I think its whack that there are people out there that wouldn't survive a mix without their computer. But hey, how could you tell anyways when we live in an age where the computer itself is a crucial part of your setup.  I'm not tr ying to sound bitter, but after playing with vinyl it seems like DJ'ing just jumped to another dimension. I guess you could say it was nostalgia that made me post about this.

Putting these ancient relics in a safe place

"She know the DJ, he on serato"

Baby Bash - Outta Control

Record Pools and other legal sources of MP3s

If you're using a vinyl emulator such as Serato Scratchlive, Traktor, or Torq and the like, 
you're going to need a reliable source of high quality MP3's to keep your mixes fresh and up to date. True, you can use file sharing software like Limewire or source your music from torrent packs, and you might get by for awhile. Files downloaded from random sources on the internet usually have funky (completely and utterly wrong) tags, too corrupted for the vinyl emulator to read (risk crashing the program during a gig if you play it), have hisses & pops, or just plain ol' shit quality. You'll find that the convenience of a record pool outweighs the costs associated with membership. Files from record pools are always of good quality, and have no hidden surprises.

Once upon a time when DJ's frequented record stores to pick up new tunes, they would browse through the aisles and preview records on the shop's turntables. A single would be about 6 bucks, and most DJ's vinyl collections would be worth many more times the setup they spin on. Back in the day when I got my start I would be lugging around crates of records to gigs, which are a lot heavier than a hard drive I might add.

Enter the digital record pool. A record pool basically has all those records, new and older tracks alike, in mp3 format to be downloaded at your convenience. So instead of dropping a couple bucks on a new record, the cost  to download a song from the record pool is usually less than the cost of a pack of gum. An added convenience of the record pool is that their files are correctly tagged, have some cue points set, and have all of the file information preloaded into the track. This means that your vinyl emulation software doesn't have to waste time building up the overview for the track as soon as you load it. As you know, this can be very time consuming and draws a good amount of resources from your CPU and ram as your computer is busy trying analyze the mp3. Since the nice folks at the record pool have done this for you already, you can spend more time programming your mixes rather than watching your computer do work. 

downloading a song from djcity.com

previewing a song on i12inch.com

Try djcity or breakthecrates to try out some entry level pools. If you don't want to subscribe to a monthly service such as the latter, try i12inch. Pay as you go, better value if you purchase song credits in bulk. Scratchlive users should also check out whitelabel.net. It's free! If you're planning on taking DJ'ing seriously, finding a record pool(s) that suits your musical tastes is essential.  


+ use mixedinkey with your new music, and start mixing harmonically. Saves you a lot of time with the trial and error of what songs will play nicely with each other. I'll explain the benefits of programs such as mixedinkey and the value of harmonic mixing in another post. Check out their website, I'll write an article on how harmonics can guide your mixes soon!

Serato CV collectors

Came across some 4 pairs of limited control vinyl on the whitelabel.net blog today. So if you're one of those Serato Scratchlive CV collectors, this could be a golden opportunity to get your hands on some limited pressings!

+ Bright pink pair of MadDecent/Diplo (1500 pressings only)
+ Clear pair from Stones Throw (Sold out, comes with slipmats)
+ Grey pair from Planet Mu 'Knob Twiddler'
+ White pair of Plant Music/Tittsworth

Personally, I'm partial to the white CV's.

Worth mentioning is that the proceeds from the sales go to the Christchurch Earthquake Relief Fund. Wonderful to see that Serato, based in New Zealand, is helping out their home base through their global notoriety from Scratchlive. Check out the whitelabel blog for pictures / info on these pressings, as 3 out of the 4 are sold out on the market. Ebay is your only bet to get your hands on these brand new!

Go outbid everyone on Ebay for your favorite pair! You've got about 5 days before auctions end. Sorry, no buy it now option.