Learn How To DJ With A Little Advice From Steve Albini
I haven’t posted much on the actual art or business of DJing here lately so I thought I’d pass along something to amuse. It started after reading Steve Albini’s rant against digital on an old CD copy of Rich Man’s Eight Track Tape. Albini wrote that in a few years, the compact disc would be unplayable on any equipment considered state-of-the-art and modern. It took a lot longer than Albini thought, but with the iPod and MP3 downloads ruling the market now, it turns out he was right in ways nobody expected. Not even him. But I babble…this was supposed to be a rant about DJing, wasn’t it?
I am constantly amused by all the Learn How to DJ websites I run across. I especially giggle at the sites that tell newcomers that they should invest in two turntables as part of their DJ rig as though that’s still standard, required equipment these days. It’s not that you can’t or shouldn’t expect to play vinyl as a professional DJ but every DJ interview you read these days says the same thing. “Vinyl is too heavy. I held out for a long, long time but finally switched to MacBook Pro and Serato.”
One thing I personally am in favor of is using the turntable to enhance your digital setup. You can go digital all day long, but sometimes you have the urge to whip out that old Laid Back “White Horse” 12 inch and mix it up with some Radioactive Goldfish. So why not buy yourself a Technics SL-1200 MK2 and get crazy with the cheese whiz?
When you learn how to DJ the first thing you discover is the gear isn’t going to make you spin any better. I’ve run four hour broadcasts using two clapped-out old decks with half-dead LED displays and played DJ sets using the most shameful home stereo craptacular setup you can imagine. What really matters is does the music sound good, loud enough and is it mixed well?
But I will say this–there is absolutely no replacement for actual, physical media at a club or party. When your laptop bites the dust at the last minute, or that hard drive crashes, or worse yet–your computer simply stops recognizing the hard drives you stored all your tunes on, you’ll be greatful for vinyl or CDs and the players to run ‘em on. Don’t overestimate your digital gear–one day it will take a nice big dirt nap on you when you need it most. Will you be ready to pick up the slack? Steve Albini is right–the future does belong to analog loyalists, even if only for those who were smart enough to pack some vinyl and a player for when their laptops quit working at the show.
