Vinyl vs Digital

With all technical innovations there are controversies. Serato Scratch (and similar applications that allow you to DJ with MP3 files) is a breakthrough, though like any tool it can and has been used foolishly in the hands of some. I personally operate with Serato and it allows me to do the things I wished I had been able to do for years. I can edit a song an hour before a set, I can remove lengthy intros to allow for quicker cueing, or I can play music from my CD collection that was never available on vinyl. With this ease of use, it has made some DJs a bit lazy and, worse, has allowed some people with no interest in the art of DJing to play their hard drives' contents without context or any foresight of how it will affect a crowd.

First things first, let's talk about the sound. Vinyl purists will tell you that the warmth of vinyl is removed when Serato is used, which is technically correct. Since the 'warmth' is created by the harmony of the needle reading the grooves and the sound itself, Serato is incapable of the same 'warmth' as Serato reads a digital signal from the vinyl, not a groove cut with the actual music. Also, MP3 files, by definition, are compressed audio files with digital information removed from the original sound recording to lessen the file size. Vinyl has a wider range and does not have missing audio information. Additionally, ome DJs do not pay attention to the sound quality of the MP3 files they use. Grainy low birate rips or audio ripped from a scratched CD sound terrible at any volume, much less loud in a club. There are drawbacks to Serato's sound, but it is typically passable to the untrained ear (RE: a room full of people that want to dance).

In the last year, I have read a lot of articles that have stated that the playlists of DJs have been getting lazier due to the access to any music a person may want. Previously, as a DJ, it was necessary to hunt down and purchase records; which is not only costly in money, but costly in time. The art of digging for records is lessened in a world where the history of music is more or less available on iTunes and can be purchased at home rather than in the dust covered basement of a second hand record store. Though it has made some DJs lazy (I would argue that these DJs would be lazy anyway, the type who are going to buy the latest Lethal Weapons 12" every month and play radio singles all night), it has given truly innovative and knowledgeable DJs a wider arsenal. Now you are able to play songs sought after on vinyl, but are readily available on CD. Also, deep album cuts from the 60's or 70's, never released as a single cut to louder vinyl, have now become secret weapons for clever DJs without the fear of the vinyl sounding too distant or washed out.

The case has also been made that people who have no business of being DJs now have easy access to playing. While this is true, it is not the fault of technology like Serato. The same has been said about other DJing innovations - the uproar over CD DJ decks or iPod DJing units. In my mind, bad DJs will always be called out. Crowds can recognize sudden stops and false starts and they surely know when a floor clearing song comes on. Ultimately a good DJ will always prevail over a bad DJ, you have to give people credit for knowing the difference between a hack and a party starter - it's more obvious than most DJs realize.

Whether MP3 replaces vinyl is not my concern, and I'm not sure it is the concern of anyone in who participates in this discussion. It is the question of will the untrained novice replace the honed skills of a great DJ. That answer is 'no'.