anotheranon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anotheranon) wrote2009-11-30 07:25 pm
anotheranon) wrote2009-11-30 07:25 pm
the wheels of steel are no more
Alas, I hear tell that the Technics 1200 turntable will cease production in February.
My first encounter with this slick technology was as a college radio DJ in the early 90s when the live studio got a set to replace the ancient cement wheels we'd been using. Most of the jocks didn't like them because they were "too loose" but I and the woman with whom I split the weekly dance music show all but wept with joy and envy, as we'd been trying to mix with the aforementioned cement and it was like dragging lead back and forth.
This was back in the day when all mixing was done with actual physical records. A. and I both had to haul heavy milk crates of records to the 4th floor studio, in a building with no elevator (uphill, both ways!) The memories of the difficulties/joys are still so vivid that it's easy for me to forget that this was nearly 20 years ago, and it was a real shock to me to realize that the upcoming generation of college/club jocks don't really know how it was done before mp3s.
That the technology has advanced so dramatically that I could now (in theory at least) store the contents of those crates on a single flash drive is mind boggling when I stop to think about it. And I do still have all my vinyl and a turntable to play them on (a Stanton USB, so I can burn all my '90s "techno" to disc).
Mp3 "djing" (if it can be truly said to be proper manipulation and beatmatching when the computer does it for you) falls under "stuff I'd love to play with if I had the time". If only because I wouldn't have to haul around as much..
My first encounter with this slick technology was as a college radio DJ in the early 90s when the live studio got a set to replace the ancient cement wheels we'd been using. Most of the jocks didn't like them because they were "too loose" but I and the woman with whom I split the weekly dance music show all but wept with joy and envy, as we'd been trying to mix with the aforementioned cement and it was like dragging lead back and forth.
This was back in the day when all mixing was done with actual physical records. A. and I both had to haul heavy milk crates of records to the 4th floor studio, in a building with no elevator (uphill, both ways!) The memories of the difficulties/joys are still so vivid that it's easy for me to forget that this was nearly 20 years ago, and it was a real shock to me to realize that the upcoming generation of college/club jocks don't really know how it was done before mp3s.
That the technology has advanced so dramatically that I could now (in theory at least) store the contents of those crates on a single flash drive is mind boggling when I stop to think about it. And I do still have all my vinyl and a turntable to play them on (a Stanton USB, so I can burn all my '90s "techno" to disc).
Mp3 "djing" (if it can be truly said to be proper manipulation and beatmatching when the computer does it for you) falls under "stuff I'd love to play with if I had the time". If only because I wouldn't have to haul around as much..