Just seen a post in another thread which reminded me of an earlier post I made which was buried away in another subject so I thought I'd revive it just out of curiosity.
Namely: does it make any sense to play highly rare and valuable original records @ different venues these days?
Surely it doesn't make a lot of sense to play impossibly rare records out at every gig these days does it? It's one way to wear your records out too fast. Especially styrene pressings - I ruined 2 copies of Morris Chestnut, 2 Tobi Legends, 1 Gerri Grainger, I Al Jones and countless others that way, so if you now have 'em in your collection and get annoyed from the hiss and spluttering at the beginning, then you probably have a deejay's old copy!
Also, the way things are moving these days, even CD's are becoming out-of-date - the growth is now in digital formats as much as it kills me to say it. But, from a personal point of view, I think it makes more sense for a DJ to have 10,000 songs at his disposal so he can play what he wants without being limited to a single box of records. Maybe that could be one way to brighten up the playlists possibly?
I know the Northern scene is naturally dominated by records but I'm not sure how relevent actually owning the original vinyl is going to be in years to come. Right now it's like a 'badge of honour' to own the original vinyl but how many of the crowd would be aware whether a track was played on the original vinyl or on CD? Less than 1% I reckon.........Also, the CD version would probably sound better than a well-played vinyl copy I'm saddened to say.....
Don't get me wrong - I love vinyl as much as anyone - I still have a couple of rooms full of it, but I don't see what's so wrong with having the choice of playing both vinyl and CD/Digital. Does it make, say, an unreleased Kent track any better by playing an acetate of it, when it was probably cut from a CD in the first place? Also, I notice that several DJ's on other scenes are playing custom-pressed double-sided copies of their own rarities on bespoke one-off new vinyl pressings. So they're not playing the originals, they're playing re-dubbed versions of their own rare records on a newer piece of plastic. Well, if you do that, then surely it's got be easier to carry 10,000 tunes on a laptop hasn't it?
I notice this is happening more and more with DJ's who play internationally. Freight charges, customs and even foreign Taxes are killing 'em if they carry vinyl these days. Also, it's a risk - would you risk your vinyl collection to baggage handlers around the world? Especially Northern collections! Or do you take 100 records only and limit your choice?
I'm writing this at the time when, in the mainstream market, commercially, the vinyl format is now just about dead and the CD will be dead from mid next year in my opinion (going by the annual declines, store closures and distributors going bust).
This'll be a hiding to nothing here, but is it really worth playing that mega valuable rarity out and diminishing it's quality and lifespan with every play? At least when I wore out my vinyl copies in the mid 70's I could replace 'em a lot cheaper than now........
So, as probably the pre-eminent vinyl collectors forum in the world, what are the views of Soul Source members?
Just seen a post in another thread which reminded me of an earlier post I made which was buried away in another subject so I thought I'd revive it just out of curiosity.
Namely: does it make any sense to play highly rare and valuable original records @ different venues these days?
Surely it doesn't make a lot of sense to play impossibly rare records out at every gig these days does it? It's one way to wear your records out too fast. Especially styrene pressings - I ruined 2 copies of Morris Chestnut, 2 Tobi Legends, 1 Gerri Grainger, I Al Jones and countless others that way, so if you now have 'em in your collection and get annoyed from the hiss and spluttering at the beginning, then you probably have a deejay's old copy!
Also, the way things are moving these days, even CD's are becoming out-of-date - the growth is now in digital formats as much as it kills me to say it. But, from a personal point of view, I think it makes more sense for a DJ to have 10,000 songs at his disposal so he can play what he wants without being limited to a single box of records. Maybe that could be one way to brighten up the playlists possibly?
I know the Northern scene is naturally dominated by records but I'm not sure how relevent actually owning the original vinyl is going to be in years to come. Right now it's like a 'badge of honour' to own the original vinyl but how many of the crowd would be aware whether a track was played on the original vinyl or on CD? Less than 1% I reckon.........Also, the CD version would probably sound better than a well-played vinyl copy I'm saddened to say.....
Don't get me wrong - I love vinyl as much as anyone - I still have a couple of rooms full of it, but I don't see what's so wrong with having the choice of playing both vinyl and CD/Digital. Does it make, say, an unreleased Kent track any better by playing an acetate of it, when it was probably cut from a CD in the first place? Also, I notice that several DJ's on other scenes are playing custom-pressed double-sided copies of their own rarities on bespoke one-off new vinyl pressings. So they're not playing the originals, they're playing re-dubbed versions of their own rare records on a newer piece of plastic. Well, if you do that, then surely it's got be easier to carry 10,000 tunes on a laptop hasn't it?
I notice this is happening more and more with DJ's who play internationally. Freight charges, customs and even foreign Taxes are killing 'em if they carry vinyl these days. Also, it's a risk - would you risk your vinyl collection to baggage handlers around the world? Especially Northern collections! Or do you take 100 records only and limit your choice?
I'm writing this at the time when, in the mainstream market, commercially, the vinyl format is now just about dead and the CD will be dead from mid next year in my opinion (going by the annual declines, store closures and distributors going bust).
This'll be a hiding to nothing here, but is it really worth playing that mega valuable rarity out and diminishing it's quality and lifespan with every play? At least when I wore out my vinyl copies in the mid 70's I could replace 'em a lot cheaper than now........
So, as probably the pre-eminent vinyl collectors forum in the world, what are the views of Soul Source members?
Ian D