BiG AL

Sorry KenB, ignore the first Now ,its the way us old folks talk (like when we say to the grandkids Now, listen here.) and yes i have used all 4 forms of music in my carrier Vinyl, Cd's, Digital (laptop), and Live acts etc if you go to my second post its all outlined there im more detail sorry if you misunderstood or I confused you , I sometimes confuse myself lately ? BiG AL

Hi First Off and I should have done this before posting , let me introduce myself to the members , been a dj since the early seventy's working for the Roundtree's group of (restaurants/clubs/hotels,)company's ,in Manchester much later going mobile as a side line and near to retirement working for entertainment agency's. So a BIG HI to all. now with the post seems i opened a can of worms or so a few have said ,but i wasn't really meaning to do that ,i was just asking how and why the attitude to Djs (Northern soul & Motown) using laptops and compression software has changed so much , see back in the day I did soul ,northern and Motown gigs with a laptop and everybody had a great time and there was little if not no animosity towards myself for using a laptop? see as a mobile dj carting loads of records around was hard work ,then cds came into being and wow could carry a whole collection in a alloy case, then yes you get it compression software (ill cal it that as the is quite a few types to choose from)and your complete collection of all types of music ,fit on 1 or 2 hard drives ,so had to go along with that, you do a gig get a request and before they can get to the floor or seat its playing for them ,what a great idea and a boon for the dj ! i can understand with Motown and northern soul some resentment from the collectors , but you have to understand ,company's like gold mine cds ,did an awful lot for northern soul ,bringing the hard and impossible tracks to a digital format for all to enjoy ,in fact the must have brought thousands upon thousands of new collector's and northern soul fans to the clan,and also gave those less fortunate a chance to own that rare track for themselves ,that they did not have a hope in hell of owning , so gold mine did northern soul and the fans a great service (by putting out digital COPIES OF THESE RARE AND HARD TO FINF TRACKS) ok so jumping forward you are a dj and a collector of super rare and hard to find tracks , on say acetate of lp tracks ep tracks etc , do you really want to tour the circuit with these rare items ,risk loss damage degradation of the tracks using others untested equipment? my guess i NO YOU DONT so what do you do ,especially if your job depends on playing these tracks to an audience, *YOU MAKE A COPY of them put on a carver or emi disc dependant on who you know ,and those are the discs you cart round with you and those are the discs you play to your fans (keeping the original's safe & sound at home) you then call these discs cover ups ,nobody is going to be any the wiser as they are covered up false name false title no label , but to all intents and scrutiny they are copies ,be it in plastic digital cd ,compressed on laptop or vinyl ,all are copies , so why single out a certain format ,if you have the original what is the problem with playing the copy? , no yes i fully agree that no tom dich or harry should just roll up with a laptop full of compressed music and just start playing it ,yes that is a big no no ,but should they own the vinyl ,i see no problem with them looking after there hard earned and expensive vinyl and leaving it at home,do you? i on the other hand have seen the above * in person and know quite a few djs who have and still do it , and im going back to a time when there wasn't any A list djs ,they were just Dj's nothing more, but as stated for me,my dj days are long gone as is most of my vinyl collection apart from quite a few 70 and 80 12" singles i used to play and are now along with some old northern soul lps gathering dust in the loft , I keep saying ill get them down and sort for selling but just don't have the heart to do so at the moment, but just don't knock the young ones who are coming into the northern soul scene as they are the future and they may not be able to acquire or afford rare vinyl,so as are you have no doubt guessed it for them yes digital MP4s now where you can actually get see your artist singing that great hard to find rare track . thanks to all who have taken the time to read /answer this post

Many thanks to those who took the time to reply ,much appreciated, i would say that didn't get many reply's ,however I seem to have got the cream of the crop in the reply's I did get thank you also i have to add (I,m in my seventy's now) I was present at what i would call the birth of northern soul (The Twisted Wheel) and quite a few other clubs and venues ,also the casino ,which brings me to the point of copies/carvers, not gonna name names but one person at the casino was more than 98% responsible for most of the instrumentals (on bootlegs & carvers and stuff made up from vocals) the crowd so loved there, so that side of the northern soul scene was rife way back then , and a lot of the Djs were playing them to (and these are the so called A list djs at the present )there is one Dj at present (will call him B) who has done lost over the years for routing out rare sounds etc he always gets good ratings and fills venues when booked , BUT he plays emi discs and cover ups (harken back to the old days when djs did this to line there own pockets ,yes its true you wanted to hear the sounds you had to book that certain dj) and that is what DJ "B" is doing today, forget that old saying , i cover up so it cannot be bootlegged bull ,its to line there own pockets and who's to blame them for looking out for them-selves I don't ,but don't champion the use of vinyl only unless you are going to stick strictly to that rule, but as we all know rules are meant to be bent or broken hey one never knows maybe Ill bump into one of you on one of my monthly outings to the northern soul club side of things and we can have a chin wag about better times until then, KEEP THE FAITH & REMEMBER NORTHERN SOUL IS NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS,"ITS A WAY OF LIFE" oh and as if you lot don't know I see that pop record that n/soulies so love by Frank Wilson, is up for sale yet again on sonic wax site starting bid £150K BiG AL

Now I have been a Club & Mobile Dj for some 50 years now and only recently retired from the screen to look after my wife (the big C) unfortunately she lost the battle some 4 years ago. My fave music was Old Skool ( Hacienda type) and most defiantly northern soul , i had quite a large (and not cheap collection of it) but when I did a Northern Gig I used a Laptop (well 2 of them 1 as a back up) now i retired some 15 years ago , and only recently started to visit some of the old soul haunts ,and some new as well , I was amazed at the reception I got when i told them I did Dj and used a laptop (even on Northern Soul Gigs) now i had the records ,but due to age and what some of the discs cost , MP'3,s was my go to music format , no worries about stuff getting broke ,scratched ,or stolen ,plus i could edit and enhance tracks and also take the complete collection with me on 1 hard drive , but for some reason now mention laptops and mp3's and your treated like a lepper, was never like that when I was on the circuit, and to be honest early on the dj,s used to make carvers emi disc,s etc (which are like mp3.s copy's of original discs ,yet nothing is said over this copy technique (and quite a few of the so called A list Dj's are doing it ) and no eyebrows are raised at them in fact they get cheered when playing these cover ups emis and carvers, So come on Guys whats the difference between doing that and using a laptop both are playing copy's in a sense same with using a cd if purchased the artists etc are getting there cut , in fact shop bought cd,s are in fact making sure everyone artists etc are getting there fair share of what they are owed Be interested i seeing and hearing your thoughts on the subject , Oh and please don't just say laptops and mp3's are a no no , explain why that is show ,Oh and again please note that i did own the record or records that I copied over on to my hard drive Thanks Big Al