SPINCONTROL 

CDs Already Are on the Way Out
and MP3 Players Are Doing a Number on the DJ Scene

It's an age-old condition. Microwaves versus ovens. VCRs versus DVD players. Gasoline versus hybrid cars. People fear change, and in the DJ world it’s no different.
    It might even be more extreme, and the argument for the past few years has been vinyl versus CDs. Now, just when CDs have been able to penetrate that discriminatory wall, something has arrived to replace them. It’s about the size of a wallet and can play upward of 5,000 songs. iPod, Bean, Nomad –– there are many different names for this digital music revolution, the MP3 player, and it’s slowly creeping into the DJ scene with certainty.

Portability & Manipulation 
    “There’s always the old school element in the DJ realm. They don’t like new technology, but it’s inevitable,” says 20-year DJ veteran Mark Anderson, director of entertainment, event production, promotions and advertising for Senses nightclub in Memphis, Tenn.
    Convenience alone is enough to convince a DJ to hang up his records and carry only a small portion of the baggage he dragged around from gig to gig before. Now, all a DJ needs is a laptop and his audio file compressor, along with a few other devices if the club does not provide them, and he can heat up the dance floor.
    Here’s how it works: The DJ uses a magnetic cartridge that’s a time-coded LP on an analog turntable, feeds that into a break box and then feeds that through a USB port to a computer. “You just take your notebook or computer with you to your performance, and you have your entire library in front of you,” Anderson says.
    He prefers the Stanton Final Scratch equipment, which many times will provide the equipment to a club so that DJs will get used to their products. “It’s so impressive. It knows the beginning, end and middle, the speed, pitch, so you can manipulate the song any way you want, and all your switching is a mouse click away,” Anderson says.

It’s Warming Up 
    Everyone else is catching on. iPod sold 5.3 million of their players the first quarter of last year, and the automotive industry is using iPod docking stations to promote their vehicles. Anderson says the flexibility and portability of these tiny monsters far outweigh any disadvantages in the DJ world. The only disadvantage he sees is trading in for song quality, and no DJ will argue the warm, organic sound of vinyl far surpasses anything else. But there is equipment out there to compensate, including sonic maximizers to warm up the sound.
    MP3 players allow DJs to have almost any song a club owner desires, putting the DJ and the operator on the same page. The benefits, indeed, are bountiful, and Anderson is keeping a higher mind about things as an avid supporter of these latest devices.
    “Sometimes it’s more important to play the right music, not necessarily how you put a song together,” he says. “If you’re not playing the material the audience wants to hear, you’re not going to be received that well. It’s all about evolution.” NCB