What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

[unkownartist]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

not to me.



on a related note, I'll tell you another thing that's not dead to me: real, artistic performance when a DJ plays live.

but that's a topic for a different thread.

cdj's? digital media and of course u have to actually be able to mix

and i,m not going down that route that drags us into the whole computer mixing thing, its called progress, u use a computer for everything else why not to mix as well?

[jeffrey collins]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

I don't know about that degradation of vinyl. I think a lot of it comes down to Who owns the vinyl and How they take care of it. I know a bunch of dj's who take really shitty care of their lps. then there are a few who care for it more than diamonds, you can look at records they have played 100 times and they still are just as beautiful as when they were brand new.

And yeah Vinyl does have the cutoff at a lower point than cd's. But most audiophiles would still prefer vinyl over cd's...these are also people that spend 2K on a record player and another 200$ on one needle.

I truly think it depends on the person listening, and there really is no way to judge human response, as each will be different.

But please stay away from spinning cd mp3's at anything less than 256K.

[unkownartist]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

On the subject of MP3 quality. What is the system used to record the weekly Kiss shows?

It seems to lack punch and the treble is bit high resulting in a less warm like sound. I downloaded the set this week from another website in lower bitrate and yet it sound better.

thanks

i use a pci card with radio

[jeffrey collins]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

how can the set sound warm...it is fully digital.

[fumanchu182]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

I hate radio streams at 96k with low pass filters, pisses me off to high hell. And as for quality 320 is the way to go or uncompressed wav or flac file. Hell even ogm is good as a container as long as the compression is minimal.

Vinyl > digital even if the record is old, pissed on, and been in the washing machine.

[Miroslav]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

cdj's? digital media and of course u have to actually be able to mix

and i,m not going down that route that drags us into the whole computer mixing thing, its called progress, u use a computer for everything else why not to mix as well?

CDJs are a different story - they're still in the old school camp for me.

As for computers...
If you're talking efficiency, then yes it's progress. If you're talking about artistic achievement, then no it isn't necessarily progress - not just because you have superior technology. Art is not efficient.

In other words, it depends on how you use your computer.

If you use your computer to really challenge and stretch yourself creatively in terms of your breadth and speed of real improvised sound layering and remixing, then that's cool - you're compensating for the skills you don't have to demonstrate anymore and unleashing the power of the technology. respect.

But if you use your computer in a club to crank out a standard old school set like I mix, then you're just a chump who has insulated himself from much of the risk inherent in real performance. I have to do the track selection and build the progression too...oh, and I also have to keep the beats together. And I can't just rework my tracks on the fly, so I have to be that much more careful in what I select and when and how I mix it in. And I have to do all this shit right with one shot before my tune misses the spot or runs out.

Real performance art embraces risk. It's about creative expression through skill. Skill means you're doing stuff that not anyone can do and taking the chance of fucking up on stage if you don't do it right.

If you're not doing that - whatever your technology is and even if the wasted party people can't really tell - then you're a poser who might as well record a CD and just stay home.

[Jayson]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

SACD anyone? That's what I'm waiting for to be mainstream.

As for using a computer, who cares? These guys are paid professionals so they sure as hell better not phuck up when I'm paying them a few grand to rock a club. So if they need a computer to do it then awesome, more power to you.

And that's the bottom line, this is a business. This isn't a theater where you go to see a play, or an art gallery. This is a club, and people expect to have a good time and are paying good money for it, and I don't think galloping beats and trainwrecking is what they paid for.

[beanzncheez]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

DVDA > SACD. Sorry, dude but that's the truth. The US is the only market that anyone even buys SACD for that matter. Looks like we're behind everyone else. Stupid labels giving us SACD releases and then the same release is a DVDA in Europe. Damnit.

[Jayson]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

I never said SACDs were better than DVDs, but the few I have are outstanding. If they are pushing DVDs as an audio format then I'm all for it.

[Miroslav]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

SACD anyone? That's what I'm waiting for to be mainstream.

As for using a computer, who cares? These guys are paid professionals so they sure as hell better not phuck up when I'm paying them a few grand to rock a club. So if they need a computer to do it then awesome, more power to you.

And that's the bottom line, this is a business. This isn't a theater where you go to see a play, or an art gallery. This is a club, and people expect to have a good time and are paying good money for it, and I don't think galloping beats and trainwrecking is what they paid for.

Please put your headphones down right now and give up this whole music thing...cuz that's just sad.

Every club obviously needs to care about the business aspect, but if all you care about is churning people through and getting sound out the speakers in the most efficient and riskless way possible....

JUST GET RID OF THE DJ ALREADY AND PLAY A CD.

The computer can handle it all perfectly fine on its own.

[unkownartist]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

CDJs are a different story - they're still in the old school camp for me.

As for computers...
If you're talking efficiency, then yes it's progress. If you're talking about artistic achievement, then no it isn't necessarily progress - not just because you have superior technology. Art is not efficient.

In other words, it depends on how you use your computer.

If you use your computer to really challenge and stretch yourself creatively in terms of your breadth and speed of real improvised sound layering and remixing, then that's cool - you're compensating for the skills you don't have to demonstrate anymore and unleashing the power of the technology. respect.

But if you use your computer in a club to crank out a standard old school set like I mix, then you're just a chump who has insulated himself from much of the risk inherent in real performance. I have to do the track selection and build the progression too...oh, and I also have to keep the beats together. And I can't just rework my tracks on the fly, so I have to be that much more careful in what I select and when and how I mix it in. And I have to do all this shit right with one shot before my tune misses the spot or runs out.

Real performance art embraces risk. It's about creative expression through skill. Skill means you're doing stuff that not anyone can do and taking the chance of fucking up on stage if you don't do it right.

If you're not doing that - whatever your technology is and even if the wasted party people can't really tell - then you're a poser who might as well record a CD and just stay home.

i agree with some of the things u said in that and some i dont agree with, superior technology is good imo beause it will soon become mainstream just like cdj's have and this is eliminating a thing called "wow and flutter"

I also have to keep the beats together

which is almost a problem with vinyl/technics ( i,m not sure with the cdj's as they are a digital system ) as noise is to a analog circuit, i would say that programs like ableton give the user more time to concentrate on the artistical side that u talk about but yes i agree with u on the stage part of this, most people just look like there checking there emails but ur dissin some majour players in the scene here, sasha, hawtin but to name a few others, for me these guys have embraced it as it lets them do things that just were not possible with other mixing techniques and to me thats a good thing, imo most people who diss things like ableton either havnt used them or dont have the skills to use them in the way in which it can be beneficial to them and thats coming just from my experiences, this is why most big namers seem to be switching to serato as this adds the whole "doin stuff" routine to the performance, have u ever used ableton? its not as straight forward as everyone thinks

[jeffrey collins]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

does anyone buy those sacd's? I do know they cost a bit more than a regular cd...that and you can't get everything you can get with regular cd's. And don't you have to use a special cd player for that too. No thanks.

Yeah I'm not too much into Serato. I'd rather spend time looking through my Cd booklet, instead of looking through my hard drive. Ableton is nice...but using it to do the same old stuff is a waste. It's a new product and should be learned enough to be able to do new things to your sets. The only dj I respect using ableton in sets is JZ. That guy knows how to use technology to it's fullest.

If you wanna learn about audio quality. Go watch the 2nd DVD of Maestro. Or go read a few of the audiophile magazines that are out. You'll learn a few things. One of which is to use all class A circuitry for your system.

[Miroslav]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

i agree with some of the things u said in that and some i dont agree with, superior technology is good imo beause it will soon become mainstream just like cdj's have and this is eliminating a thing called "wow and flutter" which is almost a problem with vinyl/technics ( i,m not sure with the cdj's as they are a digital system ) as noise is to a analog circuit, i would say that programs like ableton give the user more time to concentrate on the artistical side that u talk about but yes i agree with u on the stage part of this, most people just look like there checking there emails but ur dissin some majour players in the scene here, sasha, hawtin but to name a few others, for me these guys have embraced it as it lets them do things that just were not possible with other mixing techniques and to me thats a good thing, imo most people who diss things like ableton either havnt used them or dont have the skills to use them in the way in which it can be beneficial to them and thats coming just from my experiences, this is why most big namers seem to be switching to serato as this adds the whole "doin stuff" routine to the performance, have u ever used ableton? its not as straight forward as everyone thinks

I've used it, but not out in front of people. I've also stood in and gotten the play by play from folks who use it. I've never seen Sasha play, but others like Hawtin I've seen...and they do some sick stuff with it. They really make it a priority to raise the bar and do stuff you can't do with vinyl. It's only the segment of people who I've seen lately do the same old shit but with Ableton that annoy me. I suspect we see things pretty similarly on this topic in the end.

As for wow and flutter (by this I understand you to mean small irregularities in analog playback speeds)...to me that's another example of the skill that was required to play the game. If you had a good set of technics, it's gonna be pretty damn low. If you had good equipment and also developed the skill to manage it then pretty much no human ear will pick up on it. It forced you to listen while you're doing all your other track/set progression stuff and really learn how to keep beats aligned.

Sure, you can get a computer to completely eliminate a bunch of those random variables that before I had to control. But if you're gonna do that, you'd better be bringing a new skillset to the table for me to pay attention to you. And the choice of whether you will use the new technology to raise the bar or just make things easier rests entirely with you. If you choose to raise the bar, then more power to you. If you choose not to...then even though the sound coming out of the speakers is great and the crowd may be dancing...you are becoming increasingly redundant in the process.

[unkownartist]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

i guess it depends on what u want the outcome of u doing what u do to become, personally i,m in my 30's now so that wanting to be the next big dj and play infront of huge crowds phase has past me so i just like to do a mix or 2 with songs i have picked out from the bunch and listen to them and if other people like what i,m doing then cool, i find ableton convinient and space saving which is perfect for me and i also get a buzz out of using a new technology, i,ll never tire of exploring new things

anyway weve went way of topic here

[unkownartist]

Re: What are your thoughts on MP3 audio quality?

does anyone buy those sacd's? I do know they cost a bit more than a regular cd...that and you can't get everything you can get with regular cd's. And don't you have to use a special cd player for that too..

when i was doin my study we had to write essays on sacd because everyone was talking about it being the next big thing, its actually rather clever as it uses 3 layers and only 1 bit technology but it seems to have failed in selling itself to the majourity of people probibly due to cost, tbh it reminds me of then early dvd disc thing that was about the same size of a 12" record lol i knew 1 person that had it and that was that