Having seen Daniel I know exactly what you mean - he has an uncanny ability to select the right tracks at the right moment and equally as important he is able to let each track speak for itself and do what it should do before mixing in the next one. With all the options afforded to many djs these days by using Tractor (scratch) etc the temptation to do more than just play a track is just too much to resist (at least for me) and depending on what you play this isn't always a positive aspect (out and out house for example). Personally i've gone back to vinyl for the last 2 years as I find it much more intuitive to just listen to the music being played rather than watch a waveform and logically plan ahead. That said I know people who are able to mix digitally and completely nail it as that whole system of planning and calculating mixes and re-editing tracks works well for them but is too clinical for me - i prefer my instincts i guess...

really great article. very thought provoking in regards to the struggle between dj and producer. who is in power?

I definitely know this is a great article because I have so many points I wish to discuss. A comment box isn't the time or place. But congrats on a fine inaugural article!

Totally agree that having a background as a vinyl dj -- or simply in manual beatmatching -- can make a better dj. With a strictly linear approach, the dj had to learn crucial timing to get the tracks to phase together well, w/o the fallback of loops and whatnot if they missed the mark. That said, I'd expect such a dj to use digital tools for the better (not just throwing down loops and efx just b/c they can) and that their mixing skills would come through alongside the flourishes afforded by digital tools.

enjoyed this, i use CDJ's to dj however i think alot is lost between vinyl and CD's and i haven't even used Vinyl before, i think its the time and cost of going to a record store and building a vinyl record collection that can make you a more articulate dj when comming to the records you choose to buy and the records you choose to play, i think playing vinyl raises a need to only play records that are great throughout and full of dynamics and layouts, you cannot simply loop in and loop out beats using vinyl and i think vinyl is a better format to use for long, deep and depthy mixes, steve bugs recent EM for instance.

Great article, Donnacha, I look forward to following this column.

As for the questions you've raised, I've never really seen any reason why DJs should have to choose between exclusively vinyl or digital. Personally, I spin all vinyl for the most part. This is primarily because I have tremendous respect and admiration for the integrity of the artists/music that in my crate, but also because I just find it much easier to get 'into the groove' with vinyl - manipulating tangible objects creates a certain rhythm/feeling that is much harder to achieve when programming loops. However, my turntables only take up two channels of my mixer, and I sometimes like to use the third channel to mix in my own Ableton loops - not in order to completely restructure an original piece of music, but rather to add texture and depth to the mix, or to create bridges between songs which I otherwise leave untouched. It's a bit tricky to seamlessly bridge the gap between vinyl and digital in real time, but when I get it right it allows me to contribute my own voice to the mix, while also leaving the originals fully intact.

So yes, I'm a vinyl enthusiast, but not a vinyl purist. I think there is room for a compromise between vinyl and digital, one which doesn't require DJs to sacrifice the unique qualities of either medium.

Thank you, I've been having the same ideological dillema and finally decided I like vinyl too much not to use it. Even with the arguement of convenience I think if you love to do something like DJ'ing lugging vinyl is part of the hard work for something that is rewarding and enriching.

So good. In my own words: No Disc = no Disc Jockey. If one is going to mangle a track beyond recognition, then I should sack up and make it my own track... or do a LivePA. From a fan, fellow musician, and fellow DJ, thanks for this article, its confirmed a growing sentiment I have had for quite sometime. And also I miss vinyl like "the deserts miss the rain..."

Very much Agree with your writing. I wrote something along the same lines a while back for a small Zine in my area. The argument or opinion is not meant to discredit the few that can truly do the aforementioned techniques. The comment is really for those who use digital music and digital techniques the "wrong way". People have such a short attention span these days that people behind the mixer are always feeling this pressure to do something...to fiddle, to change..etc. I see so many Digital DJ's adding so much UN-NEEDED effects, chopping etc....I really just want to catch a groove in the track your playing...STOP fucking with it so I can hear it and enjoy it...

Carry on!! :-)
PS...I Only play vinyl!

well said donnacha. i lived in japan for many years and have booked dan at my event in the past. being in the japanese techno/house scene, you had to play vinyl. thanks to my japanese friends, masda, yoshiki, so inagawa, sackrai and yoneko (dan bell's biggest fans!) i have collected many records and still continue to play them. of course i throw in the random cd.
being limited is good. teaches you to select better and be patient.
all hail the teaches, zip, dan, sammy, and ricardo!

I like what Elliptic says, "I'm a vinyl enthusiast, but not a vinyl purist."

Vinyl is an essential part of playing out, the world is full of vinyl stores with half-price/bargain crates full of amazing music that isn't available digitally. I guess what I'm saying is very simple, why limit yourself to just digital music ?

I think one should always find the music they feel most deeply about on vinyl. It's a lot harder to forget a great tune when it's 12" x 12", purple and sitting in the corner.

"I'm a vinyl enthusiast, but not a vinyl purist." Love it!! I'm the same, still buy vinyl regularly, but use Serato as well. I've got the best of both worlds. I rarely use the loop feature though, generally just to stretch out the intros of old disco tunes.

A very well written piece with a real, very present dilemma. looking at popular music, especially the dance culture, music has always been regarded as non-linear. Starting with remixing tracks and continuing to creating lengthy Dj mixes, tracks have been used as "raw parts" to create a new sound. With the latest advances in Dj tech it is this very concept of re-arranging the mood and feel of a song that has driven the scene forward. As you've had very well pointed out "Some DJs are indeed up to the task and have a level of skill and experience equal to or beyond that of the musicians who supply them with "content". Unfortunately, many are not and many do not." But I guess this is a necessary evil that has always been around in music and art. You have true talents that surface, hopefully after years of hard work, from an ocean of "aspiring artists".
Vinyl/ CD/ laptop are just the formats through which music is communicated. How and when one chooses to use them is only up to his/hers skill and appreciation. A good track needs to be allowed do its thing, whenever its "thing" moves the crowd. With dance music, the issue of repetition in structure is a common occurrence, which may or may not be very arousing to the crowd. So a quick mix/edit to go into the next song may be a breath of fresh air and help the dynamic of the whole set.
Learning to dj on vinyl has indeed taught me to actually "mix", a skill that is regarded as pretty much useless in today's laptop world. I feel that using the fixed format as the basis of my learning has taught me to "listen" and then mix. I'm now using CDs, and vinyl occasionally (for the thrill :), and I'm truly feeling content with the possibilities+limitations it offers me.
Great article again. Respect!

Very interesting. This subject has been much discussed since DJs started mixing digital, but has been going around in circles in the last few years.
So it's good to see someone making progress on the subject.
I agree with you, except for this one thing that Philth pointed out in his second paragraph. Although DJs should not lose themselves (and the listeners !) in loops and chops and layers, and should never forget to "let the music play", you can't talk about a hierarchy between DJs and producers. Once a producer puts his music out, it's public material, DJ can do what they want with it.

Interesting essay. I'll be sure to check out further offereings

In recent years I have been less and less interested in DJs as I find myself wanting a bit more improvisation in the listening moment and now tend to only be excited by a live PA or band. Sure, i might still dance to a dj, but more and more they simply serve as a soundtrack provider to some socialising. While overdoing effects on loops could be sonically distracting, the same applies to a completed piece with one too many elements.

Since you brought up the concept of ego as it pertains to djs and musicians, what excites me about the newer technology is the potential ease of music providers playing TOGETHER. Instead of trying to do the same things as in the past, but with some help and automation, you guys could do something new.

Why be just an intelligent jukebox (playing back finished pieces) when there is a potential platform to do something new and inspiring?

Good article, though I'm with Phil here as well. Music in linear form isn't just vinyl, and having it digitally means that you have a means to alter it, but not that you HAVE to. I think one of the results of the digital 'revolution' is that people feel a need to snow the music under fx, loops, and gimmickry (and don't get me wrong, when done well, and in the correct amounts, it's brilliant) but it doesn't need that a lot. Yes, it's another tool in the armoury, but it's not an end in itself. While I have respsect for those still on vinyl - we all love playing it, but we can't always afford/carry it these days - it's more about getting great music and doing it justice, and sometimes that is just mixing it. I'm far from a purist, I play on CD, occasional vinyl, and I've toyed with laptops as well, but it always has been, and will be, about the MUSIC. Some people do seem to forget that.

Vinyl need not be seen as linear. Rather, the shift into nonlinear mixing techniques requires more skill. To learn how to beat-juggle well is an art, as is a sense of the overall movement of the crowd as the particular refrain of a track -- a moment from the middle -- is brought in only to be shuttled out, and a return to the beginning of the track with the mix. This kind of mixing, indeed, is becoming a lost art. Not only because of vinyl, but because of something not mentioned in yr piece: the shift away from skill entirely. Using a laptop setup as you do, I assume there is no beatmatching skill involved. When the risk of beatmatching, and its skillset, is removed, then one's performance is as "live" as any jukebox. To fully explore the tension between nonlinear/linear mixing styles, one must be using an instrument that allows risk. Using a digital turntable setup (Traktor Scratch Pro/Serato) retains this risk; thus the question is not vinyl. It is the elimination of beatmatching. And yes, the directive to loop up/remix other's work in a nonlinear fashion echoes the 1970s prog-rock moment quite well: we're in the guitar wankery solo time of the 21C, now.

you're the shit, saludos from mexico

Speaking as a musician and not a DJ, I prefer DJs who stay linear and think of curation of their medium. That's what's unique about DJing. Otherwise you are just another musician, albeit one working with samples rather than wind/strings/etc.

Enjoyed that, thanks Donnacha. I started. Im buying 90% vinyl, for 2 simple reasons. Sound quality and music that is not getting released on digital.
Looking forward to your next article :)

I read this prior to Dan Bell's halloween set here in Toronto and immediately got excited - and Costello's pimpin' of his time with Bell was spot on: I did not socialize with ANYBODY and spent the whole 3 hour set up at the front dancing up a storm....

was a beautiful experience and as a vinyl DJ with a "let the music do the talking approach) - and someone who's been buying exactly the same stuff he was playing - it was a real confidence booster and I'm totally gonna stick with my beliefs instead of letting insecurity drag me down a different direction...

really great, and well written post here Mr. Costello - this vinyly vs digital debate can be silly and tawdry but your approach is very rational and mature and showed we can talk about these issues without having to spend time in the gutter

True, i have listened to Daniel Bell play in Sirup club in Zagreb this Sunday and i agree with everything that Mr. Costello said. It was pure inspiration..to see every record sit in the lap of the other, flow ..perfection on decks..
it was one of the best DJ plays i have ever participate as a listener. Not the mention the dance shoes..they were destroyed..

100% agree with the conclusion.