Around a year ago now, a good friend of mine Kenny donated his decks on a semi permanent loan. A couple of technics 1210s, an Ecler mixer, some fat speakers and around 100 vinyl....christmas had come early! Needless to say I was like an excited kid and couldnt wait to set them up in my cramped room at uni.
The setup that I eventually had was not exactly perfect, having to squeeze in speakers here and there and giving up a working desk to allow me to pursue my dream of becoming a DJ (the MA Degree would just have to wait!). Kenny, being a bit of an old hand at mixing was happy to show me the basics, going as far to take a deck apart to show me how it all worked. He was the one responsible for first getting me into proper dance music, giving me mixes by different DJ's and telling me stories about his antics on one of his many seasons in Ibiza.
Finally with my own set of decks and my less than perfect setup I was ready to start mixing. Having been shown the basics Kenny warned that it would be a good few months till I was able to mix together any two records to a decent degree! Like everything it was going to take practise, practise, practise and a bit of time before it would eventually click.
The first time I had ago on the decks byself, I must of spent at least two hours 'mixing'. In my mind I thought I had done a couple of decent mixes, however in reality it properly sounded like a jumbled up mix of beats and bass all totally out of sync. In any case I was proud and just happy to have some decks to mess around on.
Now a year down the line and suprise suprise I have actually stuck at it. In the past I have had a bad reputation of never following things through. I took up the piano when I was younger and got bored because I had to practise and couldnt play it straight away, the same with the Clarinet. However with the decks I have found something that I really enjoy doing, being quite happy to spend an hour or two practising different mixes. I am now pretty competent in mixing two records together, though I still need to work on some fine tuning, but in terms of bedroom DJs I am up there with the best! I even now have a small collection of my own vinyl, around 20 tracks from what I think is one of the best genres out there.....Drum and Bass!!
These days, you tend to see less and less DJ's using vinyl to play, rather, you are more likely to see a DJ stood behind a laptop with the all to familar apple logo on it. Gone are the days when DJ's had to carry round heavy bags of vinyl, or when wanting to play at a house party you had to up lift your whole setup from your room. The rise of modern technology has allowed DJ's to carry all the tunes and their setup on their laptop, making it more practical and cheaper. It has also allowed them to do so much more with the music. Now rather than just mixing in one tune after the next in a linear fashion; DJ's can now mix tunes on top of each other, loop in sections, cut parts out, add effects or completley cut up the track live and make a new one. Programmes such as Ableton and Traktor make the possibilities of what you can do, endless.
However there is something I love about watching DJ's use vinyl to play. Rather than just clicking away at a computer screen there is more involved when using vinyl, it turns into more of a show making it look more skillful and is just simply coolier. Thats partly what I love about DnB and its militant tendency of strictly vinyl only. Some DJ's such as London Elektricty will only use vinyl to play, wanting to preserve the vinyl culture believing it to be the best way to DJ. Others such as Richie Hawtin have moved on as technology has progressed using an increasing mix of tools to play to the masses. I dont think it really matters whether you use vinyl or the latest laptop programme, as long as you enjoy it and understand the basic principals behind it.
Kenny last used his decks around 10 years ago before giving them to me, back in the 'golden era' of dance music, when most DJ's still used vinyl, when pills were pills and raves were still some what underground. The technology like the dance scene has now expanded so much. There is now a huge variety of products for DJ's and producers alike to create their own individual sounds. Its funny to think that it all started off with the basic principal: take one track, and mix it together with another track on another deck. Despite being less common, vinyl will always be around as there are always people who prefer to do things old school. However what is not certain is what the technology will be in 10 years and ultimatly where it will take the music.
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