dubplates/prices/affordability

[dubwise_gamgee]

i have some questions concerning dubplate-djs:

how does a dj afford spending a whole lot of money on dubplates? at transition one dubplate costs 30 pounds. in comparison to "normal" vinyl 12"(between 5-8 pounds), this is quite expensive, so i'm curious how much money dj's (especially professionals) spend on dubplates per week/month, etc.

i can imagine that professionals and regulars of dubplate-studioes get better prices but i still must be a lot more than vinyl?

e.g. dj's like n-type must cut dozends of dubs a week. everytime you hear his show he's got at least half of the shows worth of new dubs. how does he afford that? with "normal prices". ten dubs a week is 300 pounds a week??

just curious how people deal with this financial issues. it often seems to me that people are cutting dubs like mad (with i find really dope, fresh music all the time) but i just don't get how people can afford it (even if you have some regular paid gigs).

[forensix (mcr)]

they get paid to DJ - they use the money to buy dubs.

[dubwise_gamgee]

yeah, obviously...

i'm just surprised that people really spend a whole lot of money on dubs, while all this p2p-mp3-final-scratch-cdr-serato-madness is going on. i personally think it is great that people spend a lot of money and time to get some good quality music (especially with dope sounding dubplates that can get scratched easily and won't last very long in comparison to regular vinyl).

i don't quite know what the point of my question is, just wondered what people think about it.

besides the audio-quality-aspect of dubs i just wonder why people spend so much money (especially strictly dubplate dj's) if they could also have their tracks mastered and play them from high quality cd/serato with a minimum of the original cost...i think it's cool they prefer quality, just interesting for me to see that this has become more important to dj's again. (instead of playing mp3s via laptop). people like skream, dmz, n-type must spend all of their gig money on new dubs (do these big name artists live off music or all have day jobs?)

[vonboyage]

Some interesting points there, which I for one would like an answer to.

[forensix (mcr)]

besides the audio-quality-aspect of dubs i just wonder why people spend so much money (especially strictly dubplate dj's) if they could also have their tracks mastered and play them from high quality cd/serato with a minimum of the original cost...i think it's cool they prefer quality, just interesting for me to see that this has become more important to dj's again. (instead of playing mp3s via laptop). people like skream, dmz, n-type must spend all of their gig money on new dubs (do these big name artists live off music or all have day jobs?)

vinyl sounds better on big systems that's the reason why the get it cut to dubs- also some djs, like myself, don't like djing with cd's. Plus there's the reliability issues with serato - clubs are hot laptops often over heat and can crash

i doubt they spend all of their gig money on dubs and i think most of them have day jobs as well

And since when were dubs not important to dj's?

[jolly wailer]

cuz with dubplates...

you're the only motherfucker with the tune... thats why people come to see you DJ

and with mp3's / serato you're just some motherfucker with an ipod... like every other motherfucker with an iPod...

shits been going on since the late 1960's.. check ya history

[dubwise_gamgee]

true. dubs were always important to dj's from all genres... i meant, i'm surprised that new (young) artists are looking for quality although they are many cheaper options available. and they choose dubs because they sound better.

[dubwise_gamgee]

well...

now, besides dubplates sounding better than most other mediums.

with a cdr or serato you still could be the only motherfucker with that special tune. and you could have even more special tunes (because you don't have to rely on having a lot of extra money for 10 fresh dubs).

i'm all for dubs, i like the quality and i'm not so keen of this digital stuff. just curious.

this just interests me from a financial point of view. shit's expensive

[jolly wailer]

no reason for amplifying a shittily encoded mp3 with 50 thousand watts of fucking power is there?


dubplates create an in-crowd.. a who's-who if you will... thats why they called 'exclusives' or 'VIPs' ... no-one's wants to hear last years crop banging off some kids laptop.. shit ain't moving forward, its replicated pap... can't come from the edge with a mp3

[jolly wailer]

i mean.. yeah i guess you're right... you could spend time fishing the 'dubs' section of this site collecting 320's and have a set on your hands.. all very fresh tunes..

i dont know - I guess its vinyl fetishism - its many things - but particularly... a dubplate is a dubplate and a mp3 is something you can copy and paste...

its all apples and oranges really - mp3s create this whole new issue in sonic aesthetics and authenticity - let the theorists sort it out (boomnoise where you at??)

legacy has something to do with it... that and the fact and the laptop just feels... well "cheap"... I've said it before, you can't wheel up an iPod

[dubwise_gamgee]

of course.

quality:
but what about high quality uncompressed audio straight from a good sound card hooked up to the laptop? those are not shitty mp3s but high quality files that were mastered professionally? that still would have the best possible (digital) quality and sound wicked on a good system. analog has a warmer (some say better) sound, i believe so too. but i wonder if this (sometimes small) difference is worth cutting expensive dubs that won't last long?

and besides, some dubs aren't mixed or mastered that good too, so that the dubplate-aspect of the tune really isn't that weighty.

in-crowd: yeah, that's true. who's got who's new dub, etc.. on the one hand very interestind aspect of dubplate culture on the other hand it sometimes hypes tunes that really aren't that special but because only this super dj has them they "must be good"..

[vonboyage]

some dubs aren't mixed or mastered that good too, so that the dubplate-aspect of the tune really isn't that weighty.

In that instance you wuda felt LESS bump'd getting a WAV/FLAC wudnt you?

I would.

[ozols man]

im thinking the producers themselves cut the dubs and hand em out to the djs themselves no?

[jolly wailer]

From wiki:


A dubplate is an acetate disc — usually 12 inches, 10 inches or 7 inches in diameter — used in mastering studios for quality control and test recordings before proceeding with the final master, and subsequent pressing of the record to be mass produced on vinyl. The name also refers to an exclusive, 'one-off' acetate disc recording pioneered by Reggae sound systems but also used by drum and bass and other dance music artists, DJs and sound systems.

These dubplates will often be either unreleased recordings (which may or may not end up being made available to the general public) or exclusive versions or remixes of existing recordings. They are often used as a market research tool to assess the probable sales of a tune once it's released, as they are far cheaper to produce than a pressed vinyl. However, because they have a limited life-span they can only be used about fifty times.

Vinyl dubplates are a recently-developed format which allow extremely durable recordings to be made (lasting 90% as long as pressed vinyl) and are more suited to cases where no release is imminent, or the release date is a long time away.


I mean... also... skream for instance has a gazillion dubs... are they all fantastic? probably not... but if you break a tune a few times as an exclusive its just more sounds in the palette... with a dubplate you can break the tune to your buddies.. it doesnt get all over the internet, and you still maintain a certain mystique around your tunes.. the mystique of dubplate culture is a big part of its allure.. dubplates are one of the few things in existence today that are still -well- "sexy"... I know heads can feel me on this...

[dubwise_gamgee]

@vonboyage: oh yeah. of course... my bad. haha..

if the original wave is shitty anyway then the dub might be a tiny bit better but still not worth being cut.

i was trying to say, that a lot of super vip special bla bla dubs really aren't produced that well.

sometimes it might be better to spend some money on professional mixing(or mastering) instead of wasting the money on a fairly unimpressive sounding dub. in that case better mix+cdr would be better than badmix+dub.

@ozols man: no, i think that the producers give certain dj's their tunes and they then go and get the cut.

[dubwise_gamgee]

yeah. there is a certain mystique about them...

and as far as illegal copying/sharing goes dubs are still on the safer side of the game. if a tune only exists on the producer's computer and otherwise only on a few dubs the bootlegging/p2p factor stays quite low.

on the other hand this whole mystique thing hypes a lot of tunes that i really think are quite boring and are just special because they are rare...

[nattyphysicist]

I play dubstep on the radio just about every week, but being that it's a hobby for me I can't afford to buy loads of dubplates, or maybe I'm just not dedicated enough. With dubstep, everything being listened to now is a dub and releases are like 6 months old. So I end up playing tracks that are not on the cutting edge (maybe even played out), but on the other hand all the tracks I purchase are classics.

I'd love to play plates and it would be sweet if it was cheaper. The best option for digital is serrato. But what I'd really like to see is Serrato without the PC. I want the audio from a dedicated box that will never crash and still be able to control that with the Seratto record.

[jolly wailer]

you have any examples of exclusives that are boring to you???


if anything there is a majority of tunes that aren't released that have the forums jumping for awhile before they are actually released... for instance - and to beat a dead horse - is jahova/C.Thug still gonna be the track it was around this past may 07 that its gonna be when its finally released this fall???

dubplates keep you locked on - p2p gives me no reason to listen to radio shows (besides poax's charismatic banter)

[ozols man]

@ozols man: no, i think that the producers give certain dj's their tunes and they then go and get the cut.

hmmm thats interesting, cos the way i see it (at least in the uk) u got a handful of big djs playing out in big events and radio stations and probably more producers making tracks then djing out. say u got 1 dj who likes 10 producers tracks, thats 300 quid hes got to pay to play their tracks... but on the other hand u might have 1 producer who is giving exclusives to 5 big name djs - hes spending 150 quid... so it culd be cheaper on the whole for the producer to pay AND not only that hes basically paying for the cut while the dj honours his side of the bargain by playing the producers track out (obviously cos hes feeling it too lol)...

[thinking]

im thinking the producers themselves cut the dubs and hand em out to the djs themselves no?

not likely! The main thrust behind cuttin a dub is sound - it's gonna be mastered before the cut which immediately makes it sound better than the CDR it was burnt to. It demonstrates a commitment to sound quality, seeing as it would be so much easier & cheaper to play it off CD.

cutting a dub is also a sign of respect & commitment - "i'm so into these tunes by so and so that I'm gonna spend a load of my own money on cutting them to dub". This is also a form of self-quality control i.e. if you're not gonna spend your money on cutting it, you won't play it - I have definitely played tunes off CD/Serato that I wouldn't be bothered paying £10-15 on cutting to one side of a dub.

Dubplate culture is a great antidote to the throwaway nature of the digital revolution.