The quality of Digital only labels?

threnody · Post by **threnody** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:07 pm

guerillaeye wrote:
Jem 45's.
.

Truely outragious...truely, truely, truely outragious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20BZID081Vk

two oh one · Post by **two oh one** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:17 pm

alien pimp wrote:financial risks and distributor's role in deciding what's good for wax or not won't ever help the development of ART!

the more you connect ART and CASH the more you downgrade it!

Preach it, brother man!

alien pimp · Post by **alien pimp** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:35 pm

not for long, preachers eventually die alone in the desert or worse

) who's into music related shit more than into music itself won't get it anyway...

yet worth mentioning that these come from somone who does both digi and wax. respects for Z Audio for supporting us in a long term endeavour!

Littlefoot · Post by **Littlefoot** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:49 pm

you know whta drives me nuts, just trying to workout how the fuck it happened..

different qualities of audio going for MORE or LESS money!?!??!?!?!?!

it actually takes MORE time/effort/software/costs to make an mp3 than a wave.

it drives me insane. surely if your costs are the same or less, youd like to give the HIGHEST quality of your music if the option is there? not create a situation which literally forces a profit off the people who love your music, aka the ones who want the top quality

s.t. holdings · Post by **s.t. holdings** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:06 pm

ramadanman wrote: to a point...but the financial commitment to both pressing a tune to dubplate, and pressing a tune for a vinyl release generally helps to act as a quality control. it's like a counter culture to the way that much music is seen as a disposable commodity these days

Hit the nail on the head there Ramadanman

alien pimp · Post by **alien pimp** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:22 pm

respect st holdings for some of the stuff they support, but that nail is bent already, since the commercial criteria works so many times against the artistic criterias.
it's like saying: if it doesn't sell at least 500 copies on wax it's not good quality!

hell, i wish i had a dime for each quality tune that's above the bestsellers today and won't ever see a release because some people don't trust it makes enough cash!

and what the hack, digitally i can put out a track just because it brings something fresh to the scene, it breaks my heart and has good technical quality, even if you know it will sell 20-100 pieces only, just for the pride of being the one who gave it a chance and maybe later on some peeps will loock back at it with respect! can you do that on vinyl?!

even in my sleep i can name 10 digital releases that gained much respect and made lots of peeps happy but no one gave those a chance on wax because were considered too risky.

if there's anything you dislike, is people and market generated, it's irresponsible to blame it on formats and shit.

djshiva · Post by **djshiva** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:12 am

ramadanman wrote:
cB_dB wrote:
Also, for a producer to be able to finish a track and send it across the fucking world for a dj to play within minutes, what's not to love about that?
to a point...but the financial commitment to both pressing a tune to dubplate, and pressing a tune for a vinyl release generally helps to act as a quality control. it's like a counter culture to the way that much music is seen as a disposable commodity these days

personally, i think the financial commitment needed for both dubplates AND pressing acts more as a structure of elitism than a quality control. i usually work in the non-profit field, and trust me, that's not a moneymaker. i can't be arsed to spend 50 bucks everytime i want to play a tune. just NOT gonna do it. especially for a scene that, at least in america (and especially the midwest) is too new to be a moneymaker for ANYONE.

i am a choosy fucker, who goes through new dubs and picks the best ones to play. sometimes i go back and find the sleepers, but considering the work i have to put in to get tunes set up in ableton, i can't possibly play them all, especially if they are not my taste, or they don't sound good, or i just am not super into them. so is that NOT quality control? am i making less of a commitment? my TIME is my commitment in this case. i don't think that's any less of a commitment than money (which i don't have a lot of). and sometimes if a tune is good enough, but the sound is not, i do a little fixin' up in ableton (a little pre-mastering basically). if THAT is not commitment, i dunno what is...

i think we have tied the idea of quality control to money (having it or not having it) for far too long. as pimp said:

alien pimp wrote:financial risks and distributor's role in deciding what's good for wax or not won't ever help the development of ART!

the more you connect ART and CASH the more you downgrade it!

the onset of digital music distributing capabilities is not only a great thing for music, it has been a boon for the worldwide growth of dubstep (especially in countries where vinyl or the ordering of vinyl is priced far to high for the average person to do on a continual basis).

i do, however, agree with you in the aspect that it can drive the music toward an atmosphere of disposability. but i still believe that the cream will rise to the top, regardless of format. classics will still be classics. lame tunes will still fall to the wayside. and even if the lame tunes end up in everyone else's crate (physical or digital), that doesn't mean they have to end up in mine.

Fractal wrote:i know if i went to see mala play and he was strictly digital id be sad

and if he rocked the newest mystikz tunes on a massive system, and you were still sad, then it's me that would feel sad for you. oh wait! no i wouldn't! i would be dancing my ass off in front of a speaker stack because i could give two shits how he plays it, as long as he does.

bob crunkhouse · Post by **bob crunkhouse** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 3:13 am

cant big up Alien Pimp enough in this thread, spoke absoloute sense at all times! big up mate.

alien pimp · Post by **alien pimp** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 3:24 am

cheers bruv, glad you felt these ideeas!
yet i wish i didn't have the opportunity to share them, for people realising there's downsides and upsides in everything in life, it's just up to what we embrace out of these and how we juggle it

struggle · Post by **struggle** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:34 am

abZ wrote: I have a wife/kid/house and another kid on the way! I would be a scum bag if I didn't use my last 20 on food for the fammo.

guess that makes me a scumbag then. lol!

seriously though, i'm in the same boat. always scraping change together to buy a few here and there.

fractal · Post by **fractal** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:45 am

sapphic_beats wrote:
Fractal wrote:i know if i went to see mala play and he was strictly digital id be sad
and if he rocked the newest mystikz tunes on a massive system, and you were still sad, then it's me that would feel sad for you. oh wait! no i wouldn't! i would be dancing my ass off in front of a speaker stack because i could give two shits how he plays it, as long as he does.

Thats true! i was actualy speaking as a person in love with soundsystem/dubplate/crate diggin culture... which is i know off topic, as alien pointed out, but plays a roll in my decision to stick with vinyl... i love the idea of dusty old recs and rooms stacked to the ceiling with god knows what kinda wax... i love taking the time and the money to search for certain tunes and parts for speakers and what not, i guess its my passion. i feel mala's a part of that culture too so id be sad if he, or someone like madlib, starting using ableton or something... you know? just mho, lets not get all up in arms when someone states something contrary to your opinion, its all apples and oranges! love you guys, seriously

djshiva · Post by **djshiva** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:08 am

Fractal wrote:
sapphic_beats wrote:
Fractal wrote:i know if i went to see mala play and he was strictly digital id be sad
and if he rocked the newest mystikz tunes on a massive system, and you were still sad, then it's me that would feel sad for you. oh wait! no i wouldn't! i would be dancing my ass off in front of a speaker stack because i could give two shits how he plays it, as long as he does.
Thats true! i was actualy speaking as a person in love with soundsystem/dubplate/crate diggin culture... which is i know off topic, as alien pointed out, but plays a roll in my decision to stick with vinyl... i love the idea of dusty old recs and rooms stacked to the ceiling with god knows what kinda wax... i love taking the time and the money to search for certain tunes and parts for speakers and what not, i guess its my passion. i feel mala's a part of that culture too so id be sad if he, or someone like madlib, starting using ableton or something... you know? just mho, lets not get all up in arms when someone states something contrary to your opinion, its all apples and oranges! love you guys, seriously

oh trust me, i was totally teasing you. i get it. i really do. i love to watch a good dj wreck the decks. been doing it myself for years. i just think the fetishizing of the method tends to get in the way of enjoyment of the music sometimes, so i can't help but take the piss!

gremino · Post by **gremino** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:23 am

Alien Pimp, i agree with you.

One thing what really frustratest me, is how people in underground scene puts money, or change to get own track played by a big dj, before music. It really makes me think how many underground scenes there really is: scenes with strong individual people who makes things as they like to do them, not under pressure of the group. It has made me really disapointed noticing that these underground scenes are quite full of sheep-ish people. But that might be just about growing up: I think everybody has to be disapointed once in their life, whether it's about love, community or whatever.

alien pimp wrote:and what the hack, digitally i can put out a track just because it brings something fresh to the scene, it breaks my heart and has good technical quality, even if you know it will sell 20-100 pieces only, just for the pride of being the one who gave it a chance and maybe later on some peeps will loock back at it with respect! can you do that on vinyl?!

Yeah I believe doing things in long term: if you just keep releasing foward thinking music, people will eventually remember you by that. Digital releasing makes this easier.

alien pimp wrote:even in my sleep i can name 10 digital releases that gained much respect and made lots of peeps happy but no one gave those a chance on wax because were considered too risky.

And it's about being an underground label...? *sigh*

alien pimp · Post by **alien pimp** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:42 am

mate, i'm missing a bit your point here, possibly due to not having much sleep lately

i can't relate in any way to all that underground stuff and money and big dj's and seems to me it's quite offtopic also

but to be polite and answer though, i care much more about my stash of clean socks than about the underground/mainstream referrals, or those shitty schemes you mentioned

i only care about being proud of what i do! as i said before, i'm not wealthy enough to buy my happiness, so i gotta earn it by inner peace.

gremino · Post by **gremino** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:14 am

Offtopic or not, your thoughs made me write some of own

alien pimp wrote: but to be polite and answer though, i care much more about my stash of clean socks than about the underground/mainstream referrals, or those shitty schemes you mentioned

Now I might be missing a point here. I didn't meant to ask a question, although there was a question mark. I just wanted to show how it irritates me when labels which consider themselves as underground (for me it's about music not money), releasing only stuff what will surely sell, but not necessary take things musically forward.

claw · Post by **claw** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 3:15 pm

this guy says ...

"vinyl's what you need to be seriouz"

abZ · Post by **abZ** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:11 pm

struggle wrote:
abZ wrote: I have a wife/kid/house and another kid on the way! I would be a scum bag if I didn't use my last 20 on food for the fammo.

guess that makes me a scumbag then. lol!

seriously though, i'm in the same boat. always scraping change together to buy a few here and there.

Yeah it's tough. I have to go 2 months between orders sometimes. On the bright side almost every dubstep record I own is class. No filler tunes.

John Locke · Post by **John Locke** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:35 pm

i guess this subject been kind of rinsed, but 4what its worth i'm mostly with alien pimp: with a few exceptions quality and commercial success rarely go hand in hand.

but yeah, mastering is good. do it

pure · Post by **pure** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:43 pm

Battle Gong wrote:
but yeah, mastering is good. do it

sully_shanks · Post by **sully_shanks** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:54 pm

no other format will ever be as tangible, immediate and LIVE as vinyl
digital formats are wicked, but are more of a stepping stone than a final goal to me
they help sounds to spread and grow, which is massively positive, but if these movements are really heading anywhere then the cost of producing a run of 500 12s shouldnt be to big a deal...

The quality of Digital only labels?

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