Is sound quality enough of a reason to allow CDJ's?

[grandmabastard]

Just fancied getting a general consensus on this. It was killing me paying for vinyl so I decided to make the jump to CDJ's, but bass frequencies just get cut so harshly on the digital media, how important do you think that is? I gotta admit I'll probably never take my DJ'ing further than house parties and student bars, so no massive systems where it'll be that obvious. It's just recently I've been freaking out that if I go the CD way in the long run it will affect my sets because of the sound quality.

How many vinyl heads are knockin about? Do you think I should keep shelling out for plates?

This is a massive financial decision for me so whatever i decide it will be for years, so your opinions will count for alot here.

Cheers

[Dark Reign]

bass cuts on cdjs?? guess youve never seen excision. If there is a diff its barely noticeable

Go for the cdjs dude but make sure you get the 1000's

[grandmabastard]

bass cuts on cdjs?? guess youve never seen excision. If there is a diff its barely noticeable

Go for the cdjs dude but make sure you get the 1000's

I wish i could afford 1000's lol. Yeah I'm not necessarily saying CD quality is shit but it's just whether vinyl is better enough to stick with it if you know what i mean. but big up on the response man thx for your two cents

[claw]

you get the best subbass out of cassette tapes in my opinion

[djfoster]

you get the best subbass out of cassette tapes in my opinion

[grandmabastard]

you get the best subbass out of cassette tapes in my opinion

so thats your secret Claw

[ghst]

Cd's brickwall at 22khz, so I'd be more worried about losing higher frequencies! If anything as far as I can remember its vinyl where you lose really low frequencies cos they'd create massive grooves.

[collige]

Cd's brickwall at 22khz, so I'd be more worried about losing higher frequencies! If anything as far as I can remember its vinyl where you lose really low frequencies cos they'd create massive grooves.

Good thing the human ear maxes out at 20khz. Most DAWs work at 44.1, so the vinyl won't have any higher frequencies anyway.

[_boring]

i think cdjs sound better than serato most the time. doesnt your soundcard effect the quality if use serato???

i personally just dont like to have the computer involved, altho it is great to have everything handy when ur spinnin.

you dont need 1000's trust me. 800's are great and they make 600's now i think too. i used 200's last night without a problem.

[ghst]

Cd's brickwall at 22khz, so I'd be more worried about losing higher frequencies! If anything as far as I can remember its vinyl where you lose really low frequencies cos they'd create massive grooves.

Good thing the human ear maxes out at 20khz.

Im sure ive read somewhere that the really aggresive filtering affects sounds in the audible range, aswell as getting rid of all higher harmonics! could be wrong though.

Most DAWs work at 44.1, so the vinyl won't have any higher frequencies anyway.

???

[kidshuffle]

you get the best subbass out of cassette tapes in my opinion

those crazy russians

[collige]

Most DAWs work at 44.1, so the vinyl won't have any higher frequencies anyway.

???

44.1k sample rate = 22.05khz max. If that's the sample rate the original tracks were bounced at (which they probably were), the WAV being handed to the mastering studio (and thus your vinyl) won't have any frequencies higher than 22khz.

[Tangka]

one thing i'd like to add is that you don't have to spend all your money to have a good functioning vinyl collection. just buy like 5-10 a month and don't be shy or insecure about playing out your classics. i don't suppose you're cutting dubplates [edit: as in getting them cut haha] are you? also, what are you going to do with all the mp3's you've bought and don't end up wanting anymore? be wise about vinyl purchases and everything in your crates will be awesome and retain or gain value to a reasonable extent.

at least somewhere down the road if things get too dodgy or whatever you could sell off your vinyls and go digital then.

sound quality? digital is fine don't worry about that, just try to deal with highest bit-rates possible. loads of people prefer the sound of digital. it's not 'deficient' in bass by any means.

but to me vinyl is a "warm viscous liquid shaped sound" and i can't do without it.

[ghst]

Most DAWs work at 44.1, so the vinyl won't have any higher frequencies anyway.

???

44.1k sample rate = 22.05khz max. If that's the sample rate the original tracks were bounced at (which they probably were), the WAV being handed to the mastering studio (and thus your vinyl) won't have any frequencies higher than 22khz.

haha ahh right i get you, blank moment. RIP recording to tape!

[thrush]

dont switch to CD's entirely. buy vinyl's of tunes u really like and that mean something to you and in years to come youll be glad you did

[fushimi]

Everyone should be a badman like Mala and cut Steve Reich tracks.

[__________]

[batrobin]

its the tunes that make it to vinyl which are mad quality (most the time anyway )

I prefer mixing on vinyl myself coz thats what I learnt to mix with, I love it when a record arrives from the post or going out the local store (not so local .. little trip to the cbd) to pick up a record or two. Also lookign through my crate is nice aswell.

I play some cd's on the weekly radioshows me and a mate do (think are 800's i think) but don't think I'd ever play a cd out, coz I'm just not comfortable mixing on them.

[kidlogic]

i think cdjs sound better than serato most the time. doesnt your soundcard effect the quality if use serato???

i personally just dont like to have the computer involved, altho it is great to have everything handy when ur spinnin.

you dont need 1000's trust me. 800's are great and they make 600's now i think too. i used 200's last night without a problem.

Soundcard does not effect quality, that is if you mean the soundcard on your computer. If refering to the Serato box, there are two versions, the SL1 which is 44.1 and the SL3 which is 96. A .wav played on Serato will sound better than a CDJ to an audiophile, but to the average clubgoer listening on a big system it will be tough to tell the difference (given that the volumes and quality of the song is comparable). Chances are regardless of what you use, something in the audio chain at the club will lead to loss of something - conditions are rarely optimal when playing out.

Its all about the music first and foremost, use what you feel comfortable with at home and learn as many other methods so you can adjust to whatever is available at the club/rave - most of the time it will be less than ideal and not what you're used to anyway (unless you bring your own equipment). Always bring vinyl, needles, CDs and a flashdrive with you when you spin out so you are prepared for anything.

[lowpass]

This threads hurting my head, from what I know:-

- Cd's do not brick wall at 22khz, there is a reason that the frequencies go up to 22 and not 20 and that is so that the filter can be more gradual, affecting the audio in the audible range much less. There is another argument that cutting frequencies above this still affects us because it is not just our ears that "hear" the music (different argument however)

- Vinyl, because of the limitations of the medium usually has a frequency response of between 22 - 16,000 hz. As you can see has a hell of a lot more shaved off the top than c.d's and I may argue that when you say cd's have less bass it may be more of an issue that they have more top end which leads you to believe "less bass". (just read c.d's usually have a frequency response of 20- 20,000 hz)

- CDJ-600 is a gemini product, if that's your thing then go for it, I wouldn't use gemini though if I could get a second hand pioneer deck for around the same price.

last but not least

- Tape does create the biggest bass