file formats | Digital DJ Tips

April 23rd, 2013 Training

Choosing The Right File Formats For Your Music Library

by Andre Shenoi

Music files come in all shapes and sizes, so it pays to decide upfront which file formats and quality you’re going to use, and be sure as to why.

In 5 Reasons To Organise Your Music Properly we explained the importance of having a music system, and in How To Get Started Organising Your Music we covered the basics of getting going.

So now we can delve into all the considerations you should make in order to make this a success. Even if you don’t consider yourself a “new” collector, the approach taken to starting a new music collection can be applied to existing libraries; you just choose to start at a different point in the journey.

47 Comments »

March 30th, 2012 News & Opinion

How Multitrack Files Could Revolutionise The Way DJs Mix

by Daniel James

Many years ago, this was how we recorded four-track audio. If only DJ software would adopt already-existing file formats to play music released in four 'stems", we could DJ in a whole new, and better, way.

Just about all music is created as a multitrack recording, and yet digital DJs still work with stereo files, where most of the possibilities for creative mixing have been taken away. We can partially isolate a bass or vocal line with EQ tricks, but we can’t reliably separate the instruments in the stereo mixdown. This limits remixers to using relatively short clean breaks and vocals, instead of working with the complete tracks.

Now that audio is digital and downloaded, why can’t every release be inherently remixable, whether that’s live in the club or in the studio?

41 Comments »

March 25th, 2011 DJ Culture

6 Ways To Win The Loudness War & Play Better Sounding DJ Sets

by Phil Morse

Turn it up! Dynamic Range Day aims to promote better sounding music.

Today is Dynamic Range Day, which is dedicated to making music sound better by promoting the understanding that dynamics are more important than volume in music. It might sound a bit obscure, but if you want your digital DJ sets to sound great, you absolutely need to understand this.

For DJs, it is a simple enough lesson to learn and one that can make your DJ sets sound better forever more – but you have to understand the basics first. In this post, we’ll give you five simple steps to remember to make sure you always come out a winner in “The Loudness War”.

19 Comments »

February 24th, 2011 DJ Culture

What Every DJ Needs To Know About Music File Formats

by Phil Morse

Pic: Aishaw

With news this week that Apple wants to make “24-bit” files available through iTunes, we thought it would be a good time to revisit the music formats that are out there and look at what they mean for digital DJs.

As a digital DJ, it pays to know your audio formats: Not only should you be aware of the different audio formats that exist, so you recognise them when you come across them, but also you should know when the use of each of the formats is appropriate and when it is to be avoided. Let’s look a little closer…

79 Comments »