Ricky Figueroa

Sorry for being late to this conversation but I also want to recommend Platinum Notes. The elimination of clipping alone makes it a worthy investment. The amount of clipping in music files, whether in WAV, AIFF, or MP3 format is incredibly surprising.

Actually, my workflow has become: (1) buy the song from Taxsource, Juno or Beatport, lately in WAV format for a reason I explain further below; (2)process it with Platinum Notes, which as stated earlier creates a new file, in my case my choice is the Apple Lossless mp4 format; (3) use MetaBliss (also from the MIK people) to properly edit all MP3\MP4 tags for a reason I explain further below; (4) process the file with Mixed-in-Key so it adds BPM and Key to the comments tag; (5) add the file to iTunes, where I add it to the appropriate playlist(s).

I use MetaBliss because WAV files don’t come with the appropriate tags for title, artist, album, etc. Even if you buy MP3 320 files they don’t necessarily come properly tagged. Plus I like to enter in the genre tag my own genre labels and other stuff per articles I’ve read here and at DTT.

The **question** I have, however, is this: I used to simply buy either Apple AAC or MP3 320 files but once I begun using Platinum Notes I began to wonder if this was the best workflow because it would be making changes in one compressed file format and then save the file to another compressed file format, which in theory, it seems to me, could be problematic. This is why I decided to buy WAV files and save them as Apple Lossless MP4s. What do you guys think?

I know there’s a long and often heated debate among DJs on whether MP3 320s or Apple’s AAC files can sound good enough when compared with WAV or AIFF.

However, that’s not the nature of my concern. Rather, as someone coming from a film editing background, my sense is that processing and saving a file from one compressed format to another compressed format can generate problems. Those are easily detected in video files but I wonder if the same logic applies to music files.

Could you guys share your wisdom on this?

Oyiwaa, in answer to your two main questions

(1) An excellent alternative to iTunes is Traxsource, very often better for soulful, disco and funky music than other options. I have also found that sometimes iTunes doesn’t carry certain songs but Amazon’s MP3 store does. Juno is another alternative. Then there’s the Discogs market place for rare stuff in physical format.

(2) As for lists of songs, I have found the one linked to below very useful. It’s based on actual requests to mobile DJs who report to the website. I discovered or re-discovered in this list songs that have proven popular in the mobile DJ scene in the US.

Here’s the kink = http://www.mobilebeat.com/top-200/

Finally, I must add that Digital DJ Tips wedding DJ guide is a really worthy investment. The model contract, for example, is a terrific value, as are many other items in the package, not just the songs list.

I hope this helps.

Ricky

Wow. I must say that list Terry posted is really something else. It applies not just to DJing. It definitely applies to other crafts\occupations. Thanks for sharing it.

I totally agree that we should do this for the love of music and for the love of seeing other people have a great time.

For example, the moment you see lots of people form a circle on the dance floor and harmoniously begin to lower the bodies more and more, and more, at that precise moment when “Rock Lobster” encourages you to do it, followed by the instant in which that well-to-do old punter falls on his arse doing it, after which he quickly gets up, comes to your table, and thanks you for unexpectedly playing this tune from when he was in university.

Priceless.

Many thanks for new comments. Let me preface what follows by saying that we have many things in common (age group, music, mobile, iPad, etc.), but at least one huge difference that makes me a student of your postings: unlike you, I’m not a long-time DJ (even though I always wanted to become one). <span style=”font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;”>I’m just someone who has been dancing since around ’73 (barely a teen then) who about a year ago was challenged by a promoter to consider DJing part-time (I have a nice day-job).</span>

So I follow your posts very closely and, also like you, for me the issue of flexible beatgridding is essential due to the large quantity of human-drummer 70s-80s music I play, plus also I play lots of so-called Latin music with crazy time signatures and mid-song tempo shifts.

A year now into the challenge, after relying primarily on the iDJ Pro with djay and DJ Player (and occasionally keyboard-based Traktor) I’ve decided I want to move up to laptop-based software. Since Traktor is so popular, I tried it first, but the nasty beatgridding issue got in the way. More recently I’ve explored Serato and have been leaning in that direction.

Now, in a more direct answer to your question, yes, I have explored Deckadance 2 in the past couple of weeks but only by looking at lots of videos online.

Here’s my take so far.

Firstly, I must admit that maybe because I have a background in film production, or maybe because I might be dyslexic, I find colored waveforms far more useful. As I have written elsewhere, this is something I really like about djay 2 despite all its shortcomings. So, when I saw those absolutely gorgeous waveforms in Deckadance 2, and also the overall beauty and simplicity of its new interface when compared to Traktor and Serato, I was immediately drawn in to search for more info. I know old-skool DJs will tell me to only use my ears, but after 15 years editing film I can’t help but look at things in a particular way and I’m too old to change that now.  😉

Deckadance has also some crazy and powerful ways to integrate effects in ways that seem to beat Traktor where Traktor usually shines among effects-heavy DJs. I must say that especially anyone who plays a lot of electro, techno and progressive house, for example, AND likes to use lots of effects for live remixing should take a closer look.

On the other hand, from the little I’ve seen so far, Deckadance doesn’t seem to have the kind of flexible beatgridding Serato does and which attracted you to Cross DJ. Maybe I’m wrong and some DDJT forum member will clarify this perception.

In addition, I really like the stacked waveforms in Serato, not just the vertical ones, but also the wide, horizontal ones. Deckadance has a view in which it presents a small chunk of vertically-stacked waveforms but it’s limited.

Finally, a big disincentive in switching to Deckadance for me right now is the limited number of controllers its manufacturer officially supports so far. From the list I’ve seen only the Vestax VCI-400 attracts me.

I will follow up on your posts about Cross DJ and will take a closer look with an open mind in the next week or two.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experiences. This community here totally rocks.

Saludos,

Ricky Martínez – Axcénted DJ

DJ Vintage, many thanks for your latest comments. I especially welcome the news that you’re successfully using DJ 2 with iOS 7.

BTW, after using Traktor DJ, DJay (1 and 2) and DJ Player (6 and 7) sometimes I feel tempted to put together the concept for the ultimate iPad app just as a thought exercise. I once even started a list of features I like in each one these three apps and of features none have or not well implemented. That could be a good conversation topic in some pub somewhere . . .  🙂

Sydvicious, I don’t have experience with the Rockits yet but I learned decades ago to always turn on speakers with the volume down and wait at least 10 seconds before bringing the volume up. In fact, my high-end hi-fi amp makes a clicking sound to tell me when it’s ready for me to crank it up. Maybe this doesn’t apply to modern studio monitors or PA speakers but I don’t want to find out by mistake.