Old Tech, better or just making you more creative?

Most of us who have produced Music for more than perhaps a decade have a nostalgia for old gear. Often very basic setups, but enough to maybe make a first record with it. But were they really that good? or did they just make us more creative?

I started making electronic music with software, then moved to a hardware setup with just a few pieces of gear. I remember my first sampler, the Zoom ST224 phrase sampler. It had 8 voice polyphony, 16 mb of ram, 8 drumpads, 3 banks, Effect processor, sample editing and resampling capabilities. It didnt have a perhaps say a AKai s950 sound but it was special and its limitations made me work around it.

I finished a first demo in the early 2000's with it, slaving the device over midi to a 4-track portastudio
and then importing the wavs to a computer. This was my 1st music setup. Using my Technics 1200 to sample from, and then editing and looping on the Zoom st224, making the arrangement as a live session and recording it over to a zoom 4 track portastudio.

With only 16 mb of memory the ram was filled quickly. Comparing to a modern setup, the amount of memory now is allmost crazy.

Limited sequencer, with a low resolution, with no 1/2 notes. The workaround was to sequence in 240 bpms instead of 120bpm .

No timestretching? The workaround: I inserted a reversed copy after the sample extending the sound to as long as I wanted it to be.

No mixer? The workaround: setting levels right from the volume settings in the sampler.

With a few mentions of working around the limitations, was my old sampler better than the software used today? The answer is no. Not in terms of specifications, but its limitations made me more creative and I had to think outside of the box.

Music includes alot of problemsolving, when the sound doesnt have the sonic characteristics it should have, you have to know how to shape or edit the sound to get back to the "sounds good".

Old technology is often compared to how big the gap is in specifications to modern Tech, or how advanced it was for its time. The 16 mbs of memorycards vs todays terrabytes, are a million times bigger. The limitations can make a musician more creative.

Add some vocals to your mix.

Add some vocals to your set. With a microphone you can easily add flavor to a mix. You can use the vocals to transition to another track, with a small paus between the songs you can drop the vocal just before the next song comes in. Most DJ-mixers have a microphone input. But make sure not to overdrive the microphone when speaking, or the sound might go into cheap karaoke style. There are useful techniques when speaking into a microphone by holding your thumb inbetwen the microphone membrane and your mouth, this is to reduce the "pop" sound or just by turning the mic at a 45 degree angle. Using these techniques will make your vocals sound cleaner. Have a notepad with some words are maybe rhymes written on it, just to know what to say when you want to drop the vocals. If mixing and speaking is not possible at the same time, then wait until after you transitioned the track into the other, the intro to the next track is often not as busy as a Chorus section. Also do speak

DJ Rasoul 1998 (Large)

DJ Rasoul 1998 (Large) Super record from the later end of the 90's. This EP has 3 songs, Let the music, Slingshot and Francisco Nights. Side A with "Let the music" has a dark bassline and acoustic piano, togheter with strings and the classic house rythm. Dub echos and analogue synth sounds. The song isnt just a 4-bar loop. It has lots of variations. In the middle of the song a soul vocal is heard. Also percussive elements. The later end of the song seams happier, like the minor chords are swapped with major scale instead. What I dont like about this song is the tb303 "like"-sounds towards the end. It gives the impression of a comedy sound. On side B on "Slingshot" the quality is high on the production. With groovy basslines and arpeggio-like elements. The rythm is more disco on this song. 1/3-into the song the loopy groove evolves with a acoustic piano. Then 2/3- the song goes back to the loopy status again. I like this song, its groovy and has catchy

using as few records as possible in your dj mix

Most of us wants to have a giant record collection, but when a gig is coming then you have to carry all the records to the show. This article is about using minimum amount of records in a dj mix. Lets say you play a 2 hour dj show. that means you need +- 50 records in a crate. If you only have 10 records, would you make it thru a dj mix then? If a housesong is aprox 6 min long and you want to make a 60 minute dj mix. then you'll need 10 records for the dj set. 10 records is not much for a mix. What you can do is mix in the b sides too, but then the same artist will appear again in the playlist. You can also play certain songs to the 3 minute point, then mix in another record and then a few song in the set you can reuse the previous song from the 3 minute point again, from a break of the song. Or play the best song first and last to extend it. Playing both the b-sides and reuse the same song as earlier will stretch the length of your mix. Buying an EP costs about the same as a 12&q

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