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Digitizing Your Collection (Microwave DJs Related)

mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
edited February 2006 in Strut Central
So...I broke down and went Serato Dildo???. Two questions immediately arise:1) I have a Macintosh laptop and I've been told the built-in sound card on this ain't shit really. What would people recommend as an alternative for digitizing vinyl with mininum A) hassle and B) cost, yet better than what I already have? I know Mongo Slade was recommending the M-Wave but damn, that shit is $$$. 2) How do you avid Dildo??? DJs choose what to digitize and what not to? I can see competing reasons to digitize your most frequently used party records: on one hand, you know they're cuts you can always depend on but on the flip side, if it's that select, why not just bring those in by hand anyways? I guess, in other words, it makes more sense for me to digitize songs that I think I might use but don't really find essential. That way, I can have my sound file and then dump the vinyl. But for those records I know I want to keep, does it still make sense to spend the time digitizing them?Real Microwave Heads Wanna Know.
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  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    If your laptop has a PC card slot, I recommend the Echo Indigo I/O card. It should run about $100ish and shit sounds good for its price. To me it is worth it to spend a bit extra on a soundcard for improved quality in sound because you are spending all of that time to record that shit in the first place. As far as what to digitize, I go with instrumentals, acapellas, or vinyl only remixes and just download the original tracks. A lot of people record the whole A-side and then the whole B-side so when you load a track in Serato, you are basically emulating the exact record.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    ummm dogs. you know with the new serato beta (which is the most gangster build to date) you can digitize with the SL box alone? Oh you didn't know. Get to know 1.5 beta B. Encodes at AIFF, which you can convert/transcode at any time.

    Digitize in order of importance and work your way down. That's the best way IMO. It allows you to re-evaluate your collection too.
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    ummm dogs. you know with the new serato beta (which is the most gangster build to date) you can digitize with the SL box alone? Oh you didn't know. Get to know 1.5 beta B. Encodes at AIFF, which you can convert/transcode at any time.

    Digitize in order of importance and work your way down. That's the best way IMO. It allows you to re-evaluate your collection too.
    There's a noticeable difference in sound quality on my speakers between mixer -> soundcard compared to mixer -> serato. Mixer -> soundcard just sounds better. I
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    ummm dogs. you know with the new serato beta (which is the most gangster build to date) you can digitize with the SL box alone? Oh you didn't know. Get to know 1.5 beta B. Encodes at AIFF, which you can convert/transcode at any time.

    Digitize in order of importance and work your way down. That's the best way IMO. It allows you to re-evaluate your collection too.
    There's a noticeable difference in sound quality on my speakers between mixer -> soundcard compared to mixer -> serato. Mixer -> soundcard just sounds better. I

    Yeah - that sounds about right to me too. It's not like they upgraded the Serato box even if the software now allows for digitizing.
  • bluewaterbluewater 145 Posts

    definitely digitize what you use, but i also digitize alot of my rarer tunes as well, that way i can play around with them on serato and not risk unneccesary damage on the originials.

    i.e. - some of my rarer 45s i spin at home and practice with them on serato, but when i go out for gigs i play the originals.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    ummm dogs. you know with the new serato beta (which is the most gangster build to date) you can digitize with the SL box alone? Oh you didn't know. Get to know 1.5 beta B. Encodes at AIFF, which you can convert/transcode at any time.

    Digitize in order of importance and work your way down. That's the best way IMO. It allows you to re-evaluate your collection too.
    There's a noticeable difference in sound quality on my speakers between mixer -> soundcard compared to mixer -> serato. Mixer -> soundcard just sounds better. I

    Rep your tech specs. This kind of blanket non-technical statement makes no sense at all.

    It might be true in your situation but it's definitely not a truth overall.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    ummm dogs. you know with the new serato beta (which is the most gangster build to date) you can digitize with the SL box alone? Oh you didn't know. Get to know 1.5 beta B. Encodes at AIFF, which you can convert/transcode at any time.

    Digitize in order of importance and work your way down. That's the best way IMO. It allows you to re-evaluate your collection too.
    There's a noticeable difference in sound quality on my speakers between mixer -> soundcard compared to mixer -> serato. Mixer -> soundcard just sounds better. I

    Yeah - that sounds about right to me too. It's not like they upgraded the Serato box even if the software now allows for digitizing.

    these statements are mad jiggery pockery. So if I have a vestax 05 pro and go out into my minijack of my soundcard record at the lowest kilohertz setting I can find, it will sound better than going through Serato?

    nice.
  • ayresayres 1,452 Posts

    definitely digitize what you use, but i also digitize alot of my rarer tunes as well, that way i can play around with them on serato and not risk unneccesary damage on the originials.



    Getting into Serato, if I were you I would do the following:

    1 Digitize stuff you think other Microwave DJs will want and don't have, and then when you get to like 500 tunes, start trading with people who have already done the work encoding all the common stuff and other shit you want but don't have time to do. When I make a trade, I'm totally willing to give up 2000 common party joints for 300 - 400 good quality rare joints that I don't have on MP3 or record. Most DJs have already done all the regular party shit and aren't looking to trade for that kind of stuff anymore. It hurts a little bit to give away stuff you spent a lot of time and money to get the records, but your collection will grow real fast like this.

    2 Save time by ripping tracks off of CDs - if you have Hard to Earn, why would you record from an LP and spend all that time typing in names of tracks and all that when you can just import them into ITunes in 2 minutes and have all that information already on the files. Make sure the BitRate is set at 320.

    3 No matter where the music comes from, encode at 320. If you have the room, do WAV files and keep them on an external, becuase the internal Hard Drives are going to catch up and when they do your collection will sound that much better. Convert the WAVs to MP3s to use DJing out.

    4 Save your music in folders by genre so that when you move your music around you aren't having to constantly re-sort your shit. I wish someone had told me this from the jump because my internal HD is a mess and I don't have the time to re-sort all that stuff now.
  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    this is the truth. everybody's ipod is a wealth of common party joints. don't worry about those. they'll be easy to obtain.

    urrrs$$$,

    i'm down for an mp3 swap. holler.
  • sonofsamsonofsam 680 Posts
    co-sign on everything urrrs said, and i would like to add that i have found it much easier to manage my files in itunes than serato... not that there is anything hard about serato, but when you have to type in an artist's name 25 times itunes will do it for you after a letter or 2... little shit like that adds up... another thing i do is go ahead and put files in whatever playlist you want as soon as you add them to your library... it wasn't a big deal for a while, but now i have so many files in there, it is a huge pain in the ass to do after the fact



    my routine is: record as .wav on another computer, save on external hard drive, dump from external HD to itunes on ibook, convert to .mp3, delete .wav, bpm the files that i want bpms for, put in appropriate playlist, type artist's name LAST (it's harder to find the files you just added once they are in alphabetical order), go to serato with the interface disconnected, hit "build overview", presto



    if you grab a bunch of files from someone else's hard drive, or import a lot of cds at once, just do "build overview" before you go to bed and let it ride for the night, that shit can take a while



    hope that helps, it has been a learning process, but i think i've got it down pretty good now
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    I rip records that are common party joints I want to spin (example: I Hear Music In The Streets) and rare shit that I will never ever ever DJ out with (example: Le Cop), all that other shit falls into place. I got a lot of classic hip-hop off CD. Rare groove shit is fairly easy because most of the time you can just rip one track per LP, if it's a classic LP like "Curtis" it's worth it to rip the whole thing for listening, then you have "Move On Up" to play out next to your Kanye.
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    Rep your tech specs. This kind of blanket non-technical statement makes no sense at all.

    It might be true in your situation but it's definitely not a truth overall.
    Sorry, I didn't mean for it to be a blanket statement. I'm using a TTM-56 and it records to a Firewire 410. Not a super setup but it's whatever.
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    Urrrs (or anyone else):

    Care to confirm this techical debate over whether it's better to digitize from vinyl going through the Serato box or going through a third party soundcard?
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    Urrrs (or anyone else):

    Care to confirm this techical debate over whether it's better to digitize from vinyl going through the Serato box or going through a third party soundcard?
    It's going to vary on your setup like cashless mentioned. Honestly, I forgot about Serato being able to record now because I only used it once when I first installed the new version.
  • ayresayres 1,452 Posts
    I don't know, I haven't F'ed with Serato 1.5 beta, I just use a good external soundcard to record into my desktop. How do you record your mixtapes?
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    I don't know about that, I haven't F'ed with Serato 1.5 beta, I just use a good external soundcard to record into my desktop. How do you record your mixtapes?

    I feed directly into mini-jack input on my laptop but I was talking to Mongo Slade about this and he was saying that the stock soundcard on Apple computers is shite.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    I wouldn't feed into a mini-jack, just buy an external device i/o, it won't run you a huge amount of money.
  • ayresayres 1,452 Posts
    yeah I think any stock soundcard isn't a great look for recording. Brian is the dude I usually defer to on computer issues. you can always get an MBox but that might be a little more than what you need.
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    I would check the Serato forums to see if people did any comparisons between their soundcards and the Serato box.
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    yeah I think any stock soundcard isn't a great look for recording. Brian is the dude I usually defer to on computer issues. you can always get an MBox but that might be a little more than what you need.

    Yeah, I hear the MBox is good but also chingo bling.

    I'm open to other gear suggestions for those who don't want to spend $700.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    I don't know, I haven't F'ed with Serato 1.5 beta, I just use a good external soundcard to record into my desktop. How do you record your mixtapes?

    I would suggest highly that you begin fucking with it. The shit is the best Serato build ever. Looping and encoding are tight.

    Encodes to AIFF @ 44.1 khz & 16 bit stereo (32 bit is overkill. These are CD quality standards).

    The 1.5 betas are definitely a good look.
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    I don't know, I haven't F'ed with Serato 1.5 beta, I just use a good external soundcard to record into my desktop. How do you record your mixtapes?

    I would suggest highly that you begin fucking with it. The shit is the best Serato build ever. Looping and encoding are tight.

    Encodes to AIFF @ 44.1 khz & 16 bit stereo (32 bit is overkill. These are CD quality standards).

    The 1.5 betas are definitely a good look.

    Ok, you got me convinced. I'll at least give it a shot. At this point, I'd assume anything has to be a step-up from feeding through my mini-jack since that seems to be the consensus opinion.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    yeah I think any stock soundcard isn't a great look for recording. Brian is the dude I usually defer to on computer issues. you can always get an MBox but that might be a little more than what you need.

    Yeah, I hear the MBox is good but also chingo bling.

    I'm open to other gear suggestions for those who don't want to spend $700.

    Dude go to musiciansfriend.com or some such and knock yourself out. There are plenty of I/Os in the low hundreds.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    I don't know, I haven't F'ed with Serato 1.5 beta, I just use a good external soundcard to record into my desktop. How do you record your mixtapes?

    I would suggest highly that you begin fucking with it. The shit is the best Serato build ever. Looping and encoding are tight.

    Encodes to AIFF @ 44.1 khz & 16 bit stereo (32 bit is overkill. These are CD quality standards).

    The 1.5 betas are definitely a good look.

    Ok, you got me convinced. I'll at least give it a shot. At this point, I'd assume anything has to be a step-up from feeding through my mini-jack since that seems to be the consensus opinion.

    Trust me on this one. The SL box is all you will need in order to encode your vinyl. There's rumor of an update that's gonna mimick the simultaneous 2 channel recording feature of the TTM57Sl.

    But for now, the SL box WILL work for you.
  • ayresayres 1,452 Posts
    I don't know, I haven't F'ed with Serato 1.5 beta, I just use a good external soundcard to record into my desktop. How do you record your mixtapes?

    I would suggest highly that you begin fucking with it. The shit is the best Serato build ever. Looping and encoding are tight.

    Encodes to AIFF @ 44.1 khz & 16 bit stereo (32 bit is overkill. These are CD quality standards).

    The 1.5 betas are definitely a good look.

    cool. i'm always nervous about upgrading serato because i want them to work all the bugs out first. don't want to crash up in the club. btw cashless did you get the cd in the mail? jd mentioned you might not have...
  • Pistol_PetePistol_Pete 1,289 Posts
    Where can I DL 1.5?? The Serato site has 1.4 available, but I don't see the 1.5.

    I've heard some crazy things about future serato too - like automatically recording your mixes and then being able to edit them afterwards. Even having a digital crossfader in the editing program where you can make a sloppy scratch on point.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    Where can I DL 1.5?? The Serato site has 1.4 available, but I don't see the 1.5.

    I've heard some crazy things about future serato too - like automatically recording your mixes and then being able to edit them afterwards. Even having a digital crossfader in the editing program where you can make a sloppy scratch on point.

    It's on there, you gotta sign up to be a beta tester though.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    I don't know, I haven't F'ed with Serato 1.5 beta, I just use a good external soundcard to record into my desktop. How do you record your mixtapes?

    I would suggest highly that you begin fucking with it. The shit is the best Serato build ever. Looping and encoding are tight.

    Encodes to AIFF @ 44.1 khz & 16 bit stereo (32 bit is overkill. These are CD quality standards).

    The 1.5 betas are definitely a good look.

    cool. i'm always nervous about upgrading serato because i want them to work all the bugs out first. don't want to crash up in the club. btw cashless did you get the cd in the mail? jd mentioned you might not have...

    You can install multiple builds of Serato on the same pc/mac. I'm running three builds right now. The only issue is that 1.5 & up can't use crates made in previous builds. That's cool though cause the new crate format loads faster. Never had a crash with 1.5 yet. All of my crashes have been unrelated to Serato (user error, forgetting to shut off airport, etc).

    I got the cd finally. Got mailed to 2 wrong addresses. Straight heat. Good memories associated with those tracks!
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    if you turn off airport, how can you post on soulstrut from the club
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY MY LITTLE SPINNY RECORD ICONS WONT SHOW UP????
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