Digital DJing

Impressions of an Analogue Aesthete

People tend to laugh when they discover I play records. To most people it seems like an affectation to prefer an obsolete technology, downright weird for someone in my profession. Even other DJs laugh at the expense and the inconvenience.

Perhaps the greatest indignity was having to actually explain what my turntables are to a couple of young relatives. Teenagers! Not only had they never seen them before, they couldn’t work out what they do.

Turntables went out of fashion decades ago and the clubs that still have them seldom ever use them. Decks are almost ornamental, gathering dust in DJs booths while I’ve been a hold out, refusing to embrace digital DJing. Initially this was because fresh music was released first on 12” whitelabels. It could be many months before a digital version of a track became available and when it did it didn’t seem to sound as good, at least to me.

So while the rest of the world moved on I’ve remained in the world of analogue, purchasing expensive vinyl and carting crates of records around.

But things change.

A few weeks ago I decided I would endeavour to integrate my analogue audio system into my SimonTV LIVE Internet broadcasts for fun. After attempting a variety of integrations the one that worked best was to simply capture the signal with a digital/audio converter. A record playing on my turntables outputs to a mixer which outputs to an amplifier which outputs to the converter attached to my workstation, and the signal is ingested into the broadcasting software.

But because the audio equipment is physically located in a different room I couldn’t manage the broadcast and communicate with the audience while I was mixing. I solved this by cobbling together some additional components, augmenting what I had with an overhead camera (so the audience could watch what I was doing) a tablet (so I could monitor and manage some aspects of the broadcast) and a microphone (so I could communicate.)

This seems to work rather well and I’m enjoying this new capability. I’m not sure the audience particularly wants to watch me spin vinyl but I’m having fun doing it.

There’s a problem though. I’ve never really liked my mixer, I purchased it 25 years ago because of its size. (I was living in a tiny London flat and didn’t have the space for anything larger) and now its developed faults I’ve been kidding myself are just ‘quirks.’ Annoying flaws I have to work around. The time has come to bite the bullet and buy a replacement.

And perhaps get with the times and embrace digital music.

I’m not ready to move away from analogue altogether which would include disposing of my precious record collection. While there are other possibilities the most sensible is a hybrid solution that supports both, a digital controller with jog wheels that has RCA inputs for my existing turntables. A Traktor Kontrol S4 Mk3 would seem to be ideal.

The reason is this controller’s compatibility with the open source DJing software Mixxx. Proprietary DJ software is almost exclusively available for Windows and Apple OSX while I use Linux, and prefer to avoid using proprietary software anyway. Despite not possessing a controller I decided to give the Mixxx software a try this evening to get a feel for how digital DJing actually works.

…and was both astonished by and aghast at the capabilities.

Just using a mouse and a keyboard as an interface I was able to set up audio outputs and mix songs just like I would using turntables and a mixer. I had to use the autocue though which seems strange to me, someone used to adjusting the pitch control manually to get two records to play at the same tempo. I was astonished how easy it was: no wonder everyone is a DJ these days, tools like this don’t seem to require as much skill. Or at least that seems so to me. Maybe I’m just being a snob.

Realising I could actually use this software without a controller I pulled the output from Mixxx into my broadcasting software, OBS. In the next screenshot the analogue signal from my turntables is the one at the top labelled Amplifier and the digital signal is labelled Mixxx at the bottom. With these sources configured I can play digital or analogue music though not mix them together (at least in the DJing sense of the term.)

So as I sit here typing I’m contemplating whether I truly need to obtain an expensive digital controller. It would be nice to be able to mix analogue and digital together, and it would be nice not to have to work around the quirks my old mixer has developed. But I’m not certain I truly need it.

Digital controllers and DJing software come with a lot of features I consider extraneous: autocue, filters, sampling, looping. A dinosaur like me really only needs pitch, EQ, volume and a fader.

The determining factor might be the aesthetic. I like the tactile feel of analogue and I love getting carried away in the mix, the artistry of it. The enjoyment I derive from playing is equally important to that of the audience listening I reckon. Maybe I’ll find similar satisfaction in digital DJing and I’m prepared to give it ago but as impressed as I am with its capabilities I don’t think so.

It feels artless. And robotic.

-SRA. Auckland, 20/ii 2025.