E-Digging SUCKS!? Really?

crate_digger said:
word. i sometimes feel like although physical crate digging is very rewarding, saying stuff like e-diggers only get common tracks is inaccurate, because you can e-dig through pages of posts on a blog or what have you, ignoring the wack and common stuff and only downloading the good gems. that's how it was for me at least; i'd google an obscure album i couldn't find physically, and then go through pages and pages of google results, many of which would take me to blogs of forums full of garbage where i'd have to dig another 20 or 30 pages through posts to find the thing i wanted, and hopefully the dl would still be available. so in essence, i was doing the same thing as a physical digger would be doing, just in a digital form.

and i definitely agree that while coming up on new and random shit is cool and an integral part of the history of sampling and how a lot of dope tracks get made, that doesn't mean that you need to be going and buying random obscure shit just because it's some kind of unbreakable rule or somethin like that. i prefer that a producer know the material he's using and have some kind of emotional connection to it, ie. the sound is good because it triggers a certain emotion in him and thats why he wants to sample it. i get kinda annoyed by cats who just dl a bunch of random shit and then choose whatever is pleasing to the ear without even having some kind of bond with it... feels inauthentic to me i guess, but then again i'm overgeneralizing because not everyone is like that.
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I never seen E Digging and traditional as the same at all. I used to E dig thinking it was the same and it works until u can hear the difference at least for me. Not to mention that mixing mp3s just makes the job 10 times harder. Thats a big part of why I keep bringing up the sound. And I have always found the best samples talking to a store owner because in my experience few e diggers really know a lot of records and the ones that do usually have a ton of crates and only E dig stuff everyone has like BeeGees and Donna Summers. Just in my experience.

krew406 said:
I look at e-digging as the newest face in the hiphop game. DO IT. If you're making music and not noise who cares what your sample material is? Check my blog if you e-dig too
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As the mod here I do have to tell u to keep your sample downloads out of sight if you are offering them. As far as who cares about your sample material people who are releasing albums will care if they are serious about having a good sounding album. Great source material is one of the most important aspects of getting a good mix. High quality sounds in with a good mix will always turn into a good quality sounding song. Crap quality source material cannot be fixed in the mix most of the time. Plus its easier to mix if it its already high quality.
 
I'm obviously not a master of sound quality but the technical practice/ creative inspiration you get from e-digging is pretty ill, thats why I rep it so hard. I'm not saying its the only way to go, its hella fun, quick, and easy, and all the material in the world is there in some shape, form, or fashion. As far as store owners go, most can be pretty helpful but on the other side of that coin they are also trying to make $$ so they will sell you s$HT for gold. Reading wikipedias can send you on musical quests collectors havnt even been on, which further adds to the e-dig phenomenon. I also go to Samash and use my 404 on the MOTIF there sometimes :o
 
Man, you definitely got your fanatics on both sides of the conversation and truthfully I personally know nothing about crate diggin in real life but I'll give yall my perspective. I DO have turntables and quite a few records but I've never been able to utilize samples from real records in my life due to my lack of budget and equipment. Although I have nothing against diggin in real life I prefer E-diggin cus the sheer amount of records I can go through and not having to worry about breaking my non-existent bank lol. Also, I hear alot of talk about sound quality and what not but I chalk it up to the fact that records and mp3's/Wavs/Aiffs/ETC have different sounds. A track that sampled a record isn't necessarily superior to one that sampled a sound file, its jus a different vibe. I personally like to sample sound files I found on the internet due to the fact that their qualities are usually worse than a records and there's alot more flexibility when sampling, especially if your lookin for specific covers, dialogue, video game music and other things that are generally hard if not impossible to find on vinyl
 
krew406 said:
I'm obviously not a master of sound quality but the technical practice/ creative inspiration you get from e-digging is pretty ill, thats why I rep it so hard. I'm not saying its the only way to go, its hella fun, quick, and easy, and all the material in the world is there in some shape, form, or fashion. As far as store owners go, most can be pretty helpful but on the other side of that coin they are also trying to make $$ so they will sell you s$HT for gold. Reading wikipedias can send you on musical quests collectors havnt even been on, which further adds to the e-dig phenomenon. I also go to Samash and use my 404 on the MOTIF there sometimes :o
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in my experience store owners don't sell you crap because most of their business is repeat business. if they want to stay in business they keep their customers coming back. I have never had a store owner sell me crappy records. Maybe a record that didn't fit what I had in mind completely but they have always been quality.
ThaRealKapone said:
Man, you definitely got your fanatics on both sides of the conversation and truthfully I personally know nothing about crate diggin in real life but I'll give yall my perspective. I DO have turntables and quite a few records but I've never been able to utilize samples from real records in my life due to my lack of budget and equipment. Although I have nothing against diggin in real life I prefer E-diggin cus the sheer amount of records I can go through and not having to worry about breaking my non-existent bank lol. Also, I hear alot of talk about sound quality and what not but I chalk it up to the fact that records and mp3's/Wavs/Aiffs/ETC have different sounds. A track that sampled a record isn't necessarily superior to one that sampled a sound file, its jus a different vibe. I personally like to sample sound files I found on the internet due to the fact that their qualities are usually worse than a records and there's alot more flexibility when sampling, especially if your lookin for specific covers, dialogue, video game music and other things that are generally hard if not impossible to find on vinyl
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Thats a cool way of looking at it but technically mp3s are just inferior. The concept of a mp3 is removing frequencies to make the sound smaller and reducing the amount of hard drive space used. It was useful in 1999 when computers came with 20 gig hard drives standard. But now we have programs on computers that are 20 gigs. Some where along the lines people decided that it was an ideal for some reason. But a lot of that stuff can be found on vinyl anyway. i had a record way back when called video game breaks. Had all kinds of good stuff on it and its far from rare. I have rarely found anything online that I have never seen on vinyl before but I have seen lots of stuff on vinyl that I have never seen online especially when you move away from sampling rock and soul.
 
Xabiton said:
in my experience store owners don't sell you crap because most of their business is repeat business. if they want to stay in business they keep their customers coming back. I have never had a store owner sell me crappy records. Maybe a record that didn't fit what I had in mind completely but they have always been quality.


Thats a cool way of looking at it but technically mp3s are just inferior. The concept of a mp3 is removing frequencies to make the sound smaller and reducing the amount of hard drive space used. It was useful in 1999 when computers came with 20 gig hard drives standard. But now we have programs on computers that are 20 gigs. Some where along the lines people decided that it was an ideal for some reason. But a lot of that stuff can be found on vinyl anyway. i had a record way back when called video game breaks. Had all kinds of good stuff on it and its far from rare. I have rarely found anything online that I have never seen on vinyl before but I have seen lots of stuff on vinyl that I have never seen online especially when you move away from sampling rock and soul.
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Actually, technically speaking MP3 is a much more accurate reproduction of a sound recording than vinyl. Vinyl is about one of the worst, except that it adds a 'warm' sound that people tend to like. But as far as frequency response, frequency range, dynamic range, soundstage, there is no comparison - Vinyl doesn't sound as real as an MP3.

Think of it this way. How do the old vinyl records end up on youtube? Somebody ripped them off vinyl with a turntable then uploaded it to youtube or blogs or whatever.

The 'sound' argument for real digging is pointless, unless you spend the money on some really high quality converters (mytek, prism, apogee, lynx, etc)

And I realize that mp3 is sort of making it worse 'twice' but honestly boom-bap beats sound unrealistic and lo-fi 99% of the time, so why even bother?
 
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ScorchinBeats said:
Actually, technically speaking MP3 is a much more accurate reproduction of a sound recording than vinyl. Vinyl is about one of the worst, except that it adds a 'warm' sound that people tend to like. But as far as frequency response, frequency range, dynamic range, soundstage, there is no comparison - Vinyl doesn't sound as real as an MP3.

Think of it this way. How do the old vinyl records end up on youtube? Somebody ripped them off vinyl with a turntable then uploaded it to youtube or blogs or whatever.

The 'sound' argument for real digging is pointless, unless you spend the money on some really high quality converters (mytek, prism, apogee, lynx, etc)

And I realize that mp3 is sort of making it worse 'twice' but honestly boom-bap beats sound unrealistic and lo-fi 99% of the time, so why even bother?
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where did u find that vinyl is one of the worst mediums at? I've listened to well encoded mp3s vinyl and cds of the same song back to back. Sound wise the vinyl always wins to my ears. And why wouldn't it since a mp3 is still removing frequencies of the sound to make it smaller in file size. I should also add that just because someone else doing boom bap makes beats that sound unrealistic and lo fi doesn't mean that we all should. I aim for high quality and encourage others to do the same from the start and if i want to make it lo fi later its not too hard to do so. It also makes it easier to use said sounds/samples in other kinds of music that require a cleaner sound when you start with quality first. Hell those beats way back when boom bap started were hi fi for the time even. They didn't go lo fi on purpose neither should anyone else
 
I may enjoy the taste of a pre-packaged Muffin mix where just eggs and milk were added, But I will always have greater respect and affinity towards the person who baked them from scratch. I would never look down on a dope flip where dude sampled an mp3. But I do look up to those who rock more traditional methods which is normally more indicative of their passion and dedication to what they are putting out.

Making music is a process, and for those who can (which is most), I suggest traditional digging for a multitude of reasons (sonic quality, uniqueness of sample source, and overall enjoyment of doing things the "old-fashioned" way a-la baking from scratch).

I can understand that digging is less accessible to some and circumstances make it so that e-digging is the reasonable approach. To them I say keep at it - Hip-Hop is Hip-Hop just keep it fresh yo! Hell, I still get some ish off the net very seldomly if I just can't find it on wax or it's gonna run me WAY too much $ on Ebay or even sometimes just to participate in the FP battles and Flip This stuff. That being said, my main and go-to method is and will remain vinyl. Copping a dope LP is too good of a feeling to even compare to whatever method of download you may use.

But my honest opinion is that the majority of e-diggers (note: they are the ones not speaking up on the subject) do so out of cheapness, laziness, and need for instant gratification. Again, as I have repeated in a multitude of threads, if you can't afford to be ligit. purchasing music to sample, how the hell did you afford your DAW, VSTs, PC, Midi-Controller, Monitors/Headphones, etc. Sample source is one of the lesser financial investments you need to make. This just leads me to a whole other debate in regards to software piracy which is seemingly rampant these days, unfortunately.

But it is what it is, and everyone does their thing. I have way too much fun looking for a good deal on records to be concerned with how yall do it. If anything, I content myself knowing that you may be missing out on a crucial and enjoyable element of the sampling experience.
 
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larks said:
I follow you, I gather you meant to put another e on the end of Gle, GLEE IS THE BEST SHOW EVAAARR!!!!
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Wish I could help you out with those sites but I don't really use em. Try PM'ing dudes tho they can link you up I am sure. Not sure we are on the same tip regarding Glee but to each their own brotha ;)
 
Digital And vinyl , The only thing that makes a diffrence is how cool i feel when im lookin my records , sampling them and getting that feel , that nice sound , scratches and so forth , Digital makes sampling loads of new material possible with the internet , So i cant say that i dont like sampling with a record , neither that to smoking a fat gram and lookin for some cool shit .

PEACE
 
jeepz said:
Wish I could help you out with those sites but I don't really use em. Try PM'ing dudes tho they can link you up I am sure. Not sure we are on the same tip regarding Glee but to each their own brotha ;)
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hahhahaahhah
 
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