E-Digging SUCKS!? Really?

when people started mangling together beats with hijacked analog audio equipment it sounded like shit by todays standards, but revolutionary to theirs. if you put two tracks side by side one with say a vinyl sourced sample and one with an mp3 in front of a producer and didn't tell them which was which, do you really think they'd be able to tell the difference most of them time? probably not. now think about someone who is not a producer. digital audio manipulation is now advanced enough that you can make just about any type of sourced audio sound rather bad ass.

not hatin on purists i am saying is that you should not let access to specific type of sample source discourage you from sitting down and bangin out a beat that day.

jus my 2 cent
 
kifferei said:
if you put two tracks side by side one with say a vinyl sourced sample and one with an mp3 in front of a producer and didn't tell them which was which, do you really think they'd be able to tell the difference most of them time?
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yes they will, even mediocre producers/beatmakers will.
 
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I think both are great ways to find some gems, personally when I'm digging for samples online I go with foreign music, just because the majority of people online are not looking for that. Found some great songs that way. But there's still nothing like finding that unknown record at the thrift store and turning it into a hot track.
 
id love to dig in crates, and sample directly into my mpc.. does suck finding a sample, pre-chopping it before i load it in the mpc,, would rather just hit record and have what i want in there but thats just the way shit is for me right now.. also dont have the time or money to go browsing thru record stores..although i do own some vinyl :(
 
Geez, I have to agree that this is a horse so dead and buried it's already decayed and sprouted a garden, but nevertheless I do like the topic.

I'm not terribly old school at all this, but I did start sampling before Napster and P2P came into prominence. Personally, I prefer a vinyl sample over a CD sample, a CD over an mp3, and an mp3 over hooking up my old tape deck to rip a 4th generation dub of a song. (Likewise, I prefer a movie score to come from vinyl, then DVD, then VHS, then mp3). It's really about what you can get your hands on and personal preference.

Digging in an old school record store will always be one of my favorite things to do, period. It's not just about stumbling across an unknown record that ends up having a hot break, it's also about the community: the rapport you build with the counter staff, the other quiet beat diggers lurking around (it's funny how easy it becomes to pick them out of a lineup just by the way they dig through a crate), the train ride/bus ride/drive to the store, having that obvious plastic bag from a record store and catching other vinyl-heads on the bus trying to peep your finds, making space for your records and having people come over to your house and exclaim "You've got actual records?!?!" I also think of samples as our tools, and I like my tools to have a physical presence. That's just me though, plenty of people have no nostalgic attachment to physical media.

And about time and money: I think it's safe to say that none of us really have the time or money for buying all this needless crap. If it's something you care about, you make time for it. Damn, I sound like somebody's girlfriend...
 
smokymo said:
yes they will, even mediocre producers/beatmakers will.
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actually no not really. and i am talking about music listeners...non producers....the ones you are writing the music for. they will not be able to tell or really care.
 
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Hip hop is all about utilizing resources. No one gives a f**k what monitors you use, what chord progression did blah, if you use hardware or software, Pro Tools or FL, or where you got your sounds from as long as the end product is hot.
 
I think a big problem old heads may have with e-digging is it kinda kills the exclusivity of certain records. I remember back in the day thinking about certain records and wondering if I'd ever HEAR them, much less own them.

Now?

My entire digging "wants" list is filled.

I think that's great, but to some folks? They think its cheapening the artform somehow

*shrug*
 
gradylives said:
I think a big problem old heads may have with e-digging is it kinda kills the exclusivity of certain records. I remember back in the day thinking about certain records and wondering if I'd ever HEAR them, much less own them.

Now?

My entire digging "wants" list is filled.

I think that's great, but to some folks? They think its cheapening the artform somehow

*shrug*
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I am one of those guys who thinks it cheapens the aspects of digging. The art of sampling is something totally different. But I think the younger generation has a different view point on the music where they think ok what did you do with the sample and the older cats say did you find something new and fresh nobody else has used before or used in a different way.
 
In the long run it doesn't matter where the cuts come from. A hit is a hit.
 
I strictly crate dig. However I think e-digging is a great option and the pro's of e-digging certainly outweigh the cons. I don't agree with any of the elitist's reasons against e-digging..

1) All records online are very common and widely accessible to anyone.. false false false
I went through a niche of sampling mostly italian prog-rock.. This shit was ONLY available online, very hard to track down, and required alot of research to even know which names to look up... hence e-DIGGING

2) Quality.
The differences in quality of a 320 kbps mp3 (which is the only source aside from .flac or .wav that you should be sampling) is so miniscule in comparison to a digitized vinyl rip... Using a DAW and being opposed to sampling mp3's is like drinking a top shelf liquor while eating a microwave burrito.. Also.. it takes a special kind of person to sit around ripping vinyls to upload to their blog all day.. These guys usually have better cartridges tables and needles than you.

3) The "Euphoria" factor
One thing that's prevalent among the ditc elitists is just the "feeling" of digging in a record store. This is the only reason I am strictly digging in crates, it just complements my workflow better and is a great way to get your eyes off of the knobs and switches while accomplishing your musical goals.. But for some people they prefer looking online in the sanctity of their home. You just have to empathize... It's a new generation and some of the older folks don't realize the new guys are all about obtaining the most amount of info, resources while expending the least amount of themselves as possible. Can you really blame them though? I know J. Cole and 9th Wonder have both admitted to e-digging from time to time



Thats just my interpretation.. of the situation...

Keep E-digging kids... Ill keep digging vinyl..
 
SoundSplash said:
2) Quality.
The differences in quality of a 320 kbps mp3 (which is the only source aside from .flac or .wav that you should be sampling) is so miniscule in comparison to a digitized vinyl rip... Using a DAW and being opposed to sampling mp3's is like drinking a top shelf liquor while eating a microwave burrito..
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Quality has more to do with numbers though. But since we are talking numbers are you talking about CDQ wavs or are we talking higher quality 24 bit wavs?

Also how is that DAW comment even relevant to sampling? DAWs are transparent depending on your converters. I wouldn't consider myself an elitist l do however not trust other people's recordings and have stuff on wax that I cannot find at all online. I made a point to a few cats on twitter the other day and gave them an album that I couldn't find online at all and told them to find it. Hours later they came back with nothing. Meanwhile I got the record for free and have seen it several times. Also the guy who I got it from got it for 25 cents
 
Just to chime in; I tend to do both. Ill surf the net i.e youtube, amazon music, itunes, etc... But I also hit up the local record stores, thrift shops, and yard sales... I love the sound of vinyl and the ability to change sounds with the turntable and mixer before I even sample something. Another big one for me when I dont necessarily know a genre is Last.FM I'll just let it play old stuff and when something catches my attention I start researching it.
 
Producers are the only one's who really care whether you e-dig or crate dig, A hit is a hit.Period. All other talk is just petty sentiment. If you e-dig thats dope,if you crate dig thats dope as well. Just make sure it bangs!
 
Swoop da Kid said:
Producers are the only one's who really care whether you e-dig or crate dig, A hit is a hit.Period. All other talk is just petty sentiment. If you e-dig thats dope,if you crate dig thats dope as well. Just make sure it bangs!
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Link to one hit that was made from an mp3.
The point of this thread is the quality of sound. Sure i made beats from mp3 but they were just to kill time or practice some certain aspect.
 
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is it hit or major single or even a good record?

the are plenty of tracks that are made from mp3 on mixtapes of different sorst, but not on albums
 
I have been looking at this site on and off while i'm bored at work, and had to sign up just to respond to this idiotic debate. Anyone that thinks e digging is even remotely close to digging vinyl records is sadly mis-informed and won't last long in the business. The only good metaphor i can come up with is cameras. A camera with actual film will never pixelate no matter how close up you zoom up into it. A digital camera will pixelate and show little boxes the closer you zoom up. Same thing with audio. An mp3 or other formats have a sample and bit rate. These are binary code equations that use 0's and 1's to represent each sample. The higher the sample and bit rate, the closer to analog you get. No matter what, if you zoom up on a digital audio file (especially mp3) you will see boxxy lines similiar to a pixelated digital photo. This shows you that the full wavelengths of the audio are not being accurately respresented but more of an approximation of the sound. Anyone who thinks mp3 sound as good or better than vinyl need their ears checked and shouldn't be making beats. I'm sure all my vinyl heads out their know how much better vinyl sounds than digital. At least if your sampling onto a digital format (ex. computer, mpc, asr, etc...) you are sampling straight from the analog source and you will have a more accurate representation of the sound. Especially when you start getting into sampling at 96k and up sample rates at 24 bits. Their is not even a debate, vinyl sounds much better and is of a higher quality. All you dudes with hissy and poppy ass sounding dollar bin records(thats cool), look up vinyl facelift with wood glue on youtube. Do this to ur shitty sounding vinyls and they will sound amazing and way better than any digital could ever sound.

Aside from the sound quality issue, which vinyl is obviously better, why the hell would anyone dig online. Shouldn't even be called digging, more like random finger clicking youtube links. To cats like me who have spent years researching artists, labels, and different styles of music, its sad that some teenager with no respect or knowledge of the music he's raping can just click a youtube link and have instant gems. The internet may be great for researching music and finding artists, but don't sample youtube and mp3s, thats just a sleazy kind of thing to do in my opinion. This is the difference between a hardworking self made man, and some kid with a silver spoon getting everything handed to him. Have some respect for the artists ur sampling. Buy their shit. Don't be scared to ruin your diesel jeans, Get dirty and get in those crates. Wear a dust mask if you have to. This is what separates the men from the wannabees. Be intimate with the music and you shall be rewarded. Rip audio from youtube to ur mpc and call urself hip hop --->Shame on you.

Ok enough rambling, I shouldn't even care. Let these kids make their shitty youtube beats, that just means less competition for all the real producers who do things the right way.
 
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