Dave Clarke Ditches The Decks

UK Techno King Dave Clarke announced this week that's he's giving up mixing vinyl for CDs some seven years after he first considered the switch.

"I know some of you flat earthers will be upset, but whilst I love vinyl its time has been written on the wall for ages," Clarke announced on his website this week.

"In my mind at the moment the pros (of switching) outweigh the cons," he continued.

"It will speed up getting both mine and other producers' music to clubs (being cheaper, for smaller labels/artists), the bass frequencies will be fatter and stereo (in non bridged systems), the flexibility in mixing techniques not available to vinyl (and some computer systems) are exciting," said Dave.

The highly influential DJ stressed he's not ditching vinyl for laptop computer programmes like Final Scratch or Albeton, unlike fellow superstar DJ Sasha who ditched vinyl himself several months ago.

"In about three weeks time I'm ditching vinyl and CDs to go out on the road using my computer," Sasha told Skrufff in April, "and that's going to allow me to mix anything with everything. I'm still interested in pursuing the perfect mix but the sounds I'm throwing into that mix are becoming broader," he said.

Radio 1 DJ Judge Jules also switched from vinyl to CDs entirely some five months ago though returned to vinyl for a gig in Manchester last weekend after asking his web audience for feedback on the change.

"The majority of you think (as I do) that it's the programming, mixing and music that are important, not the format it's delivered on," said Jules on his weekly diary.

"However a couple of you felt that DJing with CDs was in some way 'cheating' or easier than playing with vinyl. If anyone else fancies getting in touch I'd really appreciate your views on the subject."
Tags

• dave clarke