Page 58 - Zone Magazine Issue 006

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Vol 3. - The Passion Of Christ Killed by Techno
Ok this is debate that never seems to die and to be honest its quite a boring one at times but since it seems to have such an importance to many, let’s go there.
What is sync anyway? Why do people give a fuck?
Well some would say it’s the crafted art of being able to match the tempo of two tracks using experienced ears and art of being able to control a device with a pitch control.
Actually looking a little bit deeper into its actually about physics and matching wav forms so that the peaks and troughs in one tracks "wave form" is in phase with the peaks and troughs of another tracks wav form simultaneously.
So why does it mater if a digital device is providing that accurately rather than someone manually compensating for it with imperfections generated from vinyl and turntables with lack of accuracy in analogue pitch controls?
Don’t get me wrong I personally really enjoy vinyl mixing but I don’t buy into the idea that being able to create manual sync is an art form. Its can be well practiced and perfected with continued use of the medium. And it certainly doesn’t make someone god that they can sync music together manually its part of a DJs job and far from the whole aspect of it. But here we go, Turntables, CD players, vinyl and other.
Ok lets look at turntables and vinyl. Is true sync actually possible?
The reason I say that is because turntables have motors that actually carry imperfections in how accurately they reproduce the RPM. This inaccuracy or accuracy (depending on how you see it) is called “Wow & Flutter”. It’s a measurement of how much the motor will actually drift in / out of the specified speed if you like. So the lower the “Wow and flutter” rating the better accuracy of the turntable. Technics turntables always won this hands down with the lowest “Wow & Flutter” ratings
and I believe they still do. Lots of modern turntables have increased motor torque, which is powerful but it also increases the “Wow & Flutter” making it less accurate in terms RPM consistency.
Now looking at vinyl, it can carry inaccuracies i.e. off center pressings which causes the music to drift in / out of pitch bending the tempo of the music (all vinyl does this to a degree). So physics would suggest that if you’re lucky enough the vinyl imperfections vs “Wow & Flutter” can counter act each other at times if moving at different cycle times and realigning phase.
Now I’m not a physics or electronics expert here but I do understand the principles around it.
What I’m suggesting is that how well tempos and sync between two pieces of vinyl work together is not purely down to how well the DJ matched it. Some will naturally hold better and others wont, there’s an element that’s out of the DJS control. How many times have you had two pieces of vinyl running in time with each other for almost the full length of tracks without having to touch them? Also music itself can carry timing imperfections that can affect sync and how well it holds against another track.
CD turntables are different as they are purely digital they don’t rely on moving parts to reproduce the sound and tempo. They rely more on sample conversion and wav reconstruction, which is a complete topic in itself. In theory they are more accurate and should reduce the amount of sync issues even if you are still manually matching the tempos using the pitch control. A lot will depend on the quality of the CD deck manufacturer and quality of the files you are playing. I can vouch that the new breed of “Pioneer CDJs” are very accurate and pretty much when you match the BMP either using the BMP counter on the decks
So apparently technology is killing the club scene or rather the skills and art associated to DJing. Every day I see Facebook posts with artwork mock-ups with Technics turntables, pitch controls and sync buttons. The usual comments attached to these pics are of the theme “Real DJs use these” with a highlighted pitch control.
Why are we so obsessed with the medium used to play music in clubs? Why we aren’t more concerned about what’s coming out of the speakers?
Is this obsession generated by DJs from back in the day that are a little bit bitter because younger people are making headway using such technology or not offering anything new?
I do agree that in the past when the medium was purely vinyl based there was an extra element of skill attached to a DJs performance. So you could judge a DJ on say their music selection, how they built their sets and technical ability to sync the records. I am talking mainly about club / house based DJs here rather than the mixing skills of say Hip Hop / scratch DJs.
Now it seems there’s quite an obsession of dismissing a DJs performance, musical ability or how they build their sets if they use the “Anti-Christ” sync button.
In some people’s eyes it’s committing the most immortal sin and you should be put in a firing line for crimes against DJing. Ridiculed, branded a cheat and have people throw rotten tomatoes at you in shame.
" Idoagreethatin the past when the medium was purely vinyl based there was an extra element of skill attached to a DJs performance. "
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