edits edits edits.
the world went edit mad....
here's why i like edits:
normally theyre pressed nice and loud now, so someone can make an
edit of an LP track that might have not sounded too hot in the mix
and it will be nice and loud and edited for mixability.
all true. Usually. The sound/mastering/pressing on some of the later
Ugly Edits however are crap-ola, and some of those originals aren't
that hard to find clean copy of. I mean come on, some of these sound
like they're playing in a felt shoebox. There are also good edits
and bad edits, a (re)edit of said great track does not automatically
make it's edit a winner, of course! There are lots of just kind of
boring ones, though usually it will tip you off to discovering a cool
original along the way you were unaware of.
ALSO, while i'm ranting, some re-edit types are getting really lazy
about the TIME of the edits themselves, like the whole point of an edit
(in many cases anyway) is to fix things and make it easier for DJs to
use them effectively.. whether it's to extend a break or accentuate the
cool weirdo synth squiggle line, or even drop a live player into the
mix or add a punchier kick to it.. the point is a re-edit that drifts
"out of time" to a sequence is just as annoying/challenging to mix with
as an original that drifts out of time. If you're going to drop a
classic into a program to add/subtract/sweeten it, can you at least
sync it up a bit, to a clock or put it on a grid so it doesn't drift
quite so much? I mean I mix old stuff all the time and it's drifting
off time like a coked-up live studio disco drummer without a
clicktrack... yes it's a risk but kind of fun (and scary) and a labor
or love to DJ with records you KNOW you have to babysit throughout the
entire mix to push it and pull it so the tempo stays in time. But
should you have to do that with any re-edit worth it's salt? Hell
naw... not to that extent anyway
Particular recent offenders: the Carl Craig re-edit of talking heads
'Once in a Lifetime' on Moxie (maybe it was an oldie done with tape
cutting so if that's the case i'll forgive... otherwise COME ON CARL
that thing is looser than the original!) And the Omar re-work of "set
it out" is pretty rough, you can actually hear where the claps were
meant to match up but double-up over each other, yikes. I'm not
expecting perfection, just more attention "if you gonna do it do it
right"... By comparision the 'secret mixes and fixes' and 'freestyle
edits' do a good job of keeping originally out-of-time things more in
time. Knowwhatimean? I guess "if ya want something done right, ya
gotta do it yourself" ;) [This was also a message on one of Danny's
old Balihu record labels]
and now someone edit this email by deleting it.
peace
--
Matt MacQueen
http://SonicSunset.com
