SwingDJs

What do you do when you have a fantastic chart in your collection but the recording quality may not be the best.
I’ve got charts that to my knowledge only have been recorded once, but the recording quality is not fantastic. Some of them swing and kick so hard, but I know that if I DJ some of them, I don’t thing they will be appreciated for what they are.
Do you DJ these kinds of Charts or not?

Bob

I think this decision is highly scene-specific, and comes under the heading, "What will your scene tolerate?" There are some scenes in which the majority of dancers will not dance to anything that's lo-fi sounding, regardless of how kick-ass the song is, and others that will dance to the scratchiest sounding recordings. If I'm not sure, I'll usually play one song when there aren't a whole lot of people around (like the beginning of the night, or even pre-start) to see how it sounds with the sound system and the space, and then decide whether it's "try-able" or not, since inevitably, the recording often sounds quite a bit differently in the space than through my speakers at home or through headphones. Sometimes it sounds just fine, and I'll try a song off the recording (to see if people are receptive to that genre), and other times, the sound quality is so poor that the decision is basically made for me. I guess that's the downside to playing great music that was recorded with less-than-great equipment. Sigh.

I agree completely with Bryan.

Unfortunately, sound quality is an inherent part of the audible experience of listening to music. What might be a fantastic song for a music historian at home (or on some sound systems) can just sound like ass to the average dancer at most dances and can really kill a vibe... unless, like some on this list, you have an axe to grind and refuse to dance to anything BUT lo-fi music. But most people at dances grew up listening to music recorded with good sound quality and they generally will not respond positively if they need to struggle to hear the music.

In other words, although it is a shame because a lot of great music was recorded with poor sound quality, I just don't play it unless I'm convinced they will dance to it (namely, that the audience has different preferences than I do). There also is too much great music that IS recorded well to run the risk.

This thread probably will end up in one of those redundant flame-wars because there are some with an axe to grind who speciously claim that sound quality is entirely irrlevant and that the only REAL Swing music was recorded before hi-fi came out.

Lawrence wrote:This thread probably will end up in one of those redundant flame-wars because there are some with an axe to grind who speciously claim that sound quality is entirely irrlevant and that the only REAL Swing music was recorded before hi-fi came out.

I can't think of anyone on this board who thinks like this... though I can name a few who have the misconception that there are people who think like this.

Lawrence wrote: unless, like some on this list, you have an axe to grind and refuse to dance to anything BUT lo-fi music.

uhm, yeah. either they have an axe to grind or maybe they just actually prefer the musicianship/arrangements of the particular recordings. I also dont know a single person that refuses to dance to anything but lofi.

Lawrence wrote:This thread probably will end up in one of those redundant flame-wars because there are some with an axe to grind

you mean someone like you? you seam to have an "axe to grind", way more so than the average poster on this forum.

Experiment - play it, and see if it really loses people.. maybe stick one better sounding swing era recording ahead of it to lighten the shock.. and if it does lose people, then follow it with something that panders a little and you'll get a super full floor out of the pent up irritation from the last song.

I played a song of questionable sound quality the other night and apologized to a fellow dancer about it - she said "oh songs like that are fun - it sounds vintage to me and I like it".

The only other complaint I've heard is when you can't hear the beat in the music - as long as you can hear the beat clearly enough I'd say go for it - it makes a good contrast.