Nah, it is not the end to wow and flutter, it has severe side effects: give it a song with a pedal steel guitar or a slow song with a singer and/or a guitar solo bending notes. (Examples for vocals: "It Ain't Necessarily So" from Porgy and Bess or any Aretha Franklin or Whitney Houston song. Or use it on the synth solo of "Luky Man" by Emerson Lake and Palmer.) You will never ever again use Melodyne Capstan.

 

There's worse examples, like the Vibrato in Brass instruments like Trumpets..
But that's a known limitation of the program, not new..

 

Last edited: Nov 18, 2024 at 2:40 PM

Wow and flutter, or in other words vibrato and tremolo. I can see where this software could go badly wrong.

I've never used it tbh and never intend to. I've done restoration work in the past and it was the most mind-numbingly tedious work that I've ever experienced. I literally used to deal with wow and flutter by manually drawing corrective envelopes!

What was even worse however was dealing with restoring recordings where the source was cut directly to shellac and going through click, by pop, by click, by pop and redrawing the waveform to remove them because automated click removal isn't sufficient for such a delicate task on a rare vintage recording. It takes days, and days, and days. I'm having a minor panic attack even thinking about it.

I may have said vinyl sucks earlier in the thread but that doesn't even come close to how much shellac sucks.

Edit: On reflection, I guess if this software works in some instances and removes the tedium involved in manual restoration then that's a good thing. From my experience, some tools could work ok if used with a keen ear but in the wrong hands could make a bad thing worse. I remember one recording in particular, that I'd restored to the best I thought it could be, which on release I discovered had been tampered with by the young "engineer" that had compiled the DDP for the label. He had run the recording through some generic noise reduction software, thinking he could improve it (arrogant twat), which had left VERY noticeable gremlins chirping away all over it. I was none too happy. The really sad thing is that when I informed the label owner, he didn't really give a fuck as it was selling. I stopped working for them shortly after that...

 

Last edited: Nov 18, 2024 at 2:42 PM

Absolutely. My old label partner and best friend can barely beat mix matching tempos. But having witnessed first hand his ever growing 30000+ record collection for more than 15 years and him remembering every goddam piece, then you don't care he can't mix because his set selections are always top notch flavor no matter the genre and always include some "easter egg" rare releases and white labels that you 'll be hard pressed to find even in YT etc.
Expanding on this if i may, it is not the medium that makes a good dj for sure but there is a deeper part in what i wrote about digital djs.
"Robes don't make the priest but a priest without a robe ain't a priest". It's no secret that anyone can grab a handful of mp3s and learn beat matching etc. and although i doubt they can be musically knowledgeable, they can still have somewhat good taste. So wtf is a dj's "robe". Is it skills, taste, both? It is all of that of course but imho to stand out and above, you need to be really passionate about it, giving it your best effort and always try to go beyond your ability. I'm no Qbert alright but each time i play, i do it like my life is depending on it. I try to have as much fun as possible like i 'll be gone tomorrow. I learned this very early on and i 've yet to see this fail in 40 years of djing professionally. Count in that most of the tracks i play the last ten years are unknown to the vast majority of young clubbers/bar goers as my sets are mostly (but not exclusively) retrospective and obscurely so.
So i know some might disagree, but passion is what most digital djs lack. Not to mention that apart from some, they seem uninspiring and unoriginal because they all have the very same gestures and jump ups, hands up, finger heart gestures etc like they 're clones or something, especially EDM djs. But, and here comes the really controversial part, it comes with the territory that is the medium. No music lover can be really passionate about the mp3 he found of that rare recording. It possesses no sentimental or other value. On the other hand, finding a record you 've been searching for years can be seriously uplifting and valuable. Half the djs that learned the craft by spinning vinyl are at least very good djs. I can name 100 easily. Unfortunately i can't say the same for the digital only generation djs past year 2000. And i can name 100 again. Try me. With few exceptions, DJs atm are precisely similar pro stereotypes, never taking risks in their sets. Like tellers in a bank. Most times what people are witnessing is a well rehearsed pre-programmed set. Where's the art in all this please and where's the excitement and live part.
Fun fact: Each time i play with a couple of these younger dudes (and sometimes ladies too) i get bombarded with questions all night lol. Their cultural shock is almost amazing to me. What,when,where,how and the likes. Thankfully, most of these younger guys are very polite and eager to learn something new, my gen were mostly a bunch of arrogant pricks when young lol, so i don't mind spending half the night explaining what i do and why. So my humble opinion, passion is what drives the crowd mad and if you have it along with all the other must haves, it will transcend. Good dance music (or just music in general) can be infectious no matter the genre.
Oh and to the people who press dislikes, you join the conversation and prove me wrong haha. Pressing that lil knobie and not speaking your truth is your right but it is lame. Come forward. And if you wonder what i play here's a taste. A track i really favor in my 80s post disco/boogie/electrofunk sets (i say 80s but it may span all the way to 2024) :

 

https://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-simulathe-ref/

 

This one is used for reducing the effects of wow & flutter when capturing material from tape and/or phono gear. Not a vinyl mastering plugin actually...

 

Cutting Vinyl At Abbey Road

 

 

Last edited: Nov 18, 2024 at 9:18 PM

Well, well, never seen that before. Very interesting.

 

What would you know, you're just a DJ? (said the rock guitarist who never danced once in their life).

Ok, I think I'm leaving...

I blame "DJ schools" for that. Similar to how the "Rock schools" turn out incredibly talented musicians that are dull as fuck. It's like corporate broth with no soul.

It's not always the case with the younger digital DJs though, as I'm sure you're aware. Particularly if they're producing their own music. It's not as if everyone has a lathe in their shed to go and cut a bunch of discs to road test some new tunes at the next gig. Digital is the only way to do that.

Someone that springs to mind is Brazilian Anna. Ordinarily she's a digital girl but I like how she chose to do this set for Cercle from vinyl. I think there's a little bit of twisted humour going on from her part towards the cynics. Almost like
"What's that? I can only mix because I have automated beat matching on my CDJs? Hehehe. Well fuck you dude..." (to the rock guitarist that never danced once in their life).

 

Last edited: Nov 20, 2024 at 3:30 AM