David Kennedy (better known to you as dubstepper Ramadanman and one half of Hessle Audio) is about to launch his latest project, a vinyl-only club night starting in Leeds next month, aptly titled Acetate. We hooked up to ask him about his rhyme and reason, dodgy decks and digging out old Kerri Chandler.
Mixpak: It’s an age-old and sometimes unfounded complaint that using computers and/or CDJs is cheating, is your reasoning behind starting Acetate driven by this or is it driven by sound quality?
David: I use Serato when Djing, and yes, it does tell you the BPM of tunes you’re playing as do CDJs. But to be honest, I don’t think beat matching is the hardest part of Djing. Yes you could burn all your CDs at the same tempo, but then again, you could do exactly the same with dubplates. For me, starting Acetate isn’t to do with ‘real’ mixing or anything like that, it’s primarily a sound quality thing. Having said that, there is something quite satisfying about a simple, raw setup of just 2 turntables and a mixer.
Does a vinyl only night cut the wheat from the chaff for you – reinstating the DJ as a serious collector, not just as a downloader? Do you think there are a lot of DJs now who don’t own any vinyl at all, and why do you think that matters, if it does?
That’s an interesting question. I really enjoy the physicality of vinyl. Physically it has a presence in your room – I have vinyl in a mess all over my floor and I love that. As convenient and good as MP3s are, they will never have that aspect to them. I don’t think being a DJ means having loads of vinyl or whatever – I have friends who love music, but for various reasons, say financial or space wise, don’t buy vinyl, but that doesn’t mean they are any less interested in music. Each vinyl that I have, I remember where I bought it, I remember why I bought it. Maybe i’m romantiscising a bit but I love that aspect to it. It’s like a piece of vinyl travels with you, from gig to gig, or from house to flat. Playing vinyl doesn’t make you a better DJ or anything like that, the tunes you play have to come first clearly.
Who do you plan to have on your line up and how restricting do you think it will be in who you can choose? What is the reaction you’ve had from other DJs?
I have Floating Points & Ben UFO in October, Loefah, Elgato & Billy Blanks + Ruff Dug in November, and Joy Orbison, Appleblim and Ben playing jungle in December. I don’t think being 100% vinyl has really restricted me in who I’m asking to play. Most of the people i’ve booked already don’t play vinyl anymore, but they used to. And maybe I think that’s what’s made them want to play Acetate. Most people I know who used to play vinyl stopped because clubs stopped looking after their decks and it ended up negatively affecting sound quality. If the next DJ is using CDs and you’re playing a tune on a 33rpm 4-track record, your music is going to sound weak in comparison, and maybe the crowd will shout at you to turn it up. Or if you start playing vinyl and the decks have been poorly set up / isolated so it starts skipping, it’s not a strong look. So I guess with Acetate what i’m offering is giving my friends the chance to play their records without having to worry about dodgy decks / dodgy needles / dodgy mixer. The reaction has been really positive – i’ve had lots of people offering to play which is great.
How is the vinyl-only factor going to influence what music gets played – are you expecting a lot of DJs to delve into their older influences – jungle, house, techno…?
The aim of acetate was not just to have like Loefah play dubstep tunes, it’s all about people just playing their favourite records. For me, I will probably play a lot of the house records that i’ve been buying over the years but that I haven’t had the chance to play in a club. I just want the DJs to come with a big bag of their favourite records, and to have fun playing them. Not to feel like they have to play a certain set, or have to live up to certain expectations.
Are you hoping that your decision to run a night like this will maybe influence people’s habits, encourage people to buy or make vinyl at all?
It’s not really the aim of the night. I think its a bit unrealistic to expect clubs to start looking after their turntables – hardly anyone plays vinyl any more and it’s quite a vicious circle – the fewer clubs that look after their decks, the fewer DJs play vinyl and so on. If anything, hopefully the club night will just sound amazing, and the DJs will have a great time and enjoy dusting off their old records. And if people come to the night and are inspired to start buying more vinyl again that would be great!
What are your most cherished vinyl records (that you own)? What will you be playing?
My favourite stuff I have on vinyl are my house records that I bought when I was a teenager from shops such as the now shut Vinyl Junkies in Soho. I have a lot of memories associated with those tunes so I can’t wait to play them out loud through a decent mixer. Stuff like old Kerri Chandler tunes. There aren’t really any nights that I know of in Leeds who play that kind of music so hopefully it will offer some different sounds to the city.
Acetate launches at the Wire club in Leeds on October 5th.
