Macka B - Never Played a 45

Macka B has a not-so-subtle message for DJs across the land... and we agree with his sentiments!

It's not about lambasting people for their choice of medium, we just agree that the feeling of manipulating wax is a crucial part of the true pleasure of DJing. The video's cool too.

In all seriousness, while we play strictly vinyl at our DJ sets, I personally play off Serato a lot of the time when performing as Ewan Hoozami and love the fact I can use cue points for live editing, dub effects, beat-rolls and so on, plus I can play my own tracks without getting them cut to wax. I often get people coming up to me when I'm playing vinyl saying 'ah nice to see someone DJing properly, none of this laptop shit'. Equally, I get people cussing me when I'm on Serato for 'cheating'. 

Well, here's a newsflash for anyone that thinks like that - you're plain wrong. 

DJing with vinyl and DJing digitally are, to me, as different as playing electric or acoustic guitar... the basic principles are the same, but the style, sound and vibe you achieve are totally different. Neither is 'right' or 'wrong' - however I would argue that DJs that have never used vinyl are missing a crucial part of their education.

It's refreshing to see Macka B avoid the traditional 'old school' stance - the heads often take up a tribal stance of 'vinyl is the only true form of DJing' - and acknowledge the role of digital in today's DJ culture.

But if you are a DJ who's never played a 45, we think you'll fall in love with the wax if you give it a shot.