The P Man to play platters at SDDubstep’s
‘Dead Technology’ event

deadtechnologyNo school like the old school dept.: Low tech jumps into 2010 on Sept. 10 when our own P Man (née Wallflowers bassist Paul Howland) joins a roster of other talented DJs in full-analog mode at SDDubstep’s “Dead Technology” event. No laptops, no CDs … It’s all vinyl, and that’s final.

San Diego’s Kava Lounge (2812 Kettner Blvd., San Diego) will host this digital-free zone. In addition to the P Man, featured acts include EshOne, Misk, Pure Boom Hi Fi and Beingstok.

Got low-tech? Here’s more from our youths!

The P Man was a musical hero to me then and now, and I hope this show draws a crowd that’s ready to dance and support one of our best and brightest.

More on the P Man:

47 thoughts on “The P Man to play platters at SDDubstep’s
‘Dead Technology’ event”

  1. I’m really looking forward to this. I’ve been putting a lot of time and effort in to making my selections for this dance. I’m playing right after EshOne who is one of my very favorite DJ/Producers so the pressure will be on for me to do a really good set. I’m also every excited to hear what all the other DJs have in their record boxes and bags. I’ll be showing up early and staying late and I encourage anyone who can attend to do the same. I have a feeling this is gonna be one of those special nights.

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  2. It’s actually a lot easier on the actual night. At the average DJ / Club night these days you’ve got all sorts of laptops getting plugged in to the mixer and it’s kind of a pain in the neck with cables everywhere etc. When you eliminate that the transitions from one DJ to the next are much more convenient (EshOne speaks to that in his SD Dubstep interview, see below). The big difference for DJs who normally play off of their laptops is this, they’ll be limited to just what they have with them in their record box or bag instead of having a whole hard drive full of tunes to chose from. In the case of guys like EshOne who play a lot of their own material, dubplates are gonna have to be cut as well. This is standard operating procedure for him since he almost always plays strictly off of dubs and vinyl. Pure Boom Hi-Fi is the same way, strictly vinyl all the time. I always pack a box of records and will usually augment it with a few tunes off the laptop as well (usually unreleased stuff). I’m taking this as an opportunity to dig through my archives for some rarely heard gems, and as a good excuse to buy some new vinyls too (like I need an excuse).

    For any of those interested, I did a couple of mixes for SD Dubstep a while back both of which were strictly vinyl only affairs. Here’s the link for those.

    http://sddubstep.com/2009/06/podcast-3035-the-p-man-sddubstep-exclusive-mixes-interview/

    Check out the other mixes on there too if you’re inclined. EshOne’s and Misk both have mixes posted which feature a lot of their own material as well as short but illustrative interviews.

    EshOne

    http://sddubstep.com/2009/09/podcast-50-eshone-exclusive-mix-interview/

    Misk

    http://sddubstep.com/2009/11/podcast-60-misk-exclusive-mix-interview/

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  3. How does one go about getting one-off records made these days, is there a company in SD that makes them or do you have to send away for the service?
    Are dubplates acetate disks?

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  4. >>In the case of guys like EshOne who play a lot of their own material, dubplates are gonna have to be cut as well. This is standard operating procedure for him since he almost always plays strictly off of dubs and vinyl. Pure Boom Hi-Fi is the same way, strictly vinyl all the time.

    I’m just curious… why do they take the digital music they’ve created and have it pressed on vinyl? Is there some quality to the sound they don’t get otherwise?…or is it just easier or more intuitive for them to mix the music live that way?

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  5. Yup, acetates. There are places that make one off vinyls too.

    “I’m just curious… why do they take the digital music they’ve created and have it pressed on vinyl? Is there some quality to the sound they don’t get otherwise?…or is it just easier or more intuitive for them to mix the music live that way?”

    Correct on both points. Easier to handle and they sound really good, especially on a sound system. There’s a mastering engineer involved in the process of cutting dubs, so it adds another finishing touch. Also vinyl and dubs are limited in a few ways that CDs .wavs and .mp3s aren’t. There are dynamic limitations as well as stereo things, for instance, you can’t really cut something to vinyl or dubplate that has really wide stereo bass. The grooves will cut into each other. Sound systems are happiest when they are playing music with a slightly more limited dynamic range and mono bass, so it works out really good.

    This is the place that EshOne and Misk use, it’s up in Orange County, you can go up there for a cutting session or just send files up and they’ll mail you the dubs back.

    http://www.turnstylerecords.com/

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  9. Youtube is always gonna sound pretty crappy. For work, I’d recomend a decent set of headphones. Try out some different ones, the proof is in the pudding, At home, if you’ve got a stereo somewhat nearby you can run a cord from your computer. The cord you’ll need is a 1/8 inch stereo plug to stereo rca jacks. Or, just buy a little pair of computer speakers. Mine cost 25 bucks, their from a company called creative labs, they’ve got a separate subwoofer. They are actually the speakers I use to monitor my mixing when I do my radio show and my podcasts. Same thing as the headphones, listen to some different ones at the store.

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  14. Confusing, but interesting.

    “you can’t really cut something to vinyl or dubplate that has really wide stereo bass. The grooves will cut into each other.” ?

    Was this an issue during vinyl days??

    Is it true that records, (LPs), contain sounds that cannot be produced/re-produced digitally?

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  15. “Is it true that records, (LPs), contain sounds that cannot be produced/re-produced digitally?”

    Records have a “warmer” sound than digital media, though this is less true than it was early days. Engineers have got a better handle on digital recording and mastering nowadays. Generally speaking CDs have more dynamic range and more frequency range.

    ” “you can’t really cut something to vinyl or dubplate that has really wide stereo bass. The grooves will cut into each other.” ?

    Was this an issue during vinyl days??”

    Yup. Interestingly, acetate cutting is how vinyl records are mastered. It’s the first stage in vinyl record production too. Enterprising Jamaicans were the first ones to take the acetates down to the dance and play them on the sound system. There’s a wonderful documentary about Jamaican soundsystems in the UK called Musically Mad. Here’s a link.

    http://www.musicallymad.com/index.htm

    This is a really good book about Jamaican music which deals extensively with the sound system phenomena.

    This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica’s Music
    Lloyd Bradley

    It’s my belief that the Jamaican soundsystems in the UK influenced the whole world of dance music in the UK. It’s no secret that a whole lot of the original wave of UK punk rock musicians grew up in close proximity to Jamaicans and attended blues dances.

    EshOne talks a little about why he uses dubplates here,

    http://sddubstep.com/2009/09/podcast-50-eshone-exclusive-mix-interview/

    Dubstep pioneer Mala talks about dubplate culture here.

    http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/video-archive/lectures/mala_5_db_to_perfection

    The discussion about dubplates starts at 29.25 , the whole interview is pretty nice though.

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  16. Fascinating…I’ve never heard of playing acetates, as opposed to vinyl. I study music extensively, but have almost no knowledge of the technical aspects of sound production and sound systems. Almost seems like a separate art form.

    Do you know Paris, from the mod house days?? He was a room-mate of mine, Gary Heff, Tom Grizwold…and was always playing and mixing dub/reggae…and this was, like, 1978-1979. I think he was way ahead of his time and he got me into reggae, ska, and rock-steady.

    I don’t even know how to properly use my vintage (25 years old?) Polytone Mini-Brute that I just bought…jazzers LOVE the sound…supposed to be unique.

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  28. Dan listens to a lot of old 78s nowadays. He made a cigar box ukelele. I tried to talk him in to a tenor guitar for a while.

    I think know what you mean though. Somewhere in between Black Sabbath “Paranoid” and Kraftwerk “Man Machine” there’s a perfect musical place. I was playing “Skreamizm Volume 1” sometime back for a friend of mine. She said “I can see why you like this, it sounds like Black Sabbath”. A lot of the new Dubstep is more like Slipknot or something. Obviously this doesn’t really SOUND like Black Sabbath, but it’s got the same blues feeling, and sense of dread. This tune is an all time personal favorite of mine.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-qb0Hsx8uE

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  29. Nice.

    I haven’t heard from him for awhile, but I did get to see pictures of him looking very happy with the uke. A good match for him.

    I was thinking Black Sabbath and Kraftwerk! It’s like you’re psychic, I tell you.

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  41. Dead//Technology went on hiatus for a minute, we’ll be back with a boom on the 28th of this month (It’s gonna fall on every last Thursday now). More info as it becomes available.

    Dead//Technology crew reppin’ lovely on a recent away mission.

    Beingstock

    Pure Boom Hi-Fi

    P-Man

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