Assessment 4 Reflective Writing P2

For the final project, I decided to do a video on the evolution of technology in DJ industry such as how technology brings changes to the DJs industry and how it affect the community. After I decided what topic I want to do, I start doing some research on the DJ technology and history. I found difficulty in getting journal on this topic as this topic wasn’t really popular and not many people did any research on it. However, I found some video and website that gave me a sense of the history of DJs industry and how the equipment evolved throughout the year since1980.

        After having some research, I start to find some people that have some knowledge or experience in the evolution of technology that willing to let me interview them. I found one lecture who teach music courses in RMIT, who had knowledge in the EDM culture and DJs stuff. However, he wasn’t feeling well for the week so I email one DJ store in Richmond. I am glad that I get a quick reply from them. They said that they willing to help me out on the interview. They introduced me their store consultant Phil Krokidis who is the store consultant and also a DJ. He starts DJing since 1984 and been thru the evolution of DJ industry.

        After getting contact with Phil, we decide to do the interview at the store in Richmond. During the interview, I ask him about the experience of being part of the community that been thru those changes and some of his thought on this issue. He tells me about his experience on DJing and few big evolution changes the way people DJ such as in 2007 Pioneer introduce the CDJ400, the first CDJ that support USB and DJ are able to do scratching on it instead of scratching in a turntable. He said that a lot of the DJ couldn’t get used to it as it very new to them at that time. Sonner, many of them start using it because they no longer need to take whole bag of album to play their gig. Instead, they can just store every music in their drive and plug it into the CDJ. It brings a lot of benefit to them but at the same time, it also affects the vinyl sales as people no longer using it anymore.

        Throughout the interview with Phil, I get a better picture of the evolution of technology in the DJs industry. I think that the evolution of technology not just affecting the DJs industry but it also affecting the media industry. Back in the olden days, reading newspaper and watching television are the most common thing people do in their daily routine. However, due to the technology evolution, everything had changed. Now many people no longer read printed newspaper and watch television, instead, people start reading the online newspaper and watch news or movie online thru Youtube or Netflix. Everything had changed due to the evolution of technology.

After spending half of the semester in this studio in exploring a different type of old media and craft, I decided to explore the evolution in DJ industry for the assessment 4. Music such as EDM is getting more popular among the young teenagers and thanks to the evolution of technology. It helps people to get access to new information. Social media become so popular and common where most of the people use it to communicate or get information. Social media such as Youtube and Vimeo became a platform for DJ and producer to share their music and reach out to more audience. Thus, social media help people to get access to their favorite songs or discover some new artist. The evolution of technology helps the distribution and growth of music industry where DJ and producer can sell their music on iTunes or Beatport and people can not just buy the album but also buy the song in digital format. Thus, the technology also changed the way people consume music. From cassette to CDs, from CDs to digital format, people are demanding more not just on the content but also the quality of sound. Now we can get enjoy the music in a better sound quality and listen to it everywhere we want.

What had caught my interest in doing this is because I am a Electronic Dance Music fans, I like to listen to different genre of EDM such as Progressive House, Hard Dance and Trance. Thus, I also have some knowledge and experience in DJing which draws me the interest on discovering the impact of technology toward the DJ industry. For this assessment, I decide to look into the impact of the technology toward DJ industry in few different aspect. Firstly, how DJ tech and equipment evolved due the to the evolution of the technology. Secondly, how technology affects the producer in creating their music. Lastly, how technology contributes to the diverse of the EDM genre.

When I was learning how to DJ, I remember that my tutor told me that DJ becomes more easier to learn and less complicated. He said that back in the 80s and 90s, club DJ need to bring along many different CDs and vinyl and play it one by one. They also need to make a marking point in the vinyl in order to play the right song. Thus, while playing the track they need to quickly eject the cd from the other player and input the another cd to play another track. He said that since the evolution of technology in DJ industry, now they can store all their music in a USB or play it thru their laptop. It helps them to reduce their workload and make it easier to DJ. The evolution of technology affects the industry draw my interest in looking into it.

Vinyl is irreplaceable.

Vinyl became one of my interesting topic to investigate because vinyl possess some unique feeling for me.”Vinyl emerged in its standard form of the 33rpm double-sided, long-playing (‘LP’) record via Columbia Records in 1948. It rose to prominence in the subsequent decade, dominated the trade in the 1960s and 1970s, and declined in the 1980s (Bartmanski and Woodward, 2015).” Gen X had lots of memories with vinyl; it gave them nostalgia as vinyl is getting lesser and a lot of new music does not produce vinyl format. I still remember my dad told me that he brought his favorite artist vinyl and play it on his friend vinyl player every weekend as he could not afford a vinyl player. Guitarist Steve Vai said: “There is something very romantic about vinyl. It is a kickback to your youth. You get the vinyl album, and you get the album artwork (Wright, 2013).” There are precious memories with the vinyl.

Thus, vinyl is irreplaceable because it provides different experience compare to others music format. “Technically, the vinyl recording is a closer analog to the actual waveform produced by the music in that the wave is directly represented by the groove in the record,” said James Paul Sain, a University of Florida professor of composition(Mark, 2015). Steve also proposed that vinyl is different from another music format: “… … the CD is obviously a little cleaner and crisper, but the vinyl has a warmth and a rounded-off fatness, so to speak. It is sort of the difference between getting into a warm bath or getting into a cold bath(Wright, 2013).” This is the reason why vinyl couldn’t be replaced by other music format and became favorite for some minority.

Furthermore, vinyl are getting less popular among the gen Y because it is not convenient as in order to play a vinyl you need to get a vinyl player and it is not portable; unlike music in digital format, we can listen to it at anywhere we want using our mobile phone. Thus, Vinyl also need to be clean once in awhile in order to get rid of the dust and keep it nicely. However, one of my friend he is big fans of vinyl, he got lots of different vinyl album and own various of vinyl player. For him, vinyl had become part of his hobby.

Anyway, vinyl also gaining some boost in sales as people are interested in the retro product. Chief executive of Retail Doctor Group Brian Walker said: “while vinyl records are still niche, he wasn’t surprised by the spike in sales, citing a trend in “personality-driven” retro products (Timna, 2015).” Vinyl can become popular again if people realize its unique and beauty.

Vinyl player sketching

References

Bartmanski, D. and Woodward, I. (2015). The vinyl: The analogue medium in the age of digital reproduction. Journal of Consumer Culture, 15(1), pp.3-27.

Mark, E. (2015). Music to whose ear. Quality Progress, 48(2), pp.14-16.

Timna, J. (2015). Nostalgia power helps vinyl sales turn the tables: Music. The Age, p.25.

Wright, J. (2013). GUITARIST STEVE VAI EXPLAINS WHY HE’S HAD A LASTING LOVE AFFAIR WITH VINYL RECORDS.

Exploring Analog Photography

Analog Photography consists of 2 different stages; first, you need to take a picture using the analog camera and then pass it to a technician to perform the second stages (Schmidt et al., 2014). I still remember when I was a kid I used to play with my dad camera and I accidentally pull out the film in the cartridge.My dad was very angry and I get scold by him. I still remember when I was at the age of 12, my cousin teach me how to operate a DSLR. Since then I am very interested in photography; I got my first camera in my 16 years old and I love to use it to capture down the memory I have in my high school. However, I realize that DSLR can capture a very clear and good quality of picture but it is lack of some feeling that analog camera can achieve.

“For over 150 years, photography has been a chemical process. Images are captured on photographic film. This is made up of layers of light-sensitive silver halide emulsion coated on a flexible base. Film is exposed to light in a camera. This creates a latent image, which is made visible by immersion in a solution of chemicals called a ‘developer’. Prints are made by projecting the image from the film on sensitised paper and processing the material in a series of chemical baths. Much of the processing of both film and paper must take place in darkened rooms to avoid extraneous light reaching the sensitised emulsions (Canon Professional Network, n.d.).”

It is not easily to operate an analog camera; it required the person to have not just a good sense of structuring the picture but it also required experience in a using analog camera it. I still remember my dad told me that people who use analog camera are good in getting the right exposure because analog camera does not have any not playback button. Everything is done within one snap and there is no second chance to retake the picture so it is very dependent on the photographer getting the right exposure.

This is few picture of my dad during 70s and 80s when analog photography is at its golden age.

References

Canon Professional Network. (n.d.). Differences between analogue and digital – Canon Professional Network. [online] Available at: http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/infobank/introduction_to_digital_photography/differences_between_analogue_and_digital.do [Accessed 26 Mar. 2017].

Schmidt, A., Pfleging, B., Holz, C. and Holmquist, L. (2014). From Photography to Ubiquitous Capture Systems. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 13(1), pp.10-13.

Tostões, A. and Maria Braga, A. (2013). Preserving Collective Memory through Photography. Future Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation, History, Theory, and Criticism, 10(2), p.83.

Media had become part of our daily life

Media had become part of our daily life. Television, radio, newspaper, web2.0, Youtube and social media are part of media and it had become more common in our life.

Everyday we will check our phone when we wake up, read newspaper or E-news in the train when going to school or work, listen to radio or music while walking to University and browse the internet or social media at our free time; we cannot separate it from our daily routine and we are not aware of it. People are getting more attached to their mobile phone and it makes me curious what make media became part of our daily life.

“The environment of a medium is most invisible when its influence is most pervasive (Deuze, 2014).” The innovation of technology makes people more easily to get in touch with media. When I was a kid, I love to watch television and I get information through reading the newspaper and watching television news. However, in this technology innovative era, even kids with age of 3 know how to use I-pad and mobile phone. Kids are widely exposed to those new media such as E-news, Youtube, and social media. Thus, gen X are forced to learn how to use a use mobile phone and have a Facebook account or LinkedIn account in order to cope with this technology modernize era. Media soon become needs instead of wants.

Furthermore, Mark suggest that “As media become pervasive and ubiquitous, forming the building blocks for our constant remix of the categories of everyday life (the public and the private, the local and the global, the individual and the collective), they become invisible” and it also agree on Friedrich Kittler suggestion that ‘we become blind to that which shapes our lives the most.” Media also blind to our daily life, we consume media in different ways. We read the newspaper to know what is happening around us, we listen to the radio while driving to work to get rid of boredom, we Google search the information we need while we getting a task from lecture or boss and we slide thru our social media to get instant news of our friends or some tragic. Media seems to link to our daily routine and it benefits us a lot.

Oscar and Jakob did a research on “Media Life of the young” proposed: “Since the mediascape changes, generations may develop media use in different directions, while people in one generation are largely assumed to develop and maintain similar media use (Westlund and Bjur, 2014).” Media will be consumed differently by different people. One may read newspaper gain their knowledge but other might read it find out what is happening around him. I might be using Twitter to express myself but others might use it tweet about what is happening in the Oscar 2016. Media had plays an important role in our life and I think we rely on it and cannot be separated from it.

References

Deuze, M. (2011). Media life. Media, Culture & Society, 33(1), pp.137-148.

Deuze, M. (2014). Journalism, media life and the entrepreneurial society. Australian Journalism Review, 36(4), pp.119-130.

Westlund, O. and Bjur, J. (2014). Media Life of the Young. Young, 22(1), pp.21-41.

This is a metal reel video tape.

It is used to record audio and video.

It involved different types of technique such as reel to reel recording, mastering or used to store data.

Library is a place that we can access to varieties of information and knowledge. I still remember when I was in primary and secondary school I used to go to the library during my recess time to read book and borrow book. Library becomes one of my favorite spot in University because it’s the only place that is quiet and you can charge your device and do your own stuff. Thus, I also like the library environment where everyone doing their own stuff quietly. This helps me to concentrate more on doing my work. I prefer to go to Carlton Library instead of Swanston Library because it’s hard to get an individual spot during the afternoon.

Today section is quite useful for me because I learn a lot from it. I have been using the library to do research since foundation but I do not know that with the “” can help to get a  more specific and accurate result. Previously I was quite struggling while doing my research because when I type some keyword inside it also come out with some result that is not really related to my topic. I also found out that the subject guide is quite helpful because I can use that to explore some other stuff that relates to my course and I can get access to some website which you need to paid to access for free. I think from the library I can get more information about the thing I want to do for my assignments such as their history, technique of doing it and etc.

3 Media Artifacts that represent the library:

Discussion Room, Resources & Individual Study Place

“The art of the image_New Sculpture” at Hermes Melbourne

These Sculpture were part of the Hermes Sydney window project and crafted according to Hermes 2016 theme “Nature at Full Gallop”. It’s crafted by Osang Gwon, a Korean sculpture artist.

2 type of technique were used to craft the sculpture.

1) C Print – Developed in 1930, the c-print is the most universal type of colour photograph, created using at least three emulsion layers of light sensitive silver salts. Each layer is sensitised to a specific primary colour. As a result, each layer records different information for the colour make up of an image.

2)Mixed Media – A mixed media painting employs multiple media to create a final piece. For example, a work on canvas that combines paint, ink, and collage is considered a mixed media painting.

Graffiti art at ACDC lane

Graffiti art are writing or drawings that paint on the wall or building, usually within public view.

Paint, spray paint and marker pens are the most common material used by graffiti artist to create their artwork.

Graffiti art are popular in Melbourne.