Diggin: Listen first or guessing?

I'm still on that "guessing" tip for diggin samples,from the covers,artists,labels and what not.I think that buying myself a portable turntable,will improve my diggs though,what do you think?

Goes without saying.

always listen.

a deaf dig can be fun now and again, if the records are going proper cheap...

and as for record stores that don't have a turntable or don't let you listen on yours... fu(k em!! you wouldn't buy clothes without trying em on 1st right?

^^^

Yea but usually those types of stores are the ones where they sell highend records where people come in looking to buy something already fully aware of what it sounds like. If they let people listen to the records they would get wear and tear and would eventually decrease greatly in value.

i blind dig every time but i guess listening wouldnt hurt.

Yeah definetely.I don't have such a problem to have 2-3 useless records in a 20-piece dollar-bin diggin but it would be better to be fully satisfied with the idea that i'm gonna arm my MP with some sure-shot heat I'm thinkin of gettin the ION portable turn..will see.

when blind diggin i usually pick out shit that is hot tho. i only buy it if i kno 90% sure its ganna be heat. if i have any doubts i will let it lay, which is why listenin wouldnt hurt becuz i probly skip over a lot of heat.

my buddy has that one he said it sounds pretty good, he uses it to transfer frm Lp to CD or Mp3.

not sure how it will work as a portable , but yeah if it works go for it, but it is very light and if your goin to be knockin it around, it will loose it's quailty sound i'm sure, it's like one of those usb keyboards,low budget made.

if it's going to help to pick better tracks i guess, whats the deal.right?thats whats its for.less fillers is always great.too

it's great to know your musician and such to dig for other stuff for when you dont have a TT you can keep diggin and knowing that what your picking up is worth the cash you spend. it all come with time

I do both. The Handy Trax was a great investment and has probably saved me a lot of time and aggravation. Yesterday I was digging in two spots that had no listening booths, one of which being a pawn shop with a dirty pile of records thrown in a box. Man, I just hate digging seeing an interesting label and thinking "I wonder what's on that?"

Any time I think I might encounter records the Handy Trax is in the trunk with a pair of headphones.

I have limited space. My bedroom is already overflowing with equipment, LPs and 45s. A useless record is taking up space that could be used for something else, so I'd rather make sure everything I pick up is tight.

I bought a PT-01 over a year ago for the exact same reason you mentioned. The funny thing is, I go digging on totally spur of the moment missions. I never plan for it. I have yet to take out the turntable with me. I find it fun to do it like that. Plus, when I dig I'm usually doing a bunch of other things, so I find it cumbersome to bring something like that with me.

Do you think you aren't going to mind bringing a portable turntable with you everywhere? Keeping up with batteries, or hoping that where you are digging has an outlet you can use. Do you think you'll buy it and use it once or twice and just go back to digging the old way? Do you think it's something that will be a good investment cause you will use it a lot? Are you the type of person that needs to marinate on a record before you really start hearing what you can do with it? Will the places worth digging let you audition the vinyl on your own player? If you buy it and not really end up using it for digging, do you have any other practical uses for it?

Just some things to consider.

The battery life on my Handy Trax is pretty good. I've gone digging with it maybe four or five times in the past month and haven't changed the batteries yet. Those digs lasted three to four hours each.

Does the Handy Trax have other practical uses? I think so. Here's my video demo of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRPTtGIZpsI

I mix on CD decks primarily with one turntable; on the rare occasion I need two decks the Handy Trax fares surprisingly well. Dunno about the PT-01 . . .

The Handy Trax has a pitch control, which can be very nice while digging to see how a record might sound if you slow it down just a bit -- or speed it up. Oh, and it can play 78s -- though I've never had a reason to play one. It's nice to know I could do it if I had to though.

If you wanted to be a dick you could take your MPC 500 with you while digging alongside it (perhaps in a back pack or something) and stack up on samples for free Even a MiniDisc would due I suppose.

StonesThrow wrote:^^^

Yea but usually those types of stores are the ones where they sell highend records where people come in looking to buy something already fully aware of what it sounds like. If they let people listen to the records they would get wear and tear and would eventually decrease greatly in value.

fair enough man i don't really check those kind of stores
in my experience its more a case of, the owner(s) have a problem with people listening to the records, and these aren't really "highend" records, more pretty standard stuff priced at like £10....just their attitude problem

It would be cool to have a portable one and it would probably save me a lot of money hehe but it's just more fun to guess and to not know exactly what it's gonna sound like, go home, put on the record and OH SHIT!

i'm well into the blind digs, even on pricey records - it's more of a rush when you get a corker. i can smell heat so it's always a winner for me....

... okay - i've bought a few frisbees in the past!

tusk wrote:i've bought a few frisbees in the past!

No doubt..haha!