12" and mp3s

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I read this thing in a book about dance music which had an interesting theory as to why djs use 12" singles more than any other format. he said that the wide grooves created both a heavyer bass sound and more stecato treble because of he greater distance the needle has to travel.
The stripping of the unnessasery and atmospheric sounds on an mp3 file seems to have the same effect, bringing otherwise buried rythmical elements to the fore and thus creating a more danceable sound. Am I wrong?

― lukey (Lukey G), Friday, 23 April 2004 10:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Heavier bass and staccato treble lost = dancable elements lost.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 23 April 2004 10:43 (twenty-two years ago)

The wider grooves op 45 rpm 12"s allow more bass and higher mastering levels than possible on 33 rpm LPs, that's the reason why they're preferred. This has nothing to do with CD/MP3. The effect of MP3 artefacts on sound are not as straightforward. On lower bitrates, you get ringing, flanging echoes, volume pumping and/or smearing of higher freqency sounds - none of which are particularly beneficial to the sound. Remember that the lower-end sounds (bass/kicks) fare a lot better under MP3 compression.

― Siegbran (eofor), Friday, 23 April 2004 11:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Was this book on Dance Music by Simon Reynolds?!

― ___ (___), Friday, 23 April 2004 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)

it was, yes

― lukey (Lukey G), Friday, 23 April 2004 14:09 (twenty-two years ago)

siegbran we agree, I was just drawing a comparison between two formats which I find more than others drive me to dance, both lower overall quality than 16bit digital quality, but both improved by it. As for the negative effects of the mp3 format, I use my emac's speakers and a pair of cheap sony headphones, so I really don't notice.

― lukey (Lukey G), Friday, 23 April 2004 14:13 (twenty-two years ago)

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