The Relevance of Analog Music
The beginning of the 2010s marked the start of a new phase for the music industry. The creation of streaming services now allows people to listen to any songs they want, straight from their smartphones.
However, 19-year-old Dominic shows that the market for music in vinyl form is still alive and well. “I like collecting records because I love music,” says Dom. “And there’s no better way to express that than to collect a vinyl of some of my favorite albums.”
Dom doesn’t just collect records of his favorite albums. In fact, he has a big box of random cheap vinyl he found at tag sales and other places.
He uses a turntable to convert those records into a digital format, and then loads them into a music production program called FL Studio. He then takes small samples from the records and adds them into his own beats.
“When I make music it is just more than a bunch of sounds slapped together. Each little sound has its own ‘life’ in the whole song,” says Dom. It’s especially satisfying when a record has that one sound that fits perfectly into the arrangement.
Furthermore, since vinyl maintains the inherently analog characteristic of music, they can make the new song sound more organic and natural. This is why many popular rap and hip-hop producers like The Alchemist and Madlib sample vinyl into their beats. It’s amazing how a music format that was created almost one hundred years ago is still being used in this new age.
