Is tempo control important in playing reggae music?

[stepping razor]

As a soundman who is still on belt drive turntables and vynil i think you have to have tempo control cos some records just dont sound the same or right at normal speed.
Jah Shaka always plays the tunes faster and sometimes a lot faster, depends on the dance and whats happening.The digital buttons are not as fine tuning as faders and wheelys, same with eq on computees theres not feel when you move the eq unlike a eq box were you can feel the weight of the levers.Since my old turn table belt drive spring went i used the good old bit of string and sticky tape and now i have to wind it up once an hour.
It had pre set 16/33/45/78 rpm settings but i can now go from 2rpm to 100 rpm.
peace

[Vinnie]

i agree you have to manipulate the speed if your ears think it is necessary

[donstrumental]

i personally prefer to hear music at its original tempo,this was the tempo the musicians picked in the studio and i like to feel i'm hearing the recording as it went down in the session.

i find a lot of dj's get carried away with their tempo change sliders because they can't help themselves,watch what happens when you play the tune at regular tempo,you get the same reaction,its a bit like the controller that can't leave the bass knob for more than 5 seconds.

How was dance ever nice before we had Technics turntables?

Bless Up

[Vinnie]

a slider on (some) turntables exist for decades

sometimes its essential to pitch sometimes not
as i said before it all depends on your ears

a good example would be junior delgado 'poverty'
waaaay to fast on original speed

you dont get the same recation fi sure!

[donstrumental]

point taken!

[Guest]

a slider on (some) turntables exist for decades

that's right! I've got a dual turntable from the early seventies with this. not to mention its beauty!

price was more than 100$ in the 70's.

[leggo rocker]

My Dad's Garrard deck in 1972 had a pitch control!

But I tend to leave the pitch locked on my SL1210 MK 5s as I really don't have a musician's ear to feel qualified to mess with this.

[Guest]

I think using the sliders is very important if you mix a reggae song with another.

it is really helpful when you go for a sequence of versions of the same riddim especially if they're from the seventies. I don't know why but there's always a gap between one version and another.

if you want to test this, play simultaneously two songs based on the same riddim on your decks. it's frightening cos you'll notice that sometimes the song slow down or accelerate while the other's speed is constant.

I often notice that reggae dj's are not that good with their turntables. they put the record and that's it! they often seem unable to mix the next song on the right beat or the right tempo and they "rewind" the record or scratch it shouting in the mic to hide the fact that they are unable to make people dance on the same beat on more than one song.
I know some integralist could say that jamaican soundsytem had just one turntable but if you're good at turntabling, it is really better to go from a song to another without interruption. but you've got to know ALL your tunes and when you have to go from deck 1 to deck 2.

[stepping razor]

Not all dj`s use two turntables, there is still some of us still using one deck.Reggae sounds started with one deck and then it got into raggamuffins and mixing with two.Thats for the hip hop.
peace

[Vinnie]

i dont mind the interruption at all its part of the soundsystem culture
sometimes its even good to have a break from the heavy bass on a sound to get a good breath of air héhé
also waiting what for a tune the next one will be creates a kinda of excitement

i agree it is totally different then hiphop/dancehall or lets just say mainstream but then again reggae isnt mainstream