Why do You Use CDs?

Yes, we know it looks “old school.”  To be honest, we’d really kick it old school and use vinyl records if we could, but that would require us taking hundreds of boxes of records with us to every event.

One of the reasons that we opt to use CDs is because of their sound quality.  To better understand this concept, let’s take a look at the science behind this process.

There are two categories of audio formats: lossy and lossless.

• Lossy audio formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, & Ogg Vorbis
• Loseless audio formats: FLAC, Apple’s ALAX, & MP3 HD

When a lossy format is converted, it becomes compressed.  The audio content that went into the original file is going to be different than the audio that comes out.  It doesn’t contain all of the same audio information as the original recording.  The more heavily that a file is compressed, ( a file that has been converted multiple times),  the more noticeable the drop in quality becomes.

The best sound comes from files that contain the highest bitrate.

• Bitrate– the amount of data transferred per second

CDs have a bitrate of 1,411 kbps, over four times higher than that of  MP3s, which have a bitrate of 320 kbps.

The second reason is that we use a DJ coffin.  We can load a CD into either side of the player.  There’s a fader lever between the two, allowing us to gradually fade out a song straight into another.  There’s no pause or awkward silence.  This also allows us to cue up songs.  For example, if we get a request to begin a song a minute and 15 seconds into when it starts, we can do that.  Similarly, if a couple doesn’t want an entire song to play, we can gradually fade a song out- making it appear as a natural ending.

Third, with CDs, we always have a back-up.  We make multiple copies of songs so that a song is never unavailable.  There are no worries about buffering/lost connection, songs not downloading correctly, battery power, or computer/program crashes.

Lastly, we gift our couples/clients with a personalized CD at the end of every event. This is comprised of songs that are special to them as a couple/client and songs that they have selected for their specialty dances. It is our way of saying, “Thank you for letting us be a part of your celebration. We are honored that you have selected our services.”