Analysis of Product Design | 40122524

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TURNTABLES
THE ICON THAT IS THE
TURNTABLE
Much has been said
about vinyl but without its
counterpart the turntable
it is useless. The turntable
is one of the integral tools
of a DJ and it’s prevalence
in DJ and electronic music
culture has resulted in it
achieving somewhat of
an iconic status, much in
the way the guitar is perceived
in the rock world.
The object in itself is so
well recognized an engrained
within the dance
scene people who have
no idea how to operate
them will be found wearing
t-shirts emblazoned
with images of technics
1210s Turntables are noted
for their simplicity in both
form and function, and it
is this which makes them
so easy to use yet incredibly
hard to completely
master. To deal with the
stresses put upon them
with scratching turntables
have a lot of heft to them,
they are much more robust
than their relatively flimsy
CD or MIDI counterparts.
Most quality brand turntables
are built to stand the
test of time and will easily
last 10 years or more with
minor repairs for wear and
RECORD SALES
Turntables, and in
particular the Technics
1210mk2’s are iconic
withing the dance music
industry.
Vinyl for a period of time had seen a steady decline,
however recently sales have been growing year on
year and are the highest they have been for twelve
years.
This is testament to how resilient this media is, it has
and will stand the test of time. It is much more preferable
when Djing and when it is not being played it can
be viewed as a collector’s item, people will vehemently
protect a record of theirs from being mishandled,
but could the same be said for a CD? And when it
comes to creating memories and emotional attachments
the most popular format of these times the
mp3; it doesn’t have a look in.
CRITICAL
EVALUATION
This part of the portfolio is a wellexplained
argument on why in particular
turntables and vinyl still have a place in
modern DJ culture, in spite of the huge
advancements in CD and MIDI hardware.
Mainly due to the fact they have a much a
more natural and one to one relationship
with the body.
There is a substantial amount of
multimedia included to back up these
arguments especially in the hands on
videos showing the extent of user interaction
achievable when turntables are used
to their full potential.
Strong conclusions are drawn
regarding the future of DJing technology
and equipment. How turntables have
been around since the beginning of the
phenomenon and with the introduction
of DVS look like will be around for much
longer by combining the best elements
of the digital age with the familiarity and
hands-on tactility of traditional Djing.
Some of the document strays slightly
into areas such as the sound of vinyl
and the memories associated with the act
of purchasing it. Although this is slightly
off subject the act of purchasing records,
and the memories associated with physically
browsing through them in store are
entirely relevant and creates more attachments
than any other media could.
To further inform readers who may
not have used turntables before, videos
of famous DJs talking about the format
could have been beneficial however I was
unable to find any online.
Another slight issue is the volume
of content within the document, what
is contained is of substance however if
more research had gone into, in particular,
the feeling of using vinyl in relation to the
body it could improve it drastically.
Record
Shelves
Whilst a collectable item
and each a memory,
travelling with records can
be awkward, The amount
shown hereand even more
can easily fit in a latop bag
using a DVS.
“Recent
record
sales
are a
testement
to the
resiliency
of the
media”