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  • Mix Club - The Remedial Class

Homegrove good stuff Hannu. Its a proper buzz playing out isn’t it. I may have a gig lined up for early next year, my first actual non wedding/party gif for about 15 years lol. I may actually have to buy new music for it!

    Christ, getting together a playlist for a six hour gig where you can’t just belt out your current prog favorites is a lot of work. Especially with my method for gigs where I take double the tunes I have time to play and do the night out of those.

      14 days later

      Played my first wedding gig last night in ages. I stopped doing them awhile ago, because despite the good pay they are too much work. Made an exception last night because a couple approached me and said it’s a horror-themed wedding. That sounded interesting, and after getting a Spotify-list with the kind of music they were after I was firmly on board. It was so much fun, got paid great, and I almost never get to play these kinds of sets anymore. Tracklist from Rekordbox:

      1 Danny Elfman - This is Halloween
      2 John Carpenter - Halloween
      3 Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi’s Dead
      4 Kyle Dixon - Stranger Things
      5 John Carpenter - Escape from New York
      6 Julee Cruise - Into the Night
      7 Wet Waxies - Queen Knight
      8 Death In Vegas - Witchdance Dub (Dub)
      9 Da Iguana - Sombra Selvatica
      10 Massive Attack - Paradise Circus
      11 Massive Attack - Teardrop
      12 The Cure - Lullaby
      13 Róisín Murphy - Overpowered
      14 Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
      15 Tears For Fears - Head Over Heels
      16 The Cramps - I Was A Teenage Werewolf
      17 Screamin’ Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell On You (Alternate Take)
      18 Depeche Mode - I Feel You
      19 KC & The Sunshine Band - I’m Your Boogie Man
      20 David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
      21 Type O Negative - Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare -All)
      22 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
      23 Ramones - Pet Sematary
      24 Siouxsie And The Banshees - Spellbound
      25 Simian Mobile Disco - Cruel Intentions
      26 Goldfrapp - Strict Machine
      27 The Knife - Heartbeats
      28 Placebo - Every You Every Me
      29 We Have Band - Divisive
      30 Depeche Mode - Behind the Wheel
      31 New Order - Blue Monday (2011 Total Version)
      32 Pet Shop Boys - It’s a Sin
      33 House of Pain - Jump Around
      34 Beastie Boys - Sabotage
      35 Timo Maas - Help Me (feat. Kelis)
      36 Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up (Pt. 1)
      37 Moloko - Sing It Back (Boris Dlugosch Mix)
      38 SNAP! - Rhythm Is A Dancer (12′' Version)
      39 Underworld - Born Slippy (Nuxx)
      40 The Prodigy - No Good (Start The Dance)
      41 Blur - Song 2
      42 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
      43 Rage Against The Machine - Bulls On Parade
      44 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)
      45 Garbage - #1 Crush (Nellee Hooper Mix)
      46 Nine Inch Nails - Closer
      47 Robyn - With Every Heartbeat

        Sounds fun H. I’m guessing there wasn’t much in the way of mixing and it was more of a one track stops the next track starts thing?

          Earlier this year, after taking guidance from this very board, I purchased a Pioneer DJ controller - the DDJ400. I had never previously had any experience of digital mixing or dj’ing at that point, I had only ever used vinyl.

          My initial thoughts are that it almost feels a little bit like cheating? Being able to see the BPM of the track, and the key, as well as the beat counter along the top means that the actual basics of beatmatching are totally covered arent they? It allows freedom to focus on the actual transition itself, but it still feels a bit too ‘easy’ if you get what I mean? And then there is the master sync button which has got me wondering - is that used a lot do you think? What is to stop a DJ turning up, and using master sync on every single mix in a set?

          I can see that there are hot cues, and loops etc but I havent looked into that yet really. It’s certainly a fun piece of kit and has opened up a whole new library for me - I go to beatport/bandcamp now and pick up about £20 worth of tunes and that tides me over for a month or so. Although file management is probably going to be an issue over time as my library grows.

          Would be keen to hear others experiences of digital mixing - is the functionality of the DDJ400 similar across all of these digital mixers/controllers? I would be worried that I’d go to a gig expecting it to work like my kit, but then it would be a whole different interface!

            Along_the_Wire I think that’s only necessary with a fade out end. You have to leave the track before that.

              gcw well……….its a completely different experience than vinyl and much more boring if you ask me, especially if you want to play solid 4 × 4 progressive and techno with no use ball-juggling ‘skillz’ and using all the hot cues and leaping around cuntery which i solidly deprecate ….

              it can get a bit samey so - 1. programme set so harmonically not shit. 2. play track 1 . 3. wait 5 mins. 4. put book down. 5. Cue track 2 to exact bpm - and where you want to start on the waveform. 6. Loop the first 16 bars of track. 7. Read another paragraph. 8. work out where you want to transition on the correct phase 7. fade in track 2 - 8. fiddle about ion the eq for a bit as if you were sasha in 1998 9. fade out track 1 . 10. Repeat for 4 hours.

              A lot of the jeopardy of the rail crash is taken out of it which is ever present (for me) on vinyl - however it does produce more consistent mixes because you can programme the tracks much more easily and see what works with what. on vinyl that can take all week and often is very hit and miss. it shows the genius of diggers others programming really when all he probably had was his ears, a bontempi keyboard and lots of time.

              rant over. enjoy
              b x

              • gcw replied to this.

                  baggers44 lol you know what, that 10 step synopsis is very much what it’s like isn’t it! You’ll get a nice clean mix every time but it will get a bit boring after a time. I was never very good at vinyl mixing anyway, so I am enjoying the novelty of a clean mix, and it’s great to easily record and listen back in the car later on

                      gcw aye ….so it begs the question that if we can all do that with a bit of practice what is it that people are prepared to pay for - and it looks like what they pay for is performance - so good looks, ripped physique, pouting, stupid dancing and ‘audience engagement’ . obvs not the music unless it enhances the above. maybe it was always a bit like that …dunno …getting old! and I know that there are many who still eschew all that stuff. anyroads I’m off to listen to a bit of Tozzi for whom mercifully none of the above applies

                        gcw if you are using a laptop, you can leave the screen in browser view while mixing to make it a bit more of a challenge. You can see the small waveform to keep an eye on where you are in the track but you can’t see the grid.

                          6 days later

                          I played for 5+ hours at home last night, and was listening to the recording today while raking the leaves in our garden. Not sure if the activity would have required Slayer instead, but bored myself with the mix. A case in point I don’t share everything I record. There’s deep and then there is snoozefest.

                            Homegrove I don’t shar everything I record.

                            Standard. I’d say, at the moment, less than half the mixes I do ever get uploaded anywhere.