Been taking logic classes, can now produce dance music to an intermediate level. Work ongoing with Ableton, getting much better and mixes are more thorough. James Zabiela is the man in terms of mixing technique and synth production, erol is the man with the beats. Get a mix of the two and you’ll be laughing. Plus add some proper old school bouncy big beats a la Norman Cook with some acidy synths and punchy kicks and this thing will be unstoppable.

Been reading lots of interviews with DJs all say very similar things, some elaborate and some don’t. I think I can draw from what Arman Van Helden said the most, “you got to know how to give them a party and educate them at the same time”. Been studying Logic 7 at confetti studios in Nottingham and many thanks to Simon P for helping us learn the basics and some more advanced stuff to, he’s given us a sound grounding to start making some quality beats. It’s down to us now and how far we want to push this. Good thing to keep in mind: always have a selection of songs in your itunes that you are able to refer to that you like and think sound good. It’s all about the formula.bye

Pretty gutted I missed the HTFR new store launch party….

Actually, I’m not sure…..

Okay so, after going through the inner workings of my brain earlier today re:Ableton setup I’ve been doing some investigating. There’s a lot of good info about the world of Ableton and electronic DJing on the official Ableton Forum, surprisingly enough. After reading what a lot of people are saying it seems to be common practice (well common-ish) in the US to have what are known as laptop battles (see http://www.myspace.com/laptopbattleuk) but maybe not so much in the UK?!?! If there are loads of battles going on all over the UK then I must confess to being slightly naive but anyway. That myspace thing says that they have a view to laptop battles on a National and latterly international basis. Will it take over? Who knows.

Taking in mind my earlier confusion I’m now much more at ease with my Ableton and midi setup. I really don’t want to turn into a laptop/electronica gimp but I fear it’s already too late…this is the path I’ve chosen.

Let’s get a regional laptop battle going in the East Midlands! I’m on the case. Seems to be big in Bristol and generally down south surprisingly. Does anything revolutionary happen north of the M25!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?? Seriously, let us know if it does.

Why do I care about the way it looks? Well when I’ve DJ’d at some places before I’ve used CDJs and people come up and say that it doesn’t look right, where’s the decks and vinyl? So that’s why I now think about how it looks to a crowd/audience/my friends/me. If you said I’m a DJ to people in the street then at least 8 out of 10 of them would think vinyl, decks and a mixer but there’s so much more out there!!! So much more can be done!! So much more!!!!!! WannabeDJs will bring it…f*ck CDJs, f*ck decks, f*ck it all!!! What’s that saying about a caged bird that wants to flourish or could flourish if it was free or something!? Answers on a postcard.

Ok from now on I don’t care how it looks as long as it sounds mint. Sounds. I feel I’ve made great strides today. This blog helps.

Oh yeah that’s what I was gonna say… for years producers who DJ – I think primarily of Fatboy Slim coz I’ve just been listening to him – have made their beats with a specific view of playing them on vinyl in a club environment. The stuff many pro DJs play on vinyl, and I’m talking about the good ones now, is tailored specifically to sound how they want so why not put together loops and stuff in Ableton and press to vinyl….bit expensive but then everyone’s happy. This will take some more time and thought. This guy does kind of what I’ve been thinking in terms of vinyl and Ablteon, he’s good though -

After using Ableton for about 3 months now I can safely say that it’s a fantastic tool for DJs and producers alike, probably more so for the former. The reason I say that is because it’s more of a user friendly effects driven kind of programme that you can load loops or songs into and fiddle around for ages making it squeak and squeal then drop and sound all crunchy. I don’t produce at the moment but if I did I would imagine that the capabilities of Ableton wouldn’t match the kinds of things that can be done in Logic in terms of drum and synth creation. However, if I produced stuff in Logic then I’d like to run it through Ableton and just fiddle around with it because it’d probably allow you to think about your tune in a whole new way.

Anyway, I’m getting away from my gimpy DJing observation…. I have used decks for years and really enjoyed it but as you’ll see from some of my other posts the capabilities are limited in comparison to CDJs or whatever. So recently I’ve been thinking more and more about DJing solely with live and midi controllers, but then I thought I’d go for Ableton and a deck, then I thought a CDJ a deck and Ableton…now I’m back to just Ableton and midi!! AAAAAHHHHHH!! I can’t really make my mind up for the following reasons…

Firstly I love vinyl and everything that goes with it, the sound, scratching and the all round feel. That’s why I thought Ableton and a deck but the kind of stuff I want to do with Ableton isn’t really compatible with a deck, looping and heavy effects use. Oh I dunno.

Secondly, if I was to just use Ableton on its own I then I’d just look like I was doing my e mails….if I was to ever get a set somewhere…..so sad. Having said that, one of the best sets I’ve ever seen was Luke Vibert on a tiny apple mac. If we/I were going to do everything on a laptop then I’d like to have visuals along with the set to take the focus away from the fact that I’m pressing keys and stuff but that might all change if I had a few midi controllers all whurling away.

Right, basically I want to do something with Ableton in a DJing capacity and I’d like to use a deck for scratching and stuff. I guess if it sounds good then nobody will care how I’m making the sound. There are plenty of people out there just using that PCDJ thing and nobody cares - where’s the skill though, where’s the demonstration of the skill? Is it needed? I say learn the trade on decks and vinyl then graduate to other mediums. No hang on…that’s not the point I was trying to make….I’m gonna use Ableton and midi and f*ck whoever wants to have a go coz I/we could take it to the decks too!!!

Watch this space for more incoherent and pointless ramblings. This is the kind of stuff I think about on a hourly basis whilst at work, rest and play – why? Because I love it!!

Playing Windowlicker by Aphex Twin doesn’t make you eclectic

Playing Billie Jean by Michael Jackson does not make you a DJ

Playing Back to Black by ACDC does not make you rock

Playing a theme tune from popular 80s or 90s TV has been done but it’s still fun

Pop bands can’t DJ - it’s marketing

Calvin Harris did not invent disco but fair play to him for trying

H&M loves nu-rave coz it sells florescent clothes

Went to see Erick Morillo at the spanking new Gatecrasher in Nottingham on Friday night. A lot’s changed since the straight up media days. Everything is orangy-pink and there are disco balls all over the place, I thought it looked ace. Really good crowd in to see Morillo and everyone was well up for it, some really interesting characters.

Before Morillo came on at about 1am there was some duo from Sheffield in the lounge area at the top of the club. One guy on the decks and another guy singing over some funky house tunes, can’t remember there names but they were quality. The mc/singer type guy just sang freestyle and did a spot on job.

Sorry to say in the main room there was the token fat motionless DJ “warming up” the crowd. I often think that big name DJs must choose who goes on before them and how they’d like them to act. Maybe a bit cynical of me, but this guy on in the main room was hardly high quality in comparison to what must be out there. It would make sense if Morillo’s team phoned ahead and said that they wanted someone a bit fat and pants on because after all you can’t have anyone upstaging the main act can you?! Still though I’d have liked a quality night throughout considering the £18 on the door entry fee! It was cheaper at Fabric London!! Morillo reportedly got paid around the 20 grand mark for Fridays work… he did a spot on job though. He never disappoints.

His style is like no other, it’s build up after build up with the heavy use of vocals and it always sounds mint. When you see the best you realise how much time and effort they put into what they do from the organisation of their tunes to the way they control their equipment. Check the pictures, he must have had around 500 cds. When he came on there was no reaction like it. Check the video - the place went crazy.

I said to some bloke wearing a pacha t-shirt standing in the DJ booth with him, “who are you?”

“Who are you?” he asked back.

“I asked you first” I said… a legitimate call I thought.

“I’m Erick’s manager, why? Who are you?”

“I’m Jon, Erick’s very good”

“Thank-you”

I made a friend on Friday, Erick’s playing at my next birthday party.

You should check out the Pacemaker Sebastian Ingrosso video on the Pacemaker website, it’s well funny. The way those two dance is brilliant. The Pacemaker is an mp3 player with built in DJing and effects capabilities really cool I reckon but only for people that can afford to just splash out the cash. Not much point if you’re serious about DJing coz may as well just get the real kit! But then again I’ll probably get one! Seriously check out the videos www.pacemaker.net – blatant marketing and funny.