BCR2000 Behringer

Warning to anyone using Ableton 6 on a mac and wanting a midi controller – don’t buy a BCR2000 – it’s feels cheap and plasticy-nasty plus it comes up with random error codes when you try and dump the presets. RUBBISH! I’m gonna get an m-audio one or firefox.

Glasto breaks mix

George cheers for the Glasto breaks mix from….who was it again? It’s ace, the guy talking at the beginning is the kind of thing I was thinking of that I told you about. The guy warming up the crowd. Good stuff, old tunes too just like we kept hearing at GG.

I heart acid

When I went to see Luke Vibert at the Rescue Rooms in Nottingham in 2002 it really opened my eyes to what else could be done besides playing on decks.

 

He sat down on the balcony overlooking the bar and dancefloor and opened his apple mac with I “heart” acid stickers plastered all over it. He then proceeded to play one of the best sets I’ve ever heard. The highlight was a squelchy electronica remix of the theme tune for grange hill. He took you up and down and all over the place with the set mixing between break beats, trip hop and drum n bass, it was fricking awesome!

 

All he used was his laptop and a programme called traktor, which I knew very little about at the time. He just played the keyboard on his laptop like an instrument, cueing, looping and distorting constantly and I just thought wow! He didn’t get the crowd he deserved, really great set and I’d love to see it again.

Dead as a DJ

For a while now I’ve looked at DJs, especially those playing in most bars and clubs around town, and asked myself the question, “Why are you bothering????” For the most part they aren’t doing anything new or remotely responsive to the industry today. There are audio-visual technologies around that have the ability to blow audiences minds, there are music programmes that (provided you take the time to learn) allow you to remix tunes in a matter of hours and even live, so why do you only see two decks and mixer in clubs and bars all the time?

Granted for the most part that may be all that’s needed to please a good deal of people going out but why don’t we push the boundaries!? I frequently ask DJs how much they get paid and invariably it’s at least £200 for anything from 2-5 hours work, i.e. (at least) £40 an hour for what is essentially playing one song after the other. Maybe that’s part of the problem, maybe it can be said that the money’s too easy to come by – play one or two sets a week and you’ve got a tidy wage coming in – Why improve? Why remix? Why change? I guess it’s down to the individual circumstances and aspirations of that DJ.

Allied to that is probably the club/bar owner and what atmosphere they want to create or what they think will get people through the door. But wouldn’t people want to come to see something new or unique? For the most part the Dance industry may be misinterpreted by many who have the finance and influence to instil some fresh approaches. I hope for the day where a semi –motionless person standing behind two decks and a mixer is no longer the norm.

If anyone knows anywhere in the Leicester, Derby, Nottingham Counties that stands out as abnormal to the above then let us know!

HEY Erol! Where’d you get that name from!?!

Me and GT went to Fabric in London for the first time on Friday night and much fun was had. Watched some electro band called Kill em all, they were ok. They were on just before Erol Alkan and I spent most of their set watching Erol set up and organise his stuff.

At one point just before he went on he slipped out of the dj booth and walked towards the toilet. This was a golden opportunity to get in there and ask him something. Something intelligent, the kind of thing he’d not been asked before.

I waited patiently outside the toilets pretending to wash my hands. He came out and I pounced, “Hey Erol!” I shouted
“Hey” Erol shouted back.
Not expecting such a swift and friendly response, I panicked and asked him, “erm er so how did you come up with your name?”
“I didn’t my parents did”
“Wow! No way! That’s cool!” I then proceeded to kiss his arse and escort him back to the DJ booth, “keep doing what you do Erol!” I said, he nodded a nod that simply said I will get you with my none stop electro rhythms…and he bloody well did!

Incidentally I also siezed the opportunity to ask for a high five to which he humbley obliged, Snap! and all I thought after was that he didn’t wash his hands after going to the toilet.

Chemical Brothers Glasto 2007!!

Saw the chem bros at Glastonury this year and it was bloody amazing, another thing checked off my list of things to do before I die. The audio visuals were astounding, everything spot on and in time with the music, that’s what you need. So so good. Couldn’t really see what they were up to and it could’ve lasted a bit longer if you don’t mind me saying…I hope they’re not reading…..doubt it very much.

Fankoo Tom and Ed.

mmmmum says it’s mmmmmmidi

Just got a midi controller for ableton live!!! Behringer BCR something or other…let battle commence!

I guess I should innovate…or copy…or something.

That record shop soon closed down either because he was withholding all the good records for his own sordid pleasures or probably because I was pretty much his only customer.

 

Another shop quickly sprung up though! It was brilliant! Owned by two keen, friendly guys that seemed to love their dance music and know what they were on about. I also didn’t have to give the tunes to them to play, I could listen myself for as long as I wanted!!

 

I spent loads of time looking for records, they’d pick ones out for me too and I spent a load of my hard earned cash there. I think I got a bit ahead of myself at times and bought some right shite but for the most part it was a good deal.

 

Second Commandment – Always take time to listen to records you buy; if in doubt, buy nout

  

It was around that time that I was thinking I should probably upgrade my setup. I reckon you get what you pay for so I spent some time researching and the obvious choice was a Pioneer DJM600 (the best at the time). I got it home and it worked like a dream, Superstar DJ here I come!

 

Not quite.

 

Whenever I’d did a mix it always sounded dull to me, like the kind of mix you’d hear everywhere in clubs on nights out or sometimes on the radio. It was all just house tune then house tune etc. I’ve always been of the opinion that if you’re not doing something new or moving things forward then you’re never going to get anywhere…maybe that’s not necessarily true but I always thought what’s the point in doing something EVERYONE else is doing? It just wouldn’t be enjoyable or satisfying.

 

Third Commandment – Innovate to Accelerate.

 

That’s a really cheesy one but I’m keeping it, could be…erm…. Create to Accelerate…. or Do something new and then it’ll be more interesting for you and everyone else to listen to…not as catchy though.

Its not what you know, it’s who you know…

When I first started out wanting to DJ I thought all I’d ever need was a mixer and a pair of decks as I’m sure 99% of wannabes also think.

I got a pair of manky stantons and a shite kam mixer which had nobs missing and a sticky cross-fader that had definitely seen better days. That’s the way isn’t it!? Wannabes don’t start out with a pair of technics and a pioneer mixer for bout a grand and a half! Well maybe they do, but I didn’t.

I plugged away for a year or so playing a mixture of housey-poppy tunes that I’d hear on the radio and MTV Dance. I’d tape Pete Tong, Seb Fontaine and Danny Rampling every week then listen to it in my car all week on the way to work. Why did they leave Radio 1??!?!? Bring back Seb and Danny….and Fergie.

Anyway, I’d listen intently but I could never get any of the tunes they’d play, at least not for months after they’d been rinsed by every radio and club DJ going.

Finally I found a tiny little record shop hidden away around the back streets of Loughborough. I’d always be the only guy in there and I’d pick some random tunes then have to give them to the man behind the counter for him to play for me! We’d stand there and not say much, at times the awkwardness was palpable, he knew I had no clue about DJing! If I liked then I’d nod, if me not like then I sort of screwed up my face in disgust as if to say, ‘oh god no! How could anyone release that??!’ Sometimes I’d find a gem that as it turned out was brand spanking new, but for the most part I was picking up scraps that others didn’t want.

One day I noticed a stack of vinyl behind the counter all of which were brand new!! I asked if I could have one of them, he just shook his head. WHY?!? I was a customer, he was the shop owner, I didn’t understand!!? This incident was my first glimpse into the subculture of DJing.

First Commandment – Thou shalt keep all the best records for the biggest and most famous DJs

As I understand it, every record shop owner has a ‘hierarchy of fame’ (see fig. 1 below) which they use when they receive a brand spanking white label record. They must ask themselves, “who might want this record?” with strict reference to the hierarchy of fame. The record is then located in a suitable position in the store to assure that any wannabe or local DJ doesn’t obtain the fattest, most ‘banging’ tunes first. Please note the shop owner reserves the right to withhold the record for either their best mate, colleague or family member without any need to reference to the hierarchy.

Diplo

At the moment Diplo can do no wrong in my eyes. The Mad Decent podcasts are ace and the music he produces is experimental, sampl-ey get-on-the-dance-floor-and-stay-there stuff.