christmas

I hope that you all have a merry and safe one!

new mixset up: winter breaks! (updated)

I just finished my newest mixset (and the last one I think I'll do this year). So with out further ado:



(the mixset is downloadable in mp3 format here at MediaFire. Xanga is being a little brat and not letting me upload the mix to their streaming audio player, so you'll just have to take my word for it that you'll enjoy the set.)🙄 

Lunar Solstice @ Club Hide, SF - Dec. 22

Beat Entertainment (which is run by my buddy Josh) is throwing an event at Club Hide in San Francisco on the 22nd called Lunar Solstice. I'd never been to this club before, but I read that it's supposed to be pretty large and that the sound system there is pretty nice, so I'm pretty optimistic that it'll be pretty fun.

The lineup:

Mystre
Durty
Maitre-V
David Jeffreys

Omega
DJ Mick Khaos
Joey C
DJ Chris
Mr. Tyler Jackson

The rest of the information is on the flyer below!





(edit: ugh, I forgot that the width of this blog is pretty narrow and cuts off the sides of the images I post on here. You can click on the flyers to actually see their full size).

But yeah, it's pretty cool to see so many DJs from Monterey spinning up in the city!
Oh, and it's also gonna be Tyler's birthday, so wish him a happy one if you're there!

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I'm trying to decide on whether or not I should rent a room at the Hotel Tomo in Japantown that night. I've been meaning to stay there since this past July, and seeing that it's kinda slow in the hospitality season, room rates are fairly decent, too. I just hope that my having a place to crash doesn't automatically equal EVERYBODY crashing at the place and getting me evicted.

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Oh, and yep, I'm still working on the new mixset tonight. I spun the set earlier today, but I'm gonna spin the set again (i.e. tighten up some of the beatmatching, etc)...

with all positives, a negative has to come along to balance things out...

So that little 40 minute guest mix on the campus radio station (that I had mentioned in the last post) ended up transforming into a 2 and a half hour disaster. I really hope that nobody was watching/listening to that... And if anyone did see it, I... well, I don't know.

I already knew that Tyler would be heading out early, so that's how I ended up agreeing to do the guest mix, but I found out this morning that Mike couldn't make it to his show either, so that ended up tacking about another 2 hours to the 40 minutes I had planned.

I was doing decent for about the first hour and a half...

...until my music just STOPPED.
COMPLETELY.
UTTER SILENCE.

It's hard to describe wtf happened (it probably wouldn't make any sense if I did), but I REALLY hope that it doesn't happen again... As much as I love computers and how convenient they can be for various tasks (such as DJing in this case), it can be such a pain in the ass when they decide to behave sporadically. I suppose that's just the nature of technology. Especially if they're calculating a zillion different things at the same time. A simple mouse click can end up stopping a DJ dead in his tracks.

By that point, I was confused and annoyed and just started playing another track (but like an idiot I had left the crossfader on the channel that wasn't playing anything). I played another hour's worth of music, but I just couldn't get into it... I faded in tracks way too early or too late... I just wanted to get out of there.

As awesome of a day it was that I had DJing on the beach this past Saturday, today was equally as horrid. Yin and yang. Well, disasters happen to everyone. Now that it's happened to me, all I can really do now is just brush myself off and keep trying my best (and hope the track pad on my Macbook doesn't spaz out again, haha).

my first time DJing in front of people!

You can download the set in mp3 format here. I actually chopped the set up into 15 individual tracks this time, too, as opposed to the set being one long mp3 file.

minceyfresh - 2007 12/01 - live @ jacked up (I originally thought that this event was called Seaside Renegade, but it turns out that it was called Jacked Up.)

a rave on the beach Saturday afternoon/evening?

*UPDATE* I pasted the details/directions at the bottom of this post.

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...and I'll be one of the folks spinning (alongside Brandon [who is throwing the event], Tyler, Mike and probably a few others)! Woohoo!
Hopefully I won't be as nervous spinning on the beach in front of a bunch of strangers as I was in front of my friends (and web/TV Camera-ish thing) on at the campus radio station this past Wednesday.

I was trembling out of anxiety then. I think I'll still be trembling this time around because I'll be playing in a combination of:

1) Monterey
2) the beach
3) the evening
4) December

Needless to say, I'll most likely have to dress like an Eskimo. But it should be fun fun fun anyway!

I'll try to have enough sense to press the record button in *the beginning* of the set this time around, too.
(I recorded the set I did on Wednesday [trainwrecks and all], but I had forgotten that I was planning to record the set until the middle of the 2nd track). I'll upload it later...
So yeah...

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1 (oh crap, that's tomorrow)
3:00 pm - midnight
Seaside Beach Renegade Celebrating Christian's Birthday.

Everyone welcome
Good vibes, free food n drinks
Live music & DJs

3:00 - 4:00 mr. tyler jackson
4:00 - 5:00 minceyfresh
5:00 - 6:00 megabyte mike
6:00 - 7:00 john
7:00 - 8:30 s0ulfree
8:30 - 9:30 ramonski
9:30 - 10:30 dj mute
10:30 - 11:30 TBA
11:30 till closing TBA

Directions from Hwy 1 North
1. take the Sand City/Fremont St. exit
2. make a right onto Fremont St.
3. slightly Merge Right onto Del Monte Ave.
4. make a right onto Playa Ave.
5. take Playa Ave all the way down and find parking (better if you park at circuit city or orchard suply.)
6. take the bike trail up underneath the highway and straight down to the beach. were on the shore.

Directions from Hwy 1 South
1. take the Sand City Fremont St. exit.
2. repeat steps 2-6 above.

I'm pretty sure if you see this bike trail you know you're headed in the right direction:

mixset #2: eBreaks!

I just finished my second mixset (though I'll consider this my first official demo mix), which I'll call eBreaks, as it's comprised mostly of breaks with a bit of electro house (though the two genres are sounding more and more alike each time I hear a new release). It's a full, CDR-friendly 75 minutes, and I can honestly say that it's a little more polished and consistent (in terms of genre) than the Test Mix that I made a week ago. And I purposely chose the first track because I've waited so long to finally get some turntables. Have a listen, and you'll see what I'm talking about. :-)



A downloadable mp3 of the set is available here.

Here's the tracklist:

1. ils - tiny toy
2. adam freeland - silverlake pills
3. cirez d - mouseville theme
4. culprit one - tricks (the rogue element re rub)
5. hardy hard & lady waks feat. mr. x - minimal
6. justice - waters of nazareth
7. aaren san - osc low nyzz (blende remix)
8. plump djs - get kinky
9. fatboy slim - love island
10. krafty kuts & tim deluxe - bass phenomenon
11. wiesel & captain koma - nice
12. kavinsky - testarossa (sebastiAn remix)
13. the crystal method - busy child (hyper remix)
14. general midi - never gonna stop the show (dylan rhymes mix)
15. hybrid - i'm still awake (christian j mix)
16. poxymusic - our break

my first mix! (^o^)/

I finally came up with my first mix on Monday evening... It started as just being those three tracks I was talking about in my last post, but I just kinda decided to keep it going for a few more tracks.

Keep in mind that this is MY FIRST TIME EVER making a mix, and it will probably be obvious. For now, I'm just trying to learn to beatmatch properly (I refuse to let the machine try to beatmatch for me!), so I didn't really try to play with the EQs or do any sort of stutter effects this time around.

For those who want to listen to it on the go, you can download the set as an mp3 here at MediaFire.
Here's the track listing:

1. junkie xl - mushroom
2. paul van dyk (feat. rea garvey) - let go
3. hybrid (feat. perry farrell) - dogstar
4. way out west - apollo (general midi's apollo 8 mix)
5. yelle - a cause des garçons (tepr remix)
6. m.o.v.e. - freaky planet (akira yamaoka rosy mix)
7. plump djs - get kinky (I threw this one in at the last minute and decided it was a bad idea, so I just kinda cut it off pretty soon into the track).

Enjoy! (^_^)
(oh, and thanks to Mick for recommending MediaFire!)

waking up with ideas for a mix

Hi. I just woke up. I always sleep with my iPod playing at a low, ambient volume, and while I was in bed just now, Paul van Dyk's "In Between" album was playing. The track "Let Go" featuring Rea Garvey on vocals was on, and I woke up thinking "Whoa! This would sound perfect in a mix between Junkie XL's 'Mushroom' and Hybrid's 'Dogstar!'"

So here I am awake saving those tracks to a usb stick to throw onto my macbook so I can later on try mixing them and testing how well they flow. I'll make that my first mini-mix! If they flow well, I'll let you guys hear it whenever I get around to mixing them.









Alright, I'm going back to sleep for another hour or so...

macbook & xponent

My Macbook arrived!

I ordered the Macbook last Monday, and I found out that Leopard (the Mac OS update) would be shipping with all Macs that were ordered anytime after the OS hit stores (which was the previous Friday, I believe). Normally, I'd be pretty happy about that, but since I bought the computer for the sole purpose of digital DJing with the Xponent, I was pretty upset. Why? Well, this is what M-Audio said on their FAQs about their audio equipment in regards to Leopard:

Due to the nature of software and driver development, we are not able to provide exact dates for when specific drivers will become available—but please rest assured that supporting Leopard is a top priority for us. As soon as Leopard drivers or updates for any product become available, our Web site will be immediately updated to reflect this.

If you choose to install Leopard on your system before your M-Audio product has been qualified for use with the new OS, please be aware that your M-Audio device may not function properly. Please continue to check M-Audio.com for updates.

Aargh! Dammit! I decided on a Macbook so I could hurry up and get started with the thing! Well, anyway, things turned out to not suck when the package arrived at my doorstep yesterday afternoon. It turns out that Tiger (the version of OS X before Leopard) was actually preinstalled into the laptop, while there was a Leopard install CD in the packaging! So it looks like I'll be able to use the Xponent without waiting for a driver update after all!

Now I just gotta figure out how I should reorganize my room for there to be space to set up the Xponent and the Macbook...

I love how Blogger...

Looks so fresh and so clean! :-)

Anywho, my main (and original) blog is over at Xanga, but I might start using this once I get my DJ identity up and running (which will hopefully be sooner than later)!

I recently bought the M-Audio Torq Xponent, but I'm running XP Media Center Edition on my laptop (which is like THE ONLY OS it doesn't work for), so I haven't been able to use it yet. I should be getting a lil 13.3" Macbook for the sole purpose of spinning.

I just hope that it works flawlessly, and not buggy like people have been complaining about in the Torq DJ forums... (>_<)
Well, I'll keep you guys posted here, I suppose!

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I wonder if there's any way for me to make my blogspot blog look exactly like my Xanga (of course without all of the extra widgets, blogrings and other clutter)...

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Oh, and I decided to paste old posts from my Xanga blog in here that are relevant to my DJing (and eventually design). Luckily, you can specify the date and time when posting, so everything should stay in chronological order. :-)

James.

random thoughts and happenings

I should be ordering a Macbook pretty soon, initially for the sole purpose of hooking my M-Audio Torq Xponent and FINALLY BEGINNING TO DJ. The hardware is compatible with just about everything BUT Windows XP Media Center Edition. Any guesses as to what OS my laptop came installed with? Because of that, it's just been sitting there in the original packaging sitting next to my bed (with exception to the times that I take it out and silently pretend like I'm DJing in front of a massive arena of fans).

I'm kinda scared that the Xponent will act kinda buggy... Lately, that's all I've been reading people post about over at the Torq DJ forums. But maybe that just means that the people who are all satisifed with the unit (hopefully the majority) are just not posting and complaining, but instead spinning in front of a massive arena of fans! Right? Right?

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I just heard the track Goodnight Lover by Fluke on Pandora and assumed that it was a new track (it has a bit of that Hybrid/James Bond feel). It turns out that it was from their album, Risotto, which was released TEN YEARS AGO! What rock have I been living under?
It also turns out that The Designers' Republic designed the artwork for the album. I'm definitely ordering that one.

finally got some turntables (sort of)

Yesterday, when I got back from Fairfield, I saw that the package I had ordered from the Guitar Center in Gilroy on Monday had arrived!

Aaaaaaaw yeaaaaaah!
It's the M-Audio Torq Xponent that I wrote about about a month back!







I can't wait til I can finally get it all hooked up! It unfortunately doesn't support Windows XP Media Center Edition, so I'm gonna have to partition my laptop and install XP Pro on half of it temporarily. I'll probably just get a little 13.3 inch Macbook later to use for it. Now I'm just trying to think of where online I should host mixsets or podcasts once I get started. I really oughta learn how to make a podcast before I jump ahead of myself. And what would I call it? The Tokyo Overground (my old radio show at CSUMB)? I was thinking that The Fresh Sessions would be kinda cool, too. :-P

a too perfect solution for wannabe laptop djs (i.e. me)?

For years, I'd been meaning to eventually pick up a pair of turntables and a mixer, and more recently, I'd been looking into picking up a pair of the Pioneer CDJ-200 decks and the DJM-400 mixer. They're all the entry level models of Pioneer's Pro DJ equipment. I've noticed that Amazon seemed to have the most affordable (and legit) means of purchase, and with the CDJ-200s being $350 each, and the mixer at $400, that would be $1100 before tax for ENTRY LEVEL. Don't get me started on the CDJ-1000s. (>_<)

Keep in mind that I can pick up a pair of actual vinyl decks and a decent mixer for a fraction of the above mentioned prices, but I don't think that I'm ready to devote myself to a collecting vinyl (especially since the closest decent record shop is in Santa Cruz, which is about a 40 minute drive from Marina).

This morning (during my usual hours-long check-my-mail-for-a-minute session), I stumbled upon M-Audio's Torq Xponent Advanced DJ Performance/Production System (wOoOo, fancy terminology for a turntable-shaped midi controller). I initially passed it off as another crappy laptop controller like that Mixman DM2 that I suckered myself into buying a few years back, but after reading some reviews and watching a some videos of it in action on youtube, I realized that this is actually something that I NEED RIGHT NOW.

What I appeals to me about the unit is that it takes just about everything that I need to get started (minus the laptop and a pair of headphones) and stuffs it into one piece of equipment. It has the two touch-sensitive jog platters, mixer/crossfader, EQs, various effects, a touchpad (which doubles as a mouse pointer and a Kaoss Pad-like FX thingy) and it even has its own soundcard built in so I'll be able to properly cue tracks in my headphones while still pumping out music over loudspeakers.

The original MSRP is $750, but it's available on Amazon for $600! By the way, everyone, my birthday is August the 23rd. Heh.

Anyway, this looks perfect for me. I'd love to rant on more about it, but I gotta run... For now, enjoy this demo/review that DJ Mag TV did!

Here are some other videos of the Xponent in action!