Category: italic+mixing

Dying daylight in Utrecht mix

A street in Utrecht at sunset

I had the joy of going to Utrecht in the Netherlands for a Storyjam. On that plane ride I started a mix, which I thought was good. Then did it again during of the nights in the Airbnb recording it live to my external recorder. It was good but then on the plane ride back I let rip and the results is what you hear in the mix.

  1. Ayla (Veracocha mix) – Ayla
  2. Crazy for you – Greg Downey
  3. Daylight (Frainbreeze remix) – Saad Ayub & Cristina Soto
  4. Go Fast! – Orjan Nilsen
  5. Doppelganger – Niels van Gogh
  6. The Great Escape – Rank 1 Vs Jochen Miller
  7. Carte Blanche (David Gravell Remix) – Veracocha
  8. Apocalypse – Yuji Ono
  9. RAMsterdam (Jorn van Deynhoven remix) – RAM

You can hear the whole mix at full quality on my mixgarden or on peertube.

 

Sinead’s baroque troy mix

Sinead O'Connor stylised

I recently put together a new pacemaker device mix for Sinead O’Connor. Its a short mix and quite deep in parts, but Sinead’s voice is the main point at the start and the end. Its recorded live using the later beta firmware.

  1. Troy (push remix) – Sinead O’Connor
  2. Please save me (push mix) – Push Vs. Sunscreem
  3. Follow Me (Roger Shah Extended Deeper Translation Remix) – Jam & Spoon
  4. Trick – Carlo Ruetz
  5. Club Quake (Oliver Klein Hard remix) – 5 Below zero
  6. Fiction (Extended Mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  7. Panoramix – Laurent Garnier
  8. Troy (push remix) – Sinead O’Connor

You can hear the whole mix at full quality on my mixgarden or on peertube.

Rest in peace Sinead…

New Pacemaker device mix: Knights of the new republic

Amsterdam skyline at night

Another recorded live mix due to the Pacemaker’s latest firmware. I was listening to some of my older mixes and the Knights of the old republic recorded while in another conference (republica in Berlin) stuck out to me. So I thought it was time for a redo as I was in Amsterdam at a similar conference (publicspaces).

Of course it includes the tune I’m still loving at the moment, Carl Cox’s Inferno and similar to the last mix, I decided to switch Blaze’s my beat to the Jan Driver remix. Which in my mind is a dance floor disputer.

As its recorded live with the loop feature, there is very few edits just a bit of normalisation.

You can listen to it on my mixgarden in full quality with Webmonitzation or peertube.

The playlist is here

  1. Altern8 – Infiltrate 202
  2. Miki Lutvak & Ido Ophir – Shnorkel (Thank you city remix)
  3. Leftfield – Open up
  4. Tomcraft – Happiness and Loneness
  5. RAM – Grotesque (Alex MORPH & RAM mix)
  6. Blaze – My Beat (Jan Driver mix)
  7. Inferno – Carl Cox
  8. Moogwai – The Labyrinth (part one)
  9. The Prodigy – Charly
  10. Floyd (Extended mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  11. Home (Cosmic gate remix) – Paul Van Dyk Feat. Johnny Mcdaid

A beat that seems out of time (with the one you feel in the metronome of your mind) mix

Metronome in full swing
Metronome in full swing

Another mix using the Pacemaker device. However this time I have been experimenting with the later beta versions of the Pacemaker device firmware, which includes beat aware looping. It’s great but I find the native digital recording of the Pacemaker device unreliable when using it. I thought I had found the solution. But in the end I recorded the output directly using the analogue output.

The result is a completely unedited mix. Not quite as smooth with the cross fading but its just such a raw mix, I had to put it out.

First put together in Barcelona but the digital recording was all over the place, later I re-did the mix. This mix moves at a heavy pace and is fully of lovely progressive/tech beats with little lyrics. Perfect for hitting the treadmill, scooting down the motorway or what ever you fancy doing at a pace. Look out for the my beat into Inferno long mix, simply can’t stop bouncing my head to that section.

As always you can listen to it on my mixgarden or via peertube.

Here is the complete tracks used.

  1. [00:00] Fall to Pieces – Jonas Steur feat. Jennifer Rene
  2. [03:40] M.I.L.F. – Laurent Garnier
  3. [08:35] My Beat (Ambassador extended remix) – Blaze
  4. [11:10] Inferno – Carl Cox
  5. [16:18] Interlinked – Thomas Schumacher
  6. [23:02] Predator – Predator
  7. [26:40] Fiction (Extended Mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  8. [31:04] Shnorkel (Thankyou City Remix) – Ido Ophir, Miki Litvak
  9. [35:42] Pǝsnɟuoɔ (Confused) – Laurent Garnier

Let the lyrics do the talking mix

Utopia's street art of a young woman with roses
Utopia’s street art of a young woman with roses (C) Utopia

A special anniversary mix for my partner, partly following the hearts in the clouds of Amsterdam mix. She loves vocals, while I tend to focus on the beats & rhythm. Looking through my collection of tunes, I was surprised how few had vocals.

With this, I started thinking about a mix using them and following a holiday in Lisbon. Tweaked an initial mix a few times to make it a better listen overall. The result is a mix which moves along at a higher speed of about 138bpm, matching the higher vocal trance and is a gift to my loving partner.

Of course enjoyable by all those who love vocal trance…

Enjoy it on my mixgarden or via Peertube!

Loop travel isn’t helpful to me, at all!

Settings on the pacemaker device menu

I am still loving my DJ pacemaker device but stuck on the last official firmware for my main device (I have quite a few of them just incase). I always found I couldn’t guarantee the accuracy of the looping feature if I recorded on device, so didn’t use it unless playing live. I did a blog about this a while back.

However yesterday I happened to be doing a mix and it crashed with a 201 error, loosing my currently recording mix. Very annoyed I decided to look at the lack of space left on the device (7gig left) as I don’t actually know how much working spare space it actually needs to run?

Then I started looking at the settings, I noticed loop travel which I always turned on for some reason thinking it was something good.

Deactivate/activate loop travel
This setting disallows/allows loop in-point to push end-point and vice versa.

  1. When in Mix mode, select Settings > Mix control > Loop travel >.
  2. Toggle between Off/On by swiping right

Now to be fair in the early versions of the Pacemaker firmware, the looping was hit and miss but in later versions its not needed for me.

So I turned it off did a test mix and what do you know it looped perfectly when listening back in the editor!

All this time, I avoided looping unless playing live because of this. You can imagine how happy I was going to sleep. It also means I can upgrade the firmware to the latest and get the added features.

Wait for the next lot of mixes!!!

The night life above and under Martim Moniz mix

The night life above and under Martim Moniz

Its a return to Lisbon’s Martim Moniz after the heights of Lisbon mix, always reminds me of how the square is being used by many different people. I learned the old city wall runs right through it and its interesting to sit and watch the different people come, go and gather.

Bit of a moody mix during a lovely holiday in Lisbon but its winter so wasn’t as warm. Leaning on the tech trance side, this mix has a large number of new tunes and some bold choices with the crossfader, which I kept in. Its a mix which gets you bopping that head up and down with some excellent tunes.

Enjoy on my mixgarden or on Peertube!

Only the faithless can jazz (like Maxi Jazz) mix

Maxi Jazz picture

With the death of Maxi Jazz from the popular group Faithless, I had to do a mix in honour of his life & death. I mean what a voice and what incredible iconic songs. Who has not sung the lyrics of Insomnia at some point in the last 15 years? Its a song I have started with a few times and still find stunning when played nice and loud.

Although short and compact, I found the best 3 versions of Faithless songs in my collection and added tunes which fitted with the mode & tempo. Stress test made another show, as it is a tune!

You can listen to the whole mix here enjoy and here!

    1. Insomnia – Faithless
    2. Stresstest (John Askew Remix) – John O’Callaghan
    3. God Is a DJ (Astral Projection remix) – Faithless
    4. Seven Cities (V-One’s Living Cities remix) – Solar Stone
    5. Salva Mea 2.0 X Insomnia Kayba Edition (Above & Beyond Remix) – Faithless
    6. Shnorkel (Dousk gems remix) – Miki Litvak & Ido Ofir
    7. Dalmatia – Estiva
    8. Homeward – Ferry Corsten

The interdimensional transmission mix

Communicating with space from the See Monster

Following the previous Pacemaker mix, I decided during a very long train journey to get the pacemaker out for some more trance. Using parts of the last few mixes, I decided to give the new mix some new direction.

The mix shifts along at a nice 136 bpm, complete with hands in the air moments and who couldn’t enjoy some stress test (hidden gem).

Enjoy!

You will notice there is no Mixcloud upload for this mix. Mainly because of the decisions of Mixcloud and being at my limit for a free account. Which means going to my mixgarden for future mixes.

  1. Escape – Markus Schulz
  2. Catch (Martin Roth remix) – Blank & Jones
  3. Stresstest (John Askew remix) – John O’Callaghan
  4. Tears (Protoculture remix) – Dakota
  5. Arjan – Angelica S
  6. Follow me (Jerome Isma-Ae Extended remix) – Jam & Spoon
  7. Talk to me (Orjan Nilsen trance mix) – John O’Callaghan and Timmy & Tommy
  8. Higher state – Kevin Crowley
  9. Shnorkel (Thankyou city remix) – Ido Ophir & Miki Litvak
  10. Running up the hill (Jerome Isma-ae bootleg mix) – Placebo
  11. Eternal Horizon – Alex M.O.R.P.H
  12. The Descent – Protoculture
  13. Grotesque – RAM & Alex M.O.R.P.H

I saw it coming, changes to Mixcloud

Mixing live in the EMFCamp null sector

Today there was a email from Mixcloud.com

Nico here, CEO and co-founder of Mixcloud. Today we’re announcing upcoming changes to Mixcloud:
From December 1st we’re introducing a maximum allowance of 10 published shows for creators on the basic tier.

Why is this happening?

We believe DJs and producers should be rewarded for the skill and creativity that goes into their work. That’s why for over 10 years we’ve subsidized hosting costs and built tools that enable creators to grow and earn money.

We also believe artists should be paid when their music is played. That’s why every show uploaded to Mixcloud is scanned by our content ID system. This enables us to identify the tunes being played and pay royalties to the artists who made them.

Unlike other platforms, we’ve spent years securing comprehensive licensing deals with the major and independent labels to ensure this money is paid to the right artists. We have shouldered these costs in order to create a fair music ecosystem.

Until now we’ve kept our basic tier uncapped. However, as we’ve grown our royalty and hosting costs have risen and we are not profitable. To continue running and improving Mixcloud we need to become more sustainable as a business, and Pro memberships help us cover our costs.

How will you be affected?

On 1st December all of your shows will remain published and available to listeners. But, if you want to make space for a new show, you will need to manually move shows into drafts until you are within the allowance or upgrade to Pro for unlimited published shows.

Fair point but I’m not totally convinced, as it wasn’t that long ago when rewind and track listing became not possible. It was clear to me that I needed to do something ahead of this all, hence why I setup my own webmix garden. I agree it would be great to pay the creators of the music, and using webmotization considered a way to do this.

Maybe this is where I part ways with Mixcloud? Its a shame but like all the people leaving Twitter due to Elon Musk. its just not suitable for me anymore.

I would still like to try that distributed payment pointer system and also explore the notion of distributed charts using DHTs, removing the need for huge amounts of centralised storage.

Heart in the clouds of Amsterdam mix

Looking out across clouds mid flight to Amsterdam

I have been doing mixes in the car for my partner while she drives. Its one of the big advantages of the pacemaker device. Plugin the audio jack and you can DJ almost anywhere. My partner prefers vocal tunes to my usual style of tech trance, so I now have a case of vocal trance tunes. On top of this was a visit to the world’s first dance music museum with my good DJ friend Dirty Si.

So with all this in mind, here is my new mix recorded while going to Amsterdam recently for my lovely partner. The mix shifts along at a nice 135 bpm, is short (due to the flight to Amsterdam) but is full of hands in the air moments. Enjoy!

  1. Tears from the moon (Tiesto’s in search of sunrise remix) – Conjure one Feat. Sarah O’connor
  2. Drifting away (Large sunset dub) – Large Feat. Skye
  3. Talk to me (Orjan Nelison Trance mix) – John O’Callaghan and Timmy & Tommy
  4. Catch (Martin Roth remix) – Blank & Jones
  5. Daylight (Frainbreeze remix) – Saad Ayub & Cristina Soto
  6. Without You (Dogzilla dub) – Dogzilla
  7. Halcyon (Alex M.O.R.P.H. remix) – Andy Moor
  8. Not Over Yet ’99 (Matt Darey) – Planet Perfecto feat. Grace
  9. The Power Of Love 99 (System F mix) – Frankie Goes To Hollywood

Available in full on my webmix garden and mixcloud if you prefer…

Follow me to the big trance sound of summer mix

Train tracks into the distance

During a recent holiday to Lisbon, I of course took my Pacemaker Device to create a brand new mix. This time, I went very trancey. Maybe it was the incredible sunshine, the fun of exploring Lisbon or just being in Europe again?

Whatever it was this mix is a much more pacey 135bpm and frankly kicks those tired legs with some force. I’d say this is a excellent mix and full of hands in the air moments. Its also full of new tracks alongside some old classics.

  1. Blood Angels (Chris Liebing mix) – John Starlight
  2. Catch (Martin Roth remix) – Blank & Jones
  3. Humming the lights – Armin Van Buuren & Gaia
  4. Venture (Nifra Extended remix) – Super8 & Tab
  5. Music is more than mathematics (Extended mix) – Protoculture
  6. Communication (Tomas Heredia remix) – Armin van Buuren
  7. Megalodon – MaRLo
  8. End transmission – ReDrive & Patrick Blanes
  9. Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat. Einat
  10. Wonder of Life (F&W remix) – Tukan
  11. Stresstest (John Askew remix) – John O’Callaghan
  12. Airtight (Extended mix) – Rafael Osmo
  13. We are one (Instrumental mix) – Dave202
  14. Arjan – Angelica S
  15. Valhalla (After future remix) – OneBeat
  16. Madagascar (Domi-Nation remix) – Art of Trance

Available in full on my webmix garden and mixcloud if you prefer…

Quantum entanglement in the null sector

Mixing live in the EMFCamp null sector

I did the last DJ set of the night at EMF Camp 2022 in the null sector. It was an absolute pleasure and I really miss DJing live sometimes.

However one thing, I didn’t enable record on the Pacemaker device. It was kind of gutting because it was a good set and 90mins got extended to 2hrs, even with the mixer power supply getting overloaded half way through.

Because of the lack of recording, I remembered most of the tracks I played including the starting tune (Stella) and the last one (Anahera), I did a remix of the night also on the Pacemaker device.

Its good mix with some pace and sums up that amazing night after midnight in the laser  & smoke filled null sector.

You can hear the whole mix on my webmix garden here or with restrictions on mixcloud.

  1. Stella (original mix) – Jam & Spoon
  2. The Day will come (8 wonders mix) – Arnej
  3. Shnorkel (Thankyou City Remix) – Ido Ophir, Miki Litvak
  4. Open up (full vocal mix) – Leftfield
  5. Feels Like Home (marco v dub) – Meck feat. Dino
  6. Sleeper in Metropolis (Club Mix) – Anne Clark
  7. Go (Extended mix) – Protoculture
  8. Opulence – Simon Patterson
  9. Intruder (original mix) – Armin van Buuren vs. M.I.K.E.
  10. My Beat (Ambassador extended remix) – Blaze
  11. Whites Of Her Eyes (Original Mix) – Simon Patterson
  12. Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat. Einat
  13. Casino Fire – Matias Faint
  14. Dolores – Indecent Noise
  15. Tears (Protoculture Remix) – Dakota
  16. Floyd (extended mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  17. Music Is More Than Mathematics (extended mix) – Protoculture
  18. Anahera (extended mix) – Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella

The incidental contact high mix

NHS Nurse with mask and halo
Found on a wall in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, modified by me

My first new mix for 2022 and it comes at a time as Covid19 variant Omnicron has come, peaked and is likely going to move us things from Pandemic to Endemic? Who knows…? Lets hope!

Regardless of this all, I was thinking about the incredible people who helped us all through the pandemic and kind of been forgotten, while also flicking through the new book dictionary of obscure sorrows. I came across the incidental contact high, which is described as “a innocuous touch by someone just doing their job, that you find more meaningful that you’d like to admit.”

Anyway, its really good mix with lots of new tunes, a bit of pace (134bpm-ish) and a good feeling throughout. I’m loving Protoculture’s Music is more than mathematics and the unique remix of Shnorkel.

Enjoy the mix on mixcloud or on my own mixing site.

Here is the full playlist.

  1. Love Technology – Protoculture
  2. Orenida (extended mix) – Gouryella/Ferry Corsten
  3. Collider (Jorn van Deynhoven remix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  4. Music is more than mathematics (extended mix) – Protoculture
  5. Feel it (extended mix) – Cosmic gate
  6. Shnorkel (Thank you city remix) – Ido Ophir and Miki Litvak
  7. Go (extended mix) – Protoculture
  8. Tiger (extended remix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  9. Tears (protoculture remix) – Dakota
  10. Alone (extended mix) – Maarten de jong
  11. Headliner – Jorn van Deynhoven

The ravers ravenous retro revenge mix

The ravers ravenous retro revenge mix

With my thumb getting better, I’m doing more mixes again on the good old pacemaker device. This one was part of a much longer mix but the start was a bit crappy so cut it off and included the last 80%.

The ravers ravenous retro revenge came about after watching the Matrix Resurrections. There was lots of parts (seen it a few times now and still score it 8/10) but I found this line fascinating.

Morpheus: Nothing comforts anxiety like little nostalgia.

I have a lot to say about nostalgia but I decided to do a mix where it feels like the mix is being taken over by the rave. Does it work? I’ll leave it for you to decide. Maybe I should have called it R4 instead?

Listen to the Ravers ravenous retro revenge mix, on mixcloud and my own cloud.

Enjoy!

  1. Electric Sunrise – Mental Overdrive
  2. Air conditionné – Julian Jeweil
  3. Silence (Jerome Isma-Ae Extended remix) – D-Nox, Baya, Lenn V
  4. I want you (Forever) (Full on mix) – Carl Cox
  5. Opium (Quivver remix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  6. Open up – Leftfield
  7. Sleeper in metropolis (Club mix) – Anne Clark
  8. Rewind (Makkas remix) – Emma Hewitt
  9. Charly (Alley cat mix) – The Prodigy
  10. Feel the beat (JS16 dark mix) – Darude
  11. The storm – Interitus Dei
  12. Back to earth (Rave mix) – Yves Deruyter
  13. Unchainied – Diego Morrill
  14. The sky – Summerland