Tag: dj

Soundcloud from a dj point of view

I love soundcloud but it has a few issues if your a dj and are uploading mixes like I am.

Before I run through them, I want to make sure people understand this isn’t a startup assassination, soundcloud is a dream come true but its not perfect for people uploading mixes. Hopefully this will help improve there service after my tweet on Thursday. Its also worth mentioning that Alex Meyers recommended Mixcloud which seems to be a sound cloud knock off but aimed at djs and radio producers. I’ve yet to really try it out, but I’ll try and give it a shot before posting this blog entry.

Terminology and comments

Here is my latest mix, the geometry set. Soundcloud does a excellent job displaying the waveform, and allowing you to add comments to a part of the track but the terminology is wrong. This isn’t a track, its a mix or some would say a set. Which confuses things even further. Also adding comments to a 60mins mix is tricky at this level. Now before you tell me you can zoom in as such, the point is that comments on a 60-180min mix is kind of a bit of a joke when looking at the wave form like this.

Talking about termology again… What record label do you put the mix under? What catalogue number? What Key and even what BPM? I know there all optional pieces of metadata but it all adds up to a service not very friendly towards mixes.

There use to be an option under type for mixes but thats now gone. The best option I can use to put my mixes under a type is recording or live. Why did mix go away?

Sets and playlists?

Unless you were to upload all your tracks to soundcloud and add them one by one, it seems to be frankly impossible to add a playlist. I end up copying my playlist from a my *.nfo file to the comment field. Ideally Soundcloud would have support for the metadata which dcloud, mixccomes from systems like VirtualDj, Tractor, etc. If not allow me to specify when mixes start and finish. The Pacemaker software I use does actually do this but I want to transfer that metadata over to the web. This may be a problem which can be solved while were hacking the pacemaker.

What I see other people do is add comments to specify the areas of a mix, but to be frank its a bit of a hack and not a very good one at that. Here’s Mark Schouls latest and greatest as a example of how the comment area can be used to hack/divide the mix up.

Even the lets mix has this ability to define a playlist/tracklist by using the metadata of the software your using or allowing you to edit it yourself. Here’s me editing my own mix, one step beyond entropy.

It seems like a hassle but to be honest, if I’m uploading a mix roughly once a month, its going to be worth me doing the hardwork of filling this stuff in. And heck if soundcloud can automaticlly work this out by uploading a file of some kind, even better.

Interestingly Mixcloud does the time stamping straight after you upload a mix. I’ve yet to see how effective it is, but at least it has the option baked into its DNA.

Downloads

I love that Soundcloud supports Creative commons licenses but what bugs me is that you can only upload one type of item. So if for example I upload a Ogg Vorbis file, soundcloud will ask you if you would like to allow them to create a mp3 of that file for the flash player. Great but if you go to download that file (rights permitted, you have to enable this) it will only give the person the choice of the file you uploaded first time. Aka you upload a Ogg, you can only download a Ogg, not the Mpeg3. Even worst you can’t upload multiple files, say for example a low quality version for people to download and a high quality version for those on a better connection.

I usually upload a Mpeg3 because its the most universal, although my pacemaker generates Ogg Vorbis files. I would however like the ability for the Soundcloud to generate alternative versions or for me to upload alternative versions of the same mix.

I would really pay to see an option to dump files to Archive.org because although I like soundcloud, I don’t really trust them to host my files forever. Just like Blip.TV, if its a public or creative commons piece of media, the option should be there to send it to archive.org.

My other concerns are so very small and not really worthy airing in this blog post. But to give you an idea of what I mean, the flash uploader certainly winds me up sometimes. I know theres a html (old skool) uploader but its also a pain to use when uploading a massive mix. Tiny things, nothing major.

End of the day

Soundcloud is great but its really not a great place to put mixes, they could almost do another sound cloud site change a few things around including the business model and make it just for mixes. In actual fact when Alex Myers said about mixcloud, I did think it was soundcloud but setup for mixes.

The Geometry Set

The Geometry Set by cubicgarden

This is my latest mix on my pacemaker. Lots of new tunes and some classics returns.

Its known as just the geometry set, but why? Well most of the mix has something to do with geometry in some way. If you think you can work out the link in each tune, feel free to comment below.

You may have noticed this is also a much shorter mix that I usually do but it didn’t feel the need to be long and drawn out.

Ladies and Gentleman, I present The Geometry Set…

The Geometry Set by cubicgarden

  1. Endless Wave (albion remix) – Kamaya Painters
  2. Heal – Electrique Boutique
  3. Arctic Globe – DJ Governor Presents Orjan
  4. Strange Bends (Kyau Vs Albert) – Sebastian Sand
  5. Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
  6. Call The Galaxy Taxi (Martin Roth Nu Style Remix) – Plastic Angel
  7. The Spring – Ernesto and Alex Fisher
  8. Ultra Curve – Cosmic Gate
  9. Exposure – Gareth Emery
  10. Perfect Wave – peter martin pres anthanasia
  11. The string that binds us (8 wonders remix) – Arnej
  12. Intution – Marninx Pres Ecco

The secret garden sunshine mix

The secret garden sunshine mix by cubicgarden

So my latest mix is online, I’m sorry to say I uploaded while at TedXSheffield (it was break time and the wifi was pretty fast). I got to take the wifi as it comes because it looks like I won’t get connectivity till the end of the month now.

As always the mix can be downloaded from soundcloud if the flash player doesn’t take your fancy or you want to listen to it on the go. I would upload a OGG version (the pacemaker defaults to ogg actually, so creating a mp3 version requires extra time and effort) but soundcloud don’t really support versions of the same stuff, I’m considering going back to blip.tv for media uploading. The playlist is below, Yes I really like Thomas Bronzwaer, he’s got a style of trance which really plays to my ear, this is also the reason for Collider twice.

This mix was recorded on my pacemaker while sitting outside in the sunshine of my new shared garden at Islington Wharf. Not my best mixing but entaining and well worth a listen. Thanks to Simon Lumb (@dirtysi) for the new Gouryella remix. I love Gouryella and this remix is pretty true to the original in lot of aspects. Enjoy…

  1. Man on the run – dash berlin with cerf
  2. Perfect Wave – peter martin pres anthanasia
  3. The strings that bind us – Arnej
  4. Be with me – Coast 2 coast feat Amanda Jami
  5. Collider – Thomas Bronzwaer
  6. denva – Ronski Speed
  7. Massive Motion – M.I.K.E
  8. Rainmaker – des mcmahon
  9. North Pole – Nitrous Oxide
  10. Sincere (pulsar remix) – Firewall
  11. The pride in your eyes (martin roth mix) – Tillmann Uhrmacher
  12. Collider – Thomas Bronzwear
  13. Resound – Thomas Bronzwear
  14. Constellation – Thomas Bronzwear
  15. Gouryella (gigolo remix) – Gouryella

The pulse of a nation mix – Hospital mix

The pulse of a nation mix by cubicgarden

I had a listen to all of my mixes I recorded while in Hospital, and this is certainly the best mix of them all.

This one is certainly the best sounding of the bunch which includes the the amazing recover mix, the outta of hope mix and of course the pulse of a nation mix. Its a good length too at almost a hour long. The mixing isn’t perfect but its good enough for a listen. The choice of tunes is also good, a nice upbeat selection, I must have had a good day the day I recorded this mix. As always enjoy it… oh an you can directly download this mix using this link.

  1. By your side (martin roth remix) – the thrillseekers feat gina do
  2. Strange bends (kyau vs albert) – Sebastian Sand
  3. Grooveline (matt darey) – Blockster
  4. dark side of the moon (marc van linden remix) – Ernesto vs Bastian
  5. Intution (martin roth remix) – Marninx pres ecco
  6. the truth (david west remix) – Headstrong feat Tiff Lacey
  7. Circa Forever (R.E.mix) – Rapid eye
  8. The wave (svenson & gielen remix) – cosmic gate
  9. a new dawn (virtual vault remix) – steve forte rio
  10. So much – Vince Nysse
  11. Ultracurve – cosmic gate

One of the mixes while I was in Hospital – outta of hope mix

The outta of hope mix by cubicgarden

I had a listen to most of my mixes I recorded while in Hospital, and there some good stuff there. Its going to take a while to recover and make them decent for sharing because sometimes I had the cross fader in the wrong position which is a shame or forgot to do something equally silly. Anyway here’s a nice short one to kick us off. As always enjoy…

  1. Above the sky – Airwave
  2. Cafe del Mar (Marco V remix) – Energy 52
  3. Are you fine – Kyan vs Albert
  4. Sincere (pulser remix) – Firewall
  5. Language (santiago nino dub tech mix) – Hammer and Bennett
  6. Shadow World – Thomas Brozwaer
  7. Lately (Riley & durrant mix) – Airbiscuit
  8. She wants him – Moussa Clarke & Terrafunka
  9. Into Something – Richard durand
  10. The Blizzard (Monogato’s Filth Remix) – Kalopsia
  11. Gamesmaster (matt darey 1999 remix) – Lost Tribe

iPad Dj Application?

Been thinking 2 ipads to mix music with could be interesting. However where would you store all those tunes? Would you put the mixer on a third device or even a iphone/ipod touch? Could you run the whole thing on one ipad?

There are a few stories exploring the idea. But generally most of the problems related to the ipad are also related to the iphone too. Things one audio output, no ability to add an external usb soundcard, locked up music subsystem, etc, etc. I did however see that the ipad has already been hacked or jailbroken, so who knows what might change for a serious dj setup.

The one step beyond entropy mix

The one step beyond entropy mix by cubicgarden

The mix isn’t perfect, I almost dedcied not to release it and maybe even do it again, but I changed my mind as theres a lot of new tunes in this mix. Of course there’s classic ones too. Recorded in Bristol while waiting to go out one night, I’m sure yuo will enjoy it.

Its been a while since I’ve uploaded a new mix mainly because I’ve had some trouble getting the Pacemaker editor software working in Ubuntu. I tried to get it working using Wine but it just would not work. So I had to go back to using Sun’s VirtualBox which thankfully does work.

Here’s the playlist for the mix…

  1. Salvation (Album Re-Vised Mix) – M.I.K.E
  2. Second Slience (Michael Jast edit) – Signum vs Delerium
  3. Intution (Martin Roth Remix) – Marninx pres Ecco
  4. Watch out (Extended Remix) – Ferry Corsten
  5. Junk (Body Snatchers Vocal mix) – Ferry Corsten Feat Guru
  6. Strange Bends (Kyau Vs Albert) – Sebastian Sand
  7. A New dawn (Virtual Vault Remix) – Steve Forte Rio
  8. Smack – Simon Patterson
  9. Invisible Touch (Ferry Corsten’s Touch) – Bobina
  10. Sinister (Original Mix) – Airbase
  11. Language (Santiago Nino Dub Tech Mix) – Hammer and Bennett
  12. Shivers (Alex M.O.R.P.H Remix) – Armin Van Buuren
  13. RAMsteram (Jornvan Deynhoven Remix) – RAM

Here comes the sunshine mix

Here comes the sunshine mix by cubicgarden

Its been a long time since I’ve done a mix worthy of publishing, don’t get me wrong I’ve been playing with the pacemaker quite a bit but they have been quite short and of varity of quality. So this is the big one, almost 2 hours of pure trance, just in time for Spring and the sunshine. Playlist to follow….

  1. Lift – Sean Tyas
  2. Key of Life (Marlo remix) – Ohmna Featuring Nurlaila
  3. The Legacy (alphazone mix) – Saltwater
  4. Constellation (john o’callaghan remix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  5. The Labyrinth (part one) – Moogwai
  6. Maybe next time – Robert Nickson
  7. The Legacy (club mix) – Push
  8. Certitude – Thomas Bronzwaer
  9. Rewire – Robert Nickson & Daniel Kandi
  10. RAMsterdam (Jornvan Deynhoven Remix) – RAM
  11. Intuition (Martin Roth Remix) – Marninx Pres Ecco
  12. 1999 (Gouryella mix) – Binary Finary
  13. Off the World (Large Remix) – Martin Roth and Alex Bartlett
  14. What it feel like for a girl (Dj Duane Thamms extended dance video remix) – Madonna
  15. Invisible Touch (Ferry Corsten’s Touch) – Bobina
  16. Save Me – Airwave
  17. Beautiful Thing (Photon project remix) – Andain
  18. Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
  19. Blinding Truth – Elevation
  20. Out of the Blue 2010 – System F
  21. Barber Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten mix) – William Orbit

The Essential Mixes

Armin Van Buuren djing

Essentialmixes.net is a website where you can stream, download, view tracklists and rate every Radio 1 essential mix since it began in 1993. Wow, but its not flawless.

There are so many amazing mixes on the site… One which takes me right back is Force & Styles mix from 1997. Just check out the playlist from this sweet mix. The only tune missing is the Eyeopener by Dj Brisk.

  1. Force & Styles – “Paradise & Dreams” (Diverse)
  2. Force & Styles – “Apollo 13 Pt II” (UK Dance)
  3. Bang The Future – “Body Slam” (GBT)
  4. Force & Styles – “Cuttin’ Deep” (Diverse Recordings)
  5. DJ Quatro – “Musical Mayhem” (HecTec)
  6. Sy & Bunter – “Connect Your Step” (GBT)
  7. Sy & Demo – “Love & Devotion” (Quosh)
  8. DJ Stompy – “Body Rock” (Hectic)
  9. JDS – “Higher Love” (Stompin’ Choonz)
  10. DJ Eruption – “Don’t You Want Me” (United Dance)
  11. Demo
  12. Ham & Time – “Here I Am” (Jal Premium)
  13. Ramos & Supreme – “Gotta Believe” (Hectic Rewinds)
  14. Hixxy & Bananaman – “Together Forever” (Essential Platinum)
  15. DJ Eruption – “Let The Music” (United Dance)
  16. Force & Styles – “Pretty Green Eyes” (UK Dance)
  17. Force & Styles – “Your Love” (Happy Trax)
  18. Bang – “Cloudy Daze” (Next Generation)
  19. Force & Styles – “Shining Down” (UK Dance)
  20. DJ Demo – “Your Mine” (Universal)
  21. Slipmatt & Eruption – “Sunshine” (First Recordings)
  22. Billy Bunter – “Untitled” (GBT)
  23. DJ Eruption – “Reach Out” (United Dance)
  24. DJ Vinyl Groover – “It Doesn’t Have To Be” (Hectic Rewinds)
  25. DJ Vinyl Groover – “Time After Time” (Obsession)

The site its self is pretty impressive, it really celebrates the dj and the amazing mixes which is good thing. So I went to register and found out, registration actually costs money up front which is a bit cheeky, yes its only 2 pounds 50 but there should be a option to sign up without paying. Then if you want to download, you have to pay. There’s also no clear indication what kind of downloads will be available. I can’t actually tell if the downloads are mp3’s, ogg vorbis or something drm’ed like AAC/WMA?

Reading people tweets, there seems to be a lot of problems downloading mixes, so maybe they should adopt some kind of P2P system like bit torrent to ease the bandwidth problems there having. Something like P2Pnext would be perfect for this setup. Finally, it would be great to have a API or at least RSS feeds.

I’m sure someone is already writing a script/app for this site to go into XBMC/Boxee/other devices, if there not – I might just do it myself.

Next Generation DJ contest qualifiers scrutinized

The sound of snow falling in sunshine mix from cubicgarden at Letsmix.com.

The whole thing is a joke I would say, I had pretty much given up to tell the truth. The NGDJ (next generation dj contest) has published a warning that all qualifiers to the contest will be scrutinized.

A quick note regarding the NGDJ Qualifiers: Leading up to the end of NGDJ Stage 1, we will be investigating all Qualifier mixes. Voting patterns related to accounts or mixes which are in breach of the NGDJ Terms and Conditions may lead to any of the following:

– Votes being retracted
– Mixes being denoted from Qualifier status
– The banning of Letsmix.com accounts

In addition to this we would like to inform you that this procedure might also affect mix rating averages and vote totals. All decisions and results following this investigation are final.

Voting issues, why? This is part of the problem,

For the stage 1

The NGDJ eligibility period will begin December 15th 2009 and will end on January 31st 2010, after which Stage 1 (“NGDJ Qualifiers Eligibility Period”) ends. To register and compete in NGDJ, visit http://www.letsmix.com and fully complete all required fields on the online registration form, and proceed to upload your DJ mix. Spread your NGDJ submission widely; you must gain a minimum of 200 ratings to be deemed a qualifier. The top one hundred qualifiers will then be determined by their average mix rating to remain in contest as Stage 2 commences.

Basically if you browse around the current qualifiers for the contest, you will find many examples of mixes which have something like 206 votes but only 60 actual listens. Go figure, obviously something is going on. What bugs me is that the legitimate mixes like mine (80 listens and 62 votes of a average of 4.8 out of 5) are going to lose out simply because I didn’t cheat like everyone else.

This comment sums up my thoughts too…

I don’t know why you didn’t make another voting procedure. My idea:
1. The vote button to be enabled only after the mix was listened at least 30 min
2. The rate of the mix to be shown only after the vote was placed.
3. The competitors shouldn’t be able to vote other mixes. The actual situation is not very good cause some of the “djs” here are not acquainted with the term FAIR PLAY and are not open minded.
4. The owner of the mix should be able to see a review of the votes he received on each day (how much stars has each vote).

So before the end of the month, if you’ve not voted for my mix, please do.

Is this a competition winning mix?

I’ve been thinking about the mix for the mix competition and decided to do a more upbeat tech electro mix instead of trance. I’ll post it on soundcloud very soon, just need to edit it a little because the pacemaker didn’t record the first mix correctly (again!).

Break dance to this mix by cubicgarden

  1. Where’s your head at (Stanton Warriors Remix) – Basement Jaxx
  2. Hustler – Simians mobile disco
  3. Shifter – Timo Maas
  4. Wooden – Simians mobile disco
  5. Roundabout – Sam Sharp
  6. One for you (Oliver Klien)
  7. Shnorkel (original mix) – Miki Litvak and Ido Ophir
  8. Its the beat – Simians mobile disco
  9. Higher state of consciousness (dirty south version) – Josh wink
  10. Tits and Acid – Simians mobile disco
  11. Verdi (the others) – mauro picotto
  12. Grasshopper (raw version) – Sander Van Doorn
  13. Communication (more) – Mario Piu
  14. Friday (trentemoller remix) – Fred Everything and 20 for 7
  15. Rheninkraft (extended version) – Oliver Klein
  16. Prosac – Dj Tomcraft
  17. Sleep Deprivation – Simian mobile disco

What do you think? Shall I submit this one or stick to the trance?

Digital Djing finds its niche? Welcome the Pacemaker

Pacemaker

Ok I saw this for the first time on the Gadget Show of all places the other day. They only showed it briefly but in that short 2mins I was blown away.

The Pacemaker is simply a digital mpeg3 mixer in portable form. In actually fact its dual mpeg3 players with a koas pad and mini mixer in one portable little unit. Simply amazing… what kills me is this device seems so perfect. Maybe this is the future of digital mixing? Finally something to separate the analogue djs from the true digital djs. The only thing which could make this device better is a drop in price, a real time waveform display, bluetooth 2.0 audio/input support and some tactile feedback.

Anyway enough chatter, go to the site and check it out. I'm number 2157 2738 in the queue for this amazing device.

Your queue number is No. 2738

This pre-booking is a non-binding reservation that guarantees you a specified place in line. To convert your pre-booking to a mutually binding order, we shall require delivery address information and full payment.

Your pre-booking includes the Pacemaker 120 GB pocket-size DJ system, line-out/RCA cable, power adapter, USB cable and quick user guide.

The price is 520 Euro, plus taxes and shipping costs. First shipments are scheduled for February 2008.

Before delivery, we will contact you with a request of delivery address details and final payment. Should you wish not to proceed with this purchase, your pre-booking will be cancelled and your queue number will be lost.

To view your queue number and booking status, log in at the Pre-booking section on www.Pacemaker.net

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A few hours before going clubbing for the first time this year

Dance in front of a laser

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it. The plan was to go to sleep for a couple of hours after eating dinner then wake up and get ready to go. However I'm sitting here writing this blog post, playing loud dance music, talking to Sheila on IM and trying to get a hold of Ryan Alexander. Ryan expressed a
interest in coming along tonight but I didn't have him on my twitter list so I missed it all. Anyway, I'm buzzing and I haven't even touched the Redbull yet.

I got a feeling that I might end up doing a quick mix while I'm waiting. There are some banging tunes which I've been listening to a lot recently and their just crying out to be mixed together. I've also been playing with the idea of doing a music dj podcast but I know I'd get sued silly. Anyway, I might provide a voice overlay track to my next mix if I find the time.

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Geek and Geekhag podcast 14 – Why a Second Life?

Me and Sarah did a podcast last night, number 14 (really 13 but lets not go there). This time we discuss Second Life, Myspace and Youtube, Feast of Fools and Sarah's new (non-hand me down) phone. The other good news is that Sarah has agreed to do the podcast every week now. So expect more geek and geekhag next week.

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Going nuts for certain tunes while paying 200 pounds for the privilage?

dj's de laptop

I just had a quick look at my audioscrobbler/last fm rss and noticed i'm listening to the same 3 tunes over and over again. Its not a mistake, its actually me loving these tunes which I stayed up to 2am searching for the other day. I've had them all of 2 days I believe and can not wait to do a mix with these new tunes. What are the tunes, you maybe asking?

  • FB Featuring Edun – Who's Knocking (Ferry Corsten Rmx)
  • Gabriel and Dresden feat. Molly – Tracking Treasure Down
  • Kosmas Epsilon – Innocent Thoughts

.

They've been on my list for quite some time but finally went actively searching for them on Trancetraffic and found them all there in 320kps Lame encoded Mp3 format. Mighty impressive quality and great tunes which could not be found on iTunes and Allmp3.com.

I simply will not buy music which is DRM'ed, practially Fairplay DRM (what a joke for a name) does not play on my ipaq, mobile phone and certainly not in my Dj application Virtual DJ. I mean why the heck would I buy music from the iTunes store and put up with the fact that I could not mix with it? Insane I tell you. So much for the mix in Apple's Rip Mix and Burn tagline from years ago.

Anyhow talking about Insanity, dance music and mixing. I saw this Digital DJs Unaware of Copyright Law on Slashdot recently.

The BBC reports that if you're a DJ, playing your digital copies of files off a laptop or mp3 player is illegal. The UK royalty collection agency, PPL, demands that such DJs pay £200 for a license in order to do so. From the article, 'Many DJs are still unwittingly breaking the law by playing unlicensed digital copies of tracks months after a new permit scheme began, the BBC has found. This includes legally-purchased downloads, which are normally licensed only for personal use, as well as copies of tracks from records or CDs.

What the heck? Geez this is the kind of thing I hear about in America not in the UK. Going through the comments it seems this headline grabbing story may not be all its craacked up to be. The first informative comment goes like this…

I think the article summary is a touch misleading. My reading was that the public performance of songs whose copyright the DJ doesn't hold is what's illegal, and the £200 is for a licsence that remedies the situation. Nobody is telling anybody they can't play music on their laptops, and I'm sure the submitter didn't intend this, but I think it's important to point out that this only relates to public performance. Additionally, DJs do not need to pay the liscence if they are playing from CD or vinyl.

So this still applies to someone like me it would seem? I don't get it why because its digital I have to pay a license fee on top of all the music I'm playing on my laptop? As someone said, its a specific license tax on just those who utilize digital delivery systems. Some comments which sum up better than myself.

So a DJ can play a CD, but if she plays the same track ripped to an MP3, she has to pay an extra 200 pounds for a license? Where's the sense in that? The US compulsory license scheme actually seems sane by comparison.

Hey you thief, don't you dare be playing my tracks where lots of young impressionable kids will get to listen to them and then afterwards possibly go out to their local DJ shop and buy my records/CDs! Well unless you give me 200 big ones!

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