Never fading to grey mix

Man standing on a platform in the distance as a storm gathers around him
One man on a lonely platform

I recently got some new tunes mainly for the party mix I last shared. While checking out a number of new tunes, I discovered the amazing Tell nobody by Basil O’Glue and instantly thought this driving tune is tech trance at its best. I needed to mix it along side Follow Me (Jerome Isma-Ae Extended Remix) by Jam & Spoon.

Of course Tell nobody is just one of a few new tunes in this mix, expect them to pop in future mix for sure.

I recorded this mix on a very long train journey in the UK and it includes all the subtle crossfader mistakes. However this is one heck of a mix and it will get much better as I learn the new tunes.

Enjoy!

Listen on peertube or on my personal mixgarden.

The tunes used…

  1. Fade To Grey (Moreno J Remix) – Visage
  2. Rhienkraft (Full original mix) – Oliver Klien
  3. Melodemon (Extended Mix) – Mrphlindr
  4. Turkish Bizarre (DBA Remix) – Art Of Trance vs POB
  5. Tell Nobody – Basil O’Glue
  6. Running up the hill (Jerome isma-ae bootleg) – Placebo
  7. Follow Me (Jerome Isma-Ae Extended Remix) – Jam & Spoon
  8. Aluminium (Extended Mix) – Robert Nickson
  9. Tears (Protoculture Remix) – Dakota
  10. Theme For Great Cities (Revisited & Extended Mix) – Paul Oakenfold
  11. Energy Crash (Extended Mix) – Maarten de Jong
  12. Interstellar (YORK’s Back In Time Extended Mix) – Torsten Stenzel
  13. You’ve Got The love (Sonny Noto Remix) – Florence + The Machine
  14. Anahera (extended mix) – Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella

R&D advisory and labs winter party dance to this mix (2024 edition)

People party in a underground bar

I recorded this mix live on the Pacemaker device’s build in recorder/editor while mixing at our work end of year do. Its a little ropey in places but its all mixed live and with new tunes that I wouldn’t normally mix with. This is similar to the Amstels thriller chiller mix in some of the tunes.

As it goes out on Peertube, I need to mark it as explicit because it contains one swear word in the first tune – Animals (Christmas remix).

Some will enjoy this short mix, we only had 30 minutes to play and went over that even. But I certainly could redo it into something better, now I know the tunes more.

Listen on Peertube or my mixgarden

Midsummers nights beach dream mix

A midsummers evening beach in the UK

I have been listening to my latest set of mixes and there is a selection of tunes which has gotten me rewinding and playing out loud. With this, I decided to create a mix using just those tunes with a few tweaks and some reordering. All done on the Pacemaker device as usual.

Planned and recorded while on holiday on the beach in the UK. Listen on peertube or in full quality on my mixgarden.

Turn it up loud!

The playlist…

  1. Sacrosanct (Extended Mix) – Mark Sherry
  2. Stresstest (John Askew Remix) – John O’callaghan
  3. Killer Instinct – Sneijder & Bryan Kearney
  4. Inferno – Carl Cox
  5. Dolores – Indecent Noise
  6. Energy Crash (Extended Mix) – Maarten de Jong
  7. Stealth bomber (Chris schweizer remix) – Bryan Kearney
  8. Erase – Brooks Alexsander
  9. Whites Of Her Eyes – Simon Patterson
  10. Silver Bath – Plastic Boy
  11. Predator – Predator
  12. Telescope – Will Atkinson

The Berlin donnerwetter mix

Google thunderstorm weather alert with map of Berlin and airport in background

Recently I took a last minute flight to Berlin for Republica 2024. Although I mainly escaped the thunderstorm by going via Copenhagen it was touch and go on the Copenhagen to Berlin leg of the journey.

Of course I had lots of time to record this mix on the pacemaker device, which attracted the eye and question of a fellow passenger who asked what it was and how it worked. Gladly explained, not sure if he took it all on board but good to have interesting in this very aged device.

This mix is recorded live and moves a long at 136ish BPM with some classic trance tunes. Turn this one up nice and loud! Hopefully in the sunshine not in the thunderstorm!

Enjoy here or on Peertube or in full quality on my mixgarden

The list of tunes used

  1. Long Way Home – Gareth Emery
  2. Aberration Of Light (Original Mix) – Michael Kaelios
  3. Energy Crash (Extended Mix) – Maarten de Jong
  4. Erase – Brooks Alexsander
  5. Verdi – Mauro Picotto
  6. Opium (Quivver Remix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  7. Beat (Da Boxx) – Laurent Garnier
  8. Soundbar (extended mix) – Giuseppe Ottaviani
  9. Running up the hill (jerome isma-ae bootleg) – Placebo
  10. Whites Of Her Eyes (Original Mix) – Simon Patterson
  11. Amino Acids (Original Mix) – Tau-Rine
  12. Brush Strokes (Original Mix) – Simon Patterson
  13. Certitude (original mix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  14. Floyd (extended mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  15. Adam K & Soha Mix – Kaskade
  16. Inception – Teminite

Oslo euphoric ascendancy mix

Oslo's fjord at sunset
Oslo’s fjord at sunset

After the more darker Torp-Ekspressens mysterium mix, I felt more chilled out from the Saunas and relaxing atmosphere of the Nordic sky. This mix on the way back on the plane needed to be more lighter and joyful.

The euphoric ascendancy, really stokes the fires and has more super high trance tunes than any other mix I have done? 2 hours of hands in the Nordic air watching the sun set over a beautiful country.

I love this mix and it was done all in one go with no retakes, just hit record and go.

Enjoy here or on Peertube or in full quality on my mixgarden

The list of tunes used

  1. As The Amazon Rush Comes (Armin van Buuren vs DJ Commisad Bootleg) – Motorcycle vs Midway
  2. Peace (Original Mix) – Yves Deruyter
  3. On Air (Tau-Rine Remix) – Jan Miller
  4. Constellation (John O’Callaghan mix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  5. Music Is More Than Mathematics (extended mix) – Protoculture
  6. Time (Sean Tyas Remix) – Paul Webster Feat Angelic Amanda
  7. Shapes – Maor Levi
  8. We Are One (Instrumental Mix) – Dave202
  9. Resound – Thomas Bronzwaer
  10. The Legacy – Push
  11. Tears (Protoculture Remix) – Dakota
  12. Arganda (Chris Schweizer rockin mix) – Heatbeat
  13. Gamemaster (Original Lost Tribe 1997 Remix) – Lost Tribe
  14. Big Sky (Agnelli & Nelson remix) – John O’Callaghan feat. Audrey Gallagher
  15. Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
  16. Megalodon – Dash Berlin
  17. Anahera (extended mix) – Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella

Torp-Ekspressens mysterium mix

Lights trails along a darken road
Travelling along in the dark to Oslo

On a new visit to Oslo, I had the joy of a long tiring coach ride from Torp Sandefjord airport to actual Oslo. It was very late and although I did a mix on the plane with the pacemaker device, the long winding journey with a closed motorway was perfect timing to redo what I had done on the plane with little disruption.

Its a little bit of a dark mix but it certainly moves at the speed of 138bpm, not the speed of the coach but kept me very entertained at the back.

Enjoy here or on Peertube or in full quality on my mixgarden

The list of tunes used

  1. Gouryella (From the Heavens mix) – Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella
  2. Hole In The Sky (Arctic Moon Remix) – Tonny Nesse
  3. Stresstest (John Askew Remix) – John O’callaghan
  4. Killer Instinct (Original Mix) – Sneijder & Bryan Kearney
  5. Tears (Protoculture Remix) – Dakota
  6. Dolores – Indecent Noise
  7. Erase – Brooks Alexsander
  8. Fiction (Extended Mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  9. Seven Cities (V-One’s Living Cities remix) – Solar Stone
  10. Chinook – Markus Schulz Pres Dakota
  11. Inferno – Carl Cox
  12. Club Quake (Oliver Klein Hard remix) – 5 Below 0
  13. Arrival – ANU

RD Xmas 2023 party remix

Dancing in a rave with redlights

For Xmas, like many workplaces we have a staff party. I gatecrashed into my previous teams Manchester xmas party and put my name down for 30mins djing. However I didn’t record the mix but I did keep the playlist and so recreated it twice (2nd time for another work event).

I won’t lie, this is less trancy but is a killer mix or as others have said to me… its a banger!

I am moving my mixes to peertube rather than my mixgarden (1) & (2) for now.

Enjoy and remember to turn it up loud.

  1. Thriller (Steve Aoki Midnight Hour Remix) – Michael Jackson
  2. Punk – Ferry Corsten
  3. Rock Your Body Rock (Mat Zo Extended Remix) – Ferry Corsten
  4. Echoes – Henrik B, Niklas Gustavsson & Peter Johansson
  5. Cafe Del Mar At Night (Beat Service’s Out Of Office Mashup) – Energy 52 Vs Shakedown
  6. Who Freaked Who (Electric Soulside Remix) – Dopefish
  7. Beat (Da Boxx) – Laurent Garnier
  8. Turn It Up (Extended Mix) – Armin van Buuren
  9. Freedom (Extended mix) – ARTY v Muvy
  10. Proper Education (club mix) – Eric Prydz vs. Floyd

My mix garden on the move again, hello peertube!

Digital Italics WebMix

I have been mixing away on the pacemaker device as usual. But noticed my mixgarden is having some troubles. I was using hyperaudio and webmonization to present my mixes. It was good however things changed over the last year.

Webmonization made a number of changes and hyperaudio seems to be slightly broken the configuration I currently have it in.

So with all this in mind and after looking at Peertube and Castopod, I decided to give peertube a try before running my own instance. Similar to what I had planned with Funkwhale a long time ago.

This has worked out well on rankett. Then I heard on podnews last week about music freediverse.

Music Freediverse is a new place for musicians to post their songs as an RSS feed, using PeerTube.

After a email with the sysadmin, about mixes and legality of them. They suggested I check out Split Kit if I have the metadata (which I do), this is something I looked into and now have a lightening address, which you can send sats to on my new mixgarden. I am also interested in the peer 2 peer tech

One of the good things about Peertube is the ability to sync videos over, which I took advantage of, it was a shame the metadata wasn’t copied over too but its fine, as I had it all.

In the short term I’ll keep using peertube but I have a plan to install a peertube instance myself and host it all locally. Then I could syndicate them out elsewhere. (Anyone can recommend a good docker container, do shout)

Another thing for the task list, but likely the best idea for now with lots of room to grow and expand.

Talking of which the next mix is a banger….

My mix garden is down for a while

Mixing live in the EMFCamp null sector

I only noticed today that my mixgarden is currently down. I know exactly why which means its been like that for a while (a couple of weeks).

I recently upgraded to Apache 82 from Nginx and my redirect hasn’t been updated but not only that, my process really needs my Dell XPS laptop which has a currently a bit broken battery. My chromebook is good but its a struggle when messing with SSH and content on the Dell not Chromebook. Being ill and loosing someone doesn’t really allow me the time either.

Fear not you can still get to most of the latest mixes on peertube.

Update 24th Oct 2023

I have fixed the problem, it does mean a slight change which I did plan to do a while ago.
Now the link for the mixes is

https://mixes.cubicgarden.info

not the old

https://www.cubicgarden.info/mixes.

I’m attempting to setup a redirect but currently ill and taking it easy…

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.

 

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!

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!

Twitter is all but dead for me now

Dead twitter bird

Twitter is all but dead for me now, I’ve been fed up and rarely even look at it. However over the last week, the API change just put the last nail in the coffin for me. Last time they did similar I was close to leaving back then.

Even then I did say one client for twitter is a bad idea and its time to double down on mastodon. I do wonder how much of this has changed too?

Now Twitter clients, Cawbird (linux), Plume (android) are facing problems and I’m seeing problems with Crossposter too.

Its clear the owner and business model has decimated this microblogging platform and its time to leave it alone. Decided not to leave only because like a few other web platform, I hold on to the user cubicgarden and ianforrester just incase.

So glad I joined Mastodon in 2017. I can be found on the fediverse on @cubicgarden@mas.to (general account, one I use the most)
@cubicgarden@twit.social (tech account)
@cubicgarden@scholar.social (academic account)
@cubicgarden@blacktwitter.io (music and lifestyle account)
@cubicgarden@bookwyrm.social (books I’m reading and have read)
@cubicgarden on Pixelfed (pictures I’m sharing around the fediverse)
@cubicgarden on Peertube (where I’m sharing new mixes, likely to move in the future)

Expect a lot less of me tweeting from now on… Reading about Twitter under a public remit is just super sad reading now.

Adding activitypub or switching to peertube?

Mixcloud warning: You've reached your limit for published shows

In my latest mix the interdimensional transmission mix, I went to mixcloud to find, I’ve reached my limit for published shows. So been thinking about what mixcloud does do for me. Mainly distribution and a bit of charting.

On the distribution side, it seems like the fediverse could easily do a better job. Originally I would love to use funkwhale but from previous experience it doesn’t really support mixes well compared to single tunes. Which is why I setup my own webmixgarden.

Currently I’m using a static site generator (pubili) which is great because I could add webmonitisation. Although I’m wondering if I should switch to one which supports activitypub? However I feel there is a way which combines both and its likely another platform on the fediverse? I can’t be the only one who is putting out mixes right?

I tooted and had some suggestions. But decided to look at peertube to see if that could work. After finding a instance, which had rules which worked for what I was doing. I starter experimenting here but i’m waiting for my mix to be moderated (its a one man instance, so expect it might take some time). If things work out I might just install peertube on my server.

Update

My mix is now up on peertube via rankett.net, thats the big news.
However I wanted to talk through what happened.

William who runs the rankett instance of peertube messaged me via email asking about copyright details of the mix. This was a surprise because we are all use to faceless entities moderating via machine learning.  We had a little chat over email and I explained what I was doing and shared this blog post. Happy with the explanation, my mix was unblacklisted and its now available for all to play.

I’m currently looking at ways to add chapters markers to the mix, by slightly abusing the captions feature. I can’t really see another way to do it.

Another update

LPS messaged me on mastodon and pointing out a undocumented feature of peertube.

I can easily add time points in the description and with the correct formatting will automatically turn into jump points into the mix.

Adding jump points in peertube

We also talked about setting up peertube using yunohost, which I’m already using. So theres little excuse now for me to just set it up one day soon.