Have you ever listened to songs in Windows Media Player and found them to be distorted in places, so the sound quality is terrible? The same files may play perfectly in all other programs - I've had files that worked in WinAmp, RealPlayer, Quicktime, Nero, and a host of other programs with no problems, yet Windows Media Player would not handle them properly.
As it turns out, MicroSoft has a Creative PlayCenter MP3 decoder resident in the operating system which is what causes the problem. Certain versions of Windows Media Player use this decoder, but there are compatibility problems. If you're not using that decoder file for whatever reason, you probably won't run into the distortion problems.
The simplest way to fix the problem, assuming that you're running on a Windows operating system, is to go down to your start menu on the bottom left side of the screen, click on it, then go into "search." You need to search your C: drive (or whatever drive your O/S resides on) and look for a file called "Ctmp3.acm" - if you can find that file, don't delete it, just rename it to "Ctmp3.bak" instead.
If you can't see the file extensions when you're doing searches (the default option on Windows, but one which I detest and disable immediately whenever I set up a new computer), I'll show you how to make your file extensions visible. Go to Windows Explorer, either through your Start menu or by holding down the "flying window" key (left of your left side alt key) and then pressing the letter "E" at the same time. Next, go into the Tools menu, and chose Folder Options in the drop-down Tools menu. In Folder options, click on the "View" tab. The seventh or eight option in that list usually says "hide extensions for known file types" and has a check beside it. Uncheck this, then click OK. Now you'll always be able to see file extensions in Windows Explorer and associated panels. If you're quite computer savvy, you might also want to set the other three options above and below that let you show hidden files, show O/S files, and display the full path name in the Title Bar (although this is only applicable if you're trying to conserve system resources by switching to Classic View, such as for intensive audio or video processing).
Anyway, now you know how to show file extensions, and how to fix the distortion problem on Windows Media Player. This may not be a problem on newer versions of Vista, but it certainly was on certain versions of WMP running on XP.
If you want a different approach to disabling the problem codec, here's another set of instructions:
The Creative Playcenter software rudely blocks the Windows MP3 codec. The following instructions show how to unblock it on Windows XP system. The instructions for other Windows versions are the same except the steps to get to the audio codec area from the control panel varies. Note that this will disable the MP3 capability of the Playcenter software. You can re-enable using the same steps or replace the Playcenter software.
1. Go to the Control Panel
2. Double click on "Sounds & Audio Devices"
3. Select the "Hardware" tab
4. Double-click on "Audio Codecs"
5. Select the "Properties" tab
6. Double-click on ctmp3.acm
7. Select "Do Not Use this Audio Codec"
8. Then click on the "Apply" button
Under The Bridge
on Friday, November 16, 2007
I spent this past weekend in Seattle and Vancouver. Originally, I was going for no good reason, just because I wanted to go to a party at the Pacific Science Center on Saturday night and to visit a friend (TProphet) in Seattle. I know, that’s a unique name – but it's a long story.
A couple weeks ago, he emailed me and said that as long as I was coming out for Saturday night, I might as well DJ somewhere on Friday night. Since he is a Seattle promoter and has a full sound system of his own, he said he was going to set up an event for me. I said that I’d definitely be willing to play if he got anything together, and I asked where I might be playing. He said, “oh, maybe under an abandoned bridge.” Hm.
I got to Seattle on Thursday evening and we spent most of the night getting things organized, and doing a little bit of touristy stuff. Then, on Friday, we started getting ready for the bridge party. I won’t lie, I expected something pretty low key - maybe a pair of speakers, a dozen people, and the chance to annoy or entertain some homeless people, or to get into a fight with bikers. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The party that he and his friends pulled off was one of the most entertaining evenings I’ve ever had. After we convinced the K-9 unit at 10:30pm that the entire cube van full of sound gear we were loading up wasn’t stolen, and said that we were preparing for a nice responsible folk music concert, we hit the road. Upon arriving at the bridge, there was a flurry of action, and within about half an hour we had two full sound stages set up with power generators, propane heaters for the crowd, a small kitchen selling drinks and snacks, and an art display/sale. The equipment and sound system was better than what I’ve played on in a lot of clubs in Atlantic Canada (five bass bins for my stage alone). A couple hundred people showed up, even though it was a totally unadvertised renegade party. It was pouring all night, but we were completely dry under the bridge. With two stages, and a total of ten DJ’s playing throughout the evening, Friday night alone was worth the trip.
On Saturday, TProphet’s sound system was being used at the main stage of the party of the Pacific Science Center, so he went off to set that up while I went exploring the Seattle social scene for several hours with a couple of his friends. One of his friends in particular was quite entertaining. TProphet introduced him by saying, “this is possibly the sketchiest guy you’ll ever meet, but I mean that in a good way. Try not to end up in jail before the show.” This person, who I will leave unnamed, was quite entertaining. He was discussing his plan to take out a life insurance policy on himself, fly to Zambia to buy a death certificate in the black market, then buy a Zambian identity and passport in the black market, then come back to the States as a different person and cash in on his own life insurance policy, and then use the proceeds to tour the world as a Zambian. Or something like that. Anyway, it was an entertaining start to the evening.
When we got to the Pacific Science Center, I was extremely impressed, once again. They had a full blown party IN the Science Center. There were four stages with DJ’s from 10pm-4am, three or four full bars, and best of all, all of the exhibits were open. I had a few drinks and went straight to the planetarium, where I spent the next hour and a half looking at the stars. The butterfly exhibits were open, and there was a bar in the dinosaur room, and basically the whole place was interesting. The best thing was that the tickets were moderately expensive, which meant that there weren’t a lot of street kids, so it was a very clean and respectful crowd. This, of course, is good when you have several thousand people partying in a museum.
Seattle now ranks near the very top of my list of fun cities to visit. Click here to see more photos from the trip.
A couple weeks ago, he emailed me and said that as long as I was coming out for Saturday night, I might as well DJ somewhere on Friday night. Since he is a Seattle promoter and has a full sound system of his own, he said he was going to set up an event for me. I said that I’d definitely be willing to play if he got anything together, and I asked where I might be playing. He said, “oh, maybe under an abandoned bridge.” Hm.
I got to Seattle on Thursday evening and we spent most of the night getting things organized, and doing a little bit of touristy stuff. Then, on Friday, we started getting ready for the bridge party. I won’t lie, I expected something pretty low key - maybe a pair of speakers, a dozen people, and the chance to annoy or entertain some homeless people, or to get into a fight with bikers. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The party that he and his friends pulled off was one of the most entertaining evenings I’ve ever had. After we convinced the K-9 unit at 10:30pm that the entire cube van full of sound gear we were loading up wasn’t stolen, and said that we were preparing for a nice responsible folk music concert, we hit the road. Upon arriving at the bridge, there was a flurry of action, and within about half an hour we had two full sound stages set up with power generators, propane heaters for the crowd, a small kitchen selling drinks and snacks, and an art display/sale. The equipment and sound system was better than what I’ve played on in a lot of clubs in Atlantic Canada (five bass bins for my stage alone). A couple hundred people showed up, even though it was a totally unadvertised renegade party. It was pouring all night, but we were completely dry under the bridge. With two stages, and a total of ten DJ’s playing throughout the evening, Friday night alone was worth the trip.
On Saturday, TProphet’s sound system was being used at the main stage of the party of the Pacific Science Center, so he went off to set that up while I went exploring the Seattle social scene for several hours with a couple of his friends. One of his friends in particular was quite entertaining. TProphet introduced him by saying, “this is possibly the sketchiest guy you’ll ever meet, but I mean that in a good way. Try not to end up in jail before the show.” This person, who I will leave unnamed, was quite entertaining. He was discussing his plan to take out a life insurance policy on himself, fly to Zambia to buy a death certificate in the black market, then buy a Zambian identity and passport in the black market, then come back to the States as a different person and cash in on his own life insurance policy, and then use the proceeds to tour the world as a Zambian. Or something like that. Anyway, it was an entertaining start to the evening.
When we got to the Pacific Science Center, I was extremely impressed, once again. They had a full blown party IN the Science Center. There were four stages with DJ’s from 10pm-4am, three or four full bars, and best of all, all of the exhibits were open. I had a few drinks and went straight to the planetarium, where I spent the next hour and a half looking at the stars. The butterfly exhibits were open, and there was a bar in the dinosaur room, and basically the whole place was interesting. The best thing was that the tickets were moderately expensive, which meant that there weren’t a lot of street kids, so it was a very clean and respectful crowd. This, of course, is good when you have several thousand people partying in a museum.
Seattle now ranks near the very top of my list of fun cities to visit. Click here to see more photos from the trip.
Marc Carnes in Edmonton
on Saturday, October 20, 2007
Last Thursday night, I was in Edmonton for the evening. I was supposed to be DJ'ing at a house party with Marc Carnes, but since I didn’t want to lug my vinyl records across the country, I suggested that he should rent a pair of CD players. I recorded part of the evening on my laptop, and I finally got around to compressing it this afternoon and figuring out all of the tracks that he played.
Marc has DJ’d for about a decade but has always used vinyl himself, so this was his first chance to try mixing with CD’s. To make things a bit more challenging for him, he had to use my music (which he was unfamiliar with), since all of his music was on vinyl. Luckily, mixing on Pioneer CDJ’s is very similar to mixing on Technics decks, because the pitch control mechanisms are designed to be almost the same. In fact, I think that CDJ’s are even easier to mix on than turntables, because you never have to worry about the needle skipping, and they hold their speed more consistently (although I can’t manipulate my placement within the track nearly as fast on the CD players).
Anyway, right-click here and choose the “save target as” option to download an mp3 recording from the evening. It’s a little over an hour long, upbeat dance music. You’d never know that it was the first time Marc had ever used CD players to play a set. Here’s a track listing:
01. Emjae feat Marcie, “Loaded Gun.”
02. Javith, Salazar, & Gil, “Kukenan.”
03. Deepologists, “History Of Electronica” (Original).
04. Marzetti, “I’m Just A DJ” (Shawn Jacobson & Jeremie Voillot Clubstompers Remix).
05. Levan, “Miau.”
06. Hedkandi, “Boogie 2Nite” (Haji Big Love Remix).
07. Tom Leeland feat Vivian Tate, “Feel My Love” (Sven Waschinsk).
08. Thee-O, “Tribal Dreams” (Original Mix).
09. Dan Sampson & Jhreal, “Solid Gold” (Thomas Penton & Jerome Remix).
10. Alibi vs Rockefeller, “Sexual Healing” (Freemason’s Vocal Mix).
11. Piece Process, “The Preacher” (Partial Vox).
12. Mike Kings, “You Want It” (Original Wanted Mix).
13. Victor Gonzales, “Better Step Up” (Bitwise Remix).
14. Dial Freaks, “28157” (Iceland Spar).
Marc has DJ’d for about a decade but has always used vinyl himself, so this was his first chance to try mixing with CD’s. To make things a bit more challenging for him, he had to use my music (which he was unfamiliar with), since all of his music was on vinyl. Luckily, mixing on Pioneer CDJ’s is very similar to mixing on Technics decks, because the pitch control mechanisms are designed to be almost the same. In fact, I think that CDJ’s are even easier to mix on than turntables, because you never have to worry about the needle skipping, and they hold their speed more consistently (although I can’t manipulate my placement within the track nearly as fast on the CD players).
Anyway, right-click here and choose the “save target as” option to download an mp3 recording from the evening. It’s a little over an hour long, upbeat dance music. You’d never know that it was the first time Marc had ever used CD players to play a set. Here’s a track listing:
01. Emjae feat Marcie, “Loaded Gun.”
02. Javith, Salazar, & Gil, “Kukenan.”
03. Deepologists, “History Of Electronica” (Original).
04. Marzetti, “I’m Just A DJ” (Shawn Jacobson & Jeremie Voillot Clubstompers Remix).
05. Levan, “Miau.”
06. Hedkandi, “Boogie 2Nite” (Haji Big Love Remix).
07. Tom Leeland feat Vivian Tate, “Feel My Love” (Sven Waschinsk).
08. Thee-O, “Tribal Dreams” (Original Mix).
09. Dan Sampson & Jhreal, “Solid Gold” (Thomas Penton & Jerome Remix).
10. Alibi vs Rockefeller, “Sexual Healing” (Freemason’s Vocal Mix).
11. Piece Process, “The Preacher” (Partial Vox).
12. Mike Kings, “You Want It” (Original Wanted Mix).
13. Victor Gonzales, “Better Step Up” (Bitwise Remix).
14. Dial Freaks, “28157” (Iceland Spar).
Naming Songs
on Wednesday, October 17, 2007
I'm just going through the latest Richmond Record Pool DVD, and I'm getting a bit annoyed at the way some record companies promote themselves. Let me cut right to the chase. If you're going to name a song, use the following format:
Artist - Song Name (Specific Remix).mp3
It is not that hard. Now I can understand someone coming up with a somewhat unconventional naming protocol if you're maybe playing around with something, or naming stuff in a hurry, or drunk. But if you're a Record Company, you need to pay attention to a simple concept. It's called MARKETING.
Let me give you an example of a "bad" job of naming a track. This is an actual example from the DVD that I'm reviewing this evening:
drop_54_b1be_bop_DOWNLOAD.mp3
WTF? This is just ridiculous. Who is the artist? What is the track called? Why is "download" in capital letters, and what does it mean, since it's from a physical DVD? Now to assauge your curiousity, I spent a few minutes trying to puzzle it out, and the only thing I can figure out so far is that it is probably the 54th release on the Drop Records label, side B1, and the song is probably called "Be-Bop." But to be honest, after I got that far, and couldn't assign any degree of certainty to that guess, I dragged that puppy right over to the Recycle Bin (where it will not be recycled).
I'm sure there are DJ's out there who like to spend their time checking out mysterious, nebulous tracks. There is certainly a subtle appeal to a "white label" track for some DJ's. However, if I'm personally trying to quickly sort through and review 250 songs in an evening, you've just lost all hope of getting any air time from me if you don't name the song properly.
On a positive note, I'm glad to see more people starting to trade and distribute WAV files instead of 320 kbps mp3's. With the way hard drives are growing these days, it's worth the extra storage space to improve the audio quality.
Artist - Song Name (Specific Remix).mp3
It is not that hard. Now I can understand someone coming up with a somewhat unconventional naming protocol if you're maybe playing around with something, or naming stuff in a hurry, or drunk. But if you're a Record Company, you need to pay attention to a simple concept. It's called MARKETING.
Let me give you an example of a "bad" job of naming a track. This is an actual example from the DVD that I'm reviewing this evening:
drop_54_b1be_bop_DOWNLOAD.mp3
WTF? This is just ridiculous. Who is the artist? What is the track called? Why is "download" in capital letters, and what does it mean, since it's from a physical DVD? Now to assauge your curiousity, I spent a few minutes trying to puzzle it out, and the only thing I can figure out so far is that it is probably the 54th release on the Drop Records label, side B1, and the song is probably called "Be-Bop." But to be honest, after I got that far, and couldn't assign any degree of certainty to that guess, I dragged that puppy right over to the Recycle Bin (where it will not be recycled).
I'm sure there are DJ's out there who like to spend their time checking out mysterious, nebulous tracks. There is certainly a subtle appeal to a "white label" track for some DJ's. However, if I'm personally trying to quickly sort through and review 250 songs in an evening, you've just lost all hope of getting any air time from me if you don't name the song properly.
On a positive note, I'm glad to see more people starting to trade and distribute WAV files instead of 320 kbps mp3's. With the way hard drives are growing these days, it's worth the extra storage space to improve the audio quality.
Cambridge Punk Rock Show
on Saturday, October 6, 2007
I flew out to Vancouver last night. I’m here to do some work on “When I Grow Old,” a track I’m recording with Mike Allison, at FaderMaster Studios. One of the sound engineers and owners at FaderMaster is Shawn Cole, an old friend and roommate, who is now teaching at the Pacific Audio Visual Institute in Vancouver, helping to run FaderMaster, and doing work at a number of other studios in his spare time.
When I got into town, Shawn immediately thrust a couple beers into my hands, and said that we were going to a punk show that evening. That kind of took me by surprise, but he said he wanted to go to the “Pub 340” to see an album release show by Cambridge. It sounded good to me, so we had a few more drinks and went to the bar.
Upon getting to the bar, we had a few more rounds of drinks, and Shawn gave me some background on Vancouver’s punk rock scene. Shawn actually produced the Cambridge album, so he knew a lot of the people in the bar. Shots of Jagermeister were only $3 each (ridiculously cheap for Vancouver), so before long, I knew a lot of people too.
There were actually four bands playing, although I only saw two of them. I think Loose Tooth was on stage when we got there, and they were singing a song that went something like, “America can suck my dick, Canada’s gonna make you her bitch.” I’m not entirely sure about the lyrics – things were already getting a bit hazy by that point. And for any Americans reading this, you shouldn’t worry that this was a sign of anti-American sentiment in your northern neighbours – I think this was actually a song of affection (after all, it was a punk rock show).
I was outside while the third band played, so I missed them entirely, but we got back inside when Cambridge was about to start. Shawn got right up into the mosh pit, while I tried to stay a bit more restrained, and took photos. The band was tight, and the crowd was into the music (and seemed to know the songs very well). It was pretty amusing seeing people getting thrown onto the stage, then back off the stage into the crowd, and dancing and smashing into each other. One of the highlights was when it looked like the head of the bass player’s instrument swung around and smashed into a bottle of beer that someone was taking a drink from. I wonder if it was a member of Loose Tooth? As Monty Python once said, “Now you see the violence inherent in the system.”
The rest of the night was fairly chaotic. We ran into two guys who were getting into a fist-fight on Hastings Street, and one of them had dropped a box of pizza on the ground just before they started fighting, so I went up and asked them if I could have the pizza. I also seem to remember Shawn trying to climb onto the roof of the Price Waterhouse building, so I could get a photo of him up there, although that memory is kind of vague. Anyway, it was an interesting start to the weekend.
When I got into town, Shawn immediately thrust a couple beers into my hands, and said that we were going to a punk show that evening. That kind of took me by surprise, but he said he wanted to go to the “Pub 340” to see an album release show by Cambridge. It sounded good to me, so we had a few more drinks and went to the bar.
Upon getting to the bar, we had a few more rounds of drinks, and Shawn gave me some background on Vancouver’s punk rock scene. Shawn actually produced the Cambridge album, so he knew a lot of the people in the bar. Shots of Jagermeister were only $3 each (ridiculously cheap for Vancouver), so before long, I knew a lot of people too.
There were actually four bands playing, although I only saw two of them. I think Loose Tooth was on stage when we got there, and they were singing a song that went something like, “America can suck my dick, Canada’s gonna make you her bitch.” I’m not entirely sure about the lyrics – things were already getting a bit hazy by that point. And for any Americans reading this, you shouldn’t worry that this was a sign of anti-American sentiment in your northern neighbours – I think this was actually a song of affection (after all, it was a punk rock show).
I was outside while the third band played, so I missed them entirely, but we got back inside when Cambridge was about to start. Shawn got right up into the mosh pit, while I tried to stay a bit more restrained, and took photos. The band was tight, and the crowd was into the music (and seemed to know the songs very well). It was pretty amusing seeing people getting thrown onto the stage, then back off the stage into the crowd, and dancing and smashing into each other. One of the highlights was when it looked like the head of the bass player’s instrument swung around and smashed into a bottle of beer that someone was taking a drink from. I wonder if it was a member of Loose Tooth? As Monty Python once said, “Now you see the violence inherent in the system.”
The rest of the night was fairly chaotic. We ran into two guys who were getting into a fist-fight on Hastings Street, and one of them had dropped a box of pizza on the ground just before they started fighting, so I went up and asked them if I could have the pizza. I also seem to remember Shawn trying to climb onto the roof of the Price Waterhouse building, so I could get a photo of him up there, although that memory is kind of vague. Anyway, it was an interesting start to the weekend.
Looking At The Stars
on Thursday, October 4, 2007
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
- Oscar Wilde
It’s time for another demo mix for my website. I had meant to do this a couple weeks ago, but some other Cubase & Ableton projects got in the way. As with my last project, I mixed this one entirely on CD players - I used a Pioneer CDJ-200 and a CDJ-1000MK3 for CD players, a Pioneer DJM-600 mixer, and I recorded the audio into Adobe Audition 2.0, with mastering & compression done in Cubase Sx.
The title is very appropriate, considering what today’s date is. Today is the 50th anniversary of the launching of the Sputnik I spacecraft, which started man’s exploration of space. Ironically, there were several tie-ins to this album title. Not only did I record this mix on the Sputnik Anniversary, but the graphic that I had chosen for the mix (earlier this week) was actually titled, “Looking At Stars,” from the Exploding Dog website. As usual, I owe thanks to Sam Brown for his artistic design – his website has a ton of funny drawings on it.
All music was sourced from the Richmond Records Pool, but in contrast to the last mix, I tried to use a few more selections with story-line vocals (as opposed to short, random vocal samples). Not all of the tracks are vocal-based, but there are certainly enough to make many of the individual tracks stand out, even to people who don’t normally listen to electronica. I also tried to mix this one at a slower tempo than I usually do (127 bpm) so it seems more restrained, and less aggressive than usual. It's almost got a deep-house feeling in a few spots.
Track 01: Medway, "Trauma." [Benz & MD Mix].
This is actually an older track, which I think might have been first released in 2002 (or before?) Medway became well-known with a series of EP albums on the Hooj Choons label in the late 1990’s, and then really hit it big with their track “Release” (which I actually included on the very first demo mix that I ever published on my website). This particular mix was done by two awesome Canadian DJ/producers, Greg Benz and Marco Di Carlo, from London (Ontario). I really liked the introduction for their version of this song, so it was a perfect track to use at the beginning of “Looking At The Stars”.
Track 02: Girl Nobody, "Hello, It’s Me." [Marc Mitchell].
Girl Nobody is a Vancouver band featuring singer Marta Jaciubek-McKeever, whose works range from pop to trip-hop to dub and beyond. This particular remix was done by Mark Mitchell, a well-known UK producer. I’ve featured Girl Nobody in the past, including their “Why Am I Alone?” track on my “Dancing Baloney” mix. This is another female vocalist whose voice I love. I’m flying out to Vancouver tomorrow morning to do some mixing and mastering work on an audio project that Mike Allison & I are collaborating on, so I’m going to see if I can track down Girl Nobody while I’m there.
Track 03: Noel Sanger feat. Dauby, "My Prayer." [Original].
I think this is probably the first time that I have ever mixed two tracks on a demo without bothering to beat-mix them properly. The ending of the previous track and the intro of this track just merged so well due to the ambient noises that I did a “radio-style” mix. Noel Sanger is certainly not a new name in electronic music, having toured with BT for years, and his tracks are getting regular play from DJ’s such as Tiesto, Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Judge Jules, and Marcus Schultz. This is the second time that I’ve used a Noel Sanger track on a mix, after using “One Drop” on “Partisan Scream Fest.”
Track 04: Neil Quigley & Nick Muir, “Feedback From The City." [Spin Science Remix].
Neil Quigley has been repeatedly tagged by John Digweed as one of UK’s top emerging talents. Nick Muir is the “other half” of Bedrock, along with Digweed himself. In this track, they’ve put together a track that I really like, which seems to be very organically deep-house influenced, in my opinion.
Track 05: Gustavo Bravetti, “Sail With Me." [Ariel Perazzoli].
Gustavo Bravetti is a Uruguayan performer/producer who is very well known in Montevideo and around South America for his live performances, not just as a conventional DJ. I’m not sure who is doing the singing for him on this track. Ariel Perazzoli, also of Montevideo, did this particular remix for Bravetti.
Track 06: BS As Deep, "The Finder."
BS As Deep is Diego Sebastian Colquhoun from Argentina. “The Finder” became a pretty big hit after it was played by Hernan Cattaneo at the Creamfields festival.
Track 07: Mike Mucci, "On & On." [Evolved Mix].
Mike Mucci is of course still well known in his hometown of Miami as a DJ, but he is increasingly spending more and more time in the studio dealing with production work for Amplitude and other projects.
Track 08: 4Mal, "Red Dust." [Dust & Ashes Dub].
4Mal is a pair of Russian producers, Anton Guzev and Evgeny Svalov. A couple of their other well-known tracks are “Where I Belong” and “Twilight.”
Track 09: Pagano, "Marvellous." [Pagano In Heaven Mix].
Pagano is an Italian DJ/producer now based out of London. The list of clubs that he has played at this year (see his MySpace page) is rather impressive.
Track 10: Deepsky feat. Jes, "Ghost." [Joe Bermudez & Klubjumpers].
Deepsky is Jason Blum, based out of Los Angeles. Ghost was a popular track earlier this year, and is certainly not Blum’s only major hit. However, I first became aware of his talents due to several remixes that he did for other artists (including Madonna, Oakenfold, The Crystal Method, and others). Jes is none other than Jes Brieden (of the group Motorcycle - with Gabriel & Dresden), and anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that I love her voice.
Anyway, go here to see the web page where you can download the mix. This is an MP3 mix, 123 megabytes in size, 67 minutes of audio, encoded at 256 kbps.
- Oscar Wilde
It’s time for another demo mix for my website. I had meant to do this a couple weeks ago, but some other Cubase & Ableton projects got in the way. As with my last project, I mixed this one entirely on CD players - I used a Pioneer CDJ-200 and a CDJ-1000MK3 for CD players, a Pioneer DJM-600 mixer, and I recorded the audio into Adobe Audition 2.0, with mastering & compression done in Cubase Sx.
The title is very appropriate, considering what today’s date is. Today is the 50th anniversary of the launching of the Sputnik I spacecraft, which started man’s exploration of space. Ironically, there were several tie-ins to this album title. Not only did I record this mix on the Sputnik Anniversary, but the graphic that I had chosen for the mix (earlier this week) was actually titled, “Looking At Stars,” from the Exploding Dog website. As usual, I owe thanks to Sam Brown for his artistic design – his website has a ton of funny drawings on it.
All music was sourced from the Richmond Records Pool, but in contrast to the last mix, I tried to use a few more selections with story-line vocals (as opposed to short, random vocal samples). Not all of the tracks are vocal-based, but there are certainly enough to make many of the individual tracks stand out, even to people who don’t normally listen to electronica. I also tried to mix this one at a slower tempo than I usually do (127 bpm) so it seems more restrained, and less aggressive than usual. It's almost got a deep-house feeling in a few spots.
Track 01: Medway, "Trauma." [Benz & MD Mix].
This is actually an older track, which I think might have been first released in 2002 (or before?) Medway became well-known with a series of EP albums on the Hooj Choons label in the late 1990’s, and then really hit it big with their track “Release” (which I actually included on the very first demo mix that I ever published on my website). This particular mix was done by two awesome Canadian DJ/producers, Greg Benz and Marco Di Carlo, from London (Ontario). I really liked the introduction for their version of this song, so it was a perfect track to use at the beginning of “Looking At The Stars”.
Track 02: Girl Nobody, "Hello, It’s Me." [Marc Mitchell].
Girl Nobody is a Vancouver band featuring singer Marta Jaciubek-McKeever, whose works range from pop to trip-hop to dub and beyond. This particular remix was done by Mark Mitchell, a well-known UK producer. I’ve featured Girl Nobody in the past, including their “Why Am I Alone?” track on my “Dancing Baloney” mix. This is another female vocalist whose voice I love. I’m flying out to Vancouver tomorrow morning to do some mixing and mastering work on an audio project that Mike Allison & I are collaborating on, so I’m going to see if I can track down Girl Nobody while I’m there.
Track 03: Noel Sanger feat. Dauby, "My Prayer." [Original].
I think this is probably the first time that I have ever mixed two tracks on a demo without bothering to beat-mix them properly. The ending of the previous track and the intro of this track just merged so well due to the ambient noises that I did a “radio-style” mix. Noel Sanger is certainly not a new name in electronic music, having toured with BT for years, and his tracks are getting regular play from DJ’s such as Tiesto, Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Judge Jules, and Marcus Schultz. This is the second time that I’ve used a Noel Sanger track on a mix, after using “One Drop” on “Partisan Scream Fest.”
Track 04: Neil Quigley & Nick Muir, “Feedback From The City." [Spin Science Remix].
Neil Quigley has been repeatedly tagged by John Digweed as one of UK’s top emerging talents. Nick Muir is the “other half” of Bedrock, along with Digweed himself. In this track, they’ve put together a track that I really like, which seems to be very organically deep-house influenced, in my opinion.
Track 05: Gustavo Bravetti, “Sail With Me." [Ariel Perazzoli].
Gustavo Bravetti is a Uruguayan performer/producer who is very well known in Montevideo and around South America for his live performances, not just as a conventional DJ. I’m not sure who is doing the singing for him on this track. Ariel Perazzoli, also of Montevideo, did this particular remix for Bravetti.
Track 06: BS As Deep, "The Finder."
BS As Deep is Diego Sebastian Colquhoun from Argentina. “The Finder” became a pretty big hit after it was played by Hernan Cattaneo at the Creamfields festival.
Track 07: Mike Mucci, "On & On." [Evolved Mix].
Mike Mucci is of course still well known in his hometown of Miami as a DJ, but he is increasingly spending more and more time in the studio dealing with production work for Amplitude and other projects.
Track 08: 4Mal, "Red Dust." [Dust & Ashes Dub].
4Mal is a pair of Russian producers, Anton Guzev and Evgeny Svalov. A couple of their other well-known tracks are “Where I Belong” and “Twilight.”
Track 09: Pagano, "Marvellous." [Pagano In Heaven Mix].
Pagano is an Italian DJ/producer now based out of London. The list of clubs that he has played at this year (see his MySpace page) is rather impressive.
Track 10: Deepsky feat. Jes, "Ghost." [Joe Bermudez & Klubjumpers].
Deepsky is Jason Blum, based out of Los Angeles. Ghost was a popular track earlier this year, and is certainly not Blum’s only major hit. However, I first became aware of his talents due to several remixes that he did for other artists (including Madonna, Oakenfold, The Crystal Method, and others). Jes is none other than Jes Brieden (of the group Motorcycle - with Gabriel & Dresden), and anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that I love her voice.
Anyway, go here to see the web page where you can download the mix. This is an MP3 mix, 123 megabytes in size, 67 minutes of audio, encoded at 256 kbps.
Record Pool Picks, September 2007
on Sunday, September 30, 2007
For those of you who follow electronic dance music, here are my favorites from the September 2007 Richmond Record Pool shipment:
Warmup Tracks:
- Alexander Miguel, “I Ol Be Back” (Original)
- Alexander Miguel, “Speed” (Original)
- Diogenes Club, “Jaunt” (Harry Peat Remix)
- DJ Bia, “Dennumarstant” (Original)
- Frangellico, “Hammelin Tales” (Original)
- Frangellico, “Sherwood Forest” (Original)
- Hyperia, “Blue” (Original)
- James Sadoway, “Never Suspect” (Stellar Mansion Remix)
- Jondi & Spesh, “I Drank It” (Real Sugar Mix)
- Openair, “Anticlimax” (Jay Cox Remix)
- Openair, “Anticlimax” (Mark Leroy)
- Paul Kwitek, “Black Ocean” (Paul Kwitek & Jonatan Tesei Remix)
- Tyler Michaud & Define Crazy, “Rock Is Dead” (Tyler Michaud Remix)
Studio Mixes:
- Adam Byrd, “Time Machine” (Original Mix)
- Elfsong, “Twisted Souls” (Downkill Remix)
- Francis Blaid, “Tweak” (RCFC Remix)
- George From The Jungle, “Rodeo Winner” (Original)
- Pavel Pryde, “22” (DC Project Remix)
- Openair, “Anticlimax” (Luke Porter)
- Paul Kwitek, “Black Ocean” (Retroid Remix)
- Python, “Cult” (Original)
- Voltek, “Babylon” (Original Mix)
Live Sets:
- Adam Byrd, “Time Machine” (Machine Mix)
- HiJackers Space, “Take My Hand” (Original)
- Pavel Pryde, “22” (Original Mix)
- Interstate, “I’m Waiting” (Tyler Michaud Remix)
- Jay Kaufman, “Bright Light Keep On Fading” (MattLok’s Darkbeat Mix)
- MattLok, “Rock The Box” (Original Mix)
- Openair, “Anticlimax” (Original)
- Victor Gonzales, “Better Step Up” (Bitwise Remix)
Warmup Tracks:
- Alexander Miguel, “I Ol Be Back” (Original)
- Alexander Miguel, “Speed” (Original)
- Diogenes Club, “Jaunt” (Harry Peat Remix)
- DJ Bia, “Dennumarstant” (Original)
- Frangellico, “Hammelin Tales” (Original)
- Frangellico, “Sherwood Forest” (Original)
- Hyperia, “Blue” (Original)
- James Sadoway, “Never Suspect” (Stellar Mansion Remix)
- Jondi & Spesh, “I Drank It” (Real Sugar Mix)
- Openair, “Anticlimax” (Jay Cox Remix)
- Openair, “Anticlimax” (Mark Leroy)
- Paul Kwitek, “Black Ocean” (Paul Kwitek & Jonatan Tesei Remix)
- Tyler Michaud & Define Crazy, “Rock Is Dead” (Tyler Michaud Remix)
Studio Mixes:
- Adam Byrd, “Time Machine” (Original Mix)
- Elfsong, “Twisted Souls” (Downkill Remix)
- Francis Blaid, “Tweak” (RCFC Remix)
- George From The Jungle, “Rodeo Winner” (Original)
- Pavel Pryde, “22” (DC Project Remix)
- Openair, “Anticlimax” (Luke Porter)
- Paul Kwitek, “Black Ocean” (Retroid Remix)
- Python, “Cult” (Original)
- Voltek, “Babylon” (Original Mix)
Live Sets:
- Adam Byrd, “Time Machine” (Machine Mix)
- HiJackers Space, “Take My Hand” (Original)
- Pavel Pryde, “22” (Original Mix)
- Interstate, “I’m Waiting” (Tyler Michaud Remix)
- Jay Kaufman, “Bright Light Keep On Fading” (MattLok’s Darkbeat Mix)
- MattLok, “Rock The Box” (Original Mix)
- Openair, “Anticlimax” (Original)
- Victor Gonzales, “Better Step Up” (Bitwise Remix)
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