It will be up soon , just having problems uploading .

Ironically , the mix name fits the situation

The server seems to be down from my end here, and that would make it impossible to upload your mix.

I'm trying to find out what's up.

Thanks,

I am uploading it right now



I tried to make every song sound original .

Please comment .
Thanks

D,

Thanks, I'll be updating the schedule later this evening. It should be up later on.

Thanks .

It will be playing on lo-fi in a few minutes . Right after Rooks "Funk on the 4" .

Hard to follow Rook , but please listen .

Or you can wait till it plays on Hi-fi , but i can't wait

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Crazy-D,

D,

I know that you mentioned you worked pretty hard on this set, and I can hear the efforts of your work here. It held together overall. Beat matching was very consistent and the rhythms were complimentary. However, there are some things that I think might help you out here as you continue your exploration.

First of all, you managed to avoid any harmonic clashes in your sets, and I do appreciate that. However, the reason for this is because you mostly avoided track selections that would require you to perform harmonic mixing. That, however, can be a very valid choice, and I will elaborate on that shortly. On the one occasion that you did transition from one harmonic track to another, you chose to drop the track directly (Beat is Rockin' to In My Mind) as a cut from the outro. That's fine too, given the right circumstances, albeit I suspect that may have been a difficult choice you made to achieve cohesion in order to avoid the difficulties of matching tracks harmonically. If that had been a "cut/drop" in the middle of an overall harmonically mixed set, I would think otherwise, but in this case, no. So, I think you need to make some choices in terms of your style and what/who you want to be as a DJ. Either choice involves hard work.

Rhythmic Sets:

There are some very accomplished DJs out there who have made their careers on highly interesting and exciting rhythmic sets. They turn and drop beats and rhythms on top of each other with great skill and speed with the occasional musical riff here and there. In fact, many early Chicago House DJs were masters in just this sort of rhythmic mastery, working mostly on turntables and some in combination with the old analog synths and early drum machines. Today, with the evolution of electronic technology, some continue this tradition, having taken it to a state of High Art. For example, one of my faves, DJ Sneak (Carlos Sosa) grew up in Chicago and became one of the 2nd generation of influential Chicago House DJs. He is a master of the rhythmic turn.

Harmonic Sets:

Other DJs prefer to focus the avenues of their musicality through highly advanced melodic and harmonic arrangement and composition. I suppose my current favorite in this regard is Tony Moran, who has an ear for the orchestrally dramatic and powerful mix. In the mid to late nineties, another great duo held that position for me, Thunderpuss, which was the eminently talented production team of Barry Harris and Chris Cox, both of whom are still quite active today on their own (albeit I liked them better together).

Your Style, Your Choice:

At any rate, my point is that getting excellent at either (or both) of these styles is difficult. The artists indicated above have a focus but are comfortable in other areas too. But, they've made certain choices along the way that have defined them, and of course they've worked like dogs over the years.

When I was listening to your set, I heard an overwhelming selection of incredibly rich rhythmic tracks with only a spattering of melodic/harmonic tracks. Since you mostly avoided harmonic mixing altogether, I'm led to believe that you have an ear for the rhythmic turn, as many of those track selections were quite interesting in that regard. I heard endless potential for the rhythmic combination of those tracks. However, most were only slightly mixed. In my head I was thinking, "Well, you could cut this and lay it under that. Mix that over the top of that. Cut, splice, cut, splice, and come up with one out-of-this world set." Do you see what I'm getting at here?

What do you want to do? What are you best at? Focus your talent and work it, work it, work it! Tighten everything up more and make it work harder for you. Then you'll notice, gradually, the echoes of appreciation from your peers.

Thanks!

Thanks for replying

I admit that i am not as talented as all you real dj's . I try to do my best that i can .

I also don't have a large selection of house music in my files . Almost all the songs were taken from Audiolunchbox.com which i believe is a sponsor of mixmeister . All the songs from there were categorized as house . But i mainly chose them because i liked the way they sounded .

Two songs in particular were Hatiras "Dirty THong mix" and Kenny Dope "Penthouse Dub" .

Near the end of Dirty THong @ 16:53 , Penthouse Dub is overlayed onto it . From that point till 20:07 , is a drumbeat session that i played with . Two different songs on top of eachother , all to make a 3 minute drumbeat session . JUst cause i like playing with the beats

The other songs were songs that i like and that are classics . Planet Rock , for example , is 25 years old . I looped the Hatiras "Dirty thong mix" drum beat , and overlayed it on Planet Rock . Then i changed the lyrics around .

The part you talked about , when i went from "Beat is rockin: , to "In my Mind" , ... was actually "wheels in Motion" that i turned into a instrumental , then i added "The beat is rockin" lyrics on top of it . I also changed those lyrics .

The original verse goes "The beat is rockin and never stoppin , the djs playin my bodies swayin' , so keep me stayin cause i was sayin' , ooooo booy" .

I changed it to say " The beat is rockin and never stoppin , so keep me stayin cause i was sayin , the djs playin my bodies swayin , oooo booy" . I did that 3 times in that part of the song .

The actual Beat is Rockin , song is right before that . I made that into an instrumental . I even made parts of that song myself . If you listen from 26:43 to 27:14 , i made that section of the song . I made it from the part of the song that plays at 27:15 to 27:45 .


And when the track "Wheels in motion" ends and goes into the track "IN my mind" , you hear "the beat is rockin and never stoppin" lyric which was overlayed on top of it .

From there you hear 13 "NO"'s . That is also a sound that i made . The 13 "NO's" were not originally in that order . In fact , i added afew extra "NO's" .

Also i was hoping someone would catch why i chose those songs . Planet rock ends with the words "Gotta rock an don't stop" . I transitioned it into the song "The beat is Rockin" . But that song is so popular i wanted to be different . So i changed it and took out all of the lyrics . And then to be really different i took the "the beat is rockin" lyrics and overlayed on top of another song "Wheels in Motion" . And i cut out all of those lyrics of that song out , too .

I even played with a EAZY-E sample that has my user name in it . If you listen to the 8 BAll song in original form , you will see the efforts i made to make eazy-e say the words he says in that particular order in my mix .

Every song in this mix is changed in many many ways that i can't describe in full detail cause it would take me forever .

I wish i could print screen and post my timeline of the mix but my computer is messed up .

Anyways , i hope that all made sense and thanks for listening

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Crazy-D,

D,

First of all, strike your first sentence and put that out of your mind immediately. Who says you're not as talented as the rest of the people here? I certainly didn't say that. Talent and skill are entirely unrelated. I also indicated clearly that I could hear the hard work you had put into your set. Furthermore, you've now very clearly indicated here that you know how to edit and manipulate your tracks. So, you have the tools at your immediate disposal to work your skills in such a way as to better display your talent in the future.

A DJ is a musician--a musical artist. The commonly held belief by some in the general public that we "just play other peoples' music" is uninformed and ridiculous. Using all the tools at his or her disposal, a modern DJ is an arranger, an orchestrator, a composer. Sure, you can just throw tracks down one after another if you want to fit the stereotype, but based on your assertions here, obviously that is not your goal.

The "real DJs" in this forum are generally no different than yourself, albeit they may be at a more advanced stage of skill, learning and experience. They didn't get that way overnight. I, for one, spent my college years getting a musical degree, followed by 10 years of work in the live musical theater scene in Chicago, directing, arranging and producing followed by a choice to leave and pursue my other life-long musical interest, popular music, several years ago, something I wish I'd started right after school. I've now spent 5+ years working with digital electronic music, and specifically Mixmeister. So, the journey has been long and convoluted. Today I run a full time computer systems consulting practice that provides me with the revenue and technical resources that I need to "sponsor" my professional musical activities at this time. Any upscale party gigs and occasional club gigs that I get along the way here are icing for me. Furthermore, these are recent happenings for me, and each holds excitement and promise. However, they certainly don't adequately reward my hard work as a musician or pay for these activities.

So am I a "real DJ." Of course. Are you? That's entirely for you to determine. You certainly have exhibited a certain amount of talent, and all I'm asking is that you use it. The response I provided was intended to motivate you to excel. The DJ artist examples provided were to provide comparisons and give you something to listen to and consider. Above all, you need to listen to the work of others to see what you like and don't like. Listening is one of the most crucial skills to develop if you want to be a growing musical artist.

If you want to be a "real DJ," drop the self-mortification, get busy and get back to work!



Thanks!