More delays...

Sorry about that, I've been quite busy as of late. The learning curve with Ableton has also provided a bit of a challenge. I really do feel that since I no longer have to beat match manually that it is important to make a better quality mix. I want this next one to be much better with mixing throughout tracks. Never fear my few loyal readers, I'll have something put together next week.

While We Wait

Seven Day Stretch

While we wait for the full version of Ableton to show up at my doorstep I'll give you the mix I made the week before Tex Smex. I enjoy this set list alot and most of the arrangement of the tracks, to me are a bit better than Tex Smex. Just click on the above link and it should take you right to the page.

Remember, in order to download and listen to the mixes you have to register on the SectionZ website. Please feel free to give me feedback on the mix as I am a work in progress.

Paying for itself

So here it is. Ableton Live 7. It's in the mail and it wasn't cheap but I did get a bit of a deal on it. After watching people use this program I am convinced it will pay for itself. Not only will it allow me to use it to DJ but I will also be able to produce my own tracks. I was thinking about getting a midi controller or keyboard but I'm not sure which would be more effective at this point. I also didn't want to spend any more money and my keyboard will allow me to do certain things anyway. I'm a bit baffled at how I'm going to set it up with the other hardware (aka speakers, audio interface, mixer) but I'm confident this will allow me to take my mixes to the next level.

I'm also adding a video clip of one of my favorite DJs using Ableton. Watch and enjoy. Sasha and Digweed built the foundation of my love of electronic music and I'm always happy to share that with you.

That thing with all the knobs is called "The Maven" and Sasha essentially invented it to use in his mixes. The idea of a controller is not unique but this is one he developed and engineered specifically for his needs. Pretty cool!

Update to post below

So some people have been having issues listening to the mix below. I believe you have to register on the website in order to listen to it. If you are having technical difficulties add this step and you should be fine.

On a side note Ableton Live 7 is making me froth at the mouth, it's not the rabies this time. After Jason's comments regarding creating my own beats to go with tracks I went to the Ableton site (something I have done before) and stared longingly at the pictures of the full version of Ableton (I am currently using the Lite version).

I then went to Youtube to watch videos and tutorials of people using it and it makes me lust after it even more. I may indeed incur more debt soon but such is the way of progression. Certainly I am in no way an ablebodied mixer with my CD players, but with Ableton's help I can make my mixes more creative by prepping my tracklist prior to recording and then adding variations to the set.

I created a messy loop that I may post for your listening pleasure. I'm also planning on posting one of the first mixes I recorded. I'm kind of working backwards at this point but hopefully you can see progress. I'm also planning on critiquing the Tex Smex Smix once I've given everyone ample time to listen.

Jason, I'm still working on getting the transitions of that mix for you, but I appreciate your feedback. Again, for those that aren't familiar with DJing or mixing, the mix is typically judged as a whole piece of work rather than just snippets. I've gottan compliments on certain things that sound good, but really the tracks themselves aren't my doing. I have limited ability to make something new from them aside from the occassional flanger, echo or loop. It's really the transition between tracks (aka seamlessness) and the track positioning within the mix. Are there areas where you feel like a song doesn't belong or doesn't mesh well with the one before or after? Let me know at what time this is happening. It's kind of like scoring a movie. I feel, even though I've never DJed a party that the partygoers are my film I'm watching and it's my job to control their tempo and keep the movie (dancers) interested.

Wow, that was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. Happy reading and keep checking back for more updates! <3

Without Further Ado

Tex Smex Smix

Just click the above link and it will take you to a direct page for downloading this mix. This is at a wonderful site called Section Z. They have tons of artists and allow us all to upload our original music and mixes. Once you click on download just give it a few seconds and the mix will start to play. There you'll find information regarding the mix on the link page including each track I used. I hope you likey! I know there are a few issues but give it a listen and tell me what you think!

The night before I made this mix I finally catalogued my CDs that I'm using. I write the artist and title of each track as well as the length and beats per minute of each track. Talk about mind numbing. Luckily I'm only working with about 70 or so tracks. Seriously though it was well worth it as I was able to find tracks in certain bpms without having to blindly skip through tracks hoping I could find a match.

I've made some mental notes as to how I can improve on this mix but I'd rather not write them down as I want you, the listener to have an unbiased ear. You'll need a bit more than an hour for listening but I encourage you to listen to it straight through as that's how it's intended to be heard. So enjoy the music, I certainly did while mixing it.

More came!

So I decided to come back and blog a bit. I have recently (and by recently I mean two days ago) have been using Ableton for more than just recording. It would seem, as I already knew, it has the capability to create different drum beats, harmonies and all that jazz. It's really just the tip of the iceberg since I have the stripped down Subaru Justy version of Ableton but I'm looking forward to using drum loops in my mixes at some point.

Since I'm doing this without any instruction the learning curve is more like an extremely gradual horizontal line but I'm doing my best with the tools I have. The music is what keeps me doing it. I love listening to it and melding it into something different. It's 5AM and I'm ready for bed but I really wanted to let you the reader know that my mixes will hopefully be available for listening sometime soon. I'm currently researching websites that host mix downloads. Granted I wanted to actually mix something tonight rather than research this particular website so I only know vague details. but more on that later.

I'm sure you've all been frothing at the mouth to hear what I've been doing. Never fear it's on the way!