DJ Times February 2012, Vol 25 No 2

WINTER NAMM PREVIEW

AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988

FEBRUARY 2012

$6.95 CANADA $4.95 US

Steve Aoki’s Wonderland DROOG Underground Culprits Holiday Booking Report How Some DJs Survived

PLUS: Cosmic Gate * DJ Cam * iZotope’s Ozone 5 * NI’s Traktor Scratch Pro 2 * Blogger Mania www.djtimes.com

INDUSTRY EVENTS…NOTABLES…MILESTONES

NEWS

WINTER NAMM ’12: LOADS OF DJ-GEAR DEBUTS

IK Multimedia’s iRig Mix.

With Monotron DUO and Monotron DELAY, Korg will add two new models to its Monotron Series of pocket-size, analog ribbon synths. Roland will unveil its R-26 Portable Recorder and the BOSS RC-300 Loop Station real-time phrase looper.

Waves Audio will exhibit its Bass Rider plug-in that rides bass levels automatically. PreSonus will show Studio One v2 software, the StudioLive 16.0.2 mixer, and the AudioBox VSL series, plus it’ll debut PreSonus Exchange t e c h n o l o g y fo r S t u d i o One. Genelec will show its 6010A bi-amped monitoring system and the matching 5040A active subwoofer. Apogee Electronics will show its Duet 2 Breakout Box, Akai’s which features studio-quality MPC Renaissance.

I/O connectors and cables.

American Audio’s XLT amps.

Related companies Akai (MPC Renaissance production center) and Alesis (iO4 audio interface) will also offer debut products for studio apps.

Chauvet will launch nearly 20 lighting fixtures including new additions to the Intimidator range of scanners and Scorpion family of lasers.

Chauvet also will show the wireless Freedom Par and Freedom Strip Mini, Nimbus dry-ice machine, and the Impulse 648 strobe.

E l e c t ro - Vo i c e w i l l d e b u t t h e ZXA1-Sub active, 12-inch subwoofer, which matches the ZXA1 compact speaker. Yorkville Sound will show its Paraline Series of mobile, expandable, active loudspeakers. Alto Professional will show two new powered, wireless loudspeakers—Truesonic Wireless TX112W and TS115W. SKB Cases will show its 1SKB-R102 rack case for compact audio or DJ systems.

Yamaha will unveil its 01V96i digital mixer for live and studio apps.

FEBRUARY 2012

Electro-Voice’s ZXA1-Sub.

DJ TIMES

By Jim Tremayne Anaheim, Calif.—Expect plenty of DJ-product debuts at the Anaheim Convention Center this January 1922 when the Winter NAMM show comes to town. The annual exhibition expects over 85,000 attendees to visit booths from over 1,400 exhibitors.

As always, DJ Times will be there and its publisher, Testa Communications, will provide on-the-spot show coverage with Convention TV @ NAMM, which will air in the convention center and in area hotels.

On to the show: American Audio will debut its SenSeries of loudspeakers (three tops, two subs) and XLT range of amps (four models), plus the VMX4 Traktor MIDI Workstation. Related company Arriba will present seven new cases for protection of lighting-related products from lasers to tripod stands.

Also, Elation Professional will debut a pair of video products—the EVCMH Moving Head Video Camera and the EPV15 Flex Video Panel.

GCI company Gemini DJ will introduce the FirstMix I/O and FirstMix Pro USB DJ controllers. Hercules will show its HDP DJ-Pro M-1001 and HDP DJ-AVV G501 headphones and debut the DJ Control AIR controller.

Distributor Mixware will show scads of new gear, including the Electrix Tweaker controller, the Reloop Terminal Mix 4 all-in-one controller, UDG Protective Hardcases, Decksaver covers, and the Magma Control Stand. Novation will show its Twitch Touchstrip control unit.

With the new Hosa Beatport DJ Series product line, Hosa Technology will partner with online music retailer Beatport. At NAMM those connectivity solutions will include Stereo RCA Interconnect cables, USB cables and a 4-port USB 2.0 Hub. Among many other products geared for more traditional musicians, IK Multimedia will unveil iRig Mix, an ultra-compact portable DJ mixer tailored for iOS devices like iPad. An input trim stage lets users amplify any source and a 2-band EQ gives tonal control over each input.

Debuts from Numark Industries will include 4TRAK, a four-deck digital DJ controller with built-in fourchannel mixer and comprehensive effects console, and Drop Box, a compact DJ controller and sample trigger, that’s pre-mapped to control leading DJ and production software.

3

12 Wonderland & Beyond

VOLUME 25 NUMBER 2

DEPARTMENTS 7 Feedback

As Always, the Answers to All Your DJ-Related Questions

24 Making Tracks iZotope’s Ozone 5

26 Sounding Off

Native Instruments Traktor Scratch Pro 2

28 Mobile Profile

Web-Centric DJ Gets Efficient

30 Business Line

Blogging Mania: Be the CEO of Your SEO

32 Gear

New Products from Vestax, Korg & More

38 Grooves

Phat Tracks from Prince, FreQ Nasty & More

40 DJ Times Marketplace

Shop Here for All Your DJ-Related Supplies

41 Club Play Chart

The Hottest Records, As Reported by Our Top U.S. Record Pools

SAMPLINGS 8 Cosmic Gate Wakes Your Mind

10 In the Studio With…

DJ TIMES

DJ Cam

4

Evolving from a Homegrown Party Scene, Steve Aoki Has Become One of America’s Top DJ Exports

BY EMILY TAN

20 Holiday Booking Report In a Year of Layoffs, Corporate Austerity Reigned, But a Few Surprises Did Surface on Some Mobile DJs’ Calendars

BY JEFF STILES

22 Main Culprits

Production Trio Droog Has Put L.A.’s Underground Scene Front & Center

BY POLLY LAVIN

FROM THE EDITOR

editor-in-chief Jim Tremayne jtremayne@testa.com

Back to NAMM’s Winter Wonderland If it’s the February issue, then it must be time for the Winter NAMM show. Each year, the show provides a big part of our editorial mix for the coming months. This season’s show—set for January 19-22 in Anaheim, Calif.—will be no different, as we’ll surely see the best new gear that the DJ, pro-audio, studio and lighting segments of the M.I. market has to offer.

Lucky for me, I’ll have staff tech writer Wesley Bryant-King along for the ride in Orange County, as we visit dozens of suppliers breaking out their latest wares. Please see Page 3 for our preview of the show and check back with us next month as we detail some of the hottest new entries to the DJ market. Southern California, here we come.

It’s probably a bit overdue, but this month we present cover boy Steve Aoki. I say it’s something we should’ve done previously because Aoki has been a force on the DJ scene for a few years now. (So many DJs, only 12 mags a year…) But after we caught him doing his “white raver rafting” act at the Starscape show in Baltimore this past summer, we knew it was time. He’s built a loyal audience and created another level of excitement in the EDM world. Our Emily Tan connected with him when the L.A.-based jock made a quick stop in NYC and he detailed how a very rock-n-roll kinda guy became one of America’s biggest jocks.

On the underground tip, we connect with Droog, the L.A.-based trio that’s been creating big tunes and throwing crazy parties for the past couple years. Its Culprit label and summer events have gained a pretty big buzz, helping raise Los Angeles as one of America’s great EDM incubators. Additionally, we have studio-related conversations with abstract-beat junkie DJ Cam and anthemic trancers Cosmic Gate.

In the world of gear beyond NAMM, Boston-based scribe Paul Dailey reviews Native Instruments Traktor Scratch Pro 2 system in “Sounding Off.” Also, fellow New Englander Josh Harris takes iZotope’s Ozone 5 Advanced mastering plug-in through its paces in the “Making Tracks” column.

On the mobile-DJ tip, Business Line details advanced ideas on Search Engine Optimization for your DJ company’s website. In Mobile Profile, we meet with DJ Craig Saltiel, a Delaware Valley jock who has benefited from recognizing cost efficiencies—i.e., very little overhead. Additionally, Jeff Stiles connects with a survey of mobiles who offer their holiday-party booking reports.

And before we forget… Happy New Year!

Cheers,

editor-at-large Brian O’Connor boconnor@testa.com chart coordinator Dan Miller dmiller@testa.com contributors Jody Amos Joe Bermudez Wesley Bryant-King Shawn Christopher Paul Dailey Justin Hampton Josh Harris Russ Harris Robert LaFrance Polly Lavin Michelle Loeb Lily Moayeri Phil Moffa Jonathan Novick Scott Rubin Jennifer Shapiro Nate Sherwood Jeff Stiles Emily Tan Phil Turnipseed Floor Vahn Curtis Zack Stacy Zemon President/Publisher Vincent P. Testa

FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO ORDER SUBSCRIPTIONS, CALL 800-937-7678 VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.djtimes.com

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

Jim Tremayne, Editor, DJ Times

6

DJ Times Sound & Communications The Music & Sound Retailer Sound & Communications Blue Book America’s Best DJ The DJ Expo IT/AV Report Convention TV News VTTV Studios

graphic designer/artist Janice Pupelis jpupelis@testa.com production manager Steve Thorakos sthorakos@testa.com promotions/web designer Fred Gumm fgumm@testa.com advertising manager Jon Rayvid jrayvid@testa.com art/production assistant Douglas Yelin dyelin@testa.com Circulation circulation@testa.com Classifieds classifiedsales@testa.com

operations manager Robin Hazan rhazan@testa.com Editorial and Sales Office: DJ Times, 25 Willowdale Avenue, Port Washington, New York, USA 11050-3779. (516) 767-2500 • FAX (Editorial): (516) 944-8372 • FAX (Sales/all other business): (516) 767-9335 • DJTIMES@TESTA. COM Editorial contributions should be addressed to The Editor, DJ Times, 25 Willowdale Avenue, Port Washington, NY, USA, 110503779. Unsolicited manuscripts will be treated with care an d should be accompanied by return postage.

DJ Times (ISSN 1045-9693) (USPS 0004-153) is published monthly for $19.40 (US), $39.99 (Canada), and $59.99 (all other countries), by DJ Publishing, Inc., 25 Willowdale Ave., Port Washington, NY 110503779. Periodicals postage paid at Port Washington, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to DJ Times, PO BOX 1767, LOWELL MA 01853-1767 Design and contents are copyright © 2012 by DJ Publishing, Inc., and must not be reproduced in any manner except by permission of the publisher. Websites: www.

February 2012

visit our website: www.djtimes.com

FEEDBACK AmericA’s First mAgAzine For ProFessionAl DJs estAblisheD 1988 JANUAry 2012

$6.95 CANADA

$4.95 US

side options. Here in New York City, we have Dubspot (dubspot.com). Out in San Francisco, you have QBert’s Sk‑ ratch University (qbertskratchuniver‑ sity.com). There are others, of course, so use Google and I’m sure you can find them. Additionally, I’m sure you can find some from your corner of the world.

Skream & Benga dubstep beyond dubplate

How Mobiles Maintain Vendor relations $4.95 US

$6.95 CANADA

Full Reports from Moogfest & A.D.E.

plus n n n

toddla t n sJ Q45 n the Value of “thank you” yamaha dsr series n ni’s Komplete8 ultimate iK Multimedia’s studio apps

Of course, if you’re ever in the United States, we’d love to have you visit our DJ Expo—three days of exhibits, four days of seminars, and three nights of parties. This year’s show is set for Au‑ gust 13-16 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J. For more info, please visit thedjexpo.com.

www.djtimes.com

– Jim Tremayne, DJ Times

www.djtimes.com/blog

www.djtimes.com

This is Feedback, a monthly feature that fields questions from you, our readers, and funnels them out to in‑ dustry professionals. If you have any questions about DJing – marketing, mixing, equipment or insurance, any at all – drop us a letter at DJ Times, 25 Willowdale Ave, Port Washington, NY 11050, fax us at (516) 944‑8372 or e‑mail us at djtimes@testa.com. If we do use your question, you’ll receive a free DJ Times T‑shirt. And remember, the only dumb question is the ques‑ tion that is not asked.

DEAR DJ TIMES, I wish you a very Happy New Year.

I have done my DJ basics here in India and now I want to be a part of this industry to the core. I want to work in this field and want to learn things further, and I need a proper guidance.

Can you please help me in suggesting which DJ console I should buy? Also, I want to learn mixing further—so which place is best to learn? I want to know how I can approach people in U.S. to learn more about this.

Thank you,

IT’S AN ELECTION YEAR!

DJ_ABDJ_fullpage_vote 2012.indd 1

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT facebook.com/DJTimesABDJ

|

americasbestdj.net

DJ TIMES

NIKHIL, Picking a DJ platform/console is really up to you. If you’re not going the oldschool turntablist route—a seemingly shrinking part of the market—gener‑ ally speaking, you have a few digital options: Digital Vinyl System (DVS), CDJ/thumbdrive, controller/software, etc.

You must decide for yourself which direction is right for you. I suggest you go into a music store, DJ specialty shop or DJ-related tradeshow/exhibi‑ tion and give some of the current DJ systems a test drive. I don’t know which musical genres you most ap‑ preciate, but if you’re looking to emu‑ late some of the largest global DJs out there, you should know that pretty much every platform is represented these days.

If you’re looking for online instruction from the U.S.A., there are many State‑

FEBRUARY 2012

– Nikhil Bhargave, Delhi, India

7

1/5/2012 12:10:46 PM

SAMPLINGS

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

COSMIC GATE’S AMERICAN JAUNT

8

In 2010, we caught Cosmic Gate raising the roof of Amsterdam’s massive Passenger Terminal during the “Synergy” event. Fast-forwarding a year, we found the German duo burning it up in closer confines—Manhattan’s esteemed Cielo club.

It was easy to see that, no matter the venue’s size, Cosmic Gate’s DJ set connected deeply with its deft mix of anthemic trance and techy bangers—pianos and vocals, then kickdrums and sirens, it all went down a storm.

As remixer/producers, the pair— Nic Chagall and DJ Bossi—has enjoyed support from global DJs for more than a decade now. As they returned to the States in support of their fifth artist album, Wake Your Mind (Black Hole), Cosmic Gate reconnected with DJ Times.

DJ Times: The new album has a good mix of realized melodic songs with vocals like “Be Your Sound” with Emma Hewitt and full-on club bangers like “The Theme.” Is that your aim?

Chagall: Exactly! An album gives us the possibility to show a wider range of music we stand for, to go from A-to-Z, a bigger scope of music that we like. It’s not as if we “only” produce singles that are made to work in the club. An album track, even if it’s electronic, can be more mellow and laid-back even—and this is what we want.

DJ Times: What’s the process in working with a vocalist like Emma Hewitt or JES? Bossi: The last few years, we always wrote the music first and the singers wrote their lyrics on top.

On Wake Your Mind, for the first time with Emma and JES, they came up with the lyrics and we produced the music after. This has worked so well, as both of them know how a vocal has to be structured to work on an EDM track. It sure will not be the last time we have worked this reverse way, compared to the albums before.

DJ Times: Did you have a more traditional musical background beyond club music?

Bossi: We have a very wide musical background starting in the late 1970s until today. It ranges from classic to club music, but it is nearly a bit of everything. Nic plays piano since he was eight-years-old, which helps a lot on the productions.

DJ Times: How are you creat

ing music?

Chagall: Since the beginning, we’ve worked on Logic software.

For us, this is the best there is on the market. The biggest difference from the early days is that everything is totally digital, and we work only with plug-ins, meaning software synths, which is the biggest difference from when we started. Back then, our whole studio was filled with mostly analog synths and drum computers, which looked really nice, but they were heating up the studio like a sauna sometimes!

DJ Times: So what’s your DJ background?

Chagall: We both had been DJing for many years before we started productions, so we did not get into DJing because we were getting known for our tracks. We started learning the hard way, playing private parties and small clubs as teenagers, giving demo tapes to everyone. And all this DJing back then brought us into producing, not the other way around like a lot of colleagues.

DJ Times: Which DJs inspired you?

Chagall: Our big heroes in Germany were Westbam and Sven Väth—the first real German DJ stars. They had a big impact on the whole scene. They were playing techno, as we called it, kind of first, and they made it famous in Germany.

DJ Times: To DJ, you use USB sticks with Pioneer CDJ-2000s, right?

Chagall: For us, it simply fits to play with USBs or an SD card. We do not like to be standing behind a laptop while DJing. Plus, the CDJ2000 really rocks! It’s so easy and logical a decision for us.

DJ Times: The U.S. scene has taken off recently. Are you noticing a difference from previous visits?

Chagall: With the nearly 70 gigs in the U.S. and Canada in 2011, it sure shows how big the market is. We’ve played here since 2001, so we enjoy playing in the U.S. a lot. We’ve felt the growing interest, but we even think there is so much more potential in the U.S. A lot of cities still do not have a lot of real weekly club events, and that’s why we play smaller markets during our tours to help develop EDM even more and make it as big as possible.

– Jim Tremayne

Road Warriors: Chagall (left) & Bossi did 70 North American gigs in 2011.

IN THE STUDIO WITH

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

DJ CAM’S “SEVEN”

10

In preparation for Seven, DJ Cam’s first artist album in four years, the renowned French triphop DJ/producer aimed high.

When searching for vocalists to sing over his smoky, abstract beats, he went straight to the top, approaching Thom Yorke.

T h e R a d i o h e a d s i n g e r ’s schedule didn’t quite mesh with Cam’s, so he got the next best thing from the indie-electronica world—Stateless frontman Chris James. Lucky for Cam, it worked better than one might expect, as James’ soulful voice matched Cam’s whimsical, jazz-flecked rhythms a lot better than Yorke’s ever would. Along with erstwhile Massive Attack vocalist, Nicolette, who brings bite to Cam’s atmospherics, Seven has a symbiotic balance of voices and music.

“I know exactly what I want,” says the L.A.-based Cam (aka Laurent Daumail), who’s also created music for film and television. “I write music, but I don’t write music with notes. I write the track idea very precisely with words. For example: ‘I’m going to use this kind of drum machine to do a beat like that and the BPM will be 100 and I’m going to put a John Carpenter-style bass and I’m going to use this kind of keyboard.’ My ideas are full of reference, so they are really implicit.”

A track is fully formed in Cam’s mind before he communicates his ideas to his engineer.

But if there’s a disconnect in the studio and he can’t get the effect or the delay he’s seeking, for example, he’ll pull a slab of vinyl from his endless supply of reference records and give the engineer a listen to the sound or effect he’s trying to get.

“It’s easy for me to compose this way,” he says. “I don’t need to drink 20 glasses of champagne, be stoned, and be like, ‘I’m going to die tonight so let’s make good music.’ I’m not like that, the desperate musician.”

Cam crosses styles and mediums on Seven. Pulling out classic

DJ Cam’s latest mixes vintage synths & live instrumentation.

gear such as an MPC-3000, some old Akai keyboards, and Roland 808 and 606 drum machines, he also takes full advantage of everything Pro Tools and Logic have to offer. Additionally, Seven features live strings, bass, and keyboards— all of which were sampled and re-sampled from parts played by in-studio musicians.

In contrast, the vocals from James and Nicolette were left, for the most part, untouched.

Each singer recorded their vocals over the ready-made tracks and simply returned them to Cam. “I love to work like that,” says Cam, “because I think when artists are totally free, they do a great job. I don’t want to give too much direction with tones and lyrics. It was so perfect. The editing was very small. Sometimes there were too many vocal parts and I cut some, but only about 20 minutes of editing in Pro Tools.”

Even with the proliferation of vocals on Seven, it is important to Cam to keep the electronic spirit of his music present. As he tells it, it’ll be his goal for the live shows as well, where the DJ plans to be joined by a bassist, a keyboard player, vocalists, and some evocative imagery.

“I don’t want to just replay everything,” he says, “I’m not a rock band, you know?”

– Lily Moayeri

MC3000:

Scan this QR code to find out more about the MC3000

THE ART OF SOUND

Booth #7013

The MC3000 DJ controller from Denon DJ is an affordable professional MIDI controller packaged with Virtual DJ LE and fully optimized for Native Instruments® TRAKTOR™ 2 Technology Inside products.

4 Deck control and a high-quality internal soundcard at an affordable price means the new MC3000 Professional DJ Controller is suited for both the semi-pro DJ as well as those wanting to move onto a more professional setup. Featuring the Layer Function for Dual Deck and 2+2 4-channel mixer control manages to keep functionality but maintain an uncluttered and ergonomic layout.

• Optimized for VIRTUAL DJ – Virtual DJ LE Included* • Optimized for TRAKTOR™ 2 Technology Inside Products • Layer Function for 4-Deck and 4-Channel Mixer Control • USB Audio Interface 2 in / 2 out (Stereo) • Line to Master - 2 Analog Line Input Mixing Control • Professional-Grade Steel Chassis *Virtual DJ LE included for America’s & Canada *TRAKTOR™ 2 LE included for Europe and Asia Pacific

Watch the MC3000 in action at youtube.com/denondjtv

USE IT. LIVE IT.

“Like” us on facebook / “Follow” us on twitter more info and social media links at www.denondj.com

WWW.DENONDJ.COM

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

oki ” A at e r i a ff th ion Mill ay sco urfing d i m K d-s ”)— DJ ers ow ve “ g. Oth like cr rafting e t r yS gin — eenv upbrin antics te rave y ad n a i s h m ged w a i o w e h “ ts nd Som privile t live-s (aka u r i s kgrou that p k s n a M hi ya ay b a c ting n g ED fo r a m b o a b l e k s . t o Aoki’s adop a DJi fl t k a c s m i n i fl h s e e ed in ally, i reate imm n in in a mere g t m ay s root ironic ped c y ac l a i st b s on are u t , w h uality erhaps oki he n. o m o B ct s r tie ,p ,A g al in a k. And roach unted d DJin ew pa easure , e r c o l p c e gs c h p p r vi o n t a r e r so he k Y ve ov he pun e’s DI he ne ki disc yond, r to t ng the e u p e i r t m gen er tha ght. Ao and be ling ov remix n ’t c o stona i e car hat’s r ollege ly amb g time k i d i d lmost iësto n l o c a i T a d A oT e u ny , n In nt. , event er spe d . N o and h wn wh ke ma d e d i d i n t e l c n kno ut, l ov h af ow ss a blan his J boot d s h e of clu have iest. B sivene ce to l o a s s of D h e b a n rank n o t t h e e a r l obse e a t p l e r s t a t h g e c t to si a at ss o f ugh ot t ofe 2005 i’s mu im in n o r r p e h k t go av ut h n g ly late , Ao a c e first in n i s h i u n t i l e him p i r i t p i d h r s l i ve since o u n d e o m J. w a s s b e fo u r i a l o t f D d e e e — e g fr jock epren ig-tim ’d h av mplish label angin e s t o i r k b r u o ent me a s e , yo as acc im Ma acts B o n d s slew o r m h n c D Hi o at ro be f c o u Aoki H i s i c f t h e V Z e dd . n a m e s . s t s O a u k h d dec ed m y a n and t his er ha ww kno nd the releas P a r t KRFT as kep g care nd of R i a c n b e h — h a s e B l o e MST tions h is DJi his br clubs 6 k h a k i i g 9 r l l us d o in 19 e r s tays collab nd. An spinn estigio k s c n i , r o a r ma and st p lubl orld EDM mixes le in c the w he mo t e fi of r h pro around se at u ig a h n him troho c e e l k ta in’ e k roc

12

13

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

FEBRUARY 2012

DJ TIMES 14

and outdoor festivals. Stop by one of the big festival tents and you’re very likely to see Aoki conducting another off-the-hook party.

A large part of Aoki’s draw is his good-natured, easygoing character—wealthy background be damned.

(Aoki’s late father Rocky founded the Benihana restaurant chain.) And despite a travel schedule that found Aoki conducting this interview on very little sleep, those traits were evident when we talked to the L.A.based jock in time for the release of his latest artist album, Wonderland (Ultra). It went like this: DJ Times: You put on a very energetic live show that’s atypical for a DJ set. What’s your core philosophy of a live DJ performance?

Steve Aoki: I come from a punk, hardcore background, from being in bands when I was a teenager to my early-20s. I was a singer, so it’s hard to shake that off. Before, when I was just DJing, I wasn’t doing vocals. It didn’t come to me until I started singing to my tracks. When I started producing music, when I started doing vocals, the first track I did was with Junkie XL in 2007 called “1967 Poem.” That jump-started my background of being in that energy again and bringing that into the music. Then I started sampling guitar and bass when I was producing music. That was the next

step for me. It’s all about the music that helps energize the shows. If music isn’t driving you to that level where you’re breaking the ceiling and all the energy starts spewing out, you can’t get to that place.

DJ Times: Some might accuse your performance style as being gimmicky.

Aoki: For me, it’s genuine. I’m just doing vocals, singing to my tracks— the tracks I’m going crazy to are the ones I know, because I wrote them.

It’s definitely not something that is manufactured, my live show. I grew up with this—for example, the concept of stage-diving. I’ve been doing that since I was 13-years-old! For me, when I went to punk and hardcore shows, it wasn’t rare to see 50, 100 people stage-diving throughout the whole show, including myself jumping on the singer’s head and jumping out onto the crowd. [laughs] That’s my culture. I grew up on that. When I started producing music, that resembled some of the same kind of energy.

It just brought it back to my roots.

DJ Times: Do you think it’s misperceived as being contrived if kids didn’t grow up going to those same punk shows?

Aoki: Kids that come from a different kind of scene, like trance or techno or whatever that didn’t understand that culture, to them I could understand—like, “What the fuck is going on? Why is he stage-diving?

Why is he screaming?” I’m sure all that’s being said and I don’t necessar-

ily blame them because it’s so foreign to them. When something’s foreign to someone, it can also come across as negative. I’m just fusing my culture with my music and mixing the two.

DJ Times: How does that manifest itself in the studio?

Aoki: On my album, I have your typical big dance sounding records and then I have to keep it real with my roots with “The Kids Will Have Their Say” featuring Sick Boy with former members of The Exploited and Die Kreuzen—that band was around in the late ’80s and they played with everyone. They played with Black Flag to Minor Threat to the Bad Brains, everyone. We have the drummer from that band. The guitarist is from The Exploited. The song title is referring to a track from this band called SS Decontrol from 1982 who released a song that, it’s bringing back that hardcore thing to a dance beat, a 130 BPM dance beat, but with guitars. And I’m screaming, too! [laughs] I’m not gonna apologize to people that don’t get it. Of course, I’m open arms to all listeners and this album is reflective to the diversity of all types of listeners who can welcome this album. I have some slow songs and more indie songs, like the one with Lovefoxxx, to dubstep with Kid Cudi and Travis Barker, to more poppy ones like with LMFAO. DJ Times: How long did it take you to complete this album, start to finish?

Aoki: This album took me three years to write. I love all kinds of music. If you can tell, if you dive into the history of Dim Mak, I’m the sole A&R. I’ve signed every artist to the label and we have over six different genres of music signed.

DJ Times: Looking back at your past and seeing how you got to where you are today, what’s your take on the old-school vs. the newschool DJs? Aoki: I give mad respect to the old-school! I’ll be honest—I don’t really know the old-school that much. I got into DJing in 2003. Even as late as 2005, 2006, I didn’t know who Tiësto was. I came into the dance scene by remixing indie bands, and the artists I heard about first were Erol Alkan and artists like indie bands. At that time in 2003, that was the first time I heard Bloc Party and I put out their record in 2004. I was a rock kid from the start!

DJ Times: So how did you come to know about the more established DJ scene?

Aoki: As I learned about DJing, I learned of the history of the artists I love, like Armand van Helden. I’d date his music back and I’d go back into his history catalog of music and just be completely wow about… in many ways, he’s educated me on that history. Armand became a good friend of mine and through that friendship, kinda like asking a teacher, I’d be like, “Tell me about Todd Terry. Tell me about when you used to DJ back in the day and you’d give records back to the Strictly Rhythm guys.” My eyes were wide open, just loving to hear about this history.

DJ Times: So you never experienced a lot of these DJs. Aoki: I’ve never seen Sasha or [John] Digweed. I’ve never seen… unless I see them at festivals these days. When I met Armand and Junior Sanchez early on in 2004, Junior introduced me to the New York City house scene. He was part of the Mongoloids crew with Armand and everyone. But Junior was DJing with me at Happy Endings at these small hipster dive-y parties. [laughs] He’s playing with me and Carlos D from

Interpol. That’s how those characters came into my world and became the bridge for me to learn about house music and dance music at that time.

DJ Times: You’re sort of the first of a new shift to the personalitydriven DJ. Where did you come up with the idea of crowd-surfing, which you coined “white raver rafting”?

Aoki: [Laughs] “White raver rafting” is a term a friend of mind coined.

I brought in rafting in 2009 at Coachella. That was the first time I spent more money [on a show] than I got paid! I got these boxes made to spell out my name, and my friends dressed up with glowing neon capes and then I got Super Soakers and four rafts out and sent people out on the rafts and I jumped on the rafts and I was soaking people. Now, people wanna ride the raft! [laughs] DJ Times: What’s your live DJ setup?

Aoki: For the most part, I use Serato, unless I’m going back-to-back with another DJ—then I’ll play with flash drives. But for the most part, I started with vinyl, then Serato and vinyl, now just CDs and Serato. I’m slowly moving to USB sticks. For my live show on the IDentity Festival tour, I may use a different setup like Ableton Live, so I can be cueing visuals.

DJ Times: How’s your live show different from your DJ set?

Aoki: My live show was different because I brought a bus with me. In the bus were technicians running Front of House, running visuals matching the music and it was a fixed set. It was the same music every time because I was spending a lot of money on just the visuals, because it’s so expensive a procedure and it takes time. The rig, I brought out “the Aoki letters.” They probably weight a ton, those letters! [laughs] It actually took a semi truck to carry the rig. I had a bus of 10 people, half of whom were running my show. It’s expensive.

The production costs like five-figures per show to just do! But it creates a whole new dimension to the music.

Since most of the music I’m playing is my own music with the exception of Dim Mak tracks I wanna promote, for the most part, it’s entirely my own songs. So the kids know what to expect. They know that they’re gonna come to see my music, my records, and I’m trying to control that environment as much as I can.

DJ Times: And your DJ sets?

Aoki: I can just go off in any direction for my DJ sets! Let’s say for tonight. I’m in Valencia, Spain, and it’s sold-out tonight. If I were to not play my tracks, it’d be a disservice to my

audience because these kids came for my songs. I will play “Warp,” because the kids wanna hear it.

DJ Times: Do you see value in long DJ sets devoid of all the lights, visuals and other effects?

Aoki: I wish I could do that! [laughs] I did a four-hour set in Singapore in 2007 when I was just not doing any vocals. But my show is so…

I play 25 songs, generally. Every song, I want to give them a new part of the show besides the music. If I can add something, if I could do that, I would.

Like Lady Gaga, when she does a live show, each song has a million-dollar set! And then you’re on to the next set for the next song…

DJ Times: Like a Broadway production…

Aoki: Exactly! I wanna give the extra dimension to the music for every song I’m playing, and also I can’t just slap on song after song with no sequential pattern or understanding.

It’s got to be a story throughout the whole show. I can’t play “New Noise,” the Bloody Beetroots remix which I wrote, screaming and banging right next to “I’m In the House” or something. It has to all make sense. It’s a journey. There’s a time and place in a sequential pattern for every song, why it has to go there, in my head, ya know?

DJ Times: Otherwise known as programming …

Aoki: Even though I didn’t come up through the old school, I still adapted quickly. In 2008, I saw Sven Väth play in Ibiza. I didn’t know what to expect. You know what to expect, but I didn’t know. I realized three hours later that you’re still absorbed in it and there’s something powerful about that. I wasn’t on drugs. I wasn’t drinking. I was just in it. Someone to do that without doing much is just incredible. Unless you’re there to get involved that way, you don’t get it. Rock people and people outside of electronic maybe don’t get that as much. They’re like, “It’s too boring.”

You have to be in the right environment.

DJ Times: You’ve had a lot of success in markets like Las Vegas, and there’s been much debate as to whether “Vegas is the new Ibiza.”

What’s your opinion?

Aoki: Absolutely not! It’s different.

But for Americans, Vegas is… I can see them saying that and I can agree, because Vegas made a serious change in that music and what’s playing and what’s popular and why people are spending money at tables and going to see DJs. They’re not going to see DJs to hear songs they know. They’re (continued on page 42)

Serious Gear.

Serious Sound.

Designed for the most demanding DJ applications, the new Live X family of loudspeakers sets new standards for portable sound.

Everything Electro-Voice has learned making audio systems for the world’s biggest events is built into Live X: our latest precision-engineered components; durable, lightweight solid wood cabinets; best-in-class SPL output and frequency response; and stylish, stackable designs – all at a price point previously unheard-of for loudspeakers of a similar pedigree.

Visit your local Electro-Voice dealer for a Live X demo today.

mics • dsp • amps • speakers

©2011 Bosch Security Systems, Inc.

electrovoice.com/livex

www.electrovoice.com

mics • dsp • amps • speakers

www.electrovoice.com

FEBRUARY 2012

DJ TIMES 20

At first glance, December 2011 seemed like a year-end crash landing for Silver Sound Disc Jockeys of Malvern, Pa., but owner Steve Croce says the season turned into a winner, thanks to a heap of last-minute bookings.

One very profitable event for the Philadelphia-area company, in particular, came in late one Friday for a party the following Sunday, when he says a local caterer called to inform him the budget for their business’ holiday was pretty high.

“That little bit of knowledge helped me gauge which ‘cars’ to show him,” he says. “Why take them through the Saturn lot when I can take him straight to the BMWs? “In spite of the fact this particular party was a high-maintenance event, with obscure song requests and particular demands for set-up and lighting, this party was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise after a sluggish start of the season.”

We contacted mobile DJs from across the country to find out how their most recent holiday bookings compared to year’s prior. In light of the ongoing economic recession, did we book more or less corporate gigs? Are we continuing to buy equipment and offer upsells in spite of profits that oftentimes pale in comparison to how things were during the first decade of the 21st century?

What are DJ company owners doing to maintain the same profit levels of previous years—or at least to resist cutting back offerings due to economic turmoil? Meanwhile, are there any new holiday party trends to report?

Croce says the lion’s share of his 2011 holiday business came in at the last minute, which apparently worked out just fine because (as we all know) it’s much easier to dictate more profitable event pricing when corporate callers are desperate.

“The contacts for most of our events this season all seemed flustered, and relied very heavily on our experience to propose a schedule for their events,” he says. “It’s almost as though Success magazine ran an article titled, ‘All The Best Companies Have Christmas Parties,’ and a flurry of memos then trickled down from the CEO’s offices.”

Although he concentrates on a robust school business in Indiana and therefore doesn’t actively target the corporate market for holiday events, the South Bend-based Blake “DJ Sticky Boots” Eckelbarger says he did in fact experience an increase in requests—unsolicited, he maintains—for corporate parties this past holiday season.

“In 2011, we had the most corporate parties on the books as we had in the last five years, and many of them were clients we’d never worked with before,” says Sticky Boots. “I take that as a very positive indication of the direction of the economy locally—and coming from the county that at one point had the highest unemployment rate in the nation—even warranting a visit from President Obama—I think that says a lot.”

Overall, in fact, Sticky Boots suggests the amplification in business he experienced during the recent holiday season is possibly an indication of brighter things to come for DJs around the nation.

“We’ve seen both sales and profit rise in 2011,” he says, “and we’ve also experienced a strong uptick in the sale of package enhancements such as uplighting. We’ve purchased more new equipment this year than in the last five years combined, and still we’ve seen our profits rise.

“I’m working smarter in terms of marketing now, but not neces-

sarily harder for bookings. Hopefully, we’ll be positioned very well for when the economy truly opens up and conditions improve as a whole.”

Back over in Huntingdon, Pa., John Horne of Jam Machine Productions reports that 2011 holiday parties were at the same level as 2010, but still way lower than in recent years past.

“My trivia service did find a new venue to play at, but weekday bookings were at an all-time low,” says Horne. “Several local bars/ restaurants have cut back due to so few customers, and in fact one of my venues resorted to closing its doors Sundays through Tuesdays due to so little traffic.

“Others don’t want to invest in any entertainment because of low expectations of early week business, and even local restaurants have seen minimal customers during these trying times.”

Horne says the biggest loser for his company in 2011 was wedding receptions—as for the first time ever he performed at one only wedding reception the entire year.

“All other potential weddings were cancelled for various reasons,” he reports. “One was because a relative gave her a DJ for

FEBRUARY 2012

DJ TIMES

free. One was because they couldn’t afford it. One was due to a breakup of the couple. One had to be rescheduled because Penn State’s homecoming happened the same day…”

The good news? It sounds like 2012 will be better for mobile DJs in rural central Pennsylvania. “My regular clients are back on board,” he says, “and I already have two weddings already reserved next fall, even though my phone isn’t ringing as often as I want, so I’m shifting my advertising budget to other opportunities. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and still going after the weekday business, because you never know when things will shift—hopefully soon.”

Holiday party bookings were likewise disappointing for Gregg Hollmann of Ambient DJ Service. This East Windsor, N.J.-based DJ says his company lost several long-time accounts due to corporations tightening their belts in the midst of the prolonged recession, as some of those firms instead opted to hold holiday luncheons on-site, which did not require live entertainment.

“We picked up several new corporate holiday accounts in 2011, but in general these clients were looking for basic entertainment services,” says Hollmann. “As with 2010, December bookings came very late —primarily in November.

“We did nearly book a holiday party for a 750-person firm based in the Princeton area, but then management suddenly opted to cancel the musical entertainment—preferring to maintain an image of austerity in a year when staff cuts were imposed. Also, many corporate parties turned ‘dry’ [non-alcoholic] this past year.”

The good news? Hollmann is of the opinion that the corporate segment—at least in the northeastern United States—has in fact hit a bottom and will finally snap back in 2012.

“Companies have slashed their entertainment budgets to the

bone and will look to reward their loyal employees with a holiday party going forward,” he says.

“And despite the soft corporate segment, our company’s December sales were up 20-percent over the prior year, buoyed by an increase in volume across a variety of party types. Ambient DJs’ 2011 annual sales growth exceeded 25-percent based on growth in our wedding business and from success from social media initiatives.”

In the opposite corner of the country, DJ Sebastian Marquez says 2011 holiday bookings were not at all disappointing for his Fort Worth, Texas-based company—though Marquez says he was in fact surprised that they had absolutely no Halloween bookings for the year—quite possibly to be blamed on the fact the ghostly holiday fell on a Monday in 2011.

Nevertheless, DJ Marquez reports he did book two nice-sized holiday parties with over 200 guests each, plus a birthday party with over 100 teens.

“This was much better than last year, when one of my corporate bookings bailed out about a month before due to budget constraints,” he says. “When they were having to cancel, I even offered to provide them with a discount as a goodwill effort for being a repeat client, but although they appreciated the gesture they still could not justify the expense.

“However, when it came time to plan their party in 2011, they did not forget me and came back with a full-priced booking—plus they provided my meal for the evening.”

Going forward, Marquez prides himself in saying that, even though he worked fewer holiday parties in 2011, he actually earned slightly more revenue for the season due to taking on more weddings throughout the year.

“Since I worried that corporate gigs—my target market—might be a little dry in 2011, I agreed to more weddings, which paid off more in terms of income,” he says. “Being bi-lingual and comfortable with Spanish/Latin genres, I seemed to have attracted more weddings than I was looking for, which is no surprise in the Dallas/ Ft. Worth markets.”

Meanwhile, over in Rock Hill, S.C., Kevin Porter of Elite Entertainment says holiday bookings were so below average they actually resulted in the second-worst December his company has experienced in 17 years of DJing.

“Thankfully, I have repeat corporate accounts,” says Porter. “I’m planning on doing a few different and new things in 2012 to help with next December, and those plans deal with working the company more. I’ve learned a few secrets in the hotel industry, and I’m looking to implement those ideas in the coming months.

“I also belong to an organization that, when it books conferences and conventions, we can see the bookings. Over the last few months I’ve been asking to make sure I’m on preferred-vendors lists, and next year I’m going to be more proactive instead of waiting for the phone to ring or for business to come at the last minute—networking with decision-makers instead of with staff members.”

While he saw a slight increase in holiday bookings in 2011, Brendan Lafferty of B-Sharp Entertainment in Taunton, Mass., says it’s important to keep in mind that 2010 was an absolutely dismal year for seasonal parties—so any increase at all is reason for rejoicing.

Still, Lafferty says things could have been even better. “I had a handful of corporate holiday parties on my calendar,” he says, “and fortunately many of them took advantage of the new things I’m offering now, from uplighting to monogram projections to live musicians during cocktail hour. That’s the trend I’m seeing—just offering basic DJ services isn’t good enough anymore, as everyone knows someone with a laptop and a pair of speakers.

“With features like wireless LED uplighting—my biggest gear purchase in 2011—I’m able to present options that my clients hadn’t considered previously.

“I wouldn’t say that my bookings are falling into my lap—far from it. But even though I’ve hit my goals for 2011, I’ve also raised my goals for 2012 substantially, so I’m absolutely working harder to meet and hopefully exceed them. n

21

FEBRUARY 2012

DJ TIMES 22

Los Angeles—If the hype is to be believed, there appears to be something in the once stagnant water of L.A.’s underground scene.

In its four years of existence , production trio Droog—Andrei Osyka, Brett Griffin and Justin Sloe—has played a big part of that city’s growing notoriety. In its relatively short time, the trio’s L.A. history is deep, as it includes a residency at Hollywood’s Avalon, playing alongside acts like Richie Hawtin, Tiefschwarz and Matthew Dear. But more notoriously, the three DJ/producers were also behind Hollywood Hills after-hours venue “The Bunker,” where DJs would play to intimate crowds for days on end.

S i n c e 2 0 0 9 , t h ey h ave been gaining momentum with the Culprit label sessions, a monthly soiree that takes place on the rooftop of downtown L.A.’s Standard Hotel. The night has brought to L.A. the very best of the global underground—Steve Bug, Magda, Wolf + Lamb, Martin Buttrich, Jamie Jones, Seth Troxler and more.

Accordingly, the Culprit label maintains its strong focus on L.A. and has supported emerging local acts like Kenneth James Gibson and Lee Foss. To date, Culprit has released over 20 tracks and EPs by acts such as Shonky,

Inxec and Matt Tolfrey and Lee Curtiss of Visionquest.

As the trio recently released a triple-CD mix—Rebel Rave 2: Droog—on Crosstown Rebels and began work on a new recording studio, we decided it was time to connect with Droog’s Andrei Osyka and take a sneak-peek inside the group’s work process.

DJ Times: So, how do you three guys work together?

Osyka: I used to have a studio in my house for years, which is where we started making music. Then, in April I moved. It also doubled as a mental afterparty space, probably the best in its kind outside of Wolf + Lamb’s Marcy Hotel. So it was time to leave it behind. Now, I’m building a proper studio space in downtown L.A., which will be a professional recording environment with four recording rooms, vocal booth, etc. It’s a vast project and a bit strenuous, but I think it will be worth it.

DJ Times: Sounds like a long-term project.

O s y k a : T h e re w i l l b e some amazing music coming out of L.A. for years to come, if this studio works out the way we plan it. I’m doing this with my housemate and partner Martin Buttrich, who is Loco Dice’s sound engineer and co-producer. The other Droogs will use the space with me occasionally.

Martin’s a great producer under his own name and a super easy-going dude. We’ve only spent four hours in the

studio together where we almost knocked out a track, but all around it’s a bromance.

DJ Times: Are there no other recording studios in L.A. with a focus on electronic or just a limited amount?

Osyka: I’m not aware of any recording studios outside of people’s homes. Of course, L.A. has vast recording facilities, but they are not for dance-music producers.

These are full-on professional spaces for rent for pop, hip-hop, etc. We are on the margins here, so I think ours will become the first of its kind.

DJ Times: All the hype seems to be around the US and its dance scene at the moment.

Osyka: Yes, but the hype is a little misplaced. The underground scene is not part of the hype, really. The mega-huge and cheesy shit is definitely bigger than it’s ever been, but I, for one, don’t think it benefits more credible—or I should say less cheesy—dance music that much. I think very few people will ever crossover from DeadMau5 to Droog, but that’s quite alright.

DJ Times: Are you all musically trained?

Osyka: Not at all, no music training of any kind. I’ve taken piano lessons since we started to understand notes, chords, harmonies, but that’s it. I would venture a guess that most dance-music producers are not formally trained in anything. You teach yourself and learn from your friends.

DJ Times: Tell me about your studio gear and a working day with the other guys.

Osyka: We get into the studio and either start with a particular concept or just choose a sound we like and base everything on it. We work six to eight hours per day—any more than that and you get tired and unmotivated—and work a good three to four sessions per track.

Droog’s equipment is a bigass Mac desktop computer, stacked to the gills with plugins, sample databases, etc., a couple of synths, and a pretty standard Novation MIDI controller—and there you have it. Synth-wise, we have two—a Mini-Moog Voyager that I bought off Lee Foss a while back and a Juno 105.

We rent big-boy synths occasionally when we have some ideas, like we did for our Crosstown Rebels EP. We don’t worry about mastering—that’s the label’s job— and we make the sounds in one session. That’s when all the ideas fly around—make an extended loop with all the sounds that fit together; then the next session we sequence it into a song.

DJ Times: What plug-ins are you using?

O s y k a : Fo r b a s s l i n e s , there are three things we like. Our Mini-Moog Voyager is superb for bass sounds and the single best plug-in we have is [Spectrasonics’] Trilian. The bassline engine is the biggest plug-in there is. It’s just a vast, vast sample bank of bass sounds. What we find is very useful is the

to the page. How have you cracked that process or is it just endless days working in the studio?

Osyka: It is by far the biggest challenge to express what you hear in your head connecting the instrument to the mind. You work at it and work at it and, eventually, if you are focused and have good taste, things will click.

It’s not endless days because if you spend too much time toiling away at something— you burn any creativity out.

You have to work hard to learn the process, but ideally things happen pretty quickly.

You just have to be confident in ideas and will know instantly if something sounds good.

DJ Times: Is it just me or is there a bit of lean back towards melody in the last year or two?

Osyka: It’s not just you, no. I love that dance music is constantly moving. People get tired of a “sound” almost as fast as they get used to it.

I welcome a return to melody, as long as there is no cheese. It’s almost back to prog, but much more pure melody lines, but there will

be melodic cheese and then everyone will get tired of that and go back to minimalism or something like that.

That’s why you have to make timeless music, which is a lot easier said than done. It’s the cheap talentless hacks within dance music that kill “sounds” by copying something genuine.

DJ Times: What do you use as far as effects in your productions? Are most of your effects software-based?

Osyka: We don’t use outboard effects units, but would love to get some world-class reverb or filter consoles.

DJ Times: Finally, do you have any tips to share with the bedroom producers out there?

Osyka: It’s basically what most producers would say: Be persistent, not lazy and focus on strong ideas. I always say when starting out it’s more important to focus on catchy ideas that are organic to you, rather than perfecting sounds that can come later. A boring track that sounds good is still less interesting than a strong, interesting one that isn’t sound-designed perfectly. n

FEBRUARY 2012

is a particular strong idea.

The upcoming track we did [“Westbound”] with Chris “Inxec” [Sylvester]—our current favourite production partner for the Supernature label—we wanted to have a similar feel to our Crosstown work, but even more melodic. So, I rented a Jupiter 8 synth for two days, which is amazing and is mega-expensive to own, and found some simple chords, like a B chord, going up one octave and down one octave and built drums, a bassline and found the vocal that kind of propelled the track. When you get a synth like Jupiter 8, you use a sound bank that’s stored in the machine as a starting point and mould it as you go along, create your own sounds and melodies from that. And the advantage of a really good synth like Jupiter is that you get a lot of sound bank and a lot of ways of modifying each sound. You write a melody and a pattern of notes like you would on a real instrument.

DJ Times: A lot of producers will say sometimes the hardest part is translating the sound from the mind

Droogers: (from left) Brett Griffin, Andrei Osyka & Justin Sloe.

DJ TIMES

Bass Station plug-in.

DJ Times: How about drum sounds?

Osyka: Drums come from various sample libraries, but we don’t use loops, ever.

Our buddy Jonni Darkko bestowed magic libraries on us two years ago, so we don’t use drum machines. The Juno 105 has some drum sounds that we’ve used, but not much, so the drums are usually sample-based, but not loop-based. Many tracks use whole loops of other drums in other tracks—we ain’t into that. We use single hits like a kick or a snare and build our own drums in Ableton.

DJ Times: How does democracy work in the threeman Droog studio?

Osyka: Not all three of us are working on things at the same time. Two of us are the primary producers.

Brett is technical. I’m pushy with my ideas, Brett is more subtle. He finds all the sam-

ple libraries and plug-ins and learns how to use them. I like to work on ideas. A lot of the sounds come from me and then we sequence together. The third Droog, Justin, comes in and helps with direction here and there.

All three of us are almost never in the studio at the same time. That’s counterproductive—three people with strong ideas at the same time is too many. After we sequence the track, we take time to listen back to it in different environments—home, car, etc. Then we make corrections as needed, and that’s it. Justin comes and helps us in the situations when we are stuck and need another opinion and will come in with a sample or an idea. Whoever feels more attachment or the ownership of the song takes the lead, but Brett and I are in there together until the song is done.

DJ Times: Tell me the process behind a recent track you have worked on?

Osyka: Sometimes, it’s just trial-and-error. We start working with a sound that we like and build things around it. Sometimes there

23

MAKING TRACKS STUDIO…HARDWARE…SOFTWARE…

IZOTOPE’S OZONE 5: ESSENTIAL MASTERING

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

By Josh Harris

24

The days of mastering engineers sequestered in acoustically tuned rooms are almost a thing of the past.

These days, more and more producers and engineers—especially those creating Electronic Dance Music— are shouldering the mastering part of the recording process.

For those of you who might not be familiar with what mastering is, here you go: It’s the sheen and polish applied to a final mix, which in turn gives the track a finished sound. Mastering usually involves brightening or darkening certain frequencies of the track, as well as level boosting of the entire mix.

Enter iZotope, a Boston-based company (izotope.com) that’s no stranger to the world of DAW plugins. The company’s Ozone mastering plug-in is considered by many producers and engineers to be one of the best in the business. Oddly enough, I had never used any of their products until this review, so here goes: The Ozone plug-in is now at version 5 (5.0.1 at the time of this review) and there are two different versions available: Ozone 5 and Ozone 5 Advanced. This review will focus on Ozone 5 Advanced and will provide an overview of the plug-ins, as well as highlight some of the new features.

Ozone 5 Advanced is a powerhouse plug-in—plain and simple.

It’s essentially a suite of mastering plug-ins that contains eight mastering tools. They are EQ, Reverb, Harmonic Exciter, Multiband Dynamics, Stereo Imaging, Post-EQ, Maximizer, and Dithering. Each one of the component plug-ins has a handful of parameters that can be edited and tweaked

Ozone 5 Advanced: Top tools & workflow improvements.

for days. (A Caution to Users: As great as Ozone sounds, it’s also very easy to overuse, possibly sending your mix in the wrong direction. So don’t go crazy—use with taste and a bit of restraint.)

Installation went smoothly and I was quickly up and running. For this review, I used Ozone with Logic 9 on a 17-inch Macbook Pro (2.8 gHz – 4GB of RAM). Users have the option of launching Ozone as a suite containing the component plug-ins or the individual plug-ins. I opted for the suite and was immediately greeted by a wonderful preset manager once I launched the plug-in.

Presets are a great way to get started, and iZotope provides over 250 presets for different mastering scenarios. I started with the “general purpose mastering” preset folder

and worked my way through it until I found a setting that was in the ballpark of what my track needed. The user interface is laid out very logically and, as you select each component plug-in, the parameters for that plugin become available.

Users do have the option of turning the component plug-ins off and on, so you are not forced to use component plug-ins that you don’t need.

There’s a History tab that shows your preset browsing history, which comes in handy if you happen to scroll through a preset that you like, but can’t remember its name.

My two favorite component plugins are the Harmonic Exciter and the Maximizer. The Harmonic Exciter includes tape- and circuit-modeled tube modes, allowing for warming and brightening of your track without

overloading the track’s volume. The Maximizer contains a new IRC III limiter algorithm, which adds incredible punch and level boost.

Version 5 also has improved metering functions, so that users can view their mix with greater detail than in previous versions. The Dynamics section allows for a visualization of how compression settings are impacting the peak sections of your mix. For example, you can now see how the compressor settings affect a crash cymbal or snare drum hit. The Imaging plug-in allows for a widening of the stereo image, resulting in wider sounding mixes.

The Reverb plug-in can be used to apply gentle or extreme reverb to the entire mix, depending on what effect you desire. If you are unsure of what certain plug-in parameters do, then simply click on the “?” next to the Reset button, and your web browser will take you to the Ozone Help manual.

For me, Ozone 5 Advanced lived up to the hype. Version 5 has improved the sonic quality of every component plug-in, resulting in a more pristine sound. Workflow improvements include optimization for lower latency DAWs, as well as extensive automation support of plug-in parameters.

The new visualization and metering tools will surely benefit new Ozone users and old Ozone users alike.

At the time of this review, iZotope was running specials on both Ozone 5 ($199, regularly $249) and Ozone 5 Advanced ($599, regularly $999).

While Ozone 5 Advanced is not the least expensive mastering plug-in solution, it is one of the best sounding. And all producers and engineers know that you should never underestimate the importance of applying that shine and polish to your mix.

Well done, iZotope.

If you have any questions for Josh Harris and Making Tracks, please send them to djtimes@testa.com.

XLS

Take command of center stage with Crown’s new XLS amplifiers.

The high-performance class-D amplifier combined with its integrated PureBand™ Crossover System deliver unmatched performance and sound; while its multiple inputs let you plug in anything you want. Peakx™ Limiters effortlessly protect your speaker investment, and at 12 pounds moving from show to show is a breeze. Powerful, flexible, portable, and reliable – RUN THE SHOW with a power amplifier designed to play hard all night long.

To learn more, visit crownaudio.com.

©2010 Crown International

SOUNDING OFF PLAYBACK…PRO AUDIO…PROCESSING

By Paul Dailey

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

TRAKTOR SCRATCH PRO 2: FEATURES APLENTY

26

While I have been a club/party DJ for nearly for nearly 30 years and have had the opportunity to work extensively with both Serato and Traktor Scratch Pro over the last few years, I have not truly jumped in with both feet until I received the newest version of Traktor Scratch Pro 2 from Native Instruments.

TSP 2 ($599 MAP) ships bundled with an updated (and upgraded) package including a totally redesigned interface called the Audio 10, improved control CDs and heavy duty 120g time-code vinyl with better signal response and deeper grooves— perfect for turntablists. The package also comes equipped with a useful quick-start guide, a handy keyboard shortcut cheat sheet, and a 300-plus-page digital manual that is easy to comprehend and a snap to search.

Build Quality You Can See, Feel & Hear: Not content to simply upgrade the software (which we will get into later), NI first set out to completely rework their audio interface. The result is the Audio 10, a unit that is well designed and flawlessly executed. Crafted with durable metal casing, the Audio 10 features five inputs/ outputs (to take advantage of the new sample deck technology), improved AD/DA converters with lower latency, and a simplified routing system that removes the need for multi-core cables—making for noticeably easier set-up and breakdown.

The Audio 10 also offers a new “direct thru” mode.

When plugged into a power source, it allows DJs to play music through the unit even when there is no software present, making for enhanced functionality and easier mid-set transitions between Traktor and non-Traktor DJs. It is a bit troubling that this thru switching is part of the software (since presumably the very moment you need to switch to “thru mode” will be in the event of a computer crash with the interface unavailable). But, hopefully the predicted rock-solid reliability of TSP 2 will render this a moot point.

Overall, these additions may not be enough to entice Audio 8 users to upgrade, but for my money, the Audio 10 is a big step forward in both usability and sound quality.

DVS Redefined: Traktor Scratch Pro 2 offers more than enough tweaks and improvements (superior auto beat gridding /detection, enhanced waveform displays, and a setup wizard, making formatting changes simple and easy) to justify an upgrade. But NI didn’t stop there. No, the Berlinbased company added a couple of new features which are not only revolutionary, but true gamechangers in the DVS category.

From simple to complex, let’s give you an overview of what TSP 2 has to offer. This new version

New Interface: TSP 2 includes the robust Audio 10.

Traktor Bible: Tap the Power

Native Instruments is really good at making DVS systems, as witnessed by the complexity and depth of possibilities beneath the covers in Traktor Scratch Pro 2. What NI is not as good at is explaining how to get the most from all those features.

Lucky for us, renowned technical writer Rainer G. Haselier is also a lover of music, DJ culture and a certified Traktor enthusiast.

Over the past two decades, Haselier has written more than 100 books and technical articles about computer applications and programming languages. He has brought that same detailed mindset and ability to refine complicated concepts into easy to understand instructions to the world of Traktor.

In the latest version of his extremely successful Traktor Bible series (traktorbible.com), Rainer has a TSP 2-ready update, which is filled with clear screen shots and easy-to-understand examples which break down complex concepts in a logical, common-sense manner. This book is essential to anyone looking to dig beneath the surface and tap into the real power of the latest NI offerings. Highly recommended. – P.D. has a much more appealing and organized feel.

The buttons are logically arranged and the interface and color scheme make them easier to read and operate in a dark nightclub environment. The biggest change from an aesthetics standpoint is the addition of detailed, user-selectable, full-color waveforms (or TruWave as Traktor refers to them).

The color coding allows you to quickly identify the snares, hi-hats, and breakdowns—making mixing easier and more intuitive. Zoom has also been improved, helping you set more precise, sample-level cue points, loops and beat grids.

Other basic improvements include improved integration with iTunes, advanced cueing and looping, and an exceptional “track preparation” section, where you can quickly dump new tracks to be automatically analyzed, with all BPM detection and beat-gridding included—all while you continue to work your dancefloor.

Bigger Changes: Some of the more significant modifications include a new technology that NI

calls “SoftSync.” It’s an improved tempo-awareness algorithm which expands mixing options for vinyl DJs, allowing four decks to stay locked to a “master” tempo (keeping your mixes in sync over minutes), with no discernible drifting. In testing this out, I found a bit of drift here and there while spinning on three Technics 1200s. But for the most part, this made the task of spinning on three or more decks (something that only the most skilled DJs can pull off), easier and more fun.

Another significant augmentation is the Loop Recorder, which is similar to my trusty one-touch sampler, the Soundbite Pro. It allows you to record live loops from any channel (single or multiple) and route to the fifth channel on the Audio 10, making for even more intricate live set deconstruction and remixing.

But for my money, the real “game-changer” here is the inclusion of sample decks. Offering the ability to load sounds (from pre-recorded loops and live loops) to four sample decks per channel (eight total loops can run concurrently), this is one feature that has been getting nonstop use in my sets. Each sample deck has volume and filter controls, as well as the ability to quickly switch between one shot or loop play. You simply load up your desired samples, assign them to available channels on your mixer (internal or external) and let the fun begin. This feature is easy to use and allows you to deconstruct songs on the fly and create totally unique soundscapes night after night.

Test Drive: All the specs, tools, and features in the world don’t mean much if your program crashes at midnight on a Saturday with 500 people on the dancefloor, so giving Traktor Scratch Pro 2 a trial by fire was in the cards. I took it to a raucous late-night gig, played for more than four hours (in a hot, steamy environment) and am happy to report that TSP 2 performed flawlessly.

My first observation is that the new look and layout are well considered from both an aesthetic and performance standpoint. The most commonly used features are logically situated (continued on page 42)

MOBILE PROFILE CAREERS…INNOVATIONS…SUCCESS STORIES

By Ambrose Osborne

WEB-CENTRIC DJ FINDS COST EFFICIENCIES

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

DJ Craig operates three sites & enjoys almost no overhead.

28

Lewis, Del.—When I spoke to DJ Craig Saltiel, he uttered one sentence that just might be the envy of every DJ business owner on the planet: “I have no overhead.”

Huh? Of course, he quickly corrected himself, taking into account the $7 he spends every month for web hosting, and the $13 annual fee for domainname rental.

But that’s it—no exhibitor fees for bridal shows, no ads on The Knot, no Yellow Pages, no nothing. He subs his work out to 15 regular DJs, so no overhead there.

The key to DJ Craig’s success mimics what large American corporations have been doing for decades: automation, and it starts on the web.

In 2004, after a layoff from a job as a district manager for a food company, Saltiel’s wife suggested he take one of his hobbies and try to make some money from it. His hobby, since 1976, had been DJing—“Starting with reel-to-reel, then cassettes, vinyl, to Mini-Disc, CDs and now software.”

Soon, Craig and Company Premiere Disc Jockeys was born.

Saltiel went to school to learn proper techniques for search engine optimization. Fortunately, he had a 15-year-old computer wiz for a son, who took his design instructions and coded a website. The result, DJCraigandco.com, became the first of several sites (southjerseydiscjock-

eys.com and delawarediscjockeys.com) that he’s used to corner markets in South Jersey, Philadelphia and Delaware.

“We update the sites occasionally,” he says, “and check out what our competition’s sites are looking like—we go into a view and source, on their codes to see what their meta-tag searches are. And as a result, when you do a search for me, in Delaware, I’m usually on the top page.”

The key?

“Get yourself on Google Maps for all your locations, wherever your office is,” he says. “You just go onto Google Maps, fill out the required information, and someone will contact you a few times a year to make sure your information is accurate. What happens is if you type in Delaware Disc Jockeys into Google, you’ll see a map with my home office in Lewis.

If you type in Middletown Delaware disc jockeys, you’ll see a map of my Middletown address.

“It gives your business more of an opportunity for potential clients to see your phone number, address, and information, to know you’re a business, and it’s one or way to get tracked by Google’s spider.”

To track his various sites and find what pages users are excited about, DJ Craig uses a bit of Google Analytics, but he mostly relies on daily updates from his web hosting service.

“Bluehost is the best one out

there,” he says. “I’ve been using them for seven or eight years and I love them, mainly because analysis is part of the $7 per month fee, and you can have as many as five websites there. They give reports, but you can also go online at any time and all the analytics are up to date. They started out when I started out, and they were very aggressive, like I am, and they’ve got probably one of the best servers, because when you go to certain websites, you’ll notice they’ll have certain downtime. But with Bluehost, downtime never happens.”

Another key to growing his business was DJ Intelligence, which is a tremendous asset to any business. DJ Craig describes it as a “website that ties into your website and clients can actually log in and pick all their music online, for their wedding or party, and they can fill in all their bridal party information, names, announcements, first dance, toasts, cake-cutting, bouquet… and ever y time they add something you get an e-mail.”

The rub? “Basically, you can cut out a secretary, because it’s an ongoing consultation.”

After a certain amount of time, DJ Craig will give the client a call and iron out whatever has to be ironed out. But still, with 95-percent of the client interaction done over the web, as opposed to 50-50 in the past, “it’s a lot less energy going out, when you could be working on the website or taking phone calls.”

And clients love it, he says. “They feel like they have control, they get to pick 40 songs for the reception; they handpick ceremony songs if we’re doing the ceremony; they can pick

the style of music if we’re doing a cocktail hour—Connick to Sinatra.

And if they fill in all the blanks on the website, which is a timeline of activities, they don’t have to hire a wedding planner. They have total control over that. If I do see something that’s out of order, of course, I’ll call them and steer them in the right direction.”

I asked Craig about those DJs who sell themselves on the idea that they’ll really get to know the couple, learn how they met, what their relationships are like with their bridesmaids, get their story and build that into the event. Does DJ Intelligence enable that? “There is some room for that,” he says, “but those DJs who are selling that, they’re twice as expensive as I am. I don’t compete at that price. I charge a great price; all my equipment is updated every year, top-of-the-line stuff.

“We use QSC powered speakers. We also use Sennheiser microphones, Denon mixers, PCDJ and Virtual DJ and Traktor. In fact, we were one of the first DJ companies to use software, in 2004, and we’ve never looked back. Got rid of the van.

It’s amazing.”

Obviously, DJ Craig’s business model is all about efficiencies. Since going full-time in 2004, his business increased 30-percent the first year.

He enjoyed subsequent annual increases of 32- and 28-percent, he says, until “all hell broke loose with the economy in 2009,” when he went down 14-percent, and then down 12-percent. This year? “I’m up eightpercent, when most of my competition is off 20-percent, and believe me, I’m thrilled.”

touching is believing.

C D J - 7 0 0 P R O F E S S I O N A L M E D I A P L AY E R Featuring the first color touch screen for DJs, the CDJ-700 represents a brand new dimension of control. Select your tracks, or execute effects with the same intuitive touch found on popular smart phones and tablets.

Playback options include CDs, SD cards and USB memory devices in all popular file formats. And the CDJ-700 delivers full MIDI capability, DSP effects and an adjustable, touch-sensitive jog wheel. Scratch, Reverse and Slip Mode provide maximum creativity.

Professional features and innovative design are all at your fingertips with the CDJ-700.

To learn more, go to geminidj.com/cdj-700 Get your hands on one at

W I N T E R N A M M , B O OT H 570 0 I N H A L L B .

SCAN THE CODE FOR M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N . Š 2011

G C I Te c h n o l o g i e s C o r p .

G e m i n i i s a r e g i s t e r e d t r a d e m a r k o f G C I Te c h n o l o g i e s C o r p .

P h o t o g r a p h y C r e d i t : To n y C o r d o z a P h o t o g r a p h y

/ T H E G E M I N I DJ

BUSINESS LINE SALES…MARKETING…SOLUTIONS…

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

By Jack Cooley

30

How advanced is your SEO strategy? Is it limited to title tags and tagging photos? If so, that’s fine, but Google frequently changes its scraping algorithms, so there is some advanced thinking, easy to implement, that can help your search results.

What follows is an edited transcription from a how-to video on SEOmoz. com, a company that makes software and tools to maximize your search engine optimization: “Imagine the connections between words in a particular language. I’ll give you an example: The word ‘cat’ is probably closely related to the word ‘feline.’ If you were a search engine and you saw a page with the word ‘cat’ and the word ‘feline,’ you would think that page is more relevant to a query for the word ‘cat’ than a document that has the word ‘cat’ and the word ‘whiteboard.’ “‘Cat’ is relatively closer to ‘tiger,’ but it’s even a little closer to ‘meow.’

So, you get this sense that the search engines have a graph of all the words in a language set, how they’re connected to each other, what’s relevant to what—phrases, not just individual words, but the two or three or four word phrases.

“This can be helpful if you’re looking at a page and you’re saying to yourself, ‘Boy, I talked about cats, but I forgot to mention anything about what they eat or what family they’re in or what they’re related to. I didn’t even use the word ‘pets.’ Maybe I should be optimizing for those types of things.’

Employing those closely connected terms can help to boost the relevancy and help boost your rankings.

“Second thing: block-level optimization. Search engines will analyze individual portions of a page. They’ll look at a sidebar and decide that’s not really relevant because that’s navigational links or the top nav— they’re not going to analyze that for relevancy as much. They are going to look at the header of the document, where the headline is, those first few sentences. They’re going to look at the middle of the document, maybe in paragraph forms, the footer of the

ADVANCED SEO: WHAT GOOGLE THINKS ABOUT YOUR BLOG

document, the end. Are all of those things talking about the topic?

“Are they all on the subject? Or is this something that starts out talking about tigers, but it eventually gets into a discussion on genetically modified foods? If that’s the case, maybe it’s less relevant to tigers. It’s just that the initial headline looked like it was relevant to tigers, and so therefore, we don’t want to rank this document for the word ‘tigers.’ We might even want to be ranking it for something like genetically modified foods.

“So, do this kind of check for all of these sections, making sure that they’re pertinent, that they’re relevant to the content of the query, that they’re serving the visitor’s interests and needs. If you have that kind of off-topic diatribe, and I’m not saying you can’t go off topic in your writing a little bit and explore some storyline themes, particularly if you have a long expository piece or you’re writing a narrative blog post—that’s great— I’m just saying, for stuff that is hyper targeting a particular keyword, especially for a commercial intent or a navigational intent, this might not be ideal. You might want to make those more focused.

“Number three: internal and external links. Marshall Simmons from The New York Times was on a Whiteboard Friday a couple of years ago, and Marshall talked about how when

The New York Times changed their policy to put more external links on the page off to other websites, they actually saw boosts in rankings from the articles that did that, strongly confirming what Google had said: Is this person linking out or are they linking out to good places? If they are, we might want to reward them.

“So put good external links referencing relevant, potentially useful content on your pages. Linking out to other people is a wonderful thing because it puts you into the ecosystem. If you link to someone else, other people go and visit that page. They might be talking about it. They might thank you for the reference. Someone might see that on Twitter. They might look in their analytics and see that you’ve sent visitors over and come check out your page and then link to something you’ve done. That reciprocation is very, very powerful in the organic web, and it can be useful, not only for this direct relevancy boost signal, but also from a links perspective, from a traffic perspective.

“Finally, apply content uniqueness.

You’re all aware of duplicate content issues, thin content issues, etc. What you may not know is that there are plenty of advanced on-page optimization tactics you can apply that can help, like the idea of ‘completely unique.’ When I say ‘completely unique,’ what I mean is not that you

can’t quote someone on the page, but just that what you can’t post is a Mad Lib-style SEO where you’ve got XY blank Z blank ABC blank, and it’s fill in the city name, fill in the proper name, fill in the name of the business, and that’s the same across every page on your site, or that’s taken from a manufacturer’s description and that’s put in there.

“You need to have that uniqueness throughout, and Google is very good at shingling—a method for pattern detection inside topics or inside content. If you want to quote something, that’s fine; if you want to use media or graphics from somewhere else, that’s fine and reference those. But playing Mad Libs SEO is a dangerous game.

“We’ve noticed that longer content correlates with better rankings.

I’ll give you an example. I look at a lot of rankings for restaurant sites, and what I see is that Yelp! and Urban Spoon do very well, and then you’ll see those independent blogs.

They tend to rank well when they’ve written a long diatribe exploring all sorts of things on the menu with lots of pictures of the food.

That longer in-depth content, with uniqueness and value in the content, seems to be something that Google is picking up on. It could be helpful if you’re not ranking very well and you’re thinking, ‘Boy, I have a lot of pages that are just short snippets.

Maybe I’m going to try expanding some of them.’

“What I’m saying here is that your content formatting, the way you’re putting things together, the length of the document, the depth, and the correctness, these can all have an impact. Don’t just think about keyword stuffing and using a few keywords here and there and putting it in the title at the front. Think a little bit more broadly about your on-page optimization. You might get more benefits than merely doing some link building.”

For more information on SEOmoz products, tools and resources, go to www.seomoz.org.

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

32

Pass the Event Bar

Crane Your Neck

American DJ Supply, Inc. 6122 S. Eastern Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90040 (800) 322-6337 www.americandj.com

Crane Hardware LLC. 3011 Grand Ave. Everett, WA 98201 (866) 581-4522 www.thecranestand.com

American DJ’s Event Bar DMX is an all-in-one LED scanning light system. Four independently moving heads are mounted onto an X-Y movement bar to create bright white beams. The unit comes with a strobe effect and features 0-100-percent dimming, 360-degree pan and 270-degree tilt. The lamps come with a standard 12-degree beam angle, but as an added option a six-degree beam angle is also included.

The unit runs in four different modes: Stand Alone, Sound Activated, Master-Slave and DMX-512 with up to 25 channels.

The Crane Stand Pro is a foldable equipment stand that holds CD players, laptops, tablets, MIDI controllers, projectors and other DJ equipment at user-adjustable angles. It folds to approximately one inch thick for easy transport. The Crane Stand Pro is made of high-density, aircraft-grade aluminum that comes with a military spec hard-coat anodization and it is locked into place with tensioning knobs.

MIDI Skirt

Gorillaz in the Mist

American Music & Sound 22020 Clarendon St, Suite 305 Woodland Hills, CA 91367 (800) 431-2609 www.americanmusicandsound.com

Korg 316 South Service Rd Melville, NY 11747 (631) 390-6500 www.korg.com

The VCI-400 DJ MIDI Controller is a four-channel unit from Vestax that uses a studio-grade asynchronous USB streaming system to provide low-latency, bit-perfect audio at 24-bit / 48 kHz resolution. The VCI-400 is bundled with Serato DJ Intro and Virtual DJ LE 4 Decks.

Its features include a high-resolution JOG wheels with torque and sensitivity control, multi-mode transport section triggers, aluminum filter knobs and LED-backlit buttons.

Korg announced version 2.0 of its iKaossilator for iPhone 2, iPod Touch and iPad. The free upgrade lets users share and remix loops with SoundCloud, and also features a synthesizer tool with 150 sounds that users can control by touching, sliding or tapping the onscreen X-Y touchpad.

The company also released iElectribe Gorillaz Edition iPad 1.5, a virtual analog beatbox with several built in sounds and samples from virtual band Gorillaz.

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Go to the Matte Players Gonna Play Pioneer Electronics 1925 E. Dominguez Street Long Beach, CA 90810 (310) 952-2000 www.pioneerdjusa.com The solid black CDJ-850-K and metallic silver CDJ-350-S both come bundled with Pioneer’s rekordbox music management software, which analyses the BPM and beat position of songs on the user’s computer. Users can edit playlists on both units, which are compatible with a variety of file formats, including CD, MP3, AAC, WAV and AIFF. The CDJ-850-K features an auto beat loop function, while the CDJ-350-S features beat loop, hot loop and loop divide options.

V-MODA 6464 Sunset Blvd., Ste. 290 Hollywood, CA 90028 (323) 798-1000 www.v-moda.com V-MODA introduced a limited-edition over-ear headphone model, the Crossfade LP2 Matte Black Metal Headphones, to join its successful Live Play line. The headphones come equipped with 31-band EQ, detachable Kevlar-reinforced cables with 24k gold-plated plugs, and a 3.5mm fabric audio cable that is compatible with Android, BlackBerry and Windows PhoneHard exoskeleton carrying case. Mac users get a 3.5mm fabric cable with a three-button remote control for Apple products like iPhone, iPad and MacBooks.

33

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Sony Side Up

Head in the Clouds

Sony Creative Software 1617 Sherman Ave Madison, WI 53704 (800) 577-6642 www.sonycreativesoft ware. com

Chauvet 5200 NW 108th Ave. Sunrise, FL 33351 (800) 762-1084 www.chauvetlighting.com

The Artist Integrated (AI) line from Sony Creative Software includes sample libraries for making rock, pop, jazz, R&B and reggae music that the company says “are designed to work seamlessly with each other.” Titles in the line include Drums from the Big Room, which features drum loops performed by legendary drummer Steve Ferrone and produced by Grammy winner Greg Ladanyi; DNA Bass, with basslines generated over “Big Room” drums; and VertuStudio Guitars, in which custom and vintage guitars, tube amplifiers and analog in-line effects chains create electric guitar parts directly over “Big Room”/”DNA Bass” combinations.

The Nimbus is a dry ice machine from Chauvet that can create a thick, low-lying white fog with 10 pounds of dry ice. The plug-andplay unit runs for six minutes and comes equipped with a 4.5-gallon tank capacity, dual heaters and an adjustable, multi-level control arm that controls the output and flow of fog. Temperature and low-water sensors automatically turn off the heaters when they are triggered.

get it NOW! SubSCribE to AMEriCA’S 1St MAgAzinE for DJs

$14.85 per year

Call us toll free at: 1-800-YES-7678

34

E-Mail for Yours today!

circulation@testa.com

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

I Me iMASCHINE Native Instruments North America, Inc. 6725 Sunset Boulevard, 5th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90028 (866) 556-6487 www.native-instruments.com iMASCHINE brings Native Instruments’ MASCHINE to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

This intuitive groove creation app allows for real-time sampling and loop recording and includes classic drum machine features and other effects, as well as four tracks that can be switched between a 16-pad matrix for drums, a dual octave keyboard for instruments, and a loop sampler that records audio from the built-in microphone. It also includes a live-mode sequencer that detects and adjusts the loop length of any recording.

Castle on a SoundCloud Cakewalk 268 Summer Street Boston, MA 02210 (888) 225-3925 www.cakewalk.com Cakewalk announced that the company has integrated SoundCloud sharing into its recording software. SoundCloud sharing capability is now available via the SONAR X1 Producer Expanded upgrade and Music Creator 6, allowing users to upload their music to SoundCloud and share tracks via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other websites. Sharing capabilities are expected to be added to other Cakewalk recording products soon.

Scratch the Surface Serato Private Bag 92015, AMSC Auckland 1142 New Zealand +64 9 379 4944 www.serato.com Serato Scratch Live users can now download a free update from the company’s website. Serato Scratch Live 2.3 adds new cue point labels, 64-bit drivers for Mac, and updates the THRU mode indication and screen workflow. The company also improved the user interface layout for minimum screen resolutions. This latest version offers new support for the Pioneer CDJ-350 and CDJ-850, in addition to all Rane Scratch Live hardware.

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

Return of the Mac

36

algoriddim GmbH Veterinärstr. 2 80539 Munich Germany www.algoriddim.com Now algoriddim has released version 4 of its djay for Mac music app. Among the features found in this latest version is a visual key match wheel that “automatically registers a song’s key and matches it to songs of the same key within an iTunes music library,” according to the company. Additional features include visual waveforms, iCloud integration, customizable audio FX and advanced MIDI integration.

Version 4 also allows users to change the color scheme from light to dark so that it can be more easily seen in nightclubs and other dark areas.

Your

It’s

stYle, Your rules.

your choIce

Serato? check. Virtual DJ? check. Traktor Pro? check.

Torq, Mixvibes, Mixx, Deckadance, djDecks? check!

The Vestax VCI-400 works with any DJ software that has a MIDI learn function. Having more than 200 assignable parameters (knobs, faders and buttons), you will have plenty of room to fit in all necessary controls of the software you use. Although, we understand creating a MIDI map from scratch can be time consuming. That’s why Vestax will have basic MIDI maps for a variety of DJ software available on www.vestax.com. If it’s the first time for you to buy a DJ controller or if you’re seeking for other DJ software, the VCI-400 comes with bundles of Serato DJ Intro and Virtual DJ LE 4 Decks, both designed for immediate plug&play DJ experience.

A division of Jam Industries Ltd

WWW.VESTAX.COM INFO@VESTAXUSA.COM

GROOVES TRACKS…MIXES…COMPILATIONS

“HOT RIGHT NOW”

u DJ Fresh feat. Rita Ora u Ministry Of Sound Another catchy d-n-b scorcher from the guy who brought us No. 1 U.K. hit “Louder.”

Laced with the soulful vocals of Rita Ora, this tune is destined to be another chartbuster.

“TAPTA BEACH”

u Fast Vision Soul and 60 Hertz Project u GOGO Music This soulful house piece offers jazzy xylophones, chugging rhythms and tribal-laced percussion, backed by a delicate, melodic guitar and riproaring bassline.

– Shawn Christopher “SO SWEETLY”

u M&S feat. Shaun Escoffrey u Tony

– Jennifer Shapiro

“LOW FREQUENCY PURELAND” EP

u FreQ Nasty u FreQ Nasty Recordings Check the wobbly “Warm Dark Place” with its huge drops and mad effects, plus “1000 Buddhas” with its fierce breakbeats and bass stabs. And go to the chimey, melodic “The Heart of Definitive Meaning” if you’re looking for an ace chill track.

– Jennifer Shapiro “DANCE 4 ME” u Prince u Purple Music The Purple One delivers an original mix oozing funk and sex. The Jamie Lewis mix takes it to the dancefloor with hammering kick and a non-stop groove.

David Alexander bring us what is probably the hardest mix in the batch, while Brian Matrix “Da Big Room” mix delivers on its promise.

– Shawn Christopher

A return for British duo Ricky Morrison & Fran Sidoli and a return for Tony Humphries imprint. And, accordingly, “So Sweetly” is a superb slice of house music, which shows the youngsters how it’s done.

– Curtis Zack “BUNGA BUNGA”

“WANT YOU TONIGHT”

u Mateo & Matos u People That Make Music A quality all-round package for the third release on PTMM. Remixes come in all shapes and levels of deepness from the likes of John Crockett, DJ Sneak and Rasoul.

u Yves Murasca & Ezzy Safaris u Milk & Sugar Not sure if this is a reference to the Italian Prime Minister’s infamous parties, but it certainly has plenty of bounce and a little bit of cheekiness.

– Curtis Zack “MR. PRESIDENT”

u Conga Squad u Holographic With a definite nod to one of Michael Jackson’s finest moments, the latest from Conga Squad sees him continue to do what he does so well—straightforward house, just how it should be.

– Curtis Zack “BABY IT’S YOU” u Kenny Thomas u Solus The latest release from U.K. soul legend Kenny Thomas, sees Dave Doyle cement his reputation as a don of soulful house. A great disco flecked remix with cool keys and brass licks.

– Curtis Zack “I FEEL THE NEED”

u Louis Botella feat. Max C u Versuz Essentialz Featuring the unmistakable vocals of Max C, this is peak-time stuff with tight drums, uplifting synth stabs and an immensely catchy hook.

– Curtis Zack – Curtis Zack

“MOVE YOUR BODY”

u Kevin Andrews & Leisuregroove u Caus-N-ff-ct Taking on the Xpansions classic almost 21 years later, Kevin Andrews and Leisuregroove supply a decent update, but for me it’s the Vision Factory remix that takes the spoils with a highly respectful update.

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

Download

Corner

38

– Curtis Zack

Each month in this space, DJ Times digs through the virtual crates to give you a quick sample of the plethora of extraordinary tracks available exclusively on legal download—care of our favorite next-generation “record” stores (e.g. Beatport, iTunes, etc).

“I Obviously Want You Back” (DJ Phantim Mashup) by Jackson 5 vs. Bingo Players [White]: A delicious, highenergy mash-up that dips into the classic J5 tune in place of the middle break, then builds back into the Bingo Players banger.

Free at Facebook.com/djphantim “Bib’s Groove” (Original Mix) by Alex Jangle [Troll Records]: It’s all about percussion here—Latin, African, acoustic, electronic—all in the mix to form a rolling groove that you never want to end. Found at beatport.com “Tell Me What You Need” (Geddes 928 Mix) by Gavin Herlihy [Culprit]: Your soundtrack to those dark warehouse after-parties—twisted vocals, evil bass, atmospheric synths and those preeminent Detroit drums. Found at beatport.com – Robert LaFrance

Š Testa Communications

For advertising rates and deadlines...

Call 800-YES-7678 x507

MARKETPLACE SUPPLIES

Ad Index Company

Pg

American DJ

CIV

American Music & Sound

37

Bosch

17

Chauvet 3 Crown

25

Denon

11

Dixie Dance Kings

36

Eternal Lighting

33

GCI

29

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

HERCULES 35

40

JBL

CIII

JBL

9

Pioneer DJ

CII

Rane

5

RCF

16

Sirius

38

SXSW 27 Thunderball 31

2 0 1 2 D A T E S A N N O U N C E D A U G 1 3 - 1 6

DOUBLE YOUR LEADS, SALES & PROFITS For advertising information, please phone Jon Rayvid at 516.767.2500 ext. 507 or email at JRayvid@testa.com.

DEBUT

New products to a keen and targeted market.

EDUCATE

The DJ market on why your products are the best.

EXPAND

Ultra Music

18-19

Your business into an established, but still fast-growing, market.

Winter Music Conference

15

INCREASE

Brand recognition with DJs of all kinds.

While every care is taken to ensure that these listings are accurate and complete, DJ Times does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors.

SELL

Equipment & supplies to an audience that is ready to buy.

Compiled As Of January 9,2012

National Crossover Pool Chart 1 Chris Willis Too Much Love 2 Katy Perry The One That Got Away 3 Enrique Iglesias F/ Pitbull & Wavs I Like How It Feels 4 David Guetta Without You F/ Usher 5 September Party In My Head 6 Britney Spears Criminal 7 Nervo We’re All No One 8 Julissa Veloz Mayhem 9 Wynter Gordon Buy My Love 10 Rihanna F/ Calvin Harris We Found Love 11 Dev In The Dark 12 Beyonce Countdown 13 Coldplay Paradise 14 Leona Lewis Collide 15 Erika Jayne Party People 16 Lopez Papi 17 Maroon 5 F/Christina Aguilera Moves Like Jagger 18 Anjulie Brand New Bitch 19 Gloria Estefan WEPA 20 D’Manti Tonight 21 J Dash Wop 22 Kelli Gave Up On Love 23 David Guetta F/ Nicki Minaj Turn Me On 24 Kristina Korban This Is Your Night 25 Speakers Bass 26 Emii Stilettos 27 Jess Sutta Show Me 28 Swedish House Mafia Vs Knife Party Antidote 29 Whenever Zarkana 30 C&C Music Factory F/Scarlett Santana Rain 31 Jes Its Too Late 32 Kim Leoni Around And Around 33 LMFAO F/ Lauren Bennett & Good Rock Party Rock Anthem 34 Nicki Minaj F/ Rihanna Fly 35 Body Lingo Yum Yum 36 Breathe Carolina Blackout 37 Penny Foster Castles 38 Vato Gonzalez Ft/Foreign Beggars Badman Riddim 39 Qwote F/ Pitbull & Lucenzo Throw Your Hands Up 40 Right Said Fred I Am A Bachelor

National Urban Pool Chart

Veneer Capitol Universal Republic Astralwerks Robbins Jive Astralwerks Carrillo Big Beat Def Jam Universal Republic Columbia Capitol Sony Pretty Mess Island A&M Universal Republic Crescent Moon D’Manti Stereofame Big Mgmt.

Capitol Dauman Capitol Slippery Eel Hollywood Capitol White Palace C&C Music Factory Planetjes Robbins Interscope Universal Gatorbait Fearless Robbins Robbins Ultra Promark

1 Drake F/ Nicki Minaj 2 T-Pain F/Wiz Khalifa & Lily Allen 3 Red Cafe F/ Rick Ross 4 Big Sean 5 Chris Brown 6 J Dash 7 Lil Wayne 8 Charlie Wilson 9 Mary J Blige 10 Drake 11 Jill Scott F/ Paul Wall 12 Waka Flocka Flame 13 Monica 14 Mike Posner 15 Timberland F/Pitbull 16 Beyonce 17 R Kelly 18 Dj Drama F/Fabolous 19 Rihanna F/ Calvin Harris 20 Lil Wayne & Bruno Mars 21 Birdman F/ Nicki Minaj & Lil Wayne 22 Big Sean 23 Drake & Lil Wayne 24 Lil Wayne F/ Drake 25 Rick Ross F/ Nicki Minaj 26 Robin Thicke 27 T-Pain F/ Joey Galaxy 28 Beyonce F/Andre 3000 29 Wale F/ Miguel 30 Fantasia 31 Laura Michelle 32 Ledisi & Jaheim 33 Ace Hood & Chris Brown 34 Fat Man 35 Rihanna 36 Beyonce 37 J. Cole F/ Trey Songz 38 Melanie Fiona 39 DJ Nick Cannon F/Akon 40 T.I. F/ Big Krit

Most Added Tracks 1 Penny Foster Castles 2 Kristina Korban This Is Your Night 3 Wynter Gordon Buy My Love 4 Route Too Far Night To Remember 5 Swedish House Mafia vs Knnife Party 6 Brunette Who The Hell 7 Body Lingo Yum Yum 8 Erika Jayne Party People 9 Emii Stilettos 10 Coldplay Paradise

Make Me Proud 5 OClock Fly Together I Do It Strip Wop How To Love Life Of The Party 25/8 Headlines So Gone Round Of Applause Until It’s Gone Looks Like Sex Pass At Me Countdown Radio Message Oh My (2011) We Found Love Mirror Y U Mad Dance (A$$) The Motto She Will You The Boss Love After War Booty Wurk Party Lotus Flower Bomb Collard Greens&Cornbread Pose Stay Together Body 2 Body Jig It California King Bed Love On Top Can’t Get Enough 4 AM Famous I’m Flexin’

Universal Jive Interscope Island/Def Jam RCA Stereofame Universal Epic Interscope Cash Money Reprise Warner Brothers J Records RCA Interscope Columbia Jive E1 Def Jam Universal Universal Def Jam Universal Universal Republic Def Jam Interscope Jive Columbia Warner Brothers J Records Thompkins Media Universal Def Jam SOW Island/Def Jam Columbia Columbia Universal NCredible Atlantic

Most Added Tracks Robbins Dauman Big Beat Robbins Antidote Caspitol Dream Merchant 21 Gatorbait Pretty Mess Slippery Eel Capitol

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Chris Brown Diggy Simmons F/ Jeremih Mike Posner KC Jockey Estelle Flo-Rida Jay-Z & Kanye West Ophishal Robin Thick F/ Lil Wayne Rick Ross F/ Nicki Minaj

Strip Do It Like You Looks Like Sex Girl You’re Free Thank You Good Feeling Gotta Have It American Way Pretty Lil’ Heart You Da Boss

RCA Atlantic RCA Sweet Sadies Atlantic Atlantic Atlantic Megablast Universal Def Jam

Reporting Pools ✦ Dixie Dance Kings - Alpharetta, GA; Dan Miller ✦ Lets Dance / IRS - Chicago, IL; Lorri Annarella ✦ OMAP - Washington, DC; Al Chasen ✦ Philly Spinners Assoc. - Bensalem, PA; Fred Kolet ✦ Pittsburgh DJ - Pittsburgh, PA; Jim Kolich ✦ Soundworks - San Francisco, CA; Sam Labelle ✦ Rickett’s Record Pool - Saddle Brook, NJ; Bill Rickett ✦ Pacific Coast - Long Beach, CA; Steve Tsepelis

Looking for these titles?

You can hear them and buy them at www.dancekings.com.

Just click on the links in the chart.

DDK has limited memberships available for qualified DJs in the US. We service CDs and MP3s in dance and urban formats. Feedback and membership dues required. 770-740-0356

45791

Aoki

(continued from page 16) going to see DJs to be part of an experience.

DJ Times: Now, you’re based in Los Angeles, but you travel heavily as a DJ. How many shows are you playing a year?

Aoki: I’m doing 250 gigs a year, on average. I’m always gone. I’m touring in Europe a lot in the last two years.

I’m doing two Asian tours a year.

Then the U.S. and Canada, that’s been my market from Day 1. Europe is still and will always stand strong—they don’t let their doors open so easily.

Sounding Off

(continued from page 26) and my new favorite color scheme “spectrum” makes it very easy read waveforms (in both the main and stripe areas) and is visually pleasing even in the darkest DJ booth.

Basic functionality like searching for tracks and loading was as solid as with previous versions—and the two options for syncing tracks (temposync and beatsync) both worked faultlessly. My plan was to play an entire gig or two, using just the most straightforward features, to test stability and latency, etc. But after some simple mapping on my X1 controller and a few hours of play time, I was already working my way through a number of more advanced features like sampling, loop recording, and applying effects like a pro.

I am especially enamored with the ability to skip around my tracks, while remaining perfectly on beat and on measure, freeing me up from wasting time editing tracks in advance. I can get to the show and let the vibe on the dancefloor determine if I play the seven-minute version, or jump to the meat of the track on the spot.

There are a few guys from over here in the U.S. that get in while everyone else is banging on the door. I’ve been banging on the door for a while! [laughs] They finally let me in and I’ve been able to play Europe.

DJ Times: Are you altering your set list when you play Europe?

Aoki: I’m playing the I Love Techno festival tomorrow. It’s one of the purest festivals in Europe. They’d never book a big DJ just to sell tickets, like any of the top five DJs. They don’t care about that. It’s not even about keeping the techno sound, because

There are certainly a couple of omissions that I think Native Instruments would be smart to address in future updates. In addition to the “thru mode” issue mentioned above, I’d like to see improved iTunes integration (with auto refresh), and improved sound on some of the filter effects. But overall, this is a very solid upgrade that worked with nary a hiccup right out of the box.

The learning curve with Traktor Scratch Pro 2 is relatively steep and after a month I am just scratching the surface of what is possible. I still have to fine-tune beat grids and add load, loop, fade, and hot keys for more than 40K+ tracks in my collection.

But I know with the detailed manual, the excellent online community on the Native Instruments website, and other outstanding resources like the Traktor Bible (see sidebar), I am well on my way towards slaying my digital demons.

Traktor allows you to truly experiment live and create a set and a vibe that is unique to that moment in time. Creative DJs take heed—your performances will never be the same.

I’m not a techno DJ, but I’m one of three headliners this year on the bill!

It’s purely an underground voice. It’s powerful. It’s one of the most important festivals.

DJ Times: Is it a big deal to you to be a headliner on that bill, then?

Aoki: Yeah. Like Tiësto. If you look at his history, he’s been working hard for a long time and he’s changed the game, and it’s impressive. He’s the biggest trance DJ and now he’s evolved into more of an electro sounding DJ and his crowd’s followed him and it’s gotten bigger. It’s insane. I have a record coming out with Tiësto called “Tornado.”

DJ Times: What’s your studio setup?

Aoki: I work everything, I work in my house. It’s a home studio. I converted a room in my house into a proper studio. I work entirely at this point in-the-box on my computer. I still have a couple of synths, but I’ve pretty much sampled all the sounds if I need them. I’m entirely digital. Before, I did some analog like recorded guitars and bass live. Just for efficiency’s sake, I’m in-the-box. I only have 100 days in L.A., which almost all are studio days. I have a pretty disciplined schedule in order for me to stay on top of keeping my music out there.

DJ Times: Tell me more about your experience on the IDentity Festival tour.

Aoki: When I was on the [2011] IDentity tour, I worked two weeks out of four weeks on the bus, mainly when we had days off and we could go to a hotel and camp up. I turned my room into a studio. My speakers on the bus, I’d bring into the hotel, which is hard to do with headphones.

I got “Ladi Dadi” done. I wrote a lot on the bus. I wrote a remix to a Bassnectar single on the bus. I got

four tracks done, but the last year and earlier this year, it was like collaboration time. I was collaborating with tons of different producers, either working with them in their studio, like Nick Afrojack came to L.A. in my studio.

DJ Times: Why do you think it’s taken this long for EDM to get this big again in the States? Is there one main thing?

Aoki: Just so many different things.

You can look at certain crossover artists and the timing that happened.

It all makes sense together, with the access of music that changed dramatically in the last couple of years.

Before, like five years ago, the only way you heard about music was through video, TV and radio, and music magazines. No one really knew about Internet radio. Now, everyone gets their music from YouTube. You discover your music yourself, now.

You don’t rely on radio or TV to tell you what’s hot.

DJ Times: Different deliver y methods.

Aoki: The way in which people are accessing music has changed. We’re competing with these major labels, with no money, and getting results— as long as we’re making the music the kids wanna hear. We made that video for “Warp” and it has over 14 million views on some kid’s YouTube page!

Skrillex is a great example of someone who’s an artist where he blew up on discovery. Big Beat and Atlantic didn’t support him in the beginning.

He did it entirely on his own. You can do that on your own! You don’t need to have these huge resources. The huge resources come in when you wanna make a big power play on real radio. We survived entirely without that help! It’s an incredible time for dance music. n

Big Once’s Red Bull Thre3style Battle

(c) David Seetoh Lang/Red Bull Content Pool

And they loved me in Vegas…

(c) Garth Milan/Red Bull Content Pool

42

I’ve won DJ competitions in Chicago…

(c) Kris Krug/Red Bull Content Pool

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2012

But Canada?

Woo, tough crowd…

DJ Big Once, Next Month in DJ Times

KEITH SHOCKLEE As a founding member of Public Enemy Keith Shocklee has been defining and defying musical genres for over 30 years.

“The future is the past! We’re taking new music to the streets in New York… it’s how we did it before Public Enemy and it’s happening again today - very organic and powerful.”

Keith and his mobile DJ’s, Power5, trust their PRX600 speakers to deliver devastating grooves night after night.

“PRX’s bang hard! We record on JBL LSR4300 monitors and when we perform live our PRX’s sound identical, just ten times louder.

And, at 3:00 am after the smoke clears, their lightweight is heaven.

JBL is the bomb!”

Photos by: James DeMaria

Learn more at jblpro.com/prx600 Check out Keith at keithshocklee.com

POWERFUL. RUGGED. VERSATILE.

© 2012 Harman International Industries, Incorporated

PERFORMANCE YOU CAN TRUST

Introducing

ONLY $499.99

The American Audio VMS4.1 is a 4-Channel Midi Controller that comes bundled with Virtual DJ LE software. The VMS4.1 features four MIDILOG™ Channels (compatible with any “MIDI Software”* or Analog Inputs - such as CD Players, Turntables, etc.), two microphone inputs, Balanced XLR outputs, a 4 In/4 Out Sound Card built-in, and comes with American Audio’s exclusive “DSP D-Core” Audio Engine inside.

The VMS4.1 is designed for performance minded DJs looking for a solid, all-in-one Midi Controller to play MP3 tracks from their laptop, plus have the option to add CD Players and turntables to the mix.

Main Features: • 4x Midilog™ Channels (Compatible with any “Midi Learn” Software or Analog Inputs - such as CD Players, Turntables, etc.)

• DSP D-Core Inside: Studio Quality Audio Engine + Pro Stage Microphone Circuitry • 2x Mics with Gain, Treble, Mid & Bass Control Also Available: • Crossfader Curve Adjustment • Balanced XLR Outputs • Assignable Touch Strips • Built-in Mouse Pad • Built-in 4 In/4 Out Soundcard • Bundled with Virtual DJ LE Software

www.americanaudio.us

VMS2

VMS BAG

VMS FLIP CASE

Get Product Details & User Manuals, Join the ADJ Forums & ADJ Advantage Program & Stay up-to-date with ADJ by signing up for the monthly E-News!

Join A Winning Team! - Become An Authorized American DJ Dealer Today: 800.322.6337 / info@americanaudio.us

©2011 American Audio® • Los Angeles, CA 90040 USA www.americanaudio.us • Kerkrade, Netherlands www.americanaudio.eu *Price & Specifications subject to change without notice. Dealer price vary. Pricing in U.S. Dollars.

Distributed in Canada by Sounds Distribution • Toll Free 800-26-SOUND • Local: 905-428-9062 • www.soundsdist.com

Quality, Affordable & Reliable Products From A Company You Can Trust! www.americanaudio.us www.americanaudio.eu