DJ Times April 2012, Vol 25 No 4

PLUS:

Adrian Lux * MK * Peavey IPR 3000 DSI Tempest Drum Machine Creating Demand for Your Service Native Instruments Kontrol S2 AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988 APRIL 2012

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TH 12 PLANET

America’s Dubstep King

The Evolving Economy

How Mobiles Thrive

Opening Acts

Tips for Warm-Up DJs

WINTER MUSIC CONFERENCE/MIAMI MUSIC WEEK ISSUE www.djtimes.com

INDUSTRY EVENTS…NOTABLES…MILESTONES

NEWS

MAD FOR MIAMI: 27TH WMC HIGHLIGHTS HUGE MUSIC WEEK Ashley Suszczynski

Skrillex: Day 1 highlight at Ultra Fest.

Trouble & Bass: Playing SMOG vs. Basshead party.

Jeff Heart

Miami Beach, Fla.—After a year of separation, the Winter Music Conference and Ultra Music Festival, which highlights Miami Music Week, have found some common ground in 2012. Or at least, their events will overlap enough for participants to enjoy both.

Their past differences aside for the moment, the month of March will see a more concentrated schedule of DJ- and dance-industry events—and it seems to be a welcome change for many.

First up, the 27th Annual Winter Music Conference will run March 1625 with many of the events housed at The Beachplex, a new, custom-designed, air-conditioned tent complex.

Stationed on the beach at 21st Street and Collins Avenue, The Beachplex is the result of a partnership between WMC and the 10th Annual Funkshion Fashion Week and Eventstar.

WMC 2012 will include a week of industry seminars and panel discussions, the 27th Annual International Dance Music Awards, official poolside events, South Beach Sessions, the Record Collectors Show, WMC Rocks, trade show and exhibits, DJ Spin-Offs and the VJ Challenge.

As usual, DJ Times will have a major presence at WMC. The magazine will maintain a dedicated exhibition booth on March 19-20 and on Friday, March 23, DJ Times Editor Jim Tremayne will moderate a “Featured Q&A” with legendary producer BT. Additionally, on Tuesday, March 20, he will participate in the panel, “PR & Social Media: Social Media and the Do’s & Don’ts of Pitching Yourself to the Media.”

Miami Music Week (aka nonWMC-specific events) will see doz-

BT: Will do a WMC Q&A.

ens of round-the-clock events featuring dance music’s biggest stars.

On Thursday, March 22, DJ Times will serve as media sponsor for the week’s main bass-music bash, The 3rd Annual SMOG vs. Basshead Party (presented

by Embrace). Held at Mekka in downtown Miami, the event will feature five separate, branded environments with talent that includes: 12th Planet (plus “special guest TBA”); Pendulum (DJ set); Dirtyphonics (DJ set); Zeds

Dead; Goldie & Bailey; Dieselboy; Toddla T; and Trouble & Bass crew’s Drop the Lime, AC Slater, Star Eyes and The Captain.

Then on Friday, March 23, the 14th annual Ultra Music Fest will kick off at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami.

The three-day festival sold out immediately upon public sale and DJ Times will maintain an exhibit booth. Day 1 talent includes: Tiësto; Kraftwerk; Carl Cox: Skrillex; Afrojack: Miike Snow; Pretty Lights; New Order ;

Richie Hawtin; Wolfgang Gartner; Benny Benassi; and Martin Solveig.

Day 2 talent includes: Justice; Avicii; Fatboy Slim; Duck Sauce; M83; Sven Våth; Laidback Luke; 2manydjs; Erick Morillo; DJ Shadow; Borgore; Skream + Benga; and Datsik.

Day 3 talent includes: David Guetta; Armin van Buuren; Bassnectar; Bloody Beatroots; Fedde le Grand; Knife Party; ATB; Gui Boratto; John Digweed; Steve Aoki; Gareth Emory; Sander van Doorn; and Cosmic Gate.

DJ TIMES

New York City—David Guetta and wife Cathy get the party started at their F*** Me I’m Famous event at Roseland Ballroom this past February 9. Held just before Grammy weekend, Guetta glitterbombed NYC with hit after vocal hit, plus plenty of lit-up robots, lithe dancers, bold lighting patterns and massive CO2 blasts.

APRIL 2012

Guetta Takes on NYC

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VOLUME 25 NUMBER 4

12 The King’s Tour

12th Planet, L.A.’s Longtime Dubstepper, Takes His Act to the American People

BY JIM TREMAYNE

20 Opening Credits

Advice for the Warm-Up DJ & Why the Club Benefits from Proper Support

BY MATT WEEKS

22 It’s the Economy, Stupid

Some Mobiles Enjoy a Rebounding Market, While Others Must Devise Ways to Keep Their Bottom Lines Buoyant

BY JEFF STILES

DEPARTMENTS 7 Feedback

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

24 Making Tracks

Dave Smith Instruments Tempest

26 Sounding Off

Peavey IPR 3000 & N.I. Kontrol S2

28 Mobile Profile

Texan Mixes Many DJ Disciplines

30 Business Line

How to Create Demand for Your DJ Service

32 Gear

New Products from Pioneer, Chauvet & More

38 Grooves

Phat Tracks from Doomwork, Need For Mirrors & More

40 DJ Times Marketplace

Shop Here for All Your DJ-Related Supplies

41 Club Play Chart

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

4

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

SAMPLINGS 8 Adrian Lux

From Modeling to Music

10 In the Studio With…

MK

FROM THE EDITOR

editor-in-chief Jim Tremayne jtremayne@testa.com editor-at-large Brian O’Connor boconnor@testa.com

Miami 2012: Another Year of Madness As we head down to the 305 for this year’s DJ- and dance-industry bacchanalia, we’re thrilled to see a newfound degree of cooperation—i.e., Winter Music Conference and Miami Music Week (highlighted by Ultra Music Festival) overlap enough that we can participate in both on the same trip. Thanks, folks… the two trips last year were expensive.

Of course, DJ Times will be there in a big way with booths at WMC and UMF, plus we’ll participate in a pair of WMC sessions—as panelist on the “PR & Social Media” panel on March 20 and as moderator on “Featured Q&A: BT” on March 23. Additionally, DJ Times is proud to serve as media sponsor for the SMOG vs. Basshead event on March 22 at Mekka, featuring some of bass music’s biggest names. We’re looking forward to hitting the two new venues—WMC’s Beachplex and UMF’s Bayfront Park—and meeting new people during this year’s Miami Experience.

In addition to his headlining duties for the SMOG vs. Basshead party, 12th Planet serves as this month’s cover boy. As dubstep has moved to the front of EDM consciousness in recent months, it would be a mistake to think of 12th Planet (aka John Dadzie) as a newbie. No, he’s been a believer since 2006 and he’s made great contributions to the genre’s growing culture—from DJing to productions to events. We caught up with him at a pair of gigs—in NYC and Athens, Ga.—to discuss his story and the genre’s rise.

Back into the world of groove-oriented club music, our Innes Weir connects with Marc “MK” Kinchen, who discusses how he transitioned from underground house music to radio-friendly R&B and back. Additionally, Natalie Raben sat at New York’s Pacha with ex-model Adrian Lux, who explained how he transitioned from in front of the camera to behind the DJ decks.

On the mobile front, our Business Line column offers tips on creating demand for your DJ service, while the Mobile Profile takes a look at Craig Dunn, a Texas jock who juggles mobile events with club gigs in a city best known for live music. Also, in “It’s the Economy, Stupid,” Jeff Stiles surveys America’s mobiles and finds that some are enjoying a rebounding market, while others still must devise methods to boost business.

In Making Tracks, our resident analog freak Phil Moffa does his duty by reviewing Tempest, the latest drum machine from Dave Smith Instruments. (Wipe that drool, Phil.) And in Sounding Off, our audio guru Mike Klasco puts the Peavey IPR 3000 power amp through its paces, while Denver DJ Wesley Bryant-King handles Native Instruments Kontrol S2.

Back in my day, when you went to a rock concert, you’d often arrive early for the opening act just because, well, this was Columbus, Ga., and you took whatever you could get. But you’d arrive early and see an unknown Tom Petty open the show for Kiss or make the two-hour trip to Atlanta to see U2 open for the J. Geils Band. And there were times when you’d see the opener just blow away the headliner, as was my experience seeing Humble Pie support Atlanta Rhythm Section or Cheap Trick take the stage in front of Foreigner. In both occasions… not a fair fight. In the dance-DJ world, however, that’s not generally the deal. The warm-up DJ isn’t supposed to upstage the headliner. It’s poor form and it’s the wrong environment—it’s a party, not a competition. So we hope you enjoy our entry on the subject from up-and-coming U.K. jock Matt Weeks, who offers his considered advice on the matter. There’s more to it than one might expect. Enjoy.

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

Cheers,

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Jim Tremayne Editor, DJ Times

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 Natalie Raben Scott Rubin Jennifer Shapiro Nate Sherwood Jeff Stiles Emily Tan Phil Turnipseed Curtis Zack Innes Weir President/Publisher Vincent P. Testa

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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. djtimes.com and www.testa.com April 2012

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FEEDBACK

Winter nAMM WrAp-Up: the LAtest DJ GeAr AmericA’s First mAgAzine For ProFessionAl DJs estAblisheD 1988 MARCH 2012

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O Canada!

Drama at the DJ Battle

DEAR DJ TIMES, How do I get nominated for the 2012 America’s Best DJ vote?

AmOn TOBin’s

media massive

– Many Emails from Many DJs

How DJs Populate Their sites With Content

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PLUS: * Dave Clarke * Year-End Festivals * Nero * Mixed In Key 5 * Stanton’s SCS.4DJ * Marketing Your Biz to the Reptilian Brain

2/1/2012 5:23:54 PM

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 was just wondering what, in your opinion, are the best mixers to use with turntables.

Thank you.

– Jose Castro, Montebello, Calif.

JOSE, We’ll assume that you’re interested in the basic mixer/turntable combo (apart from a DVS like Serato Scratch Live or one of the various Traktor programs).

So having said that, it’s really a matter of choice for any jock who still wants to use the old-school approach to DJing.

Although many DJ-industry manufac‑ turers have discontinued some of their scratch models, almost every mixer company still makes something for the DJ who wants to use two turntables and a mixer.

Of the major turntablists rocking the decks these days, you’ll see many of them using the Rane TTM-56S, the Vestax PMC-05ProIII VCA, the Rodec Scratchbox, or the Pioneer DJM-909 models—not to mention any number of out-of-production “legacy models.”

But, depending on your budget and your taste, you can find plenty of solutions from American Audio (like the Q-D5 mkII), Behringer (like the VMX200), De‑ non DJ (like the DN-X-120), Ecler (like the HAK 380), Gemini DJ (like the PS2), Numark Industries (like the X5), Stanton DJ (like the M.203), and Technics (the SH-EX1200—if you can find one).

Happy hunting!

– Jim Tremayne, DJ Times

The best way to get nominated for the 2012 America’s Best DJ vote is to have a résumé of genuine accomplishment.

Remember, there are only 100 jocks that get nominated, so (unfortunately) each year some very talented people, in our estimation, don’t quite make the cut. We

arrive at that chosen number—100—so that we intentionally avoid any issues of ballot-stuffing from relatively unknown/ unaccomplished jocks.

DJ Times chooses the nominees each year and the genuine accomplishments we’re looking for include: impressive music sales; popular remixes; influential contri‑ butions to DJ culture; live-gig demand; or legendary status.

Each year, when considering the America’s Best DJ Top 100, we automatically drop

the previous year’s bottom 20 vote-getters and, in some years, we drop many more.

Some jocks fall off, some jocks step up— it’s the nature of the game.

We’ll announce the 2012 America’s Best DJ Top 100 at the end of May, just in time for Detroit’s Movement festival (May 2628), which will kick off the America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Presented by DJ Times & Pioneer DJ. Stay tuned at americasbestdj.net.

SAMPLINGS It’s become clear by now that the Swedes are taking EDM by storm, and the latest addition to the ranks is Adrian Lux. The model-turned-DJ/producer—aka Prinz Adrian Johannes Hynne, 25—began his career behind the decks rocking reggae and hip-hop parties. But soon enough, he’d begin to make huge waves with club bangers like 2010’s “Teenage Crime,” which enjoyed support from the world’s top jocks.

Additionally, he gained dancefloor traction with “Eagles,” a collab with Dutch fave Sander van Doorn. More recently, he’s released “Alive,” a catchy cut with electro-pop act The Good Natured out front, and “Fire” (featuring Lune), a smooth,

soon. What should fans expect?

Lux: It’s basically just more of me, so I hope you’re going to like the rest! I worked more with Linea who sings on “Teenage Crime” and And Then, the singer from “Eagles.”

I’ve also worked a ton with my girlfriend who is Rebecca from [Swedish DJ duo] Rebecca and Fiona. Of course, there are going to be a few more surprises, but that’s all I can say right now.

DJ Times: Your tracks tend to be complemented by female vocalists, any plans on branching out to the other side?

Lux: That’s true. I think my tracks fit very well with a female vocal, mostly because I’ve gotten used to that. So if I’m using a male vocal for a song, it’s got to sound sensitive, which is not an easy thing to create. The album has two songs like this that are really strong—two really good male vocals.

DJ Times: What does your studio look like?

Lux: Right now, I have an electronic drum set, the Roland V-Drums, which is perfect for making those big Phil Collins fills! I also use a MacBook Pro laptop—so rare for DJs, I know—with two monitors. I actually use these weird analog synthesizers by Korg, called Kaossilator Pro, that I make a lot of beats on. For me, the mic is the most important thing in the studio since it’s used to record all of the guitars and vocals, which is what I build all of my songs from. Right now, I am using two different types of Neumann mics—one TLM 103 and one U 67. The pre-amps I’m using are either the Calrec or the UA LA-610, both great pre-amps.

DJ Times: Give us a snapshot of your production process.

Lux: [Laughs] When I’m making a good song, each time, it’s almost always a guarantee that I will approach the process in a new and different way. It can either start from something I wrote, or something someone else wrote on another track—we can call them incidentals. Since you cannot calculate how to make a good song, it always has to come from somewhere and something unexpected. This keeps it fresh, so it will always be new. Granted, since much of what I do is based on these incidentals, it’s not easy and I can’t just wake up one day and say, “Well, there better be some good incidents happening today!”

DJ Times: So tell us about “Alive” and what incidents came together to make that single happen.

Lux: A good friend, Patrick Berger, who is a songwriter, and has made songs for Robyn, another Swede, had been working with this band, The Good Natured from the U.K. Since I am close to Patrick, he always asks me for tracks.

“Alive” was something that I had given him that he had shared with The Good Natured, which they had apparently played around with in the studio. I guess you could say this is one of those “weird incidents.”

DJ Times: Final thought—modeling or DJing?

Lux: DJing! Modeling is so exhausting.

– Natalie Raben

ADRIAN LUX: MAKING MOVES

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

Studio Swap: Lux left modeling to DJ & produce.

8

vocal trancer with whooshing synth rushes and plenty of tingle. Expect to hear it on his upcoming artist album on Ultra Records.

We caught up with Adrian Lux this past winter at Pacha in New York City.

DJ Times: Between you, Avicii and The Swedish House Mafia, the Swedes are taking over EDM. What’s the story there?

Adrian Lux: Sweden is such a small country where everyone kind of helps each other out. It’s such a small, tightknit community there, so if we end up playing each other’s songs and making great remixes, I think that is what ends up being the recipe.

DJ Times: “Eagles,” the collaboration you did with Sander van Doorn, which was released on Sander’s Eleve11 CD, has been a huge track for you both. Whose idea was it?

Lux: Sander first contacted me because he played “Teenage Crime” a lot and even used it in his Dusk Till Doorn compilation, so he wanted to work together to create something like that, that would actually be more personal for him. He sent some songs over, we pitched back and forth, and even ended up working with And Then as the singer, another fellow Swede.

DJ Times: You’ve had some singles success, especially with “Teenage Crime,” but you’ve got your artist album due

IN THE STUDIO WITH

MK: HOUSE MASTER

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

MK’s Top 5

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1. Storm Queen: “It Goes On” [Environ] 2. MK: “Burning” (Round Table Knights Remix) [Defected] 3. Creep: “You” (MK Hot Tub Dub) [Creep Int’l] 4. Audiojack: “Polka Dot Dress” [20:20 Vision] 5. Jamie Woon: “Lady Luck” (Franky Rizardo Edit) [Candent/Polydor]

Loved as much by underground garage heads as he is major-label pop stars, Marc “MK” Kinchen remains one of U.S. house music’s living legends.

Raised in Detroit, MK earned his production stripes under the tutelage of Kevin Saunderson, went on to DJ around the globe and release a slew of seminal ’90s club classics, like his mid-decade mix of Nightcrawlers’ “Push the Feeling On.” His era-defining dance-dub remakes have, arguably, been even more influential than the artists he’s helped along the way.

Since his original blowup in clubland, he’s worked as an in-house producer for the likes of Pitbull and Will Smith, but his influence on deep-house lovers has never waned. Indeed, with recent gigs across the European continent—including the Defected Party at Amsterdam Dance Event— MK has returned to the DJ booth, dropping his classic sounds and tunes from producers of the moment.

As Defected was dropping a mouth-watering new collection of DJ-friendly cuts—Defected Presents House Masters: MK—we caught up with the L.A.-based Kinchen to discuss older tunes and newer gear.

DJ Times: Your production sound has always been closer to NYC garage than Detroit techno, but why do you think it is that so much talent has emerged from the Motor City?

MK: You might be better asking a sociologist! That’s a big question that deserves a big answer but, in brief, I think when you have what used to be a very healthy industrial city, people from everywhere end up migrating there for work and that creates a cultural melting pot. Everyone needs their social outlets, music is the universal language and dancing is a great way to let off steam. Maybe the proximity to Chicago is a factor, too, with so much music coming from there, but Detroit already had Motown, so it was natural for it to become a musical hub for R&B, soul, pop, roots and eventually more dance-orientated stuff. Industrial and alternative-leaning dance slowly became the sound of techno and it’s just kept on morphing from there. Detroit music always sounds fresh.

DJ Times: Where do you think the U.S. dance scene is at right now anyway?

MK: In America, dance culture is a lifestyle for some, but more of a leisure-time activity for most. I do think we are catching up with Europe on that, though, and things always go round in cycles. With great EDM festivals and clubs like EDC, Electric Zoo and Ultrafest leading the way, it can only get more and more popular here and the lines are definitely blurring. House is dance, dance is now pop, hip-hop has dance elements, and so on.

DJ Times: What’s the secret behind a good remix? And, push comes to shove, which remix are you most proud of?

MK: The mix I’m most proud of is still Nightcrawlers’ “Push The Feeling On” because it had all my favorite remix elements crammed into one, and the world seemed to love what I put into it, too. In terms of remixes in general, I try not to think about what other people may like; if you think about it, you can try to get inside of millions of people’s heads or take the easy way and just do what you know you like yourself. Sometimes I have to remix songs that I’m not really in love with, so I try to change key elements of the track to get into it and I’ve found that creating my own “MK Dub” works 100-percent of the time—that’s when I edit vocal pieces to create a new melody or hook that becomes the main part of the remix.

DJ Times: Give us a breakdown of the DJ equipment you’re using these days.

MK: I use Traktor Kontrol S4 with Traktor Pro 2 by Native Instruments. I also use my MacBook Pro 15-inch and sometimes I use Maschine synced with Traktor and make live tracks while I DJ. As for mixers, most clubs have the Pioneer DJM-900, so I just plug my S4 into that and go.

DJ Times: Any other gadgets, for studio or DJ-booth, that have impressed you?

MK: Traktor Kontrol S4 and Maschine, no question. Even when I make songs at home, I use the S4 to DJ and lock Logic to it and produce records at the same time. It helps to make sure I stay in the flow and it’s very cool to be able to make tracks that way.

DJ Times: Any advice for aspiring DJs out there?

MK: If this is really, really what you want to do, try to surround yourself with people who are passionate about your talent. Also, try to find people that you know you can trust and aren’t just into partying. Follow your heart and just keep believing—it never happens overnight.

– Innes Weir

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THE KING’S TOUR 12th Planet, L.A.’s Original Dubstepper, Takes His Act to the American People

By Jim Tremayne

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

Athens, Ga.—Overlooking a typical downtown-Saturday-night street scene from the Georgia Theatre’s rooftop bar, it was hard not to entertain a degree of irony.

Why? In a couple hours, this newly rebuilt venue—in a town known for its longtime devotion to traditional musicianship and all things rockn-roll—would be a sold-out madhouse for an EDM event, a dubstep show no less. What a difference a generation makes, right?

But the “Mothership Tour” had hit town, so just over 1,000 Athenians—many of them University of Georgia students on Winter Break—were ready to rage to the sub-bursting sounds of Skrillex, 12th Planet, Two Fresh and Nadastrom.

And rage they did. Up third on the bill, 12th Planet warmed up the Grammy-grabbing headliner with a set that leaned a little more hip-hop than his often-devastating dubstep flavors. No matter, he worked the crowd into a proper lather. By the time Skrillex was finishing the evening with his punishing mix of Avicii’s “Levels,” the venue was in a full-on frenzy. With each seismic bass drop, fans pogoed, sweat flying off their heads, hands and fists shooting skyward. Girls were screaming like it was a Beatles concert. Genuine madness.

At that moment, I pointed to the heaving squall of humanity and asked a bartender, “Ever seen anything like this in here?”

She paused for a second and, with an unconvincing shrug, offered, “Well, it gets crazy in here for Widespread Panic…”

“This crazy?” I counter, not letting on that I’m a former Athens resident. “I find that hard to believe.”

But one does suspect that, these days, there are many more “rock towns” that have begun to evolve and similarly embrace the bassquaking sounds of dubstep. It’s truly a moment of cultural shift. And while Skrillex may be getting most of the attention and scooping up the trophies along the way, it’s his old L.A. pal 12th Planet (aka John Dadzie) who’s taking his music to the people with an equal fervency.

Fact is, of all the current L.A.-based dubstep DJ/producers, 12th Planet was the one most ahead of the game, shifting from drum-n-bass (when he was known as Infiltrata) to the emerging subsonic genre back in 2006. Since then, he’s released scads of singles, often collaborating with dubstep’s biggest talents (Skrillex, Rusko and Skream), and he’s been the face of SMOG, an L.A.-based dubstep brand, which performs music-label and event-promotion duties. Among other events, 12th Planet’s Dubtroit parties are among the genre’s longest running and most successful in America. Additionally, like several of the other top dubstep producers, 12th Planet was tabbed by Korn to contribute to their genre-crashing CD, The Path to Totality (Roadrunner).

Fast forward two months from Athens to NYC’s Webster Hall, where 12th Planet’s headlining a stop on his own multi-city jaunt, “The End Is Near Tour” (with support from Flinch, Kill the Noise and Kastle). Like the Georgia Theatre, the joint’s jammed and going mental to every wob-

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DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

ble, every drop, every familiar melody.

Big cuts from “The End Is Near” EP (Scion/SMOG), like the gut-quivering “Burst” (a Skrillex/Kill the Noise collab) and the anthemic title tune, connect in a big way. By the middle of 12th Planet’s set, it was hard not to look out at the floor and see something more than trendy fans getting their collective groove on—no, this was a room full of believers.

I never thought I’d feel old saying that I like techno, but these days, EDM’s most frantic energy is coming from bass-oriented music and

Rob Gee, RAW, Deacon, Tron—those were the first ones I had mix tapes from. Before that, I was listening to whatever was on Power 106 radio in L.A., people like Swedish Egil and Richard “Humpty” Vission and DJ Enrie—they shaped the foundation of electronic music in my head. Before that, I didn’t know what house music was.

DJ Times: So how did that music begin to get into your blood?

12 th Planet: When I was in the th 6 , 7th and 8th grade, my friends and I were having what we called “kick-

forward. At the same time, too, there was nothing like a Napster. You didn’t really know who made the music and there was no easy way that allowed you to share the music. And third, it was just too connected with the rave culture, which had a negative connotation. You had those “crackhouse laws” and everything. People just figured that everyone who listened to this music was on drugs, so it wasn’t going to be played on the radio.

DJ Times: How did you get into deeper, dubby sounds? Were you hearing the music coming out of

backs” and we’d just hang out at somebody’s house and listen to music—no booze or anything like that.

We didn’t have turntables, but we had recorded sessions of Power 106.

We’d play that and just dance and try to grind on girls and stuff [laughs].

DJ Times: So how did you make the transition from even more underground house music and, eventually, to more bass-oriented music?

12 th Planet: I mean, house was my first idea of what this music was.

Then I got to high school. I went to this all-boys school called Loyola in the center of downtown Los Angeles, but everyone comes from all over—5,000 apply, 500 get in. It’s a big football school. Anyway, I was with all these kids listening to electronic music—way more than my previous school. I got into hardcore, then I got into gabber, then I got into jungle.

DJ Times: A natural progression, really. There was a moment back then when it seemed like drum-n-bass was going to take over, but it never really did. It always did well in L.A., but in only select areas in the States.

12th Planet: I think it didn’t take off nationally for three reasons. One, there was no social media at the time. There was no Facebook, Twitter or MySpace to push the music

South London?

12 th Planet: Yeah! When I was younger, I played guitar, bass, drums, and piano. I played in a lot of ska/reggae cover bands and a lot of punk and hip-hop/crossover bands, and I was always influenced by reggae culture.

Then I got into jungle and drum-nbass and that was heavily influenced by sound systems, and so I started producing drum-n-bass in 1999. I got really, really into it.

DJ Times: How so?

12 th Planet: I got professional about it in 2002—and by professional, I mean getting paid to play and produce. Then I started touring around Europe, so I was touring England so much from 2002 to 2006-2007 that I saw the natural development of dubstep. At first, it was just a side-room option. I think it was Zed Bias, Oris Jay and this group Slaughter Mob. I heard them DJ, and I said, “What is this music? It sounds like slow drum-n-bass.” It wasn’t until [BBC Radio 1 DJ] Mary Anne Hobbs came out with her “Dubstep Warz” show that everything clicked.

DJ Times: Why has bass-oriented music taken off so much now in the States?

12th Planet: I think a large part of it—maybe 60-percent—is because of

“I try not to pay attention to the blogs or message boards because it kind of bums me

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

out.”

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its youth-dominated circle of events.

Whether it’s Starscape in Baltimore or Bassgasm in Minneapolis, the kids are having it. The genre belongs to them. And, crucially, there’s a deep well of DJ talent—like 12th Planet— making investments in the genre’s very promising future. Dubstep, it seems, ain’t going away anytime soon.

We caught up with 12 th Planet in Athens and Manhattan—it went like this.

DJ Times: You just flew in today to re-join the “Mothership Tour.”

How was last night’s gig?

12 th Planet: Last night, I was at Beta in Denver for my first sold-out show there. I play that market a lot— it’s the biggest dubstep/bass-music market in America—so to finally sell it out meant a lot to me. The crowd was awesome. The energy was cool.

DJ Times: I saw some of the reviews on Facebook today. Seems like it really went off.

12th Planet: I couldn’t believe it, man. It was just one of those nights when everything worked.

DJ Times: OK, so let’s get into your beginnings. You were very much a part of that crazy L.A. rave scene, right?

12 th Planet: Yeah, that was, like, 1997. I was into DJs like Ron D. Core,

social media. Then 40-percent of it is technology just getting better. I mean, 15 years ago, you didn’t have, like, Native Instruments synths like MASSIVE, RAZOR, REAKTOR. You didn’t have access to such things that made such cool sounds. Back then, in order to make those kinds of noises, you had to buy a sampler, learn how to use it, get a mixing board, hook it up, have a big $3,000 compressor, you know?

Everything was basically off-limits to people. In order to get into this stuff, you had to have 15 grand.

DJ Times: Now that more people have access to technology, they’re embracing it and, eventually, the cream rises. You must get bombarded with new music, right?

12 th Planet: It’s gotten to the point where I’ve had to turn off AIM and iChat just because I was getting flooded. I’d go away for a week and just leave on AIM, and when I got back, my hard drives were loaded.

It’s just impossible to go through all that music.

DJ Times: It seems like this generation of kids is a little more openminded about music and embracing many of the genres and subgenres.

Wasn’t always like that. Do you see that, too?

12 th Planet: Yeah, it’s become such a big melting pot. It’s just about kids having a good time. A lot of the same kids who listen to dubstep or drum-n-bass also listen to Metallica or Britney Spears or Katy Perry or whatever, and this tour’s a prime example of what’s going on. If you listen to my set, I’ll play a dubstep song, then the next track will be Waka Flocka Flame and the whole crowd will sing the lyrics, then I might play a moombahton song and the crowd’ll know that one. It’s like there’s no genre classifications. It’s the same thing with the set from Skrillex. He’ll play 15 minutes of each genre as his whole set for 90 minutes. He’ll play a Notorious B.I.G. song and everyone will sing along. This is Skrillex, king of EDM… DJ Times: Oh, I always hear him play a big hip-hop tune, like “Move Bitch”…

12th Planet: Yeah, he’ll do a Ludacris tune. And it’s so mind-blowing that the same guy who can play a drum-n-bass tune can get the same reaction from a Ludacris record.

DJ Times: Obviously, Skrillex’s success has helped everyone and, with all his glowing public statements, he’s certainly helped shine a spotlight on you.

12th Planet: Oh, man… It’s funny because I brought him out for one of his first performances. But it wasn’t as a DJ—it was at a singer.

DJ Times: Yeah, saw that on YouTube. “Father Said” at Avalon in L.A., right?

12th Planet: Yup, we did that and I brought him out to sing for Electric Daisy Carnival 2. It’s crazy… this whole rocket from October to October. He started the Deadmau5 tour in October 2010, then his EP came out, now he’s headlining his own tour. We’ve done 106 shows in 52 days, something like that. The rise from him singing on the track “Father Said” to having him give me the track, “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” and me debuting it at Electric Daisy that day he finished it—it was called “FM8” at the time—it’s just mindblowing. And now, he’s getting nominated for five Grammy Awards—it’s just crazy.

DJ Times: Let’s talk about your gear choices.

12 th Planet: My DJ sets consist of two Pioneer CDJ-2000s and a Pioneer DJM-800 or DJM-900 mixer, whatever is available. I prefer the 900 because it has this white-noise button on it and I like the positioning of the reverb—it’s closer to the filter and echo and delay. Those are the three effects I use. It also has this touch-sensor that the old Roland Juno synth had—you can change the parameters of the effects right there with a touch. I just like showing up to gigs without plugging in a laptop.

DJ Times: No thumbdrives?

12th Planet: It depends. Like tonight, I know for a fact that we have CDJ-2000s, so I’ll use thumbdrives.

But if you’re going in blind, I’ll burn CDs just in case.

DJ Times: Give us an idea of your evolution as a producer.

12th Planet: I started with a Yamaha keyboard, an MPC 2000, a 4-track recorder and a microphone. [His cell phone rings; he looks at the incoming number.] Oh shit, it’s [Korn’s] Jon Davis! [laughs] So anyway, then I bought a computer when I realized I could record the MPC beats into the computer.Then I realized I didn’t need the MPC—I could just make music onto the computer.

DJ Times: So what software did you use?

12th Planet: I think I started with FastTracker, then ReBirth, then I used Fruity Loops for about three years.

Then I switched to Logic—and now it’s seven years with Logic.

DJ Times: No hardware anymore?

12th Planet: I still own an E-MU 4XT—that was my sampler for a long time—but I don’t use it anymore. I have a Roland JP-8000 synth—I still use it. I still use my Access Virus TI Snow. I have a Yamaha MOTIF6—I still use it. But my main production is a 12-core Mac Pro desktop. I use Logic,

Ableton Live, every plug-in I can get my hands on.

DJ Times: What’s your favorite sound?

12th Planet: Any kind of manipulation of the saw waveform in Native Instruments’ MASSIVE. DJ Times: OK, speaking of Jonathan Davis… You’ve done a lot of collaborations. What was the process like working with a fully realized band like Korn?

12 th Planet: Me and Flinch, we produced that track “Way Too Far,” and we kind of went in blind. I met J.D. at Coachella and Korn was playing a song in Skrillex’s set. I went on before Skrillex, so I met them backstage. They were all like, “Yo! We’re into your music! We’d like for you to make a song for our new record.”

I thought it was going to be part of a one-off, not a full album, but they were serious. They sent a car, said that we’d be working for three days.

DJ Times: How’d it go?

12 th Planet: I was working with their engineer Jim Monti and it was magical! When I was in 8 th grade, I was a big Korn fan. I have all the records that came out between my 8th and 12th grades. So I just went into the thing with the concept of making a Korn record, but dubstep. But, if you notice, my track—compared

to the other tracks—mine is more rock-influenced.

DJ Times: In the past few years, a lot of EDM talent has moved to L.A. There’s a very supportive club scene and just a lot of music of all dance genres coming out of there these days. What’s the vibe like for you, a native Angelino?

12th Planet: It’s kind of like a big party. Everyone’s always in town. It’s like, for example, on Monday Datsik will be in town. On Tuesday, Excision will be in town. On Wednesday, Skrillex is back from tour. Thursday, I’m back in town. Friday, Diplo’s back.

There’s a lot of collaboration going on, like, Usher will come over, and there are all these different opportunities.

DJ Times: Sounds pretty crazy.

12th Planet: But at the same time, all the people who have made the commitment to moving to L.A. to pursue their careers have also been established DJ/producers. Everyone’s always gone and in those rare occasions that everyone’s back, it’s magical and all these collaborations happen. L.A.’s just got good weather and a good 100-mile-square radius to promote to, so all the club scenes are bigger for that reason alone. But I’m not there that much, maybe only a (continued on page 42)

OPENING CREDITS Advice for the Warm-Up DJ & Why the Club Benefits from Proper Support

By Matt Weeks

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

With everyone thinking they are the next Tiësto just because they own a pair of digital turntables and have downloaded the Beatport Top 100, the art of “warming up” for another DJ is being lost.

Fresh-from-the-bedroom DJs are turning up to club gigs thinking they’re already arena-headlining superstars. With minimal experience and plenty of poor judgement, they can turn a night upside down, and potentially damage their career before it has properly started.

London-based underground-house DJ Matt Weeks joins us this month to share some tips and advice, which should help you head in the right direction.

In just a few years, Weeks has built a reputation of being one of London’s more reliable and professional DJs. An experienced DJ playing regular main-room sets and festivals, Weeks has warmed up, handed over and/or followed some of the most respected DJs in the world, including Paul Oakenfold, Sister Bliss (Faithless), Ferry Corsten, Jody Wisternoff (Way Out West) and Sander van Doorn.

Playing the warm-up set can be very daunting, especially when you first start out. You’re accustomed to seeing things from a clubber’s perspective, with the place going wild and everyone having the time of their lives, not seeing the club empty with the bar staff starting their shifts.

You need to set the pace for the night and leave the floor wanting more. Go too hard too fast at the start and you will kill the night before it begins. Instead, it needs to be built just right and made ready for the following DJ to take it to the next level. (Note his list of opening-set selections.) However, if you turn up with an ego, just do whatever you want, and think you’re God, you will not get very far. Here’s Matt…

First off, you need to understand something—“Warm-up” isn’t just the name given to the first set. Look at the name; it says it all. Look at it like this: If you go down to the gym, you need to ease your way into it, build up slowly, ready for the session.

Transfer this to the dancefloor and you’re onto a winner. For a danceclub opening gig, keep the BPM low. It sounds obvious, but only too often have I turned up and the opening DJ is playing way too fast. For a warm-up house set, I tend to start around 123 BPM and, by the end of it,

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be on about 125 BPM. Obviously, this all depends on the night and style of music, but you get the picture.

Never, ever plan track-to-track. If you’re starting out, this can be hard. I am sure we are all guilty of showing up to our first gigs with a set track list and everything in order. You’re nervous and you want every mix to be perfect, but you will quickly become unstuck. So, you turn up—you know what you’re playing and it’s timed perfectly. You start your set and away you go.

During the set, the dancefloor starts to dwindle. They’re not feeling it and the music needs to go in another direction—it needs changing! You lose the floor and kill the vibe. You may have mixed perfectly, but who cares? At this point, the promoter certainly doesn’t.

As a DJ, you need to play for the floor, not at it. By all means, have an idea of what you want to play and know what tracks work well together, but be prepared to chop and change during the set. Preparation is key.

How I Do It: I plan mini-sets. When prepping as an opener, I’ll practice about three different sets for a gig, each with different tracks and a slightly different style—e.g., uplifting, moody or vocal. This enables you to chop around to what the floor wants, while at the same time playing with confidence, as you know the key tracks that mix well together.

As a DJ, you are there to make sure that the people on the dancefloor are having a good time, but you also have a responsibility to ensure sure the night is running smoothly.

Each DJ is booked because they bring something different to the table. You could find yourself playing before or after a DJ that plays a much different style from you or you could be following someone who hasn’t really got it right. So what do you do?

If you notice something isn’t right—it’s simple, talk! Recently, the DJ before me had the crowd going, but was playing extremely hard, pretty much a full-on, peak-time, techhouse set!

I was following him and, after me,

the headliner was coming on. The headliner was far from impressed—I won’t repeat the exact words. So, just from that simple conversation I knew what needed to be done.

I usually play a concoction of deep, driving house, so I decided to take over with my more driving tracks that also have a techy element about them. This was to ensure that I wouldn’t completely alienate the dancefloor when dropping the energy. A few tracks in, I took away the techy side and went for some more uplifting, deep-house tracks—I then had the platform ready to move things up in time to hand over. The headliner after me was playing a mix of house and techno, so I started to up the tempo a bit more, play some more energetic tracks, while throwing in some bigger tracks in the buildup to tease the crowd. I finished my set with a heaving dancefloor ready

for the “oooomph” and handed over to a very happy headliner—job done!

If you get in the habit of talking to the other DJs, you can often build a picture of how the night is going to go and get a rough idea of where to take your set. This can be particularly useful if the other DJs playing on the night have styles that differ somewhat from yours.

Simple Advice: If you’re playing in the bedroom and looking for your first gig, get out there in the clubs.You will be surprised at how much you can learn just by watching the DJs. And if you are booked, support the night and get involved—don’t just turn up, play and leave. Embrace the night. You’ll be surprised how much a bit of old-fashioned networking can help and where it can lead. Ultimately, it all comes down to experience, so get out there and get some—but don’t forget to have fun. n

1. Dope Jay vs Luca Lento: “Ibiza Generation” (Matt Weeks Remix) [1980 Recordings] 2. Luis Sastre: “If You Wanna” (Muzikfabrik Remix) [Hi Life Records] 3. Dan McKie & Allister Whitehead: “Prince of Wales” (Luca Lento Remix) [1980 Recordings] 4. Brendon Collins: “Summer” [Tulipa Recordings] 5. Unknown: “Mamboo” [Unknown]

DJ TIMES

Matt Weeks’ Opening-Set Selections

APRIL 2012

Matt Weeks: Start slow, build, play mini-sets.

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Some Mobiles Enjoy a Rebounding Market, While Others Must Devise Ways to Keep Their Bottom Lines Buoyant

By Jeff Stiles

IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID When a celeb client booked Philadelphia’s Silver Sound Disc Jockeys earlier this year to provide musical entertainment for a “Super Sweet 16 Party,” Paul Evans and staff went all out—and were rewarded generously for an over-the-top presentation.

Platform risers were placed on either side of the floor with a dancer on each. Four JBL Pro VRX line arrays were stacked above four Community VLF218 dual-18-inch subs to provide 10,000 watts of sound. A DMX lighting tech controlled a 30-foot-wide global truss loaded with six Martin Mac 250 moving head lights, eight Color Kinetics LED ColorBlast wash lights, four black lights, four American DJ H2O LED water effects, a Martin Atomic 3000 DMX super strobe, a hazer, a Chauvet Scorpion Storm FX laser, two confetti cannons, 24 Chauvet COLORado RGBWA LED uplights and a custom monogram via a Martin DC1.

“I provided a nightclub VJ with Beat Music videos all night, two video screens with rear projection, and two 50-inch plasmas on eight-foot stands providing four-corner visuals,” says Evans of the night. “A switching tech took charge of a joystick-controlled live cam—with two photographers feeding still images to him—switching all three sources and putting up titles and video clips effects.

“I also provided additional special services, helping the client to acquire lounge furniture and draping, plus a 37-foot balloon drop. Takeaway deliverables included a DVD of all our hi-res photos and an edited highlights video of the five-hour party for the superstar’s Facebook page.”

Grand total revenue for this 2012 Super Sweet 16 party? $9,000.

The impact on Evans’ bottom-line for the month and his reputation around the Philadelphia market? Priceless.

“Instead of raising prices, when I have to travel beyond my

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market I add a gas surcharge.”

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–Jerry Bazata

We ’re h e a r i n g l o t s o f reports during this year’s election cycle on how the economy is doing—or not doing—but mobile jocks from around the country are now reporting seeing a little light at the end of the recession tunnel.

In the Midwest heartland, Chuck Towns of Rock the Flock Productions in Neenah, Wis., says that, after several years of declines in income, things are finally headed in the right direction.

Latin DJ Raul Chiriboga of Ultrafonk Entertainment in Milford, N.J., says that, although more bridal couples have asked the “money question” upfront the past few years, he’s learned to steer consultation conversations back to the benefits of hiring his company—and as a result has been raising his rates every year.

And up in the Massachusetts/Connecticut market, M a r k A s h e re p o r t s t h a t there’s been on a steady incline in business for Marx Entertainment for the past several months. “Business is great and we couldn’t be happier,” he says. “We’ve worked too hard to build our reputation and won’t compromise the value of our services by reducing our prices.”

Paul Evans says his December 2011, January 2012 and February 2012 revenues were up by 10-percent over the previous year, with February lining up to be the strongest his company has ever experienced for that month.

“I sense a surge in the economy based on a feelgood index among my cus-

tomers,” he says. “People who never lost their jobs in the Great Recession are finally spending again, and some are even bingeing. After three years of holding back and saving, people want to party. They want to have signature events. They want to impress their friends and families—they basically want to have a good time again.”

Evans says his company today is seeing larger-thanusual wedding receptions with uplighting, monograms, photo booths, percussionists and other add-ons that couples weren’t willing to invest in the past few years.

“The DJs who have excellent presentation and reviews are moving up, while some of that is at the expense of the others who have been on cruise control of late,” he continues. “People are paying for top DJ-performers who they can book by name.

The business model where a company offers one price for all—and decides the week of the event who the DJ will be—is fading.

“The Internet and social networks have pushed the best DJs ahead, while mediocrity and worse have been exposed and punished to book at lower price points.

Buying decisions are based on online presentation and reviews to choose one DJ over another. At Silver Sound, the DJs compete to be considered; and once someone picks the DJ they want to work with, it’s up to him to close the contract.”

Selling add-on services is

something that’s also helping the bottom line of many in the Philadelphia market, as Evans says a lot of DJ companies are going full-service.

“Some companies are investing in warehouse space and/or impressive offices, while others are tuning up their websites,” he reports.

“Dancers, musicians, photography and video services are being offered, while projection screens, LCD display panels, trussing, furniture and draping are all coming into play. Simply put, whichever company makes it easier to procure these services gets the revenue, whether by an impressive bricks and mortar demonstration—via YouTube, Facebook, blogs, webpages or e-commerce— making the sales of the added services is fueling revenue growth at full-service DJ entertainment companies in the Philadelphia area.”

DJ consultant and business owner Jerry “DJ Jaz” Bazata up in Ogunquit, Maine, says he’s spoken with many mobile DJs from all over the country, and while West Coast DJs are struggling to find the right marketing and communication channels to win over new business, East Coast jocks continue to suffer through the price war between experienced DJs and bottom-feeders armed with a laptop and a Toys-RUs microphone.

This owner of DJ Jaz Music & Entertainment predicts several economic challenges that will face mobiles in 2012:

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Gas prices will reach alltime new levels, with the national average being $3.95 per gallon by May, just in time for prom and wedding season.

B o rrow i n g r a t e s w i l l begin to increase in the fourth quarter of 2012 as policy makers in the Federal Reserves see signs of inflation. Historically, when rates have started to increase it’s at a rapid pace coming out a recession.

Corporations will continue to curtail travel and entrainment expenses, and will instead use cash reserves for M&A, capital expenditures and new hires.

Consumers will continue to move towards purchasing based on value and not just price.

Recognizing these challenges, Bazata says he’s adjusted his business model by making several changes.

“Instead of raising prices for events, when I have to travel beyond my market I simply add on a minor surcharge for a tank of gas,” he says. “I’ve also included parking fees in major metropolitan areas, or ferry fees to get to an island off the coast of Maine. Clients understand this is a real expense and therefore are willing to pay the additional costs for my services.

“I’m also making purchas-

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es of equipment in the first half of the year, taking advantage of many of the competitive offerings on credit cards such as hotel miles or cash back. Home equity loan rates are still extremely active, for those who have one active, and the interest charged is still tax deductible.”

Bazata says he’s also evaluating much closer the onslaught of search engines for event planning in light of the over-saturation of sites such as The Knot, Wedding Wire and Wedding Planner.

“I’m investing marketing dollars in improving the grassroots communication of my services by dealing directly with those event planners, facilities and business partners such as photographers and caters who can proactively drive business to me by referrals,” he explains.

“If I look at the breakdown of booked business in 2012, 70-percent resulted from direct business-to-business referrals, past clients and centers of influence, 20-percent directly from people viewing my website through a Google search, and 10-percent from advertising on a wedding site.

“I’ve learned that DJs across the country are experiencing the same types of results, and in comparison they are spending the most marketing dollars on the one advertising category that is yielding the greatest results.”

D o w n i n C e n t r a l O rlando, Fla., JR Silva of Silva Entertainment reports that business is slowly improving,

although many customers seem to be waiting until the last minute to pull everything together—as if they’re shopping around and making sure they don’t rush into something they cannot afford.

“The clients who already have a certain vision for their event are the ones who seem to have the correct budgets in,” says Silva, who in 2012 is celebrating his 25th year in business.

“These types of event planners are serious about getting things locked down and moving forward. That’s my kind of client, because they understand they’ll be able to enjoy their event so much more because they’ve gotten everything done in time so they can relax and enjoy themselves.

Silva confirms what Bazata up in Maine has observed.

“I continue to see more and more new startup mobile DJ companies, so there’s a saturation and pricing reminiscent of what professional DJs were getting two decades ago,” he says. “The Knot has published that nationally the average DJ for a wedding can run $900, but I see and hear more quotes in the $500-$800 range.

“DJs down here in Florida with any experience and longevity seem to be moving away from promoting themselves as performers to focus on upselling. Lighting, video, dancefloors, photo booths— everything is fair game as they try to get business away from the other guy.”

As far as what he’s hearing from his customers, Silva says they’re as excited as ever to celebrate a wedding or bar mitzvah or Sweet 16, but they realize all these wonderful enhancements they’re seeing advertised on TV and in magazines can add up very fast. “ C l i e n t s a re e n j oy i n g more options,” he says, “but I feel that leads to much indecision and usually a personal discussion of what’s most important to the success of the event.”

Over in the Seattle market, Adam Tiegs of Adam’s DJ Service says they’ve managed to grow their business continually for the past four years—despite the ridiculous amounts of federal and state taxes he says they’ve been suffering under.

“I just wish that business was a little more steady where I live, but the Pacific Northwest is so seasonal,” says the Milton, Wash.-based Tiegs. “We have crazy-busy summers for weddings and great Decembers for corporate parties, but the rest seems slow and inconsistent, with gigs coming in spurts here and there. Pounding the pavement really helps, though: Joining organizations like Wedding Network USA, NACE, ISES and ABC have really helped us, and being a member of the ADJA doesn’t hurt either.”

As for the near future, Tiegs says his company will be cutting back on a lot of their online advertising, but that’s simply because he’s

thinking of downsizing and raising his rates.

“Our word-of-mouth and referral business does better than our advertising, but it’s all about relationships–not only building them, but maintaining them,” he says. “In addition to being involved on a regular basis with the associations I mentioned, I also visit our key vendor partners on a regular basis, participate in charity events and fundraisers, and we’re also involved with as many public events such as bridal shows, open houses, tastings and chamber functions.

“It’s also about being a great DJ, MC and entertainer. Be creative, have fun and enjoy what you do, right?”

Orlando’s Silva also suggests that brides who want veteran DJs understand they’ll need to pay a little more, but throughout 2012 he’ll still be focusing on hiring new DJs as well to expand his market share into the younger buyers and start the younger employees learning the ropes.

“Brides today who are more cost-conscious see the saturated market for what it is,” theorizes Silva.

“They seem to be gravitating toward simple McValue meal packaging, so entertainment companies need to group the sound, lighting and photo booth offerings into a nice affordable package.

“I just want our clients to see we can provide solutions, excellent entertainers and packages that fit their needs and budget.” n

APRIL 2012

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DJ TIMES

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MAKING TRACKS STUDIO…HARDWARE…SOFTWARE…

By Phil Moffa

Tempest: Result of a legendary combo.

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

TEMPEST: DRUM MACHINE OF DOOM

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Dave Smith and Roger Linn have a tremendous history in music-tech products.

Smith gave us some of the best-loved analog synths the world has known, from the 1977 Prophet 5 to his recent Prophet 08 and Evolver products, plus he was the prime mover in the creation of MIDI itself. Linn gave us the first sampledsound drum machines in the 1980s, the MPC beat boxes in the 1990s and the AdrenaLinn guitar processor in the 2000s.

This time around, they combined their talents— Linn’s drum-machine expertise and Smith’s analogsynth skills—to release t h e h i g h ly a n t i c i p a t e d Tempest, a performancebased drum machine with an unprecedented feature set that is guaranteed to turn heads and vibrate speaker cones across several genres of music.

Aesthetically speaking, the Tempest looks pretty amazing on the surface. There are various multicolored LEDs on the front panel with an emphasis on blue. The 16 pads all light up blue according to what they are being used for and the 256 x 64 dot OLED display is just stunning. Over 90 panel controls, buttons and knobs galore, come together to make this unit both programmable and playable.

At its core, the Tempest is a six-voice, analog drum machine. Each voice utilizes two analog oscillators and two digital oscillators as its raw materials. The analog oscillators have four waveshapes: saw, triangle, saw-tri, and a square with adjustable pulse width. The digital oscillators offer 400-plus samples, including lots of hits from Linn’s early drum machines and others, natural and processed drums, effects, noise sources and even looped waveforms from Smith’s Prophet VS synthesizer. The mixed oscillators travel through both a classic Dave Smith 2- or 4-pole lowpass filter and a highpass filter. So, even before the sounds hit the modulation parameters, there is already a universe of timbres possible.

Next, you get five envelopes that can be either AD or ADSR that are assignable to pitch, lowpass filter, amplitude, and two auxes that have many destinations. Two LFOs are available and assignable to all sound parameter destinations. Eight modulation paths can also be used for further

sound shaping. Here, 23 different modulators and various expression controls can also be assigned to affect a long list of modulation destinations. The sound-shaping possibilities do not end there, however.

Each sound also has a feedback circuit around the filters and VCA, and the main outputs are routed through stereo analog distortion and compression circuits before hitting the main volume knob.

The soft-knee distortion begins with a stereo highpass filter in front to prevent the lows from getting muddy and is further tamed by a lowpass filter at the end of its signal path to give it a guitar-amp speaker quality. The distortion sounds great and has a tasteful range from subtle to extreme. The compressor does its job well also and can be very useful at times.

A thorough mixer section is complete with level, pan, mute, and solo for each sound, plus a beat-synced delay send, implemented via a MIDI delay in order to keep the signal path pure analog.

On the back of the unit are stereo ¼-inch outputs, a headphone output, and individual outputs for each of the six voices. Thankfully, sounds can be easily routed to any output for multi-track recording and mixing. There’s also footswitch/expression inputs, MIDI In/Out, and USB, which at the time of this writing is not yet usable, but will be for backing up and loading sounds, beats, and projects.

“My design intent was to make a musical instrument for the performance of beat-oriented music,” Linn told me over the phone. This is accomplished by a unique workflow that permits you to create, edit, arrange and manipulate drumbeats and sounds without ever stopping playback, plus a deep feature set of performance and sequencing features. First off, the famed MPC-style, velocity sensitive, square rubber pads are conveniently located near the front of the machine and in an 8-x-2 arrangement for easier access to all fingers. The pads can have six functions: 16 Beats, 16 Time Steps, 16 Tunings, 16 Sounds, 16 Mutes, and 16 Levels. Most of these concepts are borrowed from the MPC way of programming.

With 16 Beats selected, each pad can select one of 16 programmed beats, and transitioning between them occurs either instantly, or at the next bar, ½-note, ¼-note, etc., boundary. This makes jumping between beats a breeze, without stopping the sequencer. Also, when in 16 Beats mode, the filters and other sound shaping knobs become global for tweaking the entire beat, a powerful feature indeed.

The 16 Time Steps function gives you a visual cue of where there are notes and where there are rests, a la the Roland x0x 16-step sequencing. The 16 Tunings function incredibly gives you 31 types of scales to choose from, from major and minor to various world music scales, and cleanly lays them on the pads with a matching graphical display on the screen.

The 16 Sounds function is the mode for designing and assigning sounds to pads. While here, you can easily load preset and user-stored sounds by category by turning soft knobs above the screen. The 16 Mutes function allows for quickly muting/unmuting the 16 sounds and 16 Levels gives access to predetermined velocities.

To the left of the pads are two velocity- and pressure-sensitive slide controllers that can be assigned to any of the sound parameter destinations available, per sound and per beat. Above the 16 pads are small buttons that engage Reverse, Roll, and Fixed Level. Reverse can be for individual sounds—even analog ones—or the entire beat. Roll is a stutter feature, again for both sounds and beats. Fixed Level has notes trigger at a fixed velocity. It is easy to copy and paste sounds and beats from one pad to another and without stopping playback, which is a major accomplishment from the software development perspective.

The swing of the machine is also selectable per beat and can be changed without pressing stop.

The Tempest is a true musical instrument, designed with performance and sound as its priorities. It succeeds in both departments, giving the user loads of expressive playing possibilities and the robust sound you’d expect from both of these giants. The Tempest is not a sampler, although I don’t think this is a deal-breaker by any means. There’re plenty of sounds available to keep you busy for a lifetime. With a street price of $1,999, it’s not for everyone, but for those who want the best, look no further.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE Yamaha’s new DXR/DXS Series active loudspeakers offer superb high-definition sound and class-leading sound pressure levels— in compact designs that provide a level of versatility and value unmatched by any speakers in their class today. With the perfect balance of raw power and innovative speaker technologies, you can depend on DXR/DXS Series speakers to deliver the full power of your performance at prices that everyone can afford.

2-way Full-Range Loudspeakers: DXR8, DXR10, DXR12 and DXR15

• Output Levels up to 133dB SPL with 1100W of power • Intelligent onboard 3-Channel mixer with flexible IN/OUT connectivity • Versatile design for front-of-house sound, monitors, instrument amplification, rigged applications and more

High-Power Subwoofers with Built-In DSP: DXS12 and DXS15 DXR8

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DXS12

SOUNDING OFF PLAYBACK…PRO AUDIO…PROCESSING

By Mike Klasco & Wesley Bryant-King

PEAVEY POWER & N.I. CONTROL

This month, we offer a double-dose. Our Bay Area audio guru Mike Klasco takes on Peavey’s IPR 3000 power amp, while Denver DJ Wesley Bryant-King reviews Native Instruments Kontrol S2 controller.

NI’s Kontrol S2: The S4’s capable sibling.

Peavey IPR 3000: Light weight, great sound.

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

Peavey IPR 3000

26

Having been involved in professional audio for longer than I might care to admit, I can tell you that Peavey Electronics has a long and storied career. In fact, the Meridian, Miss.-based company was one of the very first manufacturers companies to develop Class D switching amplifiers.

The company’s IPR Series puts this technology to good work, as it provides the combination of light weight, high output, good sound and low cost ($449 list). Peavey also offers its IPR DSP series—including the IPR DSP 3000 ($599 list)—which integrates signal processing. But, for this month’s Sounding Off column, we tested the IRP 3000 and skipped the signal processing.

First Look: Construction is clean and watts-per-dollar is amazing—under $400 street price with 440W x 2 channels into 8 ohms and 840W x 2 into 4 ohms. Bridged for a subwoofer into 2 ohms is 1640 watts. Mobile DJs get all this at less than 8 pounds!

If you tend to go overboard with power, Peavey has a very good overload protection circuit they call DDT. If you want to bi-amp and have another amplifier, then the IPR3000 has built-in, 2-channel fourth-order LinkwitzRiley crossovers.

Input/Outputs: Combination XLR ¼-inch inputs (combi), four-pole, twistlock output connectors and individual signal pass ¼-inch jacks on each channel. After my sniff test, I passed the amplifier to San Francisco-area DJ Tony Russo for field testing.

Here’s Tony: My first impression? Wow, is it light! If you’ve become accustomed to lifting heavy amps, this unit is awesome. Add that to the fact that this amp pushes 1,500 watts per channel (1,490W RMS x 2 at 2 ohms) and you have a great amp for a lot of uses.

At first glance, you see power button, volume controls and status lighting on the front. I used four Community SONUS 15-inch, 2-way speakers to test—and these are fantastic speakers. I plugged the amp in and cranked it up—and sound was great, actually too loud to go even close to 100-percent for the venue where I was spinning. Overall, the sound didn’t have great lows, but I wasn’t using a subwoofer, so that obviously had more to do with that than the amp.

I pushed those SONUS speakers hard and had no trouble with it at all.

Truly, the amp worked great. (It should also be noted that you can daisychain the amps, if needed.) Bottom line: Peavey’s IPR 3000 is an excellent amplifier for fixed or portable needs, but especially for you mobile jocks out there. Well done.

Native Instruments Kontrol S2

Over the past few years, Germany’s Native Instruments has continued to refine and expand its Traktor line of digital-DJ products. What was once a single software package has blossomed into a range of choices, supported by a growing line-up of hardware, including DJ-specific audio interfaces, as well as the popular Traktor Kontrol controller line.

Early last year, I had the opportunity to take the Traktor Kontrol S4 controller/audio interface for a spin on these pages and, in this review, I take a peek at the S4’s recently introduced little sibling, the Traktor Kontrol S2.

As the name suggests, the S2 is a twin-deck controller. Some of the other features have been streamlined as well, resulting in a list price roughly $300 under the more capable S4—lower enough to make the product within reach of a broader audience. So how does it stack up?

First Impressions: As one might expect, the S2 is physically smaller than the S4. But like the S4, the Traktor Kontrol S2 sports a slick, nicely designed, visually stunning appearance that’s consistent with the design-focused ethos that’s in evidence across Native Instruments’ product line.

While the primarily plastic construction delivers a lightweight, portable end result, the overall feel is still one of quality. Like its sibling, the S2’s center area has a high-gloss plastic surface that looks nice out of the box, but has the downside of showing every fingerprint, and not resisting scratches particular well over time. That is about its only design downside, however; the controls have a nice feel and the rotary encoders (jog wheels) have a nice, tight, balanced touch when you use them.

One surprising and somewhat disappointing design choice in my view is the decision not to include XLR connectors for either master output or for microphone input. Most professional PA (and pro mics as well) utilize XLR, thus necessitating adapters in the field. (RCA is also provided for master out.)

At this price point, one might reasonably expect more I/O versatility.

Speaking of I/O, the S2 offers no external sound source support. Thus, if you need to connect CDJs or other outside signal sources, you’ll find the S4 to be a better choice.

Some aspects of the S2 seem to be improvements over the S4, while others leave me favoring the S4. On the upside, the track-load buttons on the S2 are located adjacent to the Browse knob—nice, logical and intuitive (vs. the S4’s positioning of these buttons well away from the knob—I always have to hunt for them even after hours of use). The S2 also omits the S4’s Filter knobs. (continued on page 42)

SC3900:

Scan this QR code to find out more about the SC3900

THE ART OF SOUND

DJing has progressed to a new era with the evolution of digital media. In a world that was once first dominated by vinyl, then CDs, and now the emerging USB and streaming devices, it’s time to revolutionize the DJ booth, because right now as a DJ you make a choice between DJing with a turntable, a turntable and software, or a CDJ/Controller. No one device has ever managed to give you the flexibility to choose depending on your performance, style or your audience.

That is, until now.

Denon DJ is proud to introduce the SC3900: Digital Turntable and Media Controller with 9-inch Active Platter. Utilizing a completely redesigned High-Torque Direct Drive Motor that accurately mirrors the feel of vinyl, the SC3900 brings home that familiar feel but with the choice of CD, USB, Software, or even a networked Media server as your source of tracks.

• Player Link function for sharing USB drives across multiple SC3900s (up to four) and for connection to ENGINE software (PC/Mac/iPad).

• Completely redesigned 9-Inch platter equipped with a brushless high-torque direct drive motor • Seamless switching between media source devices • Real vinyl platter mode with independently adjustable start and stop times • Built-In USB / MIDI control function • Built-In USB audio interface (ASIO / CORE compliant) • Hybrid MIDI mode included for DVS applications • Supports CD-DA, CD-ROM and audio playback from USB memory devices (AAC, AIFF, MP3, WAV)

Watch the SC3900 in action at youtube.com/denondjtv

USE IT. LIVE IT.

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MOBILE PROFILE CAREERS…INNOVATIONS…SUCCESS STORIES

TEXAN MIXES MANY DJ DISCIPLINES Double Life: Crazy Craig mixes mobiles with clubs.

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

By John Martin

28

Austin, Texas—As a mobile and club jock who’s also worked in radio, Craig Dunn coordinates competing agendas as well as any Middle East peace negotiator.

“With radio and club, everybody has a different agenda,” says Dunn, known professionally as DJ Crazy Craig. “In radio, they want certain songs played based upon what the labels want, and in clubs they want certain things played based on what they think will work. So it’s more constrained, and they have a certain demographic they want in the door, so you have to pay attention to music that’s breaking.”

Craig, who recently resumed a Friday and Saturday residency after a layoff of a couple years, has always prided himself on breaking new music (he was the first DJ in Austin to play “No Diggity” by Blackstreet).

“You have to rotate tunes to get people to the bar,” he says, “because, really, the owner can’t care less about the music—he cares about his customers and he wants to keep them there buying alcohol. So, as far as the differences between radio and clubs, there are lots of different opinions on what to do and often times they clash.”

One way to relieve that tension, he says, is to book a mobile gig. “I love programming the sets the way I like to, and at a mobile, people know what they’re getting, for my service anyway, because 95-percent of my gigs they’re referrals, or they’ve seen me at an event. I don’t do too much marketing

beyond the website, and even then I don’t get too many gigs because people have seen the website and taken a chance.”

A full-time software engineer, Craig also tries to reconcile two other worlds—geeky software and hip nightlife. “It’s been interesting trying to juggle the two worlds,” he says.

“It’s something that you have to really want to juggle. I can’t afford to not have the engineering side of things, because of the living it provides. It helps me to do additional things, gear-wise, that I wouldn’t be able to invest in with the money that I make from gigs. And I don’t want to let go of the club DJ side of things because, once you drop out of the scene for awhile, it’s tough to get back in. I’ve seen guys that tried to do that and it’s been very challenging for them to get back in. There are lots of up and comers, with new techniques and the

willingness to do a gig real cheap.”

It also doesn’t help any DJ’s cause that Austin is a live music Mecca. “In some cases, bands will frown upon DJs, and some clubs are really about supporting that lifestyle,” he says.

“There are clubs that do the dance thing, but they tend to not overlap with live music clubs. There really is a slant against DJs—they’re not regarded as well as live music players down here. If we had commercial artists down here, it would be different, because commercial artists rely on clubs to play music that radio will then pick up. But the local bands here are not getting radio play anyway, so they don’t need us, or want us DJs.” No matter, because there was far less regard for DJs when Craig started spinning in 1987. Collecting music because it was a passion not a vocation, he took to genres like oldschool electro and Latin freestyle. He

started spinning at his own birthday parties, and then friends’ parties, and eventually worked his way up to doing paying gigs.

“After five years, I realized I can make some reasonable money,” he says. “Once I started into Bang getting On: Party other realms of thepercussionist DJ world, like John Donovan. clubs, that set me into another direction, and then I was faced with overcoming, believe it or not, my shyness.

When I was young I was always really quiet, but at the club I had to be a whole different personality. I had to show some dynamics. I just had to go out there and do it, there was no other way around it, especially when you have a club that does contests— ‘Best Legs contests’ and that stuff, and all eyes on me sort of thing. It was rough at first, but once you get that first little bit through your system, it comes a lot easier.”

Less easy was spinning for nine hours, which “did take its toll.” And that’s where we return to the trusty mobile gigs. Being from Austin, with a huge Latin population, his Latin freestyle background helped. “I grew up around Spanish music—it’s a big thing in Austin,” he says. “So that’s one of my niches: I’m the white guy that plays Spanish music.”

So no surprise that 80-percent of Craig’s gigs are Quinceañeras (aka Latin Sweet 15 parties), where he’s able to cater to the adults who are into the Tejano music, as well as to the kids and younger people, who are into hip hop and dance music.

“There’s some crossover there,” he says, “with old-school classics, and some Latin freestyle. I get parents who were listing to Latin freestyle back in the day, and they’ll come out on the floor, and so will their children, who heard it while they were growing up because their parents would play it.

“So I can get multiple generations for that one style of music. That’s pretty cool, because you get such energy when they first hear that note, and they all scream, and no matter how tired you are, or no matter what’s going on in your life, that energy lifts you up. And that’s a great response to get as a DJ—and that’s why I continue to do it.”

THE DJ EXPO IS IN IT’S 22ND YEAR

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BUSINESS LINE SALES…MARKETING…SOLUTIONS…

ARE YOU CREATING DEMAND FOR YOUR SERVICE? HERE’S HOW.

By Miles Burke

Your corporate-party client loved your DJ service—great sound, fantastic uplighting, video remixes, the works—and they raved about it to their friends. The HR person even posted favorable reviews on her Facebook page. Yet, for some reason, the next time that company needed a DJ, they went with a competitor.

Why? What’s with the churn?

The authors of Demand: Creating What People Love Before They Know They Want It, Adrian J. Slywotzky with Karl Weber, believe that it’s about solving a puzzle—a “quirky combina-

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

Ask yourself: When users see your website, newsletter, or flyer, do they see themselves?

30

tion of anthropology, psychology, technology, design, economics, infrastructure, and other factors.”

The authors ask, first and foremost, are you a demand creator? Do you focus first on the behavior of people? Do you understand that we’re all ruled by inertia, skepticism, habit, and indifference? Finding creative ways to overcome these roadblocks is all part of the fun and challenge of the inexhaustible game of seeing and then bridging the gap between what people settle for and what they really want.

The authors argue that, historically, the demand creation process has produced an endless line of head-to-head match ups: Facebook vs. MySpace; Toyota Prius vs. the Civic Hybrid; iPod vs. Sansa; Eurostar vs. Air France; and, in your territory, your company vs. ABC DJs. In each case, consumers disproportionately demand one seemingly comparable product over another—not by a few percentage points, but by margins of five or even 10 to one.

Why? What makes demand differ so dramatically when the underlying goods or services appear so similar?

The authors found that demand is created by a special breed of person, with a number of unique insights. Recognizing the huge gaps between what people buy and what they

really want, demand creators use those gaps as the springboard for a process of re-imagination, which the authors refer to as the “demand way of thinking.” They re-imagine reality, and then they re-craft it. This is how products are created that your customers can’t resist and your competitors can’t copy.

The process includes several steps followed by all demand creators, and DJ business owners can benefit from them.

Make It Magnetic: The authors say that most of what enters the marketplace is good, yet it fails to create an emotional connection with customers. Not all DJ services are good, but let’s assume for sake of argument that all DJ services provide at least satisfactory service.

Demand creators begin with a difficult realization: very good doesn’t always translate to magnetic. These demand creators don’t stop developing their product until it’s absolutely irresistible, until it generates excitement. How amazing is your light show? Are you creating effects that add elegance and élan to your events that can’t be duplicated? When it comes to creating demand, it’s not the first mover that wins; it’s the first to create and capture the emotional space in the market.

Fix the Hassle Map: The hassle map, simply stated, is a way of describing the fact that most of the products we buy are flawed. They waste time, or money, or the instructions are unclear. We rarely get to enjoy everything we want: “Greater simplicity and more choices, enhanced automation and personal service, improved quality and lower prices. But herein lies enormous opportunity for the demand creator. Mapping the hassles that dominate so much of daily life, and then figuring out how to fix them, provides the path to explosive potential demand.”

What’s the hassle map of a DJ client? Track it from the beginning of your interaction with the client to the end, and try to locate where you might have failed. What was the stress level of your client, and where did it exist? Start there and opportunity will blossom.

Build a Complete Backstory: One way of tackling the hassle map is to understand that what we don’t see, according to the authors, can make or break the product. As many demand creators have discovered, it’s not enough to have 90-percent of the backstory in place, until the backstory—that is, everything that occurs in the warehouse, on the telephone, and elsewhere before the gig—is truly complete, demand simply doesn’t happen. Demand creators connect all the dots needed to fix the hassle map of the customer.

Find the Triggers: The biggest obstacles the authors cite to creating demand are inertia, skepticism, habit, and indifference. “Most people who hear about a product remain fence-sitters, unready to buy and stifling the growth of demand until something moves them to act—a trigger.”

Although it often takes even the best companies years to find the right triggers, great demand creators constantly search for them, always experimenting to find what turns fence-sitters into customers.

Have you every tried to get the backstory of your (wedding) client and used that to emotional effect during an event? That’s one example of a powerful trigger.

Build a Steep Trajectory: This aspect of demand creation applies to a product launch, which the authors believe is “merely the first step in a series of attacks upon the indifference of the market.” On launch day, they say, great demand creators jump into the next phase by asking (continued on page 42)

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Heavy Meta Sound Trends LLC 10601 Ne 110th Street Kirkland, WA 98033 (425) 691-8557 www.soundtrends.com New iPad app meta.DJ integrates with iTunes and allows users to perform using up to four digital devices at once—including Track Decks, which features cue/loop presets and automatic BPM detection; Drumtron, a drum machine with five different kits; SaMPL3R, which adds arpeggios, basses, chord tabs and other musical parts; and Looptastic, which is used for playing and mixing audio loops. Each device can be assigned four of the 15 available effects, including filters, gate, stutter effects, bitcrusher, flanger, glitchy repeater, delay, reverb, pan, compressor and pump.

Dynamic Duo Station American DJ Supply, Inc. 6122 S. Eastern Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90040 (800) 322-6337 www.americandj.com American DJ’s Duo Station two-in-one lighting controller is split into two sides—one is a basic three-channel RGB LED that controls basic functions like colors and chase speeds, and the other is an eight-channel Relay On/Off Switching system for activating and de-activating conventional effects. Both sides of the controller can work independently as each has its own separate outputs on the rear panel. The Duo Station system includes a Relay Pack and a 20-foot DMX cable to connect it to the control unit.

I’m Intro Something Good American Music & Sound 22020 Clarendon St, Suite 305 Woodland Hills, CA 91367 (800) 431-2609 www.americanmusicandsound.com Serato’s DJ Intro software is fully compatible with the Vestax Typhoon and VCI-100MkII midi DJ controllers. Available for free download off the company’s website, the software features a variety of effects, including delay, filter and reverb, as well as the Sample Player, which can play up to four short samples, audio loops, sound effects or full-length tracks while two other tracks are being mixed simultaneously. Additional, features include Serato Crates audio file management, cue points and iTunes compatibility.

Surface Wound

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

Smithson Martin Inc. 2283 Argentia Rd. Unit #22 Mississauga, ON L5N 5Z2 (888) 770-0757 www.smithsonmartin.com

32

The Kontrol Surface 1974 touch screen DJ controller includes four simultaneous touch points on its 22-inch surface and uses Emulator software to “merge and convert any software interfaces to multi-touch,” according to Smithson Martin. The KS-1974 comes with USB, Power and VGA cables, as well as a custom carrying back from UDG, a mini-display to VGA mac adapter and a screen cleaning kit. It is constructed in a fashion similar to “old-school mixers from the 1970s,” the company says, with chemically toughened glass and all metal and wood construction.

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

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Ready, Willing & Ableton Hal Leonard Corporation PO Box 13819 Milwaukee, WI 53213 (414) 774-3630 www.halleonard.com Certified Ableton trainer Jake Perrine shares over a decade of experience teaching audio production and more than 20 years of making electronic music in Producing Music with Ableton Live, published by Hal Leonard. The book features a series of hands-on exercises that teach the reader how to create a track from start to finish, complete with audio content and screen-cast videos. The book also includes an appendix section that focuses on non-Ableton-specific topics, including digital audio basics, components of a producer’s studio and considerations when buying a DAW computer.

Off the Beaten Trak Digital Music Technology Ltd Rose Cottage Wirral CH63 4LB United Kingdom 0151 201 0692 www.iximix.com TrakProDJ is now available in a deluxe edition for iPad and iPhone. It connects to a Mac or PC via COREMIDI networking technology and features an updated interface that includes a current control states, VU meter readings, knob positions and more. TrakProDJ Deluxe Edition features a four-channel mixer, loop control, assignable crossfader and highresolution virtual jog wheels, faders and knobs. According to the company, “The app offers instant control of almost all aspects of Traktor Pro.”

Cable Knit Pioneer Electronics 1925 E. Dominguez Street Long Beach, CA 90810 (310) 952-2000 www.pioneerdjusa.com Pioneer has released three types of reference-quality audio cables that are “designed to achieve high noise resistance, provide increased dynamic range, and offer high reliability and durability.” The DAS-RCA020R RCA analog, DAS-DGC020R digital coaxial and DAS-XLR030R XLR each feature neoprene rubber that keeps the braided copper shielding in place for maximum suppression of noise. The RCA cables are made of highgrade copper and come with Collet chuck plugs, while the XLR cables have Neutrik plugs and four-core twisted wire.

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

Freedom Trail

34

Chauvet 5200 NW 108th Ave. Sunrise, FL 33351 (800) 762-1084 www.chauvetlighting.com Chauvet’s Freedom line includes two wireless fixtures, Freedom Par and Freedom Strip Mini. Freedom Par is a PAR can-style wash light with 198 5mm RGB LEDs in a manually adjustable array that is controllable in up to four sections. The unit functions as an uplight or mounted on a truss. Freedom Strip Mini is a linear wash light that’s equipped with 192 5mm RGB LEDs and works in master/slave mode. Both come with a lightweight and rechargeable lithium-ion battery that runs for eight hours, as well as the D-Fi2.4GHz, which acts as a transmitter or receiver for wireless DMX.

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Book Worm

Use Your Propellerhead

Globe Pequot Press 246 Goose Lane P.O. Box 480 Guilford, CT 06437 (203) 458-4500 www.globepequot. com

Line 6 26580 Agoura Rd Calabasas, CA 91302 (818) 575-3600 www.line6.com

New paperback title How to Start a Home-based DJ Business offers a stepby-step guide to starting an independent DJ business, covering all of the key steps such as creating a strong business plan, financing the business, and time management. Author Joe Shambro focuses on current trends in the music and professional sound reinforcement industries, as well as mobile DJ basics like live sound reinforcement, audio equipment purchasing and training. The book puts special emphasis on understanding the needs of the wedding market.

Propellerhead’s ReCycle program is now available in Version 2.2. This update is available free for registered owners of ReCycle version 2 or higher, or can be purchased from the company’s website. ReCycle Version 2.2 is a 64-bit compatible application with full support for Windows 7 and Mac OS X Lion operating systems, as well as major music software titles like Apple Logic, Avid Pro Tools, Steinberg Cubase, Cakewalk Sonar, Ableton Live, MOTU Digital Performer and Propellerhead Reason. It features a new online help system, as well as new key commands, workflow enhancements and a “completely overhauled” graphical user interface.

Gator’s New Padded DJ Bags are specifically designed to protect all the most popular brands. Our bags feature a bright orange interior for enhanced visibility in dark rooms, comfortable shoulder straps, and ample storage space for your accessories and gear.

NE W & Styles s e iz S

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

G-CLUB-KB CONTROL

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FROM THE EDITORS OF DJ TIMES

THE INSIDER

AMERICA’S MOST UP-TO-THE-MOMENT

NEWS AND INFORMATION

FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs & CLUBBERS To sign up, go to www.djtimes.com For sponsorships contact INSIDER @ 800.937.7678 or jrayvid@testa.com.

© Testa Communications

GROOVES TRACKS…MIXES…COMPILATIONS

“KINDLING”

u Adultnapper vs. M.A.N.D.Y. u Get Physical

the hips. For you house-heads, check out the “Flawed Mixes” 1 and 2. Overall, a brilliant dance creation.

– Phil Turnipseed QUANTUM BANG

“SAGAN” B/W “BROKEN”

u Blocks & Escher u Narratives Slammin’ d-n-b release. Check “Sagan” with its sick kicks and roaring synth stabs layered over crisp, delicate beats. On the flip, “Broken” gets more atmospheric with broken beats and an airy vibe.

u Crazy Kazoo u Heavy Artillery

– Jen Shapiro

Electro madness. “Rave Competition” with its groovy bass stands out, but also check the deep, proggy title cut and “Woody” for its smooth, rolling beats and coiled, distorted bass.

Adultnapper

“MERRT” EP u Dale Howard u Lost My Dog

– Jen Shapiro

This spacey, funky groover offers a gradual build, but a solid foundation. John Tejada’s remix pushes it a little later into the evening with some warmand-tingly moments. Techy delight.

COLUMBIA u Need for Mirrors u Metalheadz

– Jim Tremayne DJ-KICKS: THE EXCLUSIVES

u Various Artists u !K7

Opening with Four Tet’s buzzbomb “Pockets,” this collection from the famed mix-series should snap you to attention. Other winners: The Juan MacLean’s Moroder-ish Four Tet “Feel So Good”; Hot Chip’s typically catchy “My Piano”; and Kode9’s jumpy “You Don’t Wash (Dub).” But avoid Chromeo’s hurl-worthy Eagles cover.

– Jim Tremayne “THE DONGDAN” EP

u The Beijing Gang u Squirky Music With a cool blend of dub-reggae, house, traditional Far Eastern sounds and vocals, the EP manages to break ground and still move

Some tough tunes here. The title track crackles with d-n-b energy, while “Odd Future” slams with a steady kick. “Sharp Teeth” erupts with a ripping bass, but “D.F.T.F.” offers a chill vibe with killer vocal hooks courtesy of MC DRS.

For sheer house grooves, this five-tracker certainly has the right stuff—these deep, seductive basslines and active beats make the body rock.

The title cut’s “Ian Pooley Remix” should snag the most attention with its proggy, soulful vibe and gorgeous synths—a real gem. But don’t sleep on the rugged “Connection” and its full-on synth bass groove.

– Phil Turnipseed

– Jen Shapiro “RISE BEFORE ZOD” u

u Rebellion Deep, dark and moody, but intoxicatingly funky— this one offers a dirty, bouncy groove that grabs you and a seductive, hooky bassline that slays.

Check the “Acid Pauli Remix” with its dramatic chord work and deep ambient smoky vibe, but we love the “Shadow Dancer Remix” and its silky tech-house flavor and wicked rhythm—a real floor burner.

“BEDOUIN” EP u Jeremy & Walker u Vakant This juicy single drops a wicked blend of soulful tech-house and hypnotizing techno. Italian DJ/ producer Thomas Feriero drops a cool “Avatism Remix” that just bangs. Also, check “After The Eclipse,” which has already been getting play in underground sets. Wicked!

– Phil Turnipseed

– Phil Turnipseed

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

Download

Corner

38

Stimming

Doomwork

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 nextgeneration “record” stores (e.g. Beatport, iTunes, etc.).

“Cayta” (Original Mix) by GDX [Phlox]: GDX bucks the trend du jour by hyping up the BPM to 130, but never losing soul and deepness. Dusty effected vocals, swirling trippy pads accent the foundation of staccato analog bass and a syncopated house beat. Quality! Found at beatport.com “This” (Original Mix) by Doomwork [Street King]: Do funk and 303 acid squelches mix well? They do here in this bass-centric groove with resonant acid swells for inflections, and pitched-down vocals that pretty much sum it up—“hypnotic, fresh and funky.”

Found at beatport.com “The Song” (Original Mix) by Stimming [Diynamic Music]: Sometimes the beat and groove are truly secondary to a stirring spoken-word performance—fortunately, this track has both. The tech-house beat and ever-changing synth blasts perfectly accentuate the vocals and demand a complete listen from beginning to end. Found at beatport.com – Robert LaFrance

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DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

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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

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Compiled As Of February 29

National Crossover Pool Chart 1 David Guetta F/ Nicki Minaj Turn Me On 2 Erika Jayne Party People 3 Chris Willis Too Much In Love 4 Katy Perry The One That Got Away 5 Swedish House Mafia Vs Knife Party Antidote 6 Gloria Estefan Hotel Nacional (remix) 7 Rihanna You Da One 8 Deborah Cox If It Wasn’t For Love 9 Beyonce Countdown 10 Wynter Gordon Buy My Love 11 Taio Cruz F/ Flo Rida Hangover 12 Flo-Rida Good Feeling 13 Florence And The Machine Shake It Out 14 Enrique Iglesias F/ Pitbull & Wavs I Like How It Feels 15 Coldplay Paradise 16 Kristina Korban This Is Your Night 17 Emii Stilettos 18 Body Lingo Yum Yum 19 Britney Spears Criminal 20 Linda Clifford How Long 21 Anjulie Brand New Bitch 22 Candi Lynn Lunatics 23 Kelly Clarkson Stronger 24 Dev And Enrique Iglesias Naked 25 Rihanna F/ Calvin Harris We Found Love 26 Route Too Far Night To Remember 27 Jes Its Too Late 28 Penny Foster Castles 29 Laura Michelle Pose 30 Benni Cinkle Can You See Me Now 31 Jessie J Domino 32 Andres Cuervo Love Love Love 33 Chris Lake Sundown 34 D’Manti Tonight 35 Brunette Who The Hell 36 Tonite Only We Run The Nite 37 Lucas Prata F/ Lenny B First Night Of My Life 38 Raquela Tell To My Heart 39 Madonna Nash Dirty Little Secret 40 Daniela Love Me Enough To Lie

National Urban Pool Chart

Capitol Pretty Mess Veneer Capitol Capitol Verve Island/Def Jam Verve Columbia Big Beat Universal Atlantic Universal Republic Universal Republic Capitol Dauman Slippery Eel Gatorbait Jive Nu & Improved Universal Republic IM Records RCA Universal Republic Def Jam Robbins Planetjes Robbins Thompkins Media Less Than Three Universal Republic Animal Ultra D’Manti Dream Merchant 21 Big Beat Popnotch ISV Mad Charm Robbins

1 Jay-Z & Kanye West Gotta Have It Atlantic 2 J. Cole F/ Trey Songz Can’t Get Enough Columbia 3 Chris Brown Strip RCA 4 Drake & Lil Wayne The Motto Universal 5 Beyonce Countdown Columbia 6 Lil Wayne & Bruno Mars Mirror Universal 7 Flo-Rida Good Feeling Atlantic 8 Big Sean Dance (A$$) Def Jam 9 Laura Michelle Pose Thompkins Media 10 Rick Ross F/ Nicki Minaj You Da Boss Def Jam 11 Ophishal American Way Megablast 12 Rihanna F/ Calvin Harris We Found Love Def Jam 13 Young Jeezy F/ Jay Z & Andre 3000 I Do Island/Def Jam 14 Drake F/ Nicki Minaj Make Me Proud Universal 15 Mary J Blige & Drake Mr. Wrong Interscope 16 Melanie Fiona 4 AM Universal 17 Tyga Rack City Universal Republic 18 J Dash Wop Stereofame 19 Diggy Simmons F/ Jeremih Do It Like You Atlantic 20 Monica Until It’s Gone J Records 21 T.I. F/ Big Krit I’m Flexin’ Atlantic 22 Jennifer Hudson I Got This RCA 23 Busta Rhymes F/ Chris Brown Why Stop Now Universal Republic 24 Estelle Thank You Atlantic 25 Robin Thicke Love After War Interscope 26 Jay-Z & Kanye Ni**as In Paris Def Jam 27 KC Jockey Girl You’re Free Sweet Sadies 28 B.O.B. F/ Lil’ Wayne Strange Clouds Atlantic 29 Ledisi & Jaheim Stay Together Universal 30 Anthony Hamilton Woo RCA 31 Rihanna F/ Jay-Z Talk That Talk Def Jam 32 Robin Thick F/ Lil Wayne Pretty Lil’ Heart Universal 33 Drake & Rihanna Take Care Universal 34 Bow Wow F/ Lil’ Wayne Sweat Universal Republic 35 Trey Songs Sex Aint Better Than Love Atlantic 36 Mike Posner Looks Like Sex RCA 37 Nicki Minaj Stupid Hoe Universal 38 Trey Songs F/ Fabolous What I Be On Atlantic 39 Meek Mill F/ Young Chris House Party Warner Brothers 40 Wiz Khalifa F/ Snoop Dogg & Bruno Mars Young, Wild & Free Roadrunner

Most Added Tracks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Madonna Nash Daniela Dance Mafia F/ Raquela Hayla George Acosta F/ Emma Lock Dev And Enrique Iglesias Georgie Porgie Body Lingo Linda Clifford Chris The Greek Panaghi

Dirty Little Secret Love Me Enough To Lie R.E.S.P.E.C.T. I’m Free Never Fear Naked Go Bang Yum Yum How Long You Are Here

Most Added Tracks Mad Charm Robbins ISV Halya-Dauman Songbird Universal Republic Live-MPG Gatorbait Nu & Improved DJG Productions

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Travis Porter Romeo Santos F/ Lil Wayne A$AP Rocky Meek Mill F/ Young Chris Nicki Minaj B.O.B. F/ Lil’ Wayne Mindless Behavior French Montana F/ Charlie Rock Drake & Rihanna Miguel

You Don’t Know Bout It All Aboard Peso House Party Stupid Hoe Strange Clouds Girls Talkin About Shot Caller Take Care Girls Like You

RCA RCA RCA Warner Brothers Universal Atlantic Interscope Interscope Universal Sony

Reporting Pools ✦ Dixie Dance Kings - Alpharetta, GA; Dan Miller✦ Lets Dance / IRS - Chicago, IL; Lorri Annarella ✦ Next Music Pool - Los Angeles, CA; Bob Ketchter✦ Masspool - Saugus, MA; Gary Canavo✦ NW Dance Music - Shoreline, WA; John England ✦ Philly Spinners Assoc. - Bensalem, PA; Fred Kolet✦ Pittsburgh DJ R - Pittsburgh, PA; Jim Kolich✦ Soundworks - San Francisco, CA; Sam Labelle ✦ New York Music Pool - Levittown, NY; Jackie McCloy✦ 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

12th Planet

(continued from page 16) week out of the month.

DJ Times: So what was the evolution of dubstep in LA? 12 th Planet: It was a small, small thing until Rusko played Avalon—I opened for him. This was maybe two, three years ago. This was the first time all these college students got to really hear dubstep live. It was an event for 18-and-over, and up until then all dubstep shows were for over 21. They were in basements and old art galleries or this other spot called The Echo, where we did our night. That was it.

They were all 21-and-up. If you were 18, you were shit out of luck.

DJ Times: Given the recent popularity of dubstep in America, do you find it odd that all these new kids that are coming to the genre have such a particular idea of what it is and what it isn’t? You have all these insane internet wars going on. As an artist, does this affect you?

12 th Planet: I personally try not to pay attention to what is said on the blogs or on the message boards because it kind of bums me out. I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what you make of it. You know, when you’re young kid—you’re 17 or 18—this kind of music defines who you are. You’re trying to take a stance.

This is who I am!

DJ Times: You’re projecting yourself on the music.

12 th Planet: Exactly. It’s a good thing because it’s passion. But it’s also a bad thing because it’s narrow-minded thinking.

DJ Times: After awhile, it just seems like people repeating what other people are saying. It’s like high school.

12th Planet: Exactly right. Like one person will be like, “Oh, Skrillex is God!” And the next person is like,

“Fuck Skrillex! He’s ruined dubstep!”

DJ Times: I thought that was Borgore…

12th Planet: [Laughs] Ha! Borgore, too, you know? It’s just that the kids care about the music so much that they want to speak about it— that’s on them. But regardless of what they say, the artists are going to keep making music and keep moving. n

Sounding Off

(continued from page 24) Given how they operate (LPF and HPF on a single knob—which I never found intuitive, personally), I certainly don’t miss their function. But their positioning on the S4—vertically under the Low EQ knob—meant that it was simply too easy to turn the Filter knob during a mix instead of the intended Low EQ knob.This is a case of less being more.

On the downside, the S2 dispenses with the LED displays for loop length, which the S4 sports. Admittedly they are a luxury, not a necessity, but if you use looping regularly, it might in part justify the added cost of the big brother in the family.

As with the S4, the Traktor Kontrol S2 provides a nice, matched hardware interface for effects management.

While it omits the Mode button of the S4, you still get a nice 1:1 matchup of hardware to the virtual buttons and knobs in the software, making for easy, intuitive manipulation of Traktor’s powerful effects engines.

Set-Up & Use: Installation of the Traktor S2 controller/interface couldn’t be easier, especially if you’re already a user of Traktor Pro 2, which offers integrated support for the controllers—obviously a big benefit.

(Current users may need to do a

driver installation, however.) New users can simply insert the included Traktor CD, follow the directions, and go. As with virtually all controller/interfaces, computer connection is via USB. Given my need to record demos and sets in-studio, as well as handle both mobile and club work outside the studio, Native Instruments’ policy of allowing two software activations per copy of the product makes it easy to install the software on both my desktop and laptop computers, then simply plug the hardware on whichever machine I’m using at the moment. This will definitely be appreciated by any DJ working across environments. And speaking of environments, Traktor (both the software and the hardware) is equally at home on either Windows PCs, or Macs.

Using the S2 and the Traktor software is elegant, simple and intuitive.

Admittedly, I’m a long-time Traktor user, am familiar with the interface, and hence might be a bit biased. But I feel that both the hardware and the software have a clean, contemporary user experience, and objectively so.

Nothing feels squeezed or stuffed into place; there’s smoothness and polish of appearance that I find enhances the experience of using the product.

Traktor (the software) offers a range of configuration options that allow you to tailor the interface to a certain degree. You can emphasize certain options over others, and enable or disable certain elements to better fit your workflow and preferences.

Conclusions: Bringing the Traktor Kontrol S2 to market expands the Kontrol product line in a way where more DJs can afford to get on-board with a sexy, slick, usable and powerful controller/interface. With great specs, and a full (not just “lite”) ver-

sion of Traktor in the box, you get a lot of power and capability in return for the investment. While some niceties are forfeited in choosing the S2 over the S4, and while there’s still a handful of things about the product I’d change given the chance, I found the Traktor Kontrol S2 ($399 MAP) to be fun, functional, and a good choice for DJs of all types who are looking for a solid, all-in-one package.

Business Line

(continued from page 30) themselves a very simple question: How fast can we get better? Every improvement they make unlocks new layers of demand, and leaves less open space for me-too competitors.

You can apply this thinking by simply thinking of every improvement to your service—be it equipment, or a new game—as part of a continuum.

De-Average: “One size fits all” is an idea that great demand creators have discarded—because it doesn’t work. Instead, say the authors, “deaverage complex markets, recognizing that the average customer is a myth, and that different customers (and even the same customers at different times) have widely varying hassle maps.” Then they find efficient, cost-effective ways to create different products that more perfectly match the varying needs of these different types of customers.

Are you ready to start creating demand? The best place to start is to ask your customers whether they bought something from you that they needed—or what they merely though they wanted.

Demand: Creating What People Love Before They Know They Want It, by Adrian J. Slywotzky with Karl Weber, was published in 2011.

DJ TIMES

APRIL 2012

ABDJ Nom Markus Schulz Opens His Campaign

42

The “America’s Best DJ” vote means…

Two big elections in 2012…

So, I’m Markus Schulz & I approve this message.

Markus Schulz 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

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.

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 your first time buying a DJ controller or if you’re seeking other DJ software, the VCI-400 comes bundled with Virtual DJ Le and compatible with Serato DJ Intro. The VCI-400 also includes 4 sets of overlays for today’s most popular DJ software.

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