DJ Times May 2012, Vol 25 No 5 by DJ Times Magazine

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AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ES

MAY 2012

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HAVE YOU UPDATED YOUR BRAND? BAGGING BRIDAL BUSINESS

MARKUS SCHULZ

TRANCE-GLOBAL SUCCESS

Photek Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike American Audio VMS 4.1 Loopmasters Sound Libraries Winter Music Conference Report

INDUSTRY EVENTS…NOTABLES…MILESTONES

NEWS

usual sold-out madhouse featuring 130,000 dance-music crazies enjoying the very best of the EDM world— Kraftwerk, Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, etc. Stay tuned for next month’s issue for a full-on photo spread of the UMF festivities, plus select parties like the DJ Times-sponsored SMOG vs. Basshead event at Mekka which featured 12th Planet, Dirtyphonics, Pendulum and many more.

MAY 2012

But Claussell, ever the philosopher, dropped this on the room. “I believe it’s important to know why you want to make music before you get down to doing it,” he offered. “I believe that you should make music that reflects who you are. Dig deep inside and find your own voice and then you can make beautiful music, no matter what platform you use.” Right on. As for Ultra Music Fest, it was the

IK Multimedia shows its iRig mixer at WMC.

DJ TIMES

Pioneer at WMC: DJ Creme demos the RMX-1000.

Nicole Cussell

Ultra Fest: Madonna big-ups Avicii.

Nicole Cussell

Transeau). In addition to describing Miami Beach, Fla.—“How many his artistic approach to many of his people in this crowd have seen Molfamous releases—including his score ly?” for the Oscar-winning, 2003 film, It was the publicity stunt heard ’round the EDM world, but (for reasons that should be all too obvious) that seemed to be the lasting impression many had from the week that included Winter Music Conference and Ultra Music Festival. Before introducing Avicii at UMF’s main stage this past March 26, Madonna asked that cheeky question to the throng at Miami’s BayBass in Your Face! Dirtyphonics front Park. (Promoting rock Mekka. her new MDNA CD, she Monster—he offered encouragement made an MDMA joke—get it?) The to the panel room of aspiring produclive reaction wasn’t terribly enthusiers, plus a few drops of advice: “Find astic. But thanks to the quick-share the sound you like and do your best capabilities of the internet, we were to copy it,” he urged. “Then, when deluged with a firestorm of fake outyou’ve honed your studio chops, rage of how a 53-year-old mother find your artistic voice. Because that could make such a public drug allusound you’ve developed will probably sion. go away in a few years, you’ll want to Once it subsided—save the rant be as original as possible—that’s how from Deadmau5, who somehow beat you can manage to make a career.” Rick Santorum to the punch—we Another panel that dropped a remembered that, oh, it’s Madonna, lot of knowledge was the “Dynamand that’s what she does. She got ic DJs” session. Moderated by Joe her manufactured media attention, Claussell (of Body & Soul fame), stealing some of the spotlight from a the sit-down featured jocks like resurgent WMC and the party-mad house legend Todd Terry and GerUltra Music Fest, which highlightman DJ/producer Moguai discussed Miami Music Week. Well-played, ing new technologies and how it’s Madge—you win again. But the show, as it were, did go on. made DJing almost too easy anymore. “I go to gigs and see some guys and WMC ran from March 16 to 25 and I know they’re not really mixing, not enjoyed some new digs—The Beachreally DJing sometimes,” said Terry. plex, a custom-designed, air-condi“How do I know? They’re having tioned tent complex that housed its a conversation with me when the exhibits, performances and seminar tracks mix!” panels. Added Yousef of Liverpool, EngOn the gear side at WMC, Pioneer land’s popular Circus parties: “At the DJ broke out the RMX-1000 Remix end of the day, DJing is still about Station, while IK Multimedia showed playing the right track at the right its iRig Mix, a DJ mixer for iOS detime, no matter the technology.” vices, like iPad. DJ Tech displayed its On the topic of transitioning from Dragon Two, a 4-channel, DJ mixer/ the DJ booth to the studio to create controller. your own music, Terry and Lee DagAs usual, DJ Times was knee-deep ger (of UK act Bimbo Jones) offered in seminars. After sitting on the “Soup the technical advice—learn Ablecial Media & PR” panel, which saw ton if you’re starting out, perhaps an overflow room learn some basics venture into Pro Tools and Logic if on promotion and creating sizzle, we you want to explore deeper elemoderated the “Featured Q&A” with ments of songwriting. legendary producer BT (aka Brian

Seth Browarnik/Worldredeye.com

MIAMI 2012: MADGE & MOLLY MAKEOVER WMC & UMF

VOLUME 25 NUMBER 5

12 Trance-Global

By Taking Control of His Career & Finding His Artistic Identity, Markus Schulz Has Become One of America’s Biggest DJ Exports BY JIM TREMAYNE

18 Intergalactic

Mixing Celestial Sounds & Mind-Melting Video, DJ Food’s Latest Project Takes on Another Dimension BY LILY MOAYERI

20 Book ’Em!

DJs Are Employing a New Set of Tools to Market to Brides at Wedding Shows. But Sometimes, the Best Techniques Are the Tried & True BY JEFF STILES

DEPARTMENTS 7 Feedback

MAY 2012

DJ TIMES

Cover Photo By Jax Fotografie.

24 Making Tracks

32 Gear

26 Sounding Off

38 Grooves

SAMPLINGS

28 Mobile Profile

40 DJ Times Marketplace

8 Photek

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

Loopmasters Sound Libraries American Audio VMS 4.1 controller Philly DJ Brings the Soul

30 Business Line

Have You Updated Your Brand?

New Products from Native Instruments, Chauvet & More Phat Tracks from Kris Menace, Pirupa & More Shop Here for All Your DJ-Related Supplies

41 Club Play Chart

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

Hollywood Swingin’

10 In the Studio With… Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike

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FROM THE EDITOR

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

Success Stories & Technological Turns

Over our many years here at DJ Times, Markus Schulz is one of the handful of DJs whose steady rise has coincided closely with the magazine’s own long run. We did our first story on Schulz in the early ’90s when he was in Phoenix, involved with radio and the local record pool. Eventually, things would change dramatically for the better. Luckily for Schulz and his fans, he found his artistic side in the late ’90s and, for more than a decade now, he’s been one of America’s top DJ exports. A leader in the trance genre, the Miami-based Schulz maintains residencies at top clubs, operates Coldharbour Recordings (an Armada sub-label) and plays some of the world’s major EDM festivals. As an annual America’s Best DJ nominee, Schulz has performed at several tour stops and he’s always turned it out— whether it was a dark, dirty club in Philadelphia or a bright, shiny pool party in Vegas. It had been awhile—too many years, in fact—since the last time we visited with Schulz, so we took a trip to the Left Coast to spend a weekend at Hollywood’s Avalon club for a pair of parties celebrating his latest mix comp, Los Angeles ’12. As he tells us in the following interview, Schulz faced a moment when he had to determine exactly what he wanted out of his DJ career. In describing how he went out and got it, we think you’ll find his story inspiring. Thanks, Markus. On the technology front, the Ninja Tune DJ/producers have always been ahead of the curve. Label founders like Coldcut’s Matt Black and Jonathan More push the sample-centric side of experimental electronica and the performances are always cutting-edge. Britain’s DJ Food (aka Strictly Kev) is the same way. His space-obsessed CD, The Search Engine, is a wonderful listening experience and his intergalactic video presentations are from another dimension. Our L.A. gal Lily Moayeri delivers the goods on DJ Food. In our Samplings section, our Boston-based correspondents Joe Bermudez and Angela Bray connect with rising remix team Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, while Ms. Moayeri finds out how Photek became a hot musical commodity in Hollywood’s film and television industry. In our Mobile Profile, Philadelphia jock Lisa Love tells her story of how a DJ saved her life and how she now gives back to the community. Also, our mobile scribe Jeff Stiles talks with DJs who share their secrets on earning gigs in the always-competitive wedding market. In Business Line, we ask the simple question: Have you updated your brand? Back to gear, our Josh Harris gets down-and-dirty with a pair of Loopmasters sample libraries—from Dutch duo Mason and U.K. hitmakers The Stereo MCs. Also, Wesley BryantKing puts the American Audio VMS 4.1 controller through its digital paces. Having just returned from Miami, where was participated in Winter Music Conference and Miami Music Week/Ultra Music Fest, we offer a quick wrap-up of the festivities in our News section. But stay tuned for our June issue, where we’ll present even more images of that crazy week. And one more thing: DJ Expo dates are set for Aug. 13-16 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J. In the coming months, we’ll be announcing more and more exciting news about the show, which will present a huge exhibition hall, loads of educational seminars and panels, and some of the DJ industry’s best evening events and sponsored parties. For the very latest on DJ Expo, please visit thedjexpo.com, and we’ll see you there.

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

Cheers,

Jim Tremayne, Editor, DJ Times

editor-at-large Brian O’Connor boconnor@testa.com chart coordinator Dan Miller dmiller@testa.com contributors Jody Amos Joe Bermudez Angela Bray Wesley Bryant-King Shawn Christopher Paul Dailey Chris Davis Justin Hampton Josh Harris Russ Harris Robert LaFrance Polly Lavin Michelle Loeb Lily Moayeri Phil Moffa Natalie Raben Scott Rubin Jennifer Shapiro Nate Sherwood Jeff Stiles Emily Tan Phil Turnipseed Curtis Zack 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 May 2012

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FEEDBACK

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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. DJ TIMES, I’m hoping someone can give me a little advice, and you were the first people I thought of to ask. I’ve been fooling around on the decks for about five years now and I’ve played house parties in base‑ ments, a makeshift prom for a sum‑ mer camp, and even a few afterhappy-hour sets at a few bars. My friends all know I DJ and, finally, a friend of mine popped the question to me: “I’m getting married—will you DJ my reception?” Uh-oh. That’s a little more complex than anything I’ve tackled before and was wondering if I could get some advice on what a good and reputa‑ ble wedding DJ would do. Basically, what kind of homework does it take in order to pull off a wedding? This is a business that I wouldn’t mind getting into and I wouldn’t mind if my first wedding went with‑ out a hitch. He’s a good friend of mine and I don’t want to screw this up. I’ve heard a few “My wedding sucked because...” stories that have entailed the DJ and I don’t want that to be me. – Addison DeWitt, Kalamazoo, Mich.

ADDISON, If you want to learn how to work weddings or similar events, here is truly the best advice I could give to you: Find a top multi-op DJ com‑

pany in your area and try to get a job with them. Spend a couple years with them and learn all you can from a mentor. This will pretty much give you the best overall education in the world of mo‑ bile DJing that you can get. Why? Because I really believe that correctly doing this on your own will take years. However, once those two

years with a mobile company are up, you can re-evaluate whether or not you want to start your own business. You’ll have many options. One of the best investments for a wed‑ ding DJ is to attend Mark Farrell’s MC workshops around the country. Not cheap, but worth every penny. Also, join “DJ Idea Sharing” on Facebook. In addition, look to joining an association

like American Disc Jockey Association (adja.org), and attending DJ Times’ show, the DJ Expo in Atlantic City, N.J., Aug. 13-16 (thedjexpo.com). You’ll also find a variety of good books out there. Good luck on your journey and let us know if you have any other questions. – Jody Amos, Amos Productions, Livermore, Calif.

SAMPLINGS Photek has contributed to more than a dozen films.

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

PHOTEK: HOLLYWOOD SWINGIN’

It seems that Photek is all about putting himself in uncomfortable positions. Early in his career, the British DJ/ producer enjoyed critical and commercial success with his original drum-n-bass tracks and saw packed DJ appearances in his home country. But that wasn’t enough, apparently, as Photek (aka Rupert Parke) left all that to put himself at the mercy of temperamental directors in Hollywood. It was working in film that spurred Photek’s move to Los Angeles 10 years ago. As the story goes, Paramount Studios was speaking to Virgin Records, his label at the time, about some of their artists doing music for the 2001 television film Invincible. Coincidentally, Photek was in town on tour and got the job. “I learned a lot from working in film and TV,” he says. Indeed, he’s

still buzzing from his recent Grammy Award nomination in the “Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical” category for his mix of Daft Punk’s “End Of Line” from Tron: Legacy Reconfigured, a remix album of the film’s soundtrack. “Working with deadlines, to other people’s writing, I make music with a lot broader influences and much tighter timeframe,” says Photek, who has gone onto contribute soundtracks or compositions to more than a dozen films, including “Blade,” “The Italian Job” and “The Animatrix,” among others. “You find yourself being more creative because you push yourself in different directions. You’ve got to dig deeper. You can’t be as lazy as when you’re making your own music. When you’re making music for someone else’s project, you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone.” What Photek has taken away from

this experience, besides new dimensions in creativity, is confidence in being able to create sounds that he may not necessarily be known for. This is illustrated in the latest mix for the respected DJ Kicks series. With a collection of tracks that looks back as far as 1994 with Baby Ford + Eon’s “Dead Eye” and to the future with Photek’s own original compositions made exclusively for the mix, a diehard Photek fan would be hardpressed to identify either the mix or the tracks as Photek material. “It’s not necessarily what I would play in a club at the weekend, but what I would listen to over time,” he says. “That’s why it doesn’t matter whether it’s an old track or a new track.” Photek says he treated the mix as one long song, incorporating threeminute samples of other people’s music. The tracks are sketched in

Ableton Live and mixed in Logic. This way, he says, he can build the mix the same way he would an album. A song is recorded, the next one mixed in to see how it works, it’s edited, and then he’s onto the next one. Photek’s original compositions for the mix are created as bridges between his selections. “There are parts in [the mix] that are almost written into the music from a palette of my own music,” he explains. “I didn’t make a song in isolation. I thought it needs to start in this key and end in this key, and it needs to be this tempo. I built the beginning and the end of my tracks to fit into the mix. It was tailor-made for the slot, basically. I spent a long time figuring it all out. There are easier ways to make a mix, [but] I never take the path of least resistance.” Going about things the hard way is also Photek’s approach to DJing in clubs. In the last year, he has experimented with Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol S4 and then Ableton Live with an iPad. But now he’s back to Pioneer gear—two CDJ-2000 media players and a DJM-800 mixer. “I could do so much more creatively with Ableton,” he says, “but trying to make these masterpieces to perform back the way I designed them in the studio made it all very complicated. The iPad made it a lot easier to bring your head out of the screen, but then again, being around a computer in a club environment can bring on panic mode. “There’s a balance between what you’re trying to do sonically and creatively,” he continues. “I found using CDJs the most fluid. The Pioneer mixer has got just enough there with effects, but it’s not over-complex. I can engage the crowd much better and I’m not carrying around all this technology that is getting bumped around in planes—after all, DJing is 10-percent DJing and 90-percent traveling.” – Lily Moayeri

DJ TIMES 10

DIMITRI VEGAS & LIKE MIKE: HOT REMIXERS

MAY 2012

IN THE STUDIO WITH

Over the span of two-plus years, Belgian brothers Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike have enjoyed a rapid ascension, and much of that comes from their high-profile remixes. Their studio work and its variety are impressive: The discography includes energetic mixes for Swedish House Mafia (“Leave the World Behind”), Snoop Dogg (“Get Your Groove On”), Cosmic Gate (“Fire Wire”), Abel Ramos (“Rotterdam City of Love”), Pitbull (“Papi”), LMFAO (“Champagne Showers”) and Lady Gaga (“Marry the Night”). Original tracks “Under the Water,” “Salinas” and “Underdog” gained international dancefloor traction, and their

collaborative work on the annual theme songs for Belgium’s massive Tomorrowland festival raised their profile. Additionally bolstered by the online availability of their “Smash the House” radio program on FG DJ Radio Belgium, the duo has begun to make more touring inroads. They’ve played Ibiza’s Pacha and London’s Ministry of Sound—and they’ve supported Steve Aoki on his “Deadmeat Tour.” Their star is rising, so DJ Times caught a few minutes with Dimitri when the duo recently visited Boston. DJ Times: How has the U.S. been treating you guys? Dimitri: We’ve had an amazing tour so far. We had a rough start in Canada because of a snow storm, but for the rest… all the gigs were really crazy. They were amazing. I’m still a little hung over from last night. It will probably take us two weeks to recover after this. DJ Times: One of the things I was reading is you guys really like to thank your family. Is that because you’re brothers? Or are there other members of the family that helped you get to where you are now? Dimitri: Our parents kind of pushed us in the right direction at an age that it could have gone a bit wrong. They encouraged us to go and work abroad and that kind of changed our life—being away, learning new cultures and learning to take care of ourselves. DJ Times: Looking at Belgium, a lot of people in the U.S. might not know there’s this crazy festival there—Tomor-

rowland—that you guys have been a big part of.You’ve actually done the event’s theme song with Dada Life and Afrojack/Nervo the past two years. Can you give a glimpse into that festival? Dimitri: It’s three days [July 27-29].There are about 100,000 people every day and the production—the way the festival is built—is something that is really unique in the world. It’s like Disneyland for house

& Mike imitri D ) ft m le music. se: (fro e Hou h t h Every day, there are, s Sma like, 50 stages. If you Google the Tomorrowland main stage and see the pictures, I think a lot of people really won’t believe what they see. DJ Times: We recently met with the Nervo twins and they were talking about the track you guys did with one another. So, what was it like working with them and Afrojack on “The Way We See the World” for Tomorrowland? Dimitri: It was really nice. They’re very creative people. It was just a very hard job since each and every one of us was in a different part of the world every day. Trying to communicate, we had Afrojack in Australia and Nervo in the States. I was in Europe, then we go to the States, Nervo goes to Australia and Afrojack is in Europe. I’m just really happy we had it ready in time. DJ Times: Do you guys have a secret weapon in the studio, like a go-to synth? Dimitri: We use [LennarDigital’s] Sylenth a lot. Mike’s got a Minimoog Voyager XL, which takes like half of the studio. We play how it comes. We don’t really have a secret formula or a way that we work. We just open whatever project we want to remix. We just start pressing buttons and whatever comes out, that’s it. DJ Times: Since you work with so many superstar DJs, what’s a good tip for the newer guys in the studio to help elevate their game? Dimitri: Be original. I think that’s the most important tip we can give at this point because if you check Beatport, there are not that many original tracks at this point. A lot of people, I think, are very satisfied very quickly. I think if you really want to make it, you really have to step up your game. Be original and try to do something else from all the rest. – Joe Bermudez & Angela Bray

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Los Angeles—The scene outside Avalon isn’t untypical for a Saturday night. Fans stream steadily into the club and, by 1 a.m., a line begins to form down Vine Street. Once again, the Hollywood Hustle is on. But what’s different about tonight’s festivities is its air of blissful familiarity. This isn’t just another weekend night out for these clubbers. No, they’re here for the DJ. They’re here for Markus Schulz, and they have no problem telling you why Schulz’s Los Angeles ’12 weekend at Avalon is a can’t-miss party. From the back bar to the upstairs W.C., plenty of longtime Schulz fans tell stories of how they’ve road-tripped for this event, how they’ve taken off work, how they’ve circled this date on the calendar. “Markus gets it,” offered one energized fellow,

By Taking Control of His Career & Finding His Artistic Identity, Markus Schulz Has Become One of America’s Biggest DJ Exports

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

dancefloor tracks, before he founded his Armada sub-label Coldharbour or kicked off his series of city compilations (like the current Los Angeles ’12), Schulz faced a bit of a career dilemma. As he describes in the following conversation, Schulz made the move from his native Germany, where he discovered his love of music, to America, where he honed his DJ craft, and began to find a following in the clubs and on radio. Ultimately, he had to ask himself some soul-searching questions and make a “pilgrimage,” as he calls it, to become the DJ/artist he is today. We connected with the Miami-based Markus Schulz during that February weekend in L.A. It went like this: DJ Times: You were born in Germany and I’m curious to know about your first musical inspiration.

who’d made the 90-minute drive west from Riverside County. “He always delivers. He just knows how to make his fans happy. Whenever he’s in the area, I go because I know it’s going to be great.” A couple hours later, those words ring true as the now-packed room responds with extended arms and ecstatic shouts to the opening notes of his mega-anthem “Digital Madness.” It’s another high point in a weekend of Avalon dancefloor triumphs. Of course, Schulz’s journey to the top tier of global trance jocks took a helluva lot longer than his fan’s trek from Riverside. His rise to the prominence—indeed, his status as one of America’s major DJ exports—is as much a testament to his drive as his talent. Before he started playing the world’s major clubs and festivals or began creating winning

DJ TIMES

MAY

Photo by Neil Johnson

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

The Guvernment, Toronto: “It’s absolutely massive and the scene there is knowledgeable. The production is among the best in the world.” Pacha, New York: “The fans there are amazing. They’ve been with me, as I’ve grown in the last several years, and they always inspire me.” Avalon, Los Angeles: “I dedicated my latest compilation to them because the scene in L.A. has really blown up.”

Schulz: My father was a musician, so it’s in my blood. Growing up, music was all around. DJ Times: What kind of musician? Schulz: He was a drummer in a band, playing soul, Motown, things like that. After he quit the band, he became a DJ. I should also mention that my mother was always into music. In my childhood, I remember that my mother would be cleaning the house after putting on a Boney M album. By the time the album was done the house was clean! DJ Times: What was your first musical move? Schulz: I got into breakdancing. My crew and I would search out great songs to do our routines to. Then, of course, you had the whole graffiti and DJing components. It all merged for me in Germany. We made mix tapes with the pause button. DJ Times: Then you moved to the States… Schulz: My parents had split up and when I moved to Boston, I hooked up with breakdancers there—same thing, we got into DJing and making sets. At some point, we decided we were going to throw a party at a banquet room in a hotel. We were all going to DJ that night. We were passing out flyers all week. We didn’t know what to expect. The night of the event, the place was packed, but the rest of the members of my crew got cold feet. So I got up behind the decks and ended up playing the whole thing. That’s when it all clicked for me. I was 17. DJ Times: What were you playing? Schulz: It was Kraftwerk, “Planet Rock,” Newcleus, Man Parrish, stuff like that—it was

Ella Arie

Markus Schulz: My Favorite Clubs

fantastic. It was what they called electro, back in the day, but it had melodies. I always liked the stuff that had more melodies. That’s what made me get into house music, but again, the more melodic stuff. DJ Times: What gear did you use then? Schulz: I had some old, crusty, direct-drive turntables, and it wasn’t even the same brand. I don’t remember the brands, actually, but I ended up getting the hang of it. Then, at that gig, the manager of the club at the hotel checked out the event and he offered me a job. DJ Times: Serendipity. How did that play out? Schulz: I learned my chops there. I learned how to open a night, to close a night and everything in between, learning how to deal with management and how to deal with the bar, learning proper DJ philosophy. DJ Times: Did you do mobiles? Schulz: I did one mobile gig, a wedding. The Monday morning after the gig, the parents called and wanted their money back—it was so bad [laughs]. So, I quickly realized that mobiles weren’t for me. It was always clubs. DJ Times: What was the Boston scene like then? How did you move up the ladder? Schulz: I was hearing stories about the Boston gay-club DJs, and at clubs like Metro and 9 Lansdowne there was Capt. Wendell and Hosh Gureli on 88.9. Through that, I hooked up with the Boston Record Pool and that’s how I got to networking within the scene. DJ Times: Anybody inspire you there? Schulz: Really, the biggest inspiration to me was, through these other DJs, that I’d hear these stories about the Paradise Garage in New York City and about [its resident DJ] Larry Levan. Unfortunately, I never got to hear him, but the stories inspired me. I’d have a mental image of what it was like to be there and that’s what I was trying to achieve. I’d hear stories about him mixing reel-toreels, of putting live percussion on top of things.

All this was clicking in my head and pushing me to the more artistic side of DJing. DJ Times: You were always a fan of radio mixshows, right? Schulz: Radio shows have always been so important to me. Especially when I lived in Germany, I would get mix tapes of WBLS in New York and 98.7 Kiss. I would hear the Latin Rascals, Shep Pettibone or Tony Humphries on mix tapes. DJ Times: Eventually, you moved to Phoenix… Schulz: When I went there, I hooked up with a studio that was doing a syndicated mix show called Hot Mix—it was the biggest in the world. I started there taking out the trash, working my way up. By the end of my run there, I was programing three or four different shows and mixing three or four shows. That’s when I started making contacts in the industry and started doing remixes for major labels and major artists. DJ Times: And that club scene was starting to bubble. Schulz: While this Top-40-radio thing was going on, I was still active, playing in the clubs. I started to play the gay clubs in Phoenix because that was the only place you could play cool, forward-thinking dance music. That progressed to the rave scene. DJ Times: Ultimately, a huge scene developed in Phoenix. Schulz: Yeah, this club opened called The Works. One owner was gay and the other loved the rave scene, so the philosophy was to combine the two—there was this synergy of craziness. DJ Times: What was it like to play there? Schulz: I remember being in the DJ booth, watching people walk into the club for the first time.You could see in their eyes, they were looking around like they’d never seen anything like this, never heard music like this. It really motivated me to be a little more twisted and really

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Ella Arie

make people freak out. DJ Times: It was a crazy time for music, the late-’90s. Schulz: Yeah, we opened a record store and I had another mix show that was underground trance music. All this was growing, and the Top-40 part of it was taking up so much of my headspace that I was close to burning out. I was burnt out, so I just stopped what I was doing. The Works had run its course. It closed—the lease was up—so that era of my life changed. I realized that there was nothing holding me back. So packed up and moved to London to try to reinvent myself. DJ Times: How did that work out? Schulz: It was a pilgrimage. I just put myself in London for two years, going out to all the clubs, studying the music and the scene, trying to discover who I was as an artist. Why? Because all this time I was doing what the major labels wanted me to do or what the radio programmers wanted me to do. I was either going to quit music or I need to really figure out who I am. DJ Times: So what did you find? Schulz: I found I was inspired by the big basslines from the drumn-bass scene and by these melodic trance sounds, so I started making tracks with these elements and releasing them on Hooj Choons and Yoshitoshi, and it just blew up for me. It was outrageous. DJ Times: Eventually, you returned to the States, having built your profile. Schulz: Yes, it really started to buzz and I moved to Miami. I got a residency at Space, started a radio show called Global DJ Broadcast on Party 93.1, and that’s when everything just exploded. Everything went to another level because people all over the world were listening to me through the Internet. We were being streamed every Sunday night, plus we were broadcasting live from Space. People got to hear a radio show that was being programmed and a live show. DJ Times: What, to you, goes into a great radio show? Schulz: When I was doing Top-40 shows, I had this structured philosophy of what to play—a recurrent, a classic, a power. It was a formula. But with this style of music, it’s about mood. It’s about tension and release. My philosophy is to hypnotize people—keep them interested, but hypnotize them—and build to a certain moment it’s like... whoa! Do that over and over. The entire set has to be a slope up with a big finish. With this music, you’re no longer mixing songs like a traditional Top-40 mix show, you’re mixing sounds. DJ Times: Playing to the club experience and playing to the radio

experience, what’s the essential difference for a DJ? Schulz: Traditionally, in the clubs, you could play a 10-minute-long track, and you can’t do that anymore. People listening on the radio have a longer attention span than those in the clubs. In the clubs, you have to do more quick-mixing—say, four-and-ahalf minutes and you’re onto another track. However, with radio you can let a track breathe and let the things in the background come to the forefront. But, back in the day when I was doing radio, it was just the opposite. DJ Times: How do you record your shows? Schulz: I do the radio show in Ableton Live—that’s where I finetune everything. When I record the live shows, I use an Edirol [R-44] 4-channel recorder, so I can mic the crowd. I take two mics into two inputs, and then the DJ mixer goes into the other two. When I put it into Ableton, I have four tracks—two audio, two crowd—and then I can turn up the crowd noise on a separate channel. DJ Times: And DJ gear? Schulz: I’m using the Pioneer CDJ-2000s linked together. I’ve experimented with the laptop, but I felt like that connection with the audience was gone. For what I’m doing, I need a strong connection with the crowd. Everything is Pioneer, mixer, everything. DJ Times: You’re also doing some “live shows,” too, right? Schulz: Yes, with these, I travel with a visual production crew. We

gether. In my opinion, when you’re musically trained, it’s the only way. It drives me crazy to hear an out-of-key mix or a mix that’s gone awry. DJ Times: Where did you develop that approach? Schulz: It’s just instinctive for me, from studying the music, from studying the dancefloor. I’d listen to my mixes and be my worst critic: “Why do these songs sound like crap together?” It was learning by trial-and-error. Then the Mixed in Key program came along and that just made everything make sense to people, although I don’t use the program’s Camelot Wheel. DJ Times: Give me an example of how you work. Schulz: Let’s say I’m playing a song in the Key of A—if you’re playing a keyboard you’re just holding down the note of A, the next step up is an A-Sharp, so you’d have a tone in A. That step up has a little more energy there. So when I’m doing my shows, I’ll take a track in A, for example, and I’ll mix in at track in A-Sharp— and suddenly the whole room goes through the roof. So when I’m doing a festival, my whole set is a slope of

Markus Schulz: My Favorite DJ/Producers Eric Prydz: “I love what he does, a fantastic DJ. It’s deep and dark, and he has enough hits to keep relevant in the pop scene.” KhoMha: “He’s from Colombia, part of the new breed that makes stunning stadium anthems.” Danny Tenaglia: “I still look up to him. Whenever I’m lost musically and the crowd is still hungry, I think, ‘What would Danny do?’” do visuals, typography, the singer’s up on the LED. We do all that through timecode. So now we’ve added Serato Video to the setup. I’m playing an audio track out of Serato and then there’s a MIDI-timecode track that’s slave to it, and the MIDI-timecode track goes to the visuals at Front of House and the audio goes through my mixer. With the timecode, we can program in pyro or confetti shots or whatever we like, so it’s all spot-on. DJ Times: OK, let’s discuss key mixing, which is very important to a melodic genre like trance. Schulz: The philosophy to key mixing is that if you have a track that’s in a certain key, there are certain tracks that harmonically fit with it. When you mix into these tracks, it’s seamless or there’s a sudden burst of energy, or the energy goes down. With harmonic mixing, we’re not just mixing songs, we’re mixing sounds together. We’re mixing melodies to-

BPMs going up and harmonics going up. I want constant build and sometimes when you mix harmonically the track may be a little more mellow, but the room is lifted because of the harmonics. DJ Times: What’s in your studio? Schulz: Everything is in the Mac G5. I use Logic, Ableton Live. I used to use Pro Tools, but I don’t anymore because I think the Logic sound engine has gotten compatible. With Ableton, you can come up with all these quirky basslines and samples. We also have a Studio B where we’re running a PC with Cubase and Fruity Loops and that’s just to make loops and sounds because I’m a Mac guy all the way. DJ Times: The trance genre has evolved a lot since you got involved with it. Schulz: It’s a re-invention that’s going on right now. This is not your (continued on page 42)

THE DJ EXPO IS IN IT’S 22ND YEAR

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2012

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By Lily Moayeri

Strictly Kev is very tense. The producer/DJ is on the verge of releasing The Search Engine, the first full-length DJ Food album of original material in over 10 years, and the album’s release party is at the London Planetarium. It’s a first for the Planetarium, so Kev has worked in tandem with the astronomers to create a show using their equipment. A designer when he’s not making music, Kev knows his visuals and, even for him, this space-obsessed project is a challenge. “I’m trying to make the Planetarium’s equipment do things it’s not really supposed to do by turning the dome into a giant zoetrope,” says Kev, describing the cylindrical device that produces the illusion of motion from a rapid succession of static images. “If there is anything wrong, you have to note it down with code and run it again. You can’t jump through a timeline like editing film. I’ve filled up the astronomers’ computers. They have to delete everything as soon as

Mixing Celestial Sounds & Mind-Melting Video, DJ Food’s Latest Project Takes on Another

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Dimension

the show is over so people can do some work again.” Although certainly not on the scale of the Planetarium event, Kev’s DJ gigs have been incorporating visuals since 2008. Using a Rane TTM-57SL mixer with Serato Scratch Live, Kev runs video from the Serato Video SL plug-in. This allows him to play films, mixing them with the sound. Whatever he does with audio, he can also do with video, so he “scratches” the video by stopping the controller and winding it backwards. “You have a lot of work before you get into the club,” says Kev. “I pre-edit all my tracks with videos. I have to find a video if there is a video, re-edit if I’ve got a different version. There usually isn’t a video, so I make one or I have a stock library of footage that I attach randomly to each clip I’m playing. People are kind of over DJs. There needed to be a step up into the visual arena.” Learning about video is one of the distractions that held up the release of The Search Engine (Ninja Tune), which is an amalgamation of the best parts of three previous DJ Food EPs—2009’s One Man’s Weird Is Another Man’s World and The Shape of Things That Hum, plus 2011’s Magpies, Maps and Moons. And in keeping with the DJ Food tradition of musical eclecticism, The Search Engine is disparate in its styles and in its vocal collaborators. From The The’s Matt Johnson on “GIANT” to JG Thirlwell on “Prey” and Natural Self on “The Illectrik Hoax,” The Search Engine serves as a window into Kev’s musical upbringing. Listeners get snippets of science documentaries (“intermission: a new language” and “outermission: sheer fiction”), orchestral washes (“Colours Beyond Colours”), and tracks with traditional song structures (“The Illectrik Hoax” and “GI-

ANT”). With its tasty mix of intergalactic flavors, cinematic whoosh and straight-up breakbeats, The Search Engine is as dizzying as it is entertaining. Kev’s recording operation includes a Macintosh with Logic 8, Apogee Duet sound card, M-Audio Oxygen8 MIDI controller, and a pair of Dynaudio monitor speakers. He relies heavily on plug-ins and samples, which he distorts with effects (guitar fuzz, amps, pre-amps, Vocoder, etc.) to give them, as he says, a more “real feel.” It also ventures away from the program’s pre-set sounds. The plug-ins include GSi’s GS-201 Tape Echo, IK Multimedia’s Amplitube Jimi Hendrix Edition, AudioRealism Bass Line 2, as well as Logic’s Sculpture. “An absolute must-have piece of software is iZotope RX—it’s sound manipulation for de-clicking, de-noising, even spectrum rebuilding,” says Kev. “If you have a tiny dropout in a sample, you can highlight it and it uses samples from around the sampler to rebuild the drop-out. Because I do a lot of sampling, I need to clean up. For dead-air noise, crackles, bits, I’ve never found anything better.” Besides using timeless samples from documentaries, Kev pulls from old vinyl and the web where he found of a wealth of freesource material in the form of sound packages on Berklee College of Music’s site. Not strictly a mucked-up collection of samples, The Search Engine features a lot more MIDI and playing of virtual instruments. This sits well with the vocals, which bring a more tangible quality to the album. Sending the vocalist beds and a bit of direction, Johnson and Thirlwell sent him stems, which they produced and “effected” themselves. “Stems are the norm these days,” say Kev. “I’ll mix a vocal, an instrumental, and a stemmed version, which means you’ve got everything separate. In this world of licensing and adverts, what you hear is, ‘We wanted that, but we really need it without the voice there and we need it without that sample there because then it’s going to start a licensing issue—can you replay that bit?’ You need to have your music as adaptable as possible for the future.” DJ Food is already there.

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Stacked: Strictly Kev & his vinyl library.

Book ’Em! DJs Are Employing a New Set of Tools to Market to Brides at Wedding Shows. But Sometimes, the Best Techniques Are the Tried & True By Jeff Stiles

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

The annual events are held in nearly every market, typically in the springtime: Bridal shows sponsored by local radio stations, bridal vendors and reception halls, designed to draw in young ladies anticipating the Big Question being popped very soon—along with those having already been asked. Wisconsin’s Jake Riniker last year met a mother with two daughters who were both getting married. He introduced himself to them at a bridal show in The Badger State, and soon thereafter ended up signing up both sisters for receptions in 2012. Two for the price of one, you might say. “I think the main tactic that sets me apart is that I don’t pressure-sell,” says the owner of Riniker Rhythm. “My take is that when mobile DJs offer big discounts if brides sign up right away, that just makes their service look gimmicky. “I usually don’t get actual bookings until the following week or even at the next show. In this case, the mother and daughters had time to ‘shop around’ and then find me at the next show. I liked that, because I knew they had made an intelligent decision instead of just making an impulse buy.” There’s a wide variety of opinions within the mobile-DJ industry today about the importance or even relevance of spending the marketing dollars necessary to appear at a bridal show. The more experienced jocks seem to depend solely on referrals, while multi-system owners and the relatively younger guys like to use these expos to further their name recognition. In 2012, as brides become savvier via social networks, how can a DJ maximize one’s presence at a bridal show? The Platteville, Wis.-based Riniker asserts that bridal shows really work for him. Not only does he get some face-to-face interaction with brides-to-be, but he boasts that he also gets to strut his stuff in front of his competition—and to show off his awards. “I get a lot out of bridal shows,” he says. “I find it as a great branding tool,

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because I don’t have a storefront and this is an opportunity to meet clients face to face. I also have a huge competitive spirit, and I love the fact that half my competition is in the room. This is my time to separate Riniker Rhythm from the others.” Riniker says he likes to change his booth display every year to keep everything fresh and trendy. This past year he had a 32-inch TV on a stand behind a six-foot table, with a retractable banner on each side. “I also have two cocktail tables with everything draped in either silver or orange,” he says. “I also set the display up so people will step in past the cocktail tables to view the photos and scrapbooks. I never merely sit or stand in the walkway handing out postcards. “I also never bring my sound equipment and dancefloor lighting, because I really don’t think a bride cares. It makes it look cluttered and I want to look different from other DJs.” Something new for 2012 was Jake’s Blackberry Playbook, which this year he ran in presentation-mode on a TV monitor. “This way,” he says, “I was able to either show someone a photo or take them to my website—all while it’s running the slideshow.” Another jock who believes bridal shows can be an important part of the overall picture when it comes to marketing their business is Adam Tiegs in Seattle. First and foremost, Tiegs says, is the opportunity to meet with potential clients face-to-face—and before the competition gets the chance. “From your booth, you have a day or two to meet 50-500 brides, depending on the show,” says the owner of Adam’s DJ Service. “There are many experts out there who talk about trade show strategy, and we’ve taken a lot of advice from people like Brad Buckles [Wedding Expo Magazine and bridesclub.com], Chris Evans from Evans Sales Solutions [evanssalessolutions. com] and even Alan Berg [alanberg.com], former VP of Marketing for The Knot. “Booking appointments at tradeshows is key, so we can really get to know our clients one on one instead of selling them quick at the show.” Of course, Tiegs reminds everyone that preliminary information about pricing and overall breadth of service can also be given to the brides who stop by a company’s booth. “In the past, we’ve given away free trips as incentives to sign up for meeting us, and that’s worked well,” he says. “We’ve parked billboard trucks out in front of the show, so the brides see we’re a player before even entering the show, and so they can be reminded of us again when they leave [multiple impressions]. We’ve also partnered up with other professionals we trust to share booth space. “After all, you look bigger with a 40-foot booth than a 10-foot booth!” Tiegs says his company also utilizes social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to alert their friends, fans, clients and families that Adam’s DJ Service will be at the show—and then make an extra effort to put their best foot forward during any expo. “Dressing up your booth is almost the most important thing you can do to make a first impression,” he says. “You can’t rely on the table, chairs and the sign they provide to you. We have themed booths and even booths showing our capabilities. Granted, we don’t use moving head lights at a lot of events, but having a couple on trusses one year did make a big splash: No matter where we were located on the expo floor, clients could see these lights and gobos moving all over the room—so people were naturally attracted to our booth space. “Showing videos or slideshows, showing off your lighting [with no cables showing], and having a unique, clean booth can help separate you from your competitors. Having a nice backdrop, a different color pipe and drape or carpet from other booths, with appropriate signage—all are key.” Another gimmick Tiegs says he’s used in the past has been to offer to print labels for brides—so they don’t get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome signing up for 100 drawings at the show. “As for interacting with the competition, it’s always good to introduce clients at a show to other vendors they might still need for their event,” he adds. “If they need a venue, pho-

tographer, dress alterations, etc., simply take them to the people you know and introduce them. This can also go a long way in ensuring your credibility as a professional.” Of course, most of us are utilizing slideshows and videos in our presentations, and Tiegs says he uses a Toshiba Thrive 10-inch, tablet computer to show potential brides visually and audibly what his company can provide. “When I meet clients in person, I use our tablet computer to share who we are with brides and grooms,” he explains. “Not only is it good

The most important aspect of appearing at bridal shows, according to Fields, is the opportunity to actually meet his clients one-on-one. “Giving a presentation, I love to get people to use their imagination so they can use their words to express what they want—not look at video clips and pictures and then say, ‘I want that!’ “I do know times are changing when I get out of a client meeting, notice I missed a call, call them back in 10 minutes and they’ve already booked a DJ. My question for them is, ‘Did you meet your DJ, and do you know what you’re getting?’”

“I never bring my sound equipment and dancefloor lighting [to bridal shows], because I really don't think a bride cares. It makes it look cluttered, and I want to look different from other DJs.” – Jake Riniker

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for the environment not to print a presentation at every meeting, but I can show clients how to properly navigate our website when necessary. It’s definitely a tool I wish I had long ago.” Another Pacific Northwest mobile, JD Fields of Catch the Beat Entertainment in Snohomish, Wash., says he’s prepared for both techsavvy and traditional clients whenever he appears at bridal shows. “Some clients prefer hard paper versus emails and online forms,” says “JD the DJ,” as he’s known to some. “While we often rely too much on gadgets, sometimes I prefer having the wedding planner hard copy with me when I am at a show rather than just looking it up on my phone/iPad. Some of the older clients get intimidated with fancy presentations, and in a few cases I have to go into elaborate detail if I show any clips—to assure them that their wedding is going to be different, because it’s hard to duplicate what’s going to happen.” “I’ve heard occasionally from clients that they didn’t dance like that at their wedding [compared to the video], with the variables of number of guests, weather, etc. One said that he was at a wedding in December that snowed like crazy and only 30 people showed up, and we were comparing a video clip of 200 people dancing. “In my opinion, with social marketing, media and the internet, people are more demanding and not using their imagination. Compare online dating—do the people always look exactly like their picture?”

Granted, however, Fields admits that we nowadays live in an A.D.D. society, with everyone demanding instant gratification. “I definitely notice at bridal shows bigger trends in going all-out with uplighting, monograms and now photo booths,” he says. “I do believe our society is quicker to book on the spot because of time, so jocks definitely need to ‘wow’ them. Presentations are quick, to the point and offer less personalization sometimes, simply because people are in such a rush.” Meanwhile, Philadelphia-area jock Scott Goldoor says he quit appearing at bridal shows altogether around four years ago. But today, he has found a nice alternative in performing at open houses (or tastings). “We appear with a caterer or venue that recommends us,” explains the owner of East Norriton, Pa.-based Signature DJs. “Again, this is not a bridal show, but it’s for couples who have already booked this caterer or venue. So, in essence, these are more qualified customers for us who are looking for our services, along with other vendors. “These open-house tastings also do not cost us anything, except our time and of course DJ set-up and performance. I’ve found this to be very beneficial. We’ve booked numerous events from them, and most importantly we’ve maintained a very good rapport and status with the venue and caterer.” Goldoor says they sometimes show a video montage or sample on their iPad, and sometimes also bring their old bridal show display, which showcases their work via pictures on a Siegel Display foam-core board. “Several times a year, there are a few venues or caterers that will contact my company to basically provide background music and ambiance,” Goldoor says. “Sometimes we’ll also bring some basic lighting, depending on the site and hours for their booked customers or potential customers. “Again, each open house or tasting is a bit different. Some provide it as a courtesy to their existing clients, offering a tasting for a group rather than an individual. Others also invite potential clients, and it gives them an opportunity to showcase their venue or facility and also allow vendors, such as DJs, photographers, videographers, florists or event planners to attend. “It’s much like a bridal show, but more scaled-down and, again, the clientele I’ve found to be a bit more qualified. They’re looking for us as fellow vendors, more so than my experience at bridal shows over the years.” n

Book ’Em! DJs Are Employing a New Set of Tools to Market to Brides at Wedding Shows. But Sometimes, the Best Techniques Are the Tried & True By Jeff Stiles

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

DJ TIMES

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DJ TIMES

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MAKING TRACKS STUDIO…HARDWARE…SOFTWARE…

ByJosh Harris

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

STUDIO SOLUTION: LOOPMASTERS SOUND LIBRARIES

Established in 2003, Loopmasters has created plenty of unique solutions for DJ/producers in the digital age. The U.K.-based sounddesign company releases and publishes sample packs with cooperation with software and hardware manufacturers. For the past four years, Loopmasters has offered an online store. For this issue’s Making Tracks column, we dive into two recent ge” sound-library offerings from Loopulta “Va ’ s C masters—“Analogue Farmhouse” by oM tere the Dutch duo Mason and “Vaultage” S : s e roov by U.K. production team Stereo MCs. ol G o h I happen to be fans of both production -Sc Old .” outfits, so spending some time with their back with this library, as there are 107 e s ou rmh respective sample libraries was certainly drum loops, 55 bass loops, 23 drum fills, 23 a F e logu a treat. brass loops, seven flute loops, 32 guitar loops, 45 a n ’s “A Mason: “Analogue Farmhouse” keys loops, 11 mixed loops, 23 string loops, 53 son a M ors: tech-house. What I Consisting of Iason Chronis and Coen Berpercussion loops, 15 Vocoder FX, 15 bass hits, 16 Flav o r t c appreciate about this colrier, the Amsterdam-based act Mason has been brass hits, 43 FX, 14 one-hit guitar FX, 26 vocal FX e l E lection is that it stays very true to around since 2006 and, while they might not be and 417 single-drum shot samples. They have also the production sound that you hear on their a household name here in the United States, they included Reason Kong kits. records. The drum and bass loops are my favorite certainly have club cred overseas. In 2007, they Again, I chose to download the Zip format, part of the library—the drum loops are quirky, yet topped the U.K. dance charts with “Exceeder,” an which lists for 34.95 (GBP). Like “Analogue Farmnot too quirky to find their way into a track. electro-house bomb that sampled The Dazz Band’s house,” the other available formats include: Apple Loops are offered in three to four scenarios: full, “Let It All Blow.” Loops, Reason 5+ Refill, as well as an Ableton Live no kick, and no hats or no percussion. The bass Mason’s latest Loopmasters entry “Analogue “Livepack.” loops cover the keys of A, C, E and F. Overall, the Farmhouse” is a 900-MB collection of samples and As I cycled through the loops and sounds, I was samples and loops sound very current, sometimes loops that were programmed on iPads, modular impressed with the sonic diversity. The MCs have synths, analog synths and analog drum machines. even sounding ahead of today’s sound. Also, the FX drawn inspiration from hip hop to rock to funk, loops are not the typical white-noise transitional The breadth of this library is impressive. It consists along with a bit of electronic experimentation. of 21 bass loops, 31 FX loops, 34 music loops, sounds that most sample libraries have, but rather Some of this content came from outtakes of previa diverse collection of synths and percussion loops 133 drum loops, 228 single-drum shots, 20 bass ous albums, as well as sessions with some of the that are filtered and tweaked. If you are a fan of patches, 22 synth patches, 20 vocal samples, and 42 instrumentalists the band has worked with over Mason’s productions, then you will not be disapeffect samples. The BPM for the loops range from the years. pointed with “Analogue Farmhouse.” 125–128, and there are 59 total patches for ReaI love this library because it’s loaded with oldStereo MCs: “Vaultage” son’s NN-XT, Steinberg’s HALion, Logic’s EXS24, school flavor, and I don’t have anything that sounds The Stereo MCs have been around since 1985, Cakewalk’s SFZ and Native Instruments’ Kontakt like it in my own sample library collection. A although most of us know them from their 1992 software samplers. standout for me is one of the mixed loops called For this review, I downloaded the Zip format, hit, “Connected,” which used the sample of Jimmy “Ruffneck.” This is a vintage Stereo MCs music “Bo” Horne’s “Let Me (Let Me Be Your Lover).” which Loopmasters considers the Main format. It loop, which I can listen to over and over, because The British hip-hop/R&B outfit also has a deep hislists for 24.95 (GBP), and it consists of Acidized it’s so good. tory of groovy remix work. Wave files (non-looping), the sampler patches and On the whole, “Vaultage” is a unique sample According to the MCs, “Vaultage” is “a 360-deRex2 files. Other available formats include Apple library because it isn’t chasing the “here-and-now” gree look at where we’ve been, where we are, and Loops, Reason 5+ Refill, as well as an Ableton Live sound. It’s about the Stereo MCs and their musical where we’re going to—be it drum-wise, music“Livepack.” journey, which has spanned over 25 years. Fans of wise or production-wise.” This 1.3-GB collection For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the MCs or producers looking for groove-laden contains 394 loops with tempos that range from Mason’s sound, it really can’t be categorized into sounds should definitely consider owning this 80-150 BPM. There are 561 single samples and one genre of electronic music. At times, it has an library. 119 patches for the NN-XT, HALion, EXS24, SFZ experimental electro feel. Sometimes it can lean a If you have any questions for Josh Harris or Making and Kontakt sample players. The MCs did not hold little towards glitch. Sometimes it can lean towards Tracks, please send them to djtimes@testa.com.

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SOUNDING OFF PLAYBACK…PRO AUDIO…PROCESSING

By Wesley Bryant-King

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

VMS 4.1: IMPROVED CONTROL

Just over a year ago, I had the opportunity to take a look at American Audio’s American Audio did send along an opVMS 4, an innovative DJ controller and tional VMS Bag with the review unit. Not audio interface that was at that time new surprisingly a perfect fit for the VMS units, on the scene. I found the original VMS 4 I’d consider it nearly a must-have accesto be an aggressively priced, feature-rich sory. There’s a second main pocket for solution for digital DJs. your laptop, as well as small but ample The folks at American Audio haven’t zippered accessory pouch on the front for been sitting around since its release, mouse, power supply, and so on. With the either. They’ve been busily collecting VMS Bag, toting around your DJ workstafeedback from customers, and making a tion becomes a simple, all-in-one affair; just range of tweaks large and small, resulting grab the handles or throw the shoulder in the recent debut of their improved strap around you you’re off. model, dubbed the VMS 4.1. Set-Up & Use: These are unchanged So how’s it stack-up now? Let’s find from the earlier version of the product. It out… is, quite literally, insert disc, follow direcFirst Impressions: Let’s start with American Audio VMS 4.1: Excellent function & value. tions in the manual, connect the unit via one of the first things many a DJ might USB, and go. (Be certain to check system consider: price. The good news is that the VMS 4.1 is offered at the same price requirements prior to installation to make sure your laptop or desktop compoint as its predecessor; it’s always a plus to get more without paying more. puter has sufficient memory and overall power to run the bundled Virtual DJ The list price remains at roughly the $700 mark, with street prices consideror Traktor.) ably under that. Virtual DJ remains the bundled software. As with its predecessor, the VMS 4.1 was enjoyable to use. The controls have American Audio also offers a “Traktor Edition” of the product, bundled a nice feel. Knobs are spaced nicely to avoid fat-fingering issues. The rubberwith a fully functional version of Native Instruments’ Traktor software. Priced ized, translucent, backlit buttons remain as well. The nice die-cast platters of at around the $900 mark, it, too, comes at a street price well under that. The the jog wheels also retain the same construction, feel and operational touch Traktor Edition is the same product under the hood, but the control-legends of the earlier model. screen printed on the top surface are slightly different, reflecting the differWhat continues to set apart the VMS 4.1 from some of its competitors at ences in how the product is—in its standard configuration—used with Traktor. its price point is the design decision to allow all four channels on the device to (Of course, control mappings are editable from those supplied by American be used with your choice of external inputs, or sound channels from the audio Audio, if you feel you need things to work differently.) interface and hence, from your DJ software. (Two of the external inputs can be It is worth noting that either model can be used with Traktor, or indeed, configured for phono use, if you use vinyl turntables.) American Audio refers to virtually any DJ software that provides support for USB MIDI-based control this capability by the name “MIDILOG,” and switching back and forth between surfaces. If you’re already a user of a specific package, check for available consound card or external sources is as easy and a toggle switch—one for each figuration files; worst case, you may need to “roll your own” using the tools channel—on the front panel. your DJ application provides. American Audio smartly routes the external sources direct to the master Many of the things I liked so much about the VMS 4 are unchanged with the outputs. In the event that the laptop freezes or there’s some other issue, you VMS 4.1, one of the biggest being the great flexibility with inputs and outputs. can keep a CDJ or iPhone at the ready to fire-up a back-up source while you On the input side, mic inputs—and there are two (a major plus in my book)— reboot the computer. This allows the VMS 4.1 to be used as a simple fourare of the dual Neutrik-style variety, accommodating either XLR or ¼-inch channel mixer as well. plugs. There are RCA inputs for each of the four channels supported by the So what did change with the VMS 4.1 over the earlier VMS 4? The changes unit. On the output side, the unit provides both XLR master outs (my prefermay not be earth-shattering, but they certainly do add a lot of polish in places ences given my mobile set-up) as well as separate booth and master outs via where it can really count. RCA. For a start, American Audio claims that the internal hardware is completely I also loved the fact that the VMS 4 (and 4.1) provide 3-band EQ and gain new. (Admittedly, I didn’t disassemble my review unit to verify the veracity of separately for each of the two mic inputs. Sure, it makes for a bit of a “wowthe claim!) They also say that the unit has a bigger power supply—which supthis-has-a-lot-of-knobs” reaction when you first see the VMS, but the upside is ports two other improvements: higher audio output and brighter LED illuminaan ability to balance the audio of two different microphones, which might have tion on the unit. very different characteristics. The higher output was difficult to confirm; it does seem somehow punchier, I also like its configurable crossfader with the option to disable it completely. but given a typical use case with external PA amps driving sound, this may or For those of us who don’t use a crossfader, that’s a big plus. may not be noticeable in the field for most users. And while I couldn’t make Finally, the VMS 4.1 carries forward the somewhat utilitarian design of its a side-by-side comparison with the earlier model, indeed, control illumination predecessor. Design aesthetics are subjective, but I’m not sure I’d personally seems to have improved. describe the VMS family as particularly “sexy” looking. While it may be nice to The company also says that microphone sound and punch have been imtote around gear with sex appeal, I’m not sure it’s a bad thing to have the emproved. I didn’t experience difficulty with the earlier VMS 4, but given the phasis on function over form. The VMS 4.1 has a solid feel, sturdy construction, importance of mic sound for virtually all mobile jocks, and given the somewhat and excellent stability when you place it in your workspace. (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)

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MOBILE PROFILE CAREERS…INNOVATIONS…SUCCESS STORIES

LISA LOVE… By B. Stanley Burken Bensalem, Pa.—Lisa Love’s arc of a DJ career started 30 years ago with a simple question: “How did you do that?” It was 1984, and at a weekend party in an upstate New York park, hip-hop sounds were spilling out of a pair of tabletop speakers, and DJ Smooth was making it all happen. Lisa had never seen a DJ before—few people had. Says Lisa, “I told him, ‘I love how you DJ. How do you do it?’” Shortly after that, she began an apprenticeship that has guided her life, a life that began with less promise than most. At two, her great grandmother, in Philadelphia, removed Lisa from a Catholic home for children of unwed mothers—her natural mother had given birth to Lisa when she was a kid—and took her to upstate New York. When Lisa’s mother came of age, she came to get Lisa and bring her back to Philly, followed by Lisa’s great grandmother. When Lisa was 13, she lost her great grandmother, and hardship and homelessness followed, alleviated only when Lisa moved back upstate New York to live with an aunt. Somewhere between the death of her great grandmother and moving to New York, Lisa learned the second-most valuable skill in her lifetime: basketball. She was such a gifted pupil that she earned a full four-year scholarship to Clarion University in western Pennsylvania.

records in my car.’ They looked at me like I was crazy.” But there was no other DJ, and they needed one. So John Barber of Come Kleen Productions, which was producing the event, gave her a chance. “He was impressed,” says Lisa, “and I’ve been with John since, and he has helped my career in Philly more than I can say.” That led to a radio job at Power 99, spinning for host Tiffany Bacon on the Inner City Show. “My producer, you would have thought I was running for president, because she told everybody at Power 99 to try to get me in as a DJ,” says Lisa, who spun on air for three years. “And I wasn’t talking, just mixing, and for the last hour of her show I would do an hour-long mix, power blending, local artists, and R&B hip hop, soul, neo-soul, as they called it then.” To this day, through Come Kleen, Lisa Love does corporate and celebrity events, and has opened for LL Cool J, Joe, Jennifer Hudson, Kim Fields, Terrence Howard, Jadakiss, Styles P, Faith Evans, Kindred, Jon B, Tank, Lenny Williams, Will Downing, Marsha Ambrosius, Bilal, Black Sheep, Eric Roberson, Glenn Lewis, and Cedric the Entertainer (to name just a few). “It’s about your associations, and being seen,” says Lisa, who applies DJ business tactics more often seen in the mobile world. “When you do a charity event, people remember that and then when the money comes in they’ll call you—and you better have 1,000 business cards, because no matter where you are, there’s a client out there. The average person doesn’t know how to find a DJ, so make it easier for them. It’s about having contracts, meeting with clients before the events, and clarifying that you’re a professional, you dress like one, and you deliver like one.” It helps with another of her current endeavors, the More Than Music DJ Institute, a DJ school she started in 2007. “Most of my clients,” she says, “are working people—doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, a CNN correspondent, dancers, singers, professional bodybuilders.” In four weeks, Lisa offers a full course, from Technics to Serato Scratch Live and to the Numark NS7 controller. “We use a variety of media,” she says, “but I make sure they have a strong foundation with turntables, and beat matching, blending. We also cover the business aspect of it, about troubleshooting and professionalism, because you only have that one time to make a first impression, and I want everyone to be as blessed by the beats as I have.”

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

BRINGS SOUL BACK TO PHILLY

And that’s where the DJing re-emerges. “Learning how to play basketball ended up saving my life, yes, that and getting involved in music,” says Lisa. “I was never involved with DJing in Philly—I was too busy figuring out where I was sleeping and how I was going to eat. But in high school in New York, my life changed, I could have really been on a different road in Philly.” During college she developed her DJing skills to great effect. “I took that skill with me and worked on it,” she says, “and I did all the parties in college—fraternities, sororities, cabarets, and special events, spinning LL Cool J, a lot of hip hop, what we call now the classics, Run-DMC, they all had just come out, Eric B and Rakim, and a lot of dance, house and club music.” She had made a decent amount of money and learned that this was something she could do, so when she graduated college and returned to New York, and began spinning at two local bars. Soon, people began to really notice. “It wasn’t too often you’d see a female DJ,” she says, “and I was pretty good. I was marketable. So that got me a lot of jobs doing bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings, private parties, kids parties, anniversaries, and it helped me hone my skills. I did that part-time while I maintained a full-time job—because of my past life I never wanted to be homeless, so I got a stable job, with health insurance, and a retirement plan, and that kept me in the 9-to-5.” She returned to Philly in 2000, “because it was a big city and I wanted to try my skills in a larger market, and got linked up with some good people, at a House of Soul party at a local club. One Thursday, a DJ failed to show, and I told the organizer, ‘I’m a DJ, and I have

BUSINESS LINE SALES…MARKETING…SOLUTIONS…

TIPS FOR BRUSHING UP YOUR BRAND

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

By Miles Burke

In your office, be it home or storefront, use a round table instead of a square table—and watch the percentage of people contributing to the conversation increase.

Your DJ business and your brand are inexorably linked. Both require vigilant upkeep and constant polishing. In his book, The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence, author Tom Peters offers business owners and brand managers inspirational nuggets to help identify places where they can improve their business and their messaging. They include: Turn your angry clients into your brand enthusiasts: How have you treated your angry customers? It’s true, your most loyal customers are ones who had a problem with your service… and then were impressed at how you went overboard in trying to rectify the problem. We see shades of this on social media all the time: a company announces a fee increase, a social-media storm arises and tens of thousands join in protest, and then the company retracts the fee increase and earns points for being empathetic to the whims of its customers. See: Netflix, Bank of America. For your DJ business, try following the advice of Tom Peters in The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence, and make “overreacting” to problems a keystone in your culture. How? Reward those employees who unearth and report customer problems. Then, over-connect; let the customer know ASAP and update them constantly—even if there is nothing to report. Reward great response to problems, and reward great response to “little problems.” (Peters acknowledges that there are no “little” problems in the customer’s universe.) And then, when the problem is rectified, publicize the response—internally and externally. Post it on Facebook and

watch your formerly irate customer morph into your biggest and most loyal brand enthusiast. Note to self: In your office, be it home or storefront, use a round table instead of a square table—and watch the percentage of people contributing to the conversation increase. The soul of business, according to Napoleon: “The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simplest are the best, and common sense is fundamental. From which one might wonder how it is generals make blunders; it is because they try to be clever.” Your brand is your first impression. And according to Peters, you have seven seconds for you—and your brand—to make a first impression. Are you doing the following? * Amp up your attitude. Some people radiate energy, some don’t. But “the don’ts” can at least square their shoulders, and pump themselves up a bit. (Energy is not to be confused with aggressiveness. Energy is, in my opinion mostly in the eyes.) * Give your message a mission. That is, if you’ve got something you want to get from the interaction… stay on message! Peters says he gives his best speeches when he’s tired. “I cut down or cut out all the convoluted twists and turns and stay religiously on topic.” * Recognize “face value.” A “poker face,” according to Fox News Channel TV president Roger Ailes, works well in poker—but it is disaster in more human interactions, including professional settings. “Call it animation, or engagement, but it is different from raw energy; it’s something about being In the Moment.” And, again, the idea is to mimic a whirling dervish—animation, to Peters, mostly involves the intensity of concentration. The bottom line, here, is to pay attention to how you engage. It’s as important as your product, and will go further in communicating your brand

values than anything else you do. Is your brand “fun”? Peters includes a chapter on Richard Branson, beginning with a quote from a profile written by Michael Specter in The New Yorker: “Branson likes to enter a market controlled by a giant—British Airways, say, or Coke, or Murdoch. Then he presents himself as a hip alternative.” Peters continues: “He allows himself to get pissed off at something stupid [pathetic airline customer service], and, on the spot, more or less, starts an airline.” (Peters believes that all successful innovation, products or processes are all lived out fantasies of pissed-off people.) Back to Peters: “Branson is his brand. He enjoys his nutty stunts that personifies the brand’s hipness and engages in them even when out of camera range; upon discovering the car back to his hotel after a recent party was full, Sir Richard simply hopped in the trunk. Specter goes so far in his profile as to dub him the Anti-Trump,” while, around the office, “Branson’s nickname is Dr. Yes, largely because he has never been able to bring himself to fire people, and often has trouble saying no to even the most ridiculous and unsolicited idea.” Peters then goes on to say the only reason he takes on new projects is the “unadulterated pleasure I get from always marching the other way.” The takeaway for your DJ business: “Do your darnedest to make it fun, make it a ride to remember, and make it a bloody ball.” Who do you hang out with? Peter’s says that we are who we hang out with. “Hang out with interesting— get more interesting. Hang out with dull—become more dull. Hang out with those in other functions—improve cross-functional communication. Hang out with weird customers and vendors—get dragged into the future. Hang out with 19-year-olds—and watch your use of the Web get more interesting and extensive. Little, if anything, is more important for innovation than precise ‘hang out management.’” Where are you “hanging out?” Where you “hang out” says a lot about you and your brand—and your future success. The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence, by Tom Peters, is available at bookstores and amazon.com

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Bubble Boy American DJ Supply, Inc. 6122 S. Eastern Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90040 (800) 322-6337 www.americandj.com American DJ’s new Bubbletron portable bubble machine weighs four pounds and has a durable plastic case and carrying handle for easy transport. It works with most major brands of bubble liquid and comes with equipped with an EZ-Access front fluid tank, a high-velocity fan and a wired ON/OFF remote with a 25-foot cable. The Bubbletron draws 24 watts of electricity and has a fluid consumption rate of one liter every two hours.

Watch Your Backpack Numark Industries, LLC 200 Scenic View Drive Cumberland, RI 02864 (401) 658-3131 www.numark.com The Numark Controller Backpack is a controller case that can be carried in a variety of ways, utilizing either the adjustable shoulder strap, carrying handles or tuck-away backpack straps. The bag is made of heavy-duty canvas and features both an external pocket and a lid that’s reinforced with hard plastic. It comes with thick cushioning to cradle a controller, plus two connecting straps that hold the controller in place and an extra layer of egg-crate-style padding that “keeps gentle pressure on the controller when the lid is closed,” according to the company.

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.

Just Wanted to Say Hybrid

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

Fusion Bags USA 220 Wisconsin Ave Oceanside, CA 92054 (323) 521-9642 www.fusionbagusa.com

Fusion Bags’ new DJ Controller and Workstation Controller hybrid DJ bags are designed to hold laptops up to 17 inches, as well as interfaces, controllers and other types of audio equipment. Both bags sport Fusion’s “Zip-Away” system, which lets users fully open the bags for access to large internal individual compartments. The bags are constructed from tough, water-resistant Riptstop material and 20mm high-density foam padding, heavy duty textured base protection, and hardwearing rubber protectors on all corners.

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Put on a Chauvet Chauvet 5200 NW 108th Ave. Sunrise, FL 33351 (800) 762-1084 www.chauvetlighting.com Chauvet announced two new LED spotlights, the LFS-5 and LED Followspot 75. The LFS-5 is a portable, framing spotlight powered by a 23-watt white LED. It comes with four gobos, as well as a 16- to 24-degree zoom range, internal framing shutters and a removable gel frame to project nearly any color. The LED Followspot 75 is powered by a 75-watt white LED and is controllable by three channels of DMX. It includes seven colors plus white, and features a manual iris and 14- to 20- degree zoom range.

The Emulator Strikes Back Smithson Martin Inc. 2283 Argentia Rd. Unit #22 Mississauga, ON L5N 5Z2 Canada (888) 770-0757 www.smithsonmartin.com Emulator Modular 1.0 software adds multi-touch layouts to virtually any MIDI software and was specifically designed with live performance in mind. According to the company, the program was designed “to be simple to use so anyone from any background can figure it out,” and it works with any software. The software supports animated GIF and transparent PNG files and can lay out a “virtually limitless” number of executors, faders, playback buttons, macros and more. Additional features include bi-directional MIDI communication and a comprehensive list of objects, sliders, X-Y pads, and instruments.

Coming Out of the Dark Pressure Native Instruments North America 6725 Sunset Boulevard, 5th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90028 (866) 556-6487 www.native-instruments.com Dark Pressure is the latest expansion pack for Native Instruments’ MASCHINE. It includes a selection of kicks, snares, hi-hats and percussion samples in 42 kits with over 200 corresponding preprogrammed patterns. Optimized for techno, tech-house and minimal compositions, Dark Pressure contains five demo projects and 64 pre-sliced percussion loops for instant remixing. A smaller version of Dark Pressure is also available for iMASCHINE for iPhone / iPod Touch.

Monster Mashup

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

Mixed in Key LLC www.mixedinkey.com

Mashup is a software application for Windows and Mac OS X that uses a harmonic algorithm to beatmatch and edit two or more audio files, and then save the results to a new 320kbps MP3 file or a 16-bit, 44.1kHz WAV file. Mashup features a graphic editor that lets users edit each song’s volume, as well as three bands of EQ. Users can silence portions of songs, adjust phase, slide them in time, and more. Mashup comes with free updates until Version 2.99.

REACT & CONGRESS PRESENT

“CHICAGO’S FIRST ALL DANCE FESTIVAL”

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Sasha Fierce Influx Audio Inc 3940 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Ste 1477 Studio City, CA 91604 (310) 430-4254 www.audioraiders.com AudioRaiders’ Sasha Soundlab is a library of samples and software instruments designed for DJs, dance-music producers, and composers. It comes with more than 4,000 individual sounds, including lead, pad and stab synths; synth basses, customizable loops and grooves, and custom effects banks. Each of the 220 fully-customizable software instruments is sampled from vintage analog synthesizers. Additional features include 100 loop instruments, 69 drum-and-percussion sample banks, and 11 custom FX banks, containing more than 400 effects that utilize guitar pedals, circuit bent toys and a wide range of processors.

Scenes from a Minimal Samplerbanks 145-157 St John Street, London EC1V 4PW +44 (0) 1342 255 437 www.samplerbanks.com Samplerbanks’ Pure Minimal is a collection of glitched, processed and tweaked minimal music loops inspired by artists like Deadmau5, Sander van Doorn and Wippenberg. The pack contains 308 drum, 65 bass and 36 synth loops in ACID-ized WAV files, as well as Apple Loop, REX2, Reason 5 ReFill or Ableton Live Pack formats. All of the loops were recorded at 126, 127 and 128 BPM and they are all royalty free. The samples are premapped as 12 sampler banks kits for Kontakt, EXS 24, HALion, Reason NN-XT and SFZ.

Whiter Shade of Pale Pioneer Electronics 1925 E. Dominguez Street Long Beach, CA 90810 (310) 952-2000 www.pioneerdjusa.com The S-DJ05 active reference DJ speakers from Pioneer now come in a new glossy white version called the S-DJ05-W. The speakers sport light silver controllers and feature a linear EQ function that allows non-step frequency adjustments in the high and low frequency bands from -6dB to +6dB. It comes with a Bass Reflex enclosure that extends the lower frequency range, as well as an Auto Standby mode that automatically switches on when no input signals are detected for 60 seconds.

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

Mixage of Innocence

Mixware LLC 7421 Laurel Canyon Blvd. Unit 14 North Hollywood, CA 91605 (786) 362-5757 www.reloopdj.com Reloop Mixage is a USB/MIDI controller that comes with an integrated, 16 bit/48 kHz four-channel USB audio interface. Compatible with both PC and Mac, it includes 54 assignable MIDI controllers, including 30 buttons, five faders, four encoders, one push knob, 12 knobs, and two touch-sensitive jog wheels. Additional features include stereo RCA outputs, 6.3 mm headphones connection and a 6.3 mm microphone connection that comes with its own volume control.

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GROOVES TRACKS…MIXES…COMPILATIONS either—both tracks are sure to make the dancefloor “Party Non Stop.”

– Chris Davis “WINDOW SHOPPING” EP

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Kris Menace

DJ-KICKS u Maya

Jane Coles u !K7 Moody and dark, then more tuneful and bright—give or take a wobbly breakbeat—Coles’ DJ-Kicks entry delivers the Maya Jane Coles fruitful journey that all tech-house lovers want to experience. Highlights include: her mind-bending “Meant to Be” (as Nocturnal Sunshine); Kris Wasworth’s edgy “Mainline” (Jimmy Edgar Remix); and the Zenker Brothers’ stomping “Berg 10.”

– Jim Tremayne “ELECTRIC HORIZON”

u Kris Menace u Compuphonic Loaded with Nu-Disco candy, this thought-provoking, retro assemblage offers deep, enchanting melodies and memorable tunes engineered justright for the dancefloor. This majestic full-length is a sonic pleasure.

– Shawn Christopher “PARTY NON STOP” u Pirupa u Desolat Pirupa’s first release on Desolat comes as an amazingly funky, high-energy groove with that classic hip-house vibe. Don’t sleep on the silky, growling deep-house remix from DJ QU

Stimming lays it down on this soulful, yet funky house EP. “Window Shopping” has some delightfully freaky vocals, heartfelt symphonic strings, colossal kicks and smooth Rhodes stabs. “The Song” is a chuggy, relentless late-nighter with a curious spokenword vocal. “November Stimming Morning” pours on the soul with emotive key progressions done in the profound way only Stimming can.

– Shawn Christopher

“SHOTGUN” u Zedd u OWSLA Zedd’s latest stripped-down electro-house banger drops the hammer heavier than ever, showcasing his signature style–he keeps the melody as unadorned and as catchy as possible. The acoustic drum samples are a nice touch in this one, too.

– Chris Davis “DICE” u Mark Reeve u Soma Records Tech-yes. The growling sub-bass of “Dice” kicks in early on, and its iron grip never lets go. While “Arena” has a big-room sound (much larger than “Dice”), it falls a little flat, while the sinister drone of the latter never ceases to deliver.

“ATMOSPHERE”

– Chris Davis

u Pavel Svetlove u Dextrous Records A sensuous tech-house release with especially clean production all around, Mier’s remix of the title track makes for a great dancefloor warmup. Meanwhile, the sassy original mix and darker “Alex Tasty Remix” may best be served up later in the night. Sky-high, baby.

– Chris Davis “CHINATOWN” u Alex Gaudino u Ultra Music Opening up with 8-bit Super Mario-esque samples, this anthemic track is sure to make the listener feel they’re main-stage at a Far East music festival. The synths and lingering melody remain a focal point of the track, with the percussion steadfast.

– Chris Davis

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

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Each month in this space, DJ Times digs through the virtual crates to give you a quick sample of the plethora of extraordinary tracks available exclusively on legal download—care of our favorite next-generation “record” stores (e.g. Beatport, iTunes, etc.). “Somewhere In Between” (Original Mix) by Carsten Rausch [Agora Audio]: This, just the second release from this promising Berlin-based label, finds German producer Rausch stretching his straightforward, floor-focused house wings. Rich, pitch-bent bass, piano and filtered synth stabs, along with some vocal snippets, build to an undeniably head-bobbing workout. Found at beatport.com. “The Mirror Game” (Original Mix) by Guy Gerber [Visionquest]: With his first original material since 2010, Gerber sounds like he feels equally at home at a smoky Bauhaus show from the early ’80s or in the main room rocking a crowd of 2,000 at Pacha. His boundary-pushing sound certainly anchors itself in house and electronica, but explores the melodic tendencies of dark, brooding post-punk with its live bass and plinky minor key synths. Found at beatport.com. “Night Track” (M.A.N.D.Y. Remix) by Sasha & James Teej Guy Gerber [Last Night on Earth]: German duo M.A.N.D.Y. has the incredible ability to take an original track in a profoundly new direction, yet keep it true to the original’s vibe. Here, M.A.N.D.Y. takes the songfocused original with just a subtle house beat and tightens it into an edgy, percussive-driven and effects-laden dancefloor journey. Found at beatport.com. – Robert LaFrance M.A.N.D.Y.

Zedd

Mark Reeve

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Company

2/21/2012 12:58:40 PM

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DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

Spring Awakening............. 35

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Compiled As Of April 1, 2012

National Crossover Pool Chart 1 Jessie J Domino 2 Kelly Clarkson Stronger 3 Erika Jayne Party People 4 Rihanna You Da One 5 David Guetta F/ Nicki Minaj Turn Me On 6 Swedish House Mafia Vs Knife Party Antidote 7 Madonna Give Me All Your Luvin’ 8 Blush Dance On 9 Dev And Enrique Iglesias Naked 10 Taio Cruz F/ Flo Rida Hangover 11 Gloria Estefan Hotel Nacional (remix) 12 Deborah Cox If It Wasn’t For Love 13 Chris Willis Too Much Love 14 Kristina Korban This Is Your Night 15 Florence And The Machine Shake It Out 16 Linda Clifford How Long 17 Hayla I’m Free 18 Coldplay Paradise 19 Body Lingo Yum Yum 20 Katy Perry The One That Got Away 21 Beyonce Countdown 22 Flo-Rida Good Feeling 23 Pitbull Intl. Love F/Chris Brown 24 Raquela Tell To My Heart 25 Madonna Nash Dirty Little Secret 26 Lucas Prata F/ Lenny B First Night Of My Life 27 Katy Perry Part Of Me 28 Beyonce Love On Top 29 Wynter Gordon Buy My Love 30 David Guetta F/ Sia Titanium 31 Daniela Love Me Enough To Lie 32 Route Too Far Night To Remember 33 Emii Stilettos 34 Rihanna F/ Calvin Harris We Found Love 35 George Acosta F/ Emma Lock Never Fear 36 Candi Lynn Lunatics 37 Jason Dottley Pop It-Madonna Mashup 38 Dance Mafia F/ Raquela R.E.S.P.E.C.T. 39 Afrojack And Shermanology Can’t Stop Me 40 Parralox Creep

National Urban Pool Chart

Universal Republic RCA Pretty Mess Island/Def Jam Capitol Capitol Interscope Farwest Universal Republic Universal Verve Verve Veneer Dauman Universal Republic Nu & Improved Halya-Dauman Capitol Gatorbait Capitol Columbia Atlantic Jive ISV Mad Charm Popnotch Capitol Columbia Big Beat Capitol Robbins Robbins Slippery Eel Def Jam Songbird IM Records JD3 ISV Robbins Sub Terrane

1 Chris Brown Strip 2 Tyga Rack City 3 Estelle Thank You 4 Rihanna F/ Calvin Harris We Found Love 5 Jay-Z & Kanye West Gotta Have It 6 Rihanna F/ Jay-Z Talk That Talk 7 Mary J Blige & Drake Mr. Wrong 8 J. Cole F/ Trey Songz Can’t Get Enough 9 Big Sean Dance (A$$) 10 Travis Porter Ayy Ladies 11 Lil Wayne & Bruno Mars Mirror 12 Beyonce Love On Top 13 Laura Michelle Pose 14 Trey Songs Sex Aint Better Than Love 15 Beyonce Countdown 16 Drake F/ Nicki Minaj Make Me Proud 17 T.I. F/ Big Krit I’m Flexin’ 18 Drake & Rihanna Take Care 19 Ophishal American Way 20 Rihanna You Da One 21 Wale F/ Miguel Lotus Flower Bomb 22 Rick Ross F/ Nicki Minaj You Da Boss 23 Younf Jeezy F/ Jay Z & Andre 3000 I Do 24 Drake & Lil Wayne The Motto 25 Waka Flocka Flame Round Of Applause 26 Melanie Fiona 4 AM 27 Flo-Rida Good Feeling 28 Nicki Minaj Stupid Hoe 29 Fat Man Jig It 30 Diggy Simmons F/ Jeremih Do It Like You 31 Lil Wayne F/ Drake She Will 32 Jennifer Hudson I Got This 33 B.O.B. F/ Lil’ Wayne Strange Clouds 34 Ledisi & Jaheim Stay Together 35 Mike Posner Looks Like Sex 36 Trey Songs F/ Fabolous What I Be On 37 Busta Rhymes F/ Chris Brown Why Stop Now 38 Robin Thick F/ Lil Wayne Pretty Lil’ Heart 39 Wiz Khalifa F/ Snoop Dogg & Young, Wild & Free 40 KC Jockey Girl You’re Free

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

David Guetta F/ Sia Katy Perry J. Dash Madonna Hayla Paulina Rubio Beyonce Georgie Porgie Eric Turner F/Lupe Fiasco Afrojack And Shermanology

Titanium Part Of Me Transformer Give Me All Your Luvin’ I’m Free Heat Of The Night Love On Top Go Bang Angels & Stars Cant Stop Me

RCA Universal Republic Atlantic Def Jam Atlantic Def Jam Interscope Columbia Def Jam RCA Universal Columbia Thompkins Media Atlantic Columbia Universal Atlantic Universal Megablast Island/Def Jam Warner Brothers Def Jam Island/Def Jam Universal Warner Brothers Universal Atlantic Universal SOW Atlantic Universal Republic RCA Atlantic Universal RCA Atlantic Universal Republic Universal Roadrunner Sweet Sadies

Most Added Tracks Capitol Capitol Stereofame Interscope Halya-Dauman Universal Columbia Live-MPG Capitol Robbins

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

J. Dash Transformer Rich Rick F/ Omarion What You Want J.O. Jetson Whirlwind Young Nino Lookin Good Bei Maejor Lights Down Low J. Cole & Missy Elli Noboyd’s Perfect Re:G Amish Girl Jennifer Hudson F/ Rick Ross Think Like A Man T-Pain F/ Ne-Yo Turn All The Lights On Pitbull Back In Time

Stereofame White House Graceie/HMMG Stack Money RCA Columbia Groove Cay Epic RCA RCA

Reporting Pools ✦ Dixie Dance Kings - Alpharetta, GA; Dan Miller ✦ Flamingo - Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Julio ✦ Next Music Pool - Los Angeles, CA; Bob Ketchter ✦ Masspool - Saugus, MA; Gary Canavo ✦ OMAP - Washington, DC; Al Chasen ✦ Central Ohio - Columbus, OH; Fred Dowdy ✦ NW Dance Music - Shoreline, WA; John England ✦ Philly Spinners Assoc. - Bensalem, PA; Fred Kolet ✦ Pittsburgh DJ - Pittsburgh, PA; Jim Kolich ✦ Soundworks - San Francisco, CA; Sam Labelle

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

Schulz

Sounding Off

(continued from page 16)

big brother’s trance, which was 145 BPM, lots of snare rolls, and build-ups. The tempos have slowed down. The basslines have gotten warmer. The percussion is all nicely, neatly compressed with lots of room for bottom end. When you look at a studio computer screen and you look at a kick-drum at 145 BPM, the kick-drum decay doesn’t have a chance to fully get that release, so you’re just getting the attack of the kick. But when you slow it down, now these kicks are further apart, you can hear and the bass scoops that are in the kicks. Same thing with a bassline—when you slow it down you can feel the low frequencies. And now you’re hearing guitars and pianos in trance. DJ Times: There was a backlash against the genre, so it had to reinvent itself and evolve. Schulz: Absolutely, the same formula got tired. Looking at the dancefloor, these two-minute breakdowns… DJ Times: Just check your watch, here come the lights. Schulz: Right. People started to grow out of that. The kids don’t want that now, track after track. You have to keep things moving. And with new producers coming onto the scene, you started to hear new sounds. DJ Times: Tell me about your latest project, the Los Angeles ’12 compilation. Schulz: Every year, I do a compilation dedicated to a city that inspired me, and this year I picked L.A. to represent what’s going on in the U.S. I’m quite proud of the series and this is our seventh one. When I make these comps, I work with the producers trying to get them to make tracks

(continued from page 26)

that really fit the compilation’s vibe. They’re almost like artist albums— everything is fresh. I think that’s the future of compilations. I personally get involved with every track in some way. DJ Times: Why is EDM exploding in the States now? Schulz: It’s a new generation and these kids love dance music. What we’re seeing now with this generation is what we saw in 1999 in Europe with that generation. It’s just happening one generation later in the U.S., but everything you’re seeing and feeling is what I experienced in Europe in ’99. DJ Times: But it feels more organic this time. Schulz: The internet is the main reason for that. In ’99 when it was happening in the rest of the world, the major labels and the program directors here in the U.S. didn’t understand it and they didn’t understand that it wouldn’t test well. Also, kids don’t like to listen to things that their parents listen to, and hip hop was so big back in the early millennium, so maybe this generation is rebelling away from hip hop with dance music. DJ Times: Seems like almost all EDM genres are experiencing resurgences. Schulz: Absolutely. I’m really proud. We’ve been working over 10 years to see this in the U.S. But as you see this getting bigger, you’ll see more celebrity-type DJs, so the true art of the DJ is something that we need to still cultivate and nurture and make sure is never lost. DJ Times: Any advice for upand-coming DJ/producers?

Schulz: Find out who you are as an artist—your sound, your style. What is it that you really want to represent? I’ve seen many DJs chase a sound because it’s popular. If you are so lucky as to make it playing this sound, ultimately, you may not be happy because it’s may not be what you really want inside. Find yourself and make music in your DJ sets that represents you. Do it with a sound that you’re genuinely into. DJ Times: And find like-minded people. Schulz: Yes, it’s important these days to be part of a circle. Swedish House Mafia has their circle of producers. Tiësto has his circle of producers. I have my circle of producers. We all work together and share ideas together—it’s like a mini-production house. Definitely find DJs that fit into what you’re trying to do. Work with them cultivating your sound. DJ Times: And running a label, like your Coldharbour imprint? Schulz: With the labels, anyone can run one these days with Beatport in the picture. But ultimately, it’s really about promoting your music and getting it to the people who need to hear it. I believe the most foolproof way is, again, to be part of a circle where everyone is playing each other’s music. That’s how the splintered trance scene built up. You have your uplifting guys running together, your progressive guys running together, your techy guys running together and so on. DJ Times: What keeps you going these days? Schulz: I’m still a fan. I still love the music. There’s nothing like that feeling when you’re blown away by a new track. It’s just the fan in me. n

wimpy “punch” of mic input on some controller/interfaces on the market, American Audio’s focus on this improvement was warranted. The company also says it’s upgraded the internal DSP (digital signal processor) chip driving the unit’s signal processing (most likely the actual source of the claimed improvements in audio quality). And finally, they say they’ve improved RFI shielding, making it less susceptible to the dreaded “chug-chug-chirp” audio interference generated by mobile phones that use the GSM mobile technology standard. In the U.S., that includes AT&T and T-Mobile, among others. (This type of interface can still bleed-in via cabling, however, so where you put your phone during a set still matters.) Perhaps the only area of the VMS 4.1 that I’d like to see improved further is the integrated touch pad—designed to augment or perhaps replace the touch pad on most laptops. As with the VMS 4, this feature seemed a bit clunky, and the mouse buttons being implemented as touch-sensitive depressions in the bezel surface vs. more conventional switch-based buttons made them hard to use in my view. While you’re not obligated to use this functionality, I’d just as soon see it removed entirely and the top surface space used some other way. Conclusions: The VMS 4.1, like its predecessor, delivers everything is promises in terms of functionality, at a price point that truly is very aggressive and very competitive indeed for the features it brings to the table. The nice improvements under the hood simply serve to make an already attractive controller/audio interface even more appealing.

Maya Jane Coles’ Weather Report I’m not sure I believe that.

DJ TIMES

MAY 2012

Some say that DJs have mystical powers.

Although, I can make it rain. Maya Jane Coles, 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

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