DJ Times August 2013, Vol 26 No 8

AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988

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PLUS: DJ EXPO PREVIEW n TRACY YOUNG ALEX NIGGEMANN n E-V’S POWERED PA APOGEE QUARTET n THE ULTIMATE ISOLATOR

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AUGUST 2013

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INDUSTRY EVENTS…NOTABLES…MILESTONES

NEWS

ATLANTIC CITY’S DJ EXPO SET TO LIGHT UP DJ MARKET Biz Markie: At the Stanton booth

Skribble: Ready to bang the party.

DJ Kool: Plays ADJ’s PizzaFest

Lit Up: Chauvet will join a packed showfloor.

Expo Floor: Hands-on attention. successful DJ/producers like Skribble, Phil Moffa of Butcha Sound Studios and Luca “Digital Boy” Pretolesi of Las Vegas’ Studio DMI; “How to Become a Country DJ & Make Extra Income” presented by Connecticut jock Alan Kohn; and “Meet the Hitmakers: DJ Expo Artist Panel” presented by Promo Only Promotions’ Cary Vance and featuring talent to be announced.

(For a list of sponsored seminars at DJ Expo, please See Page 9.)

On the club side, ADJ’s PizzaFest on Aug. 13 will offer food, drinks and giveaways. It will also present performances by DJ Kool (“Let Me Clear My Throat”) along with MC Sparky B and former DMC champ DJ Etronik.

On Aug. 14, Promo Only will present its always-hot Summer Sessions Showcase at House of Blues. Talent to be announced. Also, on Aug. 14, Moodswing360 will present RiFF RAFF and the Ying Yang Twins at the Borgata. And on Aug. 15 at the Taj’s Ego Lounge, DJ Skribble will play his annual late-night set—full of classics and hits of all genres.

DJ Times and DJ Expo will also present a pair of mobile gatherings.

Monday night’s “Mobile Kick-Off Party,” MC’d by Mike Walter, will offer DJs a chance to network and

E-V Booth: Set to pack a punch.

relax, while being entertained by a variety of mobile talents. Then on Wednesday, Aug. 14, it’s time for the “DJ of the Year” competition. Again hosted by Mike Walter, the event will bestow awards for a variety of mobile-related categories. Of course, the big prize is “DJ of the Year” and two-time champ Jack Bermeo of LJ Productions in Belleville, N.J., will be back to defend his title. Will we see

/beamzdj

@beamzdj

a Jordan-like three-peat? Stay tuned.

And don’t forget the Ultimate DJ System Giveaway! Offered on the Expo’s last day, the Giveaway will see one lucky attendee’s business card pulled from the hopper and he or she will win gear from ADJ, Beamz, Global Truss, Mackie, Pioneer and Promo Only.

For the very latest on DJ Expo, please visit www.thedjexpo.com.

Check it out!

Atlantic City, N.J. – Once again, the big show is just around the corner. Produced by DJ Times and its publisher Testa Communications, DJ Expo is set for August 12-15 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J. Founded in 1990, the DJ industry’s largest and longest-running show will present: four days of educational seminars, keynotes and workshops; three days of exhibits from major DJrelated manufacturers and distributors showing audio, studio, lighting and specialty products; and three evenings of sponsored parties and events. DJ Expo expects to draw 5,000 DJs of all stripes—mobile, club, studio, bedroom and beyond.

On the seminar side, DJ Expo will co-present (with Stanton DJ) a special “Keynote Q&A” on Aug. 13 with legendary hitmaker DJ Premier, who will discuss his successful career path, including his time with the groundbreaking Gang Starr and his studio work with artists like Jay-Z, Nas, Janet Jackson, Cee-Lo and Kanye West.

“Mobile Operator” panels will include such topics as: “50 Ways to Up Your Game” presented by Beantown Sound’s Sam Lurie; “All-Star MCs” featuring six entertainers doing 15 minutes each; “How the DJ Expo Grew My Business—And How It Can For Yours” presented by Maryland mobile Steve Moody; “Mock Mitzvah With Big Daddy” presented by Sean “Big Daddy” McKee with contributions from top mobiles Bobby Morganstein, Ricky G, Anthony Vennera and Jeffrey Craig; “Hey Kids! Children’s Entertainment for DJs” presented by Massachusetts mobile Rob Peters; and “Nightmare DJs: Don’t Do That!” presented by North Carolina jock Joe Bunn.

“Gear & Tech” sessions will include: “What’s New: Trends & Technologies” featuring top retailers and DJ Times gear reviewers; “The Myths & Methods of Beatmixing” presented

by DJ/retailer Frank Garcia of Mainline Pro Lighting, Sound and Video; “I Am the Video DJ” featuring a panel of top talents like DJ Roonie G; and “Remix the Video! An Introduction to Basic Video Editing” presented by Boston VJ Joshua Carl.

“DJ Culture & Music” sessions will include: “Making Tracks: Notes from the Studio” featuring a panel full of

© 2013 Beamz Interactive, Inc. The Beamz logo is a registered trademark of Beamz Interactive, Inc. Light Up Your Creative Genius is a trademark of Beamz Interactive, Inc. All other marks are property of their respective owners.

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VOLUME 26 NUMBER 8

12 Vegas, Baby

Has Las Vegas Really Become the New Ibiza? Sin City Resident Blake Jarrell Has a Front-Row Seat & Dishes the Dirt

By Deanna Rilling

18 Road Ready Highlights from America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Presented by Pioneer DJ & DJ Times

20 Are You Associated?

In An Ever-Digital World, Do Old-Fashioned DJ Associations Have Any Value? We Asked Around.

By Jeff Stiles

By DJ Times Photographers

SAMPLINGS

DEPARTMENTS 7 Feedback

32 Gear

24 Making Tracks

38 Grooves

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

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

Apogee Quartet

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26 Sounding Off

E-V ZLX-15P & SBS Designs ISO-Q2

28 Mobile Profile

Philly DJ Makes All the Right Moves

30 Business Line

Google AdWords: A Pre-Expo Primer

New Products from Stanton DJ, Odyssey Designs & More Phat Tracks from Radio Slave, Pretty Lights & More

40 DJ Times Marketplace Shop Here for All Your DJ-Related Supplies

41 Club Play Chart

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

8 Tracy Young Expands Her Brand

10 In the Studio With…

Alex Niggemann

FROM THE EDITOR

Vegas: All That Glitters…

As we make more and more visits to the ever-expanding EDM empire that is Las Vegas, it’s hard not to remain a little overwhelmed with all its DJ-friendly developments. Mega-clubs continue to crop up with free-spending bookers, attracting top-level talent to entertain millions of beat-hungry visitors.

So what does that mean for Sin City’s resident DJs—you know, the ones who actually live there?

We connected with popular Vegas-based DJ/producer Blake Jarrell to find out, and Mr. Jarrell didn’t disappoint with his take on things. As our Vegas-based correspondent Deanna Rilling found, Jarrell remains a tad conflicted with entertaining tourists who are often musically incurious.

But he certainly realizes how his bread is buttered. At his America’s Best DJ tour date at Marquee Dayclub this past June 21—opening for Armin van Buuren—he rocked the crowd without upstaging the Armada Man one bit. He effortlessly mixed the popular vocal tunes and upfront trance tracks, without losing the sun-baked partiers at all. Somehow he’s found the balance. Oh, and in his interview with Deanna, he dishes on Ibiza.

In Samplings, our two (other) in-house Georgia Bulldogs handled the section’s DJ interviews.

Chris Davis caught up with Berlin’s Alex Niggemann, who discussed the launch of AEON, his new label. Also, Chris Caruso connected with Miami’s Tracy Young, as she kicked off a new version of her Genesis party and was beginning to ride the wave of her summer-hit remix for Cher’s “Woman’s World.” (Go Dogs!)

Our two review sections—Sounding Off and Making Tracks—took on three new products for DJs and remixer/producers. In Sounding Off, Boston jock Paul Dailey cranked up Electro-Voice’s E-V ZLX-15P active speaker, while New York studio maven Phil Moffa tested out the SBS Designs ISOQ2 solid-state, 3-way isolator/program equalizer. In Making Tracks, New England-based producer Josh Harris put the Apogee Quartet 4-in/8-out USB audio interface through its paces.

In the world of mobile jocks, Iowa-based scribe Jeff Stiles asks the market if DJ associations remain useful. (They do!) In Business Line, we examine the marketing magic of Google AdWords. And in Mobile Profile, we connect with Philadelphia’s Patrice McBride, who explained how his hustle— from teen to college student to professional jock—helped put him ahead of the pack.

As the season marches on and we continue our travels to top EDM events around the country, this month finds us offering a pictorial spread of America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Presented by Pioneer DJ & DJ Times. This issue takes us to Detroit’s Movement festival, Los Angeles’ Avalon club, Philadelphia’s Rumor club, and San Francisco’s Ruby Skye, where we caught sets from nearly 20 America’s Best DJ nominees. Remember, voting for your favorite nominated DJ online (at www. americasbestdj.net) or at one of our events will automatically register you to win a trip for two to the ABDJ Closing Party/Award Show at Marquee nightclub in Las Vegas on October 13. You can also win valuable prizes from Pioneer DJ and DJ Times by following us on Twitter or Liking us on Facebook. Gotta be in it to win it.

And don’t forget DJ Expo, our long-running conference and exhibition. Set for August 12-15 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., the show will boast three days of exhibits, three evenings of sponsored parties and four days of educational seminars, workshops and keynotes, including one with legendary hitmaker DJ Premier. For the very latest, please visit www.thedjexpo.com—we hope to see you there.

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

Cheers,

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

art director Janice Pupelis jpupelis@testa.com

editor-at-large Brian O’Connor boconnor@testa.com

production manager Steve Thorakos sthorakos@testa.com

chart coordinator Dan Miller dmiller@testa.com contributors Lina Abascal Jody Amos Tom Banham Joe Bermudez Wesley Bryant-King Shawn Christopher Paul Dailey Chris Davis Justin Hampton Josh 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

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

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

brand design & web development manager Fred Gumm fgumm@testa.com digital media manager Chris Davis cdavis@testa.com advertising manager Jon Rayvid jrayvid@testa.com art/production assistant Douglas Yelin dyelin@testa.com Circulation circulation@testa.com Classifieds classifiedsales@testa.com operations manager Robin Hazan rhazan@testa.com Editorial and Sales Office: DJ Times, 25 Willowdale Avenue, Port Washington, New York, USA 11050-3779. (516) 767-2500 • FAX (Editorial): (516) 944-8372 • FAX (Sales/all other business): (516) 767-9335 • DJTIMES@TESTA. COM Editorial contributions should be addressed to The Editor, DJ Times, 25 Willowdale Avenue, Port Washington, NY, USA, 110503779. Unsolicited manuscripts will be treated with care an d should be accompanied by return postage.

DJ Times (ISSN 1045-9693) (USPS 0004-153) is published monthly for $19.40 (US), $39.99 (Canada), and $59.99 (all other countries), by DJ Publishing, Inc., 25 Willowdale Ave., Port Washington, NY 110503779. Periodicals postage paid at Port Washington, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to DJ Times, PO BOX 1767, LOWELL MA 01853-1767 Design and contents are copyright © 2013 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 August 2013

Jim Tremayne, Editor, DJ Times

visit our website: www.djtimes.com

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FEEDBACK AmericA’s First mAgAzine For ProFessionAl DJs estAblisheD 1988

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for Party Favors,” the seminar will be presented by Sherman’s George Sutherland. According to him, “Your clients’ perceived value is the return on their investment. But how can your business better reflect value in its ser‑ vices?” He’ll show you the way.

On Wednesday morning, Aug. 14, Chauvet Lighting will offer a pair of

consecutive, one-hour lighting semi‑ nars. Presented by Chauvet DJ’s Geoff Short, “Ménage á TRUSST: 3 Easy Ways to Playful Profit” will demon‑ strate lucrative ways for DJs to use the TRUSST trussing system. Then, on “The Ulimate Upsell: Tips for Earning the Most Profit at Any Gig,” Jeremy Brech of DJ Jer Events & Lighting De‑

sign will offer money-making ideas via innovative lighting designs.

Then later in the day, Mackie Designs/ Loud Technologies will present a onehour session on its new DLM Series of active loudspeakers.

For the very latest on DJ Expo, please visit www.thedjexpo.com.

www.djtimes.com

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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.

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DJ TIMES, What kinds of sponsored events and workshops can we expect at DJ Expo this year?

– Several E-Mails

At presstime, we have several spon‑ sored events scheduled for DJ Expo, which runs Aug. 12-15 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J. One of them is the annual ADJ PizzaF‑ est, which is set for 6 pm on Aug. 13 at Xanadu (next to the Taj’s Casbah Nightclub). Featuring a performance by the hitmaking DJ Kool (“Let Me Clear My Throat”), PizzaFest will of‑ fer food, drink and giveaways. MC’d

by Cleveland’s DJ Sparky B, the ADJ party will also feature a performance by former DMC champion DJ Etronik.

On the sponsored seminar front, DJ Expo attendees will have plenty of ed‑ ucational workshops to choose from.

On Monday, Aug. 12, ADJ’s “Maxi‑ mize Your Lights… Different Scenes For Different Themes,” Arnoldo Offer‑ mann of A-Premier Entertainment will demonstrate how DJs can transform any room from soft and romantic to red hot and back again—all without changing your lights. His “secret” is in using the same lights different ways.

Other Monday seminars include spon‑ sored sessions from Eternal Lighting and Kingdom Photo Booth. Tuesday, Aug. 13, will see a party-prop semi‑ nar conducted by Sherman Special‑ ties. Titled “Get a Fresh Perspective: Implementing Successful Protocol

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SAMPLINGS

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

TRACY YOUNG: WOMAN’S WORLD

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When it comes to experience and playing big gigs, not many DJs compare to Tracy Young. With over 20 years of spinning and studio work to her name, the Virginia native has played nearly everywhere—from major club venues to exclusive private events, like Madonna’s wedding.

Her studio credits include mixes for some of music’s biggest names—Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Akon, Madonna and more. Her latest remix of Cher’s new single—a big-room take on “Woman’s World”—is currently tearing up clubs everywhere with its euphoric topline and classic house flair. She’s not slowing up at all.

We recently caught up with the woman herself to talk about her recent musical moves and her decision to bring her annual Genesis party from Miami to New York.

DJ Times: This is the first time you’ve brought your annual Genesis party from South Beach to New York for Pride Week. What made you decide to take it elsewhere?

Young: I am fortunate to be able to call both New York and Miami “home.” Both cities have such strong identities through their sound, style and overall energy that our state of mind would transform as soon as we set foot on their grounds.

Genesis Miami is as iconic as it is now because it truly embodies Miami, and Genesis New York gives us the chance to channel the soul of the city.

DJ Times: How would you describe the new version?

Young: At Genesis New York, it’s the sound of New York. The legendary DJ/producer/New Yorker Tedd Patterson and I were on the decks, and we wanted everyone to just be with one another and dance. A custom light installation by the Ferosh multimedia team enhanced the musical journey.

DJ Times: Genesis New York was a major part of the Pride festivities this year. Do you approach annual Pride events differently from other club events?

Young: Of course, I still feel that it’s one of those special moments where we can truly be ourselves. Judgment, prejudice, and hate are not allowed.

DJ Times: Over the years, you’ve remixed big names, including Madonna, Britney Spears, and Cher. Do you have any other collaborations or remixes in the pipeline?

Young: My labels, Ferosh Recordings and F Region Productions, started releasing new music this year. Our latest release, “Color of Your Eyes,” is a single that songwriter/producer Astrid Suryanto and I collaborated on. It’s a feel-good, indie-dance, summer tune that is making its way through the radio. Of course, I have my own big-room interpretation, which I debuted at Genesis alongside the other remixes I have recently done of Nikki Williams, Maya Simantov, Ginny Blackmore, Felix Da Housecat, and Cher’s new single, “Woman’s World.”

DJ Times: What gear do you use in the studio?

Young: Logic and Ableton with a collection of soft-synths, vintage gears, and a team of very talented musicians.

DJ Times: And when you play live?

Young: I would love to have those turntables back, but as time moves forward, a three or more [Pioneer] CDJ set-up is preferable.

DJ Times: Favorite track this year?

Young: Felix da Housecat: “I Just Want to Be a Lesbian (Aphrohead Remix).”

DJ Times: Favorite producer? Favorite DJ? Young: Producer: Stuart Price. DJ: Danny Tenaglia.

DJ Times: Do you prefer to DJ or to produce?

Young: I am involved in a wide range of music-based projects at the moment. I’m a music lover first, so... all styles, genres, and angles.

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IN THE STUDIO WITH

Niggemann’s imprint AEON looks to defy trends.

ALEX NIGGEMANN: NEW LABEL CHIEF

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

Alex Niggemann is a hard man to pin down. Though he considers himself a house DJ, his productions and DJ sets transcend genre boundaries, as they easily range from taut, techy tracks to vocal-centric floor-fillers.

He’s recently launched his own label (AEON) and he kicked it off by releasing the impressive tech-houser, “Just A Little” (featuring Jonny Cruz). We caught up with the Berlin-based DJ/producer to find out his plans for the label, as well as his favorite music of the moment.

DJ Times: Why start a label?

Niggemann: I always wanted to do my very own thing, release the music I’m 100-percent behind. I created AEON to be a platform for a crew of talented artists, who share the same thoughts about house music and its way of life, creating one platform to release music that stands for quality and that certain something. I want to release music purely for lovers, for people who cut their own path, who dance just the way they feel, celebrating and being passionate about what they do without following rules and trends—the things which characterized the “rave culture” of the ’90s. That’s what really fascinates me!

DJ Times: What is the biggest challenge in creating a record label?

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Niggemann: Finding the right way to express what you want to tell people with your music and what the label should stand for—be it the name or the right artwork. That definitely was heavy going in the beginning and my team and I were working hard on this the last months. But now everything’s set and ready to go. First release is out and everything looks great—we got nice feedback so far and I’m very happy.

DJ Times: “Just A Little” has a decidedly tech-house flair—is there a particular genre that AEON will focus on?

Niggemann: Classic and timeless house/techno combined with the technical possibilities and influences of today. Think mid-’90s, Chicago, Detroit, techno-house—that’s it!

DJ Times: In terms of A&R, what kind of artists are you looking to sign? Are you looking more toward established acts or developing new talent?

Niggemann: Both things. As you can see from the first release, we got Steve Bug and Glimpse on board who delivered great remixes for my tunes. The second release is from one of my favorite newcomers these days, Francys. Marco Resmann did a remix for one of the tracks and I can tell you now already that this is definitely one of my top tunes this year. I think it’s not important if the artist is well-established or a newcomer. If I like the music and a track is touching me, I release it. Besides this, I really like to develop new talents and help them grow, because I think it’s important to get some support in the beginning— that’s what I would have really needed when I started.

DJ Times: Do you have any other upcoming projects/releases with AEON? Niggemann: Yes, third and fourth release is already in the pipeline.

Also, I’m thinking about a collaboration EP by end of the year. For sure, we want to build an inner circle of artists that can represent AEON on their own as well—artists that associate themselves with the label and are able to release albums and compilations in the name of AEON. DJ Times: Favorite producer right now?

Niggemann: Francys is the man of the moment for me. I’m playing his tunes all the time. His “Universal Language” is my favorite track of the year.

DJ Times: Favorite DJ? Niggemann: Good question, I guess I don’t have a favorite. But technically, I still think that James Zabiela is one of the best in the world, even though I’m not really digging what he plays. I can tell this here, as I told him already and we are still friends.

DJ Times: Favorite studio gear/software?

Niggemann: Actually, it’s Logic Pro and hardware like my Moog, a 303 and my Yamaha Clavinova or my MPC, which I use both to play every single instrument with, even drums.

DJ Times: Moving to your performance, what gear do you use live?

Niggemann: I’m a simple DJ. I don’t need much. I prefer to use three CDJ-2000nexus players and a Pioneer DJM-900 as mixer. All the rest is a bit too much for me. I want the music and my selection of music to speak for itself.

– Chris Davis

DJ Premier

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VEGAS

By Deanna Rilling

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

Has L a s Ve g a s Finally Become the New Ibiza?

Sin City Resident Blake Jarrell Has a Front-Row Seat & Dishes the Dirt

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Las Vegas – Sometimes you have to look back to move forward. Such is the “dilemma” for popular DJ/producer Blake Jarrell.

In an EDM world of copy-cat tracks and relative sameness, Jarrell says he wants to re-evaluate his own studio approach. He’s made his name with hands-in-the-air trance tracks, but these days he’s leaning toward making more groove-oriented material, the kinds of things influenced by legends like Sasha and Danny Tenaglia.

His issue, he admits, is that he’s a Las Vegas resident—at the ever-hot Marquee Nightclub, no less—and in Vegas things are good. Real good.

Why change up and upset the tastes of tourists when Sin City has effectively replaced Ibiza as the epicenter of global-DJ talent, if not all of dance music?

So, these are the conundrums of living the DJ life in Las Vegas. It’s not that the fans aren’t there.

It’s not that the venues aren’t mind-bogglingly adorned. It’s just a question of how far you can carry that audience beyond its norms. These are problems that, to many DJs, aren’t really problems at all.

Before such dramas ever arose, Jarrell established himself through island-themed productions such as “Boracay” and “Barbados,” plus “Dubai” and “Say What You Will,” and esteemed bootlegs of Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars,” Axwell’s “Heart Is King” vs. R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” and Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.” Plus, there’s his long-running Concentrate podcasts.

That Vegas came calling shouldn’t have been a surprise. With an education in audio production/ music business, the 29-year-old talent has been on that track since his days as a young DJ in New Orleans and Chicago. With that in mind, we sat down with Blake Jarrell to talk shop and discuss his front-row seat to the ever-expanding EDM empire that’s Las Vegas.

DJ Times: It seems like everyone’s essentially copying the same idea in electronic-dance music these days. What are your thoughts on that and the current state of the productions you’re hearing?

Jarrell: I’ve noticed in the past two years that everyone’s bandwagoning. It’s so formulaic now that you can take tracks, open them in Ableton or Logic, view the WAV form and see that everybody’s building the same arrangements at the exact time, the same BPM… DJ Times: The builds and drops are in the same spots.

Jarrell: Exactly. It’s cookie-cutter and every-

body’s running with that formula because it works for now—or it did work. There needs to be a change—I’m getting bored with that. I get a thousand promos a month, if not more, and listen to music constantly. When I have to hear the same thing over and over again, it makes me almost not interested in the music anymore.

DJ Times: What are you digging? You must find things you like, maybe from other genres.

Jarrell: I do a lot to find newer sounds, look for newer labels—and I don’t just listen to trance and house promos. I’ll listen to a dubstep or chillout promo or whatever’s being sent to me just so I can be inspired by something else. I’d say out of a thousand promos, 900 of them are bandwagoning on an Avicii, Alesso or Nicky Romero studio trick.

Also, not just the studio techniques, but bandwagoning on the same feeling in the tracks: It’s very aggressive, in your face, give-it-to-you-now, hands-in-the-air, and no restraint. That is losing what dance music is really supposed to be about.

DJ Times: What are your studio inspirations?

You had to start somewhere, too.

Jarrell: When I started listening to electronic dance music, yeah, I got into rave-y stuff at first, but I didn’t understand the dance part of it until I started listening to Sasha, Danny Howells, Danny Tenaglia and people like that. Their dance music— which I consider real dance music—is all about being locked into a groove, being hypnotic, and having tension and release. I’m trying to get back to that with my productions, too.

DJ Times: The sounds have changed, haven’t they?

Jarrell: It’s hard, because you get inspired by things that are going on, so you start trying to mimic them a little bit and sometimes you mimic them too much on accident and you’re like, “Well, I need to release a track anyway, so I’m just going to put it out.” Another big problem with dance music is that people are just putting out too much stuff because they think they have to have releases constantly to stay relevant, and I don’t think that’s really true.

DJ Times: For a DJ, when is the appropriate time to educate rather than regurgitate—especially now that you moved in 2012 from Chicago to Las Vegas? Is it based on time and place?

Jarrell: Place has a lot to do with it. Vegas, it’s tourists and different faces every week, so trying to educate tourists when a lot of them are just there because it’s something to do and electronic music is fun right now, it’s the cool thing, trying to educate them may not work. But other places,

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Mac Pro Desktop Apple Cinema Display Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Yamaha HS50M Monitors M-Audio Axiom 61 MIDI Controller Pioneer HDJ-2000 headphones Apple Logic Pro 9 Ableton Live 9 Spectrasonics Omnisphere Spectrasonics Trilian LennarDigital Sylenth1 Native Instruments MASSIVE ReFx Nexus Waves Plug-In Bundle

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Blake Jarrell’s Studio Gear

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like when I played Exchange in L.A., I was able to play whatever the hell I wanted and people got it.

That’s refreshing.

DJ Times: Nice to know you can stretch out a little.

Jarrell: But it’s also the music that’s being made. Risks aren’t being taken. There’s no experimentation. It’s all this “let’s overwhelm the senses.” It needs to go back to “let’s build a good groove,” not only in the song, but let’s build one in the DJ set. Let’s make the tracks longer again and make the arrangements different because we went from making 12-minute songs that had great arrangements, to now they’re literally four-and-ahalf minutes long.

DJ Times: What are you personally doing to mix things up, or do you have to still capitulate a bit?

Jarrell: I still have to compromise, but I kind of hit a wall with production recently. For two or three months it was so hard for me to write anything because I was being inspired by stuff, writing it, realizing I was being too inspired by it and ended up hating the track and deleting it because I didn’t believe in putting out something that was obviously a bandwagon track. I just couldn’t do it.

DJ Times: How did you turn a corner?

Jarrell: I started reaching back into much older tracks, like 10-years old, and studied them. I realized it’s the arrangement of the track, goofing around and having fun in the studio, and not being afraid of using a different sound that somebody hasn’t used before.

DJ Times: It’s a tough balance to make music you like and music that you know an audience will go for.

Jarrell: I think that’s what real art is, just experimenting, having fun and being inspired. But the business part of electronic music—especially now when there’s so many people doing it and so much competition—you want to stay relevant and it’s easy to get caught up in something that’s popular. But if you step back and you look at these guys that everybody’s copying, they got big because they did something different before anybody else did. So if you want to be a big DJ or a big producer, if that’s your goal, the best way to do that is to not do what the big guys are doing.

DJ Times: What are you experimenting with right now?

Jarrell: I started going through synth sounds, patches and stuff, and realized all of the patches and synth sounds that you can buy online, they all sound like what’s already been done! That’s what people have to work with! So I started writing my own synth patches, just a blank slate of a sound, building the sound myself, twisting knobs and coming up with my own stuff. Also, I was reaching back into older synths or banks that I used. Omnisphere [from Spectrasonics] is one of the plugins that I use—it’s more for scoring films than for writing dance music. I dug into that and made more atmospheric synths, more heady and trippy stuff. Dance music needs to get more cerebral and if that doesn’t happen, then … I don’t know.

What do you think? Will it fizzle out?

DJ Times: It seems to go in cycles. Dance music may go back underground, but the people that are into techno and tech-house, they’re still going to be supporting smaller parties and lesserknown producers. But it might not be the big

headliners up there anymore. It could go back to pop stars, socialites and reality stars hosting as the main draw.

Jarrell: I’m interested to see what’s going to happen in Ibiza this summer—Tiësto’s not even playing.

DJ Times: With a multi-million dollar Vegas contract, guess he doesn’t need to.

Jarrell: Of course, but I think it says a lot about Ibiza.

DJ Times: Is money driving dance music rather than the privilege, honor and a career achievement to spin there? Ibiza used to be the pinnacle goal for a DJ. Now it seems to be more about cashing in and only having to play a gig or two a month.

Jarrell: People give Vegas a lot of shit for being more commercial and all of the money that’s going around, but I think people give a lot of shit to Vegas and praise Ibiza. But what they’re praising about Ibiza is what Ibiza was 10 years ago. Ibiza is now copying Vegas: They’re making five-star hotels with casinos in them. They’re building all these bottle-service driven clubs, whereas 10 years ago, Ibiza was all about being out on the terrace with your shirt off at 8 in the morning.

DJ Times: Which then turned into Miami, so we’d all go there for the best parties, and now everyone’s coming to Vegas.

Jarrell: I think it’s just because a lot of people haven’t been to Ibiza. They know the old Ibiza from the stories.

DJ Times: When Oakenfold brought Perfecto to Vegas in 2008, I ran a piece where he said that Vegas is the new Ibiza. Everybody latched on to that.

Jarrell: Markus [Schulz] ran with it, too.

I’ve said it, too, in interviews. Then Armin [van Buuren] came out in an interview and was upset about it and was like, “Well, it’s two different things.” I think what Armin’s saying is right in a way, but also he knows Ibiza is not what it was 10 years ago. He was playing there 10 years ago; I started playing there seven years ago. It was starting to be commercial back then and I watch every year get more and more commercial—especially in the past two years. It’s all commercial.

DJ Times: Is the center of electronic music just going to keep moving west? It went from Ibiza to Miami to Vegas. Is Los Angeles going to be our new destination for discovery?

Jarrell: L.A. kind of is that. A lot of producers are moving there. It could be the new Berlin—not techno per se, but just sort of a more centralized place where artists are on the cutting edge, looking to be inspired and inspire each other. All of the artists that I’m inspired by live in L.A. right now, so that makes me want to move there. I think I’ll move to L.A. within the next two years.

DJ Times: Do you find Vegas inspiring artistically, though, since it’s pretty commercial?

Jarrell: It is, in a way, because until I moved here, I didn’t get to see the dark side of things. I know how to distance myself enough to not get caught up in that stuff and noticed to stop and look at a situation. I can see the way that the city can destroy people; they get caught up too much in partying and chasing the party every day. I learn from watching other people’s mistakes. I’m also working in the studio all the time; I don’t really have time to go out. If you go out every night—

which is very easy to do—you will get stuck in it.

It’s fun every day here, so work, and then reward yourself with some fun.

DJ Times: As far as environmental inspiration, you have the whole “island theme” to your productions. Will that continue in some form?

Jarrell: I’ve always been inspired by nature with my music because certain musical scales, like major scales, and timbres or tones of synths in different instruments put images of nature into my head. With the island theme sound, I’m inspired by a place, a picture or a trip somewhere.

I want to capture that in sound and put the listener there through the song. I’ve been doing it for years. It started with one of my earlier songs, “Destin Beach,” and I’ve continued that theme ever since then—and “Destin Beach” was breaks.

Now the island sound is more house, but it’s the atmosphere behind the song.

DJ Times: How has the easy accessibility of making and distributing electronic music affected its quality?

Jarrell: When I started, people were still playing vinyl and occasionally CDs. When high-speed Internet got faster, people started sharing music online and drove the demand for playing CDs in clubs because it was cheaper.

DJ Times: It became more accessible and you didn’t have to wait for vinyl to be pressed.

Jarrell: I’m glad you said that because that’s a huge thing. Before, you couldn’t get the same

AUGUST 2013

music as everyone else. You couldn’t get that record that Sasha played.You may never even hear it again. But when the Internet came, everyone had access to any of the music—it happened slowly, but now it’s to the point where you can get any song really easily, even if it’s not released yet. People leak tracks on purpose to drive that viral stuff.

CDJs got big because of the Internet and then, of course, Serato and stuff came soon after that.

That’s what killed the mystery of going to hear Sasha & Digweed play—you wouldn’t know any of the tracks, but you’d have the time of your life.

DJ Times: That’s the downside, then?

Jarrell: The Internet made everything available too fast. It’s also making it possible for producers to put out music that isn’t being filtered through labels because people used to have to be like, “OK, this song is good, but am I going to spend $10,000 pressing it on vinyl?” Now it’s, “OK, this song is halfway decent, it sounds like a hit that’s already been written and it doesn’t cost me anything to upload it to Beatport, so sign on the dotted line.”

DJ Times: How about pros for you and other producers?

Jarrell: There are a lot of pros to it because it’s definitely easier to collaborate with other artists, easier to get in touch with record labels, easier to get heard in general.

DJ Times: How does collaborating over the Internet affect the dynamic of a track?

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“ I b i z a i s n o w c o p y i n g Ve g a s : T h e y ’r e m a k i n g f i v e - s t a r h o t e l s w i t h c a s i n o s .”

Jarrell: In a collaboration sense, you’re always going to write something better [in person], have more fun and share ideas. You’re learning from them—not just from hearing what they’re doing, but their tactile function. They’re physically there and you can see the person—there’s something special about that. But it doesn’t mean collaborating over the Internet is a bad idea because I know people that have never been in the same room and written amazing music.

DJ Times: What are your thoughts on set construction and building a night?

Jarrell: That’s one of my big things. First of all, sets have become artist showcases—and it’s out of necessity because producers became the center of attention, where it used to be DJs. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that if the producer can be a good DJ. There are some. But the sets now, they’re way shorter, like an hour or two, and usually comprised of only that producer’s tracks. That’s not DJing to me. You’re playing a concert. The art of DJing is building a night slowly over time, connecting with the crowd, a common theme throughout the tracks. That’s very much missing these days. There are very few guys doing long sets.

DJ Times: Where is your head at now when you sit down to work on something?

Jarrell: My music needs to be more cerebral because it was in the beginning and I got a little too “hands-in-the-air” with some things. But I want to get back to my roots—and dance music’s roots—of focusing on making tracks that have tension and release, clever arrangements and sound design, trying not to look at what’s popular, but still seeing what works and what’s causing the popular music to work on the dancefloor from a DJ to the fan’s perspective. If there’s a certain track or thing that’s going on in that music, then, of course, I’ll try to incorporate it into what I’m doing. But I’m getting back into more hypnotic, (continued on page 42)

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Stand out from the pack and add more punch, power and style to your performance with this all-in-one mobile truss setup designed for DJs who want to raise their game. This easy-to-assemble setup consists of two 1.5m truss totems with lycra covers. Each totem is made up of four 1.5m tubes, a base plate and top plate.

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ROAD H i g h l i g h t s F r o m A m e r i c a ’s B e s t D J S u m m e r

The initial leg of America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Presented by Pioneer DJ & DJ Times saw us hit four major U.S. cities—Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

The events included: Movement festival in Detroit with 15 America’s Best DJ nominees, including Amtrac, Carl Craig, Dennis Ferrer, Derrick May, Dubfire, François K, Green Velvet (as Cajmere), Kevin Saunderson, Louie Vega (with Masters At Work), Moby, Nicolas Jaar, Paper Diamond, Soul Clap, Stacey Pullen and TOKiMONSTA; Avaland party at Avalon club in Hollywood, Calif., with ABDJ nominee Kristina Sky (playing with Andy Moor and Menno de Jong); Rumor club in Philadelphia with ABDJ nominees Gabriel & Dresden; and Ruby Skye club with ABDJ nom BT. As always, DJ Times was there, collecting ballots for the DJs and giving fans chances to win plenty of prizes—like Pioneer gear and a trip for two to Las Vegas for the ABDJ Closing Party/Award Ceremony at Marquee Nightclub on Oct. 13. It all looked like this:

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1 Get Up! Moby makes his move. Paul Kelley 2 Philly: Gabriel & Dresden at Rumor. ArtChick Photography 3 Bass: Paper Diamond in The D. Joshua Hanford 4 Detroit: Movement at Hart Plaza. Douglas Wojciechowski 5 In the Rain: François K in Motown. Douglas Wojciechowski 6 Bluegrass Beats: Amtrac rides a groove.

Joshua Hanford 7 Ruby Skye: BT in San Fran. Javier Ovalles 8 Boiler Room Set: Stacey Pullen in the mix. Douglas Wojciechowski 9 Daytime Techno: Carl Craig

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throws down. Douglas Wojciechowski 10 Feeling It: Nicolas Jaar gets grooving. Douglas Wojciechowski 11 Avaland Fans: Angelinos cast their votes. OhDagYo Photography 12 Beatport Stage: Dennis Ferrer gets deep. Sleepy & Boo 13 Rumor Has It: Philly dancers pose. ArtChick Photography 14 ABDJ Booth: Hadley & Natalie taking votes. Sleepy & Boo 15 Hollywood Swingin’: Kristina Sky at Avalon. OhDagYo Photography 16 Big Love: Fans at Hart Plaza. Douglas Wojciechowski

READY To u r P r e s e n t e d b y P i o n e e r D J & D J T i m e s

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It’s been three years since Paul Evans of Silver Sound Entertainment in Philadelphia, Pa., attempted to organize a DJ association in his home city. And while he’s disappointed one has yet to successfully be founded in his particular region, he’s grateful for numerous good relationships he’s developed over the years with the local DJ company owners who regularly exchange ideas and collaborate on events.

But still, Evans says he can’t help but wonder if more might be accomplished through an actual association.

“I often wonder if we couldn’t put aside obstacles, how we could all benefit from an association that meets monthly?” he reasons aloud. “It’s been about three years since we tried to meet, and I’m still willing to attend and support a meeting if anyone else is.

“For now, at least it’s food for thought.”

With the evolving economy, we asked if DJ associations are now more important or less important than ever. Is participation in these groups on the way up, or headed down? Is there a lot of churn in membership, we asked, and are the younger DJs becoming more involved?

And what are the recent trends that DJs might have caught onto through their involvement in regional DJ associations?

What we found is that DJ associations are both rising in popularity and avoided… even in the Northeastern United States.

As the current president of the New Jersey Disc Jockey Network (NJDJN), the state’s largest and premier DJ association, Gregg Hollmann of Ambient DJ Service in East Windsor says their group claims memberships from professionals throughout New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

The NJDJN holds a general meeting followed by an educational seminar the second Tuesday of each month, with regular meetings supplemented by social outings and participation in community events. (Coincidentally, the NJDJN’s late-summer meeting will be held during DJ Times’ DJ Expo in Atlantic

City, which will run Aug. 12-15.)

“The NJDJN has recently observed an increase in membership from young and upcoming DJ entertainers,” Hollmann says. “For example, this year we had two high school brothers from Pennsylvania join our group. Curtis and Chris Panzitta Panzitta Brothers Sound are already performing at Sweet 16s and proms and, through our organization, they’re quickly educating themselves on other formal events.

“With today’s fast-evolving and hyper-competitive economy, I believe participation in DJ organizations is a must. Not only for the educational content that allows a DJ and business owner to stay on the cutting edge, but for the abundant networking opportunities. Of course, just like a Chamber of Commerce, you only get out of these organizations what you put in, so a person needs to take the time to attend meetings and develop relationships with other members.”

Hollmann says the biggest challenge for the NJDJN has been keeping attendance levels high.

“There are a million reasons to blow off a meeting,” he explains. “All of us are busy, but what I tell members is that if you make the commitment to attend the majority of meetings, then your business is going to benefit immensely. There’s always some year-to-year turnover in our membership, but there’s also a strong inner core of members who have been with our group since its inception.”

Of course, Hollmann says mobile DJs in his group can tend to be very critical and grumble about sometimes hearing the same topics over and over again. To that end, the officers of the NJDJN have recently sought to offer fresh content.

“For example, at our May meeting, we produced an educational segment called ‘The Wedding DJ Dating Game,’ wherein a bride asked three concealed wedding DJ members of our association the typical interview questions, and then selected her DJ based on their answers,” recalls Hollmann.

“At our June meeting, we had the elite performance-jock [and America’s Best DJ nominee] DJ Creme present a seminar about music-editing for mobile DJs. At another recent meeting, Jorge Vincent and [DJ Expo’s defending ‘DJ of the Year’ titlist] Jack Bermeo from LJ Productions delivered an outstanding multi-media seminar called ‘The Art of Latin Events.’”

According to Hollmann, participation in a DJ association can help mobiles discover new trends and how to capitalize on them.

“For example, those who attended our April meeting learned about the burgeoning Latin population in the state of New Jersey and received specific tips on how to perform at these events,” he recalls. “And in 2012, we had a roundtable regarding the increase in multi-cultural weddings and how to perform at these diverse events, with presenters covering Polish, Greek, Filipino, East Asian, Indian and Latino parties.”

Artem Lomaz from 93 Entertainment in Morris County, N.J., is one of the newer members of the NJDJN who’s soaking up knowledge from the association’s senior members and applying it to his own business—with great results. With insights gained from his involvement in the group, Lomaz says he’s able to better provide exclusive event entertainment to his clients throughout New Jersey and New York.

“With the current state of the economy, regional DJ associations are certainly useful and now more important than ever,” claims Lomaz. “As clients continue to invest in event services, they always appreciate being assured that the event professionals they’ve chosen are also investing time, effort and finances into ever-improving their services.

“It’s a display of empathy in certain regards, as clients—particularly the selective cli-

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In an Ever-Digital World, Do Old-Fashioned

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entele that I cater to—see that just like they continue to make investments into various celebrations in their life for themselves and their families, their entertainment provider is also making an investment in evolving improvement through DJ association involvement.”

While Lomaz says he can’t speak directly to the issue of whether participation in the DJ associations is up or down (considering his short length of time in the industry), he says there are certainly concerns within the DJ community regarding attendance.

“Younger DJs, such as myself, certainly understand the importance of association involvement, that it’s certainly catching on and are consequently engaging in membership,” he says. “I strive to make an effort to not only match what industry veterans have been doing, but to ultimately one day exceed the industry standards that they’ve pioneered, and setting the education and guidance that DJ associations offer is essential.

“Youth in this industry, like in most industries, tends to be perceived in both a positive and negative manner.”

Lomaz maintains that the newer or younger a DJ is, the more vital it is for that person to join a regional DJ association.

“Not only does it solidify your presence within the mobile-DJ industry as someone who is taking the industry as a whole seriously,” he says, “but it also assists in your con-

tinual self-improvement as a new member to an industry that’s becoming easier and easier to enter into. As you continue to learn, you’ll be able to set yourself apart from the other entrants, and that is something your clients not only look for but appreciate.

“Younger DJs should understand that DJ association membership consists of extended learning, mentorship and guidance from experienced industry professionals, and the motivation—as well as tools—for continual improvement.

“If you’re not thriving for continual improvement, regardless of experience level, your desire to own and operate an event entertainment service firm should be reevaluated, as this industry thrives on improvement and grows based upon execution of the knowledge that is becoming more accessible to us by the day, an advantage that the experienced members and our mentors in the industry didn’t have when they were entering the business.”

Lomaz adds that keeping up with industry trends is especially necessary where regional issues come into focus, as many event trends are localized. Networking with fellow entertainers from a particular region will help a DJ stay on top of the trends, while networking with entertainers from outside of a region may help a DJ share ideas and bring industry trends inter-regionally to their clients.

Meanwhile, back over in Philadelphia, Jason Weldon of Synergetic Sound & Lighting says that while efforts by local mobile DJs (as well as videographers) to combine forces has never really gained traction, local photographers have found great strength in their associations.

“I think it may come down to the idea that DJs can be very particular on who they share information with,” Weldon theorizes. “Maybe it’s because mobile jocks could be afraid that other companies may try and take their clients, employees or ideas. Although this happens in every industry in the world, however, I don’t think that should be a hindrance to starting an association or attending a meeting if one has the chance to do so.

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should easily be able to freely meet and just catch up with one another.”

Maturity can play a big part as well, Weldon says. “While younger DJs can sometimes not understand the business, older DJs may not be willing to change and adapt to what is happening,” he explains. “Being set in your ways is not always the best option, no matter how old you are.

“Listening to the younger guys while respecting the veterans can be very difficult and could be a reason why some people just don’t want to deal with all the drama.”

It’s a lesson that other regions of the United States, other than just the Northeast, would do well to consider. n

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DJ Associations Have Any Value? We Asked Around.

By Jeff Stiles “There’s plenty of work for all of us and we

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MAKING TRACKS STUDIO…HARDWARE…SOFTWARE…

APOGEE QUARTET: NEW DESKTOP CREATIVITY

Quartet: First pro audio interface for iPad & Mac.

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

By Josh Harris

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Back in 2007, when Apogee Electronics’ innovative, two-channel audio interface Duet hit the market, I remember thinking: “How cool would it be if Apogee made a 4-input audio interface?”

And, after I bought its 2011 successor—Apogee’s 2-in/4-out Duet2—I continued to wonder the same thing.

Then, I caught wind of a new Apogee interface that was about to come out, a piece that was somewhere in between a Duet and a full-on Symphony System I/O, but closer to the Duet in price point. By then, I was certainly more than a little intrigued.

That interface turned out to be Apogee’s 4-in/8-out Quartet, which not only works with a laptop or a desktop, but also with an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. And that’s what we’ll be evaluating in this review.

A Heads-Up: Make sure to check out Apogee’s site to make sure that your iOS device is the correct generation, because not all of the older iOS devices will work with Quartet. Like all of the Apogee audio interfaces, Quartet requires the companion Maestro software, and if you are interested in using Quartet with your iOS device, then you will need to download the special Maestro iOS App. Getting Started: I began using Quartet on my 17-inch Macbook Pro, and then migrated it over to my iPad running Auria. Quartet’s appearance is right in line with the sleek, clean design of the Duet2. Obviously, it’s a little bit bigger, but not too big that it will dominate your desk space.

It is a USB 2.0 audio interface, with four analog inputs. Each analog input is designed with Apogee’s world-renowned A/D conversion (24-bit/192K), and each of the four inputs contains a mic preamp, as well as +48v phantom power.

Unlike the Duet, Quartet contains MIDI I/O via the USB connection. Apogee included eight channels of optical I/O through ADAT/SMUX digital inputs. The monitor control section allows for control of up to three different sets of studio monitors. There is one ¼-inch headphone jack, as well as assignable quick touch pads, for customized control over the input and output selection, as well as some advanced interface control.

All of Quartet’s I/O is located on the rear of the unit. Quartet does require the DC power supply, and does not operate as a bus-powered interface.

I put Quartet through its paces on my laptop, and it performed flawlessly. I spent some time tracking vocals, as well as mixing a few projects. After working with Quartet, I gotta say that it was

nice to set my Duet2 aside for a couple of weeks.

I really enjoyed having the extra two analog inputs.

Before I packed up the unit to ship back to Apogee, I spent some time using it with Auria on my iPad2, which also worked flawlessly.

Downloading the Maestro App for iOS was extremely easy to do, and the setup time only took a couple of minutes. Apogee does include the iOS device cable, so there is not a need to purchase any additional cables for connecting your device.

I have to admit that I am not addicted to creating music on my iPad. However, that being said, having the ability to use an audio interface of Quartet’s caliber on my iPad was pretty amazing. I have always viewed my iPad as a supplemental creative tool, and using a Quartet with an iPad provided me with a high-quality and streamlined portable setup. But, for many just getting into the business of making tracks via Mac, iPad or other iOS device, Quartet is a terrific solution.

With an MSRP of $1,395, Apogee’s Quartet is a huge bang for the buck. Having an interface of this caliber that works with both a studio and mobile rig is extremely convenient, and well thought-out on Apogee’s part. Nice work.

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

SOUNDING OFF PLAYBACK…PRO AUDIO…PROCESSING

POWERED PA & AWESOME ISOLATOR

By Paul Dailey & Phil Moffa

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

This month, we keep it East Coast, as Boston-based DJ Paul Dailey rocks a pair of Electro-Voice ZLX-15P active loudspeakers and New York’s Phil Moffa (of Butcha Sound Studios) handles SBS Designs’ ISO-Q2 isolator/program equalizer.

E-V ZLX-15P Electro-Voice—or E-V as many of us know it—has been in business since 1927, and over the years the company has certainly made its mark.

The Burnsville, Minn.-based outfit has developed industry-leading microphones and an ever-expanding range of loudspeakers, amps and DSP, which run the gamut from touring packages for some of the biggest acts in the world, to stadium sound systems and some of the best portable sound in the market.

While the names E-V applies to its systems can be confusing (Live X, ZX, Tour X, QRx, etc.), the offerings cover all aspects of the mobile market – from high end to entry level—all the while delivering products that exceed

26

expectations and match the lofty reputation that E-V has rightfully earned.

The newest addition to their portable loudspeaker portfolio is the ZLX series—available in both active and passive 12- and 15-inch two-way models. Both offer features rivaling competition, but at nearly half their price. I still have not been able to figure out how E-V did this—but, lucky for mobile DJs, they did.

I was sent a pair of ZLX-15P loudspeakers ($499 street price) and a pair of ELX118P subs—this is E-V’s suggestion, as it will not be releasing a ZLX sub—and I’ve since tested the system out in a variety of environments, with the stunning results.

First Impression: When I cracked the box, what most struck me about the ZLX-15P was its attractive design. The front grille looks great, and the three handles were ergonomically designed for ease of use. They’re made of molded, highquality plastic that helps keep each unit’s weight down—without sacrific-

ZLX-15P: Performance, price, portability.

ing any of the performance. Moving these cabs around was a breeze, and getting them up and down from speaker poles a piece of cake.

Spin the ZLX around, and you will find myriad connections, including two line/mic level inputs, an 1/8-inch jack for an iPod, multiple volume controls and an amazingly easy-to-read LED display and cutting-edge DSP that allows for an amazing level of customization, control and monitoring, all with the touch of a single knob.

Parameters include location (pole, monitor, bracket), program material (music, live, speech, club), treble and bass cut/boost, and a customizable crossover point for your sub (and a specific one for use with ELX118P sub) that eliminates the need for an external crossover—and optimizes the sound perfectly.

The scene shows levels for inputs 1 and 2, and makes it easy to see when you are overdriving the signal and the speaker has reached its limit (more on this later) and is easily visible, even with your speakers high up on their stands.

In the Field: I am a big fan of a popular speaker series from another manufacturer and have proudly used these units for a number of years

with nary a hiccup. So the first time I went to perform with the E-V ZLX15P speakers, I doubled up and left the older system in the truck—just in case. Needless to say, after my first live test with the E-V system, the other speakers have not left my closet.

I spent a good amount of time with the manual and got to that first gig early. I set my system up to achieve unity gain, spread out the speakers and set them up in full-range mode, and dropped my first track. OK, man... these sound really good. Let’s try some reggae and give it a bit more bass to choke on. OK… the mids and highs hold together very well, yet the bass remains rich and thick. I can easily see how, at smaller shows, the ZLX-15Ps would do fine without a sub. But yeah, no one was here yet.

So I switched them to ELX118P sub mode, turned up the gain on the sub and waited for the guests to arrive.

As the event got going and the dancefloor filled up with 200 people, the ZLXs were purring. The presence in the music was just stunning and much more pleasing and musical than my regular system, with a much wider sound dispersion pattern. You could hear things beautifully at the sides of the room, and the ELX118P sub

complimented them perfectly.

Whereas many manufacturers in this class try to outsell each other with claims for higher dB or wattage, what really counts is delivering warm, intelligible and distortion-free sound all the way up to a loudspeaker’s limits. So, while the E-V ZLX-15P is not quite as loud on paper (127 dB) as other speakers that I’ve tested claim to be, the clarity and musicality of the output all the way through to higher SPLs was what counted—and it was impressive.

I was able to get more coverage and better sound, without blowing people’s heads off due to E-V’s patented waveguide and split baffle design behind the grille. I easily covered a crowd of 200 people for five hours, with the speakers never coming close to clipping or overheating.

I did ponder how it is possible to put this kind of cutting-edge technology in a speaker that is this affordable. But in the end, I’ll leave that to engineers at E-V to consider.

Electro-Voice just set the bar for affordable powered PA speakers. Heck, scratch that—in my view, they just set the bar for powered PA speakers, period. It is a 15-inch that weighs less (38 pounds) than most 12-inch units, and holds its own against models twice as expensive. You will not find

ISO-Q2: Isolator for quality-conscious DJs.

a speaker in this class that sounds as good, looks as good, and is as easy to move around as the Electro-Voice ZLX-15P. SBS Designs ISO-Q2 With an emphasis on staying 100-percent analog and not using limiters, Systems By Shorty—headed by audio maven Craig “Shorty” Bernabeu—is responsible for designing some of the world’s top club sound systems. A couple fine examples of the New Jersey-based outfit’s club work include Stereo in Montreal and System in Long Island City, Queens.

In 2011, an offshoot company, SBS Designs, was created as a vehicle to sell some of their original analog designs, and its product line includes some really top-notch amplifiers and both solid-state and vacuum-tube processors. Now finding its way into booths worldwide is the ISO-Q2 solid-state, 3-way isolator/program equalizer, which adds a bit to the fea-

ture set of what most isolators offer and probably stays true to Shorty’s fanaticism for quality sound.

An isolator is usually a pretty simple device, with stereo connectors and knobs for the three main frequency ranges: low, mid and high.

One of the most obvious differences in the ISO-Q2 design right off the bat is that there are five knobs on its front panel. There are, of course, large, playable knobs for the three frequency ranges, but also two smaller knobs, which help to set the crossover points of these ranges. These give the user more control over how their isolator behaves than any other unit on the market.

On the low end, the range is sweepable from 50 Hz to 500 Hz, so

you can cut out or boost the very subby information or travel pretty far into the low-mid territory. The high end has a rather sizable range of 3.1 kHz – 12.6 kHz. And it should also be noted that the position of these two frequency selectors also shape the range of the midrange pot.

Of course, all three knobs cut their respective ranges down to total silence, or an infinity cut. Their boost when turned all the way past 12 o’ clock is +15 dB. The impressive frequency range of the unit is 8 Hz to 100 kHz. (Not sure if that’s overkill, but in the specs SBS claims that it’s possible.) The unit is equipped with a switch for 115V or 230V, helping it easily travel to sets overseas. (continued on page 42)

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PHILLY DJ MAKING ALL THE RIGHT MOVES

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

By James Chrystal

28

Philadelphia—If you were born in Philly, and got into hip hop in the late ’80s, among the first records that caught your attention were Salt-n-Pepa’s “Hot, Cool and Vicious,” and Kool Moe Dee’s “How Ya Like Me Now.” At least they were if you were Patrice McBride.

“I was too young to fully comprehend the lyrics,” says McBride, who tallies most of his gigs at Atlantic City and his Philly hometown, but is also making Vegas a stop. “But the beats and production instantly grabbed me. Before then, I was all into rock and screaming guitars, but the sonic quality of those albums was so cutting-edge and the beat-machineproduced drums was such a fresh, different sound to me, I was easily converted to hip hop.”

Why not? This was Philly, which breeds DJs, and besides, his two uncles, who he lived with growing up, were DJs and had a set-up in the house. Block parties were happening daily in the neighborhood, each with its own DJ. In fact, ask McBride about the first time he saw a DJ, and he’ll tell you he can’t remember a time when he didn’t see a DJ. “I honestly can’t remember ever not seeing a DJ in my life,” he says. “So it’s hard for me to pinpoint the first time. I didn’t really find DJing—I grew up with it.”

It wasn’t until he was in middle school in Binghamton, N.Y., where he lived before moving back to Philly, that he got behind the decks. He remembers it well.

“The first party I ever DJed I played Kris Kross’ ‘Warm It Up,’ Cypress Hill’s ‘How I Could Just Kill a Man’ and LL’s ‘Around the Way Girl.’ They were a few of my choice cuts that evening, and watching my friends react to those songs, having a good time and loving what I was doing closed the deal for me.

I was hooked on DJing after that.”

He vaguely remembers his set-up that night being two mismatched, hand-me-down, belt-drive turntables, and a beat-up Radio Shack mixer. “Not the best… is an understatement,” says McBride, who’s since graduated to a Serato Scratch Live/ Rane TTM 57SL combo.

So, when did McBride first realize he could actually make DJing his hustle? Not until high school.

“Back then, my friends and I used to rent VFW halls and firehouses and throw parties in them,” he recalls. “We would charge a cover at the door, and after building a rep for throwing the best parties around, we actually started to turn a profit. That let me know that I could make money DJing, and that people were feeling the music I was playing.”

Soon after, he enrolled at Penn State, where the paying gigs on the mobile-party circuit kept coming.

“I built relationships with the people who threw parties in school,” he says. “I worked with fraternities, sororities and student organizations, and I let everyone know I was well worth the money, and that I was ready to work. There is a lot of networking in this profession, just like in any other. You

gotta hustle, otherwise you get left behind. I haven’t stopped since.”

Having a knack for music programming helps, too, and McBride has his technique well oiled.

“Ninety percent of the time I’m playing for women,” he says. “That’s the best advice I ever got, from one of my uncles who was a DJ. What he said was so simple, but so true: Always play for the women in the venue. Keep them happy and everyone else will be happy as well. If they are happy and dancing, the men are happy; and if the men are happy, they are buying drinks and that really makes the venues happy. It’s the circle of club life. So I’ve always made it my mission to keep the ladies having a good time (continued on page 42)

Patrice McBride: Play for the ladies.

BUSINESS LINE SALES…MARKETING…SOLUTIONS…

I’ve attended several seminars that have talked about how today’s bride is different from the bride just 10 or 15 years ago.

Back then, brides found your DJ business by going to a wedding expo or bridal show.

They flipped through wedding magazines and Yellow Pages. The next key sources of discovery were referrals from other vendors. When it comes to getting a bride interested in your product, the game has changed drastically.

I’ve also seen this first hand in my own business. I think that most wedding magazines and certainly the Yellow Pages are nowhere near as effective as they were just a decade ago. Back then a bride was ready to buy when she opened the bridal magazine. Today,

GOOGLE ADWORDS: A PRE-EXPO PRIMER

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

By Rod Randall

30

she is ready to buy when she sits at her computer and does a Google search.

Google AdWords allows you to be seen when your prospective client is ready to make a decision!

I’m going to be presenting a seminar at the DJ Expo—Google AdWords & Your DJ Business. I’ll begin with a brief basic description of what AdWords is, and then will focus on more advanced tactics, like keyword searches and bidding strategy.

Below are some questions I anticipate attendees will have.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? HOW MUCH TIME WILL IT TAKE? One of the things that I like best about AdWords is that you can control costs.You can set the upper and lower limits of your costs. So if you are having a slow month, bookings are less than you would have liked, and you want to lower your costs, a couple of keystrokes will save you some money. You can even pause your advertising if you want. On the other hand, if you have a good cash flow, and you’d like to up your spending, you can increase your advertising.

DO I NEED TO KNOW A LOT ABOUT BACK-END COMPUTER STUFF? None.

It’s far more important to have a plan going into this form of advertising.

AdWords wants to make this process as simple as possible for everyone, so if you can handle tasks as simple as email and basic search, you can handle Google AdWords.

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT KEYWORDS TO USE? Keywords are what a client might type into their Google search in order to find you. So you want to put yourself in your client’s mind. What words would they type into Google to look for a DJ? Those are your keywords.

WHAT ARE NEGATIVE KEYWORDS? According to the Google support page, “Negative keywords can help you reach the most interested customers, reduce your costs, and increase your return on investment. When you add terms as negative keywords (for ‘Search Network Only’ and ‘Search & Display Networks’ campaigns) or as keyword exclusions (for ‘Display Network Only’ campaigns), your ad won’t show to people searching for those terms or visiting sites that contain those terms.”

So, essentially, and I’ll go into this in greater length at the Expo, with negative keywords, you can: * Prevent your ad from showing to people searching for or visiting websites about things you don’t offer. * Show your ads to people who are more likely to click them. * Reduce costs by excluding keywords where you might be spending money but not getting a return. * When you select negative keywords, you’ll want to choose search terms that are similar to your keywords, but signal that people are looking for a different product.

EXAMPLE The example that Google Support gives is of an optometrist who sells glasses. That optometrist wants to prevent his ad from showing to someone who is searching for or visiting webpages that contain terms like “wine glasses” and “drinking glasses,” since that person isn’t likely to buy a pair of eyeglasses.

For DJs, we’ll drill down at the Expo into some negative keywords for the industry.

WHAT IS A BIDDING PROCESS? You bid for each keyword, and, generally, the more you bid, the higher up on the page your ad will appear in relation to other business that have bid on the same word. But there are ways to get your ad to appear higher on the page without spending more money. We’ll get into that, too, at the Expo.

I’M ONLY LOOKING TO DRAW CUSTOMERS FROM A CERTAIN GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION—HOW DO I DO THAT? That’s one of AdWords’ biggest benefits.

You can completely decide who sees your ad based on geographical locations.

So as a DJ in Columbus, Ohio, I know someone in Ann Arbor, Mich., won’t be seeing my ads—and won’t be costing me more money. However, this is a very common mistake that I see when looking online—DJ ads from all over the country on Google searches. This can result in a complete waste of advertising dollars.

HOW DO YOU, ROD, USE ADWORDS? WHAT ADVERTISING DID YOU USE BEFORE G.A.? DO YOU DO ANY OTHER ADVERTISING CURRENTLY? WHAT OTHER OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE TO ME? For the past few years I’ve been using AdWords as my main form of advertising. I’ve cut my bridal magazine advertising down to a bare minimum, and I still do one big bridal show a year.

I’ve also reduced my direct-mailing pieces. Much of the costs savings in these areas have now been moved into online advertising. I have different AdWord campaigns that target different aspects of my business, so I have ads that I use for mitzvahs, schools, and, of course, weddings.

And, again, we’ll go deeper into all of these topics—and more. See you at the DJ Expo!

Rod Randall is the owner of Buckeye Sounds in Columbus, Ohio. He was profiled in DJ Times more than 10 years ago.

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

I Am What I Amber

In Kontrol

ADJ Products 6122 S. Eastern Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90040 (323) 582-2650 www.americandj.com ADJ’s Mega Bar RGBA LED wash bar features 320 LEDs, including 64 red, 96 green, 96 blue and 64 amber. According to the company, the presence of amber allows the unit to create hard-to-blend colors like orange, yellow and gold. The unit runs in six different modes: Manual Color, Static Color Change, Auto, Sound Active, RGBA Manual Control, and DMX-512. It features multi-voltage operation and comes equipped with 48 built-in color macros.

Native Instruments North America 6725 Sunset Blvd, 5th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90028 (866) 556-6487 www.native-instruments.com Native Instruments has released KONTROL Z1. According to the company, it’s the world’s smallest professional mixer and audio interface to natively connect to both the TRAKTOR DJ App for iPad and iPhone, and TRAKTOR PRO 2. When combined with the TRAKTOR DJ App, the Z1 adds headphone cue, and dedicated faders, filter and effects controls, and 3-band EQ for each channel. The integrated audio interface boosts audio output to club-ready levels – an important feature for iPad, iPadmini, iPhone and iPod touch setups – all without interfering with TRAKTOR DJ’s touch interface. The unit also offers established TRAKTOR PRO 2 DJs a highly portable mixing interface when compact size and professional performance features are needed.

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Korg 316 South Service Rd Melville, NY 11747 (631) 390-6500 www.korg.com Korg announced that they are now providing support for Legacy Collection users who wish to use the product in conjunction with 64bit operating systems on either Mac or PC. Current Legacy Collection users can log onto their account at www.korguser.net and update the software at no charge. The Legacy Collection offers software recreations of five Korg synthesizers, including the MS-20, Polysix, Mono/ Poly, M1 and WAVESTATION. The collection also includes the MDE-X effects suite with 19 different effects algorithms.

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Mixware LLC 11070 Fleetwood St, Unit F Sun Valley, CA 91352 (786) 362-5757 www.mixware.net

Stanton DJ has upgraded two of its popular turntables, the ST.150 and STR8.150, with new cartridges. The TrackMaster V.3 cartridge, which is available for the ST.150, features high-output, low-cue burn and a four-coil pick up, making it ideal for club and scratch performances, Stanton said.

The SM V.3 cartridge is used with the STR8.150. It offers stereo imaging and “the ability to align the cartridge on its included headshell” for improved tracking response, according to the company.

The Magma CTRL Case DDJ-SX is designed to hold the Pioneer DDJ-SX. The case features an exterior shell made of lightweight, Durashock-molded EVA foam and water-rejecting polyester. The case comes with zippers, carrying handles and adjustable Velcro foam on the inside to protect control knobs, encoders, faders and jog wheels. The CTRL Case DDJ-SX fits inside the Magma Rolltop Backpack. The case is three inches deep and is designed to fit in most airline overhead bins.

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Scrim Milk Throw It in the Wash Lights Chauvet 5200 NW 108th Ave. Sunrise, FL 33351 (800) 762-1084 www.chauvetlighting.com Chauvet added four new wash lights to its wireless Freedom series: Freedom Par RGBA, which has 180 LEDs; Freedom Strip Mini RGBA, equipped with 200 LEDs; and Freedom Par Quad-5 and Freedom Strip Mini Quad-5, both of which are fitted with five five-watt, quad-color LEDs. Each fixture includes a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that can run for up to 20 hours. Additional features include an IRC remote for easy point-and-shoot wireless control, a built-in D-Fi transceiver for wireless DMX communications, and wireless master/slave mode.

Odyssey Innovative Designs 809 West Santa Anita Street San Gabriel, CA 91776 (626) 588-2528 www.ody-usa.com Odyssey Scrim Werks Light Columns are designed for easy portability and fast set up, with each consisting of four individual aluminum tubes, top and bottom plates, and a corresponding white scrim sleeve that is flame retardant and machine washable. The fully-collapsible columns range in height from 1-foot to 10-feet tall, and users can attach one on top of another. A center bolt hole is also included on the plates so that users can secure lighting fixtures or other gear.

Who’s The Boss?

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

Roland Corporation 5100 S. Eastern Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90040 (323) 890-3700 www.bossus.com

34

The RC-505 Loop Station from Boss is designed for beatboxers, singers, and club performers. The unit features a selection of built-in effects, 99 phrase memories, 85 onboard rhythms and five phrase tracks, each with independent record/overdub/play and stop buttons. The five phrase tracks can also all be played at the same time. The RC-505 is capable of up to three hours of stereo recording. It features a USB port, XLR microphone jack with phantom power, and an AUX mini-jack for connecting a music player, smart phone, or other stereo device.

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Jumpin’ Jack Flash Drive Eye for an iPad American Music & Sound 22020 Clarendon St, Suite 305 Woodland Hills CA 91367 (800) 431-2609 www.novationmusic.com The Novation Launchpad for iPad is available as a free download from the Apple app store. The app comes with a sample pack created by Loopmasters and features both eight volume sliders and FX modes. Novation Launchpad “follows some of the key features from the Launchpad hardware,” according to the company and it works with the Launchkey app to “transform Novation’s new Launchkey hardware into a synth and loop triggering workstation for performing and producing music with your iPad.”

StarTech.com 2315 Creekside Parkway, Suite 300 Lockbourne, Ohio 43137 (800) 265-1844 www.startech.com StarTech.com introduced a new portable USB Flash Drive Duplicator that lets users clone a single flash drive onto two individual flash drives, or erase two flash drives, at the same time. The drive, which has 64MB of internal memory, doesn’t have to connect to a computer in order to do its job, at speeds up to 1.5GB per minute.

The unit is compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 thumb and flash drives, and it offers support for both Asynchronous and Synchronous copy modes.

Wreckx-n-Aphex Weeble Wobble

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

SONiVOX 200 Scenic View Drive Cumberland, RI 02864 www.sonivoxmi.com 888-800-0681

36

Virtual instrument creator SONiVOX has released Wobble 2.0, the follow-up to the company’s Wobble Dubstep Grime Generator. Offering deep modulation control, a multi-function pattern generator, and useful tempo-sync abilities, Wobble 2.0 uses simple controls to quickly create massive moving and shifting timbres. Wobble 2.0 supports AU, VST and RTAS formats (AAX coming soon), and is compativle with 32or 64-bit or Windows systems.

Aphex 3500 N. San Fernando Blvd.

Burbank, CA 91505 (818) 767-2929 www.aphex.com Aphex released five new models as part of its 500 Series, joining the already-released EX•BB 500 Aural Exciter/Big Bottom module. The J PRE 500 mic pre features a Jensen JT-11DL nickel output-balancing transformer and Aphex’s Mic Limiter technology. The EQF 500 offers 25Hz to 20kHz operation and features a Jensen output balancing transformer. The DUAL RPA 500 mic pre is a two-channel solid state/ tube hybrid preamp with Aphex’s Mic Limiter technology. The A PRE 500 mic pre comes with a custom-designed Aphex input transformer and a Jensen JT-11DL nickel output balancing transformer. The new COMP 500 module is an optical compressor with an electronically balanced input and uses a Jensen JT-11DL nickel output balancing transformer.

DJ Times magazine presented its first DJ Expo in 1990. Now, 23 years later, the Expo remains the DJ industry’s best-attended, most-successful trade show. Each year, the Expo presents more than two-dozen educational seminars, an exhibit hall filled with the latest DJ, pro audio and studio gear, and three evenings full of sponsored events.

This year’s show, set for August 12-15 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ, will include the best of the best, plus a few special surprises.

WHO ATTENDS? THE MOBILE DJ

Meet, network with & learn from fellow entertainers who have made their marks on the industry. From moneymaking tips to brand new performance ideas, it’s all here at The DJ Expo.

THE BEDROOM DJ

You have to start somewhere, right? Each year, The DJ Expo seminars & workshops educate this hungry group — the very future of the market.

THE CLUB DJ

These trendsetters connect with the industry’s movers and shakers at The DJ Expo & pass along the inside scoops on music, gear & more.

REMIXER • PRODUCER • EDM ARTIST

They create the hits that push the trends and, at The DJ Expo, they share the knowledge that put them on top.

THE CORPORATE EVENT DJ

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These upper-tier event planners and performers connect in Atlantic City & buy gear for the year—find out why at The DJ Expo.

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GROOVES TRACKS…MIXES…COMPILATIONS A COLOR MAP OF THE SUN

Florian Picasso

SETTLE u Disclosure u PMR

u Pretty Lights u Pretty Lights Music

Easily, the EDM album of the year so far.

The Lawrence brothers offer up a tasty and modernized mixture of house, 2-step, disco, dub, funk and pop. Hits like the breathtaking “Latch” sound fresh every time, with additional stand-out selections including “You & Me” and “Voices,” both with lady-laced vocals.

Addictive as it gets.

On his fifth album, Pretty Lights again showcases his signature sound: glitchy, breakbeat-infused, soulful hip-hop. The gravelly vocal sample and funky groove of “Go Down Sunshine” is the highlight, but also check the bonus Live Studio Sessions album.

Audien

– Chris Davis

– Natalie Raben “FALL FOR YOU” EP

“JUST A LITTLE” EP

u Kings of Tomorrow feat. April u Defected

u Alex Niggemann feat. Jonny Cruz u AEON

Featuring a beautiful vocal from April Morgan and a soulful house groove, “Fall For You” also delivers a smooth bassline and great chord work.

We’re also loving “It’s Only You,” the “other” track here—a garage stunner with a riveting vocal and a memorable hook.

Alex brings a dark, tech-house aesthetic punctuated by metallic percussion and thick synths. The “Glimpse Remix” dives deep into a pool of sub, while Steve Bug’s version builds an eerie atmosphere with a sharp-toothed bassline.

Alex Niggemann

– Chris Davis

Radio Slave

Duke Dumont

– Phil Turnipseed

BALANCE 023 u Radio Slave u Balance Music

“IRIS” u Audien u Anjunabeats

A fairly bumping/mind-bending CD1 gives way to a relatively chill second disc. CD1’s dancefloor highlights include: Jeremy’s insistent “Rhythmus,” Nina Kraviz’s bewilderingly deep “Choices (Fred P Reshape),” and Melchior Productions’ downright loopy “Descendents.” Save CD2 for the afterparty.

Mixing shimmering synths with a chilled-out, bigroom vibe, Audien delivers the progressive goods here. Lush soundscapes and emotive rises pervade through this floor-filler, but you never lose focus on its intricate melodies and clean production.

– Chris Caruso

– Jim Tremayne HOME u Rudimental u Asylum

Empire of the Sun

If you haven’t heard, this is a vocal-oriented, d-n-b-leaning U.K. smash that’s nearly perfect. Hits abound and with formidable vocalists like Emeli Sandé on “More Than Anything” and MNEK & Syron and “Spoons,” the carefully chosen collaborations all shine. Other faves: “Free” featuring Sandé and “Baby” with MNEK & Sinead Harnett. Total score.

– Natalie Raben “ALIVE” EP u Empire of the Sun u Astralwerks

Pretty Lights

A slice of electro-pop featuring dreamy synths and a singalong chorus. The Mat Zo mix is the highlight, as it darkens the bassline, while keeping the original’s euphoric feel.

Download AUGUST 2013

DJ TIMES

– Natalie Raben “NOISE & GIRLS” (REMIXES 1) EP

u Smash TV u Get Physical The deep-house title track from Smash TV’s debut LP gets the remix treatment from Tom Budden, German Brigante and Fabio Giannelli.

Budden injects some bounce, Brigante gets techy, and Gianelli brings a smoothed-out rerub, plus a growling dub mix.

– Chris Davis

– Chris Davis

Corner

38

“ARTEFACT” u Florian Picasso u CR2 On this banger ripe for peak-room play, its massive builds and breakdowns may cause some dancefloor whiplash. Epic.

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.).

“Larks Rise” (Original Mix) by Maribou State feat. Holly Walker [Southern Fried]: Dusty, lo-fi, never-repeating samples are interwoven with crafty effects and a melodic bassline for an addicting, vibey sound that’s as much indie-rock as it is house music.

Found at beatport.com.

“Nobody’s Fool” (Original Mix) by Real Connoisseur [Under the Shade]: Sliding old-school house chords meet a bubbly, deep, syncopated bassline that would be at home in a drum-n-bass track, but it finds itself here with a four-on-the-floor beat and a soulful, uplifting vocal. Deep house finds the main room. Found at beatport.com.

“Untitled” (Original Mix) by Paul Woolford [Hotflush]: This track just gets me going! A gorgeous piano sample, a poignant male vocal that adds a real emotional connection to the track—and it’s all backed by a stabby, melodic sub-bass and jacking house beat.

What’s not to like here? Found at beatport.com.

– Robert LaFrance

“DON’T MAKE ME WAIT FOR YOU”

u Just Be feat. Jesse Monroe u Crosstown Rebels Classic house lovers will immediately recognize the bassline that rumbles underneath a soulful tech-house vibe. Vocalist Jesse Monroe does her thing, while both the “Magic Mix” and “Magic Dub” bang on. A definite summer slammer!

– Phil Turnipseed “CRIMINAL LOVE”

u Climbers feat.Yasmine Azaiez u Culprit A beautifully crafted vocal joint featuring a stellar performance from Azaiez. With her angelic voice sweeping over a top-notch, deep-house production, we love all three mixes, including the delicious “Steve Huerta & Prince Club Remix.”

– Phil Turnipseed

DJ

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MP3s in 56

Compiled As Of July 17, 2013

National Crossover Pool Chart 1 Daft Punk Get Lucky 2 David Guetta F/ NE-YO Play Hard 3 J-LO F/ Pitbull Live It Up 4 Duncan Morley If Time Runs Out 5 BEX What You Are 6 Kelly Clarkson People Like Us 7 Audio Playground F/ Snoop Lion You Never Know 8 Will.I.Am F/ Justin Bieber #That Power 9 Bingo Players Get Up (Rattle) 10 Pitbull F/ Christina Aguilera Feel This Moment 11 Nikki Williams Glowing 12 Chris Cortes Awake 13 Chaka Khan Its Not Over 14 Empire Of The Sun Alive 15 Right Said Fred Raise Your Hands 16 Katrina Ready To Love 17 Suzanne Palmer Joy Music Plant 18 Yulianna Don’t Take Your Love Away 19 Daddys Groove Stellar 20 Rod Stewart Sexual Religion 21 Delonda Harvey Dancer 22 Emeli Sande Next To Me 23 Alexis Jordan Acid Rain 24 Depeche Mode Heaven 25 Passion Pit Carried Away 26 Stacey Jackson Pointing Fingers 27 Nervo Hold On 28 Jessica Sutta F/ Kemal Golden Again 29 Icona Pop I Love It 30 Psy Gentlemen 31 Sarah Brightman Angel 32 Christina Aguilera Let There Be Love 33 Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Can’t Hold Us 34 Gravitonas Incredible 35 Djs From Mars Phat Ass Drop 36 Mat Zo & Porter Robinson Easy 37 Pet Shop Boys Axis 38 Sophi This Is Our Love 39 Justin Timberlake Mirrors 40 Jason Dottley It’s Our Night

National Urban Pool Chart Columbia Capitol Capitol Global Groove Sybasonic RCA Sony/Canada Interscope Casablanca RCA Island/Def Jam Global Groove Earthsong Astralwerks Promark Red Red Zvon Robbins Capitol Music Plant Capitol Sony Sony Columbia 3B1G Astralwerks Citrusonic Big Beat Republic Simba RCA Macklemore SoFo Radikal Astralwerks X-2 Crescent Moon RCA JD3

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

Kylie Minogue Pet Shop Boys Gali KromOzone Project Cher Erika Jayne F/ Flo-R Rod Stewart Jessica Sutta F/ Kem Depeche Mode Ultra Nate

Skirt Axis I’m Alive Come Back Woman’s World Get It Tonight Sexual Religion Again Soothe My Soul Everybody Loves The Night

Parlophone X-2 Ryal KZP Warner Brothers Pretty Mess Capitol Citrusonic Columbia Blu Fire

Reporting Pools

n Flamingo - Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Julio n Lets Dance / IRS - Chicago, IL; Lorri Annarella n Next Music Pool - Los Angeles, CA; Bob Ketchter n Masspool - Saugus, MA; Gary Canavo n OMAP - Washington, DC; Al Chasen n Pittsburgh DJ - Pittsburgh, PA; Jim Kolich n Soundworks - San Francisco, CA; Sam Labelle n New York Music Pool - Levittown, NY; Jackie McCloy n WPTV-Prty 105FM Frd MdMx - New York, NY; Mike Rizzo n Dixie Dance Kings - Alpharetta, GA; Dan Miller n Pacific Coast - Long Beach, CA; Steve Tsepelis n Majik Boys Mix - Los Angeles, CA; Jeremy Martarano

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

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Wale F/ Tiara Thomas Rihanna B.O.B. F/ T.I. & Juicy J Kendrick Lamar J. Cole F/ Miguel Chris Brown Lil Wayne F/ 2 Chainz Ciara Justin Timberlake Tamar Braxton Mariah Carey F/ Miguel Dj Khaled F/ Drake Rick Ross,Lil Wayne Rich Gang/Lil Wayne Birdman/Future Hustle Gang F/TI B.O.B/K.Lamar Fantasia F/ Kelly Rowland & Missy Elliott Nicki Minaj F/ Lil Wayne TYGA F/ Chris Brown Wale F/ Sam Dew Robin Thicke F/ Pharrell & T.I. Alicia Keys F/ Maxwell

Bad Pour It Up We Still In This B**** Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe Power Trip Fine China Rich As F**k Body Party Mirrors The One #Beautiful No New Friemds TapOut Memories Back Then Without Me High School For The Road Love/Hate Thing Blurred Lines Fire We Make

Atlantic Island/Def Jam Atlantic Interscope Columbia RCA Republic Epic RCA Epic Island/Def Jam Cash Money Republic Hustle Gang RCA Republic Cash Money Atlantic Interscope RCA

Most Added Tracks 1 2 3 4 5

Yo Gotti Sevyn Streeter 2 Chainz F/ Pharrell B.O.B F/ 2 Chainz Travi$ Scott F/ T.I.

Act Right It Won’t Stop Feds Watching Headband Upper Echelon

Epic Atlantic Island/Def Jam Atlantic Epic

NEW National Latin Dance Pool Chart 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Adassa Yan Collazo March Anthony Juan Magan La Mayte Juanes Farruko Renzo Pitbull Hector “El Torito” Acosta Tito Nieves Salsa Giants Alsikiatra Henry Mendez Tito Nieves Thalia feat Prince R Juan Esteban Carlos Vives Alex Matos Eddy Herrera

La Gata Nuestro Secreto Vivir Mi Vida Mal De Amores Guapa Cumbia Sexy Besa Tan Bien Mi Favorita Echa Pa’ Ca No SoyUn Hombre Que Seas Feliz Para Celebrar El Gordo El Tiburon Que Manera De Te Perdistes..

Bum Bum Volvi A Nacer Que Pena Me Das Me Siento Bien

DCP Sony Sony Universal Mia Music Universal Latin Hits Ent. Mayimba Music Mr. 305 Venemusic Top Stop Music Top Stop Music Loqra Universal Top Stop Music Sony Hart Music WJ Ent. AMM Premium Latin

Most Added Tracks 1 2 3 4 5

Juan Esteban Luis Enrique Delilah Alejandro F & Christina A Yunel Cruz

Que Pena Descontrolame Sexy Hoy Tengo Ganas Rock With You

Hart Music Top Stop Music Delilah,Latina Princess Universal Machete

Reporting Latin Pools n Flamingo - Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Julio n Lets Dance / IRS - Chicago, IL; Lorri Annarella n Masspool - Saugus, MA; Gary Canavo n NW Dance Music - Shoreline, WA; John England n Pittsburgh DJ - Pittsburgh, PA; Jim Kolich n Soundworks - San Francisco, CA; Sam Labelle n New York Music Pool - Levittown, NY; Jackie McCloy n Dixie Dance Kings R - Atlanta, GA; Dan Miller n WPTV-Prty 105FM Frd MdMx - New York, NY; Mike Rizzo n Pacific Coast - Long Beach, CA; Steve Tsepelis n NE Record Pool - Boston, MA;

Justin Testa

Mobile Profile

(continued from page 28) and partying, then no matter what you’re playing, the guys will follow suit.”

McBride also claims an uncanny skill, borne from years of work behind the decks. “I feel like reading crowds is my biggest strength,” he says. “I know I might sound crazy, but I can watch groups of people and almost instantly tell what kind of music they’re into. It’s not stereotyping; I mean, just because you have a mainly black or Latino crowd doesn’t mean that they only want to listen to hip hop or reggaeton all night, you feel me? It’s more like an instinct. I can’t really explain it. Maybe it’s the years I’ve been in the biz. Institutional knowledge, if you will. I just know.”

Parlaying his knack for reading crowds leads naturally to creating custom song edits, transitions and DJ tools for use in his sets. Says McBride: “ ‘Balkan Gasolina’ is a transition/ edit that I whipped up specifically to help me ease down from Moombahton to Reggaeton in my sets. Both songs have a similar sound and feel, but aren’t anywhere near the same BPM-range. My transition allows me to make a drastic drop in BPM, while maintaining the energy of each song and the tone of my set.”

McBride’s hustle outside of the club—the crucial ingredient to a successful career—has helped him in other ways. “I’m like a booking liaison,” he says. “I know DJs and I know venues that are looking for DJs. Luckily, the venues I work with trust my taste in music and the DJs I bring.

I have many contacts amongst my peers; if I’m able to open up opportunities for them, tomorrow they might be able to do the same for me. It’s all about building bridges. If we all get to eat, then the profession thrives.

That’s good for business, as far as I’m concerned. It’s been gratifying being able to help colleagues further their careers, and to hook up venues with good DJs. I’ve been noticing a lot of good karma coming my way lately, so hopefully the work is paying off.”

And what will this hustle yield in five years? “I’m an open-format DJ, which is satisfying in that I get to play a bunch of different genres, but it can also hurt you because, as they say, the jack of all trades can be a master of none. With that in mind, in five years, I see myself focusing more on one particular genre of music, and producing exclusively hip hop and touring with hip-hop artists. If not that, then making drum-n-bass and working the festival circuit for a while.”

Nice work if you can get it. But he’s off to a good start. Check his edit of “Blood on the Leaves,” Kanye West’s new joint, on McBride’s website (patricemcbride.com). “Big-time energy in the song,” says McBride. “The original had too many breakdowns and bridges, and wasn’t DJ-friendly, but my version is.”

Spoken like a true DJ.

Sounding Off

(continued from page 26)

On the back of the unit is a master gain trim which makes adding the IsoQ2 to a system and matching unity gain an easy process—so there is no loss of drive. This also gives engineers the ability to lower the system for DJs that have the tendency to play too loud or, conversely, drive mixers that have a low output without making them go into the red to get more level. The unit has both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA connectors to help fit a variety of situations from

large-format mixers to DJ mixers with an effects loop.

Speaking of effects, the ISO-Q2 has its own switchable effects loop, increasing its versatility. As there are several outputs available, any pair can be used for a record output.

I found the Iso-Q2 to really sound and function beautifully. I tested it in both live and studio environments. It can be used to tune a room with a resonant frequency or, obviously, to perform. In the studio, it is an excellent stereo EQ for a track. It might not make sense for everyone to purchase this unit for just that purpose, but if you are buying this for live sets it wouldn’t hurt to have it in your studio rack during the week.

Like all SBS Designs gear (sbsdesigns.com), it comes with a 10-year warranty, which shows that they definitely stand behind the quality of their products. It is also a sign that the unit is made with top-quality components, something you definitely want when running your entire mix through a processor. At $1,795 retail, it may not be for everyone.

But for clubs and DJs that don’t mind shelling out for quality, this isolator is definitely worth considering.

Jarrell

(continued from page 15) groovy stuff, good atmospheres, and modernize that.

DJ Times: Upcoming releases?

Jarrell: I’m working on a ton of original stuff, but because I’m so picky about that bandwagon issue, I’m really second-guessing a lot of it and going through it with a fine-tooth comb. I think it could form into an album.

DJ Times: A full LP? Because

that’s a dying art as well, it seems.

Jarrell: Yeah, a full LP, but no vocals. A lot of the songs are my islandtheme sound, but I have a few different things that are more on the techno side, but progressive, too.

They still crossover into the trancey/progressive side.

DJ Times: What do you think about the decline in albums? Even some EPs now are just a single and a B-side, or a remix package.

Jarrell: I know the reason why people aren’t doing albums anymore: It doesn’t sell. It’s also not as fast.

Everyone’s just trying to release as much shit as they can. You should care about it and spend time. Now it’s like, “OK, I made a cool sound. I’m going to throw a bunch of samples together and this is gonna work— this is gonna sell! I’m gonna be the world’s most famous DJ and I’m gonna put it out all over SoundCloud, get all these blogs to put it up and I’ll be huge!” It’s too easy for people to be able to do that. I see kids that don’t care about the music. They like it, but they don’t love it. They’re able to make music, whereas 10 years ago it wasn’t that easy.

DJ Times: When might that full album come to fruition?

Jarrell: I’d say within a year. Of course, I’d release a few of the tracks as singles before the album came out, but I haven’t decided if it’s cohesive enough to be a full album. I’m working on as much music as I can and not releasing everything that I write. You have to restrain. You’re creating art.

You shouldn’t just put it out there because you have it. Did Picasso put out every painting that he made? If he screwed one up, I don’t think he did—not that I’m comparing myself to Picasso! [Laughs] n

TOKiMONSTA: On Location

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2013

Slow runners.

42

I’ll be here all week—try the veal.

What does Godzilla find between his toes?

TOKiMONSTA, Next Month in DJ Times

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