DJ Times September 2012, Vol 25 No 9

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AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988

SEPTEMBER 2012

$6.95 CANADA $4.95 US

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HOW REGIONAL JOCKS ROCK THEIR FLOCKS

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The Disco Fries Audrey Napoleon Âme Reason Rack Extensions Rane’s New Mixers Pioneer RMX-1000

AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988

SEPTEMBER 2012

$6.95 CANADA $4.95 US

“HOUSTON, WE HAVE A REMIX.” The RMX-1000 Remix Station gives every DJ the ability to personalize their mix by creating and adding multiple remix effects.

Along with the onboard multi-bank rhythmic sampler, the RMX-1000 has four remixing functions: Isolate FX, Scene FX, X-Pad FX and Release FX. Also included is Pioneer’s Remixbox and RMX-1000Plugin VST/AU plug-in software. The RMX-1000...

Taking your mix, where no mix has gone before.

RMX-1000 REMIX STATION Scene FX allows users to choose 5 build up or break down effects Isolate FX focuses on HI/LOW/MID frequency bands X-Pad FX enables users to develop and add new sounds Release FX: re-set and override current effects with ECHO, Break, or Back-spin effect Remixbox software & RMX-1000Plugin VST/AU plug-in software included

PIONEERDJUSA.COM

INDUSTRY EVENTS…NOTABLES…MILESTONES

NEWS

DJ EXPO 2012: BIG IDEAS, NEW GEAR, TOP TALENT Atlantic City, N.J.—DJ Expo is here and ready to roll.

Set for August 13-16 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., DJ Expo will present three days of exhibits featuring the latest DJ gear and accessories, three nights of sponsored parties and events, plus four days of educational seminars and discussion panels. As it has been since its 1990 inception, DJ Expo is produced

by DJ Times and its publisher, Testa Communications.

So, what’s on tap, specifically? Plenty. Here we go: In the world of mobile entertainers, DJ Expo tutorials will tackle a variety of topics. They include: “Steve Moody’s All-Star MC Secrets Revealed 2012”; “Games With Jake Jacobsen”; “Mitzvah Massive with Sean ‘Big Daddy’ McKee”; “Inner & Outer Entertainer : Multi-Tasking Multi-Tiered Events Without Losing Your Edge—Or Your Mind”; “Weddings 2013: Creating Memorable Moments”; “Get Down To Business with Joe Molineaux”; “Bridal Search Sites—Effective or Not?”; “How To Get On (And Stay On) Preferred Vendor Lists”; and “Know Your Video, The Future of Mobile Event Marketing.”

This year’s Expo will also present some valuable and star-studded keynote addresses. Again from the mobile side, we present “Solutions from the Sales Coach” featuring nationally renowned sales expert Carolyn Herfurth. She’ll help DJs crack the sales code by providing solutions for all challenges.

From clubland, DJ Expo offers “Keynote Q&A” sessions with a pair of DJ legends—Paul van Dyk and John “Jellybean” Benitez. Both will discuss their unique rises to the top of the DJ ladder—van Dyk from a perspective behind the Berlin Wall, Benitez from the glitz and glam of NYC’s most celebrated venues.

More from clubland: “Studio Talk: Making Tracks & Moving Up” serves as our annual “remixer/producer” panel and it will include participation from The Disco Fries (featured on Page 26), Tommie Sunshine, Skribble, and more. “The Hitmakers: DJ Expo Artist Panel,” moderated by Promo Only Promotions’ Cary Vance, will include Clinton Sparks, September, JES, Julissa Veloz, Kat Graham, Outasight and Shannon. “New Gear: The Latest

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1- DJ Craze: Playing Pioneer’s party.

2- Keynoter: DJ legend Paul van Dyk. 3- Sales Coach: Carolyn Herfurth.

4- Kat Graham: Performer & panelist.

5- Tommie Sunshine: Expo panelist.

DJ Technologies” will feature a panel of product reviewers and retailers discussing the most recent entries to the DJ game. “The State of the VJ” will investigate the latest news and apps from the video world. And as always, “The Myths & Methods of Beatmixing” will feature New York DJ Frank Garcia as he instructs the room on some of the most-valuable of DJ skills.

Additionally, DJ Expo will feature a slew of sponsored seminars. This year’s slate includes dedicated sessions from BrideLive, Chauvet, Denon DJ, Kingdom Photo Booth, Open Air Photo Booth, and Pioneer DJ. And the parties? Line up, because they’re hot. On Aug. 13, Casbah will host a pair of back-to-back parties: It’ll start with the Mobile Kick-Off Party, hosted by Mike Walter and featuring Jade Starling (from hitmaking group Pretty Poison). It’ll be followed by the DJ Expo Kick-Off Party Hosted by Denon DJ, featuring DJ Melissa Nikita and VJ sets from DJ Larry D, DJ Matt W, DJ Stubbs and DJ Matt Money.

Aug. 14’s Promo Only Summer Sessions Showcase at House of Blues will feature Sean Paul, Taylor Dayne, Shannon, Breathe Carolina, Outasight, Grace V, Kat Graham, JES, Marcus Canty, Julissa Veloz, Speakers, and Nire Alldai. Later that night, at an afterparty held in the Taj’s Ego Lounge, PimpMyTurntables.com will present an evening with DJ Skribble.

Back at Casbah on Aug. 15, the

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annual “DJ of the Year” competition 1 will bestow awards to the best of the best from America’s Mobile Nation.

Hosted by Mike Walter and sponsored by Chauvet, the event will feature a new starting time—this year it’s at 7 p.m., so don’t be late! Immediately afterward at Casbah, we’ll experience the “Official DJ Expo Closing Party” presented by Pioneer DJ. Talent includes: world-famous turntablist/America’s Best DJ nominee DJ Craze; legendary club jock/producer Jellybean Benitez; America’s Best DJ nominee Fei-Fei; world famous party rocker/America’s Best DJ nominee DJ Skribble; nationally known VJ/ America’s Best DJ nominee Roonie

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G, and amazing VJ DVDJ Unique.

And don’t forget… the Ultimate DJ Giveaway! Just drop your business card at the Expo registration desk and become eligible to win prizes from American DJ, Pioneer DJ, Promo Only and Rane (see Page 20). The drawing will be made and the winner will be announced at 2:45 pm on Aug. 16 in the Expo exhibit hall. Yes, you must be present to win. Good luck!

watch it in action

play the light® Control virtually any DJ application and/or lighting control application via MIDI and keystroke mapping.

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VOLUME 25 NUMBER 9

14 A State of Trance

With EDM’s Most Influential Radio Show & Some of the Genre’s Most Massive Live Shows, the Armin van Buuren Machine Keeps Rolling Along

BY EMILY TAN

22 Time Zones

The Internet Hasn’t Changed Everything—Just Look at the Regional Differences That Exist at DJ Parties

BY JEFF STILES

24 One More from the Road

Highlights From America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Presented by Pioneer DJ & DJ Times

BY DJ TIMES PHOTOGRAPHERS

26 School Ties

The Disco Fries Began as Berklee Buddies. Now They’re Lighting Up Clubland’s Production World

BY JIM TREMAYNE

Cover & Contents Images by Hannes Windrath

DEPARTMENTS 9 Feedback

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

28 Making Tracks

Reason 6.5 Rack Extensions

30 Sounding Off

Rane Mixers & Pioneer RMX-1000

32 Mobile Profile

Three Vets Preview Their Expo Tutorials

34 Business Line

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

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Getting On (& Staying On) Preferred Vendor Lists

36 Gear

New Products from American DJ, Chauvet & More

44 Grooves

SAMPLINGS

48 DJ Times Marketplace

10 Audrey Napoleon

Phat Tracks from Umek, Alex M.O.R.P.H. & More Shop Here for All Your DJ-Related Supplies

49 Club Play Chart

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

Robot Talk

12 In the Studio With… Âme

FROM THE EDITOR

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

Atlantic City Bound: DJ Expo & More

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

If you’re reading this at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., then welcome to the DJ Expo.

Much of this issue is dedicated to the show, which runs Monday, Aug. 13 through Thursday, Aug. 16, and the Expo is, in itself, dedicated to improving the professionalism of the DJ industry. In addition to three days of exhibits and three nights of sponsored parties, DJ Expo—produced by DJ Times and Testa Communications—will present the deepest slate of DJ-specific seminars and panels in the business.

So, to preview some of those discussions, our Business Line column features North Carolina mobile Joe Bunn, who offers some samples from his Expo seminar, “Getting On (And Staying On) Preferred Vendor Lists.” Then, in Mobile Profile, we talk with three jocks, who present some tidbits from the tutorials that they’ll present at Expo—big thanks go out to mobile vets Jerry “DJ Jaz” Bazata, Mark Brenneisen and Sean “Big Daddy” McKee for their contributions. Still on the mobile tip, our Iowa-based scribe Jeff Stiles takes a look at the unique differences that DJs encounter from playing parties in various geographical regions.

Over in DJ/producer world, we visit with Nick “Piklz” Ditri and Danny “Danger” Boselovic—aka The Disco Fries, one of clubland’s hottest DJ and studio duos. Along with Tommie Sunshine—a frequent collaborator with the group—The Disco Fries will highlight this year’s Expo “Remixer/ Producer” panel. Attend and learn.

Of course, our “cover boy” is none other than Armin van Buuren, one of the world’s most popular DJs. The Dutch Tranceman plays the biggest festivals and best clubs. His Armada Music imprint is trance’s top label and his A State of Trances is the genre’s top radio mix show. Plus, he’s won a slew of the industry’s major accolades. But in his discussion with our Emily Tan, he explains why awards for artists tend to confound him.

In our Sampling section, L.A. scribe Justin Hampton visits with up-and-coming DJ/producer Audrey Napoleon, who’s currently touring America as part of the Identity Festival. And our London writer Innes Weir connects with Âme, the German DJ/production duo that gave us “Rej” and many more techno delights.

In our product reviews, producer/studio owner/Expo panelist Phil Moffa handles the Making Tracks column with a look at Propellerhead’s Reason 6.5 and its new Rack Extensions. In Sounding Off, our pro-audio column, Robert LaFrance tackles Rane latest mixers—the Sixty-One and the Sixty-Two—both of which perfectly integrate Serato Scratch Live. Additionally, Wesley Bryant-King jumps into effect-world with his review of Pioneer’s unique RMX-1000 Remix Station.

Also, as we’re still in the midst of America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Presented by Pioneer DJ and DJ Times, we offer a multi-imaged look at some more of the dates so far. This month we show you scenes from ABDJ events in New York City (Gansevoort Park Hotel), Los Angeles (Avalon), Chicago (Soldier Field for Spring Awakening fest), Philadelphia (Rumor), Las Vegas (Marquee and Tao Beach) and Mariaville, N.Y. (Indian Lookout Country Club for Camp Bisco). As always, DJ Times was there, taking ballots from fans voting for their favorite DJs. In return, they were all automatically entered to win prizes like Pioneer DJ gear and a trip for two to Las Vegas’ Marquee club for the America’s Best DJ Closing Party/Award ceremony on Oct. 7. Fans can still vote online at americasbestdj.net or via Facebook. Vote and win; Like Us and win.

Best to all, especially those attending DJ Expo. We hope it’s as big a week for you as it is for us.

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Cheers,

Jim Tremayne, Editor, DJ Times

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

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

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

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

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FEEDBACK preview

AmericA’s First mAgAzine For ProFessionAl DJs estAb

AUGUST 2012

$6.95 CANADA

$4.95 US

How mobiles beat tHe summertime blues

retailer/distributor in the region and a venue where these companies can exhibit their products, and you have a start. Also, you’ll also want to bring in some of the region’s best-known DJ-talent, if you can.

How have we done it all these years?

The three components of DJ Expo in America are these: exhibits with the

digital accessories:

4 inch

10+ picks

$4.95 US

$6.95 CANADA

www.djtimes.com

Mobile business tips noisia idjut boys Moog Minitaur peavey iMpulse 12d geMini Cdj-700

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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.

DEAR DJ TIMES, Hi, my name is Donfredrick Maloba and I live in from Kenya. I wanted to know if it was possible to hold a DJ Expo here in Africa.

The DJ market in Kenya has become very mature. Currently, we are the hub of East and Central Africa when it comes to DJ units or sound-re‑ inforcement services, so I am sure such an event here would attract the participation of the whole of African states.

I have been a DJ here for the last 15 years and I feel it’s time for us to take it to the next level by being exposed to the outside DJ world. I personally believe there is good business here.

What do you think?

– Donfredrick Moloba, Nairobi, Kenya

Some company—probably an Afri‑ can company—might want to pro‑ duce a DJ convention in Kenya, but I tend to believe that it won’t be DJ Times. We’re based in New York, so it’s just too far away for us.

However, if you believe that there’s enough of a market in your area and you’re bent on doing such a thing, you might want to begin by taking strategic baby steps.

In order to attract and maintain a DJ-audience, you’ll need to show‑ case technology and helpful, careerminded ideas. So, find the biggest

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latest DJ products; seminars with the most-vital topics discussed by professional DJs; and sponsored, evening events at area venues. That’s how we began DJ Expo in 1990, and 22 years later the formula still works—gear, ideas and talent.

For this endeavor, you don’t need anything from us beyond a little ad‑

vice. If you have backing, you can do it yourself. After all, you know your region’s DJ-culture and DJ-business a whole lot better than we do.

Nonetheless, thanks for reaching out.

One of these days, I’ll make it over to your continent. In the meantime, I’ll need to brush up on my Swahili.

– Jim Tremayne, DJ Times

AUDREY NAPOLEON & HER ROBOTS

SAMPLINGS

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

Napoleon: Two Traktor X1 units control her sets.

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In several ways, Audrey Napoleon could be seen as a model DJ. For starters, she’s already warmed up for Deadmau5 and scored a headlining slot on this summer’s national IDentity Festival, just three years after picking up the trade while a waitress at Hollywood’s Geisha House. And then there’s her ebony-black hair and porcelain-white skin, which makes her highly presentable for gigs such as her current monthly residency at Las Vegas’s Marquee Dayclub. And she’s even added corporate spokesperson to her résumé now that Heineken has featured Napoleon and her 303-bending track “#mysunrise” in a slick online campaign.

With the release of her “Ornamental Egos” EP [SQE Music], Napoleon hopes to further penetrate EDM’s big moment with her club-friendly “Underground Pop.” “I’ve taken all of my techno roots and used that as my underground—I really love all the top lines of pop music,” she says. “So I just pulled what I love from pop music and techno and pushed it together.”

Napoleon’s current forte is programming behind the decks, which include mixers from the Pioneer DJM series. With her, she brings a Native Instruments Audio 8 interface, a USB hub, some V-Moda headphones— one pair has her name emblazoned on the side—and two Native Instrument Traktor X1 controllers, which she calls “Robot One and Two.” “I really love to add hi-hats to different tracks because I feel like it gives it more movement,” Napoleon explains of her Traktor setup. “And once I find an 8-bar and I loop hats that I like, I’ll just keep it moving throughout the next few tracks. Then I’ll switch over to a different loop or sample that I’ll pull from and, before I go to my sets, I [have a] folder of the tracks that I want to play with the samples that I want to play.

And while I’m playing, that’s when I incorporate the loops.”

When it comes to build-ups, she has specific instructions for her “Robots.” Says Napoleon: “What I really like to do is just [work] the Gater [effect] with a little bit of delay, and I’ve got an Ice Verb, which just adds a little bit of reverb to it and then I’ve got the heavy reverb, which I’ll just crank up when I’m leading up to the drop. And the Gater, I love because it chops everything up.

“And I’ll turn the lows down, Gater up, Ice Verb up, reverb up, delay up, just to get it to be really huge, and I go dry on everything, and then let it drop. I try not to do it too much, because I love it so much. I’m like, ‘I can’t do it again, not this track. Wait for the next track.’”

– Justin Hampton

IN THE STUDIO WITH

DJ TIMES

AUGUST 2012

ÂME: DEEP DELIGHTS

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This summer, German DJ/production duo, Âme, celebrates a decade in dance with the release of its first CD of new material in six years. Âme Live [Innervisions] is a typically warm and eclectic affair, with tunes

by Underworld, Roy Ayers, Unkle and a host of others skillfully reworked beyond recognition.

Few acts in recent history have managed to balance an underground ethos with mainstream appeal as effortlessly as Âme (pronounced “ahm”). “Rej,” recorded in 2005, was a lush, minimal masterpiece that secured their hero status across the globe—but Âme’s Frank Wiedemann and Kristian Beyer refuse to dine out on past glories.

With a summer-long residency at We Love...Space, Ibiza confirmed, the Âme boys are only interested in looking forward—ask them to play “Rej” one more time and things could get messy. Kristian Beyer explains why...

DJ Times: Your production sound is famously tough to pin down. Where do you belong in today’s dance culture and which artists inspired you in the first place?

Beyer: Basically, we are house guys who have a strong techno influence but, honestly, the artists who inspired us are not from that scene at all. It was actually guys like Brian Eno, Brian Wilson and [Tangerine Dream/Kluster founder] Conrad Schnitzler who really influenced our work at first. The new Âme Live mix typifies our sound at the moment, though—it’s on the house/techno border with plenty of our own productions. We always like to produce original music for our sets.

DJ Times: The only downside to scoring a hit as huge as “Rej” is that one song can come to define your entire career—are you sick of playing/hearing it yet?

Beyer: Whenever I get asked to play it now I’ll say: “You wouldn’t ask The Rolling Stones to play ‘Satisfaction’ all the time, would you?” The thing is, you can’t sit down and plan to have a hit. It doesn’t work like that, and the biggest mistake you can make is to try and re-create a “hit formula.” Our artistic integrity is too strong to go over old ground anyway; you need to respect history, but make your mark on the future, too.

DJ Times: Your remix work is in demand like never before, but you seem to be taking on fewer productions these days. Have you tired of adding your own, personal signature to other people’s work?

Beyer: In a way, yes. That’s why we’re so careful in our choice of what to work on now. Very often, the track we were remixing had become our own song by the end of it all—and this shouldn’t be the sense of a rework. We really need to have a love for the original track, as it makes it easier to work with more than anything, and that’s why we were so honored to work on someone like Roy Ayers’ music.

DJ Times: How do you guys view the U.S. scene at the moment?

Beyer: I think it’s definitely been getting better and developing a lot recently. San Francisco and New York, in particular, have some great underground events going on these days. Ultimately, there is good music and there is bad music the world over—it’s always been like that and it will always be like that, too. You just have to avoid the crap.

– Innes Weir

Âme’s Summer Top 5 1. “Does It Look Like I’m Here?” (Daphni Remix)

by Emeralds [Jiaolong] 2. “Drunken Maki” by Toktok [Toktok] 3. “Trainman” (I:Cube Remix) by Lauer [Running Back] 4. “Black Rain” by R-A-G [MOS Deep] 5. “Arcane” by Mia Grobelny [Sub Static]

Âme Amigos: (from left) Kristian Beyer & Frank Wiedemann.

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A State of

Trance

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By Emily Tan Miami Beach, Fla. —By his own admission, Armin van Buuren rarely grants lengthy interviews. Nonetheless, DJ Times managed to connect with the mega-popular Dutchman for an unhurried talk earlier this year. After he’d touched down in Miami during his A State Of Trance 550 World Tour—he was co-headlining Ultra Music Festival with David Guetta—van Buuren warmed right up.

And small wonder. Aside from the massive Ultra gig at Bayfront Park, it was another notable week in South Florida for van Buuren. During Winter Music Conference, he scored five International Dance Music Award wins, including trophies for Best Global DJ, Best Global Label (for his Armada Music imprint) and Best Radio Mixshow DJ (for A State Of Trance, his internationally syndicated radio show, which achieved its 550 th episode). Add these latest industry triumphs to his four-year run (2007-2010) at the top of DJ Mag’s annual Top 100 list/poll and van Buuren might sound a little disingenuous about his somewhat blithe attitude regarding the ranking of artistic achievements. But to talk with him, van Buuren is as down-to-earth as any DJ-giant, and one would suspect that his feelings about awards are more likely the result of having reached the pinnacle of one’s career, a place where there’s little else to prove. So, it’s back to business—apart from the accolades, as always, The Armin van Buuren Machine rolls on.

With the release of his massive mix comp— Universal Religion, Chapter 6 (Armada)—just on the horizon, we present our sitdown with the Dutch Tranceman. He discussed the technical aspects of his latest ASOT tour, the breadth of his deeply influential mixshow, the exciting changes in DJ culture/dance music, and clever ways a superstar DJ can keep close touch with his legions of fans.

DJ Times: Lately, I’ve been feeling old-fashioned as a lover of house music, trance and techno. With so many kids listening to dubstep, has trance become “establishment” music?

Van Buuren: Not at all. At the moment, these are very exciting times for trance. Even though the word has been around a long time, the sound is completely different from what it was 10 years ago. The average BPM has gone down. There is a lot more focus on basslines. If you go to McDonald’s 10 years from now and you order a Big Mac, it’ll taste the same. If you listen to trance 10 years from now, it’ll take a completely different direction!

DJ Times: What have you been seeing, then?

Van Buuren: It’s been fantastic and phenomenal for me to see the genre grow. Guys like Arty and Mat Zo, who introduced a new sound, the American sound from Tritonal, which is very energetic with a hint of electro basslines… it’s exciting times. Four years ago when I did A State Of Trance 400, all the DJs were playing the big records. Now, with trance, we’re allowed to play more housey stuff and we’re allowed to play banging stuff like John O’Callaghan. A little more housey, like Gareth Emery, and then you have the Markus Schulz Army with more of a deeper sound, more driving and energetic. If you consider trance to be Big Mac, then yes, it’s done.

DJ Times: But it’s changing for the better, you think?

Van Buuren: I think the genre has completely evolved; it’s fresh at the moment. I refused to move away from trance because I’m still passionate for its energy, its melodies. There are a lot of changes, but the euphoric elements are still there. I love this melodic stuff that comes from the heart. The sound has moved on, but the basic elements are still there. You can’t say the sound of Arty is the same as it was 10 years ago.

DJ Times: With this generation’s excitement for dubstep, somewhat embodied by Skrillex’s Grammy wins, can you ever see a day when that genre will overtake trance in popularity?

Van Buuren: I don’t see why they can’t coexist. Dubstep is just the birth of new genres. I feel America’s just embraced EDM by inventing its own genre, really. Skrillex has brought dubstep to the next level. It’s important to see that Skrillex is American and the Grammy is American and he wins. Not to take anything away from his accomplishments, but he’s the face of the new fresh start in EDM. DJ Times: What, do you believe, has been the impact of this “fresh start” on other styles?

Van Buuren: What you can see immediately is that all the other styles are influenced by the sound of dubstep now. It’s fresh. The way I compare it is, like, The Beatles looked at Bob Dylan and Beethoven looked at Bach. Human beings have a strange habit of wanting to put labels on stuff so that we can understand things. There’s nothing wrong with labeling, but unfortunately trance is not stale. Dubstep will evolve and sound different 10 years from now.

DJ Times: Back to your music, what’s your process of choosing producers with whom to collaborate?

Van Buuren: For me, it begins and ends with the song. If the song is good, then I’m up for collaborating. If Chris Martin called me… if a song is not a good song, it’ll never be. For my new album, I tend to look outside again. I worked with Ana Criado again. I also did a track as Gaia focused on old-school trance and I worked with a French singer called Julie Bataille. I had an idea of a French vocal and I contacted her. Everything starts with the concept for a song, an idea.

DJ Times: What’s your DJ setup these days?

Van Buuren: A Pioneer DJM-2000 mixer with four [Pioneer] CDJ-2000s with two running audio and two running a timecode signal, rekordbox on a Mac running. I have all my tracks available. I have all my tracks from the last 10 years—you’re never done going through your music! I come from the vinyl age where if you bought records and you labeled them correctly, on a plane you could just sit and do emails. Now, it’s never-ending; it’s ongoing.

DJ Times: What’s your take on the evolution of DJ and live-performance software/gear?

Van Buuren: I started with vinyl, then CDs. I’ve always been a fan of the CDJs and it basically changed the way I DJ. I’m working with timecode now. I can send timecode to backstage or the pyro/lighting department. So now if I want, I can time when a singer comes on. I can time

Photos BY Hannes Windrath

With EDM’s Most Influential Radio Show, A Slew of Accolades & Some of the Genre’s Most Massive Live Shows, the Armin van Buuren Machine Keeps Rolling Along

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it to count down for the singer. It’s a click track for the singer to count down. My view is that the music doesn’t stop, so that’s sometimes confusing for the singer. I have a CDJ-2000, in the middle is my mixer, so instead of doing a fader-start with one fader, I now start with two faders—so now the two tracks can time exactly in sync. For me, it opens a whole new world. My focus is much more on other stuff going on onstage, like the visuals, pyrotechnics, CO2, singers, and so on. Now I can sync it up.

DJ Times: Are you doing anything different these days on the road that perhaps is new for you?

Van Buuren: Well, I travel with a crew, which is new. I have two VJs, a sound guy and a light guy.

We do have random visuals like logos and funny things, like for an encore song and tracks that I do, but there’s still a lot of interaction with the visuals as possible. I have some tracks I can loop and

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

“It’s a strange need in humans to judge other people and put them into awards.”

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I have custom visuals where I can say, “Hey, what’s up Santo Domingo!” on the big screen. I like to stress beforehand when I’ll play. I have maybe five opening tracks I think I’ll wanna open with. I’m chatting with the visuals guys to tell them what the next track will be and what my timecode track is.

Everybody can do it themselves.

DJ Times: Why have you gone so big?

Van Buuren: People expect more. The dance scene has evolved. Shows are bigger and DJs have to step up their game as well, especially for big shows like Ultra Music Festival. People expect a certain show. People want to be surprised. It’s entertainment.

DJ Times: Do you feel you have to work harder to stay connected with fans, the bigger you’ve gotten?

Van Buuren: I was touring in Brazil for Carnivale and I had one night off. I told my tour manager, because I have too much new music and I wanted to test it out for a new crowd. So, we called the local promoter and asked him if I could play this club. He said, “What do you want for money?” I played for 300 people and it was announced on Twitter in Sao Paolo! [laughs] You stay connected for your fans in that way. That’s what I love about our job. The best thing about my job is playing for 400 people. In Miami during Ultra Music Festival, I played Mansion the Sunday night after the festival. I think it’s really important to stress, it’s also important to keep doing the smaller venues.

DJ Times: Do you feel that using computers to compose music gives an artist the widest, nearly infinite palette of possibilities to work with?

Van Buuren: There’s nothing like the power of real instruments, the dynamics of a real string orchestra or a guitar. It is not the same as plug-ins, even though plug-ins are so advanced now. It’s so amazing having a real orchestra. There’s something about the trembling in the air of the sound waves; it trembles to your soul. There’s something magical about real instruments as a real guitar. I think it has to do with the harmonies.

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

DJ Times: Give me an example.

Van Buuren: If you sample a piano, say you’ll sample every note. If you press an “A,” the hammer goes up to the string, but what also happens when you press that note is all the surrounding strings also vibrate subtly! You can’t reproduce that in software. That’s what the human brain picks up. If you play guitar, you’re not only hearing the strings you’re touching. You’re hearing the body of the instrument, the area of strings you’re touching… I think people have a really precise ear for these harmonics and distortion. It interests our minds. You appreciate those harmonics. Some software can come really close especially if you’re doing reverb or compression. If you have an untrained ear, you can’t hear the difference with some pieces of music, but there’s other music… that’s highly dependent on dynamics.

DJ Times: With Simon Cowell’s supposed plans for a DJ competition show, the Grammy Awards showcasing EDM and more, it’s a plain fact that DJ culture has reached a boiling point in America. What’s your take?

Van Buuren: I don’t understand the need for such competition in any talent, and I don’t believe in judging people for their creative output! If a painter paints a picture and the painter decides to hang it on a wall for people to see, two important things happen: one is that the painter expresses his/her artistic belief on a painting; two is when the painter decides to display it to the public. Then the public comes and sees it and has an opinion about it. Whatever the audience thinks about the painting and whatever the artist meant by the painting, it is two different things! I’m

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surprised. You can only judge a DJ from a three-hour set.You can’t judge a DJ if he makes two or three tracks.

It’s an economical view [Cowell] that wants to make bucks out of. It’s a strange need in humans to judge other people and put them into awards.

I don’t believe music is supposed to divide people; music is supposed to bring people together. That’s the essence of it. Music is supposed to connect people. If people wanna label me, that’s fine. I’m the painter. I didn’t choose to do it for that reason…

DJ Times: Easy to say when you’ve collected so many awards yourself…

Van Buuren: But on the other hand, I’m thrilled and excited that so many people go online to vote for me. [laughs] Do I think I’m better than other DJs on a list? No way.

No way! It is weird. Music is really strange. If you don’t like the current #1 [DJ in a poll ranking] or anyone

in the top 40, that’s fine. If you like #72 and that’s your favorite at the moment… it’s fine. It’s a strategy, in regards to Deadmau5, say, to create controversy. He’s also a great producer. He wants to be a controversial character.

DJ Times: What’s your studio setup at the moment? Do you still use analog gear?

Van Buuren: Analog, yes. I have a Doepfer synth which is a self-made synth, a MiniMoog, a [Clavia] Nord Lead 3 [synthesizer], Roland [TB]303 [bass synthesizer], Avalon compressors, an [Alesis] Andromeda A6 [synthesizer]. I still use a lotta analog gear and stuff. I love the randomness of analog equipment. I use it for inspirational reasons. I love fooling around with knobs. I use analog gear for the randomness.

DJ Times: How so?

Van Buuren: Sometimes on a Monday morning, if I’m uninspired, I might grab a synth and say, “Hey, maybe I can create a random sound,” or something. It’s an interesting time because there’re more soft synths than traffic violations! [laughs] It’s crazy how many possibilities there are. Every digital synth and every analog machine sounds different. I started producing in 1992 and there were only a couple you could choose from—there were very few and they were expensive. But right now, you can download illegal software. I have a really expensive studio and I invested in soundproofing and UAD cards and Pro Tools cards; then this kid comes around with a hacked version of FL Studio! The concept of your recordings is more important than your gear. If the next Mozart is in Russia…. it’s all about the idea.

DJ Times: What’s your take on social media?

Van Buuren: I think it’s amazing for so many people to be able to express their opinions in such an open network.

DJ Times: How integral is A State

Of Trance, your radio show, to your overall operations as a DJ and producer?

Van Buuren: I’m in touch with all these software companies and they send me their plug-ins… in the beginning, I promised myself ASOT would run for 11 years. I’m so thrilled and excited! I do this because I actually really, really love what I do. This is what I live for. This is my life’s purpose. I’m thinking, everything begins and ends with my radio show.

DJ Times: How’s that?

Van Buuren: I tell my fans what I do on the road, what countries I’ve just been in and what countries I’m going to next, what gigs are coming up. I communicate through my fans by reading their emails, by starting controversial topics. I test my new records all in my radio show. Every A State Of Trance compilation I try to make special. Every radio show has to have something special. It can be an interview with Paul van Dyk, and exclusive mix, a special vocal record I just got or whatever.

DJ Times: What, in your mind, makes a good radio show?

Van Buuren: A radio show has to sparkle people’s imagination. I use ASOT to communicate with my fans, and I use my radio show to hype new talent. I want to stress that ASOT is not just about me as a DJ or Armada or my tracks! It’s about trance as a genre. I also do that with my so-called “competition.” I wanna show people that music is about connecting. It’s not about DJ lists. Music is supposed to connect people. This is how I view EDM at the moment, especially with the younger generation. It’s fantastic for Avicii and Skrillex, and I play my role by now only saying I’m not only promoting new artists, but also putting new talent like Tom Fall from Finland on my show, and I give him a stage to perform on and go play your set. I’m nothing but a small pond in the middle and I get great music from DJs and producers and I pass it along. n

©2010 Crown International

enter &

win t h E u Lt i M At E D j g i V E AwAy

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2 cDj-2000 players

The CDJ-2000 is the ultimate technologically advanced multi-format player in the world. No matter what your media preference is, the CDJ2000 can handle them all with great performance, reliability, and confidence. It enables playback of MP3, AAC, WAV and AIFF audio files on CD, DVD-ROM, SD card and USB memory devices. For displaying song titles, jacket art as well as detailed track information, the CDJ-2000 has a unique 6.1�

Full Color LCD panel and Graphic User Interface so DJs can find information needed to select a song easily at a glance.

1 rMX-1000 remix Station

The RMX-1000 Remix Station gives every DJ the ability to personalize their mix by creating and adding multiple remix effects. Along with the onboard multi-bank rhythmic sampler, the RMX-1000 has four remixing functions:

Isolate FX, Scene FX, X-Pad FX and Release FX. Also included is Pioneer’s Remixbox and RMX-1000Plugin VST/AU plug-in software.

Light up your creative genius with the Beamz Pro interactive laser controller. Use laser beams to control any DJ, production or lighting application.

1 DjM-900nexus mixer

The DJM-900nexus is a high performance 4-channel digital mixer designed for today’s professional DJ performers. The new DJM-900nexus offers a multitude of new features that includes a variety of onboard effects including Sound Color FX, Beat effects, and all new X-Pad. Other features include increased sound quality and direct laptop connection to enable any DJ to perform to their utmost potential.

Double phase LED

Dual-barrel mirrors cover large areas with a bright blast of color beams. The double barreled dynamo is powered by two state-of-the-art CREE 10-watt Quad Color LEDs that create thick, twin beams of light in a variety of eyepopping color combinations. Each of the Double Phase LED’s high-output LED sources has four different color LEDs (Red, Green, Blue and White) inside. All color mixing is done within each LED lamp prior to output, which allows this amazing unit to produce a smoother blend and generate a wider spectrum of blazing colors.

1 hDj-2000-K headphone

The HDJ-2000 is Pioneer’s premier professional headphone.

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A 2-in-1 effect that combines LED moonflowers with Galaxian lasers to create a lightshow that is simply out of this world!

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These LED sources produce a multitude of brilliant red, blue, green and white beams. The laser part of this effect produces hundreds of razor-sharp green beams, which dance around the room in smooth, precise movements, driven by high-quality 1.8° stepper motors. The laser is also a breathtaking “Liquid Sky-type” laser effect when used on its own.

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Time Zones

By Jeff Stiles As a former multi-system DJ owner who has performed at wedding receptions, bar mitzvahs and corporate events from Los Angeles to Orlando and back to Chicago, Jeff Stiles of Ultimate Entertainment in Dubuque, Iowa, has observed firsthand the many regional differences that exist in different regions throughout the United States.

Oh yeah, that’s me, and I’m not really supposed to write about myself.

But then there’s Mike Mahoney, of M&M Entertainment in South Portland, Maine, who has friends and family all over the United States, and he reports that stylistic differences really do exist in various regions of the U.S., and he’s experienced several of those variations firsthand.

“From what I see, I think it’s more genre-based, but there are a few things I have noticed,” says Mahoney.

“My sisters live in California, I have some good friends in Florida and the Carolinas, and here in New England I’ve done events from just south of the Canadian border to just north of the New York City border. In Florida, if you don’t know Latin music you’re dog meat, while in the Carolinas, Carolina beach and ‘shag’ music are the rage—the latter of which is a slow-beat swing type of music that’s very fun.”

In California and in Connecticut, Mahoney reports that audiences tend to start the dancing early, and even have guests dance between courses, while up in Maine there aren’t so many courses and the caterers might get upset if guests try to do any dancing between servings of meals.

And Mahoney says the farther south a person travels from Maine, the more interaction that wedding parties will expect.

“Because Maine is a destination spot, we get influences from all over,” he says. “It makes my job more interesting, and thankfully I have good relationships with some of the caterers who cater to that far-away clientele and can work with them to keep everyone happy.

“In Maine, as in most other states, the first dance is done right away; however, on occasions when the bride and groom don’t do the first dance right away, it can be very tough to get folks to dance before they do their first dance.”

When it comes to the types of

interactions wedding parties prefer, Mahoney says the regional differences can indeed be huge.

“The funniest one to me is, when folks are from Ohio, I just have to play ‘Hang On Sloopy,’ and they even have a special ‘O-H-I-O Dance’ they do that’s a lot of fun. Boston audiences love ‘Sweet Caroline’ as an interaction, while in New York, it’s Sinatra’s ‘New York New York.’

“Of course, none of those interactions are as unique as the ‘O-H-I-O,’ because the others are more just sing-along songs.”

Down toward New York and Connecticut, Mahoney says guests prefer line dances as their interactions, while the closer to Maine he travels the fewer line dances they desire.

“The money/dollar dance is still popular in certain pockets of Maine, primarily because it’s tradition, and parents usually insist on it when they’re paying for the wedding— which is about 30- to 40-percent of the time.

“Up here in Maine, people like interaction that provides variety and structure, such as a game like ‘The Love Game,’ in which guests at one table get up and sing a line or a verse of a song with the word ‘love’ in it, or something like ‘Bride & Groom Trivia,’ where the bride and groom stand back to back and answer ques-

tions about one another.

“And sometimes they’ll have a formal last dance—even if it’s not the last song of the night—and then just maybe one or two line dances.”

Mahoney reports that just a few examples of “shag” music popular in the Carolinas include “My Big Sister’s Radio” by The Mighty Mike Schermer Band, “Shadow Shaggin’ ” by Tommy Black & Blooz, “Dancin’, Shaggin’ on the Boulevard” by Alabama, and “Carolina Girls” by Chairmen of the Board.

Kevin Porter of Elite Entertainment in Rock Hill, S.C., explains “The Shag” as a couples’ dance that’s performed with beach music.

“Most people describe it as a slow jitterbug, but it’s really a dance of its own,” he explains. “If a person grew up in the Carolinas then most of them—of all ages—know how to shag. They even hold an annual event at the beach called ‘S.O.S.’ “Most songs used for it are not nationally known, such as ‘Sixty-Minute Man,’ ‘Carolina Girls,’ ‘Club Savoy,’ ‘Little Red Book’ and ‘Sweet Beach Music.’ Then again, there are some that are nationally known, such as ‘Shaggin’ on the Boulevard’ by Alabama, ‘My Girl/I Can’t Help Myself ’ [by The Temptations and The Four Tops] and even ‘Crazy’ by Gnarls Barkley.”

Additional regional differences Porter has noted in the Southeastern U.S. include the fact wedding parties typically schedule four-hour receptions with a buffet instead of a sit-down dinner. He says his company usually will have guests eat prior to the wedding party being announced, unlike what he’s observed in a lot of other regions.

“I have a lot of weddings that have guests come from New York, Pennsyl-

vania and other states in the Northeast area who have told me the way we do things here—as far as the order of events and four-hour receptions—is much different than what they’re used to. But most of them love the way we do things down here!”

Back up in the Northeast, Gregg Hollmann of Ambient DJ Service in East Windsor, N.J., says he doesn’t have much knowledge of other markets, but emphasizes the model his company uses for wedding receptions holds true in his own market 95-percent of the time.

“Our programs feature a cocktail hour followed by a four-hour reception party,” Hollmann explains. “The grand entrance, first dance and parent dances are all done upfront for the reception, followed by a blessing and toasts.

“On my New Jersey dancefloors, I like to get the action rocking after the first appetizer course is cleared, which sets the tone for the evening.

The Internet Hasn’t Changed Everything—Just Look at the Regional Differences That Exist at DJ Parties

The cake-cutting and bouquet-andgarter ceremonies are typically done 60 to 90 minutes prior to the end of the event, and we rarely ever have a couple request a money/dollar dance.”

As far as line dancing goes, about half of Hollmann’s couples opt not to have any.

“The other half typically only want one or two line dances—the most popular of which are mainstream favorites such as ‘The Cupid Shuffle’ and the ‘Cha-Cha Slide.’

“From my basic understanding, wedding receptions in other parts of the country feature longer event times, and oftentimes there will not be dancing until after the main course is completed.”

As the aforementioned Jeff Stiles can report from his all-over-the-nation experiences, Hollmann’s understandings are accurate: Here at home in Iowa and even three hours east of here in the suburbs of the Windy City of Chicago, events tend to last five or sometimes up to eight hours.

The good thing about the longer events, however, is that it means more hours of work (and therefore more revenue), plus more opportunities to mesmerize audiences with entertaining interactions ranging from sing-a-longs to line dances to competitions to humorous sketches our crowds are unlikely to experience anywhere else in the nation. n

One More from the

Road

Highlights From America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Presented by Pioneer DJ & DJ Times

The “middle leg” of America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Presented by Pioneer DJ & DJ Times saw us hit some rather diverse stops.

They included: Chicago (Spring Awakening fest at Soldier Field featuring 15 ABDJ nominees); Los Angeles (Sharam and Cedric Gervais at Avalon); Philadelphia (Saeed Younan at Rumor); New York City (Manufactured Superstars at Gansevoort Park Hotel); Las Vegas (Gabriel & Dresden at Marquee, Markus Schulz and Blake Jarrell at Marquee, and Markus Schulz at Tao Beach); and Mariaville, N.Y. (Camp Bisco fest at Indian Lookout Country Club featuring nine ABDJ noms).

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 Vegas for the ABDJ Closing Party/Award Ceremony on Oct. 7. It all looked like this:

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Empire State: Rooftop revelers in NYC. Fred Gumm

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Ka-boom: Confetti cannon fires at L.A.’s Avalon.

Michael Melwani

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Avaland: Cedric Gervais in L.A. Michael Melwani

4

Blastin’ Bisco: MiMOSA rocks the camp.

Ashley Suszczynski

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Celebs Chillin’: Rick Ross & Mo Vaughn in NYC. Fred Gumm

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Vegas Scene: DJ Times readers at Tao Beach.

Al Powers/Powers Imagery

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Moombahton Man: Dillon Francis in Chicago.

Ryan Sahlin

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Poolside: Vegas gals at Tao Beach.

Al Powers/Powers Imagery

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Chi-Town Party: Morgan Page at Soldier Field.

Ryan Sahlin

10 Hands On: Manufactured Superstars get to work.

Fred Gumm 1

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11 Spring Awakening: Chicago fans get tight.

Ryan Sahlin 12 Philly Grooves: Saeed Younan at Rumor.

Wiggle Productions 13 Vote & Win: Fans pose at Philly’s Rumor.

Wiggle Productions 14 L.A. Late Night: Sharam at Avalon.

Michael Melwani

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15 Windy City Jams: Designer Drugs at Spring Awakening.

Ryan Sahlin 16 Sunshine Superman: Markus Schulz at Tao Beach.

Al Powers/Powers Imagery

SEPTEMBER 2012

17 Second City: Spring Awakening fans at Soldier Field.

Ryan Sahlin

DJ TIMES

18 Upstate Party: Porter Robinson at Camp Bisco.

Ashley Suszczysnki

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SEPTEMBER 2012

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School

By Jim Tremayne SEPTEMBER 2012

DJ TIMES 26

Ties

The Disco Fries: (from left) Danny Danger & Nick Piklz.

Boselovic: I’m more of the sound guy who obsesses over the synths and getting everything sounding a particular way. Nick focuses more on arrangement, orchestration, melodies, etc. But we both stay involved throughout the process so, in the end, it really is a collaborative effort.

DJ Times: How do you two find DJing?

Ditri: DJing is by far one of the most rewarding experiences for us. It’s amazing to see a reaction to the projects we sometimes spend weeks on fine-tuning and really only getting to test in our cars during the week. More and more we find ourselves going back into projects to fine-tune drops that may not have had the impact we wanted or arrangement choices that the crowd may have not understood. Sometimes it’s easy to over-think tracks in the studio, and playing them out is always the real test.

DJ Times: What kind of gear do you prefer in the booth?

Ditri: In the booth, we use two CDJs with Serato on one laptop with Ableton connected to the Novation Launchpad and Akai MPD24 on the other laptop. The second laptop is used to run one-shot impacts, drums and special effects with the Novation Launchpad running the software we developed for Max for Live [a tool kit for building devices for Ableton Live] called KÖNVERSATE. It’s available on our website (discofriesmusic. com) for free download.

DJ Times: How have the Vegas gigs been going? What’s that environment like for you?

Ditri: Vegas is a great spot for us because it’s such a party atmosphere. People are open to all kinds of music and there’s a lot of freedom in that sense.

Boselovic: In Vegas, people let go of any inhibitions they have—and, as our sets are all energy, it’s a perfect fit.

DJ Times: In the studio, what’s your main platform? Favorite sounds?

Boselovic: We predominantly use Logic Pro running off of either my Macbook Pro or one of our Mac Pro towers. We occasionally use Ableton Live for certain elements of our productions, but Logic is definitely the main component. For sounds, we use a lot of the same stuff that everyone else does—NI Massive, FM8, Sylenth. In general we have our own banks of presets that we’ve developed as part of our “sound,” but we also draw pretty heavily on traditional sounds like piano and strings as well. For anything like that, Kontakt has been our go-to for quite a while.

DJ Times: What kind of EDM are you enjoying now? Which producers?

Boselovic: I’m definitely digging a ton of the Jack Beats stuff, Sinden, Nicky Romero, Bingo Players—the list goes on.

We’re at a point where there is so much great music out, it’s nearly impossible to narrow it down to just a few names.

Ditri: I like everything, really. It almost doesn’t make sense sometimes because it’s so all over the place. To name five across the spectrum I’d have to say Arty, Botnek, Felix Cartal, Gesaffelstein, and Zedd.

DJ Times: How’s it been working with Tommie Sunshine [as Fries & Shine]?

Ditri: Tommie is, by far, the most well-versed man of music that I’ve ever met. A typical session with him starts with a few hours of listening to music, maybe digging into whatever we’re working on a bit, but always referencing other obscure songs that the normal listener would never connect to what we are working on at the time. But Tommie is able to pull in some percussive influence, a background vocal melody or some other element of a track in for an element of inspiration our own production. Danny and I know the technicals of making music happen and being the musician’s musicians, while Tommie has the ear, knowledge of music, its roots and history. We couldn’t have asked for a better prescription for a collaborative partner.

Boselovic: Tommie is also a great guy to have around when (continued on page 50)

DJ TIMES

In the past few years, we’ve had a front-row seat for The Disco Fries’ rise up the EDM ladder.

During its appearances at the DJ Expo’s annual “Remixer/ Producer” panel, the New York-area duo—Nick “Piklz” Ditri and Danny “Danger” Boselovic–has dropped valuable dollops of studio wisdom for show attendees. Whether it’s detailed tech talk or sage advice on getting your music heard, The Disco Fries always offer something useful that aspiring studio jocks can use in their careers. (And you can catch them on this year’s “Remixer/Producer” panel, set for Aug. 15 at the Trump Taj Mahal.)

And each year, their list of accomplishments grows. A quick look: In 2008, while attending Boston’s esteemed Berklee College of Music, the Fries connected and, on the strength of their thumping re-rub of Flo Rida’s “Sugar,” quickly became a go-to club-remix team. DJ offers and remix work—for the likes of Katy Perry, Steve Aoki and Britney Spears—came pouring in.

Now working in the studio and (occasionally) the DJ booth with fellow global DJ/producer Tommie Sunshine—billed as Fries & Shine—Ditri and Boselovic have scored with the “Don’t Look Back” single. Additionally, they’ve become regular DJs in faraway places like Las Vegas, China and beyond.

So, coming into this year’s DJ Expo, we reconnect with The Disco Fries’ Nick Ditri and Danny Boselovic.

DJ Times: When you two went to Berklee, were you already interested in EDM? What kind of music got you two going?

Nick Ditri: I went into Berklee a hip-hop kid into everything, like going to Jedi Mind Tricks shows to listening to Sean Price records. But in addition to all of that, I always had a guilty pleasure for house records. I remember buying my first Armand Van Helden vinyl and listening to a ton of the New York underground mix CDs growing up.

Danny Boselovic: Going into college, I mostly listened to indie rock along the lines of Radiohead, Sigur Ros, and Air—and wasn’t too familiar with anything in the EDM world. The closest I came to that realm was guys like Aphex Twin or Squarepusher.

For me, one of the biggest draws to that type of music was its use of technology and synthesis to create unique sounds that I hadn’t heard before. As I went through college, I eventually began listening to more and more club-oriented music, starting with guys like Trentemøller and Booka Shade until eventually I got to where I am now.

DJ Times: Were you clubbers at all?

Ditri: We weren’t old enough in the ’90s to get into the New York club scene, so it was tough to really experience the music— unlike the weekly all-ages hip-hop shows that were going on in the area. Danny and I definitely found common ground between our tastes eventually, but because we grew up with such opposing influences, it’s helped inspire our music tremendously.

DJ Times: What did you learn at Berklee that you bring into remixing and production in EDM-world?

Ditri: I think I came away from Berklee with a much better sensibility of “the song.” Over time, I’m sure a lot of the things we learned would’ve been figured out, but it really helped avoid the pitfalls of songwriting and production techniques, arrangement and melody that make the creative process much more efficient. If you listen to our records, I think you pretty clearly hear definite choices of chord changes and melody that are 100-percent rooted in our background as musicians. One of our biggest challenges is deconstructing what we make to “break the rules,” but we’re working on that.

Boselovic: The education I got in production, mix and synthesis techniques all come in handy on a daily basis. Before Berklee, I didn’t know what a compressor was, had never heard of FM synthesis, and had no sense of how to construct a track on the computer, really. So pretty much everything has come in handy at one point another in our productions.

DJ Times: Who brings which strengths to the duo? Who’s better at which talents?

SEPTEMBER 2012

The Disco Fries Began as Berklee Buddies.

Now They’re Lighting Up EDM’s Production World

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MAKING TRACKS STUDIO…HARDWARE…SOFTWARE…

Third-Party Flavor: Reason 6.5’s Rack Extensions.

PROPELLERHEAD’S REASON 6.5: ROCKIN’ RACKS

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

By Phil Moffa

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Reason, the all-in-one virtual studio from Sweden’s Propellerhead, has added new functions, effects and instruments with every update since the early days of Version 1.

Reason 6 continued the tradition of including new modules in the rack with what was probably the most major change in its history—the inclusion of audio tracks. By combining the virtual hardware rack of Reason with the multi-track platform formerly known as Record, Propellerhead finally made Reason a fully-functioning, stand-alone DAW. Less than a year later, Reason users see another major limitation of the platform lifted. For the first time ever, third parties are now making modules known as Rack Extensions that work inside Reason 6.5, making the program a serious competitor to other sequencers.

To backtrack, Reason is different from other sequencers in that its units are modular, meaning that all of the virtual instruments and effects can be plugged into each other in infinite creative configurations. By hitting tab, the virtual rack turns around and you have access to the connectivity of each device. This includes both audio and virtual CV connections. All modules look like old gear and are connected with virtual cables.

Reason 6.5 comes packaged with two drum machines, four synthesizers, and three samplers. There are also 22 effect modules and 11 utilities. New features to version 6 are: The Echo, a unit similar to the famed Roland Space Echo; Pulveriser Demolition, which is a combination of filters, distortion and compression; Alligator, a sequenced multi-band filter and gate; and Neptune, a pitch corrector somewhat similar to Antares’ Auto Tune. Line 6 also developed virtual guitar and bass amp modeling devices for the rack.

The new audio tracks and mixer borrow their features from Propellerhead’s Record software. Each audio track and mix channel, which receives input from any rack module, is a full-featured channel strip starting with a gain knob, dynamics, 5-band EQ, four inserts, eight aux sends, pan, and a fader.

The mixer is in the style of an SSL 9000k console and this goes for the master section as well, which is complete with a great-sounding bus compressor, eight aux returns, four master inserts a master fader and a mastering section.

There is even a control-room knob, which indicates that the user has more control than ever before over their gain staging. Another new feature old Reason users will notice is that the device rack can now be configured up to three racks wide, so in complicated sessions, you don’t have to scroll endlessly to the bottom to find modules and make connections.

The biggest news from Propellerhead in a long time is the addition of thirdparty Rack Extensions to Reason 6.5. Companies like Korg, iZotope, Softube, and many more have already begun to fill the Propellerhead shop with their own creations that have been formatted for the Reason platform. Many of these plug-ins have existed as VSTs for other DAWs; but in Reason, they add the connectivity of the back panel and they are also priced more affordably

than their VST, AU, and RTAS counterparts.

A great example of this is the Softube TSAR-1 reverb, which is acclaimed by many producers as one of the best software reverbs around. This is a most welcome addition because the stock reverb from Reason has always left a lot to be desired. During the beta-test period, Propellerhead gave users a limited-time license for some of their own new devices, including the Pulsar dual-channel LFO unit, the amazing Polar pitch-shifter, and the Radical Piano modeling instrument. Once the beta period was over, Pulsar stayed as a free download to users. As of this writing, there are 21 new Rack Extensions available for download and many more in development.

Reason has really stepped its game up with the last two major updates. The inclusions of Record’s audio track capabilities and third-party devices have been a long coming. Rack Extensions give users the options to add what they need to their setup in an a la carte fashion. These additions potentially could give more producers the initiative to work entirely in Reason and not rewired into another host. Even if you are already comfortable in your current DAW, the amount of instruments and effects that you get in Reason 6.5 seem well worth the $449 investment.

What is still missing, however, is the ability to send MIDI data to hardware synths, which still are in fashion as a part of many people’s studios. This seems like a very reasonable request and probably not too difficult to program. Also, most users feel that it’s about time that their ReCycle software is somehow included into the platform. Considering that Dr. Octarex is the only device that can play loops of any kind, this is one department where other DAWs still seem irreplaceable. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for the next version.

If you have any questions for Phil Moffa or Making Tracks, please send them to djtimes@testa.com.

SOUNDING OFF PLAYBACK…PRO AUDIO…PROCESSING

Sixty-Two: FX, a second USB port & more

RMX-1000: Pioneer’s solution for DJ or studio apps.

By Robert LaFrance & Wesley Bryant-King

MAD MIXERS & A REMIX STATION

Sixty-One: Rane’s plug-and-play package.

This month’s column finds Connecticut jock Robert LaFrance giving a go to a pair of Rane mixers, while Denver DJ Wesley Bryant-King plays with the Pioneer RMX-1000.

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

Rane Sixty-One/Sixty-Two

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The partnership between industry heavyweights Rane and Serato has produced some magical products. The companies have a long history together, combining Rane’s legendary quality hardware mixers with Serato’s industryleading Scratch Live software. Until now, the pinnacle of that partnership has been the heralded Rane TTM 57SL with its battle-style two-channel format that also offers tactile control of the Scratch Live software.

Rane and Serato have now introduced the next generation of the TTM series that looks to one-up the discontinued TTM 57SL. Wisely, they’ve decided that one mixer alone could no longer handle a market splintered into pure digital DJs, digital-vinyl DJs, turntablists, etc. The two new mixers are titled the SixtyOne and Sixty-Two. The Sixty-Two is a more direct upgrade to the TTM 57SL. It features both the high quality hardware that you’d expect from Rane and the tightly integrated MIDI control over the Scratch Live Digital Vinyl System (DVS). If you’re using Serato now and are looking for a mixer and MIDI controller bundled in one package, the Sixty-Two is for you.

On the other hand, if you’re an analog DJ (vinyl or CD) or prefer to use a separate MIDI controller, the Sixty-One offers the same bulletproof construction and amazing sound quality at a lower price point. So, let’s look at the specifics of each.

Rane Sixty-Two: Setup for the unit ($1,999 MAP) is a breeze—just download and install the latest version of Serato with the drivers for the Sixty-One and Sixty-Two, plug in your computer to one of the two USB ports, and your up and mixing. Its vast array of LED buttons light up like a Christmas tree, begging you to dive in.

The magnetic faders are smooth and accurate. Controlling the cue points, loops, FX, triggering samples, navigating playlists and selecting tracks in the Scratch Live software from the mixer is so intuitive that it borders on a religious experience. The hardware-filter effect built into the Sixty-Two features a low-pass if turned to the left and high-pass if turned to the right. It’s a fantastic addition and rivals the fabled Allen & Heath Xone series mixer’s filter. In general, the audio quality is pristine—full, loud, accurate—and could be the best I’ve ever heard out of a mixer.

Possibly my favorite feature is the fact that the Sixty-Two contains two separate USB connections and four channel simultaneous output. This enables two computers to be plugged in together thus allowing two DJs to play together and totally seamless transitions between different DJs. This is the mixer that should be used for permanent club installations. I absolutely love the SixtyTwo! I found it to be the best mixer ever invented for use with a DVS—period—and it pained me to send it back.

I had a few minor quibbles, though. I wish the EQ and FX knobs were softer.

They are harsh on the fingers—not sharp per se, but after using them for a couple hours, they were uncomfortable to touch. For example, I own the TTM 57SL and the knobs are smooth, rubbery and a joy to use. The Sixty-Two has hard vertical ridges on the knobs that make them less usable. I also wish the USB cable would actually click in and lock like it does on the Native Instruments Audio 10 interface. Also, there could be more distinction between the Cue/Sample mode LED, so you can more easily tell which mode you’re in and I’d love a more accurate master level meter.

Lastly, it seems more intuitive to engage the “In” on an auto-loop by pressing down the “Bar/Select” knob, instead of selecting the loop length with that knob, then having to press the “Loop In” LED button. I’m sure that is just a mapping configuration change, though.

Rane Sixty-One: This unit ($1,399 MAP) is very much of the same ilk. It features the same build and audio quality as its big brother. It still integrates perfectly with Scratch Live, but is designed more for the performance style of a single traditional scratch DJ, turntablist, or a DVS user that would prefer to use his or her own MIDI controller. It also offers some performance-enhancing features that a variety of DJs will appreciate.

The Flex FX setup in both the mixers can be confusing at first. But, take a quick glance at the manual and you’ll soon realize the power of being able to assign either an external analog effect unit or the software FX in Scratch Live (DJ-FX) to any channel on the mixer.

For example, you can easily assign the Sixty-One’s sample player, SP-6, to one of the AUX knobs and use the Flex FX on your samples. I did find that engaging the Flex FX on either channel produced a noticeable audio artifact, even though the manual says you can avoid it. I’m sure this will be fixed in a future firmware update.

Other great features include each channel’s well-designed Mute joystick that enable the DJ to mute either channel in a rhythmic fashion for a transform effect. The headphone section contains a Split Cue button that you can quickly engage in order to correct a mix in your headphones or mix without a monitor.

I’d like to see more straightforward setup of the DVS input channels on the back of the Sixty-One. While it is possible to select input 1 or 2 for the left deck control signal and 3 or 4 for the right deck control signal for the software setup screen, the current selection is not clearly indicated on the mixer.

I found out through trial-and-error, but it would be better to just label one of the inputs as “Digital” or “Timecode.” Also, the Flex FX Dry/Wet slider could be easier on the fingers to allow for finer and more comfortable control— maybe a knob or fader, instead of a hard-edged slider.

Quibbles aside, both the Sixty-One and Sixty-Two are two of the most quality mixers on the planet. If you’re professional DJ using Serato Scratch Live and looking for absolute excellence in sound quality, tactile control over the software, all in a road-worthy package that can stand abuse and last for years, the Sixty-Two may in fact be your dream mixer. Both mixers certainly live up to the impeccable reputation established by Rane and Serato over the years. My suggestion is to go out and buy one immediately!

Pioneer RMX-1000

Since the early 1990s, Pioneer DJ has delivered a steady stream of new products that many have come to regard as the industry standards. And even as the DJing art has moved ever more in the digital direction, the company continues to refine and enhance their offerings accordingly, while occasionally delivering something completely new and groundbreaking. It is a product in this latter category that is the subject of this review: The new Pioneer RMX-1000 Remix Station.

The name alone conjures up some pretty wild, pretty far-reaching ideas, and at the risk of being a bit of a wet blanket initially, let’s briefly calibrate expectations by reframing the product as what it truly is—an off-board, hardwarebased effects processor designed and built specifically for the DJ market. But don’t let that reality sound bite deflate you, because this is no ordinary effects processor. Not even close. Let’s dig right in.

First Impressions: Unboxing the RMX-1000 ($799 MAP) reminds me of what I like about Pioneer across the board: It delivers a polished, decidedly consumer-like new customer experience. From the outside in, everything is top-drawer—neat, tidy and professional. And then you get to the point of the exercise—taking the protective wrapper off your new toy, and… wow.

The Remix Station is a great size, about 13-inches wide, and 6-inches deep.

From countertop to the top of the chunky knobs on its top surface is roughly 2-inches. Weighing in at nearly 3 pounds, it’s got the perfect size/weight ratio.

The top is a tribute to slick industrial design. The bezel is glossy, sporting 10 knobs, a range of buttons, and an X-pad. The arrangement suggests a certain logic and elegance (confirmed with use).

Powering the unit up, it comes to life with red, orange, green, blue and white backlighting—with the colors communicating clearly how the functionality of the unit is grouped.

Set-Up & Use: There’s just not a whole lot to setting up the RMX-1000.

There are three basic approaches—perhaps more in your unique situation.

First, you can simply patch the unit between the master outs of your mixer and the house sound system, and work post-mix. Secondly, you can patch it into FX send/receive on your DJ mixer (if your mixer has this feature). Or thirdly, you can patch it in between a sound source (like a CDJ) and a mixer channel, letting you add effects solely to that single source. (Purely software-based digital DJs can and might very well want to play, too; depending on your configuration and software, there may be multiple ways to patch it in, but off the master output is certainly one.)

Those who choose to go the FX send/receive route may—as I did—have to figure out how best to manage levels and mix. In my case, with default mixer settings, the effects output and original signal source were blended. The resulting signal phase issues threw me, but I quickly figured out to set things up on the mixer to make it work as I’d expected. (Those already familiar with offboard effects device usage will no doubt not have this challenge.)

Pioneer includes remixbox, a software application that lets you manage the device’s setup and loaded sounds (more on that later). If you choose to explore that, the Remix Station connects to your computer via standard USB, for which a cable is included. (Doing so is not a requirement to make good use of the device.) The samples you load via the software, as well as custom device configurations, are stored on an SD memory card (not included), which plugs into the right side of the device.

Pioneer also makes available a VST/Audio Unit plug-in for your DAW, allowing you to make the unit’s capabilities part of a production workflow, too. In any case, once everything was patched in, it was time to give the unit a spin.

The unit’s surface is divided into five primary sections, three of which are the meat and potatoes, so to speak, of the unit’s capabilities: Isolate FX, which are tied to EQ bands and controlled by three fat EQ band knobs (low, mid, high). (continued on page 50)

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MOBILE PROFILE CAREERS…INNOVATIONS…SUCCESS STORIES

DJ EXPO FROM THE MOBILE PERSPECTIVE

By Con Carney

The DJ Expo butters its bread with the immense amount of experience brought forth by its seminar moderators—especially on the mobile-entertainer side.

We spoke to three DJ veterans who are moderating Expo seminars—DJ Jaz, Big Daddy and Mark Brenneisen—and asked them to offer up background on what attendees can expect from their sessions, along with some preview “nuggets.”

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

JERRY BAZATA DJ JAZ MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT YEARS IN BUSINESS: 25 YEARS DJ EXPO 2012 MODERATOR: “ARE BRIDAL SEARCH SITES WORTH THE TIME AND MONEY?”

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How can mobile-DJ owners best allocate their marketing dollars? You need to think about your marketplace and what your target audience is. For example, if you do not want to travel more than an hour from your home/office, you would consider local advertising, which is limited to just your market area. In this case you would print brochures and leave them at venues, go to boutique bridal shows that let you target just a specific market at more reasonable rates.

Should I be allocating a certain percentage of my income on marketing? How much? On average you should allocate 10-percent of your gross revenues to marketing and advertising. What I will discuss at the seminar is how you determine that number and the process of allocating those dollars appropriately. The common mistake is going on the premise that, if I advertise on a wedding site and I book one event, it was successful. In fact, that is a sales perspective that is clearly a misconception. You need to spread that cost over numerous events to see the real Return on your Investment. We’ll, of course, dig down on this at the seminar.

Is there such a thing as “too much marketing”? Yes, and clearly the new business owners often take all they can for name recognition which is the wrong way to approach marketing. Selectivity, placement and exposure all are critical factors that need to be balanced and repeatedly reviewed.

We understand that Lori Richmond, National Creative Director for XO Group/The Knot, will be at the seminar. What insights can we expect? Both Lori and Laura will focus on your presence on the Internet, how to get people to click through and what brides are looking for, what minor changes that you can make resulting in a better “hit rate” to your business.

And also appearing will be Laura Cave, National Director of Education and Industry Relations at XO Group/The Knot. Laura will share some industry statistics that will help you make some decisions for marketing in 2013.

You say to come and “learn the secrets that get you noticed and help you book up your calendar in 2013.” Can you give us one secret? Color and pictures play a key role in the focus and overall perception of your advertising. Do you know how to select the right pictures and color for you advertising? Come to the seminar and find out.

SEAN “BIG DADDY” MCKEE JAMES DANIEL MUSIC, ENTERTAINMENT, A/V & EVENT LIGHTING YEARS IN BUSINESS: 20 DJ EXPO 2012 MODERATOR: “MITZVAH MASSIVE: A WALK-THROUGH OF A MITZVAH EVENT” Can you tell me two things that I should never, ever do while DJing at a bar mitzvah?

Never go into an event without making sure all your Ts are crossed and the like. Never be intimidated by the kids. Make friends with them and they will be on your side. Never under-deliver—that speaks for itself!

To a beginner DJ in the mitzvah market, what piece of advice would you offer? Before venturing into the bar mitzvah market, research it as much as you can. Shadow somebody that has done them before, and most importantly get The BMP DVD Series, from beginning to end.

How should I deal with bratty kids? You are always going to have one or two at every party. Make sure your motivators are in tune to this, they are great buffers. If worse comes to worst, pull them outside and explain the rules.

What’s the reward, for you, of a really good mitzvah party? Not just in bar mitzvahs, but in every event, my reward is smiling faces and a hug from mom and dad. A fist bump and high five from the bar or bat mitzvah! Also, satisfied clients means return clients.

MARK M. BRENNEISEN, PRESIDENT C.S.G.I. EVENTS YEARS IN BUSINESS: 16 DJ EXPO 2012 MODERATOR: “WEDDINGS 2013: CREATING MEMORABLE MOMENTS” Can you give us one trend-setting concept from your seminar that will rock our world? The short version: Garter-bouquet ceremony. We have the groom take the garter off the bride first, and then he tosses it, and then throws the bouquet, and then part three where the people who caught, each participate. The reason: guys are shallow, and based on who catches the bouquet, the garter...may hit the floor. We also have all the single people come out to the floor—the guys stand behind the groom and girls behind the bride.

Better pictures, more involvement. There’s more to the seminar, of course, from start to finish I have over 20 nuggets.

If you weren’t DJing, what would you be doing? If you mean what I do in my spare time, then it would be dreaming of new ways to make weddings even more special, while I was riding my mountain bike, or hiking, or working out. I love the outdoors.

If you mean career wise, most likely something elsewhere I get to be surrounded by happy, positive people. Honestly, I never see myself doing anything, but being an MC and a wedding planner (I own the Adirondack Wedding Association) (www.adkwc.com).

DJ Expo is set for Aug. 13-16 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J.

BUSINESS LINE SALES…MARKETING…SOLUTIONS…

By Joe Bunn

GETTING ON (AND STAYING ON) PREFERRED VENDOR LISTS A recent “Mobile Profile” subject in DJ Times, Joe Bunn, owner of Joe Bunn DJ Company in Raleigh, N.C., will be speaking at the DJ Expo on a topic near and dear to his heart: “How To Get On (And Stay On) Preferred Vendor Lists.”

We spoke to Bunn and asked him about the seminar, but were careful not to give away all the special sauce.

Joe, tell us about the most effective marketing that your company does.

My company has literally done almost every format of marketing imaginable, from print to radio to the Internet and social media. However, do you know what we get the most business from… and it’s free? Referrals.

What are the most effective ways to get referrals?

Two ways: direct from the consumer (previous client, saw you DJ an event) or more so, from the other vendors in our area.

This second one is what we are going to focus on at the Expo seminar.

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

What are some of the things I should be doing?

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I have over 20 years in the mobile DJ business. I started when I was 15 and my mom would take me to shows in a woodpaneled Jeep Wagoneer. I want to save you money and time by telling you the do’s and the don’ts. Let’s start with databases. Start collecting cards from every vendor that you work with every weekend—banquet captain, florist, cake maker, limo driver, lighting guy, I could go on and on. When you get back into the office, start a spreadsheet with these people on it (name, what they do, e-mail address, phone, website, etc.) This will become your vendor “base.”

Once I’ve got vendor base, what do I do next?

You’re going to get involved with E-News.

Sign up for a mass e-mail program like MailChimp or ConstantContact. I’ve used both and they are great for e-newsletters. You can have a designer create a template to match your brand, or just play around with the colors and looks to get something close. I try to send an e-newsletter out once a month—short, sweet and to the point. I feature a DJ of the month, a relevant playlist for the time of year (Christmas, Memorial Day, etc.) and then maybe one more bits of news that has happened with the company. I also include my Facebook, Twitter and other contact info.

You’re also a believer in snail mail, right?

Yes, it is old school, so I use it sparingly; however, there are two very effective pieces that I’ve “snail mailed”: For many years, I used a company called Sendsations that will send out a recipe card with your name and logo on it each month to your vendor list. A realtor sent one to me years ago, and I stole the idea. Trust me, it sounds corny, but it gets tons of mileage and the recipients never throw them out.

And never, ever underestimate the power of a hand-written birthday card or thank-you note. I’ll write a thank you to vendors, past brides, and even brides I book a year out. I do it on custom 4x6 cards and they love it!

Tell us a little bit about your content creation and social-media strategy.

If you are not posting at least one blog posting a week, you’re failing as a DJ company owner. Vendors love to see their name in lights. Write it, highlight the vendors that were there, pump them up, and hyperlink to their sites. Then, after it’s posted, send them an email with the subject link, “You’ve Been Blogged.” You should also comment on any blog that mentions your company as well.

As for Facebook & Twitter—again, if you are not active in the social-media world, you are a dinosaur. It’s not just good enough to post about how great you are (although that is fun).

You must interact with other vendors. Look at their photos, comment on them. Read their tweets, comment on them.

There are plenty of other strategies too— Bridal Show Tactics, groups, openings, and something I call Keep Up. But I don’t want to give it all away before the seminar at the Expo.

So that’s a helpful rundown of all the things to do, but what are some of the things I shouldn’t do as a DJ Business owner?

Yeah, if you’re like me, you look at the “do not play” list from your brides before you look at the “must play” list. The same holds true with referrals. Remember the don’ts, like no Pop Ins. Never, ever, ever do a pop-in. What’s a pop in? That is showing up at a hotel or country club with a stack of cards wanting to see the banquet coordinator.

How do you plan on wrapping up the seminar?

Oh, I’ll say something like, “I hope that you guys have found this information to be helpful. Thank you, I’m Joe Bunn, any questions?”

DJ Expo will take place Aug. 13-16 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J. For the latest info, please visit www.thedjexpo.com.

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

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

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

American DJ’s Gobo Motion LED is a tri-color scanner-type effect with six replaceable, removable gobo patterns. The unit comes with six threewatt RGB LEDs in red, green and blue that the company says can be used to project six solid colored beams of light when the gobos are removed.

It can run on one, three or 18 channels of DMX, as well as sound active and master/slave modes. Additional features include a strobe effect and 0-100-percent dimming.

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Saved By Zero-G SoundsOnline.com www.soundsonline.com Zero-G Modular Beats multi-format sound library features more than 1.5GB of original sounds and loops created using only modular synthesizers and analog monosynths. According to the company, the basis of each sound is oscillators and noise generators, and the sounds include everything from dance grooves to scary cinematic beats. The library also includes 400 loops, 400 single hits and 300 modular drum kit instruments, which can be used with in Kontakt, EXS24 and Reason.

Silver Platter

Technica Specs

D&M Professional 1100 Maplewood Drive Itasca, IL 60143 (630) 741-0330 www.d-mpro.com

Audio-Technica 1211 Commerce Dr. Stow, OH 44224 (330) 686-2600 www.audio-technica.com

The Denon DJ SC2900 is a controller designed for both professional and club DJs. It takes the motorized turntable that currently appears in the company’s SC3900 and puts it in a static-platter design for the first time. The unit allows for playback from a variety of sources, including USB and CD, and it’s compatible with PCs and Macs. The Denon DJ SC2900 sports a seven-inch touch-sensitive “Eclipse” platter with glowing LED cue and position markers around its edges. The unit includes Engine software for iPad and Traktor LE 2.

Audio-Technica’s System 8 VHF wireless systems are available in handheld, headworn, guitar, lavalier and body-pack configurations. These single-channel, fixed-frequency systems are available in three traveling VHF frequencies—169.505, 170.245 and 171.905—and feature power, RF and AF peak indicators. Additional features include ¼-iunch output jack, user-adjustable squelch, an advanced dipole antenna system for extended operating range, and professional locking connector on the UniPak bodypack transmitter.

Scan this QR code to find out more about the SC3900

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For digital DJs who deman the feel of real vinyl, the SC3900 incorporates a 9” spinning platter into a fully–loaded media player and controller, with playback from USB drives, laptops or direct from the front-loading CD player. The SC3900 also comes fully loaded to work with ENGINE music management software for the ultimate in set preparation, playback and control

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GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

On the Right TRAKTOR

Spot Check

Native Instruments North America 6725 Sunset Boulevard, 5th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90028 (866) 556-6487 www.native-instruments.com

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

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

Native Instruments released TRAKTOR PRO 2.5, which comes as a free upgrade to users of TRAKTOR Generation 2 products. The latest update includes Remix Decks, which lets users access a loop suite made up of 64 slots, according to the company. DJs can control up to four Remix Decks at the same time and save their work as an entire Remix Set. All users who register TRAKTOR PRO 2.5 receive 1.4 GB of free Remix Sets. In addition, the program comes bundled with any TRAKTOR hardware, including TRAKTOR KONTROL F1

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Chauvet’s Intimidator Spot LED 250 and Intimidator Spot LED 350 come outfitted with a three-facet prism, a 45-watt white LED, eight colors and seven gobos on separate wheels. It comes with a variety of built-in programs, as well as features like a move-in black feature, an electronic dimmer, motorized focus, manual zoom, and built-in effect macros. The unit operates in master/slave mode, as well as eight- or 13-channel DMX mode.

Drink to Your Heath

DJ Tech Savvy

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

DJ Tech Pro the Americas LLC 10 Cragwood Road Avenel, NJ 07001 (732) 388-5000 www.djtechprousa.com

The XD-53s is part of Allen & Heath’s line of Xone professional monitoring headphones. They offer 3500mW of power handling and high SPL capacity, as well as sport a gunmetal finish. The headphones fold for easy transport and feature rotating earpieces, an adjustable metal reinforced headband, and a detachable coiled cable that comes with a 3.5mm connector and ¼-inch jack adaptor.

The SL1300 MK6 is DJ Tech’s newest direct-drive, high-torque professional turntable. Housed in an ABS cabinet, the turntable comes equipped with a Quartz Direct Drive motor, USB output, RCA inputs for phono and line outputs, and a heavy rubber base for vibration damping. Additional features include three speeds (33-1/3, 45 and 78), a reverse mode, a removable white LED stylus light, and pitch control that’s adjustable to +/- 10-, 20-, and 50-percent.

coming soon for

&

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Here Comes the Hot Step Sequencer Livid Instruments 3108 Industrial Terrace Austin, TX 78758 (512) 582-7272 www.lividinstruments.com

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

Livid Instruments has updated its CNTRL:R step sequencers by adding Rules and an Automator that lets users create 16 unique, programmable measures. These plug-ins can be used to create beats, baselines, and leads for original tracks, remixes, and live sets. According to the company, they can be used for productions, as well as for mixing in with other loops, tracks, and instruments in a live set.

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One Hand Scratches the Other Gibson Corporate 309 Plus Park Blvd.

Nashville, TN 37217 (800) 444-2766 www.gibson.com Stanton’s Scratch DJ Academy MIX! Software is now available in version 1.2, offering 10 new features. Among the new features are independent mix settings, seven predefined fade in and fade out curves, and the ability to prioritize the songs within a given library that get analyzed.

Version 1.2 also offers advanced automation of DJ mixer controls, allowing users to build mixes and draw custom automation curves for track volume, overall tempo and three EQ bands.

StageSource of the Game

Flight Cases of Fancy

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

JBL Cases 18922 N. Dale Mabry Hwy Lutz, FL 33548 (813) 995-6030 www.jblbags.com

The StageSource L3s from Line 6 is a subwoofer designed for highpower sound reinforcement applications. Housed in a plywood enclosure, the StageSource L3s features a dual 12-inch bass reflex configuration with 1,200 watts of power. The unit includes four Smart Speaker modes and comes equipped with L6 LINK, a multi-channel digital audio networking protocol that automatically configures StageSource speakers connected via L6 LINK triggers. Additional features include built-in, “no-rattle” wheels, three handles, and a steel grille with protective screen backing.

JBL Flight Cases come in nine sizes designed to hold some of the most popular models of JBL Pro portable speakers. The cases are lined with high-density diamond embossed EVA foam and feature exteriors made out of PVC-laminated plywood that’s ½-inch thick. Additionally, these cases are built with industrial-strength handles and latches built on a sturdy aluminum valance, as well as four four-inch diameter swivel casters, two of which are locking.

VCI-380 - The besT seraTo ConTroller on The planeT!!

VCI-380 PERFORMANCE CONTROLLER

Mix, scratch, cue, effect, sample, trigger, loop and slice.

Every feature of the VCI-380 is optimized to enhance a DJs performance, taking a new approach in manipulating music. Designed hand-in-hand with Serato, VCI-380 is bundled with ITCH, providing an arsenal of musical craft tools with perfect integrity, straight out of the box.

- 2 Channel USB MIDI controller for Serato ITCH - Built-in 24Bit/48kHz audio interface - 2 x 8 Performance Pads with Velocity & Aftertouch - 5 performance modes (Hot Cue, Auto Loop, Slicer, Roll, Sampler) For more information on getting your fingers on the new VCI-380 email or call: info@AmericanMusicAndSound.com 800.431.2609

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GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

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Rock and Roland Roland Systems Group 5100 S. Eastern Ave P.O Box 910921 Los Angeles, CA 9004 (323) 215-2111 www.rolandsystemsgroup.com The Roland V-800HD Multi-Format Live Video Switcher is HDCP compatible and includes eight mixing channels that provide connectivity to 3G/HD/SD-SDI, DVI-A/DVI-D/HDMI, RGB, component, and composite formats. The unit also features two additional channels for still images assignable via USB memory stick or frame grab. The V-800HD also offers a multi-zoom feature, a down stream keyer, a composite keyer, Picture-inPicture effects, and a key-compositing engine that lets users adjust phase range, amount of chroma, and HSV color space parameters.

American Audio 6122 S. Eastern Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90040 (323) 582-2650 www.americanaudio.com The DLT15A 500W Active Speaker System from American Audio was specifically designed for DJs and nightclubs. The speaker is outfitted with a 15-inch woofer, 1.3 inch driver and rotatable horn with 90-x-40 dispersion. Housed in a plywood cabinet, the speaker has 14 fly points and is stand mountable. Features include XLR and ¼-inch inputs, a constant velocity fan, XLR outputs, three-band EQ and a six-way component protection design that the company says will protect the speaker from damage during use or travel.

Kiss Them Mumbai Future Loops www.futureloops.com

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

Mumbai Nightz is a new collection of Eastern/Indian inspired R&B kits from Future Loops.

Users get more than 2.5 GB of WAV and REX content in tempos that range from 70 BPM to 95 BPM. Mumbai Nightz features authentic recordings of Indian instruments. The collection includes 107 drum one shots and 460 loops, including standalone loops of kicks, hats, claps, crash, snares and other percussion. Mumbai Nightz works with Logic, Acid, Adobe Audition, Cubase, Drumcore, Live, Nuendo, ProTools, Reason, Kontakt and many others.

42

Here Comes the BrideLive

Legends of the Fall

BrideLive.com 14900 Ventura Blvd #310 Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 (877) 634-6342 www.bridelive.com

One Glove Apps www.onegloveapps.com

BrideLive.com offers web-based software for DJs to build interactive floor plans, showcase mock intros and mixes with Virtual DJ or Traktor, share files, upload contracts via FileShare, and more with bridal clients.

Users can also record virtual meetings that can be sent to parents or family members who weren’t present during the live meeting. BrideLive. com features a MeetUsNow tool that lets visitors immediately connect with DJs and other entertainment professionals on the site.

Drum Machine Legends is a music production app featuring six legendary drum machines— Roland TR 808, MPC 60, Linn Drum, Oberheim DX, Roland TR 707 and the SP 1200—and 12 touch pads. A mixer allows users to adjust the levels of each pad, while the metronome in record mode lets users count in by one or two bars. Additional features include a quantizer with ¼, 1/8, or 1/16 setting.

GROOVES TRACKS…MIXES…COMPILATIONS

BUGGED OUT/BUGGED IN u Erol Alkan u Bugged Out/!K7/Phantasy Recorded live, this 2-CD comp mixes past pleasures with present and future, just the way Alkan likes it. While CD2 goes for lighter listening, CD1 features tougher, more electro-flavored dancefloor fare. Highlights include Jimmy Edgar’s Prince-like “This One’s for the Children,” the D-Mix of Model 500’s classic “No UFO’s,” and the Gesaffelstein Remix of Agoria feat. Carl Craig & La Scalars’ hypnotic “Speechless.”

– Jim Tremayne Erol Alkan

NEVER LEAVES YOU u Ralf GUM u GOGO Music German DJ/producer Ralf Gum rips it up on this solid full-length house album. You get cut after cut of choice, soulful house vocals, featuring legends like Kenny Bobien, Robert Owens and Monique Bingham. House lovers, jump on this.

– Shawn Christopher Oscar P

THE SECRET LIFE OF US u Joey Negro & The Sunburst Band u Z Records Joey knocks it out of the park with this incredible 15-track CD that’s brimming with timeless master-cuts and emotive, blockparty jams—everything from wicked retro-funk/disco to heartfelt, soulful party pieces. Dive into the groove—this is some of Joey Negro’s best work yet.

– Shawn Christopher “THE LOVE TRACK” u Oscar P Joey Negro & The Sunburst Band

u Open Bar Music Combining a sick deep-house beat and some classic vocals samples,

Oscar drops a riveting number here—both mixes will both move your crowd. The “NY Chicago Detroit Mix” brings a deep, progressive flavor, while the “Garage Shelter Loft Warehouse Mix” pays homage with a sick ambient-soul vibe.

– Phil Turnipseed “FIGHTER” B/W “MUSIC IN THE NIGHT” u Dr. Meaker u V Records Dr. Meaker rolls out two tight d-n-b releases. “Fighter” kicks off with tightly layered percussive beats that control the track amidst sensual female vocals. “Music in the Night” is a beast of a tune, infused with quality, roaring synthetic bass, tight drum rolls, and stabs of effects. V Records rocks it again.

– Jen Shapiro “MEND” u Jean Claude Ades & Vanjee ft. Elsiane u Swings Records These two way-cool vocal tracks bring a moody bounce to the dancefloor. Elsiane’s original vocals are again on display on this most pleasing rework. Both the JCA and Kellerkind mixes are on point.

– Phil Turnipseed “MY SIDE PROJECT” (REMIXES) u Darius Syrossian u Mile End Records Syrossian gives a whole new twist of the rhythm sample taken from Third World’s classic “Now That We Found Love,” working that sick bass line nicely with some cool vocal stabs on the original. The “1994 Session” has two mixes that bring out the best in this dancefloor blazer.

We love the original, but that “Butler & Murt Remix” delivers a deep, robust groove that will definitely be a favorite.

– Phil Turnipseed (continued on page 46)

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

Download

Corner

44

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.).

“Get a New DJ” (Maatti Remix) by Zifra [1980 Recordings]: A pace-setting, early-set, tech groover with a round and full bassline that will shake speakers and get the punters eyes wide and toes tapping. Throw in some bongos and an understated drop for good measure. Found at beatport.com.

“Easy Like You Do” (Original Mix) by Denis Yashin [Schonbrunner Perlen]: Swung and filtered chord stabs, pitched sub-bass blasts, and a swirling white-noise break that builds from almost nothing make this house track bounce. But, the pleasantly effected and addictive vocal samples make it memorable, too. Found at beatport.com.

“Carbon Occasions (Denis Naidanow Vocal Mix) by Umek feat. Andja [Pacha Recordings]: Umek continues his constant assault on club loudspeakers everywhere with this original track featuring dramatic percussion sound design, a snarly hallow bassline, and a female spoken-word vocal that will have you “begging for more.” Found at beatport.com.

– Robert LaFrance

Amsterdam Dance Event The Electronic Music Platform 17/18/19/20/21 October 2012 An initiative of Buma

GROOVES TRACKS…MIXES…COMPILATIONS “THE SEEN” EP u Owen Howells u Shades of Grey

“SOMEONE LIKE YOU”

Deep, deep house here. The original mix’s sub-bass makes for a bona-fide chest-rumbler/club-thumper, yet the infectious disco groove and ceaseless triangle of the “Dexter Kane Remix” are where this EP really shines.

u Soulmagic u Soulmagic Recordings This smooth house piece features a dope, soulful vocal snippet laid on top of a sweet little piano riff from an underground ’70s soul/disco cut—it’ll definitely take you back. Matt Early hits it with a bouncy bass line, jazzy keys and warm vibe.

Kings of Groove lay on some thick percussion, while Alfred Alzettos’ re-work is a geared towards peak-hour.

– Chris Davis “HIDEOUT”

Alex M.O.R.P.H.

u Dabs & Safire feat. MC LowQui u Avantgarde Holland One wicked tune featuring only the illest of sounds— massive kick and snare drums, heavy bass, and groovy samples. Currently dominating dancefloors worldwide, this one’s produced to perfection. Big up!

– Jen Shapiro “I CAME TO DANCE”

Bobby Champs

u Tom Taylor & Gareth Whitehead ft. Robert Owens u Lost My Dog The legendary Owens continues to influence today’s club producers with his unique style, as more tracks continue to showcase his stirring vocals. Case in point: This deep-house gem. With several mixes here, we love the “Pete Dafeet Vocal Mix,” with its tech-house vibe and soulful undertones. The “Deepened Mix” also gets us excited with its dark no-nonsense bass and rugged style—it’s a banger.

– Phil Turnipseed

– Shawn Christopher PRIME MOVER u Alex M.O.R.P.H. u Armada Music His first studio album since 2009’s Purple Audio is painted with an incredibly wide palette of trance colors, though it never loses that signature Alex sound. Make sure to check the catchy hook of “Sucker Punch,” the majestic “Antara (The Circle),” the sick bassline of “Connected” and the uplifting “Eternal Flame.”

– Chris Davis

“DRAG QUEEN” u Bobby Champs u Pictures Music Newcomer Champs bring his second EP of the year, just months after his smashing debut. The title track, “Drag Queen,” is a stuttery trip through a synth funhouse, while B-side #2, “Charlie,” is a pounding bass monster. And don’t sleep on the relentless gallop of the digital bonus track, “MINT400.”

– Chris Davis

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DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

Pioneer DJ......................................... 1

48

Pioneer DJ......................................... 2 Rane.................................................. 7 RCF................................................... 46 Sirius................................................. 18 Thunderball....................................... 35 While every care is taken to ensure that these listings are accurate and complete, DJ Times does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors.

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Compiled As Of July 27, 2012

National Crossover Pool Chart 1 Katy Perry 2 Katharine McPhee 3 Kylie 4 Rita Ora 5 Lauren Hildebrandt F/ Basstoy 6 Jennifer Lopez F/ Pitbull 7 Nicki Minaj 8 Afro Jack And Shermanology 9 Gotye F Kimbra 10 Toni Braxton 11 Rihanna 12 Flo-Rida F/ Sia 13 Carly Rae Jepsen 14 Scissor Sisters 15 Caroline Lund 16 Katy Perry 17 Kelly Clarkson 18 J. Dash 19 Usher 20 Nervo 21 Chris Brown 22 Kelly Clarkson 23 Alex Clare 24 Hayla 25 David Guetta F/ Sia 26 J. Dash 27 Pitbull 28 David Guetta 29 Michel Telo & Pitbull 30 Kerli 31 Jamiroquai 32 Dj Pauly D F/ Dash 33 Jes & Ronski Speed 34 Norka 35 Speakers 36 Bohannon 37 Eddie Amador & K. Cole F/ Garza 38 Bimbo Jones F/ Ida Corr 39 Sir Ivan 40 Akcent

Wide Awake Touch Me Timebomb How We Do (Party) Devil Dance Again Starships Cant Stop Me Somebody That I Used ...

I Heart You Where Have You Been Wild Ones Call Me Maybe Only The Horses Come With Me Part Of Me Stronger WOP ( Remixes ) Climax You’re Gonna Love Again Turn Up The Music Dark Side Too Close I’m Free Titanium Transformer Back In Time I Can Only Imagine Ai Se Eu Te Pego Zero Gravity White Knuckle Ride Night Of My Life Cant Stop Miracle And Her Too Bohannon’s Barefoot Party U Make Me Wanna See You Later La La Land My Passion

National Urban Pool Chart

Capitol Columbia Astralwerks Columbia Blue Plate Epic Universal Republic Robbins Universal Republic Inot Def Jam Atlantic Interscope Universal Lund Capitol RCA Stereofame RCA Capitol Jive RCA Universal Halya-Dauman Capitol Stereofame RCA Astralwerks Columbia Island Def Jam EMG G Note Planetjes Angel Eyes Capitol HnA Big Beat Robbins Peaceman Robbins

1 Chris Brown 2 Drake+Weekend 3 Tank 4 Wale F/ Lloyd 5 Ca$h Out 6 J. Cole & Missy Elliott 7 Young Jezzy F/Ne-Yo 8 Jennifer Hudson F/ Rick Ross & Ne-Yo 9 LoveRance F/ 50 Cent 10 Travis Porter 11 R. Kelly 12 Brandy+Monica 13 Fatman 14 Usher 15 Flo-Rida F/ Sia 16 Kendrick Lamar F/ Dr. Dre 17 A$AP Rocky 18 Toni Braxton 19 Nicki Minaj F/ Chris Brown 20 Pitbull 21 Rihanna 22 Future 23 Fat Joe F/ Chris Brown 24 Dj Khaled F/C. Brown +Rick Ross+N.M 25 Jay-z & Kanye West F/ Frank Ocean 26 Tyga F/ Lil Wayne 27 Crooked I F/ B.O.B. 28 T-Pain F/ Ne-Yo 29 Trey Songz 30 T.I. 31 John Legend F/ Ludacris 32 Beyonce 33 Anthony Hamilton 34 Elle Varner 35 Jill Scott 36 Wale F/ Rick Ross & Meek Mill & T-P 37 Rihanna F/ Jay-Z 38 2 Chainz F/ Drake 39 Nicki Minaj F/ 2 Chainz 40 Kanye West F/ Big Sean&Pusha T&2Cha

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

Kelly Clarkson Nervo Jenna Drey France Joli Madonna Sir Ivan Akcent Florence And The Machine Emeli Sande Blush

Dark Side You’re Gonna Love Again Summer Night In Seattle Hallelujah Turn Up The Radio La La Land My Passion Spectrum(Say My Name) Daddy All Stars

Turn Up The Music Crew Love Next Breath Sabotage Cashin Out Noboyd’s Perfect Leave You Alone Think Like A Man Up Aww Yea Share My Love It All Belongs To Me Can’t Get It Right Climax Wild Ones The Recipe Peso I Heart You Right By My Side Back In Time Where Have You Been Same Damn Time Another Round Take It To The Head No Church In The Wild Faded Every City Turn All The Lights On Heart Attack Love This Life Tonight(Best You Ever Had Dance For You Pray For Me Refill Blessed Bag Of Money Talk That Talk No Lie Beez In The Trap Mercy

Jive Universal Atlantic Warner Brothers Epic Columbia Def Jam Epic Interscope RCA Jive RCA SOW RCA Atlantic Interscope RCA Inot Universal RCA Def Jam Epic Terror Squad Universal Def Jam Universal Treacherous RCA Atlantic Atlantic Epic Columbia RCA RCA Warner Brothers Warner Brothers Def Jam Def Jam Universal Def Jam

Most Added Tracks RCA Capitol Audio 1 France Joli Music Interscope Peaceman Robbins Universal Republic Capitol Farwest

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Travis Porter Kanye West Usher F/ Rick Ross Nas Melanie Fiona F/ J. Cole Anthony Hamilton Superstar 9000 Ft. KaLeo Leah LaBelle Kendrick Lamar F/ Dr. Dre Brandy F/ Chris Brown

Aww Yea Cold Lemme See Daughters This Time Pray For Me Turn The Lights Off Sexify The Recipe Put It Down

RCA Island/Def Jam RCA Island/Def Jam Universal Republic RCA Super Ent. Epic Interscope RCA

Reporting Pools ✦ Dixie Dance Kings - Alpharetta, GA; Dan Miller ✦ Flamingo - Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Julio ✦ Lets Dance / IRS - Chicago, IL; Lorri Annarella ✦ Next Music Pool - Los Angeles, CA; Bob Ketchter ✦ Masspool - Saugus, MA; Gary Canavo ✦ OMAP - Washington, DC; Al Chasen ✦ Central Ohio - Columbus, OH; Fred Dowdy ✦ NW Dance Music - Shoreline, WA; John England ✦ Pittsburgh DJ - Pittsburgh, PA; Jim Kolich ✦ Soundworks - San Francisco, CA; Sam Labelle ✦ Pacific Coast - Long Beach, CA; Steve Tsepelis

Looking for these titles?

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

Just click on the links in the chart.

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

45791

Disco Fries

(continued from page 27) you’re unsure of what you’re doing and start doubting yourself. He has a very good ear and when he hears something that works, he lets you know. Sometimes it’s that motivation that helps good ideas become great tracks.

DJ Times: Tell me about getting the two songs in the “American Reunion” film.

Ditri: Earlier in 2011, we were able to get some music over to our production company partner, Will Forbes, who we also went to Berklee with, and he passed it along to the production team responsible for “American Reunion.” It really was the type of thing where you send an email with the tracks and forget about it. But towards the end of the year, we got word that they would be moving forward with two of our records for scenes in the movie.

“Party On” with Honorebel was written and recorded in 2010 and we finally just released it on iTunes.

The other placement is of our single “Heartbeat” featuring Jeremy Carr & Hyper Crush—it’s out on Strictly Rhythm.

DJ Times: How did you approach the mix for Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away”?

Ditri: We literally approached it on a dining-room table at Tommie’s place and I think we tried to make something dope enough for the club, but still playable on radio. Too many times there is a disconnect with a remix and they get limited to one environment—just mixshow, just club, not radio, etc. With that said, there is always a place for an off-thewall club mix of a record, but with this Katy Perry mix, we were making what felt right and we wanted it

to be familiar to people who knew the original, yet different and crazy enough so kids could bug out at the drop. Since Katy was doing the approval of the mixes personally, it was amazing to hear that she was into it.

DJ Times: What advice would you have for new remixer/producers?

Ditri: Be inspired by your peers, but build your own sound. Make it yours.

Boselovic: Don’t think that there is an easy road to the top. Everyone that is successful in this scene has put in some serious work to get where they are. If you’re truly passionate and want to make a career out of this, then stick with it and put n in the work.

Sounding Off

(continued from page 31) X-Pad FX, which functions rather like a pattern-based drum machine.

You can use the built-in perc sounds, or load your own loops from an SD memory card.

Scene FX, which function much like conventional effects, controlled by a fat main knob and two smaller parameter knobs. The Scene FX are split into two banks, one for “build up” effects, and one for “breakdown” effects.

The Isolate FX are more sophisticated than they at first appear. The position of the band knobs essentially tailor the effect within whichever EQ band you’re working with. To give you a sense of what I mean, take the Trans/Roll effect. When the knob for one of the bands is counter-clockwise, it’s the Trans effect for that band.

At 7:00, it’s ¼ beat. At 9:00? It’s ½ beat. At 11:00? It’s one beat. Noon?

No effect. Clockwise, it becomes

the Roll effect, and once again, how much you dial in controls how much roll is provided. The other Isolate FX work similarly, and include Gate/ Drive, Cut/Add, and Isolator effects.

The X-Pad FX are, as I mentioned, rather like a drum machine. At its simplest, you can do things like dial in a kick drum sample, beat synced at 1/8, ¼, ½, 1/1 or 2/1 time. Things get more sophisticated when you use the Overdub function to layer in multiple samples atop one another, allowing you to construct percussion patterns on the fly. Adding your own samples from the SD memory card via the remixbox software extends the possibilities considerably.

Scene FX include a range of echo, noise, reverb and related effects of various types, grouped by how you might choose to use them (building energy, or dialing it down). Of course, you’re free to use them however you wish and, in this sense, I found it most useful to merely regard them as conventional real-time audio effects that provide sizzle and life to the mix.

To really make the RMX-1000 come to life, it’s essential to treat the unit like a musical instrument, which, in some respects, it is. Its full luster only comes out when you successfully move between these three core sets of capabilities, layering and overlapping with the skill that will only come from a good amount of practice in the studio.

If you want to get a solid sense of what the possibilities are, look no farther than the numerous YouTube videos, several of which are available on Pioneer’s web site. It’s probably worth mentioning that the Remix Station really comes to life on more minimal, more percussive styles of electronica (D-n-B, dub, and the like),

which lend themselves to being cut up, bounced up, layered up and tinkered with. Within these genres, you begin to appreciate Pioneer’s naming choice, as the unit does literally let you do a style of on-the-fly remixing. But even more melodically- and vocally-focused genres can benefit from what the unit brings to the booth, delivering a broad toolset which complements fast-cut, highenergy mixing styles and mash-ups.

Depending on the capabilities of your mixer, and perhaps even your software (if you use a software DJ application behind it), I think some of the RMX-1000’s hidden talents come to bear when you pile on effects and looping capabilities from your hardware and software. Granted, you’ll have to be completely in your groove (so to speak) to keep all the balls in the air on such a juggling act, but at least until I dropped one of those balls, I was having a particularly fun time of it layering some filters on my mixer, loops in my DJ application, and a host of beats and effects in the RMX-1000. It was mind-boggling (or mind-numbing)—perhaps—but endless creative fun nonetheless.

Conclusions: The availability of such a powerful, elegant external effects system for DJs is a welcome additional to the Pioneer line, and indeed, to the overall DJ marketplace.

With practice and a bit of creative vision, the RMX-1000 Remix Station can turn a good DJ performance into something truly special and unique.

And with its perfect size, easy portability, and simple integration into virtually any type of DJ equipment configuration, all I can say is that what we’ve seen some of the big boys doing with it on YouTube is just the beginning.

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2012

Tritonal: The Sartorial Stylings of Texas Trance

50

No, really, it’s pleather.

Let’s just ace the jackets, OK?

It’s leather!

Tritonal, Next Month in DJ Times

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

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

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

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

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

JBL is the bomb!”

Photos by: James DeMaria

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

POWERFUL. RUGGED. VERSATILE.

© 2012 Harman International Industries, Incorporated

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