DJ Times MMW 2019, Vol 32 No 2

AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988

MIAMI MUSIC WEEK ISSUE

VOLUME 32 NUMBER 2

1988 2018

HOW DJS SURVIVE HEALTH CHALLENGES

NAMM SHOW: HOT GEAR PICKS

BASSMENTALITY MIAMI

MUSIC

WEEK:

WMC,

UMF

&

MORE

PLUS: MORGAN PAGE • G JONES • HERCULES DJCONTROL • GROOVE CRUISE • NATIVE INSTRUMENTS KOMPLETE 12 • BOOST YOUR BOTTOM LINE – NOW

supply.bpmsupreme.com

AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988 MIAMI MUSIC WEEK ISSUE

VOLUME 32 NUMBER 2

INTRODUCING THE BPM SUPREME MOBILE APP Redefining the way DJs discover music

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LISTENING, HEARING & FEELING.

Speaker solutions for all applications:

RETAIL | PRODUCTION | INSTALLATION Proudly made in Spain & enjoyed globally since 1971.

w w w . d a s a u d i o . c o m

|

@ d a s a u d i o u s a

NOTABLES…MILESTONES NEWS WMC Keynote: Acidmaker DJ Pierre.

Mehmet Cakmak

The Ritual: Louie Vega gets deep.

Armin van Buuren: Legend Award.

DJ Expo 2019

Atlantic City, N.J. – Hey DJ! Are you in the market for the latest playback, PA, lighting, video or accessory products? Looking for tips and inspiration to build and expand your DJ business?

Then DJ Expo is for you. Presented by DJ Times and set for Aug. 12-15 at Harrah’s Resort in AC , DJ Expo is America’s longest-running and most-successful DJ conference/exhibition. For more, please see Page 9 and for the latest info, please visit www.thedjexpo.com.

MMW 2019

By Jim Tremayne Miami Beach, Fla. – Get ready, South Florida – the influx is set to begin.

Running March 25-31, Miami Music Week will experience its annual influx of dance-music fans and industry types, who’ll attend a variety of genrerelated events. They include Winter Music Conference, Ultra Music Festival and a number of sponsored parties and branded events (at clubs, by pools, on boats, rooftops, and more) that expect to run ’round the clock.

First up, Winter Music Conference, which was acquired in 2018 by Ultra Music Festival, will run March 25-28 at Faena Forum in Miami Beach. Celebrating its 35th iteration, WMC ’19 will present a robust schedule of industry panels, tech tutorials, sponsored seminars, and keynotes. DJ Times will be there, participating in WMC daytime sessions, and taking in its related events.

Notable DJ-related sessions include: “The House That Acid Built: A Conversation with DJ Pierre and Irvine Welsh”; “The State of Trance: With Armin van Buuren and Guests”; “Bring the Bass: NGHTMRE, Slander, Kayzo & Whipped Cream”; “Louie Vega & MK in Conversation with Danny Howard”; “Sam Feldt: Keynote,” “Techno Evolution” with Richie Hawtin, Nicole Moudaber, Christian Smith and Carl Cox, and “Becoming Diesel” with Shaquille O’Neal (aka DJ Diesel).

Additionally, WMC will re-launch its International Dance Music Awards.

The invitation-only event, set for March 28 at Faena Theatre, will bestow honors to DJ/artists, industry folk, technology companies and various musicrelated platforms.

DJ Times will also attend The Remix Awards on March 29 at the Fontainebleau Hotel on South Beach. Presented by Digital Music Pool and the Remix Top30 Countdown, the award event will honor artists and remixers/producers in a variety of categories. Also, the event will present its Legends Award to Armin van Buuren.

On March 29-31, Ultra Music Festival will re-boot at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park and Miami Marine Stadium. Delivering 36 hours of music on seven stages, Ultra’s lineup will deliver the biggest acts from all electronic genres.

Top DJ/artists at Ultra include: Adam Beyer; Afrojack; Armin van Buuren; Alesso; Carl Cox; The Chainsmokers; David Guetta; Dubfire B2B Nicole Moudaber B2B Paco Osuna; Eric Prydz; Hot Since 82; Jamie Jones B2B Joseph Capriati; Loco Dice: Maceo Plex; Marshmello; Nicky Romero; Richie Hawtin; Tiësto; and Zedd.

Top live acts at Ultra include: Deadmau5; G Jones; Galantis; Griz; Illenium; Infected Mushroom; Louis The Child; Odesza; and Tom Morello.

With parties running throughout the week, Miami Music Week visitors will have dozens of choices to see DJ sets at nightclubs or hotel swimming pools all over South Beach, downtown Miami and beyond. Among the Recommend(continued on page 40)

Ultra Fest: Carl Cox & much more.

DJ TIMES

MIAMI MUSIC WEEK: WMC, ULTRA FEST & MORE

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VOLUME 32 NUMBER 2

FEATURES

14 Deadbeats Duo With a Thriving Label, Radio Show & Tour Schedule, Zeds Dead Has Taken Its Bassmentality to the Top

BY BRIAN BONAVOGLIA

18 Showtime NAMM Debuts New Gear for the DJ Market & We Offer a Dozen Product Picks

BY JIM TREMAYNE & WESLEY BRYANT-KING

22 Ahoy!

With Deep DJ Talent Onboard, Groove Cruise Celebrates 15 Years on the High Seas PHOTOS BY VERANMIKY

24 Injury Prone

When Lower Backs Start Aching & Bones Start Breaking, What Can DJs Do to Keep Their Businesses Afloat?

BY JEFF STILES

SAMPLINGS 10 Morgan Page Online Mentor

12 In the Studio With…

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

DEPARTMENTS

6 6

9 Feedback

30 Mobile Profile

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

DJ Gets New Lease on Life

26 Making Tracks

Native Instruments Komplete 12

3-Step Plan to Boost Your Bottom Line

28 Sounding Off

34 Gear

Hercules’ Great Gateway Gear

32 Business Line

New Products from BPM Supreme, Pioneer DJ & More

38 Grooves

Phat Tracks from Above & Beyond, Todd Edwards & More

40 Mainstage

New-Technology Showcase

41 Club Play Chart

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

Cover & Contents Image by Jason Siegel

G Jones

FROM THE EDITOR

Miami Music Week: Bass Blasts, House Beats

If you’ve been hitting the EDM festival circuit the past half-decade, you’ve probably heard that ubiquitous boom-boom-boom from the bass tent. And if the festival’s big enough, there’s a decent chance that you’ve experienced the enormo thunder-and-wobble of Zeds Dead.

Through steady touring and prolific studio work, the Toronto-based duo – Dylan Mamid (aka DC) and Zachary Rapp-Rovan (aka Hooks) – has risen to the top of the genre. That’s the result of unrelenting efforts that include some D.I.Y. moves along the way. With a pair of gigs during Miami Music Week – including a headlining slot at Ultra Music Festival – Zeds Dead connects with our Brian Bonavoglia, who also offers a half-dozen musical recommendations from the group.

In Samplings, Brian also interviews bass-dropping DJ/producer G Jones, whose 2018 debut LP, The Ineffable Truth, revealed his considerable studio talents, specifically with Ableton Live. Also in Samplings, I connect with veteran DJ/producer Morgan Page. Yes, he has a new club banger (“Gone My Way” with Pex L on Armada), but in our convo we mostly discuss how his website offers instructional content (tech/business tips, general artist advice) for up-and-coming and established jocks alike. Also, on the music tip, we deliver a photo feature from the most recent Groove Cruise.

Leaving from South Florida, the 15th annual EDM-party-at-sea featured top talents like MK, Markus Schulz, Hot Since 82, Kaskade and more.

From our tech-review department, our Denver-based DJ/producer/scribe Wesley Bryant-King once again does the heavy lifting. In Making Tracks, he tests out Native Instruments’ Komplete 12 and gives the lowdown on N.I.’s other studio-related products. In Sounding Off, Wes takes a look at the latest from Hercules, which includes the DJControl Starlight and DJControl Inpulse 300 controllers, plus DJuced Software, Version 4.0.

Wes was also my sidekick at the recent Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, Calif. In this month’s wrap-up, I offer a rundown on what’s new in the playback, pro-audio, lighting and accessory sectors of the DJ market. Additionally, Wes delivers a dozen personal picks on which show debuts impressed him. Expect reviews of many of those products in the months to come.

On the mobile-entertainer front, our Business Line column revisits DJ Rob Peters, whose 2018 DJ Expo tutorial gave instant-improvement advice for DJ companies – and here he offers three tips to boost your bottom line. In his monthly feature, Iowan scribe Jeff Stiles connects with a group of North American mobiles who explain how they kept their businesses afloat when they were struck with health issues. Speaking of which… our Mobile Profile subject – Jersey jock Mickey Gordon – knows more than most about such things. In early 2017, he was diagnosed with brain cancer, then underwent dramatic, life-saving surgery. Now, after more than a year of extensive treatments, he’s successfully returned to the DJ booth. We hope you enjoy his inspirational story.

This issue finds itself in South Florida for a variety of events during Miami Music Week. First up, we’ll participate in a revamped Winter Music Conference – it’s a show DJ Times has covered each year since 1989 and we again anticipate a great week of connecting with the dance-music industry. In addition to covering Ultra Music Fest – itself in a new venue – we’ll also co-sponsor a pair of parties presented by Benny Soto and Nervous Records.Both held at No. 3 Social Rooftop in Wynwood (50 NW 24th Street, Miami), they include: The Ritual on March 28 (with Louie Vega and Anané) and Dance.Here.Now on March 30 with (DJ Three, Doc Martin, Thugfucker and more).

Additionally, that weekend, we’ll hopscotch over to Negril, Jamaica, for the first Jamaica Frenzy festival where we’ll see legendary talents like David Morales, Ultra Naté, the Body & Soul DJs, Timmy Regisford and more. We look forward to seeing you either on South Beach or, as they say, on Island Time.

editor-in-chief Jim Tremayne jtremayne@testa.com editor-at-large Brian O’Connor boconnor@testa.com assistant editor Brian Bonavoglia bbonavoglia@testa.com chart coordinator Dan Miller dmiller@testa.com contributors Wesley Bryant-King Chris Caruso Amanda Chavez Shawn Christopher Paul Dailey Reed Dailey Chris Davis DJ Deets Tony Fernandez Tommy D Funk Michelle Fetky Mike Gwertzman Jennifer Harmon Josh Harris Ryan Hayes Greg Hollmann Mike Klasco Michelle Loeb Lily Moayeri John Ochoa Jeff Stiles Bruce Tantum Phil Turnipseed Curtis Zack President/Publisher Vincent P. Testa FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO ORDER SUBSCRIPTIONS, CALL 800-937-7678 VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.djtimes.com

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

Cheers,

8

Jim Tremayne Editor, DJ Times

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

director of integrated advertising Paul Bozikis pbozikis@testa.com art director Janice Pupelis jpupelis@testa.com production manager Steve Thorakos sthorakos@testa.com digital art director Fred Gumm fgumm@testa.com social media coordinator Amanda Mullen amullen@testa.com traffic manager art production assistant Jeannemarie Graziano jgraziano@testa.com Circulation circulation@testa.com Classifieds classifiedsales@testa.com operations manager Robin Hazan rhazan@testa.com Editorial and Sales Office: DJ Times, 25 Willowdale Avenue, Port Washington, New York, USA 11050-3779. (516) 767-2500 • FAX (Editorial): (516) 944-8372 • FAX (Sales/all other business): (516) 767-9335 • DJTIMES@TESTA. COM Editorial contributions should be addressed to The Editor, DJ Times, 25 Willowdale Avenue, Port Washington, NY, USA, 110503779. Unsolicited manuscripts will be treated with care an d should be accompanied by return postage.

DJ Times (ISSN 1045-9693) is published monthly except for February, July, September and December for $19.40 (US), $39.99 (Canada), and $59.99 (all other countries), by DJ Publishing, Inc., 25 Willowdale Ave., Port Washington, NY 11050-3779. 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 © 2019 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 MMW 2019

visit our website: www.djtimes.com

FEEDBACK 1988 2018

tributors. The 2018 prize, won by Susan Staff of Marque III Entertainment of Lumberton, N.J., included products from ADJ (Pocket Pro Pak lighting system), Bose (S1 Pro loudspeaker), Global Truss America (GLO TOTEM 2.0 truss), Technics (SL-1210GR turntable), and Pioneer DJ (HDJ-X10 headphones, DDJ-1000 mixer and two XPRS10 loudspeakers). At the 2018 Expo, daily showfloor giveaway winners took home prizes from Bose, DJ Expo, Hard Rock Hotel, Odyssey 048JA19_p001-044.indd 3

and Peavey. Evening-event prizes were provided by Chauvet DJ and RCF. Over the years, DJ Expo showcases, seminars and keynotes have included some of the industry’s biggest names, including Jam Master Jay, Lady Gaga, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Frankie Knuckles, Talib Kweli, DJ Scratch, Grandmaster Flash, Skribble, Markus Schulz, RedOne, DJ Premier, Paul van Dyk, Marley Marl, Grand Mixer DXT, Jazzy Jay, QBert, Keith Shocklee, Tommie Sunshine, Josh Wink, Cash Cash, Erik

Morillo, and Morgan Page.

With its spacious exhibit hall, modern meeting rooms and exciting entertainment venues, Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City will again offer plenty for DJ Expo exhibitors and attendees.

From first-class services to fine dining, ample recreation and top-notch leisure venues, Harrah’s Resort has it all. Also, it’s home to The Pool – a year-round tropical entertainment complex perfect for unique DJ Expo events.

1/9/2019 2:50:34 PM

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

DJ Expo ’19: Return to Harrah’s Atlantic City, N.J. – After enjoying a successful 2018 show at Harrah’s, DJ Expo will return to AC’s lively Marina District for the 2019 edition.

Set to run August 12-15 at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City, DJ Expo will present its popular slate of DJ-related exhibitions, educational seminars/story-filled keynotes, and sponsored evening events.

Now in its 30 th year, DJ Expo is produced by DJ Times magazine and its publisher, Testa Communications, and it remains America’s longestrunning and most-successful DJ conference/exhibition. Each year, DJ Expo presents over 100 DJ-related exhibitors and draws more than 5,000 attendees.

As always, DJ Expo caters to DJs of all stripes (club jocks, mobile entertainers, remixer/producers, upstarts, etc.), and each show offers something for everyone – new technologies, professional advice, valuable networking opportunities, mad parties/DJ showcases like the popular “Entertainer of the Year” competition, plus plenty of opportunities for attendees to win daily prizes, including the annual “Ultimate DJ Giveaway.”

Each year, one lucky DJ Expo attendee has his or her card pulls and rides away with the “Ultimate DJ Giveaway,” which includes an entire mobile-DJ system with gear from the industry’s top manufacturers and dis-

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MORGAN PAGE: ONLINE MENTOR Morgan Page has been a successful DJ/producer for more than a decade now. In addition to making Grammy-nominated hits like “The Longest Road,” he’s traveled the world playing the finest clubs and most prestigious festivals, he retains a Vegas residency at Daylight at Mandalay Bay – the whole bit.

But if you check out his website, you’ll not only find the basic bio/pics/tour info, you’ll also encounter a formidable “Morgan Page Quick Tips” section, which offers impressive text and video content tackling tech, business and general artist topics. Up-and-coming DJs, take note.

As he dropped his new single (“Gone My Way,” a club-banging collab with Pex L on Armada) and prepped for Miami Music Week, where he’ll play the Armada Invites Pool Party on March 30 at The National, we caught up with Morgan Page.

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

Morgan Page: His site offers tips for upstart talents.

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DJ Times: What’s in your studio these days?

Morgan Page: I use Ableton Live for pretty much everything. I’ll often cut vocals with Pro Tools. I’m in love with all the UAD stuff – the Distressor, bx_subsynth, SSL G Series compressor, and Precision Maximizer. I just got the new Apollo x8p, which is a really innovative bridge between software and hardware with their unison technology. I also really like everything FabFilter makes. I use their reverb on nearly every track.

DJ Times: Tell me about the “Quick Tips” section of your site?

Page: The Quick Tips are basically a giant knowledge base that I’ve built over the last seven years. Whenever I get an idea for a technique or something really helpful in the studio, I write it down in a spreadsheet. Soon we’ll have a physical product that makes the tips much more visible and tangible, and I’m experimenting with Instagram videos that demonstrate the tip.

The whole idea is to reduce the complexity of making music so it’s more fun. It’s knowledge compression.

DJ Times: It’s really a unique part of your site, something that’s genuinely useful.

Page: The MPQT community has grown a lot! It’s actually a more international fanbase than even my music, so it’s fascinating to see where the traffic is coming from. I’m excited to see where it goes and how it can develop and benefit creatives in other fields.

DJ Times: Do you think it’s important for a DJ/producer to create an online persona – as an authority figure?

Page: I think it’s important to be true to your voice. I love discussing creativity and techniques, and binge-learning is really important to me. It’s not about gear-lust or aspiring to achieve wealth; it’s about sharing inspiration and knowledge that can unlock someone’s inner potential. It’s self-realization through small bite-sized tips. I think there’s a lot of value to sharing this as a public figure, as opposed to a more anonymous teacher.

DJ Times: Any examples in your experience that lead you to create this type of content?

Page: Initially, I created the tips just for myself so I wouldn’t forget them. It was a gift to my 10-year-old self, like, “Here, use these and save yourself some stress and anxiety!” Some of the advice is cautionary, like… don’t sell your publishing, and some is more specific and practical, like… make sure you are doing automatic backups to the cloud and physical media. In my experience, I’ve lost hard drives, I’ve had computers crash onstage at festivals, and ultimately, I had to take ownership of my mistakes.

I write the tips to save others headaches and hopefully, they follow my advice.

DJ Times: It’s nice that you don’t leave out the business tips.

Page: The business tips are really hard and not as juicy as the creative areas, because they are so specific to the leverage an artist has in their career, and the current climate of music.

As a new artist, you can’t walk into the record label and say you want to keep your masters unless you’re already getting hundreds of millions of plays – and then why do you need the label? One tip I like is that an artist shouldn’t sell their publishing – they have other options like admin deals.

DJ Times: “Taking charge of your own career” is a big theme here.

Page: It’s important to understand that nobody is going to swoop down and open the doors of success for you. I thought this would happen for years. Everything has a price and, if someone is doing this, they are probably taking 50-percent of your income. It’s up to you to build compelling content and attract a core fanbase. This will lead to management and label interest, and your terms will be better than if you’re chasing everyone down.

DJ Times: Ever thought about teaching?

Page: I’ve been doing some guest lectures at schools and, so far, it’s been really interesting. My tips are essentially a remote mentorship, but I think there’s room to expand. There’s a lot of value to being somewhere in person doing Q&As, and I love that spontaneity.

– Jim Tremayne

Courtesy of Morgan Page

SAMPLINGS

All the Music.

One Source.

Now in an App.

Introducing the BPM Supreme Mobile App – the new app that is redefining the way DJs Discover music. Stream high quality audio, add to your crate, get inspired with Curated Sets, create custom playlists, read the latest industry new, and much more. www.bpmsupreme.com/app

Audionamix

Powered by brand new artificially intelligent algorithms, XTRAX STEMS 2 offers faster, cleaner stem separations, backing tracks and a cappellas at the same low price. Created for DJs, music producers and remix artists, XTRAX STEMS allows users to separate any song into its vocal, drum, and remaining music components for easy sampling, remixing and unmatched control during live sets. www.audionamix.com/products/xtrax-stems

DAS Audio Introduces the ACTION 500 Series

DAS Audio presents the ACTION-500 series, consisting of 8 active and 8 passive loudspeaker models, which include a 12” monitor, full-range systems consisting of 8", 12", 15", dual 15”, and 3 subwoofers. The complete renovation of one of DAS Audio’s most recognized series is thoroughly upgraded making the systems more compact and lightweight, with an attractive modern design and more user-friendly features. www.dasaudio.com

Bose S1 Pro Multi-position PA

Sound great anywhere with the ultra-portable Bose S1 Pro Multiposition PA. Designed for musicians, DJs and general PA use, the S1 Pro is the ultimate all-in-one PA, floor monitor and practice amplifier that’s ready to be your go-anywhere Bluetooth® music system. www.professional.bose.com

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G Jones has been releasing music since 2012, but the past year saw the Cali DJ/producer reach a lofty new level. His debut album, The Ineffable Truth, gained plenty of notice, and it wasn’t all from his steadily growing fanbase of bass fans.

No, he and his album were lauded by such diverse talents as Porter Robinson and DJ Shadow.

In fact, it was the latter DJ-legend who said that Jones was “the most gifted Ableton beatmaker I’ve ever seen.”

Of course, a listen to The Ineffable Truth will reveal that this kind of mad respect was justly earned. The album’s a cornucopia of complex electronic sounds, rhythms and moods – a genuine journey, not just a collection of formulaic wobbles and drops, a genre classic.

So, as his March 29 performance at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival approached, we caught up with the very talented Greg Jones.

DJ Times: Why Ableton Live?

Jones: I was introduced to it by a high-school teacher who saw me making beats on GarageBand, which was my the first DAW. He gave me a demo of Ableton 6, and I was blown away.

Immediately what spoke to me was the Session View approach to making music – the ability to have a bunch of loops or clips that are triggerable in real time, as opposed to strictly working in a timeline format. Since then, I’ve just become super-comfortable with the Ableton interface and have never felt limited by what I can do with it, so I’ve never really had much of a desire to switch DAWs. DJ Times: How did working in Ableton, in particular, inform the process for your latest album?

Jones: When I was writing The Ineffable Truth, I decided that I wanted to write in the most free, sometimes just stream-of-consciousness kind of way, and ignore any part of myself that

Photo: Lauren Marrone

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

G JONES: THE INEFFABLE TRUTH

wanted to make utilitarian decisions to format the songs in a way that would work best in a DJ set. If I felt like writing a song with no drums or a bunch of tempo changes that made it difficult to mix, I’d just do it without a second thought, and in my opinion, a lot of my best music happened because of this. I realized that I should just write whatever I want to in-the-moment, and if I later decide that I like the song enough to want to play it in a set, there are all kinds of creative solutions to playing stuff that isn’t “easy” to DJ, especially since I’m performing with Ableton Live.

DJ Times: In a world of single releases and EPs, why an album?

Jones: Everyone’s experience is different and I certainly don’t think my way is necessarily the best way, but I waited many years before attempting to write an album. It’s hard to describe why it felt right when it did, but it did. It honestly just felt like I was ready to start writing an album one day, so I did, and learned and improved as I wrote it.

DJ Times: Is there a favorite track?

Jones: It’s really hard to choose a singular favorite because I like each song for different reasons, but “Time” is definitely a favorite. It’s hard to say why – something about that song just resonates with me in a deep way.

DJ Times: Was it difficult curating the tracklist?

Jones: I wouldn’t exactly say it was difficult, but it was a process that unfolded over a long period of time. I had the approach that I was going to make the album the best it could be no matter how long it took. A bit over a year into writing, I had what I thought was a strong working tracklist, and six months after that, I had the final tracklist which was only about 50-percent the same. I was playing a lot of one-off shows and festivals toward the end of the writing process, so I’d sequence the tracks in Ableton to sound how they’d sound on the album, playing into one another, and put that file on my phone and listen to it and take notes (continued on page 40)

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DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

“Whose chopper is this?”

“Zed’s.”

“Who’s Zed?” “Zed’s dead, baby, Zed’s dead.”

Now for all film buffs out there, you may remember this sequence from Quentin Tarantino’s classic “Pulp Fiction.” But, for our purposes, we refer to this quote as an introduction to one of the biggest names in the world of bass music.

No, Zeds Dead didn’t conquer right away – it took awhile. Like many DJ/producers at the top of the EDM game, they achieved incrementally until they became recognized as genuine genre leaders. But these days, Zeds Dead enjoys a thriving career.

Comprised of Dylan Mamid (aka DC) and Zachary Rapp-Rovan (aka Hooks), the Canadian duo began its artistic partnership when DC, himself a graffiti artist, asked Hooks to paint a mural in his garage. As their mutual interest in music production began to blossom, the Toronto natives started a ’90s hip-hop-influenced group called Mass Productions that ran 2006-07. Two years later, when their interests migrated to tougher forms of electronica, they became Zeds Dead and began making remixes.

Playing live required some patience and ingenuity. With it being difficult to get booked as DJs back in 2009, especially when wanting to play underground electronic music, DC and Hooks went the DIY route. They connected with a group called The Killabits to host Bassmentality, their own weekly party in the basement of the Toronto bar, 751. While it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, the party featured sets from the likes of Skrillex, Borgore, and Nero well before they became the electronic stars they are today.

The duo’s first release, “Journey of a Lifetime,” was delivered in 2009 and bass fans would soon see a bevy of new tracks. They included tweaky favorites like “White Satin” (yes, it borrows from The Moody Blues), “Out for Blood” with Omar LinX, “Rude Boy,” and “1975.” Plus, they did a number of bone-rattling remixes for tunes from acts like Radiohead, Massive Attack, The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters and Sublime.

Finding its niche in the fast-rising realm of dubstep, the duo quickly became recognized as one of the genre’s elite talents, bringing their sounds to the biggest festivals and venues across the globe.

Fast forward to 2016 and we find the Canadian bass enthusiasts launching Deadbeats, their own record label. It will serve as a platform for their own releases going forward and will showcase productions from up-and-coming talent. Later that same year, DC and Hooks would release the Zeds Dead debut album, Northern Lights.

By now, with bass music exploding on the EDM landscape, it isn’t much of a surprise that Zeds Dead is considered true pioneers of the genre. In recent collaborations with Jauz, NGHTMRE, Illenium, and Snails, the duo has shown that it has embraced the next generation of bass talent, while helping them all continue to push the genre forward.

This month, Zeds Dead will have plenty of presence throughout Miami Music Week. In addition to closing out Ultra Music Festival’s Worldwide stage on Sunday, March 31, the duo will host its own label showcase with Jauz for “Deadbeats Goes Off The Deep End” at Soho Studios on Thursday, March 28.

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

Zeds Dead: (from left) Hooks & DC.

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MMW 2019

DJ TIMES 16

We recently caught up with Hooks to discuss the duo’s present, past and future, while getting the inside scoop on everything Deadbeats.

DJ Times: Since its debut release back in 2016, your Deadbeats label has quickly become a household name in the electronic scene.

When did you two realize it was time to launch your own label?

Hooks: It’s something we always wanted to do, but we were touring so often we kept putting it off.

When we finally took a bit of time off to write our album, Northern Light, we felt like it was the right time. By then, we had amassed a following that look to us for music and we wanted to build on that and show them artists we were into and make an even more immersive world they could dive into.

DJ Times: So, how do you balance running a label while producing a radio show? You have to maintain a steady flow of releases while delivering a consistent radio program.

Hooks: The radio show is another thing we wanted to do forever, but couldn’t find time. Doing that show every week is a lot of work, but it’s very rewarding to see the fans loving it. The radio show sort of acts as a representation of the vibe of Deadbeats through all the music we play on it. It’s also a great vehicle to showcase the releases and artists we release on the label. I think our only responsibility is to put out music that we love. That’s really the only criteria. It doesn’t matter how big the artist is so much. We try to listen to all the demos with the same mentality – like or no like.

DJ Times: From an A&R standpoint, what’s the process of weeding

through demos to sign with Deadbeats?

Hooks: We’re looking for the ones that stand out. There’s a lot of stuff that sounds the same, like it could have been made by anybody.

When you’re going through a lot of music, you tend to notice the ones that sound the most unique and original.

DJ Times: Would you say there’s a certain “sound” you two look for when it comes to releases?

Hooks: Not really. I don’t go looking for a specific thing – rather, I know when I hear something whether or not it’s a good fit for Deadbeats. So yes, there is a vague idea of what is a good type of song for Deadbeats, but it’s so broad and hard to define it wouldn’t be right to try to. And there would be so many exceptions to the rule. When I hear it I know.

DJ Times: The Deadbeats label has delivered a bevy of curated events and festival stages. Did your time hosting those Bassmentality parties back in Toronto prepare for all of this?

Hooks: It’s different. The Deadbeats parties are in different cities and much bigger, so I think the anticipation from the fans is a lot crazier than having a weekly party.

Bassmentality parties were legendary and nuts, but it was just different. They were very bare-bones… like no production, which is its own vibe. With the Deadbeats events, we try to put a lot into the whole environment from stage production, visual effects, big sound, decor, food [Dead Eats] and even an arcade.

Also, I try to organize graffiti painting at whichever ones I can when I have time. I used to do a lot of

graffiti, so it’s a cool opportunity to collab with other artists and meet fans while we paint. Bassmentality is coming up on its 10-year anniversary – I can’t believe it’s been that long!

DJ Times: DNMO seems to have become a fan-favorite from the label and you guys have even collaborated on his track, “We Could Be Kings.” What drew you to him?

Hooks: He sent us this sick track he did called “Broken.” It was really dark and melodic – right up our alley – so we put it out. He’s such a talented producer, and so young! It’s exciting to watch him come up and we’re happy to be doing releases with him. I mean, he doesn’t come off as young as he is. I didn’t even remember until he told me he had been listening to us since he was 11! Then I was like, “Damn! I am old now.”

DJ Times: Speaking of producing, what gear and programs do you use in the studio?

Hooks: Nothing fancy, really. We haven’t gotten that much into hardware. It’s pretty much the same as how we started – just our computers and a keyboard, maybe a guitar here and there for writing.

We used to use FL Studio, but then Dylan switched to Ableton Live. I still worked mainly in FL Studio for a few years, while gradually switching over. Now that we are both in Ableton Live, it’s really great for passing our projects back and forth to work on.

DJ Times: Who are a few other names that have caught your attention as of late?

Hooks: SHADES, Champagne Drip, 1788-L, Peekaboo, Loge21, DroeLoe, Shlump, G Jones, and

Choice Cuts: Remixes & Productions

Zeds Dead feat. Omar LinX – “ R u d e B oy,” [ S a n C i t y H i g h , 2010]: Showcasing a bit of ZD’s hip-hop roots, “Rude Boy” is a guttural barrage of bass that was simply ahead of its time when it was released, but it remains a highly coveted fan favorite.

Blue Foundation – “Eyes on Fire” (Zeds Dead Remix), [EMI, 2010]: Considered a bass-music classic , this crunching, viral hit quickly became an anthem, leading the charge of the North American dubstep movement.

Jack Ü feat. Kiesza – “Take Ü There” (Zeds Dead Remix), [Atl a n t i c / M a d D e c e n t / OW S L A , 2014]: Putting their own spin on Skrillex and Diplo’s festival weapon, the Canadian crew slows down the track’s tempo, giving it a chilled-out makeover while still bringing the bass.

Zeds Dead with DNMO feat. Tzar – “We Could Be Kings,” [Deadbeats, 2018]: Connecting with production prodigy/label signee, DNMO, this pop-tinged collab is an empowering bass beauty driven by drum-n-bass fills and lofty melodies.

– B.B.

MMW 2019

Zeds Dead with Illenium – “Where The Wild Things Are,” [Deadbeats, 2017]: Clash of the titans! In this old-school-meets-new-school collab, two of bass music’s elites join forces for an anthemic boomer unlike any other.

DJ TIMES

DNMO. DJ Times: What advice do you have for any up-and-coming DJ/producers looking to break into the scene?

Hooks: There’s no real short cuts.

You have to just love it and that will motivate you to keep making music and keep improving. Send your stuff to artists and labels. Don’t send too many songs at once, and make sure it’s your absolute best music. Maybe remix a song by an artist you like. It could be a good way to get on their radar, especially if it’s something they may play in a set.

DJ Times: The label game may be relatively new to you guys, but Zeds Dead has been a staple in bass music for about a decade now. How has the genre’s scene, specifically, changed since the group began?

Hooks: For one, it’s become a lot easier to hop in and make something that sounds pretty decent. When we started, the preset sounds and samples available were mostly trash – but it forced us to learn how to make our own. I think having to figure a lot of things out on our own like that helped us define our sound. Nowadays, the sounds available are pretty much instantly caught up with what’s trendy at the moment. When somebody comes out with a new style, it’s almost immediately jacked and then there’s a ton of same-sounding stuff. It’s a bit harder to stand out now, but the cream still rises to the top.

DJ Times: The quality can always be found.

Hooks: Before, I used to always look to certain acts for good tunes.

Now there’s so many good songs that come from people that I only find one thing from. Much less do I have artists that I become a fan of and have a lot (continued on page 42)

Radiohead – “Pyramid Song” (Zeds Dead Illuminati Remix), [XL Recordings, 2009]: One of the earliest releases under the Zeds Dead name, this electrifying take on Radiohead is fueled by womps and wobbles and it soon catapulted the duo into the bass genre’s spotlight.

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Anaheim, Calif. – According to organizers, more than 115,000 industry professionals – manufacturers, distributors and end-users – attended the Winter NAMM show this past Jan. 24-27. Held at the Anaheim Convention Center, the massive music-products market produced plenty of gear debuts, including several DJ-related products.

Testa Communications – publisher of DJ Times – is there with a dedicated exhibition booth. It’s also producing Convention TV @ NAMM, which provides on-the-spot show coverage. Additionally, The Music & Sound Retailer – another Testa title – presented its 33 rd Annual Music & Sound Awards. Winners included Pioneer DJ’s DDJ-1000 (Best DJ Product), Chauvet’s Freedom H1 X4 (Best Lighting Product) and JBL Professional’s 3 Series (Best Speaker).

Onto the Exhibit Floor: From the inMusic brands, Denon DJ introduced the Prime 4, a 4-channel, stand-alone DJ system with 10-inch, multi-touch display, pro-mixer section, performance pads,

Prime 4: Denon DJ’s all-in-one controller.

SHOWTIME

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

Winter NAMM Debuts New Gear for Each Segment of the DJ Market

By Jim Tremayne

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and dual-zone output. (For more, please see sidebar.)

Related company Akai Professional debuted Fore, a standalone music production/DJ performance device which features clip launching, step sequencing, sampling, synths and a 7-inch touch display. For touring pros, Akai debuted the MPK Road 88, a keyboard controller with Akai’s exclusive Model-A premium 88key velocity-sensitive keybed.

Native Instruments debuted its Traktor DJ 2 and Tracktor Pro 3 software, in addition to its M32 MIDI keyboard. (For more, please see sidebar.)

Panasonic showed its new Technics SL-1200MK7 turntable, which features a coreless, directdrive motor and new DJ play functions like reverse playback.

Germany’s Reloop, exhibiting in the American Music & Sound booth, showed the RP1000 MK2 belt-drive turntable and the RP-2000 USB MK2 directdrive turntable, which features a USB audio output for digitizing vinyl. Both units are capable of plus/ minus 10-percent pitch control.

Pioneer DJ released the premium, limited-edition, carbonfiber version of its flagship HDJX10C headphones. For DJs and studio hounds, Stanton showed its SDH headphone line, which included the SDH 800, SDH 4000 and the SDH 6000 Pro models.

MWM showed Phase, the DJ industry’s first wireless controller for DVS – it lets DJs control tracks playing from a DJ software

without needing cartridges or control vinyl. Roland showed updated versions of its TR-8, TR8S, TR-08 and TR-09 drum machines, making them Serato DJ OSA-ready.

In addition to the ATH-M50xBT over-ear, Bluetooth headphones and ATH-M60x monitor headphones, Audio-Technica showed the AT-LP120 and AT-LP1240-USBXP direct-drive turntables.

In the DJ-accessory department, Odyssey Innovative Designs debuted several new accessory-related products. They include: two BACKSPIN2 camouflage DJ bags; four Black Label DJ coffins; three Flight Zone DJ coffins; two Flight Zone cases for Leko fixtures and Chauvet lighting gear ; and a Steemline EVA carrying bag for Native Instruments Traktor S2 MK3. (For more, please see sidebar.)

Decksaver, distributed Stateside by Mixware, showed a variety of gear covers, including those made for units from Akai, Allen & Heath, Hercules, Native Instruments, Pioneer DJ, and Roland.

Moving to pro-audio, Mackie unveiled its new flagship DRM series of active loudspeakers. The series is available in 1,600-watt DRM212 and DRM215 models, 2,300-watt DRM315, 2,000-watt DRM12A Array and the 2,000watt DRM18S subwoofer. All models are also available in passive boxes.

Yorkville Sound debuted its Synergy Array Series, which includes the SA153 3-way, active

cabinet and the SA3155 active subwoofer. QSC Audio showcased its new CP Series of active loudspeakers, which includes the CP8 and CP12 models. Suitable for portable or installed apps, both units feature a 1,000-watt, Class-D power module. RCF debuted the HDL28-A, a 2-way, active, line-array loudspeaker system and a white version of its EVOX J Series of portable loudspeakers.

BASSBOSS debuted its MFLA (Medium Format Powered Line Array), a dual 12-inch plus dual 1.4-inch line array element featuring a 3,000-watt amp and comprehensive DSP. Electro-Voice showcased its range of portable speakers including the EVOLVE 50 column loudspeaker system, along with ZLX, ELX200, EKX and ETX speaker series. Also, E-V debuted the RE420 and RE520 condenser vocal microphones and the RE3 wireless system, which includes mic options, bodypacks and accessories.

Bose showed its S1 Pro multiposition PA system, plus a full complement of accessories and enhancements, including the new S1 Pro play-through cover (available in multiple covers), the S1 Pro Backpack and the S1 Slip Cover.

Funktion-One and its North American distributor Sound Investment showcased the Evo-6E and Evo-6E-L115 speakers from its Evolution Series, the F124 bass enclosure, the BR118/F1201 sys-

tem the PSM318 DJ monitor and the PSM12 stage monitor.

From the lighting world, ADJ debuted seven new products.

They include: the Starship centerpiece; Entour Faze Jr., a compact faze machine; Starbar Wash, a portable four-head LED wash bar; 4 Stream DMX Bridge; Airstream Wifi Bar, a wireless switch pack built into a T-bar; and Rayzer and Contour, two new additions to the Startec series of effect fixtures. Related company Elation Lighting debuted the Rayzor 760 wash light, the Smarty Hybrid spot/beam/wash fixture, and the Protron Eclypse LED luminaire.

Chauvet DJ debuted a number of new lighting products, including three battery-powered Bluetooth wireless technology lights – the EZLink Par Q4 BT and EZLink Par Q6 BT quadcolor LED par fixtures, plus the EZLink Strip Q6 BT linear wash light – and the EZLink FS BT footswitch. Other Chauvet DJ debuts will include the Intimidator Spot 475Z moving-head light, the EZBar pin-spot unit, Scorpion Dual RGB laser, the Vivid Drive 28N video driver for Chauvet’s Vivid video panels.

HARMAN company Martin Professional showed the ERA Profile fixture, the MAC Allure Profile fixture and the ELP LED ellipsoid fixtures.

From the studio world, Audionamix showcased XTRAX STEMS 2, its automatic stemcreation software . High-end studio-hardware manufacturer

Bettermaker debuted its new Bus Compressor. Distributed by TransAudio Group, the digitally controller VCA compressor features like digital recall, Dry/Wet and Highpass Sidechain. PreSonus introduced its Studio Series USBC 24-bit, 192 kHZ audio interfaces with five models – the Studio 24c, Studio 26c, Studio 68c, Studio 1810c and Studio 1824c. (For more, please see sidebar.)

Sweden’s Elektron debuted Model:Samples, a 6-track, samplebased groovebox. JBL Professional showed its JBL One Series 104 compact reference monitors.

IK Multimedia debuted the iLoud MTM, a compact, nearfield reference monitor for professionaland home-studio applications. IK also showed the new iKlip 3 Series

of iPad- and tablet-mounting products. Blue Microphones introduced the Ember XLR condenser microphone for home-studio applications.

Shure launched its MV88+ Video Kit, an all-in-one solution for capturing quality video recordings on the go.

HARMAN company AKG debuted the DMS100 and DMS300 digital wireless systems. VocoPro introduced its Commander Series of wireless microphones, which includes handheld and headset configurations. Sony showed its new PCM-D10 and PCM-A10 portable hi-res recorders, in addition to the DWX Digital Wireless Series and the UWP-D Wireless Microphone Packages.

Floyd Rose Audio showed its FR-80BK 3D Bluetooth fold-

Robust: Audio-Technica’s directdrive turntable.

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MMW 2019

Massive: NAMM drew more than 115,000 attendees.

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NAMM Picks: A Dozen Hot DJ-Gear Debuts

Studio USB-C: PreSonus’ audio interfaces.

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

Anaheim, Calif. – This past Jan. 24-27, DJ Times set out on its annual new-gear quest by hitting the Winter NAMM show’s exhibit floor of the Anaheim Convention Center. Along with editor Jim Tremayne, I join a crowd of registered NAMM attendees that swelled to more than 115,000, according to show organizers. Amid a showfloor that displayed every kind of product sold in an M.I. retail store – musical instruments, pro-audio systems, lighting gear, etc. – we were there to see new product debuts that might impact the DJ industry.

I recall coming away from the 2018 show with the sense that “we’re currently between major innovation cycles with music technology,” to quote myself from last year’s retrospective, and my reaction this year was somewhat more dramatic: The show didn’t offer too much more for DJs that was particularly revolutionary or innovative. Lots of imitative, “me-too” products that are certainly useful for the market – column-array PA systems come to mind – but nothing truly earth-shattering or fully mind-expanding.

That doesn’t mean these few days were completely devoid of interest. On the contrary, we did find some extremely nifty new products for club jocks, mobile entertainers and home-studio hounds. So here are my show picks – a dozen hot products that, in my mind, stood out from the rest: Germany’s Native Instruments kept its recent momentum going, showing off both its new Traktor DJ 2 — an entry-level version of its flagship DJ software, coming soon to iPad, as well as Macs and Windows PCs. The recently released Traktor Kontrol S2 controller works not only with the new Traktor Pro 3, but it works with all flavors of Traktor DJ 2, including the iPad version. The Berlinbased company also showed affordable new digital computer audio interfaces, and a nifty portable MIDI keyboard called the M32, among other things.

Denon DJ, an inMusic brand, made waves with

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Traktor DJ 2: Native Instruments entry-level software.

its new Prime 4 all-in-one DJ controller.To say that the Cumberland, R.I.-based company explored the notion of a DJ controller on steroids would probably be an understatement. I’m pretty sure it hits every logical DJ use case, and none of it requires a computer. For your music library, the unit even includes a 2.5-inch hard-disk drive bay, along with a large multi-touch display. It’s sort of like the Denon DJ MCX8000 controller, an X1800 Prime mixer, and a pair of SC5000 media players mashed together into something greater than the sum of its parts.

Look for the full review soon in DJ Times.

Battery-powered PAs seem to be a thing these days, with Adam Hall Group’s LD Systems showing the Maui 5 Go, and Canada’s Yorkville Sound showing the EXM Mobile 12. The two offerings carve out different niches, but the idea of having decent-sounding satellite PA speakers for mobile gigs without the need for power cables does have a certain appeal, as proximity to power outlets no longer needs to dictate speaker placement.

Roland Corporation talked up the integration of its hardware units, such as the TR8-S drum synth, with Serato DJ. The L.A.-based company’s higher-end DJ controllers uniquely have integrated drum machines, allowing unique performance capabilities, and now they’re bringing that ability to DJs who prefer other control methods, such as DVS. At NAMM, the Baton Rouge, La.-based PreSonus threw some muscle behind the adoption of USB-C with its new Studio USB-C series of audio interfaces. Virtually identical to its existing Studio series, apart from the support for the latest connectivity standard, they come with pretty attractive price points, and are ready to work with the latestgeneration MacBook Pros, iMacs, and indeed any

computer sporting USB-C ports.

Germany’s Bitwig showed Bitwig 3, its latest iteration of the DAW platform, coming later this year. The big news? An integrated modular-synth construction set. Similar in some ways to Native Instruments’ Reaktor or Cycling ’74’s Max, it offers some advantages by being integrated into the DAW itself, and brings some unique sound design capabilities to the fore. We’ll do a closer look soon.

On the accessories front, San Gabriel, Calif.based Odyssey Innovative Designs debuted its DJ Z Stand, a portable, easy-to-set-up workstation for mobile DJs. It provides a ton of workspace with a multi-tier design, and folds down into a compact roller-case form factor. Supporting up to 200 pounds of gear and with great space for signage, this stand feels like a must-have accessory for mobile jocks.

Finally… I’ve often worn high-fidelity, volume-reducing earplugs under my cans when DJing in loud environments like clubs. When the headphones go to my neck, it’s always seemed like a smart step for hearing protection. The problem? They haven’t fit well under headphones. No longer. Belgium’s Loop was showing Earplugs for Music. Designed primarily for club- and concert-goers, they have a unique, low-profile flush design, and are supercomfortable alone — or under the DJ cans — and provide 20 dB of reduction in sound level.

So, interesting things to be sure, and many of the vendors we spoke with hinted at some exciting things coming during 2019. I’m anxious to see how the balance of evolution vs. revolution plays out between now and Winter NAMM 2020. See you next year, Anaheim.

– Wesley Bryant-King

able headphones and FR620BK Bluetooth earbuds.

In addition to showcasing its updated A2e custom in-ear monitor, 64 Audio unveiled three new IEMs, including the A6t, A4t and A3e units – all of which feature the company’s tubeless technology.

Audinate showed the Dante AVIO, a family of endpoint adapters that includes line-in and lineout analog adapters, an AES3/EBU adapter and a stereo USB adapter. RHC showcased the RAT FX RAT tail distortion cable, the RapcoHorizon V-Cable and the ProCo Sound Drop Snake Boxes and Wall Plates.

Versatile: Mackie’s DRM speaker series.

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Ft. Lauderdale , Fla. – Running this past Jan. 10-14, the Groove Cruise celebrated its 15th anniversary by presenting some of EDM’s top talents like MK, Markus Schulz, EDX, Hot Since 82 and more.

Heading out on Celebrity Cruises’ Infinity from Broward County, Fla., the Groove Cruise offered a variety of onboard parties, plus a beach party in Cozumel, Mexico, featuring a three-hour set from Kaskade. Presented by Whet Travel, Groove Cruise 2019 looked like this.

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DJ TIMES 24

It was a sunny afternoon in July of 2014 when a motorcycle in Marion, Ky., hit a patch of gravel and went down, resulting in the driver being med-flighted to the nearest trauma center in Evansville, Ind. That injured cyclist was mobile jock Don Davis, who had been booked to DJ a wedding reception the following week, but suddenly found himself in a pinch.

As single operator, Davis wondered, “Who could replace me with such short notice?” Fortunately, Davis’ networking experiences paid off.

“I called several people I know who DJ in the area,” explains the owner of Don’s DJ Service. “My friend Larry was available for the date, so it worked out for me. Otherwise, I would have had to cancel, leaving the bride to be strapped trying to find someone else at the last minute.

“I truly believe that networking with other DJs was my saving grace. Because you never know what could happen.”

Although Mark Peter of L&M Entertainment in Providence, R.I., has never himself been in serious car accident that prohibited him from performing, he says he’s filled in many times for mobile DJs who either got hurt or were no-shows for events.

“One guy broke his leg and cancelled three days before a wedding,” Peter recalls. “Personally, I always say that unless I’m unconscious in a hospital, I’ll be there. I’d even have someone wheel my ass in there in a wheelchair and set up all my stuff.”

As the owner of a multi-op, Mark Brenneisen of Adirondack Weddings & Events in Glens Falls, N. Y., says if any of his staff become sick or are otherwise unable to perform, they simply stick a sub from their own staff in their place. Plus, being overstaffed, the company’s able to help out other DJs in the area, when needed.

“Just last year, I covered an event for another DJ who got really sick a couple days before,” says Brenneisen. “In fact, that DJ deferred the re-book to us as well, which we just did this last December, and they’re booking us again for next year, too.

“Any time we cover for another company we represent that company, so we don’t use branded laptops or signage for that very reason.

We want to be able to help that company get through a tough time with no threat of us wanting to take future bookings away from them.

“The gig belongs to the lead company, and anyone who goes into perform for them should represent that company.”

How do mobile jocks typically deal with health issues that suddenly arise and impact their business? As small business owners—many of us single operators—has there ever been an instance where a health issue kept us from performing at a scheduled gig?

many extra expenses I had, although be sure to go over what your plan covers. Some are so specific on what has to happen that, even if you have what they say is covered, if you don’t meet all the parameters you won’t get paid.”

Down in the United States, of course, insurance is paid for by any businesses with full-time employees, which clears most DJ companies that either contract their help or use only part-time help.

“We do have insurance for some of our fulltime people, but most of our employees have full-time jobs elsewhere to cover their health insurance,” says Brenneisen in Upstate New York.

“Though we do cover all our employees with workmen’s compensation insurance, including our interns.”

For the past two years Lisa Capitanelli Kasburg of I’m a Girl DJ in Clarksville, Tenn., has had health insurance through the American Disc Jockey Association.

“It was OK and got us through some rough patches, but it’s definitely been a challenge for us because we don’t qualify for any discounts through the marketplace,” says Kasburg, who lives in a state that so far has refused the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. As a result, in states like Tennessee that that do not expand Medicaid, many adults fall into a “coverage gap” of having incomes above Medicaid eligibility limits, but below the lower limit for marketplace premium tax credits. “We fall right in the middle where [ACA] offers no benefit to us as a small business owner.”

So Kasburg recently obtained a Cigna PPO through US Health Advisors that pays for 10 doctor visits per year for every member of her family, offers a discount on prescriptions, covers preventative and wellness visits, and won’t deny coverage due to a serious illness. And it helps her stay healthy so she minimizes the risk of a health issue keeping her from her DJ gigs.

“It’s more expensive per month than the shortterm policy,” she says, “but we decided to lower our deductible because it made sense for our family.”

Overall, when it comes to covering a gig that’s been impacted by a health issue, all the DJs stress the importance of networking and developing friendships.

“Networking is always a good idea, because you never know what could happen,” says Kentucky-based DJ Davis. “On the other hand, I’ve had brides contact me saying their DJ canceled on them last minute. I believe karma works that way.” n

MMW 2019

ment to the event, while Ken was there to help with carrying equipment in and with set-up.

“My job was to sit and direct and not lift anything,” Tunnicliff recalls. “It was hard to stay still, and it was really cold. They even did the cleanup, and I got yelled at each time I tried to do anything. I just sat there quietly, and when they turned their backs I wrapped cables.”

Tunnicliff says when the town’s mayor found out days later what had happened, he was mad at her for risking her health, but appreciated the importance of her being there because of the recently fallen soldier.

“Because of my illness, as a single-op, it reminded me that I’d better keep my event information in a place where it could be easily found, as well as contacts who could be available,” she says. “I also learned that you absolutely need an extra hardcopy of your event information, so someone will know where to look and get the information.

“Make friends. Build relationships, so that if anything happens you have people who will rush to help first—and not ask, ‘But how much will I get paid?’”

Down in Charlotte, N.C., Bill Clements of Z Brothers Entertainment began having lower-back troubles in his 20s, which caught up with him in his mid-30s, just when he found a much higher number of gigs being booked every year.

“It got to a point where I had a buddy helping me,” says Clements, “and still my back was so locked up all the time I could barely stand without a cane… a cane – at 35-years old.”

Instead of continuing to depend on his friends to constantly cover for him, Clements says he simply learned to eat better, to work out more, to keep his weight down as he aged, and to lose some of the weight of his gear.

“That seems like forever ago,” he says today. “I’m 53 now and I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been.

Between the physical challenges of setting up gear and all the standing we do, this is real work and we need to be sure we’re taking care of ourselves.”

When it comes to insurance coverage for unexpected health issues, it sometimes depends on location. For Tunnicliff in Canada, for example, she was able to utilize the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, her province’s government-run system. But she says she also has a critical-illness insurance policy in place to help out in times of need.

“I started a plan that works as an insurance plan, plus a retirement savings plan together, and if I don’t need the insurance, I can cash it out at age 65,” she says. “The insurance money helped cover

DJ TIMES

What did we do, and what plan do we have in place if these things happen in the future? And does our backup plan include health and accident insurance?

Ramu Al-Muhdi, of Ra-Mu and the Crew in Providence, R.I., was working at a karaoke bar 18 years ago when he learned his mother just died.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” he says.

“I was an hour into the job and I suddenly told the bar owner I had to leave. I simply packed my stuff up and went to the hospital just in time to see them zip the body-bag up. When something like that happens, you just hope that the client is a decent human being.”

Fortunately for Al-Muhdi, he’d been doing karaoke at the bar for three years and his client was a decent man.

“It still was a very awkward situation, and for other DJs I recommend including in their contract a statement with something like, ‘In case of an emergency (life or death), a suitable replacement of equal skill sets will be provided.’”

Canadian jock Leslie Tunnicliff of That’s Great Entertainment in Markham, Ont., says that years of networking and building friendships saved her business after she endured a pair of heart attacks in May of 2014. She actually had the two heart attacks over a period two days—on a Monday, then again on Tuesday—necessitating four stents being placed in an artery. And all this happened with a very important event coming up the following weekend.

“We were coming up to Remembrance Day [a Canadian holiday], when I always do a regular outside event for a nearby city,” Tunnicliff says. “This year was particularly important to me and most Canadians, because a soldier standing on guard at the Cenotaph in Ottawa had been shot and killed weeks before.

“This ceremony would be the first time I could honor the military and this specific fallen soldier.”

But having a heart attack meant Tunnicliff couldn’t drive or lift anything or move around very well. She was also on post-operative drugs to keep her heart rate and blood pressure low, so she couldn’t walk or even think too clearly.

It would have been nearly impossible for her to explain from her couch how to set up an event she’d been doing for nearly 20 years, but she fortunately had two very good friends jump in to help.

“Through years of networking and friendships I’d built, I had many people who could reach out and help me, and my friends Ken and Vince helped make sure I could get that weekend’s events done. Vince hitched up my trailer and drove me and my equip-

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MAKING TRACKS STUDIO…HARDWARE…SOFTWARE…

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS’ NEW STUDIO TOOLS

By Wesley Bryant-King

TRK-01: Creative bass & kick production.

I got my hands on that top-end: Komplete 12 Ultimate Collector’s Edition, a new entry into the family that sees NI throw even more value into the (virtual) box.

Komplete Start — the free edition — is coming soon, and is designed to give users a taste of the power of Komplete. Komplete 12 itself, as well as the Select (smaller) and Ultimate (larger) versions, are offered at the same price points as they were in Komplete 11. While Select (at 14 products) didn’t grow in size, the core package (from 46 products to 52) and Ultimate (from 87 products to 101) version did. The new Ultimate Collector’s Edition differentiates itself primarily with added expansion packs — 30 more than Ultimate, providing a pretty hefty array of additional content that expands the creative potential of the “plain” Ultimate version. And of interest primarily to film scorers and similar users, it upgrades Ultimate’s inclusion of NI’s Sym-

phony Essentials to the full Symphony Series editions. All in all, the Ultimate Collector’s Edition doubles the number of sounds, while expanding on Ultimate’s data footprint by 50-percent to nearly a full terabyte.

To those upgrading from previous versions, you’ll want to look closely at what’s been added since your last upgrade to determine if it makes sense. New collections end up in the package, including things like Session Guitarist Electric Sunburst for the contemporary music crowd, TRK-01 for EDM producers to get creative with bass and kick production, and new additions to NI’s world sounds Discovery Series being examples. But in truth, a lot of the content in Komplete hasn’t really changed much in years.

Absynth is still Absynth, and FM-8 is still FM-8, for instance, and they’re good quality synths to be sure. But many of NI’s core products have (continued on page 40)

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

Berlin’s Native Instruments (or NI for short) is a company that covers a lot of territory in the broader music space. The company itself divides its offerings by brand into Komplete (instruments and effects), Traktor (DJ), and Maschine (production and performance). Fair enough, but in my mind, the logical split is more between the music creation and DJ markets, and within each, a clear split between software and hardware, resulting in four total product areas — any one of which could make a decent business on its own, as demonstrated by NI’s numerous competitors.

In the past couple of years, NI has arguably been cooking with gas, taking good advantage of a €50 million private equity investment made in the company back in October 2017. After a period of seeming stagnation, NI has made a series of updates and new product introductions that has been tough to keep up with, even for someone like me who’s accustomed to covering this space and the endless feed of newness. This review was originally going to be centered on the latest iteration of the company’s Komplete plug-in collection, but Winter NAMM 2019 has forced me to make some room here for the latest rollouts that NI announced at the show.

Komplete 12 Let’s begin with Komplete. NI offers a dizzying array of plug-ins, sample libraries, and related software tools for the music creation, production, and performance market — along with an ever-expanding collection of hardware. While you can certainly buy any individual component on offer, since 2004 NI has bundled collections of the software bits and pieces under the Komplete umbrella. Since then, NI has split the offering into separate, tiered bundles — most recently with the introduction of Komplete 12, which now comes in fully five different sizes (vs. only three, previously) with corresponding price points that now begin at the low-end with “free,” and touch $1,600 at the top-end. For this review,

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Twice as Nice: Komplete 12 Ultimate Collector’s Edition.

SOUNDING OFF PLAYBACK…PRO AUDIO…PROCESSING

HERCULES’ LATEST: GREAT GATEWAY PRODUCTS

By Wesley Bryant-King

DJControl Starlight: Compact with Serato DJ Lite.

The first review I ever wrote for this magazine was over a decade ago now, and while the original draft has long been lost to various computer upgrades and a shift from Windows machines to Macs, I do remember the subject: One of Hercules’ early DJ controllers.

In the 10-plus years since, a lot has changed. Back then, digital DJ controllers were not the norm; today, every major name in the DJ space makes one (or two, or a dozen) that are sometimes tough to tell apart. You can even do a passable DJ set on an iPad. Software options are all over the map — and, for a newcomer, it’s as hard as it’s ever been to figure out where to start.

In the Fall of 2018, Hercules’ parent company Guillemot took a stab at addressing that head on with a complete rebranding exercise and a tag line that sums-up Hercules’ new focus: “It’s Your Turn.” According to the company’s press release, its new collective focus is on aspiring DJs, and while that was somewhat readable between the lines in the past, owning up to what they’re working to accomplish makes a lot of sense.

DJControl Starlight

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DJControl Inpulse 300: Pro features, good value.

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DJuced Software: Version 4.0 offers solid functionality.

Not long after the rebrand, the company rolled out the DJ Control Starlight. Given its ultra-compact and unusual design, the piece would otherwise be a little tough to take very seriously except for one interesting little fact: It comes bundled with Serato DJ Lite. It’s not the company’s first time working with Serato (see: DJControl Jogvision back in 2015), but it’s the first time I’ve seen Serato bundled with such a compact controller. It’s also surprising, as Hercules has primarily focused on its own DJuced DJ software lately.

In any case, the Starlight is tiny – just over 13-inches wide, 4-inches deep, and less than 2-inches tall. The controls are Spartan, to say the least, and the jog wheels are tiny indeed. The diminutive size necessitates dropping some things; you’ll find only bass EQ knobs, for example, and while you do have track gain for both of the two tracks available, you don’t have sliders for level, leaving a crossfader as the sole mixing option. Looping and FX controls are also pretty limited.

But let’s be clear here: The Starlight might well be a learning tool primarily, but it dispenses with the training wheels in favor of delivering an authentic overall experience that has everything you truly need to get started on a DJ adventure. And even though I’ve been doing this for years with equipment that costs many orders of magnitude more than this controller, I still found it to be incredibly fun to use.

That fun factor is aided significantly by the use of Serato DJ Lite. Serato has really given a serious spit-and-polish job to their software in recent versions, delivering something that is clean, attractive, well-designed, and functional. About the only criticism I have is that Serato doesn’t provide any key analysis, or even key display, in DJ Lite. If I think of concepts that I’d want an aspiring DJ to understand, song keys and key compatibility are on the list. But given the roughly $80 street price? Well, something’s gotta give, I suppose.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a little pet feature… The bottom panel of the Starlight is translucent, and under it are four multi-color LEDs. When you’re playing a track, those illuminate to the beat of the song — changing color on the identified

“1” beat — glowing on the top of your desk. It’s a fantastic way to get a newcomer accustomed to counting beats, and hearing their “four-on-thefloor” nature.

DJControl Inpulse 300

Hercules has long offered a pretty wide range of controller options, and another new unit from the company is one of their more “expensive” models. I use quotes, because the Inpulse 300 clocks in at roughly $200 street price, which given its capabilities, strikes me as a pretty good value.

When you look at the Inpulse 300, you’ll be forgiven if you mistake it for something more targeted at the working DJ. The customary 4x2 grid of multi-purpose buttons is there, right where you’d expect to see them. There’s 3-band EQ, channel faders, crossfader, amply sized rotary encoder platters, pitch controls and various and sundry other buttons and knobs. Much to my amazement, there’s even a filter knob for each of its two channels, offering HPF and LPF filters with a twist of the fingers.

About the only giveaway that this isn’t targeted to professionals is that the headphone jack is solely an 1/8-

inch offering, and the master outs on the back are merely RCA only.

For the Inpulse 300 Hercules chose to bundle its own DJ software, DJuced. The box says it’s DJuced 40°, the more sophisticated of the two versions the company has offered of late. But in point of fact, DJuced 40° and its simpler sibling, DJuced 18°, have recently been merged and updated, and renamed to simply DJuced 4.0.

This new version of DJuced bears, on the surface, a passing resemblance to Serato, or honestly, most DJ software packages — given that they all follow pretty much the same basic UI design model. I have to say I’ve always found DJuced to be a little clunky, and just seemingly unpolished. In working with DJuced 4.0 and the Inpulse 300, I’m happy to report that this new version is quite an improvement. I’d still say that it could use some serious spit and polish in the user experience and interface design department, but it gets the job done (and then some), and it provides plenty of solid functionality to introduce concepts to aspiring DJs that they can take to other software choices over time.

The Inpulse 300 was, like the Star-

light, a lot of fun to use, and I was mixing a solid DJ set within minutes of plugging it in. But for the market it’s intended for — newcomers — it has some interesting features to help learn technique. There are light guides (which can be turned off) that direct you on which direction to rotate the platters to get the beats aligned. The Intelligent Music Assistant helps point out the tracks in your collection that would provide the best mix with the currently playing song. And Hercules has created its DJ Academy, a collection of videos and web content designed to provide some foundational basics to the newcomer.

But this isn’t all about basics alone.

You get easy-to-use looping buttons, hot cues, roll and slicer functions, beat jumping, a full suite of effects with basic in-hardware controls, and more — including a sampler to add sound effects or clips to your mixes.

In short, Hercules hasn’t really left out anything noteworthy, making the Inpulse 300 not only a nice way to learn the DJ art, but something that could well carry a fresh, new DJ farther than the $200 price tag might suggest.

Conclusions

It’s great to see Hercules embrace the role of gateway to the world of DJing. Few people just starting out can afford to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars on gear for something they may not even be sure they want to do. But both the Hercules DJControl Starlight and Inpulse 300 controllers provide functional, affordable entry points to the DJ art, and both have enough functionality to make the experience fun and practical.

As for which one to choose? Well, that’s a toss-up. I love the fact that the Starlight comes with Serato DJ Lite — learning and knowing Serato will take the aspiring DJ a long way indeed. But the Inpulse 300 provides a much broader array of functionality that more accurately models prolevel gear.

Either way, the skills a newcomer learns will transfer perfectly to whatever choice of gear they might make next. And in the meantime? Both offer a heck of a lot of fun (and learning) for the buck.

If you have any questions for Wesley Bryant-King and/or Sounding Off, please send them to djtimes@testa.com.

MOBILE PROFILE CAREERS…INNOVATIONS…SUCCESS STORIES

POST-CANCER, DJ GETS NEW LEASE ON LIFE

By Stu Kearns

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

DJ Mickey G: “This is my calling and nothing can keep me from doing it.”

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Robbinsville, N.J. – At the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, DJ Mickey Gordon was experiencing debilitating nausea – and all that follows.

Knowing something was not right, he visited six different doctors, but none of them could diagnose what was wrong.

Gordon thought it was vertigo, as his equilibrium was also compromised, and one therapist told him to go to an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialist, who ordered an MRI. Unfortunately, the MRI revealed an un-described tumor in his brain, which measured about 3 centimeters. It was suggested he go to the hospital right away.

A family friend recommended a doctor an hour away, and Gordon went immediately. “[The doctor] told me what to expect with the surgery and the possible risks,” he recalls. “He told me I really need this surgery or I would be a vegetable.”

Having 4-year-old twins and a wife, he agreed.

The doctor operated on his brain for more than eight hours. “So much for a quick and painless outcome,” he says, “and he sent out my tumor to the lab and it was unanimous that I had a cancer.”

It was called medulloblastoma — a type of cancer found in 2-percent of adults. “I was part of the ‘lucky’ percent,” he says. “This disease is usually found in kids and teens.”

To combat this, he’d need radiation with proton therapy, chemotherapy and a spinal tap to see if it had spread to the spine. Thankfully, nothing was found there, but the process was extremely painful.

“Two doctors had to stick me eight times before they got what they needed,” says Gordon. “I felt everything…”

With this, came numerous side effects. “I became a third child to my wife,” he says. “She had to do everything for me. She was my voice, because I developed immense speech problems, which is definitely not good for a DJ/MC. I was confined to a wheelchair, had to use a shower chair to sit, and a hand and safety rail had to be installed in my home shower, in case I stood up. I couldn’t do much for myself at all.”

He had to re-train himself to do everything — from seeing, to speaking properly, driving, walking,

Comeback: Mickey G returned to DJing in ’18.

dancing, and going back to the gym to work out his usual three to four days a week to get strong.

He also underwent acupuncture therapy, which he credits mightily for his ultimate recovery. The whole process took more than a year, during which he couldn’t work at all.

“This was extremely difficult because, being a DJ, if I do not work, I do not have an income stream at all,” he says. “I’m not entitled sick days or personal days. I agreed to let my wife and her friend create a GoFundMe account and arrange two fundraisers. This helped offset some of my lack of income.

While this was not nearly what my wife and I made previously, this certainly helped take away a little bit of the burden and the feeling of worry and that I was drowning in a pile of bills.”

Of course, DJing still beckoned, so a comeback was in order. Accordingly, Gordon got back behind the console as soon as he was able – in February, 2018.

After all, it’s been his comfort zone since he was an early teen. In fact, he DJed his first event when he took over the decks at his own birthday party, when

he turned 13. He began booking gigs soon after and DJ Mickey G Entertainment was born.

Says Gordon of his beginnings: “When numerous couples took a chance and hired a young kid to trust to DJ their wedding, that was so huge, I was floored!”

Since he originally saw that he could be successful in the DJ business, he says, “Every year I’ve added more services and features to become that full-service company that my clients can go to and ask for various things.”

Those “various” things are extensive: DJ Mickey G Entertainment has the capability of doing events worldwide, has customized show cards for notes, announcements, and trivia questions; they do voice overs for commercials, radio sweepers, power points presentations, on hold/phone system messages and commercials. He does personal appearances for companies and schools, hosts concerts for big names and produces large-scale events. He’s entertained for 20,000-plus people at a time, and if the client’s budget allows, he books celebrities to perform. The company operates two offices – one near Princeton, N.J., the other in New Town, Pa. As for himself, there’s nothing else he’d ever dreamed of doing. “Having the natural gift of performing/entertaining audiences is something that can’t be taught,” he says. “You can absolutely learn equipment and how to mix music properly, but really entertaining on the microphone is something that really can’t be taught. In this business, you can’t be shy by any means.”

On the audio tip, DJ Mickey G Entertainment mixes and matches plenty of suppliers. He uses Pioneer DJ units (DJM-900NXS2 mixers, CDJ2000NXS2 media players, DDJ-SX3 and DDJ-SB2 controllers running Serato DJ Pro) with PA systems from JBL Pro, Mackie, Bose and Senndeiser. He uses wireless systems from Sennheiser and Shure, in addition to cases from Odyssey and Pro X, custom DJ booths from Dragon Frontboards, and Ultimate Support Stands.

Gordon says he admires other companies in the market, and feels that nobody is each other’s competitor. “There’s enough room for everyone,” he (continued on page 42)

SALES… MARKETING…SOLUTIONS… BUSINESS LINE

A 3-STEP PLAN TO BOOST YOUR BOTTOM LINE NOW

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

By Leon Mendoza

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At last year’s DJ Expo at Harrah’s in Atlantic City, N.J., DJ Rob Peters presented “10 Things You Can Do to Improve as a DJ — Right Now!” It included some great ideas on easy things that mobile DJs can do to improve their performance and business skills.

But Peters, owner of Rob Peters Entertainment from Franklin, Mass., discovered that there are more than just 10 ways to improve — after all, it’s an ongoing process with no finish line.

In fact, even some of the original 10 can apply to other areas of your businesses and performances. For example, the “Three R’s: Review, Remodel & Rehearse” was introduced as a concept that applies to improving your performance skills. But it can be used as a method to improve your marketing.

As DJs, you are continuous marketing machines. Your performances are the best marketing tools you have. However, in today’s world, we have so many different ways to market our DJ services, and the online world is filled with them. There are obvious choices, depending on the focus of your business: Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn and more. It’s very easy to get lured into spending money foolishly just to get your company and message out there.

Here’s a Big Tip: If you don’t know what you’re doing with Social Media ads, landing pages or Google Ads, you need to get educated, or better yet, hire a professional. You can easily spend a lot of money foolishly if you don’t understand how to maneuver through the world of online ads.

But the world of the Three R’s, as it applies to marketing, can be broken down this way:

1. Review: Do you have a plan in place to track your marketing efforts?

If not, then start! One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not knowing if your marketing is working for you.

It’s a very simple question you can ask, whether in-person, on the phone or even on your website: “How did you learn about us?” That one question can reveal so much information for you as a mobile DJ or business owner.

Take some time and actually look at how your prospective clients are learning about your services and contacting you. Make a list of every method of marketing you are using and count up the number of prospects inquired about your business over the last quarter, half year or even year.

Make sure to include things like direct referrals from other wedding professionals and former clients.

3. Rehearse: This part can be tricky as well, because there is no right or wrong answer to it. You are going to have to try out several different approaches when it comes to implementing the changes you are making in the revamp stage.

If you’re making changes to your online ad, listing or website, track if those changes are working. Make sure you ask new prospects about how they found out about you and follow up by asking them, “What stood out from our online ad/listing/etc., that promoted you to contact us. ” You may need to wait until a faceto-face meeting or phone conversation to get this information, but it’s beneficial during the rehearsal stage because you will need to keep adjusting these changes until you see better results. And unfortunately, it’s not an exact science.

1 review

“As DJs, you are continuous marketing machines. Your performances are the best marketing tools you have.”

2 Revamp 3 Rehearse

2. Revamp: The results from your review will present you with some important information. You will have a good idea of what is working and what isn’t, based on the results. At this point, you need to start to look at making some decisions about how you are spending your marketing dollars. If you’re investing in marketing that yielded minimal results, you will need to consider revamping that method, or not continuing to use it.

This decision can become more difficult if you are locked into a contract or chose to buy a yearly plan. This is where revamping can be beneficial. For example, if you’re paying for marketing on a weddinglisting website, look and see what your competition is doing, and look at your ad to see what makes you stand out. Ask some of your current and former clients for their insight and input about it. Even though they may not understand our business, they can sometimes be a great resource when it comes to information because they are the consumer.

Using the Three R’s for marketing can help you increase your business revenue and help you avoid spending money with a minimal return. It can also help you refresh your company’s image and presence with the marketing methods you are currently using.

Stay tuned because Rob Peters will have more to say about this at the next DJ Expo, set for Aug. 12-15 at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. If you have any questions for Business Line, please send them to djtimes@ testa.com.

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Carbon Fiber Footprint Pioneer DJ Americas 2050 W. 190th Street Suite 109 Torrance, CA 90504 (424) 488-0480 www.pioneerdj.com The HDJ-X10C from Pioneer is a premium, limited-edition, carbonfiber version of the company’s HDJ-X10 DJ headphones. According to the company, 1,000 pairs of the headphones will be produced. Each features a carbon-fiber housing that removes unwanted vibrations and noise inside, as well as metal plating that suppresses vibrations on the surface. The headphones come with a carrying case that is made from high-quality, polyurethane leather and features gold-colored elements. A straight cable is also included, which has been coated in tough aramid1 for extra durability.

App & Trade BPM Supreme 101 West Broadway #1300 San Diego, CA 92101 (888) 723-7878 www.bpmsupreme.com Music delivery website BPM Supreme has launched the BPM Supreme mobile app for both Android and iPhone. Users can browse new releases and top downloads, as well as access industry news and headlines, exclusive edits, remixes and Curated Sets. Songs can be searched by genre, version and BPM, and they can then be streamed ad-free within a full-screen player that showcases the album artwork. The app is available in a free version, as well as paid membership versions that include high-quality audio, a video-download library and more.

What the Hex ADJ Products 6122 S. Eastern Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90040 (323) 582-2650 www.americandj.com The PX HEX Series of LED-powered pars from ADJ includes the 5PX HEX, which features five 12W HEX LEDs in a compact case designed for truss warming and up-lighting duties, and the 12PX HEX, which features 12 12W HEX LEDs that create a beam of colored light that is ideal for stage lighting applications, as well as for up-lighting large venues. Both of these also come in versions with an all-white exterior finish. Each LED combines red, green, blue, amber, white and UV elements, including both cool and warm white, and all models in the series feature a 30-degree beam angle.

Pure Gold

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American Music & Sound 925 Broadbeck Dr. #220 Newbury Park, CA 91320 (800) 431-2609 www.AmericanMusicAndSound.com

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A limited, golden version of the RP-7000 MK2 high-end DJ turntable is now available from Reloop. The company, distributed Stateside by American Music and Sound, released 1,500 pieces worldwide, each of which are enhanced with gold elements, including a golden headshell, an exclusively designed slipmat and an engraved plate with a unique device code. The RP-7000 MK2 GLD features a statically balanced S-shaped tone arm with hydraulic lift and anti-skating mechanism, as well as an aluminum LED target light and an additional start/stop button that has also been integrated to facilitate a vertical setup. It is capable of a wider, DJ-friendly plus/minus 16-percent pitch range and a massive plus/minus-50-percent ultra-pitch.

AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

GEAR

Secret Groove Agent Man Yamaha Corporation of America 6600 Orangethorpe Ave Buena Park, CA 90620 (714) 522-9011 www.yamahaproaudio.com Groove Agent 5 is the latest update to Steinberg’s drum studio software. Version 5 includes a new high-end acoustic kit recorded at Teldex Studios Berlin, as well as new kits for EDM, Trap and Future Bass. The Beat Agent now features 30 new beat patterns, basslines and other melodic parts or noises and users can also access 20 new MIDI Styles with intro, outro and fills. The graphical user interface has been updated to support high-resolution HiDPI and it is now scalable to fit any display.

To Sleep, Perchance to DRM Mackie 16220 Wood-Red Road NE Woodinville, WA 98072 (425) 892-6500 www.loudtechinc.com Mackie has released the flagship line of DRM Professional Powered Loudspeakers that is designed for mobile DJs, installations and more. Models in the line include the 1600W 12-inch DRM212, 1600W 15-inch DRM215, 2300W 15-inch 3-Way DRM315, 2000W 12-inch DRM12A Array, and 2000W 18-inch DRM18S Subwoofer, with all models available in passive boxes.

They feature Mackie’s Advanced Impulse DSP module and offer up to 2300W of power and built-in full color displays. Models sport high-sensitivity woofers and titanium diaphragm compression drivers housed in braced plywood cabinets designed with touring-grade textured coating and paint.

Hit the Decks!

Audio-Technica 1221 Commerce Drive Stow, Ohio 44224-1760 (330) 686-2600 www.audio-technica.com Audio-Technica’s AT-LP1240-USB XP direct-drive professional turntable is outfitted with the new AT-XP5 DJ cartridge. The unit features a damped cast-aluminum platter with stroboscopic speed markings and slip mat, an illuminated speed indicator and adjustable pitch control, a start/stop button, a removable stylus target light, a dedicated tone arm grounding lug, a hydraulicallydamped lift lever and a locking tone arm rest. The turntable has a built-in switchable phono pre-amplifier with dual RCA output jacks with detachable cables. An additional USB output allows direct connection to a computer without any special drivers, making it easy to transfer vinyl records to digital music files. Included are a USB cable, audio adapter cables, removable dust cover, and 45 RPM adapter.

Count to 104

DJ TIMES

JBL Professional has released the JBL One Series 104 compact, full-range, powered reference monitors. They come equipped with 4.5-inch low-frequency drivers with coaxial .75-inch soft-dome tweeters, as well as integrated a 60-watt Class D power amplifier that distributes 30 watts per speaker. The front panel sports volume control and a headphone jack with a speaker mute feature. There are three sets of inputs for connecting professional equipment, personal music players and consumer products.

The monitors are acoustically optimized for desktop placement and come housed in a matte black enclosure.

MMW 2019

Harman International 400 Atlantic Street Stamford, CT 06901 (203) 328-3500 www.harman.com

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GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Lights, Camera, ACTION-500 DAS Audio 6816 NW 77th Court Miami, FL 33166 (305) 436-0521 www.dasaudio.com DAS Audio’s ACTION-500 series is comprised of eight active and eight passive loudspeaker models.The full-range systems in the line come in 8-, 12- and 15-inch models, and each have new rotatable horns that provide improved frequency response on both the vertical and horizontal planes while offering a wider 90- by-60-degree dispersion for room-filling coverage. The line also includes a 12-inch monitor and three subwoofers with new high excursion transducers designed by the company. Units are housed in enclosures made of birch wood and coated with black ISO-Flex paint.

MAGIX Trick

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

MAGIX Software GmbH Quedlinburger Strasse 1 10589 Berlin Germany +49 30 293 92 -200 www.magix.net

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MAGIX has released a new version of its Samplitude Pro X digital audio workstation. Samplitude Pro X4 now offers additional options for editing, scaling, mirroring, stretching and shrinking MIDI automation data. The latest upgrade also allows automated effect parameters to be displayed and operated in lanes inside of an audio track for the first time. Back-end multicore operation and other improvements have been made for optimized recording and playback performance.

Samplitude Pro X4 is also available in a suite version that also includes the full version of the audio editor SOUND FORGE Pro 11.

New Kit on the Block

May the Force Be With You

Shure 5800 West Touhy Avenue Niles, IL 60714 (847) 600-2000 www.shure.com

Akai/inMusic Brands 200 Scenic View Drive Suite 201 Cumberland, RI 02864 (401) 658-4032 www.akaipro.com

For DJs looking to market themselves online quickly and easily, Shure’s MV88+ Video Kit includes the MV88 iOS digital stereo condenser microphone, Manfrotto PIXI tripod, a phone clamp, a mount, a headphone jack for real-time audio assessment and both iOS and USB-C cables. The kit, which can also be used for standalone audio capture, is compatible with iOS and other selected devices. Users can “tap into the capabilities of the free Shure MOTIV Video and Audio Recording applications to access our state-of-the-art audio quality in tandem with the microphone,” according to the company.

Akai Professional’s standalone Force music production/DJ performance device features an 8x8 RGB clip launch matrix, a 7-inch full-color touch-capacitive multitouch display and eight touch-sensitive knobs with graphical OLED displays. The unit offers 16GB of on-board storage, with more than 10GB of sound content included. It comes with TubeSynth, Bassline and Electric synth engines, as well as an additional synth called Hype, a preset and macro-based synth combining several different synth engines into one package.

Additional features include time stretching/pitch-shifting in real time and a comprehensive set of on-board effects by AIR Music Technology.

AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

GEAR

Accessorize Bose Corporation The Mountain Framingham, MA 01701 (508) 879-7330 www.bose.com Bose has announced several new accessories for and additions to its S1 Pro multi-position PA system. They include the new S1 Pro play-through cover, which will be available in multiple colors. Also, each new S1 Pro will come with a preinstalled rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack and compatibility with the Bose Connect App for streaming Bluetooth audio to as many as two S1 units. Other optional accessories include the S1 Pro Backpack and S1 Slip Cover. The Backpack will feature three zippered compartments, adjustable shoulder straps, moldedfoam back panel and handles. The nylon S1 Slip Cover allows users to protect their S1 Pro system while on the go.

Spinnin’ & Spinnin’ Panasonic/Technics Two Riverfront Plaza, 8th Floor Newark, NJ 07102 (201) 392-4181 www.technics.com/us Technics has released the SL-1200MK7, the newest model of its SL-1200 Series of turntables. The unit’s drive section features a coreless direct-drive motor, which eliminates a rotation irregularity called cogging. The pitch control incorporates digital control to achieve improved tracking performance and accuracy. The buttons and tonearm are black to complete the all-black design, and the LED light can be set to illuminate in red or blue. A reverse-play function has been added to expand the breadth of DJ play style.

Power Packed Yamaha Corp. of America 6600 Orangethorpe Ave, Buena Park, CA 90620 (714) 522-9011 www.usa.yamaha.com

Producer Pack

Waves has introduced the Dave Audé Producer Pack, a bundle of eight plug-ins hand-picked by the Grammywinning DJ/producer, featuring a versatile selection of virtual instruments, effects and mixing tools. The Producer Pack features: eight industry-standard instruments and plug-ins, including five premium synth, piano and bass instruments and plug-ins for automatic kick/bass sidechaining, vocal de-essing and drum shaping. All instruments are NKS-ready for Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol and Maschine and they include high-definition and standard sample libraries.

MMW 2019

Waves, Inc. 2800 Merchants Dr. Knoxville, TN 37912 (865) 909-9200 www.waves.com

DJ TIMES

Yamaha has released its DZR line of powered speakers and DXS-XLF powered subwoofers. The models include: DZR10; DZR12; DZR15; DZR315; DXS15XLF and DXS18XLF. Digital processing in all models is done at 96kHz. The DZR and DXS series are also available with Dante integration. These “D” models incorporate smart system integration with Yamaha Consoles and other Dante devices via a 2in/2out I/O configuration. Using the Analog I/O and the Dante break-IN and break-OUT capabilities inside these speakers makes flexible routing and system configuration options easy to set up.

37

TRACKS…MIXES…COMPILATIONS “DISTORTED TRUTH” u Above & Beyond u Anjunabeats A killer instrumental that’s pure trance. The hard-hitting intro grabs you, an orchestral breakdown buoys the middle, then an ultimate build-up carries you home. Another A&B crowd-pleaser.

– Jennifer Harmon “MAKE ME (GO CRAZY)” u Change u Nova 17 Ltd One of our greatest soul bands continues with some class from their latest long player, Love 4 Love. This time, it’s the turn of Opolopo to take the reins and deliver a remix that funks to the max and nails you to the dancefloor.

– Curtis Zack “OLD FRIEND” (MK REMIX) u Elderbrook u ffrr The “Cola” co-creator returns with another seriously catchy club track. MK’s mix features a muted kick and sweet tambourine accents – a great groove matches perfectly with its silky vocal.

– Jennifer Harmon “YOU’RE SORRY” u Todd Edwards u Defected Bringing Edwards’ signature time-and-pitch-shifting sound, complete with chopped-up vocal samples, heavy bassline, thick kicks, and overall funky groove, this one should rock your dancefloor. Check the sublime “Earsling Extended Dub.” – Tommy D Funk “GIVE ME THE SUNSHINE” u Modento u Midnight Riot!

This disco-flavored release offers three very different interpretations from full-on vocal (Qwestlife Remix) to deeper disco (Vertigini Remix). Great grooves.

– Curtis Zack “ALL OVER THE WORLD” u Fedde Le Grand u Spinnin All the makings of a festival thumper here. Check the prominent synths swirling through an ultra-catchy breakdown and its uplifting mantra: “I’m here to spread love all over the world.”

– Jennifer Harmon “YOU CAN MAKE IT” (REMIXES)

u Shawn Christopher u Soulfuric

Great remixes of this uplifting, vocal-house stomper, including Italian duo Alaia & Galo’s effort, which ups the drama with its handclap breakdown. Also, the “Preacher Dub,” with Ron Carroll testifying, gets plenty righteous.

– Tommy D Funk “WANNA LUV U” u Groove Assassin u Things May Change!

Another jackin’ release on the artist’s own imprint. A damn funky sample and skippy drums work together sublimely to create a great track.

Ralf GUM

– Curtis Zack “THE TREAT” EP u Matthias Tanzmann u Dirtybird

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

A superb two-tracker from the German DJ/producer. The rattling title track gets wild and pushes psychedelic accents – dark and delightful. The B-side, “Filthy,” is fun, funky and plenty suggestive.

– Jennifer Harmon

38

“MADE TO MOVE” B/W “IF IT FEELS GOOD”

u Criss Korey feat. ISSA u King Street Two solid cuts from the legendary NYC label. The A-Side’s based around a funky guitar hook that’ll really grab you. Then, “If It Feels Good” takes a filtered sample as its backbone and layers the vocal over it.

– Curtis Zack

Above & Beyond

“THE GORGE” u Jason Ross feat. Dimibo u Anjunabeats Melding tough kicks, dubstep-flavored bass with classic Anjuna prog-trance sounds, Ross somehow creates a vibe of happy darkness before launching into a psy-trance groove. What’s not to love?

– Jennifer Harmon “BULLDOG” u Lavvy Levan u Friday Fox Recordings This funky-house groover also offers soulful vocals, breakbeats and pumpin’ vibes. The “DJ Dashcam Remix” gets deeper with its catchy piano work.

– Tommy D Funk Fedde Le Grand

“DANCER” u DJ Meme feat. Gabriela Riley u Memix On this cover of Gino Soccio’s bumpin’ disco classic, DJ Meme doesn’t stray too far from the original, but gives it a nice update.

If you want a fresh version to road-test for Nu Disco lovers, this should do the trick.

Groove Assassin

– Curtis Zack PROGRESSIONS u Ralf GUM u GoGo Teaming up with a crew of worthy collaborators, GUM’s fourth full-length delivers plenty of splendid deep-house moments. They include the bouncy “Back to Love” featuring Joseph Junior and Ayanda Jiya, the R&B-leaning “A Time and a Place” featuring Lady Alma and the ultra-soulful “Dreamstate” featuring Kafele.

– Tommy D Funk “LET’S FEEL GOOD” u T-Groove feat. Ania Garvey u LAD

Matthias Tanzmann

Aptly titled, this uplifting track oozes warmth and soul. John Morales dons the controls and delivers a perfection in the form of four sweet M+M remixes.

Elderbrook

– Curtis Zack “FROM THE BACK” u Pat Lok & Party Pupils u Kitsuné Musique Already with big support from Pete Tong, this suggestive banger delivers big chords, bubbling rhythms and sleek breakdowns. Fresh.

– Tommy D Funk “7 PM” (REMIXES)

Todd Edwards

Timmy Regisford unquantize For Afro-House lovers, this one won’t go away – sleek, lush and deep house from the Shelter party maestro. Full of jazzy, funky, Afro vibes, the track features three tight mixes, including the hypnotic “TR TW Mix” from Regisford and keyboardist Tiger Wilson.

– Tommy D Funk

Andy Daniels floors. Also check Mark Lower’s bumpin’ “I Wanna Be With You” and two Sue Avenue tracks – the lush “Brooklyn By Night” and the ultra-deep “Let There Be House” Feat. DJ Romain.

DJ TIMES

Various Artists Nervous Records On this four-tracker from various artists, Nervous brings some fire with this solid slab of disco-tinged, soulful house. The fave here – “Got What You Need” by Disco Town, Angelo Ferreri & Moon Rocket – really delivers. It has an infectious groove from the getgo, and is loaded with lovely piano hooks, lush vocals and a feel-good vibe that’s sure to move even the most stubborn of dance-

MMW 2019

GUEST REVIEWER: ANDY DANIELS THE NERVOUS BROOKLYN SESSIONS VOL 1

39

Making Tracks

(continued from page 26) received some love in the past year or so, and more is to come.

Among them are a major upgrade to Kontakt, NI’s popular samplebased synth platform. While the paid version of Kontakt comes with a library of sounds (there’s also Kontakt Player, which does not), it’s best known as the functional foundation of a wide array of sample-based virtual instruments (VIs) from NI itself, as well as a large array of other companies, including Waves, Output, Embertone, Orange Tree Samples, and many others.

The changes in Kontakt 6 are therefore mostly of interest to the people who make VIs with it. It adds wavetable synthesis, new effects, and improved creator tools. But NI showcases the new goodies with three VIs of their own under the Play Series banner: Analog Dreams, Ethereal Earth, and Hybrid Keys — all of which have a pretty spiffy array of music-making muscle.

Also, while originally scheduled for February, a substantial update to NI’s Massive is more recently targeted for June (at presstime) and will be available free to Komplete 12 owners. Known as a powerful tool for bass and electro production, the new Massive X will sit side-byside with the original Massive (for compatibility, among other reasons), while promising to deliver even

more powerful sound-generating capabilities.

On the effects side of the house, NI has bundled in Komplete Ultimate (and Ultimate Collector’s Edition) some fun new toys in the form of their new Crush Series: Dirt, Freak and Bite. With slick user interfaces, this trio expands your effects toolset by bringing some seriously fun ways to creatively chew up your audio. NI’s countless other effects are still bundled as well, providing pretty much everything you need to produce and mix.

One interesting development is the planned release of a major update to Komplete Kontrol, which will likely be out by the time you read this. It’ll be available free as part of Komplete Start, and blazes some new territory for the product.

Komplete Kontrol’s primary focus has been on integrating NI plugins with NI keyboard hardware, including the incredible S-Series. That lineup has been growing with the A-Series and M-Series keyboards, but the expanded mission for Komplete Kontrol now extends from instruments and effects to loops and samples as well — including integration with NI’s own Sounds.com service, closing some workflow gaps in an elegant way, and tightening NI’s ecosystem approach in the process.

As always, Komplete offers a tremendous amount of value in a single

package. There’s literally something here for everyone, whether your produce strictly EDM, or work more broadly as I do. And it’s the variety of tools that makes Komplete so attractive; you have the tools, so why not experiment? Whether symphonic strings or unusual world instrument sounds, there are thousands of creative ideas just waiting to be discovered.

As a result, most users will probably find the modest upgrade pricing justifiable. And in an era where plugin and effects makers — especially the ones who produce a wide array them — are shifting to subscription models, it’s refreshing to see NI staying with a more conventional approach. Rather than having my pocket picked each month for a subscription fee, I can buy into the package, then decide for myself whether any given upgrade is worth the investment. And in this case, it seems to be.

There’s Still More “More” Several years ago, I watched NI slowly delve into the waters of producing hardware, and it seems that lately, it has shifted its hardware strategy into high gear, with numerous new DJ offerings, as well as new studio offerings. At NAMM, we learned that NI was introducing a pair of very affordable audio interfaces, Komplete Audio 1 and Audio 2. At just $109 and $139,

respectively, and targeted to users with only basic I/O needs, they appear to cover the bases pretty well. And both come bundled with Ableton Live Lite, Komplete Start, and two months of Sounds.com access, among others. It’s a good foundation at a killer entry price for any producer, songwriter, or aspiring performer to get going.

NI have also introduced the Komplete Kontrol M32 keyboard at $129.

It’s a compact 32-key controller, also bundled with a range of goodies, and like the A-Series and S-Series keyboards, works with the Komplete Kontrol software to make browsing and using your various tools a more streamlined experience.

Summary Between the Komplete 12 collections for established musicians and producers, and the new entrylevel audio interfaces and MIDI keyboard, NI is proving it’s serious about addressing the needs of the entire range of music-makers and performers. When you add in everything they’re doing on the DJ side with recent Traktor updates and hardware, it seems apparent they’re putting that big chunk of VC investment cash to good use. All I can say is that as a longtime user of NI’s various production and DJ tools, it’s nice to be excited about the brand once again — and having some fun new tools to put to creative use.

showcase the album, as well as a lot of new unreleased music and some remixes of older stuff I wrote years ago.

DJ Times: In making an album, is it important to mix production styles?

Jones: I don’t know if it is! I have a pretty open-ended creative vision and super-varied set of influences, so I think that is reflected in my music.

But, while maybe that is a strength of my album, I wouldn’t say I think that’s necessarily a requisite feature for an album to be good. There are plenty of great albums that have less diverse approaches to production. For example, a great solo piano album or a great techno album is not necessarily less good just because it crosses less genres. Good music is good music.

DJ Times: The album got some high praise – you even got a thumbsup from Porter Robinson.

Jones: It makes me feel so deeply happy and grateful to see people enjoying the album and connecting with the music. Seeing Porter mention it as one of his favorites this year felt especially good because his work – especially his live AV sets – were a huge influence on The Ineffable Truth live show and my music generally.

DJ Times: What have you learned

from making the album and doing the accompanying tour?

Jones: The more I lean into my creative and experimental impulses and write music for the sake of trying to create good music, as opposed to trying to make things that will fit well in my DJ sets, the better and more personal the music tends to feel and the happier I am with it.

DJ Times: Anything you would do differently?

Jones: With the album, probably not. I’m really quite happy with it exactly as is. With the live show, I am super-happy with it in its current touring form, but definitely plan to

do more work on it to adapt it to festival stages for summer – mainly in terms of revising certain lighting and video elements to look good on whatever weird video and light configurations festivals will have for me to play on.

DJ Times: What’s next for you?

Jones: I have a ton of unreleased music I’m excited about, including new music with Eprom. Also, I’m really hoping to bring The Ineffable Truth live show to the rest of the world outside of North America, and I think we have some international dates in the works – so hopefully that works out!

– Brian Bonavoglia

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

G Jones

40

(continued from page 12) about what felt right and what didn’t.

Because I was patient with myself, I never really felt too stressed about choosing the tracklist, and one day it felt like the final tracklist was just so obvious it couldn’t be any other way.

DJ Times: What was your feeling when you finished the album?

Jones: I knew I’d made a body of work that I loved and would stand behind, even if my fans or the general public hated it. But I was also pretty confident that at least some people would like it because it felt like my best work and a very honest and heartfelt artistic statement.

DJ Times: Did that excitement transfer into prepping for the live show?

Jones: Getting the tour together was much more stressful because, unlike the album which I had unlimited time to write, the tour dates were set in stone, so there were firm deadlines to finish the video assets, lighting programming, arranging tracks for the live set, etc. Once all of the work was done preparing the show, though, I was so unbelievably excited to show it to the world. I think it’s exactly the right show to

News

(continued from page 5) ed Events: March 28 at No. 3 Social Rooftop, The Ritual (with Louie Vega and Anané); March 28 at The Surfcomber, All Gone Pete Tong Miami Pool Party (with Pete Tong, Damian Lazarus B2B DJ Tennis and more); March 29 at Space, Dirtybird Players Miami (Claude VonStroke, Matthias Tanzmann, Marc Houle, Will Clarke and Justin Martin); March 29 at The Delano, All Day I Dream (with Lee

Burridge, Bedouin and more); March 30 at a venue TBA, Get Lost Miami (with Diplo, Chris Liebing, Guy Gerber and more); March 30 at No. 3 Social Rooftop, Dance.Here.Now (with DJ Three, Doc Martin, Thugfucker and more); and March 31 at No. 3 Social Rooftop, MMW Closing Party (with Cassy, Chus & Ceballos, Kenny Dope, Louie Vega, Oscar G and more).

Chorro E’ Loco

MM

2. Pitbull feat Chombo

Dame Tu Cosita

Juston

3. Pabanor feat U4Ria

So Sexy/Tan Sexy Pegassus

4. Papo Kpuccino

Going To Havana

New Latin

5. Alsikiatra

Dame Un Besito

DA

6. Vaq2uero

Clula Eres Tu

Mayimbe

7. Chacal

No Volvere

360

8. Adassa

M.B.S.

Sky Urbano

9. Magia Caribeña

Amparito

MC

10. El Gran Combo

Ella Lo Que Quiere... EGC

11. Mercy Group

Que Hablen

Cafe

12. DJ Julian, M Kings,

P. Royce, B.G.Babalu

HTM

13. Domenic Marte

Todo Tiene Su Fin J&N

14. Nacho y Ozuna

Casualidad

Universal

15. DJ Snake

Taki Taki

Geffen

16. Marc Anthony

Eata Rico

Sony

17. JJ Rodriguez El Puma Jr.

Rumba Pa’ Gozar

Cima

18. Charlie Cruz

Tu Con El

CC

19. Luis Fonsi y Ozuna

Imposible

Universal

20. Tito Rojas

El Doctor

TR

Most Added Tracks 1. Wisin & Yandel

Reggaeton En Lo Oscuro Sony

2. Anuel AA feat Romeo Santos Quiero Beber

RHLM Music

3. Ephrm J

Como Una Oracion

EJ

4. Charlie Aponte

Besos De Azucar

CA

5. Zion y Lennoz

Tocamelo

Warner

REPORTING LATIN POOLS

NATIONAL CROSSOVER POOL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Mark Ronson FT/ Miley Cyrus Ava Max Ariana Grande Halsey Dj Snake FT/ Selena Gomez Ellie Goulding Bleona Ariana Grande Post Malon & Swae Lee NOTD, Felix Jaehn Kelly Clarkson Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper Fisher Panic At The Disco Benny Blanco & Calvin Harris Zara Larsson Chainsmokers FT/ Kelsea Ballerini Benny Blanco FT/ Halsey & Khalid Camelphat X Christoph Kendra Erika Calvin Harris Rag’N’Bones Christine And The Queens Bright Lights Peter K Dark Beat Alessia Cara Gryffin With Zohara Sam Smith And Normani Bad Bunny & Drake Dua Lipa Post Malone Breanna Rubio F Tyga Ashlee Keating DD Fox Iyes And Ryan Ribeck Charlie XCX F Troye Yolanda Be Cool Dynoro And Gigi D’Agostino Drew Schiff Vali DJs From Mars

Nothing Breaks Like Sweet But Psycho Thank U. Next Without Me Taki Taki Close To Me I Don’t Need Your Love 7 Rings Sunflower SSo Close FT/ Georgia Ku Heat Shallow Losing It High Hopes I Found You Ruin My Life This Feeling Eastside Breathe FT/ Jem Cooke Self Control Giant 5 Dollars Gringa FT/ Fito Blanco Addicted To Drums Trust My Lonely Remember Dancing With A Stranger Mia FT/ Sean Paul Swan Song Wow Turn Me Up Hurt Me So Good Need You Love Tonight This Feeling 1999 Dance And Chant In My Mind It’s Just Today Pluto Gam Gam

RCA Atlantic Reprise Capitol Interscope Interscope Bleona Inc Republic Republic Island Atlantic Interscope Capitol Atlantic Interscope Epic Columbia Interscope Pryda Dauman Columbia Capitol 333 Symposio Def Jam Interscope Capitol Warner Brothers Warner Brothers Republic Dauman 418 Music 971 Entertainment Radikal Atlantic Robbins Arista Drew Schiff Grey Popsicle Radikal

This Feeling Giant Addicted To Drums 7 Rings Trapped In A Bassline Swan Song Bones Gam Gam It’s Just Today Love Wins

Radikal Columbia Symposio Republic Summond Warner Brothers Big Beat Radikal Drew Schiff Capitol

Most Added Tracks

n Latinos Unidos Record Pool n Salsamania Latin Record Pool n Lobo/Bass Record Pool n Urban Tropics Music Pool n North East Record Pool n Mixx Hitts Record Pool n Ritmo Camacho Record Pool n Ritmo Internacional Record Pool n DJ Latinos Record Pool n Mass Pool n Record Pool Latino n V.I.P. Chicago Record Pool.

ATTENTION DJ TIMES READERS: DJ Times is currently looking for DJs that are interested in reporting to the DJ National Dance/Crossover chart and the DJ Times National Urban Dance chart. Reporterships are open to Record Pools and individual DJs. For more information contact: Dan Miller, dmiller@testa.com

1 Iyes & Ryan Ribeck 2 Calvin Harris & Rag’N’Bones 3 Peter K & Dark Beat 4 Ariana Grande 5 Richard Fraioli And T Capretto 6 Dua Lipa 7 Galantis F/ OneRepublic 8 DJs From Mars 9 Drew Schiff 10 Carrie Underwood

REPORTING POOLS Gary Canavo Blake Eckelbarger n The Dance Environment n Manny Esparza n Ilan Fong n Howard HK Kessler n Sam Labelle n Dan Mathews

n Brian Stephens n Peter K. Productions n Steve Tsepelis n Randy Schlager

n n

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 oking for these LIMITEDtitles?

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DJS IN THE US. WE SERVICE CDS AND MP3S IN DANCE AND URBAN FORMATS. FEEDBACK ck on the links in the chart.

AND MEMBERSHIP 770-740-0356 le for qualified DJs in the DUES US. REQUIRED. We service CDs and MP3s in

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Masspool Dj Stickyboots Powered By Spectrio Nexus Radio Kahoots In The Mix With HK Soundworks Klubjumpers / RHYTHM 105.9 FM KRYC Mixxmasters Peter K Pacific Coast DJs Music Manager NA / Soundtrack Your Band

Saugus,MA Goshen,NJ Chicago,IL Columbus,OH Minneapolis,MN San Francisco,CA Sacramento, CA Lithonia,GA Long Beach,CA Seattle,WA

Compiled As March, 2019

NATIONAL LATIN DANCE POOL

1. Grupomania

Zeds Dead

(continued from page 17) of anticipation for their next album or release. I often forget names of people, in fact, because I only knew them for one thing. Maybe it has to do with what I was saying about how it’s easier to make something now, but harder to have your own sound.

DJ Times: How would you say your sound has evolved since your early remix days?

Hooks: I feel like we’re just continuously adding to a big painting that is Zeds Dead. Like a tapestry, everything we’ve done is a part of a larger picture and we’re still working on it. I think the picture is much more clear now than it was in the first couple years. We never wanted to just make one sound or one type of music, rather to explore anything that inspires us. I think, at this point, our fans know not to expect any one thing in particular. Hopefully, that’s a good thing.

DJ Times: Some of the biggest names in bass music are Canadian – how did that happen?

Hooks: Maybe it’s because when the weather is shit during winter you’re more inclined to stay in and work on music.

DJ Times: What is it that made you fall in love with the genre?

Hooks: So many different reasons.

I remember I was a big hip-hop head, but when I discovered drum-n-bass I liked how it had a lot of hip-hop influence and vibe, but had such interesting sounds. It sort of was my gateway drug into electronic music. A little while later, my friends and I used to sit around and sketch while listening to Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Calyx and Teebee. I liked it for listening to.

DJ Times: Did you hear DJs in clubs or festivals?

Hooks: I never went to clubs – I

was too young, had no money. I never went to festivals – I didn’t even know about them. When I first heard drumn-bass in a club, I loved how heavy the sub-bass was and you could feel it in your chest. I loved how dubstep was so underground and dark and hypnotic. I loved the energy of dirty electro house. I just gradually really got into all that stuff and wanted to put my own spin on it.

DJ Times: You guys seem to collaborate with artists quite a bit these days. Why do you choose to go that route as producers?

Hooks: There’s still way more solo stuff, but we’re just trying to finish those and put them out at the right time in the right way. I think we were very insular and didn’t really entertain the idea of collaborating that much before – I don’t know why, really. Maybe because Zeds Dead is a collaboration between the two of us, we didn’t think to bring other people into the mix. At some point, we became more open to it and sometimes it really works out incredibly.

DJ Times: What’s the process?

Hooks: Usually, it’s ideas that we got to a certain point and then never finished or hit a wall with creatively.

We have a lot of these laying around, so sometimes somebody else can bring something new to the table and then something that was dormant gets awoken. It goes the other way, too – artists send us starting points and that can inspire us. These days, we’re into trying anything. At the end of the day, it’s just about making good music however it gets there.

DJ Times: You two recently joined forces with Delta Heavy for “Lift You Up.” What was it like working with them and how did the track come together?

Hooks: That collaboration felt very natural and we loved how that track came together. We’d love to do more with them in the future – they’re really great producers. We sent them an idea for “Lift You Up” with the vocal and a melody and drop idea. It was very rough, but they saw the potential in it. We went back and forth on it throughout, but they really injected their flare into it and made it the beast that it became.

DJ Times: Now speaking of collaboration, there was “Lights Go Down” with Jauz and the “Deadbeats Goes Off the Deep End” concept where you all play back-to-back. How did this come about?

Hooks: Jauz is a friend of ours and we have a lot of the same tastes in production, so collaborating with him always feels really natural. We were just in the studio a couple days ago and made something we’re really excited about.

DJ Times: Is there anyone else out there you’d like to go back-toback with?

Hooks: We’ve gone back-to-back with a lot of our favorite DJs – Diplo, Skrillex, Skream, Dillon Francis, Kill the Noise, to name a few. I think it would be fun to do one with Rusko.

DJ Times: Most artists dream to play Denver’s iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre at least once in their career and this year will mark as the sixth installment of your annual Deadrocks event. How does it feel to host such an event?

Hooks: It kinda blows my mind when I think about it. We did this so organically, just kept at it, putting out songs and doing shows, never signing to a label, never having a mainstream hit, and now we do two nights at Red Rocks. We’re still pretty under the radar – like we’re so far from celebrities – but when we do a show there, 20,000 people come. It’s insane.

DJ Times: Deadbeats is already off to a hot start, DeadRocks dates have been revealed. What else can fans expect from Zeds Dead in 2019?

Hooks: Lots more music. We have so much Zeds Dead original music in the works and we’re just figuring out what we’re going to do to finish and release it. We also have several more collabs to be coming out shortly and some remixes. Some amazing releases coming out on Deadbeats, too, and we’ll be playing some great festivals, as well as more Deadbeats parties.

Can’t wait to show you what we got n cookin’!

Mobile

(continued from page 30) says, “but while the goals among DJs are the same, we are very different by what makes us unique or stand out. I like to think what makes us stand out is our professionalism, charisma, delivery, our dance choreography prior to events, and our educational/entertaining school assembly programs.”

Despite the unique challenges that have come up over the years – including his health issues – Gor-

don, 39, can honestly say that DJing remains fun for him. “Things could impact anyone,” he says. “All jobs have certain pitfalls or things that can come up. But I really would not trade at all what I do! This is my calling and nothing can keep me from doing it.

“In surviving cancer, the idea of DJing is what kept me going. Returning to DJing means I got my life back – performing is my life.” n

Detroit’s Movement Fest: May 25-27 And that’s a good enough reason…

To kick off the summer in The D.

DJ TIMES

MMW 2019

It’s now DJ-festival season…

42

Photos: Bryan Mitchell/Paxahau

Movement Festival, in the next DJ Times