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NOTABLES…MILESTONES NEWS
LDI 2017: NEW LIGHTING FOR THE DJ & CLUB MARKETS
Da Black Swan
San Bernardino, Calif. – Lasers fired away at San Bernardino’s NOS Events Center this past Nov. 24-25, as more than 20,000 trance fans experienced the Dreamstate festival. Produced by Insomniac, Dreamstate brought top genre talents like Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, and Andrew Rayel. For more on Dreamstate, please visit Page 18.
ADJ’s MOD Series of LED Pars.
Martin’s RUSH MH 10 Beam FX.
Chauvet DJ’s SlimPAR Pro QZ12 USB.
output snow machine. Related company Elation Lighting unveiled the Artiste Series of LED moving heads, which included the Artiste Picasso, Artiste Dali and Artiste DaVinci fixtures. Elation also debuted the Dartz 360 LED beam/spot fixture, the Chorus Line flexible batten luminaires, plus the Proteus Beam and Proteus Hybrid moving head fixtures. San Fernando, Calif.-based German Light Products, which attended LDI with its primary suppliers Cosmic Truss and SceneX, had a big show as it celebrated its 10 th anniversary. New products included the JDC1 Hybrid Strobe, the Impression S350 fixture, and the Force 120 fan-effect fixture. GLP also showed its new range of Rain Covers and its SNAP cable-management system. In its award-winning Q*bert-video-game-themed booth, Waukesha, Wis.based Blizzard lighting debuted its WINK LED moving head fixture. Perfect for the dancefloor, the unit includes a 60-watt 4-in-1 RGBW LED in a small housing. Le Maitre debuted the Wireless Salamander Quad Pro flame machine. The Las Vegas-based company also showed four more flame machines, four fog machines, three hazers and a snow machine.
JANUARY 2018
Happy TranceGiving!
Big Booth: GLP at LDI ’17.
DJ TIMES
By Jim Tremayne Las Vegas – Thousands of entertainment-lighting professionals made the trip to Vegas this past Nov. 13-19 for the annual Live Designs International exhibition and convention. According to organizers, LDI 2017 drew over 13,000 attendees, presented more than 85 educational sessions and included more than 350 exhibiting companies, which displayed their wares during the show’s final three days. In addition to presenting products for stage, touring, television and film, LDI ’17 exhibitors debuted plenty of new lighting products for the DJ and nightclub markets and, as usual, DJ Times magazine was there to check it all out. Let’s take a look: Sunrise, Fla.-based Chauvet DJ offered plenty of new products for club and DJ uses. The new Eve series of par washes includes three models – tri-color Eve P-130, the variable-white Eve P-140 and the ultra-violet Eve P-150. The company also added a new wash to its SlimPAR series – SlimPAR Pro QZ12 USB is a quad-colored D-Fi USB-compatible wash light with motorized zoom. Chauvet DJ also unveiled a pair of atmospheric effects at LDI. They include the Cumulus low-lying fog machine and the Hurricane 2000 high-volume fog machine. The company also debuted the Data Stream 8, a flexible DMX splitter. HARMAN’s booth included five new lighting products from Martin Professional and one new audio entry from JBL Professional. From Denmark-based Martin, they included the Mac Encore Wash light, the RUSH MH 10 Beam FX, the RUSH MH 11 beam moving head fixture, the RUSH CS Series LED Cove Lighting Strips and the Exterior Linear Quad. Northridge, Calif.-based JBL Pro showed the VTX A12W line-array loudspeaker. Los Angeles-based ADJ released four new series and more than a dozen new products. Each fixture from the new Element Series of Portable LED up-lights offers an internal rechargeable lithium battery and an extended range WiFLY EXR wireless DMX receiver. Perfect for wall washes, the series features four models and two case options. The MOD Series of professional LED pars offers modular designs and it includes four new models – MOD QW100, MOD QA60, MOD HEX100 and MOD TW100. ADJ displayed its newest moving head fixture, the Vizi CMY300, a flexible unit for larger venues and productions that functions as a beam, spot or wash light. ADJ debuted its Design Series of LED video panels, which includes four models – square, triangle, quarter-circle and rectangle. Lastly, ADJ unveiled its Entour Series of professional effects generators, which includes Entour Haze Pro haze machine, Entour Cyclone fog-spreading fan and Entour Snow high-
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VOLUME 31 NUMBER 1
DEPARTMENTS 7 Feedback
As Always, the Answers to All Your DJ-Related Questions
26 Making Tracks
12 Soul Deep
In Making Some of Clubland’s Funkiest Tracks, German DJ/ Producer Tino Piontek (aka Purple Disco Machine) Proves That Groove Is in the Heart BY JIM TREMAYNE
18 Dreamstate ’17
iZotope Ozone 8
28 Sounding Off
Hercules Universal DJ
30 Mobile Profile
Jersey DJ Catches Up in Crowded Market
32 Business Line
How to Evaluate Your DJ Business
Holiday Trance Cornucopia Fills Up SoCal Fans BY JIM TREMAYNE
34 Gear
20 DAW Collaboration
38 Grooves
Making Music Together Online Still Poses Challenges, So Our Pair of Tech-Writers Evaluate the Pros & Cons of Several Platforms BY WESLEY BRYANT-KING & NICHOLAS DAHL
24 Book ’Em!
We Asked DJs How They Filled Their Holiday Calendars This Season — And What the Prospects Look Like for ’18 BY JEFF STILES
New Products from Pioneer DJ, Numark & More
Phat Tracks from Gorgon City, Deorro & More
41 Club Play Chart
The Hottest Records, As Reported by Our Top U.S. Record Pools
SAMPLINGS 8 Submorphics
Liquid D-n-B
10 In the Studio With…
4
San Holo
Julien Duval
DJ TIMES
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DOES MORE WEIGHS LESS
FROM THE EDITOR
Purple Reign Looking back on the musical highlights of a very busy 2017, one of the best sets I heard came from Tino Piontek (aka Purple Disco Machine). Crazy name, I know, but his music is no joke. At West Coast Weekender, a wonderful event held each May in San Diego, the German DJ/ producer delivered an irresistible 90-minute performance loaded with juicy funk, retro disco, and filter house. Playing to a very adult audience – no candy ravers or EDM kiddies in the WorldBeat Center that night – Piontek had hands flailing, hips swinging, and a dancefloor reaching critical mass. It was one of those nights that makes you remember why you do this in the first place. Pure bliss. Fast-forward five months to Holland for Amsterdam Dance Event and I finally got a chance to interview the Dresden-based Piontek. His debut full-length, Soulmatic, was due for release that week and, over beverages, we managed to get a fairly lively interview going – among other things, he described how growing up behind the Iron Curtain made him even more appreciative about music and the opportunities it affords him. Hope you like it. (By the way, West Coast Weekender 2018 is set for May 3-6 – check it out.) Moving onto this issue… in a unique feature this month, our longtime tech reviewer Wesley Bryant-King teams with studio colleague Nicholas Dahl to discuss the challenges faced by those doing online, DAW-based, music collaboration. The two Colorado-based writer/producers discuss the pros and cons of several DAW platforms and hopefully they drop a little science for those looking to collaborate online. Thanks, fellas! Also, in our tech reviews, Wes takes a look at another DJ product from the French manufacturer Hercules – this time, it’s the Universal DJ controller for the Sounding Off column. Also, in Making Tracks, our St. Louis-based studio maven Josh Harris handles iZotope’s Ozone 8 mastering suite. In Samplings, our Brian Bonavoglia sits down with Dutch DJ/artist/label honcho Sander van Dijck (aka San Holo), who describes his approaches to the studio and his bitbird imprint. Also, L.A.-based scribe Lily Moayeri connects with Greg Axelrad (aka Submorphics), whose recent Detroit Haze EP drops some fine liquid drum-n-bass tracks. This past Thanksgiving week, we ventured out west for the Dreamstate festival in San Bernardino, Calif. Some of the trance-music scene’s top talents – Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Andrew Rayel and more – hit the stage at the NOS Events Center and entertained more than 20,000 fans. Our feature photo spread brings you the highlights. On the mobile side of the market, Jeff Stiles asks a panel of vets, “How did your holiday bookings fare this season?” For some, very well. In Mobile Profile, we meet with New Jersey jock Artem Lomaz who has succeeded in his crowded market by taking an analytical approach to his work. In Business Line, we explain how some top CEOs can help you evaluate our DJ operation by asking yourself some basic interview questions. We also check in with the DJ world’s lighting market, as we report the latest innovations unveiled at this past LDI show in Las Vegas. Also, stay tuned for updates on DJ Expo 2018 – we hope to have an announcement on our August show very soon. Cheers,
DJ TIMES
JANUARY 2018
Jim Tremayne Editor, DJ Times
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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 Kat Bein Wesley Bryant-King Chris Caruso Shawn Christopher Matt Clark Paul Dailey Reed Dailey Chris Davis DJ Deets Tony Fernandez Tommy D Funk Michelle Fetky Mike Gwertzman Jennifer Harmon Josh Harris 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
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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 Matt Van Dyke mvandyke@testa.com marketplace advertising sales manager Ricky Pimentel rpimentel@testa.com art/production assistant Ricky Pimentel rpimentel@testa.com Circulation circulation@testa.com Classifieds classifiedsales@testa.com operations manager Robin Hazan rhazan@testa.com Editorial and Sales Office: DJ Times, 25 Willowdale Avenue, Port Washington, New York, USA 11050-3779. (516) 767-2500 • FAX (Editorial): (516) 944-8372 • FAX (Sales/all other business): (516) 767-9335 • DJTIMES@TESTA. COM Editorial contributions should be addressed to The Editor, DJ Times, 25 Willowdale Avenue, Port Washington, NY, USA, 110503779. Unsolicited manuscripts will be treated with care an d should be accompanied by return postage. DJ Times (ISSN 1045-9693) (USPS 0004-153) is published monthly for $19.40 (US), $39.99 (Canada), and $59.99 (all other countries), by DJ Publishing, Inc., 25 Willowdale Ave., Port Washington, NY 110503779. Periodicals postage paid at Port Washington, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to DJ Times, PO BOX 1767, LOWELL MA 01853-1767 Design and contents are copyright © 2018 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 January 2018
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FEEDBACK MENTORSHIP & MOBILES
AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988 DECEMBER 2017
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AMSTERDAM DANCE EVENT SIGHTS, SOUNDS & IDEAS SALES & BRANDING LESSONS FROM DJ EXPO
KREWELLA
*Movement Electronic Music Festival, May 26-28, Hart Plaza, Detroit, Mich. *Electric Forest Music Festival, June 21-24 & June 28-July 1, Rothbury, Mich. *Summer NAMM Show, June 28-30, Music City Center, Nashville, Tenn.
*Global Dance Festival, July dates & venue to be announced, Denver, Col. *Moonrise Festival, August dates & venue to be announced, Baltimore, Md. *DJ Expo, August 13-16 & venue to be announced, Atlantic City, N.J. *Electric Zoo: The 6th Boro, Labor Day weekend dates to be announced, Randall’s Island Park, New York, N.Y.
*Lighting Design International (LDI), October 15-21, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev. *Audio Engineering Society (AES) 145th Convention, October 1720, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York, N.Y. *Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), October dates & venues to be announced, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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11/17/2017 11:21:08 AM
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. 2018 Show Calendar Looking into the coming year, DJ Times is set to hit a variety of trade shows, convention and conference/exhibitions. In addition to a full slate of America’s Best DJ-related club and festival events, which will run between Memorial Day and Labor Day, DJ Times expects to have representatives at most of the following industry-related confabs and big events. *Winter NAMM Show, January 25-28, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif. *Dirtybird Campout East, February 2-4, Forever Florida Adventure Park, St. Cloud, Fla. *South by Southwest (SXSW), March 9-18, Various Venues, Austin, Texas *Miami Music Week (includes Winter Music Conference & Ultra Music Festival), March 20-25, Various Venues, Miami, Fla.
THE NEXUS OF ALL THINGS DJ IT IS NOT AN ILLUSION
AUGUST 13-16, 2018
*West Coast Weekender, May 3-6, Lafayette Hotel & WorldBeat Center, San Diego, Calif. *Canadian Music Week, May 7-13, Sheraton Center Toronto Hotel & Vari‑ ous Venues, Toronto, Ontario, Canada *Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC Las Vegas), May 18-20, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nev.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.
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SAMPLINGS
DJ TIMES
JANUARY 2018
SUBMORPHICS: MAKING DETROIT HAZE
8
Liquid D-n-B: Submorphics aka Greg Axelrad.
As it often happens with global DJ/producers, Greg Axelrad is living a bi-continental life. Better known to drum-n-bass fans as Submorphics, Axelrad has returned to his Stateside home after spending a good chunk of his time this past year in Europe. He has an eye on transplanting himself to Amsterdam, but for now he calls San Francisco home. A specialist in the liquid side of the genre, Axelrad has had releases on all the high-profile labels featuring that funky sound: Hospital, Sgn:Ltd, Liquid V, Good Looking, Innerground, and Spearhead. His latest, the 10-track Detroit Haze EP, is on The North Quarter, which is run by Lenzman, the Dutch master of soulful d-n-b… hence, the draw to The Netherlands. As a North America-based artist, Axelrad, who spent his formative years in Chicago and Detroit, is a drum-n-bass unicorn with a career on par with any of his Europe-based contemporaries. This includes bookings at all the major events and club nights that feature the sound on that side of the world. He is quick to point out, however, that it took a long time for him to reach this point. “I’ve been at this for over 10 years,” he says. “Coming from America, everything takes longer to develop. Building relationships over the internet stunts the growth of your career. Maybe if I’d been in Europe the whole time, constantly collaborating and networking and making lot more moves, it would have been a different story. “We don’t have the drum-n-bass culture here. But at the same time, I think it’s been helpful for the development of my music to be isolated out here. I can come at it from my own angle because I’m not getting the same influences.” The multi-genre Detroit Haze EP is a reflection of Axelrad’s influences, particularly Detroit hip hop and Chicago house. The EP is underscored by his fine liquid touch, but Axelrad also explores a wide range of moods that includes the fresh hip hop of “Hot Ish” (featuring the mic stylings of Michigan MC SelfSays), the silky R&B vibes of “Weather It Out” (with the inimitable flow of liquid drum-n-bass icon, Steo), and the soul-popflavored “Don’t Be So Cold.” A proficient piano and guitar player, Axelrad’s a believer in the simple studio set-up. He has an iMac running Avid’s Logic X and Propellerhead’s Reason 8, a Universal Audio interface that allows him to utilize plug-ins, Discovery Pro VST, Predator, and reliable Native Instruments standbys Massive and FM7. Axelrad works a great deal with built-in plug-ins from Logic and Reason. The only samples you’ll hear in his music are vocals from the ’60s or ’70s, but synths (played by him) are his sound sources. Drum-n-bass tech wizard Ulterior Motive is tasked with all the mixes so Axelrad can focus on the creative rather than the analytical. “Lenzman helped a lot in getting the product to a more polished place,” Alexrad says of Detroit Haze. “At first, it was little weird for him to suggest so many different things, all these little details. Eventually, I found it refreshing that somebody wanted to be so hands-on with my music. It was about letting go, taking feedback and putting my ego to the side and doing what’s best for the project. The end result was a little bit different from my previous work, but it was also liberating to not be a control freak. It’s a credit to Lenzman that he’s so particular about the final product.” When DJing, Alexrad like to present his liquid d-n-b in the smoothest manner. Accordingly, his USB folders are organized by key, with one “keyless” folder from which he selects tunes to bridge between the songs in the other folders. Of course, he also has an “oldies-but-goodies” folder. “I try to play a social, deep, both uplifting and melancholic, musically interesting set,” he says. “But sometimes, you just have to strip back and play to what’s in front of you. It’s a hard one because you want to adapt to the situation and to the crowd, but you don’t completely want to water yourself down to the point of not representing yourself. It’s a balance. I don’t play absolutely balls-to-the-wall hard, but I do play some slightly harder stuff that’s heavy and minimal in order to connect the dots. But then, I try to keep a diverse set and play some half-time, hip-hop-type stuff to switch it up. “I don’t have a million tunes,” he continues, “just 100 to 200 at any given point in time. I try and never repeat the same set, even though no one, but me knows. I do end up playing a lot of the same mixes from show to show, but you’ve got to keep it fresh, otherwise you’re going to bore yourself – and if you’re boring yourself, people pick up on that energy.” – Lily Moayeri
NAMM FEBRUARY ISSUE Feature your product within DJ Times Spotlight promotion page- where our readers turn for the latest, news, information and special offers from the brands they love and trust. DJ Times offers this Mainstage promotional page in our February issue, allowing your brand to reach its target audience in the perfect environment that fits your message. An additional 3-5,000 copies will be added to print run for the NAMM show.
Participation Requirements and Materials + Run a full-page ad in the February issue of DJ Times + Provide up to 35 words of Copy and Headline + Submit a product shot (high-res, TIF, JPG,) + Space available on a first-come, first-served basis + All materials due on ad-close date Contact Advertising Integrated Director Paul Bozikis at 516.767.2500 ext.507 or email pbozikis@testa.com
IN THE STUDIO
SAN HOLO: SOUNDS, NOT GENRES
Flying Dutchman: San Holo aka Sander van Dijck.
New York City - He may have stolen the electronic spotlight in 2017 with his breakout single, “Light,” but San Holo has most certainly paid his dues leading up to his monumental year. Shortly after graduating from the esteemed Codarts University for the Arts in Rotterdam, the Dutch DJ/producer (aka Sander van Dijck) got his feet wet in the business by ghost producing for other artists. After some successes in that endeavor, he decided to become the face of his own project, San Holo. Emerging onto the scene in 2014 with his thumping trap remix of Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode,” van Dijck’s eclectic and forwardthinking production style quickly separated itself from the pack. Following the success of his debut EP, “Cosmos,” he continued to showcase his mastery with three singles (“We Rise,” “BWU,” and “Still Looking”), plus a handful of collabs with elites like Yellow Claw and Jauz. Eventually, he launched his own label, bitbird, which would later lead to the discovery of fellow Dutchmen, DROELOE, and Belgian talent Taska Black. DJ Times recently connected with San Holo amid his Gouldian Finch 2 Tour to discuss his gear, his process and his label. DJ Times: How would you describe a San Holo production? Sander: My productions carry a lot of emotion and nostalgia. For me, the main goal is for my songs to take you back to a moment in your life and how you were feeling at that specific point in time. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a happy or sad moment, but I just love it when I hear a track and all the feelings I had when I heard the track for the first time come back. I also try to work in “sounds” and not “genres,” if that makes sense. DJ Times: Your sound has evolved quite a bit over the years… Sander: I’ve never been one to restrict myself to a certain genre. For me, it’s about taking that San Holo “sound” and trying to experiment with that in many different forms. Generally, I also always try and stay ahead of the music curve and look for things that are outside the box. I personally listen to so many different styles of music and I think that’s also where a lot of the inspiration comes from. DJ Times: You’ve also been using your own vocals quite a bit and singing during your recent tour. What sparked this? Sander: I just like experimenting a lot. For “I Still See Your Face,” for example, the vocals I recorded myself were initially just scratch vocals. I recorded them thinking that I would eventually replace them with a proper vocalist. During the creation process, I experimented with a couple of different singers, but those original scratch vocals just felt like the perfect match for the song. DJ Times: What gear do you use? Sander: I use Ableton Live 9 as my DAW and Sennheiser HD-25s for headphones when on tour. I also recently bought the Apogee One. It’s such a great interface for touring, because I’m now able to record guitars via D.I. or vocals with the built-in mic – whenever, wherever. Fender has been kind enough to support me with a Duo-Sonic and a Mustang from their Offset guitar series, which I perform with, but also record with on tour. When at home, I use my Apogee Duet [interface] for recording and a pair of Yamaha NS-10s for monitoring. I also have a Fender Highway Strat and an acoustic Avalon guitar. When I’m recording vocals at home, I usually use a Shure SM57 or SM7B mic. DJ Times: What’s your music-making process? Sander: I’m pretty sporadic when it comes to workflow. My projects really are a mess and unorganized. Being on the road so much over the last few years has also made it extremely hard for me to be able to truly get into the proper headspace, sit down, and then start working. Most of the times, I try to work on music at the airport, at the hotel. Pretty much whenever I have the time, really, I’ll be working on something. DJ Times: Your label, bitbird, has blossomed over the past three years. Why? Sander: I think we have a very distinct sound and we definitely represent that “musicis-about-emotions-and-not-genres” kind of thinking. We seek out tracks and artists that touch us in a certain way – regardless of the size or the artist or what kind of music he or she makes. If a song is good, we just have to support it. DJ Times: You are actively involved in A&R for bitbird. What do you look for when signing a track? Sander: Basically, we look for everything that just touches us and makes us feel something different. I think all the tracks we’ve released so far have something you haven’t heard before. That’s also very much what we look for in songs. Like I said before, we don’t care about the size of an artist’s following or what genre the track is in. I just want to support music that is really good and unique and give talented musicians the platform they deserve. DJ Times: What advice do you have for young producers? Sander: Just do whatever feels right to you. Never conform to something just because other people like it or is something popular at the moment. And don’t restrict yourself to one genre. Just explore, have fun and create forever. – Brian Bonavoglia
Congratulations
‘17 Winner
In Making Some of Clubland’s Funkiest Tracks, German DJ/Producer Tino Piontek (aka Purple Disco Machine) Proves
SOUL DEEP
That Groove Is in the Heart
By Jim Tremayne
Amsterdam,The Netherlands – I’m running a tiny bit late for the pre-arranged 4 p.m. interview with Tino Piontek – the German DJ/producer professionally known as Purple Disco Machine – when I quite randomly run into a small cadre of American pals. The cell phone rings. It’s Piontek. “I think I’m just a block away,” I tell him, as I simultaneously pantomime hellos to the wide-eyed trio, genuinely surprised at the social collision. Nonetheless, I make all-too-quick pleasantries and rush off because I’ve learned that it’s rarely a good idea to keep a German waiting. And as it’s Amsterdam Dance Event week, I’m reminded of a cultural difference I’ve noticed between the Germans and the Dutch: Though both are fanatically opposed to tardiness, it’s only the Dutch who tend to have a sense of humor about it. Luckily, Piontek is fairly chill when I arrive in the hotel lobby about 90 seconds later. Despite the full day of press, he seems to brighten quickly when we begin to discuss oldschool music, his artistic process, his Dresden roots, and especially when I offer some genuine appreciation for his work. “I can tell if I’m going to like [one of your tracks],” I say, “within the first five seconds because the groove is usually so strong.” And it’s true, if you spin through Piontek’s prolific artistic career – he began making music as Purple Disco Machine in 2009 – his attention to detail remains impressive. No matter if it’s a bottom-heavy remix for a top act like Gorillaz or Jamiroquai, a sampledup groover like “I House You,” or a sleek collab like “Set It Out” (with Boris Dlugosch), Piontek’s mega-rhythmic tracks grab you right away, not unlike the irresistible hits from the touchstone acts that initially influenced him. James Brown, Giorgio Moroder, P-Funk, Salsoul Orchestra, The Gap Band, Black Box, Daft Punk… it’s all there. For many, PDM’s gospely groover, “My House,” put Piontek on the global-clubland map. And since its 2013 breakout, it has become an evergreen cut for the retro-loving Defected/Glitterbox crowd because it delivers a supple soul-and-groove combo, mixed with modern clubland precision. Of course, he followed up with plenty of dancefloor winners and began to travel the world as a much-in-demand DJ. Just after our Amsterdam conversation in late October, Purple Disco Machine released Soulmatic, his full-length artist debut on Australian indie imprint Sweat It Out! As one would expect, it’s loaded with PDM’s trademark Deep Funk sound and it’s peppered with juicy collabs and features with Dlugosch, Lorenz Rhode, Kool Keith, Karen Harding, CeeLo Green and more. At its best, Soulmatic drops plenty of hip-shaking grooves, like the commanding “Body Funk,” the sweeping “Love for Days” (with Dlugosch and Harding) and deeper, Italohouse-leaning title track. Also, “Devil in Me,” which is essentially a reprise of “My House” featuring Joe Killington and Duane Harden—slays as hard as anything on the album. Vaguely ethereal, yet insistently funky, “Devil in Me” is an earworm that’ll haunt you for
Julien Duval
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Hï Ibiza
DJ TIMES
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months. For anyone who grew up listening to much of the funk and disco records that also inspired the 36-year-old Piontek, it’s hard not to be impressed with his output and his ability to take those original sounds, then tweak and translate them to current club and festival audiences. But when you hear him recite those influences – whopping funk, Italo-disco, shiny pop, French house – with such reverence and, perhaps more crucially, when you realize the difficulties he found in getting that music on his side of the Berlin Wall, it all makes much more sense. Here’s Tino Piontek, aka Purple Disco Machine: DJ Times: I read that your father had a big impact on your early musical influences. Piontek: My parents, in general, really. My mother was a music teacher, but my father was collecting a lot of vinyl records back in the day. Coming from East Germany, it wasn’t easy to get these vinyls. Most of these artists were banned by the government—it was pretty difficult to get good vinyls from good
artists like Queen or Genesis. But he spent all this money and drove to Hungary to buy these kind of vinyls on the black market and bring them back home. DJ Times: Sounds like he made some great efforts. Piontek: That’s why I grew up with good music and a good vinyl collection. For me, it was a start and we were always listening to music, not so much listening to radio at the time. My father took me to concerts by people like Phil Collins and Moby when I was 13, 14, 15. DJ Times: Over the years, we’ve interviewed several DJs who grew up in East Germany – people like Paul van Dyk and the Modeselektor guys – and they all told me that because it was so difficult to get music, it made them appreciate it even more. True? Piontek: That’s true. Now you can get anything anywhere anytime. I was born in 1980. I was less than 10 when the Berlin Wall came down, so I’m too young to realize how hard it was to get good music. But my father told me these stories about going to buy music in Hungary, and sometimes he’d be stopped at the border and he’d lose all of his vinyls – and money. Sometimes he had luck [with the border guards], sometimes he didn’t. It was always a gamble. DJ Times: What were the first tracks that made you want to create super-funky music? Piontek: I started with Italodisco. I was a really big fan of really cheesy Italo-disco. Even in Germany, we had a lot of good guys, like Giorgio Moroder, but also Patrick Cowley. Moroder was in Munich
and started his career there. So that was my start, but then I got more and more into this old funk and disco, this kind of weird disco music I could get at that time. A friend of my father was a DJ playing this old disco stuff and he burned me a CD of his favorite disco songs. That was my first experience with disco music. DJ Times: Did Dresden have a music scene? Piontek: Dresden is not a city well-known for music, but back in the day we had a little scene. I had to wait until I was 18 to go to the clubs – I looked much younger, so that’s why I had to wait until I was 18 to get into the clubs. We had a really cool club called German Club – it was just for house music. It felt a bit like Studio 54… DJ Times: Was it fancy? Piontek: Really fancy with a lot of mirror balls, dancers, dressed-up people. But they booked these house guys, like Terrence Parker and the older-generation guys like Joey Negro. So, this was the first time I had this experience in my hometown with this type of music. Before that, I went to these illegal techno parties, but it was not my cup of tea, to be honest. I had a lot of friends who liked that music and that’s why I went to these techno parties, but then I found this German Club. Mostly, I went alone to this club because none of my friends were listening to this music. But I was this kind of nerd, standing in the corner, writing down every song… DJ Times: But that’s the story of many successful DJs… Piontek: Just being focused on the DJ, I think it was a bit nerdy. But in the end, it worked out. [laughs] DJ Times: How did you begin DJing? Piontek: I started DJing at this school. I had two friends who were interested in music and we started collecting CDs. We saved some money and bought some turntables. Then we did some high-school parties. Those were my first gigs in front of an audience. DJ Times: What were you playing? Piontek: It was a little bit of everything. It was house music – and this was at the end of the ’90s, beginning of 2000s, so it was the French-house, the disco-house… DJ Times: Daft Punk, Cassius… Piontek: Right, Daft Punk and that kind of thing. And I realized this music for the first time. I had the Homework album from Daft Punk – a friend had brought it to me. It was totally different from what I’d heard before. I was so inspired from it, from the art of sampling and everything. All of that music – Daft Punk, Cassius, Étienne de Crécy – that’s what we were playing. DJ Times: I’m always taken by how funky your grooves are. On a lot of your tracks, I can tell if I’m going to like it within the first five seconds because the groove is usually so strong. How do you manage to make it all so authentic? Piontek: Of course, my influences are from the old funk and disco generation… DJ Times: Parliament, James Brown… Piontek: Yeah, yeah, this kind of sound with the real, organic drums. So, for me, it’s really important that my harmonies and drums are really organic and warm, and not synthetic. All the shakers and percussions I record on my own. It’s not always “on time,” but it feels more real. The groove is the most important thing for me. Usually, when I start producing I start with an 8- to 16-bar loop, then I start jamming. But a strong groove is the most important thing to start with. DJ Times: And that seems to me to be your strength. The groove is always there. Piontek: That’s what you said… if you have a good groove, it gets you in seconds. Then you’re in a good mood, a positive mood to make music and then you can start playing with basslines or with chords or stuff like this, but the groove is necessary. DJ Times: What other instruments do you play? Piontek: I play a little piano, I can play some guitar riffs, but I can’t read notes. I never went to music school. I was just learning by myself over the years, so I think that’s why my harmonies sound a bit more
simple. But for me, I think it’s an important thing to keep it simple, being direct and focused on one element. DJ Times: What’s your studio evolution? Piontek: I started in 1996-97. I bought one of the first versions of Steinberg Cubase and then the Korg Electribe series, but it took me a while to figure out how it all works, especially with Cubase, which wasn’t easy. I was disappointed to learn how long it took to make a track. I had a lot of ideas in mind. I started with sampling all the disco and funk songs, like with the French-house sounds. Then I moved into drums, but it took me awhile to work with Cubase. But I’m still working with Cubase and Steinberg for 20 years now… DJ Times: Do you have some hardware? Or is it all in the box? Piontek: I think it’s both. I have a few synthesizers. I have the [Dave Smith Instruments] OB-6. I have the [Roland] Juno 106. I have some old [Roland] TB-303 and [Roland] Jupiter 8. For me, it’s cool to play around with the knobs, instead of doing everything with the mouse – for me to be more creative. It’s better. DJ Times: Let’s get into your process. How do you collaborate? Piontek: This depends on the other guy, my collaborator. Usually, I’m a bit nerdy. Back in the days, I never met anyone that I could really get it together with – back then, it was really difficult for me to work with other guys. I couldn’t be creative if other guys were waiting, sitting next to me, so… DJ Times: Tapping their feet… Piontek: Yeah, and saying, “Yeah, that’s OK, but what’s next?” But in the last few years, I met a few guys like Boris Dlugosch and Lorenz Rhode – we are really close friends now. With these guys, from the first second, it was so easy. We had the connection to each other. DJ Times: And Boris is certainly one who understands groove… Piontek: Absolutely. We love the same kind of music and that’s why it’s easy to produce together. That’s why I invited these kinds of guys for my album. Usually, the guys come for two or three days to my hometown. We sit in the studio from the morning until the evening. It’s sort of a celebration – we’re making music. In the evening, we have a really nice dinner. Lorenz and Boris like food and like wine, so it’s very comfortable. DJ Times: Why an album? These days, it seems like we only see singles and EPs. Piontek: The first time I had an idea for an album was four years ago. I always thought that I would do an album as Purple Disco Machine. I never felt like I was one of these guys
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who was just a club act, just releasing club tunes. I thought an album was the best way to look left and look right, to show another side. I can be more creative on an album if it’s not so focused on the dancefloor. All my songs before, I released for the dancefloor and for DJs and things like this. But for an album, I had the idea to do something different… to go more pop, to go more Italo, to show all these different sides of disco with my own Purple Disco Machine flavor for sure, but yeah, that’s the reason why I started working on an album and collecting ideas. DJ Times: When did you know that you were finished? Piontek: Two years ago, I thought I’d finished my album. I had some good ideas, a couple tracks, a few collaborations already, but I spoke to my management and my label and we decided that it wasn’t the best time to release an album. We needed a few more good collaborations. We needed to grow the fanbase. But now it feels like the right moment to release an album. But I know how hard it is to release an album nowadays with all these streaming services like Spotify. Usually now, everything’s just track by track. Not everybody cares about a whole album, but now it feels right. DJ Times: Well, some of us remember albums… even albums on vinyl... it was a different experience. Piontek: I think we’re from the older generation [laughs]. I’m still just listening to albums. When I hear music from Spotify, I’m listening to albums, not people’s playlists. DJ Times: What DJ gear did you begin with? What do you use now? Piontek: I started with vinyls. I saved for years to buy my first turntables. Then I worked in a record store for a couple of years, and I spent all my money in the store. I think I was my best customer there [laughs]. But it was a good time and I still have thousands of vinyls at home. But as I was traveling more and more outside Germany, it wasn’t easy to travel with record cases and to fly with them, so then I moved to CDs and now I use USBs. Now with [Pioneer DJ’s] rekordbox, it’s so easy. When I do this, I work with playlists – it’s like collecting vinyls in a record case back in the days. DJ Times: So, it’s a Pioneer DJ situation all the way for you? Piontek: It’s the classic set-up for me – two CDJs and a DJM-900nexus mixer. I never played with these controllers with Traktor or Serato. I mean, it’s OK. I know a lot of guys who do use it and you have some more options. But for me, it’s just not the way I want to work. I still don’t use the sync button. OK, you check the BPM, but I would never use the sync button.
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Photo Credit: Andrea Tortelli
DJ Times: When you were younger, which DJs impressed you? Piontek: These guys from the older generation, like Carl Cox and Sven Väth, are really good DJs. It’s not always their music, but the selection of songs… it’s like they’re telling a story, going up and down. That’s what I miss a bit nowadays with the EDM generation… DJ Times: No attention span? Piontek: Yes, every DJ is playing 100-percent. When you go to a festival, everyone is playing 45 minutes or an hour, but you’ll have five or six hours in a row of these DJs playing 100-percent/peak-hour sets… just drop, break, drop, break… it’s so stressful. DJ Times: Many younger DJs and fans come from a culture where they find their music online and have their most-impactful music experiences at festivals, not from clubs or raves. Piontek: Right. I had a residency for five or six years at a club in my hometown and, for me, that was the most important years to learn how to DJ. I was supporting bigger DJs, like DJ Hell and Sven Väth. It was 2003 to 2005. Every second Friday, I played from the beginning, then the headliner, then sometimes I played all night. But, for me, it was the perfect time to learn how to play a set, to start the music slow. You watch the people come in, have a drink, start a few conversations. No DJ is coming in at 10 or 11 in the evening and playing hard immediately. DJ Times: There’s an art to being a good opening DJ, right? Piontek: It’s much more difficult to be a good warm-up DJ than it is to start at 1 a.m. When everyone is dancing and the energy is good, usually you can’t fail. But to learn how to warm up is more important. DJ Times: What is the perfect DJ situation for you? Piontek: Usually, I like the small clubs rather than the big festivals. If it’s intimate, you’re close to the crowd and you can get the energy going. For me, it’s important to get something back from the crowd. My sets are so different from weekend to weekend, but I need direction from the crowd. So, I don’t have a plan, even my first song… it depends on who’s playing before and what kind of music. So sometimes, it’s better to go down and start from scratch, and then you build up. DJ Times: Usually, you have an idea of where you wanna go, right? Piontek: Yes, you have an idea, but sometimes it happens that it’s not working and then you have to have Plan B. You need reaction from the crowd. If you have no reaction, I start to get nervous. You start to go from the left to the right, and you play too eclectic and lose everybody.
a fast city. Piontek: Absolutely, and then when I got my first offer from New York… it was such an honor for me to play for the first time in the city. It was one of the moments for me when I realized, “OK, the music career is going to the next level now.” I always had good parties there and always got good reaction from the crowd. The last time I played there was a big festival on an island… Governors Island? DJ Times: Near the Statue of Liberty? That’s Governors Island. Piontek: Yeah, it was the Pinknic party with 5,000 to 10,000 people. It was in the afternoon and everyone was relaxing, having a picnic – and I played really chilly disco [laughs]. I had a lot of fun. It was an older crowd, so they were really into this music. We did it for two days. DJ Times: When I first saw the name Purple Disco Machine years ago, I thought, “Wow, this guy must love Prince,” or something. Piontek: To be honest, when I started, Purple Disco Machine was just a fun project. I never expected this kind of success. I just wanted to do music that I really loved. When I first started, I didn’t care about what genre it was, and I didn’t care if the music was played in the clubs or not.
So, my first tracks were 112, 113, 114 BPM, so it was really slowed-down, chilly. DJ Times: How’d you land on that name? Piontek: One of my favorite acts back in the days was Miami Sound Machine with Gloria Estefan. I thought about a name like this and purple – it was pretty fancy, color… DJ Times: But it’s a little mysterious… Piontek: Yeah, yeah, but the name still gives it room to be creative. It has disco in the name, so people know what they can expect music-wise. It sounds pretty fancy and cheesy maybe [laughs]. I think it describes the music, so it works. DJ Times: Any advice for DJ/producers who want to succeed and perhaps make a career of this? Piontek: I think the most important thing is patience. It took me almost 10 years to get on this level. You need patience, and passion as well. So, follow your dream and don’t give up. I never had a Plan B, so that’s why I never gave up. For me, the only way was making music. I had a lot of good years, but I also had a lot of poor years. But even when I had poor years – and I had no money – there was no way to say, “OK, I’m done.” I had no choice. n
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DJ Times: [Laughs] I would imagine Berlin, for example, might be a little difficult for you. Piontek: To be honest, Germany is not my best place. Germany, in general, is Berlin-influenced and it’s so techno and tech-house. Actually, there is one club in Germany I like – it’s called 102 and it’s in Düsseldorf. They have two floors – the main floor is more techno, but they have another floor that’s cozy and small. They open the second floor after 2 a.m., and I played two or three times now. When they open it at 2, five minutes later it’s so packed and the energy is 100-percent. DJ Times: A lot of your influences come from the States. What did it mean to play there? Piontek: For me, it was a dream to go to the States, like a once-ina-lifetime thing just to go. And New York, I love to just go around the city. Before my music career started, I came to the States, along with a friend of mine. I saved my money to go to New York as a tourist, and I spent two weeks there. That was so amazing. We went to some weird clubs in the basement somewhere in Brooklyn. Then we went to places like the Blue Note jazz club – so amazing. DJ Times: For most people, it’s
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DJ Times: What have been your favorite nightclubs? Piontek: Space in Ibiza. Unfortunately, it’s closed now. I started really late playing in Ibiza –only four years ago. But over the years, I’d heard a lot of stories about Space. The energy there was special. I played the terrace and it was a Glitterbox night, so it fit perfect to my kind of music. The first night, I remember I played with Joey Negro and Dimitri from Paris. Everyone who was there came to listen to house music and disco music, and for me it was a perfect moment that I could play this special venue for the first time. I heard a lot of weird stories about that place. DJ Times: Another venue? Piontek: I played two times at The Standard in Los Angeles. It’s a rooftop party with a really nice view of the downtown. I was a bit surprised. The first time I played it was a Sunday afternoon. It was so packed and had such a good energy. I thought it would be a little more chill, more like, “Let’s have some drinks and listen to good music,” but everyone was dancing and everyone was going crazy. Then with the sunset going down and the view over the city Los Angeles… that was really amazing. DJ Times: Anything in Germany? Piontek: Um, nope.
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Dutch-Aussie: MaRLo in the mix. Jake West
The Dream Stage: Confetti & a sea of hands. Jake West
Futurama: Helmeted dancers let loose. Jake West
Big Love: David Gravell & Andrew Rayel. Jake West
Intense: Armin fans crush the front. Jake West
A State of Trance: Armin van Buuren onstage. Jake West
AEON Live: Paul van Dyk gets busy. Ivan Meneses
Tranceport: The legendary Paul Oakenfold. Jake West
BY JIM TREMAYNE San Bernardino, Calif. – TranceGiving anyone? Indeed, on the weekend following America’s Turkey Day, more than 20,000 trance fans packed San Bernardino’s NOS Events Center for the third-annual Dreamstate festival. Produced by Insomniac this past Nov. 24-25, Dreamstate featured DJ sets and live performances from many of trance music’s biggest stars, eliciting ecstatic reactions from the genre’s ultra-loyal fanbase. On Day 1, Dreamstaters enjoyed uplifting performances from faves like Paul van Dyk (AEON live set), ATB, Paul Oakenfold, Andrew Rayel, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Ben Gold, David Gravell and Giuseppe Ottaviani. Then the next evening, notable acts like Ørjan Nilsen, MaRLo, Khoma, Liquid Soul, Marco V, Mauro Picotto and Kristina Sky delivered sets that lit up the venue. Also, longtime trance titan Armin van Buuren performed each night – a live Gaia set (with collaborator Benno de Goeij) on Saturday and a solo set on Sunday – packing The Dream Stage tent both evenings with wildly enthusiastic fans. Delivering sets full of gorgeous melodies, whooshing synths, crunching beats and familiar singalongs (like van Buuren’s “This Is What It Feels Like” and Rayel’s “One in a Million”), Dream Stage sets were animated by piercing lasers and effect lights pulsating through thick banks of fog and haze. Additionally, dancers in futuristic costumes performed synchronized routines on the elevated stage. The festival grounds were filled with Trance Family members, all-in on the genre cornucopia – totems raised, flags unfurled, hands in the air. With four stages running from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. each evening, Dreamstate fans enjoyed 18 hours of pure trance. Additionally, branded Insomniac afterhours parties – like Andrew Rayel and Kristina Sky at Hollywood’s Create nightclub – kept Los Angeles-based trance fans rocking late into the evening. It all looked like this:
Fly the Flag: Dreamstate ’17 closes. Jake West
Liftoff: Dreamstate lasers beam. Jake West
g Music Together Online Still Poses Challenges, So Our Pair of Tech-Writers Evaluate the Pros & Cons of Several Platforms
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Making Music Together Online Still Poses Challenges, So Our Pair of Tech-Writers Evaluate the Pros & Cons of Several Platfo
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For those of us who’ve been around long enough to remember those heady, early days of the Internet – say, 1992 – we’ll remember just how exciting it was to ponder where ubiquitous connectivity might take us. At the time, of course, the Internet was quite far from ubiquitous, but as techie types began to tinker around online, one could easily see its potential. After the Internet was commercialized from its research-oriented roots, and it began to add users at a rapid pace, it started to fulfill that potential as a tool to improve and speed up communication. Now, of course, it’s hard to imagine a world without things like e-mail, text messaging, videoconferencing (hi-def and free, no less), cloud storage, social media, and so on. But despite the over two decades of promise, there seems to be one area of Internetbased communication that feels as if it’s still stuck in the dark ages: musical collaboration, and specifically, DAW-based musical collaboration. That situation, however, seems poised to change. This subject hits pretty close to home for me. In the past couple of years, I’ve been collaborating on a wide range of music projects with my friend Nick Dahl, a percussionist who works across multiple genres. We’ve worked on music beds for videos, some EDM projects, and even some country projects. While Nick and I are both Denver-based, logistically, we live 45 minutes apart from each other, and it’s just not that easy to get together for in-person creative sessions. That fact often leaves us to work though the challenges of collaborating on projects online, and the issues we face are no better and no worse than two musicians working on opposite sides of the planet. So, when it came time to research and write this article, I could think of nobody more qualified to work with than Nick. The following conversation is what we discovered over the past several months of looking at a few different DAWs and collaboration tools specifically for musicians. – Wesley Bryant-King
Wes: So Nick, let’s start with the scope here. It seems that with online collaboration, there are basically four fundamental objectives: Getting files back and forth (cloud storage and sharing); Social networking (finding collaborators and/or interacting with collaborators); Live collaboration (working together as if in a virtual studio); and, Version control and rollback (although I suppose this could be a part of cloud storage, technically). Sound about right? Nick: Absolutely. Now I give credit to the fact that every musician has his/her own workflow, which runs the gamut of working inside and outside the box, and includes everything from pre-production to recording to post-production. There are what I call “static” needs that are universal to those collaborating from their DAWs, as well as the “dynamic” needs that pertain to each individual setup. Anyone who has tried collaborating remotely — regardless of DAW — has experienced the challenges of making local files available for their collaborator, or using their favorite third-party plugins that their collaborators don’t also own. One more distinction I’ll make is between collaborating by trading projects back and forth but working on them independently, versus collaborating in the truly simultaneous sense of the word, such as jamming on instruments together or reviewing and making musical decisions in real-time as a team. I think in the context of our experimenting, we’ve focused primarily on the back-and-forth collaboration. After all, that’s enough of a challenge in itself! Technology has of course come a long way, but it has yet to deliver high-definition, latency- and hiccup-free audio streaming for a world-wide jam session (though I know this is being worked on among research universities)! Wes: Truth! So, let’s talk about our own challenges. I’m curious: What’s the biggest challenge that you’ve had in collaborating with me or others online? I think that for me, the biggie is the process around file management. For example, if we’re sharing files through a cloud service like Dropbox or OneDrive, should I work from a locally synced folder directly, or copy stuff back and forth from a working folder where I normally store my music projects? Also, version control… what do I do if I’m just not ready to share something with you, or want to share one piece, but not another? Right now, dealing with all that is a totally manual process. Nick: I agree with you on the tactical challenges of staying organized through versions and files. And I think what that amounts to is the challenge of getting into a collaborative flow. Just the same as a novice musician or producer, when one can’t work efficiently in their DAW, it becomes difficult to let their creative side do its thing and foster the cycle of musical ideas leading to more musical ideas. Collaborating online creates a whole new set of roadblocks to address: How do we share
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ABLETON LIVE Nick: Right. As you know, Wes, I do a lot of online collaborating in Live with you and with other musicians, so it feels like we both know this approach pretty well. To be honest, it’s a lot of work. My standard approach is to use a cloud storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive. This allows us to share a project folder and all of its contents in a mutually accessible location. But having your project file in the cloud is really not enough to ensure a seamless collaboration. Our respective sound libraries are of course not stored in the same “shared folder” in the cloud, so any samples or recordings that we bring into the project require extra attention and management. Sometimes that’s as easy as selecting the trusty “collect-all-and-save” option, but other times it’s not that simple. If my samples are protected (whether physically or by licensing restrictions), my collaborator may still not be able to use them. Wes: Which reminds me of another sample-related issue I know we’ve dealt with, which is recording takes. We’ve worked on some projects with vocals, recorded live instruments (like guitars), and so on, and each recording take generates an audio file. Depending on the sample rate and bit depth used, these audio files can be fairly large, and, of course, they’re stored to disk. With most DAWs, including Live, those takes remain on disk even if you remove them from the active project. For safety and integrity, that’s precisely the behavior I want — except those unused audio files can start to pile-up (online collaboration aside). When syncing everything to the cloud, that can start to clutter things up, too, and I know we both have cloud storage limits we have to work within. Nick: Absolutely, and we’ve both had to be diligent about keeping the project footprint tidy. I know we’ve both experienced the dreaded “cloud-storage-is-full” issue, which breaks that creative workflow when you have to stop working on music, and start making file-by-file, clean-up decisions, before your latest work can be synced. Wes: Yeah, we know that one well, indeed. So another challenge we’ve had — one by no means limited to Ableton Live, actually — is “plug-ins in common.” As you know, I have a few “go-to” plug-ins from third parties (vs. those provided in the box with the DAW), notably several from Native Instruments’ Komplete, as well as the analog modeler, Sylenth. As a drummer, you do as well. Nick: I do, indeed. For me, I often use Superior Drummer to lay down drums from my electronic kit, but if my collaborator doesn’t license this same software, they aren’t going to hear my tracks correctly, if at all — as is also the case with the ones you mentioned. Wes: Yeah, and we’ve been fortunate with some of these “same-software” situations — but not so fortunate in others. Having to bounce tracks to audio, or “freeze” them in Ableton parlance, helps — but then whatever track that is, is locked-down, so it’s not editable by my collaborator. Beyond that, what would you say is the biggest challenge we’ve had with it? Nick: File management, right? For example, stuff like versioning is usually just incrementing file names. But with a collaborator, reconciling the stuff they’ve done with the stuff I’ve done can be a real problem if we’ve both worked on a project at the same time. There’s just no easy way
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feedback, edits, files, and even the audio output from one system to another in real-time (or as close as we can get to real-time)? As musicians, producers, and engineers, we strive to cultivate a workflow that allows us to bring to reality the music in our heads, and we do that using the tools in front of us — keyboard and mouse, instruments, and other equipment. Currently, I find there are many limitations for us as online collaborators, but I’ve been very encouraged by some of the latest updates we’ve explored across a few of our favorite DAWs, which have taken a crack at enabling collaborators in this brave new frontier. Wes: As have I. For this article, we had a chance to look into all of this through the lens of four different DAWs: Ableton Live (our usual common platform for music making), Steinberg’s Cubase, Avid’s Pro Tools, and Propellerhead’s Reason. I know we added Reason to the list primarily due to one of the social tools we looked at, Allihoopa, which was started by Propellerhead, and which is still largely limited to software that is (or was) developed by the company. We included Cubase and Pro Tools mostly because both have integrated features specifically for one or more angles of collaboration. But let’s start with what we know best from our own work: Ableton Live. I think it’s worth mentioning that Ableton’s focus on collaboration within Live has been on live (pardon the pun) collaboration, as in multiple musicians in a studio or on-stage together. Ableton Link, the company’s protocol that’s been embraced by other software makers (including Propellerhead and Serato, among others), allows electronic musicians to stay in-sync in a performance setting, which is pretty cool. But for the type of collaboration we’re talking about here, like most DAWs, Live sort of leaves it to us to figure out.
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to get each of our additions or changes merged without exporting MIDI/audio from one side, and bringing it back in on the other. Wes: That, or depending on how you’re managing your projects, perhaps using Ableton Live’s ability to access a project from the sidebar within the interface, and drag-and-drop individual tracks (or multiple tracks) from that project into the currently open project. It would help if we could simply open two projects, and copy and paste... Nick: I wish it were that easy! The best you can hope for is what you just described: Access their project file, and bring in any new tracks that they’ve added. But that approach won’t cover changes to the master track, or help handle situations like bussing setups. And what happens if they tinkered with volume levels and other parameters on other tracks in the process of kneading their own additions into your project? Or, what if they decided to extend a section by four bars from the copy you were working on? When you bring those tracks into your version of the project, you could be in for some major clean-up headaches. And for me there’s an even worse price to pay, which is peace of mind. There’s really an issue if you don’t know that you are hearing the same exact project as your collaborator. There have been countless times that I’ve thought my collaborator and I were discussing the same project, only to realize down the line that one of us was missing either a sample, an effect, or in some cases an entire track! Wes: So really, the bottom line to me is that there’s no perfect solution here when it comes to collaborating on an Ableton Live project. But in fairness to Ableton, we should point out that these issues are no different with most DAWs, whether it’s say, Bitwig (one of the DAWs we didn’t specifically look at for this article), or maybe even Reason, which we’ll talk about later. Nick: Absolutely. At this point I feel like we’re on the precipice of some amazing new capabilities when it comes to virtual collaboration. But it seems the foreseeable future still holds some limitations that we must work within.
Steinberg Cubase: The recently released Version 9.5.
STEINBERG CUBASE Wes: So, one of the other DAWs we looked at was Steinberg’s Cubase. They have some cool capabilities for collaboration. Nick: Yeah, Cubase is pretty cool with what they’ve done, but it’s a little confusing to understand the terminology they used; they refer to all of it as VST Cloud.VST Cloud includes both VST Transit and VST Connect.VST Transit is the cloud storage and project management piece, and VST Connect is a live collaboration tool. Still with me? Wes: It confused me when we were working with it, and it still does, but I suppose “VST” is Steinberg’s name to do with what they choose. But I also question the choice of applying the term “VST” to all of this; for most people, the term is synonymous with universality (e.g., “this DAW supports VST” when referring to plug-ins). But that criticism aside, they did do some pretty cool stuff here. VST Connect provides live video chat capabilities, along with the ability to remotely record parts from your collaborator, including audio and MIDI. Nick: Absolutely. Going back to the bit I said about handing a project back and forth, as opposed to really making music simultaneously, Cubase has developed the ability for one collaborator to act as the engineer and record in the parts from a performer anywhere else in the world. Now even still, this is more of a one-way relationship — you have one collaborator routing and recording another, but it’s not the same as a drummer in Denver cutting takes with the bass player in New York when they really get the musical chemistry going. But by all means, it is a step in the right direction, and a great tool for any engineer or producer to be able to work with other musicians, no studio required. Wes: It was really pretty cool, absolutely, and it seems like a solid foundation that Steinberg can build upon in future iterations of VST Connect. On the flip side of the Cubase collaboration coin, however, VST Transit didn’t seem to work the way we expected, and it was a bit confusing. It shows promise, and I liked that cloud storage was an integrated capability. But still, traffic (aka the amount of data uploaded and downloaded) and cloud-storage space were both limited, and there’s a separate payment required to expand that. But the most confusing part is the synchronization between local and cloud projects; they weren’t one in the same. Nick: Exactly, and as we saw working in all of the DAWs, the fact that a local project and a related cloud project can be named differently made for some interesting confusion. Beyond that we had a bit of additional trouble getting changes to sync in Cubase; most of mine came over to you, but I know you had some issues in getting yours to sync up. Wes: Yeah, and I know we also had some issues in getting things like VST plug-in settings to sync. But for the use case it seems most targeted at — a producer and a performer working together — Steinberg looks like it’s really gotten it down with a unique solution to enabling that. It might not have matched our specific collaboration use case, but you have to admit, VST Connect was pretty awesome. Nick: It was! That live video chat capability integrated into the tool was a lot simpler than trying to use a separate video conference tool, and having to figure out all the audio configurations to make that work separate from the DAW itself. I think any Cubase users should be excited to see where Steinberg continues to take these capabilities.
able to sync up the settings of plug-ins, too, right? Nick: Yeah, all of that transmitted across perfectly, as well. Of course, we still had to have the plug-ins in common. Wes: We did. You’ll remember we tried some stuff like having a MIDI track with a synth plug-in on it, and a separate audio rendering of the synth connected to that MIDI track as a way of letting us collaborate on the MIDI — I’d put a synth I have on it when I was working with the MIDI programming, and you’d place a different one you had. But obviously, there’s no way in any of the solutions we looked at to do much better than that. Nick: Yep, and I’ll say in particular with Pro Tools, the ability to freeze and flatten bus tracks really helps in cases where it’s simpler to share stems, such as the instance you are referring to in which we each created tracks using a third-party synth that the other didn’t have. That’s about the smoothest way I’ve seen to deal with disparate plug-ins other than, perhaps, using a DAW where a lot of content is in the box, and sticking to that. Like our next DAW…
Avid Pro Tools: Supports collabs in real-time.
PROPELLERHEAD REASON Wes: Exactly! Most of the reason we looked at Reason (another bad pun) is that Propellerhead started Allihoopa, the social music service we’ll provide some more information about below. Nick: But it’s separate now, right? Wes: Yup, it’s been spun out as a separate company. But essentially all of the projects open for collaboration (at least as we went to press on this article) on Allihoopa were made with Propellerhead’s software. Figure and Take, two apps formerly made by Propellerhead, transitioned to Allihoopa as well, and the new company makes its APIs available to other applications. So, at some point, we might see Ableton Live projects (for instance) on Allihoopa. But for now? Even though it’s separate, it still feels like it’s joined at the hip with Propellerhead in general, and Reason in particular. Nick: I’d not had a chance to play with Reason before, but the fact it’s got so many instruments and so much content built-in seems like it at least partly addresses the “common plug-in” challenge. Wes: It does in a lot of ways. I’m not sure if Reason truly has more instruments or content than other DAWs, but it feels that way. I’ve reviewed Reason for the magazine through multiple versions over the years, and I’ve always been impressed by the breadth and depth of the in-the-box functionality. But part of that is the fact that Reason for so very many years supported only its own proprietary plug-in format, so I tend to still think about it through that lens. Nick: The recently added support for VSTs sort of changes that though… (continued on page 40)
JANUARY 2018
Propellerhead Reason: Aligned with Allihoopa, the social music service.
DJ TIMES
AVID PRO TOOLS Wes: So, we also looked at Pro Tools. What did you like about it? Nick: It seemed like Pro Tools’ implementation of collaboration most closely matched what you and I, and other collaborators I work with, need day-to-day, and is probably more what our readers are looking for, too: The ability for two producers to make changes to the same project as peers. Wes: Exactly. What’s interesting about Pro Tools is that it supports that collaboration in real-time; you and I can be working on exactly the same project, at the very same moment, both of us making changes, and they’re immediately reflected and available to the other person at the track level. Nick: Yeah, it was cool to see the little indicators in the user interface flag changes, and it was easy to bring those over when we were ready. It was also cool to see who is currently “in control” of a given track. Wes: Exactly! In our case, to make the live collaboration itself easier, we needed to use Skype or FaceTime to communicate during our work sessions, and that introduced its own complications in terms of getting hardware configured properly. I think you did something similar, but I had to set up Skype to use the built-in hardware on my Mac for video and audio, while Pro Tools was, of course, set up to use my standard pro-audio interface. I’m guessing you did something similar? Nick: Yeah, pretty much exactly that. But when we were testing this out, it was pretty cool that I could work on programming the beats, you could work on a melody line or something like that, and we could come up for air periodically, sync up the changes, listen to the result, agree on a direction, then mute Skype and go back at it. Wes: Yeah, I really enjoyed that workflow, if I’m being honest. I can imagine worse ways to spend an evening than working on a common project from the comfort of our respective studios. It really modeled a collaborative, EDM-centric workflow pretty much perfectly. But even if we were time-shifting our collaboration, the functionality was just as smooth.We also were
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BY JEFF STILES Jack Lynn of Jocks on Wheels DJ Service in Clovis, N.M., noticed a change in the booking of holiday parties this past season. People were waiting until the last minute to book their seasonal parties, he says, while a more-than-usual amount of potential consumers seemed to be merely kicking tires—waiting for the lowest prices in his market, which includes eastern New Mexico and western Texas. “We’re finding some [mobile-DJ] businesses buying a cheap speaker and using an iPod to be the DJ,” says Lynn. “Even companies that have seen before what a true professional looks like, knows the value we bring, and is usually happy to spend the extra cash to have it done right.” We contacted mobile entertainers from all over the country to find out how holiday bookings in 2017 compared to last year. Up, or down? Did they do any different marketing than in years past, and did
that find any brand-new clients? And finally, how did the local and national economy impact their year? Says Lynn: “The economy seems to be weaker right now in my area and, even though we had a good year as the holidays rolled around, the phone just wasn’t ringing as much – even though we did the usual Facebook ads and radio promotions to try to reel in new clients. But I’ve also been doing a lot of cold-calling, going to businesses and showing what we offer as well. “But it’s not all bad. Next year’s bookings are already looking great so far, and I’m still hopeful for a couple more last-minute bookings this holiday season.” All over the country, mobile DJs offer a range of mixed responses as to how holiday bookings (as well as bookings in general) are looking. Scott Goldoor of Signature DJs in East Norriton, Pa., says holiday parties in his market were down considerably, possibly because the previous year had been an election year or likely because some companies in his market are simply going with a “house DJ” provided by their venue. Adam Tiegs of Adam’s DJ Service in Seattle, Wash., claims that corporate work was slightly up this past holiday season, though wedding bookings were down a bit. The good news is that he reports that the Pacific Northwest market is looking to grow in 2018. Mike Walter of Elite Entertainment in Tinton Falls, N.J., reports that holiday parties in 2017 were just about the same as the year previous, with a few new companies using his company’s services. To bring in fresh new business, Elite Entertainment is pouring its marketing efforts into social media such as Pinterest and blogging.
Also on the East Coast, Mark M. Brenneisen is a certified wedding planner with Total Entertainment Music in Queensbury, N.Y. Brenneisen says that bookings were up in his market this past holiday season with both new clients and repeat customers. “It’s both our marketing and our unique format of holiday parties,” he says. “We offer a different experience than most traditional DJs in our market. Being a team of entertainers, we can provide more services and market them as such. And though it costs more, people want a different experience and something more than just music.” Brenneisen says his company’s schedule for 2018 is starting earlier as well this year, as bookings are coming in earlier than normal. “We continue to book strong for the coming year in all fields: weddings, school events and corporate, with our unique format,” he says. “Our marketing continues to grow, and we’ve added yet another brand to our family of services. “Training that we’ve had through ADJA, DJ Expo and private groups gives us the competitive edge to learn new ways to market, market more effectively and grow.” During a typical December, Eddie Ortiz of DJ Eddie O Entertainment in San Diego books about 10 annual holiday events, mostly with clients he’s been working with for four-plus years. “I offer DJ and photo booth and lighting,
DJ TIMES
JANUARY 2018
“A LOT OF CLIENTS ARE LOOKING FOR US TO DO MATCH-PRICING, BUT I WON’T BUDGE.” – EDDIE ORTIZ, DJ EDDIE O ENTERTAINMENT, SAN DIEGO
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W E A S K E D D J S H OW T H E Y F I L L E D T H E I R H O L I DAY C A L E N DA R S T H I S
’Em!
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JANUARY 2018
The most optimistic report we received was from DJ Michael Melice in Ithaca, N.Y., who says the holiday bookings in his market increased dramatically since the year before. “One of my goals for 2017 was to pick up more corporate clients and off-season gigs,” Melice says. “A few of my brides shared my contact information with their employer and I was able to book a few corporate
clients from this. “Also, I was able to retain all my college sororities from last year by following up with them on a regular basis. These groups have multiple functions every year and they usually book a DJ, photo-booth and sometimes other extras. These events are usually only three hours long and are flexible with dates, so if they like you enough sometimes you can get them to book events around your schedule.” Melice says he also tries to go beyond normal expectations in order to keep his holiday and other bookings solid. “I’ve reached out to a few local venues to thank them for their continuous support, as a thank-you card and a Godiva gift basket goes a long way,” he explains. “Event venues see hundreds of DJs every year, and there’s only a few things that will make you stand out. “Doing an amazing job is extremely important, but if you go the extra mile and show some gratitude, you’ll go from being a great DJ to being their No.-1 pick every time.” n
DJ TIMES
so we make a full package for them and then give them a small discount for going through us for all services,” says Ortiz. “The packages normally include a DJ, uplighting, dancefloor lighting, an open-style photo booth, a thumb-drive and access to our website with a private password. “The economy has indeed impacted our market a little bit, but not enough to see big numbers change. Again, having a lot of the same clients throughout the year is nice because they do a lot of the same events throughout the year.” Ortiz admits that business in his market has been impacted negatively due to budget cuts. “Have I lost some clients because of budget cuts?” he asks. “Yes, though a few have come back as their budgets are OK again. Competition can sometimes hurt our market because they are low-balling to get the business—not realizing that practice hurts our market. A lot of clients are looking for us to do match-pricing, but I won’t budge.” Ortiz says he works with a few non-profit organizations and, for them, he’s more lenient with pricing, due to the fact they don’t have big budgets. But other than that, he says he doesn’t resort to cutting prices in order to gain additional business. “I haven’t done any special promotions to attract new customers,” he says, “because we have been successful by word-of-mouth, but I’ll normally throw in a discount if they
mention who or how they heard about us – and they really appreciate that.” Down in Reading, Pa., Denny McConnell with Music to You Entertainment says he can remember when his company would perform annually at dozens of holiday parties between Black Friday and New Year’s Eve. “Those days are over, however, so nowadays I’m now lucky if I can do 10 parties within that time period,” he says. “The larger corporations did away with the large openbar, sit-down dinner parties years ago, due to getting sued by some employees getting DUIs or getting in an accident and blaming the company party. “To even get to 10 annual parties, I do white label for other companies, meaning I’ll go out and do either DJ or photo booths under their own name. That’s another reason we seem to have mobile-DJ and photobooth companies on every corner.”
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MAKING TRACKS STUDIO…HARDWARE…SOFTWARE…
IZOTOPE’S OZONE 8: SMART MASTERING
By Josh Harris
it led me, in terms of module choices and settings, and I’ll definitely use it on future mixes. Tonal Balance Control is another new analysis tool that will help you come closer to matching reference mixes and sonic targets. Place it on the master bus (after your instance of Ozone) and play your mix. Also, Ozone’s EQ and Post EQ can be remote controlled directly from Tonal Balance Control. There is a drop-down menu that offers three different types of mixes: bass heavy, modern and orchestral. The frequency ranges are displayed in either Broad or Fine. Broad separates the frequency spectrum into four discreet bands, while Fine offers a full frequency spectrum view. Now here’s where it gets really good: you can create a custom target curve by importing an audio file, like a reference mix, or you can create a custom target curve from a folder of audio files. This type of functionality takes the concept of A/Bing mixes to a new level! And finally, there is Track Referencing, which offers another way of A/Bing your mix against a target mix, but it offers some different visuals and parameters from Tonal Balance Control. Don’t confuse the two, as they serve different purposes. Track Referencing allows for an extremely quick comparison of your mix against your target mix while working in any of the Ozone modules. Simply click on the reference button below the meters and it will turn blue. Then import your reference mix or mixes. Track Segmentation analyzes your imported tracks (target mixes) and allows you to play different sections from the reference mix, or even loop them, if necessary. What this means is that you can reference different sections of different mixes, and get a spectral comparison of your mix against the reference. The Spectral Shaper module allows you to
DJ TIMES
JANUARY 2018
With the release of Ozone 8 mastering suite, iZotope has introduced some new features that raise the bar for mastering and tonal shaping plug-ins. But that’s often the case with iZotope, a Cambridge, Mass.-based audio-technology company that’s brought several unique products to the studio – like the Stutter Edit effect, RX audiorestoration suite, and Neutron mixing plug-in suite. As I have reviewed iZotope’s Ozone 5, 6 and 7 versions, I am not going to focus on Ozone’s overall layout and basic functionality in this review, but rather highlight new features. So here goes: Ozone 8 comes in three different versions: Elements, Standard and Advanced. This review is for the Advanced version. The manufacturer has a nice comparison chart on its website (www.izotope. com) that will give you an idea of each version’s features. Something to keep in mind with Ozone (that I feel is often overlooked) is that it is not just for mastering. The different modules can all be used on individual tracks in “a la carte” fashion (in Advanced version only). That being said, most of my time with Ozone has been spent using it as a mastering plug-in. I happen to think that once you get the hang of how it works, it’s a fantastic mastering tool, which is why it has been at the center of my master bus chain for the last six years. Version 8 contains an exciting new feature called Master Assistant, which can provide you with a great starting point for mastering. Master Assistant analyzes your mix and, through its algorithms, creates a sonic profile. Then it suggests signal chains and processor settings that make the most sense for you end goal. The process is very simple. It begins by asking you what your finished mix target is: Streaming? CD? Or reference? Then, you play the loudest part of your mix and it begins its analysis. I liked where
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Ozone 8: Updates aplenty offer new possibilities.
smooth out problematic frequencies by using frequency-specific dynamics. For example, if an acoustic guitar is a bit too plucky, Spectral Shaper can assist you in taming the harsh frequencies. While you can certainly use this on the entire mix, I found it be more of an asset on individual tracks. Select your frequency range, choosing between light, medium and heavy, and then lower the threshold. Other parameters include Tone, Attacks and Release. And finally, I offer a brief mention about the improved Maximizer. It has some new features like Stereo Independence, which allows for the independent stereo detection of transient and sustain parts of the signal, resulting in greater control of the stereo image. The Maximizer contains four different IRC modes, with each one containing their own unique character. These modes have been improved with Version 8, and there is also a threshold learn feature. Threshold learn will provide you with an automatic threshold adjustment based on a userdefined LUFS target. LUFS stand for Loudness Units Full Scale and it is one of the newer means of measuring loudness. As with previous versions of Ozone, this version can also run in stand-alone mode, if you prefer to handle mastering outside of your DAW. Ozone 8 has now been drafted into service, and it will replace my older versions. In today’s climate, we are constantly being pushed to make our finished tracks sound like something that someone else did. iZotope has addressed these pressures by implementing features and workflow processes that can help us reach our sonic goals more efficiently. Well done! Ozone Elements, Standard and Advanced are priced at $129, $249 and $499, respectively. For owners of previous version, be sure to check the iZotope website for upgrade pricing.
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DJ TIMES
JANUARY 2018
SOUNDING OFF PLAYBACK…PRO AUDIO…PROCESSING
UNIVERSAL DJ: HERCULES’ PARTY CONTROLLER
DJ TIMES
JANUARY 2018
By Wesley Bryant-King
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It’s interesting to me that when it comes to DJ gear, there are essentially three market segments: The high-end—i.e., the sort of gear that international DJs put in their riders and clubs choose as their standard equipment; the low-end, where bedroom DJs cut their performance teeth and learn the basics; and the middle, where you often get many of those high-end features, repackaged in a way that they can be offered at a more digestible price point. Here at DJ Times, we welcome DJs of all stripes and the gear that goes with them, and one of the best parts of this job is being able to put my hands on solutions that cost a hundred or two, up to $10,000 (or more), and all points in between. It’s also been interesting to see if and how capabilities trickle down those tiers, which is why I was interested in checking out the Hercules Universal DJ — a controller that promises to bridge the gulf between laptop, and tablet/smartphone DJing. Hercules, the brand of France-based Guillemot, has been cranking out affordable DJ controllers for at least a decade or so; it was a Hercules controller that was the very first piece of kit I reviewed for this magazine roughly that amount of time back. With some of the novelty features the company’s included along the way, one might argue that some of its products are targeted squarely at consumers, and probably young consumers, specifically. But many of their controllers I’ve used over the years have a more serious side, delivering solid utility and function at consumer-friendly price points. The Universal DJ comes in at around $250 list, and south of $200 on the street. So, with
its aspirations of supporting multiple DJ approaches, how’d it perform? Let’s take a peek. Set-Up & Use: Like most controllers these days, the Hercules Universal DJ is plug-and-play on Windows and Mac computers, eliminating the need to do anything other than connect a USB cable. The bundled DJ software with the Universal is Hercules’ own DJUCED 40°, which through a number of updates has proven itself to be a pretty serious player in the space — in that it looks nice, works well, and in my admittedly limited use, has seemed quite stable. With its support for standard MIDI, the Universal can also be used with other DJ applications, including Traktor, djay Pro, and Virtual DJ — all of which have Hercules-provided mapping files available from the company’s support web site. In an apparent nod to the market position of the Universal, the audio connectivity is limited to stereo RCA connections. A pair of RCA to XLR conversion cables I keep near my test bed let me hook up to my usual monitors. On the front bezel, you’ll find a ¼-inch headphone jack; you’ll need to provide your own adapter for a smaller 1/8-inch plug — as that’s included in every pair of DJ headphones I’ve seen to-date, that’s hardly a problem. With all that connected, and a current version of DJUCED 40° already installed, I just fired up the software and went on my merry way. If you already know the basics of DJing, there’s really no learning curve here. I particularly liked the feel and operation of the rotary encoders (platters), which behaved just as I’d expect them to for both scratching and beat alignment. There are a few things about the Universal that struck me immediately. One of them is the absence of any sort of master level control; changing the output volume required using the mouse to click and drag the virtual knob in the DJUCED software. Secondly, is that the use of the crossfader is required, a limitation that, when I run into it, is always a disappointment as a dedicated member of the “no-crossfader” club of DJ control. Hercules’ focus on the Universal seems to be on its being consumer-friendly, with a “cool-look” design that would stand out from its competition sitting on a store shelf. I think they achieved that. But it is a physically small controller, and the limited real estate on top has limited what all is at your fingertips in hardware. Multi-purpose pads, eight per side, are available for controlling cue points, effects, and the sampling and looping features of the software. I could argue that a more conventional location, and a more accessible one, would be under the rotary encoders, not above them, but with a controller of this size, (continued onpage 40)
Multi-Device: Universal DJ works in three modes.
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MARCJ 2017
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DIESELBOY MOON BOOTS ROLAND BOUTIQUE SERIES DENON DJ SC5000 PRIME
GOES COASTAL 7/27/2017 3:31:33 PM
MOBILE PROFILE CAREERS…INNOVATIONS…SUCCESS STORIES
JERSEY DJ CATCHES UP IN CROWDED MARKET By Stu Kearns
DJ TIMES
JANUARY 2018
Florham Park, N.J. – When Artem Lomaz was studying at Fairleigh Dickinson University, he also worked for a catering company on weekends. He really didn’t have any culinary aspirations—it was just a job for extra money—but the gig did open his eyes to a new opportunity: He began to see the work of DJ/entertainers and he became intrigued. “My admiration,” he says, “became a notion of, ‘Well, I can do that,’ and ‘Well, I think I can do that better,’ and sometimes, ‘Wow, I can’t do that... but I want to know how.’ I also learned that the adage of ‘the good ones make it look easy’ is very true. From there, I transitioned to shadowing various entertainers, helping along at events, operating various elements, and ultimately entertaining.” Still, he didn’t start DJing until after college, at 24 years old. “I was a bit late to the game,” he says. “I know that many of my peers began in their teens, so I felt the need to ‘catch up’ by educating myself as much as possible. I always admired the art form of DJing, and was intrigued by the logistics of creating an event, while also keeping an audience engaged throughout.” Lomaz didn’t waste any time. He founded NinetyThree Entertainment in 2012, shortly after starting to spin. “I knew that I wanted to operate on my own, in order to make an impact to my clients,” he says. “I figured that
Artem Lomaz says education gave his biz a boost.
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I would always continue learning, especially as the industry evolved, and that it would be beneficial to have my brand grow along with me.” With a background in advertising, Lomaz had a business plan and a marketing plan. Both plans, he says, are ever-evolving, and will continue to be modified. “The business plan,” he recalls, “was written on the train while I commuted to New York City, while I was working at an advertising agency.” Despite the business and marketing plan, he still faced the same problem every newcomer does — being the new kid on the block in an over-saturated industry, where you have to really kick in the door somehow to get noticed. “It’s similar to when someone graduates and they can’t get their first job,” he says. “They’re stuck in that frustrating circle of ‘I can’t get a job because I don’t have any experience, but I don’t have any experience because I can’t get a job.’” How did he overcome the challenges? One word: Education. And he has accomplished this through DJ associations/organizations, mentorship, shadowing established entertainers, and his own research. “I took in as much information as I could,” he says, “and then started figuring out what worked best for what I was trying to build. I also networked a lot outside of the industry. This helped the continuation of the brand establishment, while also exposing the brand to other professionals.” Being in a tough New Jersey market, he’d need all the help he could get. “There’s a lot of competition here, and quite honestly, some of the nation’s best entertainers are in this area,” he says. “Our biggest differentiator is our approach and methodology for personalization. I want to maintain an exclusive, special feeling that our clients get when working with us. Due to the highly personalized nature of our events, I have to limit the number of events that we produce on an annual basis. Although this may seem drastic, it ensures that each client is given the attention that they deserve, in exchange for their investment and trust.” Gear-wise, Lomaz’s company uses: RCF ART 735-A active loudspeakers; Shure PGX Wireless Series (PGX4 receiver with PX2 transmitter, PG58 handheld microphone, with the SM58 mic as a back-up); Mackie 802VLZ4 ultra-compact PA mixer; Native Instruments TRAKTOR DJ software; Virtual DJ software; and Native Instruments TRAKTOR CONTROL S4 controller. On the lighting front, Lomaz uses plenty of units from Chauvet DJ and Eternal Lighting, plus lighting control apps like Vibrio and SyntheFX’s Luminair. Lomaz says that during the events/performances, he tries to incorporate as much appropriate information that he’s learned about that client into the celebration. “I look at myself as a representation of the guest of honor to their (continued on page 40)
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DJ TIMES
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A
BUSINESS LINE SALES… MARKETING…SOLUTIONS…
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CEO Q’S: EVALUATE YOUR DJ BUSINESS & YOURSELF By Stu Kearns
Whether you’re a single- or multi-system mobile-DJ operator, you can gain a lot of insight from job interviews — if they’re done correctly. But what if someone were to turn the tables and interview you? We talked to a handful of CEOs and business owners outside of the DJ industry, and asked them to tell us their favorite questions they ask at a job interview. We then asked them to explain why it’s their preferred question. Usually, it’s because that question provides the best insight into a potential candidate. But we think it’s a good practice for any business owner to ask himself these questions, too. So here they are. Think carefully… you just might be able to help your own brand positioning by coming up with creative answers. 1. No. 1: “How many messages are in your inbox right now?” and No. 2: “How do you manage email?” – Andy Crestodina, Principal, Orbit Media “The answer to question No. 1 will tell me a lot,” says Crestodina. “What is their approach to time-management? Are they disorganized? Are they an overly compulsive perfectionist? How do they handle communication, service and support? How to they manage stress? “For question No. 2, email is a challenge for almost everyone, so this question will give insights into their general problem-solving approach. You might hear frustration, you might hear about tools, you might hear about prioritization approaches.” 2. “What was your journey like to get where you are?” — Hari Ravichandran, founder and CEO of Endurance International Group “You can learn so much about someone based on what their creative path was and the decisions they made along the way,” says Ravichandran. 3. “What do you hope to achieve in your next position?” – Lynn Jurich, CEO, Sunrun “Asking candidates this question — and how they will reach that end-goal — is a good way to determine one’s commitment to improvement and continued learning,” says Jurich. “I believe the most valuable employees are those who are consistently looking to challenge themselves to be better and are willing to face some uncertainty and failure on the road to doing so.” 4. “Tell me about yourself.”
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— Sean Foster, SEO, Crowdtap
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“It’s a simple, yet effective way to get at the DNA of a candidate and it creates an opportunity to learn what they are most passionate about,” says Foster. “Open-ended questions force people to make choices and to be a storyteller. I want to understand the person, not the candidate.”
terviewee’s body language and demeanor, will tell me a lot about their readiness for change and aptitude for rolling with the punches and inspiring their teams.” 6. “What are you really into outside of work?” — Piers Fawkes, Founder, PSFK “It doesn’t matter what it is, but if they don’t have a passion or curiosity, we don’t hire them,” says Fawkes. 7. “How do you learn?” — Stephen Baker, CEO, Attivio “Every employee is constantly faced with new tasks and new challenges,” says Baker. “The best employees always want to be pushed out of their comfort zone. Having a candidate articulate how they would learn a new topic or skill is a great sign of discipline, organizational skills, and intellectual curiosity. This one question provides critical insight into how you can expect them to perform given the particular demands of the role you are potentially hiring them for.” 8. “Don’t just tell me that you were a rock star – show me how!” — Andreas Bodczek, CEO, Fyber & RNTS Media N.V. “As CEO, I usually enter the discussion late into the interview cycle, so what interests me is assessing how the candidate perceives the role and its challenges after all of the discussions they’ve already had with other team members,” says Bodczek. “At this stage, they should have an impeccable grasp of the challenge at hand and what they can bring to the table. If this isn’t clear, an alarm bell rings in my mind. I also challenge candidates to be extremely specific about their personal contributions to any successes they highlight on their resume.” 9. No. 1: “How did you get your last job?” No. 2: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how lucky are you?” — Are Traasdahl, Tapad CEO & Founder “On question No. 1, it’s a very good sign if people consistently get jobs through previous work relationships,” says Traasdahl. “It indicates the ability to function well on a team. “And the answer to question No. 2 tells me a lot. If they say ‘10,’ things have likely come too easy — they may not be able to read situations very well. If they say a ‘2,’ it’s a likely sign of someone who consider themselves a ‘misunderstood genius.’ When it lands closer to a ‘7,’ there’s a sense that the candidate has a healthy balance of appreciation for their good fortune and an equal ability to work hard.” 10. “Who are your peers? What are your strengths and challenges?” — Bill Johnson, CEO, Citi Retail Services
5. “Tell me how you’ve approached change.” — Gerald Hassell, Chairman & CEO of BNY Mellon
“Evaluating self-awareness,” he says, “and whether they are still learning and growing indicates their potential to contribute to the business today and in the future.”
“We’re in an era where adaptability is one of the most important qualities in employees at every level,” says Hassell. “The answer to this question, and the in-
If you have any questions for Business Line, please send them to djtimes@testa. com.
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GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF
Deck and Cover Pioneer DJ Americas 2050 W. 190th Street Suite 109 Torrance, CA 90504 (424) 488-0480 www.pioneerdj.com The XDJ-RX2 from Pioneer is a 2-deck, 2-channel system that serves as an upgrade for the company’s all-in-one DJ system, the XDJ-RX. Each deck has eight large, multi-colored Performance Pads for controlling Hot Cues, Beat Loop, Slip Loop and Beat Jump. The unit features a 7-inch touch screen that displays waveforms from both decks simultaneously, plus track information and a QWERTY keyboard. The XDJ-RX2 comes bundled with a license key for rekordbox dj, which can be used by connecting the unit to either a PC or Mac via USB.
Mk My Words Native Instruments 6725 Sunset Boulevard, 5th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90028 (866) 556-6487 www.native-instruments.com Native Instruments has released MASCHINE Mk3 and KOMPLETE KONTROL Mk2, the latest version of its MASCHINE and KOMPLETE KONTROL hardware. MASCHINE Mk3 adds two high-resolution color screens and a built-in 96kHz/24bit audio interface, as well as more dedicated function buttons and larger, more responsive pads. KOMPLETE KONTROL Mk2 adds 17 function buttons, two highresolution color screens, Fatar keybeds, new pitch and mod wheels, a horizontal touch strip and enhanced DAW and MASCHINE integration.
Jewel in the Crown Mackie 16220 Wood-Red Road NE Woodinville, WA 98072 (425) 892-6500 www.loudtechinc.com Mackie’s Onyx USB Interfaces are a line of mobile, highresolution audio interfaces designed for line of mobile, highresolution audio interfaces. There are two models in the line— the Artist 12 and the Producer 22. Both are powered by USB and feature Onyx mic preamps, 24-bit/192kHz recording, zero-latency direct monitoring, 48v phantom power, dedicated ¼-inch monitor outputs and headphone outputs. They also come with a full license for Tracktion T7 DAW + DAW Essentials Collection, which offers 16 plugins including Equalizer, Compressor, Reverber8 and more.
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All The Small Things
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Numark Industries 200 Scenic View Drive Cumberland, RI 02864 (401) 658-3131 www.numark.com Numark has released the DJ2GO2 two-channel DJ controller, which comes “pocket-sized” to fit on top of the user’s laptop while playing small gigs. The DJ2GO2 comes with a built-in sound card with channel and master gain control. Additional features include a 1/8-inch headphone output for cueing, a 1/8-inch main output, and a crossfader and pitch faders on each channel. DJ2GO2 comes pre-mapped with Serato DJ Intro and is upgrade-ready to the full version of Serato.
AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF
GEAR
Toe the Linear
SingTools of the Trade
Roland Corporation 5100 S. Eastern Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90040 (323) 890-3700 www.roland.com
VocoPro 1728 Curtiss Court La Verne, CA 91750 (800) 678-5348 www.vocopro.com
Roland expanded its Boutique electronic instrument line to include the D-05 Linear Synthesizer, a compact reproduction of Roland’s D-50 Linear Synthesizer from the late 1980s. The D-05 comes with a 64-step polyphonic sequencer, a built-in arpeggiator and the D-50 joystick for morphing between different mixes of Upper and Lower Tones in real time. It also includes a built-in speaker for monitoring the sound in mobile situations. The D-05 runs on USB bus power or batteries, and can function as a USB audio/MIDI interface for performing and producing with a computer.
Making the Upgrade Guillemot Corporation BP 2 56204 La Gacilly Cedex France +33 (0) 2 99 08 08 80 www.hercules.com
VocoPro’s SingTools-Pro is a 100-watt karaoke PA system that features a 24/56bit Multi-Digital Signal Processor (DSP). The unit features a vocal effect mixer, builtin assignable pitch correction, and 100 studio-quality vocal effects, including harmonies, doubling and choir. There is also a vocal eliminator, which will reduce up to 90 percent of the original vocals that are recorded on the center channel of non-karaoke tracks. Users can connect smartphones, tablets, laptops or any CDG/ DVD stereo system to the SingTools-Pro by using the unit’s 1/8-inch and RCA inputs.
Hercules has upgraded its DJUCED 40° software with the new DJUCED 40° 3.6. This latest version has been optimized to use 50 percent less CPU, freeing up the computer’s resources. The company improved the display for added reaction time, and also smoothed the transitions between the user’s own mixes and the Smart Mix. Also, the software’s scratch engine has been reworked, adding samples to the demo folder, including new cue points and allowing users to change controllers without losing any of their track markers.
Cool as a Cube-cumber
DJ TIMES
Steinberg announced the 9.5 updates to the Pro, Artist and Elements editions of Cubase. Among the new features found in this latest update are a mixing engine with 64bit floating-point resolution, redesigned Vintage Compressor and Tube Compressor VST processors, and a metronome that comes with customizable click and allows users to assign different patterns to adjust to signature shifts in the Signature Track. Cubase Pro 9.5 also includes Direct Offline Processing, allowing events to be processed non-destructively while keeping the CPU load to a minimum.
JANUARY 2018
Yamaha Corporation of America 6600 Orangethorpe Ave Buena Park, CA 90620 (714) 522-9011 www.yamahaproaudio.com
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GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF
Perfect 10
Chomping at the Bitwig
Propellerhead Software Hornsbruksgatan 23 SE-117 34 Stockholm Sweden www.propellerheads.se
Bitwig GmbH Schwedter Straße 13, Berlin, Germany Berlin 10119 Germany www.bitwig.com
Digital audio workstation Reason 10 is now available from Propellerhead Software.The latest version comes with two new synthesizers – the Europa Shapeshifting Synthesizer, which lets users apply a wide range of modulation to the waveform itself, add advanced spectral filtering and harmonics processing, and draw custom waveforms; and the Grain Sample Manipulator, which uses extensive collection of algorithms, ultra-flexible modulation, routing and effects to explore the sonic variations of any sample. Reason 10 also includes Propellerhead’s Radical Piano instrument and Synchronous Effect Modulator, as well as 3GB of drum loops and samples.
Bitwig Studio 2.2 supports Ableton’s Link technology out of the box, allowing users to connect multiple instances of Bitwig Studio to a variety of music-software programs, including Ableton Live, Reason, NI Traktor, NI Maschine and Serato DJ. The program comes with four new modulator devices—Polynom, which feeds modulation signals into a mathematical formula; Quantize, which can reshape any modulation signal; Sample and Hold, which introduces chaos and breathes life into the modulation setup; and Audio Rate, which uses any audio signal in the project as a modulation source.
Focus Pocus That’s One Way to Output It
DJ TIMES
JANUARY 2018
Output (818) 672-6902 www.output.com
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Platform from Output is a studio desk built for musician. Platform is constructed of 100 percent real wood from renewable sources and is available in either Natural or hand-stained Kodiak Brown. Features include a bridge for studio monitors, 9U of rack space and cable management. Users also have the option to add a keyboard tray and leg risers. The desk can hold approximately 120 pounds, and the top bridge can hold an additional 66 pounds. Platform is made in the USA and assembly is required. Proceeds from every desk sold are donated to musician and environmentalist, Ryuichi Sakamoto’s foundation, More Trees, to support their reforestation and carbon offset projects.
PROLODY Media Park Boulevard Hilversum 1217WE Netherlands +316 523 813 54 www.focusone-plugin.com Dutch producer/DJ duo Sick Individuals launched Focus One, their first in-house software plugin. The duo worked on the plug-in for five years and also uses it themselves in the studio. It comes with five key features: Focus, an advanced compression; Boost, a specialized EQ for boosting leads; Drive, a high-resolution distortion that adds crunch, punch and harmonics; Widen, a mid-side effect that opens up the stereo image; Pulse, a smart tremolo effect that automatically syncs to BPM; and an Extreme Mode.
AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF
GEAR
Modulars & Rockers
Shades of Grey
American Music & Sound 925 Broadbeck Dr. #220 Newbury Park, CA 91320 (800) 431-2609 www.AmericanMusicAndSound.com
Korg 316 South Service Road Melville, NY 11747 (631) 390-6500 www.korg.com
Reloop, distributed Stateside by American Music and Sound, has introduced its Premium Modular Bag and Premium Headphone Bag. The bags feature a soft inlay for gentle storage and a solid construction with reinforced edging to protect against unwanted drops. The bags are designed out of a sturdy nylon textile designed to prevent damage from sharp objects, liquids and dirt, and they include a carrying handle made of composition leather and red nylon. The headphone bag also comes with a Velcro bag for storing USB sticks or cables.
Korg’s minilogue PG is a limited-edition version of its minilogue analog synthesizer that comes in a polished grey finish. The new look combines “a smooth grey panel with a dark ash-finished rear wooden panel in a finish that reflects beautifully in various lighting, ranging from silver, to dark grey, to black,” according to the company. The 37-key minilogue features a four-note polyphonic analog structure, 16-step polyphonic note and motion sequencer, 200 editable presets and a Voice Mode that lets users choose how the four voices are configured.
To Stay or TOGO
ADJ Products 6122 S. Eastern Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90040 (323) 582-2650 www.americandj.com The 18P Hex from ADJ is an LED-powered par fixture housed in a heavy-duty metal construction. The unit comes equipped with eighteen 12-watt Hex LEDs that utilize red, green, blue, amber, white, and UV elements to achieve color mixing. The 18P Hex comes pre-programmed with 63 color macros and offers a choice of five different dimmer curves that can be used for a variety of applications. Additional features include a 25-degree beam angle, a removable gel frame and a four-digit LED screen on the rear of the unit.
JANUARY 2018
Gemini Sound’s AS-TOGO series includes four speaker models with retractable handle and built-in wheels. The AS-08TOGO features an integrated 200-watt Class AB amplifier and a three-inch high-excursion, low-frequency compression driver. The AS-10TOGO features a 10-inch high-excursion, low-frequency compression driver, an integrated 300watt Class AB amplifier and audio playback capability via Bluetooth, FM radio, USB sticks or SD cards. The AS-12TOGO has an internal media player and an integrated 400-watt Class AB amplifier that gives a linear frequency response from 40Hz to 19KHz. Finally, the AS-15TOGO houses a 15-inch high-excursion and integrated 500-watt Class AB amplifier.
Near & Par
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Gemini Sound 107 Trumbull Street Building F8, Floor 2 Elizabeth, NJ 07206 (732) 346-0061 www.geminisound.com
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TRACKS…MIXES…COMPILATIONS
Lauren Lo Sung
“SECRET SAUCE” u Richard Earnshaw & Steve Taylor u Duffnote With the original and Full Fat versions on offer, this latest Duffnote release hits the spot other sauces don’t reach. With this snappy tune, jazzy sax, a lush groove and skippy rhythm are on the menu. Bumpin.’
– Curtis Zack DISCO’S REVENGE u Simon Dunmore u Glitterbox Label box Dunmore delivers a wonderful comp of house, funk, classics and rare disco treasures. Highlights include Richie Havens’ “Going Back to My Roots,” Patti Labelle’s “Music Is My Way of Life,” Chic’s “Chic Cheer,” Hot Chocolate’s “Heaven Is in the Back Seat” and Gino Soccio’s “Dancer.” Outstanding. – Tommy D Funk PLAY IT LIKE PAPA u Various Artists u Papa Celebrating 15 years of the iconic U.K. label, this compilation of deep, soulful cuts features soulful tracks from Reel People, Osunlade, DJ Spinna, Eli Escobar and more. Also featuring some exclusive cuts, like Saison’s “How You Feel,” this is essential for lovers of the groove.
– Curtis Zack
Deorro
“GROOVES ON THE VINYL” EP u Gorgon City u REALM Good stuff here. The rumbling title track delivers a solid, house groove with tribal flavor – and check its addictive Paul Woolford remix, which ups the BPM. But the fave here is “Get Together,” which brings a buzzy/bouncy bassline, plus a beautiful piano and breathy breakdown. – Jennifer Harmon DJ Funky T
GUEST REVIEWER: LAVVY LEVAN
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JANUARY 2018
“FEEL WHAT I’M FEELING” EP
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Dashcam Brobot On this two-track house EP, it’s the title cut that really stands out for me. Taking a recognizable sample and flipping it into something fresh usually floats my boat, so here a Diana Ross/Lionel Richie sample (“Endless Love”) rides beautifully over a tumbling bassline and deep chords. Simple and devastating. Top marks. Miguel Migs
Larry Levan
MK
“LOST SIGNAL” u Gallago u Anjunadeep With a breathy intro (“Someday you’ll look back and you’ll see…”), this hypnotic gem delivers a grooving beat and a gorgeous piano accompaniment. Simple, seductive and impacting – low-key, yet captivating. – Jennifer Harmon “WORTHLESS” EP u Lauren Lo Sung u Rutilance This sexy four-tracker blends solid, deep-house grooves with a touch of old-school, hip-hop samples, heavy beats and hypnotic melodies. With winners like “All Fuzzy,” this one’s a must for all warm-up DJs. – Tommy D Funk Gorgon City
Simon Dunmore
“DRIFTING”
u Lee Foss & Lee Curtiss feat. Spencer Nezey u Defected The powerhouse that is Defected rolls on, with no visible signs of ever stopping. On this smooth, but techy cut, Sonny Fodera delivers a pumping remix that should be massive.
– Curtis Zack “RUNAWAY”
u Serge Funk (Micky More & Andy Tee Mix) u Groove Culture Melohman
Full Intention
Based around a hefty slice of Stargard’s classic “Which Way is Up,” the Italians chunk it up for the modern clubs, and this funky jam will definitely do damage.
– Curtis Zack “ANDELE” u Deorro u Ultra Mixing his Latin roots with today’s festival-EDM, Deorro drops a rousing electro-house/dubstep/trap combo. With a hyped-up beat, the track breaks into a freaked-out jump fest that drops some Cumbia flavor in the breakdown. Que buen sabor – fuego seguro! – Jennifer Harmon “I’LL BE WAITING” (REMIXES) u Full Intention u Full Intention One of the Full Intention crew’s biggest hits, this Shena vocalled number gets a re-rub for 2017. Slightly deeper than the original version, the anthemic vocal still causes pandemonium on the dancefloor. – Curtis Zack “IT’S THE INSIDE” EP u Melohman u Sub_Urban The original version of the title track kicks a properly funky rhythm with a loopy bass-line in full effect. Meanwhile, “The Directors Cut” brings a deephouse vibe with majestic horns to create an all-round classy piece of house music.
– Tommy D Funk
– Curtis Zack “YOUR LOVE” u DJ Funky T u Purple Music With a vibe that wouldn’t be out of place in early-’90s NYC, “Your Love” has all the ingredients for success. With a great vocal and killer organ rhythm, this one’s smokin’.
– Curtis Zack
DJ TIMES
London-based vocalist Lifford teams up with Power for a song that possesses real class. A sublime bassline, great keys and that vocal line this up to be one of the vocal tracks of the festive season.
JANUARY 2018
“TIME AFTER TIME” u Brian Power pres. Lifford u SoulHouse Music
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Mobile
(continued from page 30) guests,” he says. “With that approach, I want the true spirit and character of the client to be solely associated with their event.” Although he says that most of his business is referral-based, Lomaz started a blog on his website and uses social media as touch points and reinforcers. “If someone learns of our services, they can turn to the blog and social media to continue their research, or hopefully, reiterate what
they heard during the referral,” he says, adding that he’s not a huge fan of social media, so it certainly took some stepping outside of his comfort zone to maintain it for business. “My take on social media is that the messaging needs to be relevant, and aspirational. I don’t enjoy posting for the sake of posting or SEO. But I do try to focus on ‘the right social media,’ as I feel that some avenues aren’t appropriate for our brand, while others
are necessary. That’s also an evolutionary analysis as trends and media consumption continue to change.” Asked how he stays competitive, Lomaz answers in the thoughtful manner of a business owner beyond his years. “I honestly look to compete with myself. As so much of our business is dependent on referrals, I know that I can’t duplicate elements, or present the same ideas at multiple events. I treat each performance as
competition to the previous ones – ‘Did today’s Artem do better than yesterday’s Artem?’ “I can’t stress continued education enough,” he adds. “I enjoy watching others perform, attending seminars, reading industry-related books. I turn to media that my clientele tends to consume. Surrounding myself with successful entertainers, and business people motivates me to elevate my own expectations of myself.”
with both multi-screen and tablet modes, however. First, both use unauthenticated Bluetooth connections as the link between the mobile device and the hardware. What that means is that there is no verification, no passcode, etc., of the type that you’re probably accustomed to when you pair Bluetooth headsets to your phone, or your phone to your car’s audio system. Perhaps a longshot, but it could permit someone to make an unwanted connection to your controller, and have a little fun at your expense. But more importantly, the Bluetooth connection itself exhibited some latency in my testing; in other words, there was a delay between a command on the app, and the corresponding action on the laptop (in multi-screen mode), or vice-versa (in tablet mode). That seems to leave these two modes a bit in the novelty camp for me — something that just would not cut it for serious use. It’s worth noting that the latency was evident when my device was just inches from the controller. Given the distance limitations of Bluetooth, I have to imagine that wandering too far
away from the hardware with your device would only make the latency worse until the connection is lost. Additionally, while Hercules has proven its software chops with the desktop version of DJUCED, both of the apps leave a bit to be desired in terms of modern mobile user experiences. I would describe the interfaces as Spartan, or basic; they don’t exhibit the sort of UI design polish that a typical iOS or Android user would logically expect. They fulfill their respective missions, I suppose, but I found it a little too easy to touch something by mistake and end up hosing my performance. (Of course, grazing something by mistake is an issue with touchscreens in general.) I also found it curious that the Bluetooth connection between the controller and the tablet in tablet mode is limited solely to control — there is no audio connectivity. Without an ability to effectively cue up tracks, and with audio output limited to the tablet itself, I’m left wondering what the actual use case for this approach might be. The manual for the Universal doesn’t explicitly mention this, and the diagrams and other
narrative would lead you to believe that it works the same way as laptop mode, with audio coming through the controller. Perhaps more than any other issue, this one is the most surprising. Conclusions: Given how the Hercules Universal DJ actually supports tablet-based DJing, I’d consider this to have only two viable usage modes: laptop and multi-screen. For multiscreen use, it’s my hope that Hercules’ DJUCED Master app will receive some much-needed love in the userexperience department, because the functionality itself does have some promise. For laptop mode, the Universal performs nicely given its small size and limited control real estate. As long as you’re comfortable resorting to the mouse for things like masteroutput levels, it works well with the company’s DJUCED 40° software, has a nice pair of platters, and all the capabilities required to put on a decent DJ set. And with a street price of around $200, it’s not a bad turnkey solution. Just focus on the laptop mode — the place where the Hercules Universal DJ truly shines.
sions. That’s the same as it is most DAWs. Wes: Just the same. So whether it’s pretending VST support never came to Reason, or limiting yourself to whatever’s in the box of the DAW of your choice, that’s one way to dealing with the “I’ve-got-this-and-you-don’t” challenge.
Wes: You have to admit, this is a potentially pretty cool thing, depending on what you need and want in your musical life. The ones we took a quick look at include the aforementioned Allihoopa, along with Blend.io, and Kompoz. What were your initial reactions? Nick: Each platform has its own way of doing things, but they’re not radically different from each other. Creating a profile, curating the feeds of projects you want to explore, previewing and downloading projects, and messaging collaborators, all come pretty much standard. If you’re looking for projects to work on, you can find the standard projects uploaded by individual artists, sponsored remix contests, school assignments, and even some work from pros out there. And, of course, you can submit your own work to
the community to see what comes back. You may just find the instrumentalist, vocalist, engineer, etc., you were looking for! Wes: I think my initial reaction to all of these services is that because the projects shared come from musicians of multiple experience levels, the general quality and readiness levels vary pretty wildly. While I think it’s great that less-seasoned musicians have the opportunity to participate in these ecosystems, and learn from the experiences, if you’re intentions and focus are more serious in nature, it means sifting through a lot of content to find things that might be of interest. Nick: Absolutely. I may not have found the next Mozart waiting to work on a track with me, but it was a lot of fun to experience a wideopen digital marketplace for all kinds
Sounding Off
(continued from page 28) that’s a nearly irrelevant nit. Toward the upper top of the controller is a small panel of iconography that depicts the unit’s operating mode. You can switch between laptop, multi-screen, and tablet mode. That depiction, and the way that the Universal is pitched, would lead you to believe that the unit provides a bit more than it does in this area. Laptop mode is everything I’ve talked about to this point; conventional use with DJUCED on a laptop or desktop, Windows or Mac computer. Multi-screen mode is a combination of laptop mode, and ancillary control methods accessible from a smartphone via Hercules’ “DJUCED Master” app. The Master app itself allows you to use your smartphone as a sort of remote control for the controller itself, adjusting levels, mixing, etc. The sales pitch is that this lets you join the party instead of sitting behind a table or whatever is serving as your DJ booth. Tablet mode is as the name suggests; Hercules has created a DJUCED app you can load on your tablet, and use the Universal as a hardware controller. There are some challenges
DAWs
DJ TIMES
JANUARY 2018
(continued from page 28)
40
Wes: It does, and apparently there’s been a lot of demand for VST support among Reason users. The thing is, while it’s great that VST support is available now, using a VST sort of breaks the model that Propellerhead created in Reason in terms of how things work — and work together. The non-VST instruments and effects still use that skeuomorphic design approach (meaning that the user interface is modeled visually after real-world hardware), and VSTs sit somewhat outside of that. But in any case, if you’re a producer who’s accustomed to Reason, and stick to the incredible array of instruments and content that come “in the box,” it does feel like it makes the collaboration road easier to navigate. Nick: Except in terms of sharing the files and trying to control ver-
SOCIAL COLLABORATION Nick: So let’s shift gears here a bit. If you’ve been creating music on your own thus far, perhaps collaboration itself is what you’re after. There are a number of sites that have emerged specifically for the purpose of enabling musicians to offer up projects for collaboration, browse others’ works-in-progress, download and manage project files, and communicate and socialize these projects to the greater online community.
MP3s in 6
Compiled As December 15, 2017
NATIONAL CROSSOVER POOL CHART
NATIONAL URBAN POOL CHART
1 Sam Smith Too Good At Goodbyes 2 Kelly Clarkson Love So Soft 3 Kesha Woman 4 Halsey Bad At Love 5 J. Balvin F/ Willy William & Beyonce’ Mi Gente 6 Camila Cabello F/ Young Thug Havana 7 Maroon 5 F/ Sza What Lovers Do 8 Pink What About Us 9 Tove Lo Disco Tits 10 Dua Lipa New Rules 11 Diana Ross Ain’t No Mountain 2017 12 D. Vegas F/ Kiara Complicated 13 LeAnn Rimes Love Line 14 Lee Dagger F/ Sian Shelter From The Storm 15 Fergie Ft/ Nicki Minaj You Already Know 16 Charlie Puth How Long 17 Alan Walker F/ Cyrus + Digital Farm Animals All Falls Down 18 Ed Sheeran Perfect 19 Rosabel F/ Tamara Wallace Freak 20 Portugal The Man Feel It Still 21 Calvin Harris F/ Kehlani & Lil Yacthy Faking It 22 Emily Perry Boom 23 Clean Bandit F/ Julia Michaels I Miss You 24 Post Malone F/ 21 Savage Rockstar 25 Taylor Swift Ready For It 26 The Trash Mermaids Cryptic Love 27 Raquela These Tears 28 Demi Lovato Sorry Not Sorry 29 Avicii F/ Rita Ora Lonely Together 30 Kim Cameron Beautiful 31 Tom Budin & Luciana X With U 32 Selena Gomez F/ Marshmello Wolves 33 David Guetta And Afrojack Dirty Sexy Money 34 Ultra Nate & Quentin Harris I’m Too Sexy ( Touch ) 35 Marshmello F/ Khalid Silence 36 Mono Mind Save Me A Place 37 Greg Gatsby F/ J. Allen I Got You 38 Scotty Boy & Lizzie Curious Shine Your Love 39 Biagio Shaddap You Face 40 Win Marcinak Celebrate
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Most Added Tracks
1 Emily Perry 2 Rihanna 3 Alan Walker F/ Cyrus & Digital Farm Animals 4 Clean Bandit F/ Julia Michaels 5 Lee Dagger F/ Sian 6 JES 7 Ultra Naté & Q Harris as Black Stereo Faith 8 Taylor Swift 9 Diana Ross 10 Mono Mind
Capitol RCA RCA Capitol Universal Epic Interscope RCA Island Warner Brothers Motown Smash Curb Tazmania Interscope Atlantic RCA Atlantic Carrillo Atlantic Columbia Dauman Atlantic Republic Big Machine Tre-Star RE Hollywood Interscope Side FX One Love Enterprise Interscope Parlophone Peace Bisquit RCA BMG 418 Music 418 Music Global Groove Burning Tyger
Boom Consideration All Falls Down I Miss You Shelter From The Storm Get Me Through The Night I’m Too Sexy End Game Ain’t No Mountain 2017 Save Me A Place
Dauman Roc Nation RCA Atlantic Tazmania Intonenation Peace Bisquit Big Machine Motown BMG
REPORTING POOLS Masspool - Saugus, MA; Gary Canavo n Chew Fu - Woodbridge, CT; Chew Fu n Dj Stickyboots - Goshen, NJ; Blake Eckelbarger n Victors - Milwaukee, WI;
Chris Egner n Nexus Radio - Chicago, IL; Manny Esparza n MetroMix - Pittsburgh, PA; John Hohman n Soundworks - San Francisco, CA; Sam Labelle n Dixie Dance Kings - Atlanta, GA; Dan Miller n DJ Rafy Nieves - San Juan, PR; Rafy Nieves n Mixxmasters Lithonia, GA; Brian Stephens n DJ Laszlo - Las Vegas, NV; Laszlo Szenasi n Pacific Coast - Long Beach, CA; Steve Tsepelis
LOOKING FOR THESE TITLES? YOU CAN HEAR THEM AND BUY THEM AT WWW.DANCEKINGS. COM. JUST CLICK ON THE LINKS IN THE CHART. DDK HAS LIMITED MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE
Cardi B Goldlink F/ Brent Faiyaz & shy Glizzy Yo Gotti & Mike WILL Made-it F / Nicki Minage G-Eazy F/A$AP Rocky & Cardi B Chris Brown F/Yo Gotti/A Boggie Wit’Da Hoody Gucci Mane F/ Migos 21 Savage Miguel F/ Travis Scott Kendrick Lamar F/ Zacari Wiz Khalifa & Ty Dolla $ign Miggos F/N.Minaj & Cardi B. Sza F/ Travis Scott Lil Uzi Vert Lil Pump Tk Kravitz F/ Sexton 24Hrs F/Ty Dolla $ign / Wiz Khlaifa Quality Control F/ Quavo / Takeoff & Of Meek Mill Dj Envy F/Fetty Wap & Dj Sliink Post Malone F/ 21 Savage
Bodak Yellow Crew Rake It Up No Limit Pills And Automobiles I Get The Bag Bank Account Sky Walker Love Something New Motorsport Love Galore The Way Life Goes Gucci Gang Space What You Like Too Hotty 1942 Flows Text Ur Number Rockstar
Roc Nation RCA Roc Nation RCA RCA Atlantic Epic RCA Interscope Interscope Capitol RCA Atlantic Warner Brothers Republic Problem Child Capitol Atlantic BMG Republic
Most Added Tracks 1 2 3 4 5
Kodak Black F/ XXXTENTACION Game F/Jeremih, Young Thug & Sevyn Future & Young Thug F/ Offset Stefflon Don F/ French Montana Farruko, Bad Bunny & Nicki Minaj
Roll In Peace Oh I Patek Water Hurtin’ Me Krippy Kush
Atlantic EOne Epic Capitol Sony
NATIONAL LATIN DANCE POOL CHART 1. Zawezo 2. Nacho 3. Pabanor ft Lu-K 4. Karol G 5. Prince Royce ft Farruko 6. L’Angel & J’Moreno 7. Aliya 8. Romeo Santos 9. Becky G & Bad Bunny 10. Pedro Alonso 11. Ala Jaza 12. La Banda Gorda 13. Aliez & MDA 14. Don Perignon 15 Renzo 16. Romeo Santos 17. Nate 18. Alexandra ft Eddy Herrera 19. Magia Caribeña 20. Domenic Marte
Frikiao (Trapbow Remix) Bailame Tu Me Pones Mal Ahora Me Llamas (RMX) Ganas Locas Ando Suelto Bling Bling Imitadora Mayores Ya No Vale Banda Cero Coro Pasan Los Dias Yo Bailo De Todo Baby Dile Imitadora Booty A Dormir Juntitos Botaste La Botella Yo Queria
AMD Universal 3 Knots Latin Hits Sony On Top Latin Hots Sony Sony Lopera Music Mayimba More Music Crossover Don Mayimba Sony 226 J&N MC Direct Balance
Most Added Tracks 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Johnny Ray Ozuna Ilegales Limi T21 ft Elvis Crespo Charlie Aponte
Dejame Salir Se Preparo Llenate De Fe Like Pa’ Mi Gente
JZ Prod. Universal La Oreja Media Renew Music Corp. CA
REPORTING LATIN POOLS 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
of musicians, who share the goal of meaningful collaboration. In terms of which site to choose, I noted a few differences between these platforms that can help a musician find the best one for their own experience level and goals. For example, Blend.io has integration with Dropbox, and you can really set-up your project exactly how you’d like it handed to a collaborator. The exact tracks of audio and MIDI you’d like to share will be available for others (at least, that was my experience exchanging Ableton Live projects). But, of course, that means you are on the hook to clean up your projects and bounce or freeze any VSTs you might be using. Allihoopa, on the other hand, allows you to instantly open projects in Reason, which compiles the project audio onto a single audio track. There’s a trade off since collaborators may not be able to edit individual elements of the project they’ve downloaded, but it makes it very fast to hop in and start building onto someone else’s creation. And it’s equally as convenient to upload your new version of a project back to Allihoopa from within the Reason interface. Getting in and trying these sites out (for free!) will allow you to identify the best fit for your online collaboration needs. Wes: Pretty cool, honestly. I think something else worth mentioning here is the possible end game with these collaborations. If you end up with something you’re proud of, and want to release it, what are the licensing implications? These services break the traditional model. I could argue that the “traditional model” is perhaps in need of disruption, but from a legal perspective, songwriters and owners of recordings have rights,
and it seems like this sort of social collaboration approach is great way to end-up in all sorts of entanglements — whether in a courtroom, or even in less formal ways. It’s probably worth embracing the possibility that your work could easily be taken, leveraged and profited from, and you may never know. But if you approach it as a learning and experience exercise? Nick: It could be a lot of fun, for sure. But you make a good point, and as you said, it depends on your motivations and objectives. VERSIONING & ROLLBACK Wes: So Nick, let’s chat briefly about one more thing here: versioning and rollback. Versioning is the ability to store and manage multiple iterations — versions — of a file (or project) over time. Rollback is the ability to revert back to one of those previous iterations in the event that you take things in a direction you’re not happy with, and want to start over again — without starting over from scratch. Basically, pull up the last iteration you were happy with, and work from there. This seems pretty important with music projects in general, especially collaborative ones, in the event that one of the collaborators either heads in an unsatisfactory direction — or merely flubs something up by mistake. It happens. Nick: It does! But let’s remember: This is an issue even when working solo. Unless you’re using a dedicated software tool of some sort, you don’t get versioning or rollback from your computer typically either, at least not automatically. Wes: Good point. I know we both use Macs, and I’m a big fan of Time Machine; this is Apple’s integrated backup system in macOS, and it keeps
iterative backups on a very regular basis. Through a browsing metaphor, you can go back in time (hence the name) and pull up any file, any folder, from a previous snapshot. It’s saved my butt a few times. But what about cloud services like Dropbox? Nick: Dropbox has 30-day version histories of your documents. This can come in especially handy if you are working with someone who accidently saves over a project file that you were working on. But I’m also anticipating the DAWs to continue improving their own project versioning, such as Ableton is doing with Live 10. Wes: I’m guessing other cloudstorage services might have something similar, and it seems that two things are obvious here: 1. Figure out what your preferred cloud-storage service offers. 2. Figure out how to use it before you start collaborating on projects through that service. It might well save the day at some point. Nick: Exactly! SUMMARY Wes: So, Nick, if I could cut to the chase here, after all our learning of some of these DAWs for the first time, after countless hours of experimentation and trial-and-error and tinkering and challenges over the past several months, I think we can pretty much say at this point that the current state of the art leaves some things to be desired when it comes to musical collaboration. Agree? Nick: I agree! This is where I lay out the ideal version of online collaboration that today I can only imagine: In a perfect world, I would have a project open on my end, and my collaborator would have the project open their end, referencing the same cloud-based files. Changes could be
synced in real-time, and we would be sure that we are hearing two identical versions of the project as we go — no missing samples or effects. We would have a smooth video chat to boot, without having to rewire the insides of our computer and DAW’s sound preferences every time we want to hop on and work. If we’re feeling a jam, we could sit down with our respective instruments and by the magic of technology stream highdefinition stereo audio to each other with near-zero latency. Pie in the sky, maybe, but it feels like we may not be as far off from this future-state as it seems! Wes: Yeah, the dream indeed… You summed it up perfectly for me as well. After taking a peek at all these DAWs and services, I’m jazzed about what some of the DAW creators are putting in place, and I think you’d agree that there’s really been no better time to make music and collaborate with others. But it still feels like the ideal universe is farther out on the horizon than I would have expected it to be in 2018, as I set out in the introduction to this article. Many (if not all) of the technology tools needed for our mutual dream exist in some form or another, and maybe it’s only a matter of time before they start getting assembled under a single roof in one of the DAWs we looked at. Until then? It looks like our collaboration sessions are going to continue to require a little more thought, and a little more creativity in terms of synthesizing solutions, than we might like. That said, it’s no less exciting — and no less cool — to work with others on a collaborative musical vision. And with that, I think you and I have some projects to go collaborate on. See you online… n
And I can’t even see the mixer. Nicole Moudaber, Next Month in DJ Times
Manuel Gimeno
a big techno DJ I’ve become.
Andrea Tortelli
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It’s just amazing what…
Tasya Menanker
DJ TIMES
JANUARY 2018
Nicole Moudaber’s MOOD Music
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