DJ Times February 2015, Vol 28 No 2

+ Moby + Eats Everything + Sydney Blu + Reloop NEON + WaveDNA Liquid Rhythm + Big Ten’s DJ Décor, Video & More: How Mobiles Keep Current New Years Eve Across the USA Armin, Skrillex, Kaskade & More

Danny Tenaglia STILL THE DJ’s DJ

AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988 FEBRUARY 2015

INDUSTRY EVENTS…NOTABLES…MILESTONES NEWS

Numark NS7III: Four-deck controller.

For Serato DJ: Rane TTM57mkll mixer.

It’s Showtime: ADJ’s Zipper effect.

New RP-8000: Reloop makes it straight.

WINTER NAMM: BIGTIME DEBUTS FOR DJS & MORE plete lightshow in one unit.

Cosmic Truss will show a shorter and lighter version of the TV Mount, compatible with F34 and F44 truss systems, plus the U-Torm flexible solution to the problem of suspending drop fixtures.

In the pro-audio sector, Yamaha will show: the DBR range of active speakers; CBR range of passive loudspeakers; and the AG range of audio mixers. Related company Steinberg will show its new Cubase Pro 8 DAW, Cubase Artist 8 DAW and the UR12 USB audio interface.

Electro-Voice will debut the EKX series of portable loudspeakers, which has four active and four passive models, including 12- and 15-inch two-way units and 15- and 18-inch subwoofers. Mackie will debut its FreePlay Personal PA with 300 watts of power and low-end via 8-inch

woofer.

Peavey Electronics will show its Dark Matter series of speaker enclosures, RBN series of enclosures, PV AT Series Mixers with Antares AutoTune, and XR-AT powered mixer.

QSC Audio will feature is new GXD Series Processing Amplifiers, which includes the GXD 8 and GXD 4 units.

RCF will show its EVOX 5 and EVOX 8 systems, an expansion of the L-Pad mixer line, and ICONICA Series headphones. Also, dB Technologies will show its DVA MINI line array, DVX PSW passive boxes, and the SUB 18H active subwoofer.

CAD Audio will debut the MH210 headphones for DJs, CADLive vocal and instrument mics, and the GXL2600USB mic for DJ performance, podcasts and voiceovers. For more on NAMM, please see Feedback on page 9.

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Advance Keyboard series, which is available in 25-, 49-, and 61-key sizes.

American Music and Sound, distributors for several DJ-related brands, will show three new items from Germany’s Reloop. They include: the RMX-60 digital 4+1 club mixer with effects; the RP-7000 silver professional upper-torque turntable; and the RP-8000 Straight hybrid torque MIDI turntable.

Korg will debut the KAOSS DJ, a USB and standalone DJ controller that features a built-in KAOSS Pad and is compatible with any MIDI compatible DJ software. Casio will break out a pair of products—the XW-DJ1 controller and the XWPD1 GrooveCenter, which includes 16 velocity-sensitive pads and four knobs for fast, real-time production.

SmithsonMartin will show EmulatorELITE, billed as “the world’s most advanced DJ system,” using its Emulator PRO software.

In the lighting sector, L.A.-based manufacturer ADJ has several new items: Inno Pocket Wash mini moving head fixture; Inno Pocket Spot Twins moving heads on a mounting bar; and the Zipper effect light with four barrel mirrors, 8-watt LEDs and 16 built-in lightshows.

Related companies DuraTruss and Elation lighting will have some new products as well. DuraTruss will show its DT-3900L tripod crank stand used to securely hang aluminum truss and lighting fixtures. Elation will show its Sniper hybrid beam, scanner and laser simulator.

Blizzard Lighting will show: the Lil’ G mini moving spot head; LB HEX 12*15-watt, 6-in-1 LED unit (RGBAW+UV); and the LB Quad RGBW/RGBA 12*10-watt 4-in-1 LED unit. Chauvet DJ will offer a handful of new items. They include: SlimBEAM QUAD IRC wall accent/ effect light; Intimidator Spot Duo 150 dual moving head unit; EZwash Hex Pack battery-powered mini-LED washes; and the GigBAR IRC com-

Sound BeTTer. Save Money. Sound ProducTions.

DJ TIMES

By Jim Tremayne Anaheim, Calif. – The music industry’s manufacturers, distributors and retailers will convene at the Anaheim Convention Center this Jan. 2225 for the world’s largest trade-only event—the annual Winter NAMM show. More than 90,000 attendees are expected and, as usual, the DJ segment of the market will see plenty of product debuts.

Also, Testa Communications— publisher of DJ Times—will be there with a dedicated exhibition booth.

It will also produce Convention TV @ NAMM, which will provide on-thespot show coverage.

Onto the Exhibit Floor: Pioneer DJ will break out three new products.

They include: HRM-7 headphones for home studio uses; XDJ-RX DJ console, an all-in-one solution, intended for users of rekordbox music-management software, that incorporates two separate digital players, a mixer and a built-in monitor; and XDJ-1000 Digital Player, which adds a 7-inch full-color hi-res touch-panel display for access and control of multiple features.

Rane will introduce: the MP2015 rotary DJ mixer, which includes a SUBMIX bus for multitrack mixing, and the TTM57mkII mixer for Serato DJ, whose key improvements include dual USB 2.0 high-speed class-compliant audio and MIDI USB ports, sample rates of 44.1, 48 and 86 kHz, dedicated Serato DJ iZotope USB FX inserts for each deck and Rane’s proprietary Magnetic Faders.

The inMusic brands—Numark, Denon DJ, Alto Pro, Akai Pro and others—will have several NAMM introductions. They include: Numark’s NS7III four-deck controller for Serato DJ; Denon DJ’s MC4000, a two-deck Serato-optimized MIDI controller, and its Axis Series Speakers, which includes the Axis 8 and Axis 12 satellite mains and the Axis 12S companion subwooofer ; Alto Pro’s Stealth Wireless Pro wireless loudspeaker system; and Akai Pro’s

5

VOLUME 28

NUMBER 2

14 A Perfect Balance

Long Known as “The DJ’s DJ,” Danny Tenaglia Re-Learned His Craft & ReFocused His Already Legendary Career

BY BRUCE TANTUM

20 Keeping Current

From Video-Mapping to VIP Lounges With Décor & Furniture, DJs Beef Up The Bottom Line by Staying on Top of Trends

BY JEFF STILES

22 Cool, Calm & Collected

After Nearly a Decade, Moby Re-Visits His Ambient Gem

BY BRUCE TANTUM

24 Happy New Year!

From Coast to Coast, Clubs & Festivals Ring in 2015 with the World’s Biggest DJs

BY DJ TIMES PHOTOGRAPHERS

DEPARTMENTS 26 Making Tracks

WaveDNA’s Liquid Rhythm

28 Sounding Off

Reloop’s NEON controller

30 Mobile Profile

DJ Yoshi: Big Ten Jock

32 Business Line

“Service-Design” Thinking

34 Gear

New Products from ADJ, RCF & More

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

38 Grooves

6

SAMPLINGS 10 Eats Everything

Full Platter

12 In the Studio With…

Sydney Blu

Phat Tracks from Above & Beyond, Caribou & More

40 DJ Times Marketplace

Shop Here for All Your DJ-Related Supplies

41 Club Play Chart

The Hottest Records, As Reported

by Our Top U.S. Record Pools

Cover Image By Pearcy Proper. Contents Image By Gary James

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FROM THE EDITOR

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

DT: My Favorite DJ

8

On occasion, I’ll be at a big EDM festival—usually something on the America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Presented by Pioneer DJ—and a younger fan will visit our exhibit booth, vote for their favorite DJ and eventually ask me, “OK, you’ve seen all these DJs—who’s your favorite?” Almost always, I start talking about Danny Tenaglia.

I try not to come off as the curmudgeonly music guy, but it’s hard not explain the differences between today’s exploding EDM-festival scene and the club scene that I experienced. Instead of hearing a steady stream of “hits” in short-set bursts, music fans would enter the club, knowing that they had to be down for the journey, willing to trust the direction of that night’s musical curator.

And more than any other DJ that I experienced in NYC, Danny Tenaglia delivered the most magical evenings/mornings.

From long-gone venues like Twilo to Vinyl, Tenaglia further perfected the art of the all-night party and marathon DJ set. He certainly wasn’t the first to do it, but from my experience, he was the best. You’d visit on one night and he’d rock that hip-swaying tribal groove, usually punctuated by diva vocals that would ramp up the dancefloor heat to unimaginable levels. Another night, he’d break out the classics, and he might overlay a familiar tune (like, say, “Voodoo Ray” by A Guy Called Gerald) on a variety of older tracks throughout the evening. Go another night, and Danny would be in a techno mood, dropping tougher tunes all night. You didn’t always know what you’d get, but that was the point. Like the folks who still keep their Paradise Garage membership cards, those who regularly experienced Tenaglia’s “Be Yourself” party at Vinyl, for example, know how great a nightclub can be and they know how deep a DJ can move you. They just know.

For this issue, fellow New Yorker Bruce Tantum caught up with Tenaglia and found that these days he’s still feeling techno, as evidenced by his recent banging Balance compilation. In this interview, Danny tells us how he felt somewhat confronted by the recent changes in the scene and explains how he dealt with them to continue his already legendary career. Thanks, Danny, you’re still the best.

Of course, as we just completed the holidays and the New Years Eve craziness, several DJ Times staffers and contributors participated in the celebrations. At events from New York to Las Vegas (and Dallas in between), we caught some of the world’s top DJ talents. Kaskade, Skrillex, Armin Van Buuren, Disclosure, Alesso… you get the picture. And as such, we present the best photography from those events. Big thanks go out to top EDM shutterbugs Doug Van Sant, David Becker and Andrew Inomata.

For his short feature, Mr. Tantum also interviewed the legendary Moby, who offered his thoughts on his re-released Hotel: Ambient, and on ambient music in general. In the Sampling section, our Chris Caruso visits with a pair of talents. He goes “In the Studio” with Sydney Blu, who details her latest output and previews her upcoming album; he also connects with Eats Everything, who explains his approach to his new dual-CD mix-compilation, “Fries With That?”

As this issue will be at the Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, Calif., we find lots of products in these pages. In addition to our NAMM preview on Page 3 (with an addendum in the Feedback section), we offer another dozen new products in our Gear section. Also, in Making Tracks, our Denver-based scribe Wesley Bryant-King tests out WaveDNA’s beat constructor Liquid Rhythm.

Meanwhile, in Sounding Off, the very talented DJ Trayze takes on the Reloop NEON pad controller.

Of course, there’s plenty of coverage in the world of the mobile entertainer as well. Our Iowabased writer Jeff Stiles connected to a handful of jocks who explain how keeping up with the current trends—whether it’s décor decisions or video presentations—can boost your bottom line. In the Mobile Profile section, our subject DJ Yoshi explains how rocking athletic events in New Jersey opened up a new world to him when his alma mater Rutgers joined the Big Ten sports conference.

In Business Line, we define “service-design thinking” and explain how it can give you insights about your mobile-entertainment business. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jim Tremayne Editor, DJ Times

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

art director Janice Pupelis jpupelis@testa.com

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

production manager Steve Thorakos sthorakos@testa.com

chart coordinator Dan Miller dmiller@testa.com contributors Jody Amos Tom Banham Joe Bermudez Wesley Bryant-King Ally Byers Chris Caruso Shawn Christopher Paul Dailey Reed Dailey Chris Davis Michelle Fetky Josh Harris Robert LaFrance Michelle Loeb Duanny Medrano Lily Moayeri Phil Moffa Natalie Raben Scott Rubin Julia Sachs Jeff Stiles Emily Tan Phil Turnipseed Curtis Zack Ashley Zlatopolsky President/Publisher Vincent P. Testa FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO ORDER SUBSCRIPTIONS, CALL 800-937-7678 VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.djtimes.com

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

brand design & web development manager Fred Gumm fgumm@testa.com assistant editor Chris Caruso ccaruso@testa.com advertising manager Tom McCarty tmccarty@testa.com art/production assistant Vito Gelo vgelo@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 © 2015 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 February 2015

visit our website: www.djtimes.com

FEEDBACK DJ-Lighting Round-Up

AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988

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maker for DJs and artists on-the-go, will introduce HERO4, its highest performance line of capture devices, which includes the Black and Silver models.

Case-maker Grundorf will debut its Plastic Front DJ Façade, which will allow jocks to achieve a clean, stream‑ lined appearance. UDG, the popular case manufacturer distributed State‑

side by Mixware, will offer two Urban‑ ite MIDI Controller backpack models, the Creator Pioneer RMX-500 Hard‑ case, the Creator DIGI Hardcase, and the DIGI Headphone bag.

VocoPro will show the UHF Diamond single-channel UHF wireless mic sys‑ tem, SDR-4000 dual digital recorder and the CDG-8900 PRO dual-tray CD/ CD+G karaoke player.

Hosa Technology will introduce a pair of product ranges—Hosa Drive Series and Hosa Pro Breakouts—that’ll bet‑ ter connect consumer audio products with pro gear.

Cerwin-Vega, a Gibson brand, will showcase its XD Desktop speaker se‑ ries, which features wooden cabinets to ensure tight bass and the VegaBass enhanced EQ feature.

12/16/2014 4:17:04 PM

This is Feedback, a monthly feature that fields questions from you, our readers, and funnels them out to in‑ dustry professionals. If you have any questions about DJing – marketing, mixing, equipment or insurance, any at all – drop us a letter at DJ Times, 25 Willowdale Ave, Port Washington, NY 11050, fax us at (516) 944‑8372 or e‑mail us at djtimes@testa.com.

If we do use your question, you’ll receive a free DJ Times T‑shirt. And remember, the only dumb question is the question that is not asked.

The annual Winter NAMM show—set for Jan. 22-25 at the Anaheim Conven‑ tion Center—will see dozens of new products launched for the DJ market.

On this month’s Page 3 News section, we take a look at the playback, light‑ ing and pro-audio segments of the DJ market.

But, as we all know, there’s more to the DJ scene than that, so here we offer the debuts we expect to see from the studio and recording end of the market, plus the accessories and con‑ sumer-leaning gear that DJs may use.

From the Studio and Recording World: At NAMM, longtime sup‑ plier Roland will show its new 7X7TR8 Drum Machine Expansion—with sounds from the TR-707 and TR-727 Rhythm Composers—for the TR-8 Rhythm Performer.

PreSonus will show the USB 2.0 buspowered AudioBox iOne audio inter‑ face and AudioBox iTwo audio/MIDI interface for Mac, Windows and Apple iPad. Studio-software maker iZotope will show the Ozone 6 mastering platform and the Iris 2, a visual instrument that combines the power of a sampler with the flexibility of a modular synth. Apo‑ gee will show its new Ensemble 30x34 Thunderbolt 2 Audio Interface for Mac users. The U.K.’s Novation will intro‑ duce its Audiohub 2x4 USB interface with “Focusrite sound inside.”

Accessories and Other Products: GoPro, the popular camera-

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SAMPLINGS Since his breakthrough as Eats Everything with the 2011 release of “Entrance Song” on Catz ‘n Dogz’s Pets Records, there’s been a cornucopia of food-related puns written to chronicle Dan Pearce’s meteoric ascent into the tech-house stratosphere.

However, despite the reputation he’s garnered over the past few years for his pounding live sets, the Bristol, U.K.-based DJ/producer has never immortalized the experience as a commercial mix compilation until now. Pearce has teamed up with London’s Hypercolour record label to release Fries With That?—a two-CD aural journey taking listeners through both his present-day aesthetics and his past inspirations. In the midst of a packed North American tour, Pearce connected with DJ Times to talk about the new compilation.

DJ Times: What went into creating the two-disc concept for the compilation?

Pearce: I wanted to do two mixes. One that is a snapshot from a long club set of mine, and the second is my take on classic records that I grew up with or that have influenced me in recent times or back in the day.

DJ Times: The second disc touches on some tracks you consider classics. What sounds and releases were particularly influential when you were first getting started to DJ? Pearce: The mix doesn’t really reflect the music I was into when I first started to DJ—that music was hardcore and old school jungle. The mix really reflects my initial forays into house and techno, which came about for me in late 1993 and early 1994. Some of the tracks I had then go back further, discovering the history of house and techno, and I feel some of the tracks on this mix reflect that.

There are also slightly more modern records on the mix that I have only discovered in the last few years, but have become instant classics to me. I felt this was a good opportunity to get them played to a wider audience, as I love them and I want other people to love them as well.

DJ Times: Over the past year, you’ve played some huge gigs, from Glastonbury to Jamie Jones’ Paradise party in Miami and Ibiza. Has playing to larger

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

EATS EVERYTHING: FULL PLATTER

10

crowds and bigger venues affected your style?

Pearce: Not really, to be honest. I have evolved to a more techno sound, purely because I am more inspired by the techno that I am listening to now.

When as in previous years I was not inspired by what I was hearing so much. The first raves I went to were techno raves, so it’s something I have always loved.

DJ Times: You’ve got a very hands-on approach when you’re DJing, with a healthy dose of effects, mash-ups, and more. How is this style reflected in the compilation?

Pearce: The modern mix is a live mix. I set up four CDJs. But instead of using the effects of the Pioneer mixer, I chose to hook the mixer up to my studio so I could utilize Ableton Push and the effects within Ableton and other plug-ins. This gave it a more authentic way of using effects rather than a guy just using a Pioneer mixer.

– Chris Caruso

n

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DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

IN THE STUDIO WITH

12

SYDNEY BLU: RELENTLESS

If you caught DJ Times’ recent online premiere of Sydney Blu's “Vnderground” EP, you're well aware of the dark tech-house soundscapes the L.A.-based DJ/producer creates. The EP—out now on Kevin Saunderson's KMS Recordings—is a two-track journey through sinister vibes, booming bass, and extended grooves, ripe for late-night dancefloors and subversive warehouse raves.

Now, Sydney Blu is gearing up for the release of her artist album Relentless this year, previewing the full-length LP with single releases on a series of underground labels (including the new “Vnderground” EP and late-2014's “My Neighbors Hate Me”). However, the album is just one piece of the Sydney Blu puzzle, as the Canadian-born artist maintains a never-ending series of tour dates and manages her BLU Music label and BLU Party series.

Amidst all of the madness, Sydney Blu connected with DJ Times to talk about the new EP, work on her upcoming album, and some of her favorite live and studio gear. lenges of creating dance music DJ Times: Your Vnderground EP across a long-form album format, is out now. How did its release on as opposed to just releasing Kevin Saunderson’s KMS Records singles? come to be?

Sydney Blu: Time and not Sydney Blu: Kevin played my releasing music for a while. I big Miami Music Week Party. It definitely suffered when I was not was amazing and he played an releasing music. It feels good to unreal set. I met his awesome finally start releasing it. manager Phil at the party and kept DJ Times: You throw a series in touch and sent over the EP to of BLU Parties. What vibe do they them. They liked the track! Danaim to have and what can attendtiez Saunderson, Kevin’s son, also ees expect from each one? loved the EP. They’re a pleasure Sydney Blu: Proper DJs comto work with. I just gave them ing from the underground. I like to another track for the KMS Miami book DJs of music that I play and Compilation also. that represent my sound on all DJ Times: Both tracks are spectrums. I also like to book artpretty dark atmospherically, and ists that inspire me. It’s all about “Vnderground” has a really crazy throwing events that are quality vocal sample throughout. Where to me. did it come from?

DJ Times: Do you prefer DJing Sydney Blu: It’s a sample or producing? How do they give from an old movie with Sandra back to each other?

Bernhard—I love it! I’m just really Sydney Blu: DJing for sure. into techno right now. I love playThat is the icing on the cake. I ing it, and I really enjoy making it.

DJ Times: “My Neighbors Hate love performing! I’m a great DJ and have no insecurities about it.

Me” also came out recently and Producing is a work in progress; it’s a thumping tech-house bomb.

I’m so hard on myself.

What went into the creation of DJ Times: Your preferred DJ the track? setup?

Sydney Blu: Groovy house Sydney Blu: My live setup is vibes. I wanted to make just a three Pioneer CDJ-2000s and a groovy house track with what I Pioneer DJM-900 mixer. was feeling at the moment. BumpDJ Times: What are some stuing bassline with swinging melodies. dio gear and software must-haves?

The name was random; I got a Sydney Blu: Ableton Live, bunch of noise complaints and [LennarDigital] Sylenth, [reFX] jokingly named the song that one Nexus, several Rob Papen synths, time when I saved the Ableton file.

[Native Instruments] Reaktor, When the record was finished, I [Spectrasonics] Trilian, [Spectrajust kept it that name. sonics] Atmosphere, and so many DJ Times: You’re currently more. working on your upcoming artist DJ Times: What other projects album Relentless. What can fans do you have in the works? expect?

Sydney Blu: BLU Mega Miami Sydney Blu: A chugging Music Week Party is my main techno and house album. It’s very event right now, as well as finishme. Anyone who knows my music ing the final touches on the album will appreciate it. I can’t wait for and expanding the brand even the whole album to come out in more.

2015!

– Chris Caruso DJ Times: What are the chal-

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DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

B y B r u c e Ta n t u m

14

New York City – David Mancuso at the Loft; Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage; Junior Vasquez at the Sound Factory and Palladium—the history of New York’s nightlife scene is rife with iconic DJ residencies, the kind of long-running gigs that defined the after-dark sound of the city.

With stints at such much-missed clubs as the Tunnel, Twilo and—most of all—Vinyl, which hosted his beloved “Be Yourself” parties from the late ’90s through 2004, Danny Tenaglia belongs on that list as much as anybody. One of the city’s and the world’s biggest DJs for three decades, Tenaglia could be forgiven if he had become a bit blasé about his chosen profession—but in conversation, the veteran’s love for the music, and the scene, shines brightly.

“I’m really still just a fan, just like I was so many years ago,” the Brooklyn-born Tenaglia says. “Even though I’m the guy in the booth, I feel like I’m out there on the floor with everybody else.”

From someone else, that kind of humility might come off as press-friendly baloney. But Tenaglia, famous for long-form sets that veer between gut-busting prog-tech and goosebump-raising deep house (with a few Garage classics tossed into the mix), is one of the most sincere and down-to-earth superstars in the business. It hasn’t always been easy; for instance, he famously “resigned” from DJing in 2012 (more on that below).

But he’s still at the top of his game, gigging more than ever and constantly pushing his sound forward. You can hear the latest results of that sonic evolution on the recent Balance 25: Danny Tenaglia, a double-disc mix-CD that showcases his current style, one that fuses his patented bottom-heavy gut-punch to a steely and driving techno rhythm.

DJ Times recently caught up with the seminal spinner to talk about his music, his methodology, why he’s not crazy about festivals and how it feels to be in the pantheon of the DJ gods.

DJ Times: Your recent Balance mix was the first you’ve put together since 2008’s Futurism. Why such a long break from the mix-CD game?

Long Known as “ T h e D J ’s D J , ” D a n n y Te n a g l i a R e - L e a r n e d His Craft & Re-Focused His Already Legendary Career

Tenaglia: Most of the other CDs I’ve done have been somewhat reflective of my residencies. In ’96, for instance, I did my first Global Underground mix, and that was when I was at Twilo. Around ’98, I did Global Underground: London; that one was the Tunnel. Back to Basics, in 2002, was Vinyl, and so on.

Futurism, which was 2008, was a little post-Vinyl, and it was probably the mix that I’ve done that was the least about any residency I’ve had. The mix was still somewhat of a journey, but it wasn’t really based on what I would play the whole night in a club—what I would open with, how the night’s feelings would progress and that sort of thing.

It was more about embracing changes, like what was going in with techno and minimal, which was fine… but yeah, I haven’t done a CD since then. I like to have a residency that I can relate them to.

DJ Times: So why now?

Tenaglia: I wanted to do something that was reflective of the sets that I’m playing at places like Output and Berghain. So I was trying to stay away from diva-vocal kinds of records or tribal-ish ones; I wanted to show people what I can do in a slightly different, more techno style. But if I do another CD soon, I would like it to represent the deeper side of what I play.

DJ Times: You still mix it up when you play out, right?

Tenaglia: Sure. If I get to spin a long set, I’m always going to take a journey, which does

Going Global: DT’s Fave Clubs to Play Output, Brooklyn: Since Vinyl closed, Output is the first New York club that reminds me of the residencies I’ve had New York through the years.

It has an intimate feeling that I haven’t felt any‑ where—at Spirit, Crobar, Pacha or wherever. It’s not so massive that you get lost in the enormity of it, and the DJ booth gives you a good birds-eye view.

Stereo, Montreal: Even though it’s in Montreal, Stereo is the only club in the world that I think has the essence of what New York clubbing was all about in the’70s and ’80s. It really just feels like one of those old ven‑ ues I used to go. And the sound is tremendous.

Berghain/Panorama Bar, Berlin: I love Berghain—and Panorama Bar, too, of course. It’s the best of both worlds, with Berghain for techno and Panorama Bar for house.

The vibe is so great, and I get to play lots of old school and classic stuff when I’m there, which is perfect for me.

– B.T.

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

Photo By Gary James

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Photos By Marc van der Aa

Essential DT: Five Great Releases The King Street Crew – “Things U Do 2 Me” (Salsoul Mix), Nervous Records, 1991: One of the earliest Tenaglia productions pressed to vinyl (his pseudonym here paying tribute to the address of his beloved Paradise Garage), “Things U Do 2 Me” is a potent paradigm of NYC’s early ’90s deep-house sound.

Underground Sound of Lisbon – “So Get Up” (Danny’s “In The Light We Sleep” Mix), Tribal America, 1994: By this time, Tenaglia had patented the style that made him famous—a throbbing, cavernous, ominous gut-punching strain of house that was his and his alone.

The Daou – “Surrender Yourself” (Original Un-edited Ballroom mix), Tribal America, 1994: Sure, the original 1992 release of this Sound Factory classic, produced with keyboard whiz Peter Daou and his then-wife Vanessa, oozed dancefloor drama. But for pure pandemonium, this 14-minute Tenaglia rework is unbeatable.

Cerrone – “Supernature” (Danny Tenaglia’s Legendary Club Mix), Pure Records, 1996: Icons collide with this take on Cerrone’s 1977 synth-disco classic, as Tenaglia adds his tribal-tech toughness while holding onto the original’s eerie, otherworldly vibe.

Celeda – “Be Yourself” (Part One), Twisted America, 1999: The near-official theme song of his long-running Vinyl resi‑ dency, this memorable thumper of a tune is a clarion call to… well, just be yourself. And that is something that Tenaglia’s managed throughout his long, illustrious career.

– Bruce Tantum

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“I’m using Traktor nowadays.

Many of the things that I do today can’t be done with records or CDs, even if you have a looping machine.”

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DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

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take in a lot of the kind of music that’s on the Balance CD. But I do have a core audience that still likes that classic Danny thing, which involves a lot of New York, New Jersey and Chicago grooves, and also a lot of the edits I’ve done. But as we get further and further away from the years those sounds—and things like Salsoul— are from, I’ve had to start being more about… the future, I guess. On the Balance mix, it wouldn’t have made sense for me to figure out a way to drop in one of the older tracks, and try to figure out a way to get out of it. That one song would have stuck out too much, and I think people probably would tend to skip by it.

DJ Times: How do you construct your mixes?

Tenaglia: I’m using [Native Instruments] Traktor nowadays. Many of the things that I do today just can’t be done with records or CDs, even if you have a looping machine. There’s just so much going on; I’m sometimes utilizing up to seven decks when I play.

And ideas will spark along the way—I’ll be like, oh, wow!—and I’ll have to take a screenshot or somehow what’s going on. Then I’ll take that idea into the studio, and utilizing Ableton and Logic, I’ll work on it. I treat everything like a remix, even if it’s just a re-edit—I’ll almost always add stuff on. Crashes, claps, heavier kicks… whatever might make it sound more modern or more beefy. Doing things like that—in addition to going for that techno vibe, which is the result of the musical path I’ve been on lately—is what differentiates this release from my past mixes.

DJ Times: Do you think that using tools like Traktor has renewed your overall enthusiasm for DJing?

Tenaglia: Without a doubt. I always make this joke about seeing DJ So-and-So on a flyer, and the flyer says that they’ll be doing a live set. And I say, “Well, what am I doing that isn’t live?” I mean, somebody like Jeff Mills, who is known for using a 909 drum machine in his sets and incorporating live patterns… they call that a live set, which it is. But I’m doing stuff like that as well, especially recently. Once you started to be able to easily loop things with CD players, or were able to use different effects machines, you’re really doing a lot more than just mixing two records together. But really, I don’t think I would want it to say “live” next to my name on a flyer, even though I’m doing a lot of totally spontaneous things. “Danny Tenaglia Live”—I mean, did you think I was dead?

DJ Times: You’ve been traveling more than ever lately, right? It seemed like you did a lot of festivals this past summer, for instance.

Tenaglia: I have been. But festivals are tough. Those aren’t my favorite places to play.

DJ Times: Why not?

Tenaglia: They’re just the hardest gigs to do, really! So many times, they don’t get the sound right, or the environment just isn’t there. For me, I rarely get the joy that I get out of playing an intimate party.

DJ Times: But you’re so good at festivals! You killed it at this past summer’s Electric Zoo [at Randall’s Island in NYC], for instance.

Tenaglia: Well, that was a good one. Electric Zoo really gets it right; most importantly, they get the sound right. I also think BPM and Coachella get it right—but I think I’m outgrowing most other festivals, to tell you the truth. Festivals are difficult, especially for an underground DJ. We’re not playing the music that people on the main stage are playing, which is full of vocals and bright, airy synths—it really cuts through. But the kind of tracks we’re playing, you really need to feel it.

DJ Times: To feel like you’re in the middle of it.

Tenaglia: Yeah, and that’s even a problem at a lot of clubs nowadays. They’ll just have speakers facing out from the stage; it’s more of a concert mentality than a club mentality. If I don’t have the power, the music I’m going to play is just not going to cut it; it’s not going to have the effect I want it to have. It’s hard for me to tell my proper story, and to do what I do in a way that reflects my 30-plus years as a DJ. But let’s face it—we know where we are in this world, Deadmau5 on the cover of Rolling Stone. It’s a whole new ballgame.

DJ Times: Your fans might think you’d make good cover-boy material yourself.

Tenaglia: Quick, call Rolling Stone! But I have to make a hit record first.

DJ Times: Speaking of records, its been a while since you’ve had your own productions come out. Do you plan to get active on that front again, whether it’s via remixes or original productions?

Tenaglia: I can’t begin to tell you how much I miss that, and how much I feel is burning inside me. I still don’t feel like I’ve really fully expressed myself.

DJ Times: Never?

Tenaglia: Actually, yeah, I have—for instance, the work I did in the early ’90s with Peter (continued on page 42)

FEBRUARY 2015

DJ TIMES 20

In and around Ohio in 2014, DJ Michael Harriott says country weddings with minimal lighting and casual dress have seemed to have become all the rage.

“I don’t have any in-your-face lighting, and that’s OK because my clients seem to like the lights mainly focused on the dancefloor and not all over the room,” says Harriott.

“Seems that a lot of people are more into casual wear, and when it comes to the ceremony, they want it to go fast and get straight to the reception.”

Harriott says another trend in his market has been for the DJ to offer coordination of events.

“For my clients, coordinating a reception has become just part of the package,” he says. “I don’t coordinate the whole thing—just anything that’s song-related.

The bride puts the songs she wants next to which dance she wants to do—garter toss, dinner music and extra stuff—and then I work with her on the order of the stuff she wants.

We recently asked mobiles from throughout the nation about fads and trends that seem to regularly come and go in the DJ industry—along with any industry, of course.

For DJs during the mid-’90s, the rage seemed to be the upsell of karaoke. Then it was club lighting at every wedding reception. Then came along photo-booths, and then DJs officiating at marriage ceremonies, and more recently the upsell of uplighting.

So, which of these items are merely trends and fads, and which of them promise to be more long-lasting?

Over in Seattle, Adam Tiegs of Adam’s DJ Service says gobos are all the rage right now in his market, while LEDs are making it much easier to customize every event to make it unique.

Beyond the usual shtick of providing music and MC skills, the Washington-based entertainer also says there’s a new trend in his market of providing décor items along with occasional entertainers.

“I occasionally bring in a live musician to perform over my music, I’ve rented and made money on pipe-and-drape for events, and now I just invested in LED gobo projectors,” he says. “These will allow me to display color gobos easily and more cost effectively than just having glass gobos made.

“I’ve done this due to demand and also to surprise some clients.”

Tiegs says he expects providing these extras promises to not only be a hot trend for 2015, but also headed into the future.

“The big effect,” he says, “will now be if it’s cost-effective for mobile DJs.” Back up in Philadelphia, Steve Croce of Silver Sound Disc Jockeys says that although the availability of uplighting has exploded, the saturation of DJs offering the service has caused the pricing of the upsell to plummet substantially.

“In our area, one clown is now offering ‘unlimited uplighting’ for next to nothing and vilifying any DJ company who offers per-fixture pricing,” says the Pennsylvania DJ owner. “To inoculate what quickly be-

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s les ire X f w DM e e o ss s ,” h re us e l e he w i r t e m mo l e s st s y see l i a b e i om e d o r r f n e ur z, fut h i n g v i d ce , a f o r ma the y t n d pa t s L o ety t s n r a at l i e i n ha m fo r v e r s r.” es . “ E ke in th u r c r te r N s t ry y the e A o se e s e a t

f o a no r i c ts o g i s p ady s t , o s t .J., s d u s o n s n oo ol s s alre f ro m e a h - p ones ea i t h y h y, N y i at on i g e B hn l e m e , h the g ar e tec w i re e’re c a l l s ns.” N o r par t bur n a n nfatu are s i i in a t fro rs as W e io l o ox e “ w t a . a t R s p g o ng tly ou ch tch st y. o r lut t h be c l i e n e d en Of c s su n fe the om r say d m s so i n inci t in n d veri r n o a a n e s e n e p n p e n e o e v d t our o n can d-o s b nt o al ec l k o ket a irel c k u and ainm o m e ally w ee ls ad ha n w e c c o a t , e a n i t i t g t B d e a w e er t s e r er o tur we i p a Jan p e n natio w e i o n ppin r o rd r e n d Ent d t n a rs, t i c . “ W , s o de the e n uct -ma eco t fou ree t e n the a t u ve ide a n a z d s n ov a n d L o m t r e n n t s i a t f e t h a c h o f “ W h p ro d i d e o i t h d e - s e e T h n d s e o f i c . pr e g l v e u v s e s l h r w t t y to s t a r s i e t r cau pub ice n d s say t i a cli ge ike s lar ms l unge u re , m e ,” h e be the ser v t re ,” t e n to ation y no onal az ite P l o r n i t d i m i o n s t o b e of “As e n t t h e m f p o them l e b r s m a p e r s om t s , L os t o t u n rr g e t r e f s s e VI m u a c u n e e l h a i e e c t t d a r off e a g u o th s.” a r k the es a n i g n s o t h te of e w t r y e t u es a g s ” m l i c . a e nu d e h t i n b u d g cre rien M i d - req b e tive crea the adds iate sey s ar . ve e i r l i g s , “ le to expe h e k e l y t o emp em that ust prec Jer ooth now any f t h tay s ay ilab ble n t E c tick g pre lp th ing ich j s ap New o-b for t m r t o ly s dava redi k i a k e J S htin n he eth wh lient ork/ phot east t tha s p a l like s we tuinc B a c B l ka D uplig lar i s som n— st c ew Y and at l fac n g a wil ch a fluc ld g o u e e e , i u u s t (a ims op inu - se t m s N ing s… th h t tin s s hat wo d h g r w e rge ) cla r y p cont cen t tha In hi light tren with u p l i plig ation ay w ting e u r s p h ns , “ t g ba ots s ve and rofit t jus s s u and ha l i n ys, leb I’d plig m e ng Bo main ket a p no l i e n t e say dem say t s t a l e sa e ce ahs. of u i m ghti ay e n upli g aw ral re m a r w a s e a r — g c e n t i r in- “I’d w i n e,” h rivat itzv rms se his gro ch y d d i n his n o c t u r o f p a t m n t e e n . v e r p l e ov i n n e u t e s a le i b e u r / m o e h t e y t o e a w e ss l p i r a y r h o t et a p h e e s c i r o I b eter o n g o ac ase. b - s g a r r arc a sta nd b ular ors e a r and ts ar r m r nd a m t a l s e r b c l u h t i n r f o d , a s g s a p o p l c o l w y p i n k l i e n n g fo , a t l y ed. e bu stom g h t l i g u l a Ben e din s in foca s t f lue , ny c opti i n g t e n est o l v s i s ter pho cu “ N i a n d p o p uth “ W e ate the e p a in b ma are - e v o n s in a one . ly o h r c d r d e y h y t u n e r e S c k t t - b “ T larit cen d an ite. eve b e mer th, o ven erial s o i l l v s th d j o a r ke d t o g h re t o sto oo r e a re en to pu s t ,” say a s e y m bran o u n e po ugh is tr as w hs a e e d p cu to-b ia, o ures eed at us d . - b e av i l ts’ n , y t t h - tho m th such oot ’ l l n kee pho med capt hs n ests eI n o h Boo d e r w a n late d fro lors to-b t h ey er to ing cial hat boot n gu som at a l s icky m o h o heir , a n r co “Pho a t ord roam s so ne t to- ofte see es th es h e o t y t z n h o ‘St r d s s w or t i o n s f o u e are he ta com d i ’s a tili dr , p c t v w a u p l e i b e f b r a t n o c o n t l i e ente er it at u h a tion ents en e d i t b e id i h i a t h nd co b v cele r tio ess tha inv heth th t wi lebr s cl d w atur it, c a eo s a n o e n o o i n e , k t e p clu t s a c o W r e a s ] , v i d be n s h , b e bu ll in h o- wo the ang ns m a ey ar nig ge r to nt t o g u h a l i h t u c phy f a f n l h s r m a - t h a t s o t ly c b r a t e s , h e t a ddi to s s g r a t i nu e i n s t a m ot re we u e s r y. - b o at fo w e v t sho nstan cele tim nt ti t u oto con y’s o int f e a p h will ciet t i n t e go o t o e n t . H o t h a t c o e r s ’ f e w q u e n a t ap es so s z [ ca “ P h p re s d o f f e r A l o d oth n g a b s e . th go ,” c o hat dit ith s ng w n a n t thi h su cial h i n k reen ay e e w w e ’t o s e . en s s t i t i o n ests e o f t e n t s d o n - h o u n i e f i g h - e a c s spe s o t a s c me-d in lin i n v e b r a r gu a l on sa all y. pa s to ev we i n les d l o I r m e e “ , or ey f talit g a n c e e ou n?” os e r r v i c a c o p h e h p h t h y. e iv ca n n o t ds th s e a re g r a w i t s e e c a l l ph -fee r, as me n n i e t i m ot g we o f o t o r a p s n d I l o t h e m n live pula ation f p l a a - l i f hy n y as p h r sc s , a n i n g aw lar i po tific o t o e - i n so w uickl l s pu a c z, “ s q th fo gra n w A y o a l o “ ky po e Lom nd a bo d te c n i i e e a es St t r e f i n or t h des ant, m d I d ing clu y w en b e 13.” e t r the 20 O n

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21

By Bruce Tantum

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

When Moby released Hotel, his 2005 ode to overnight lodging, the album received, as the euphemism goes, mixed reviews; Pitchfork, for instance, gave it a grand ratings total of 2.4 out of 10. To be sure, there were plenty of positive notices—but many of them were a bit backhanded, along the lines of “this is a great album to fall asleep to.”

Even the producer himself distanced himself from the LP: “Some of the songs are nice, but I’m disappointed I made such a conventional generic record,” he remarked in one interview. But there was a silver lining to Hotel in the album’s limited-edition bonus disc, Hotel: Ambient, a collection of subtle and atmospheric reworks that, even for many of the haters, outshone the originals.

That long out-of-print LP has been hard to find—“I didn’t even have a copy,” he recently wrote on his online journal at moby.com, but the man born Richard Melville Hall has rectified that situation with a re-release of the soothing, soaring set of tunes, with extended versions and a handful of new tracks adding yet more to the album’s allure.

We caught up with Moby this past December, just as he was finishing a string of shows at the Masonic Lodge in Los Angeles.

DJ Times: As I was getting ready to talk to you, I re-listened to Hotel: Ambient, and I was reminded of what a gorgeous-sounding album that was.

Moby: After it was released, I realized how much more I liked it than the actual Hotel album.

DJ Times: Really?

Moby: Well, I don’t know if I ever really ever listened to Hotel after I released it. But I kept going back to Hotel: Ambient and listened to it over and over again—which is probably something a musician isn’t supposed to admit. It sounds either sad or narcissistic. But I didn’t listen to it in the way that I’ve ever listened to other records that I’ve made. Usually, if I listen to my own music, I try to listen a little bit critically, whereas with Hotel: Ambient, I was listening to it because

22

I loved the way it was so calming, and how it could transform the space in which it was being listened to.

DJ Times: Those are probably two of the prime objectives of ambient music.

Moby: Exactly. I had wanted to re-release it for a while, but for the past 10 years, we were trying to get EMI to do it—and not surprisingly, they were in no hurry to re-release an obscure ambient record with no vocals, songs or drums. But six months ago, I was able to get them to give me back the record, basically. So now I own it, and that’s why we’re able to re-release it.

DJ Times: As early as 1991’s “Go,” elements of ambient music have played a role in your sound. But still, you’re a noted drum-machine freak—what was the impetus for you to release an all-ambient album in the first place?

Moby: I was just talking to somebody the other day about this. I think my interest in ambient music, and maybe in electronic music in general, really started in the ’70s by watching science-fiction movies. In a lot of early science-fiction movies, the soundtracks were very experimental and very electronic. But what cemented my love for ambient music was David Bowie, with his Low and Heroes albums.

DJ Times: I suspect those records were turning points for a lot of people.

Moby: I can remember being 10- or 11-years-old and buying Heroes, and being utterly baffled that almost the entire b-side was quiet ambient music. The first time I listened to it, it made no sense to me; the second time, I fell in love with it. If you remember, a lot of electronic musicians in the ’70s and ’80s played around with ambient music. Even people like New Order, Depeche Mode or Heaven 17—they would have their hit singles, but then they would also have these quiet, pretty, strange ambient tracks as well. Honestly, it’s a genre of music that has always had a very specific utility for me that I really appreciate.

DJ Times: Is its utility that calming effect you mentioned earlier?

Moby: Well, a lot of music is very demanding—and hopefully very rewarding. When you listen to an old Public Enemy track, for instance, it’s very demanding— but there is a lot of payoff. What I like about ambient music is that it’s completely undemanding, but with a different type of payoff.

DJ Times: Can you describe that payoff?

Moby: It’s decreased levels of cortisol and norepinephrine. Your breathing deepens. Physiologically and

After Nearly a Decade, Moby Re-Visits His Ambient Gem

COOL, CALM & COLLECTED

FEBRUARY 2015

DJ TIMES

neurochemically, you enter a more relaxed state. And when it’s good— and I’m not going to throw myself in that category, because that would be too self-serving—ambient music has this amazing ability to make mundane environments seem very cinematic. If you are driving down the freeway, and a beautiful piece of ambient music comes on, driving past a Home Depot can look weirdly movie-like.

DJ Times: There are a few new tracks on the re-release. Are these actually new works, or are they songs that have been sitting on your hard drive since the original release?

Moby: They’re new-ish. But really, when I’m working on ambient music, the goal is not to be new and inventive; the goal is simply to create music that will foster or engender that sense of calm. So they’re not new tracks in the sense that I would want someone to pat me on the back for the novelty of them, because they basically sound exactly like the old tracks.

DJ Times: I actually had to go back and check the track listing of the original Hotel: Ambient to see which songs were new.

Moby: So I’ve succeeded in being egregiously un-novel!

DJ Times: You recently played a handful of live ambient gigs in the L.A. area. Are there any plans to take that show on the road?

Moby: I really hate touring. For the last album I put out, Innocents, the whole tour was three shows at the Fonda Theatre here in L.A.—and the main criterion in picking the Fonda Theatre was that I could walk to it.

DJ Times: So closeness to home is your main requirement?

Moby: Sort of. My current approach to touring is: How can I stay as local as possible? But also, I’ve never done an ambient tour, and almost by definition, playing ambient music live is boring. There’s not a lot going on onstage; there are visuals, and maybe a couple of vocalist. It’s very quiet and very calm, so if you did it in a big conventional venue, I think people would be disappointed. There’s no huge performance or crazy theatrics.

DJ Times: What’s next in the world of Moby?

Moby: Basically, I’m just trying to finish my next album. My manager actually ridicules me because I still make albums. He says, “Making albums is old. You should just make singles.” But honestly, I just love making albums, even though I fully understand that very few people will listen to those albums as albums.

Really, being a musician who makes albums is slowly becoming like being a self-published poet. You don’t really expect anyone to pay that much attention. n

23

Photos by Doug Van Sant, David Becker & Andrew Inomata.

Dallas Demolition: Lights All Night

New York City – This past New Year’s Eve and the days just before, DJ Times made it to a slew of holiday events from coast to coast.

In Dallas, we had Lights All Night festival with headliners Armin Van Buuren and Skrillex; at Light in Vegas, we had Alesso; and in New York at parties like Bang On in Brooklyn we had Lee Foss, while in Manhattan venues like Pier 94, Pier 36 and Pacha, we had Kaskade, Carnage, Claude Von Stroke, Disclosure and more. Thanks to Doug Van Sant (Dallas), David Becker (Vegas) and Andrew Inomata/RPM Presents (NYC), it all looked like this: Vegas, Baby: Alesso at Light.

From Coast to Coast, Clubs & Festivals Ring in 2015 with the World’s Biggest DJs

Dirtybird: Claude Von Stroke in NYC.

y N p p y y N a p p p y p H p a a p H a H H

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

Proposition: Showtek at Pacha.

24

Intense: Armin Van Buuren in Dallas.

Bang On: Nutters in NYC.

! r

a e Y r! ! r a w a e e e Y N w Yar! w e e Y e N eNw yN Lift-Off: 7 Lions in Big D.

Wild Life: Disclosure in NYC.

High Life: 12th Planet at Lights All Night.

Pier 36: Skrillex & Kaskade huddle.

Carnage: Chipotle Gangster in NYC.

The Moment: Happy New Year!

Buds: Oliver Heldens & Martin Garrix.

It’s Over: Thank You & Goodnight.

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

Party Trio: NYC gals celebrate.

25

MAKING TRACKS STUDIO…HARDWARE…SOFTWARE…

LIQUID RHYTHM: BEAT CONSTRUCTOR & MORE

Liquid Rhythm: WaveDNA’s beatmaker, sequencer, controller.

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

By Wesley Bryant-King

26

One of the things I love most about reviewing music technology for these pages is stumbling across innovative ideas hanging out at the fringes, kicking the tires, and discovering something really cool in the process.

So it was with the discovery of a neat little piece of software from a little company in the big city. That city is Toronto, the little company is called WaveDNA, and that neat little piece of software? Well, that’s called Liquid Rhythm.

A young company—just four years old—WaveDNA has decided to tackle one of the fundamental elements of any EDM music project: beat construction.

Of course, there are many schools of thought and many approaches to laying down rhythms. Drum machines (whether physical or their virtual, digital counterparts). Loops of pre-constructed samples and arrangements. Samples you arrange yourself through whatever means. Some are pre-made, some are programmed, and among those programmed, the programming itself may be MIDI or something else. The array of options is a bit mind-boggling.

As a longtime Ableton Live user, my usual workflow is using a Live Drum Rack, coupled with an off-the-shelf rhythm sample library. I choose the desired sounds from the library, dropping them into the Drum Rack, and then I set about programming the rhythms by hand with MIDI, drawing them out manually, adjusting velocity and timing, and perhaps adding effects or other tweaks on a sound-by-sound basis. It’s satisfying work, but occasionally a bit mind-numbing in a creative sense.

I’ve long thought there has to be some better way that’s not as restrictive as, say, using pre-made loops; something that lets me use whatever drum samples or libraries I might want; something that lets me tinker, but that provides for greater creative expression. I think I found it in Liquid Rhythm.

The Basics: To set the stage, Liquid Rhythm is a standalone application— available for both Windows and Mac—that you can view as a sort of rhythm construction kit. Used in this manner, you can think of it as a MIDI programmer in some respects, but while it has its standalone mode, most users are likely to

drop it into their preferred DAW as a plug-in, which can be accomplished in VST, AU, or RTAS flavors.

While it works with any leading DAW, the product’s Ableton Live-specific capabilities were of particular interest to me as an Ableton user; this review thus comes from that point-of-view.

In any event, Liquid Rhythm is essentially a drum machine—albeit a very unique and powerful one. It comes with its own library of sounds, arranged into kits, which can be customized as desired, including the ability to bring in samples you may already have in your library. And for Ableton Live users, the company provides “Liquid Clips,” an innovative bridge that allows tighter Ableton integration than the plug-in route provides. Liquid Clips takes advantage of the Max for Live engine that’s now provided with most versions of Ableton Live 9.

When using Liquid Clips, the underlying drum sounds are handled by Ableton Live; whatever drum rack you may have loaded into a track—whether using Ableton library sounds, or perhaps your own—is what Liquid Rhythm is using and controlling, so its focus shifts to becoming a very sophisticated drum programming tool in this mode.

It is this broad set of capabilities—use it standalone, use it as a plug-in, use its Liquid Clips mode in Ableton Live—that makes the product a bit daunting at first for an Ableton user. Which approach is right? Which is best? The answers are largely left for you to discover on your own.

In any event, when working in Session View, you get the same functionality you’d enjoy with any other Session View approach; it’s a quick way both to prototype musical concepts (and the stuff you come-up with can then be migrated to the conventional Arrangement View for further manipulation), as well as for live performance using a sort of “remix-on-the-fly” approach.

In more recent versions, the product also works in Arrangement View, although due to limitations in the Max for Live system, the integration is not as tight as perhaps might be ideal; while Liquid Rhythm can read the clip, it cannot currently (as of this writing, anyway) determine where on the timeline the clip rests. Regardless, the fact the WaveDNA added this support midway during my review process was a welcome addition given that I rarely use Session View these days.

How It Works: Overall, Liquid Rhythm works great—and I’ll give more details on that ahead. But I have to say that it’s nice to see WaveDNA adopting a program of continuous improvement for the product, adding entirely new functionality while working to squash bugs quickly. It’s had the side effect of making this review a little tough to get completed; over the course of the last few months while playing with the software for this review, the company has released several updates, adding significant new features along the way.

As I write this, its next major update is imminent, so I’ll note that as I put this review goes to print, the Liquid Rhythm is at version 1.4.3; by the time you read this, no doubt it will have been upgraded again.

If I had any complaint about Liquid Rhythm, it’s that it has a relatively steep learning curve. There are so many different ways to use the product, and we don’t have space to delve into much depth on any one of them. As I already said, you can use it as a plug-in, or a Max instrument. You can use it in Session View or Arrangement View. You can use it standalone. It offers interesting support for Ableton’s Push controller. You can sequence with its BeatBuilder, you can use its BeatWeaver rhythm synthesizer, you can view maps of your rhythm patterns, and if that’s not enough, you can directly tweak and edit and modify the output six ways from Sunday.

Of course, that’s consistent with “the Ableton way,” where there quite often are multiple paths to any specific desired outcome. The downside, of

course, is that it’s well-advised to do sufficient reading of the excellent, accompanying documentation before digging in. And kudos to WaveDNA on that front, as well as for providing a healthy series of videos that walk users through the product and its myriad options; it makes the ramp-up time more manageable.

The logical starting point is with the understanding of the product’s unique representation of rhythm MIDI notes and phrases, which the company calls a “Music Molecule.” A mixture of note events, plus depictions of what the company calls BeatForms and BarForms, it’s the visual representation of these that’s used throughout the user interface. It’s easy to understand and almost familiar to any digital musician when you see it, but the terminology is part of the challenge with learning the product—there are a lot of similar terms sprinkled around.

At its simplest, Liquid Rhythm lets you build beats quickly using bar-long rhythm patterns from a broad array of choices. These can be adjusted and tweaked endlessly, with simple ways to make the beats sound more human. The interface is very much geared to experimentation and discovery, and it’s easy to get lost for hours just tinkering. Some of the features, such as the GrooveMover, are designed to boost that very type of experimentation.

If you simply sit down to start working with the product in its default set-up (perhaps easiest to do when running it standalone, outside of a DAW), you’re presented with an easy-to-understand, drag-and-drop style interface. Start by picking a kit— there are included kits for popular EDM styles, including house, pop, dubstep, and others. Once loaded, click play, looping by default in the first bar of the arranger. There, you’ll see tracks pre-filled for kicks, snares, hats, etc. You’ll start hearing sounds when you drag patterns from the barform list on the right into the arranger.

The barforms are instrument-smart, meaning that the patterns you see offered up are specific to the percussion instrument, so you see kick patterns for kicks, open hi-hat patterns for open hi-hats, and so on. Just click inside the arranger to highlight a single bar for a single instrument (e.g., a kick drum); the list of barforms adjusts automatically to show relevant patterns.

Once dropped into place, the product’s myriad other tools are available for tweaking. Use the Beatform Sequencer to change up patterns, or the Molecule Tools to tweak individual notes, among others. Or simply browse the modes in the barform list to try other options, perhaps going outside the instrument-specific suggestions if you wish.

Many of the software’s capabili-

ties are accessed under the Molecule Tools, including randomization features, the aforementioned GrooveMover (a tool to adjust accent patterns), various manual adjustment options for accents, and much more.

There are numerous cool widgets provided for tinkering, not to mention innovative tools like BeatForm and BarForm Maps—they’re circular, and suggest familiar devices such as the Camelot scale (for harmonic-mixing DJs) or the classic Circle of Fifths familiar to many musicians. But the purpose, instead, is to rapidly jump to

patterns with the timings and complexities you might have in mind for your track. They, too, are instrumentsmart, highlighting the most relevant options for the particular percussion instrument you’ve selected in the arranger.

Conclusions: With the feature set rounded out by things such as flexible MIDI mapping, the inclusion of a comprehensive MIDI library, and an instrument editor for better leveraging one’s own sample libraries to build beats, you might find yourself getting lost—as I did—for hours at a time in

front of your DAW, playing endlessly with options.

The product is available in two flavors: an “intro” version for $49, and the full-on feature set version for $129. The extra spend delivers the Ableton Push integration scripting, along with the BeatWeaver rhythm synth, and features like BeatForm Tumbler and BeatForm Shifter that bring additional creative tweaking capabilities to the table—among others. Either version is bound to rapidly become your go-to solution for beat construction—as it has for me.

[COMING 2015]

Aimed at both industry professionals and avid club goers, ClubWorld will showcase the hottest locations, newest products, and latest nightlife happenings through a rich, multimedia experience. Additionally, ClubWorld will also tap into the exploding music festival scene, focusing on the gear, production, and events that have thousands of fans attending throughout the year.

IN EACH ISSUE

NIGHTBEAT Multiple sections showcasing the current nightlife landscape, including—but not limited to—quick-hitting news in Snapshots, visual photo compilations of Moments, localized coverage of In Your Town, and the latest club technology in Gear VIP Q&A’s with prominent members of the ClubWorld, including owners, lighting designers, sound teams, promoters, resident DJs, and so much more

SPOTLIGHT A multipage feature on a hot club or festival, telling its story through words, rich photography, and detailed equipment lists

NIGHTSTALKERS Anonymous stories written by clubbing veterans, telling the wild, weird,and unseen tales of the ClubWorld

MORE INFORMATION If you have questions or need more information, please contact: Phone: 516.767.2500 Tom McCarty: tmccarty@testa.com, ext. 507 Fred Gumm: fgumm@testa.com, ext. 712

SOUNDING OFF PLAYBACK…PRO AUDIO…PROCESSING

PAD CONTROL: RELOOP’S NEON

By DJ Trayze

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

NEON: SP-6 sample control & smart color coding.

28

My first encounter with the Reloop NEON pad controller for Serato DJ was memorable. In fact, it was one that resulted in glee and excitement, as I’ve been waiting for a controller like this for quite a while now.

Though, in my view, there isn’t an add-on DJ controller that’s 100-percent perfect, this one comes awfully, awfully close for me. Let’s just begin by saying: the NEON was the final deciding factor in my complete switch to Serato DJ from Scratch Live.

I’ve had Serato DJ on my computer for some time now, mainly for experimentation, and I’ve used the all-inone controllers that my friends have.

But I’ve never used them with DVS until I got my hands on the NEON. So far, this one’s my fave.

Getting Started: When I first plugged in the NEON, it just looked fun—I knew I was in for a treat. In the demo, or “Vegas” mode (as their technician corrected me), the pads light up like Christmas trees! Who doesn’t like bright colorful lights?

The colors are all there for a reason, though, and that was one of my main attractions to using these in my live setup.

In every unique function mode on the NEON, the pads and selector buttons change to a different color, which is super helpful when determining if you are about to trigger a cue point or a sample on Serato DJ’s SP-6 sample player. More specifically, when the bank of eight pads is set to hot cues, the pads are RGB-color-matched to the cue-point colors you select in Serato DJ, which is awesome.

It gets crazier, though. If you are in “Pad FX” mode on the NEON, the touch-sensitive pads act as pressure pad knobs, in which the dry/wet control for any audio effect can be controlled by your finger pressure. As you apply more or less pressure, the color of the pad changes beneath your finger. Really cool MIDI feedback/output going on there. Before I got the NEONs, I didn’t mess with Serato’s DJ FX panel much, but the Pad FX buttons make it so much fun.You can set them up to control three separate effects per deck, or one—your choice. That press-dry/ wet pad setup is sweet.

Build & Layout: The unit is really well-built. It is tough, sturdy, and amazingly lightweight. I have two of them in my live setup, and having them both in my DJ bag is barely noticeable.They don’t feel cheap or flimsy at all, and they take up very little room. The pads have a really nice MPC-style feel, which I find to be the perfect level of firmness.

The rest of the buttons on the unit, other than the 8-pad bank, are a click-press-select type, which is good feedback for me when switching between different control modes. I can throw these things around, in and out of my DJ bag without a worry that I am going to damage them or something else in my bag. I’ve been rocking with them live now for a few weeks and I love them so far. Zero issues.

In Use: I can run these in my live setup as a pair, or solo. In fact, at a recent gig, I left the TRRS 1/8-inch linking cable behind, and had to play the whole night with just one NEON, which was actually really easy (though I was bummed I couldn’t have both). On the left of the controller, there are deck-selector buttons, and they are easily visible and easy to jump between modes if you only have one in your setup. Again, I would always prefer a pair of these, though. And at around $150 apiece, they are inexpensive enough that you can start with one and add on another if you feel like you want more control.

I know, for me, personally, I need to have dedicated cue point pads for both Serato decks, so I had to have two in my setup. I modified an old Matias iFold stand to become my custom double-NEON stand, but Reloop has plans to release a unit-specific controller stand for the NEON soon—though, it only holds one unit. Configuring the NEON placement is really more of a personal preference thing anyway.

Right now, I have been using an aftermarket 10-foot USB cable and the included TRRS link cable when I perform with them, without the need for a powered USB hub. With the amount of LED lighting on these units, however, I would suggest a powered hub if you plan to hook up more peripherals to your computer. I’ve tried it both ways with no issues.

Plug and play is easy—middle of a gig, link, un-link, connect a second NEON mid-gig, disconnect, no problems. People used to be plagued with hot-swap and plug-and-play issues with other units in the past, myself included. The NEONs have none of these issues.

The Features: The unit has a bunch of really cool features, which take advantage of Serato DJ’s newest updates. First, Serato FLIP has its own dedicated pad-control bank button on the NEON, where you can trigger “hot flips” from the controller. It’s really awesome if you are into Serato FLIP, which allows DJs to record and play back cue-point information. Basically, you can create individual edits from a song and trigger these sequences on the fly.

Also, the “hot loop” mode is cool, too. You can use it to jump to existing loops, or turn loops on and off.

The dedicated buttons for internal and relative mode are really cool and very useful for me. I also like the shift button to further expand the control on NEON. There’s a censor button, too—smart.

The SP-6 player “Sampler” mode control is where the NEON is so killer. Not only can you have velocity-sensitive control over your SP-6 samples, but you can control the launch mode of the sample from the controller, with a LED indicator for what mode you are currently in, for each individual sample. The possibilities with live remixing here are incredible. I am already using the SP-6 way more now that I have the NEONs, and the control and feedback is so precise.

Quibbles: The drawbacks to this unit are very minor, and might not even be a deal-breaker for some people. In fact, for me, the benefits of all the NEONs features far outweigh the negatives—but here goes...

First, the loop-selector knob/button combo and the track selector knob/button combo are a bit sensitive for me. I feel like the knob moves through the loops too quickly. (On the track-selection side, though, this is awesome!) When I go to trigger an auto-loop using the loop knob/ button, if I hit it at the wrong angle, it can throw me off plus/minus one loop selection beat division. That means that if I have it set on 1 beat, and I press down on the button wrong, it will trigger the loop and throw it into half-beat mode.

The pads are very sensitive in hot-cue mode, and also in the SP-6 sampler mode. If you are tapping down hard on them, there is enough MIDI cross-talk sensitivity in the NEON that you can accidentally create unwanted cue points in empty cue-point slots. This really isn’t a

big deal, but it is an issue that might want to be addressed in an update.

When doing cue-point drum rolls, it’s actually really awesome, but can be annoying if you are vigorously drumming between cues. Be gentle, kids.

Lastly, I feel like this unit is missing three key things, which hopefully will be solved when Serato decides to unlock custom MIDI-mapping for these controllers (one day soon, I hope… Serato, if you’re listening…).

I would have loved to see an AutoLoop pad mode, loop-roll pad mode, and a dedicated button for the key-

lock. The hot-loop thing is cool, but I don’t think it needs eight pads. If that mode was split between hot loops and auto-loops, then that would be awesome. Or, if I could custom-map one of the existing modes to a “usermode” button, that would be even better. First order of business would be to re-map the “hot loop” mode as auto loops and loop roll (top and bottom). Hint-hint!

Conclusion: With its slew of cool features, the depth and control possibilities of the NEON are almost overwhelming. It definitely keeps my

hands off the laptop more, and makes my DJ sets so much more fun. Like I mentioned before, those few minor features that the unit lacks are far, far outweighed by the positives here.

From portability to performance to price point, this thing is a winner.

It’s all I’m using in my Serato setup now, besides mixer and turntables.

Buy one, buy two, you will be happy either way. These things are awesome. I have already suggested them to all my DJ pals, and those who have seen me perform with them are already drooling.

Markus Schulz Marcus Shulz Talks Americas Best DJ Win

Markus Schulz

Marcus Shulz Talks Americas Best DJ Win

WATCH IT WATCH IT NOW! NOW! http://djtim.es/DJTTV

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DJ TV 2014 Shulz.indd 1

12/15/2014 1:23:51 PM

MOBILE PROFILE CAREERS…INNOVATIONS…SUCCESS STORIES

New Brunswick, N.J. — “Spinning a sporting event is like scoring a movie,” says the New Jersey-based DJ Yoshi. “We’re in the business of creating experiences.”

DJ Yoshi (aka Eric De Torres) knows of what he speaks. For the last decade, he’s been spinning at college football (Rutgers) and professional basketball (New Jersey Nets) games, and recently became the first DJ to spin ingame at a major conference championship, in front of 60,000 people at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for Big Ten football Champion-

players on the field, and build excitement.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to travel around to other stadiums and arenas to hear how other DJs or ingame sound producers work their crowds. I take notes for what works and what doesn’t. I study a crowd’s reaction to certain points of the songs. There’s also a finite amount of time that you have as a DJ to get your point across with the music that you’re playing.”

To incite chaos and defensive chants, says Yoshi, “You wouldn’t drop a Calvin [Harris] track. You’d start the bass line or loop the chant from ‘Seven Nation Army.’ On big hits and first downs, an in-game person needs to know what to play, how to play, and be able to view the game and understand the flow. The most difficult part about sports is the pace of the game, knowing what’s coming next, and having a spotter to see what the officials are doing. There are also stadium and league rules that differ from the college game to the NFL. Certain songs are banned from stadium play.”

Yoshi says that keeping up with all of this while following a game script, pages long with PSAs, and scoring

GAME ON! DJ ROCKS JOCK JAMS

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

By Stu Kearns

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ship Weekend.

“Since there has never been a DJ at a conference championship game in college sports before, I wanted to make sure that I was on point,” says Yoshi, who works full-time as a hospital administrator when he’s not spinning.

“To make it a successful interpretation, there was a ton of research and collaborative work that was done.”

That weekend, Yoshi, an expert beat juggler, worked with Drew Robinson, the assistant athletic director of marketing and fan experience from Rutgers, who served as field spotter, stadium communicator and production person. “We were in constant contact with one of the Big Ten officials to make sure that we had the song list from each of the schools,” says Yoshi, himself a Rutgers grad. “From there, I did market research on Wisconsin and Ohio State [the game’s participants]. I DVR’d a few games from each of the schools on the Big Ten Network replays to hear what they were playing at their schools. Since Drew travels to each of the venues with Rutgers football, he was able to fill me in on what other programs were doing and playing and how they presented their in-game piece. We spent hours each day contacting labels for squeaky clean edits, making my own blends and then it hit us: Let’s look at the biggest songs outside of hip hop and dance to do remixes for.”

The Big Ten also made the day interactive by creating the Twitter hashtag #FCGDJ for Yoshi to utilize during the game. Thousands of tweets for song from fans flooded in, and Yoshi took the best requests and programmed them into the portions where they fit.

Since that game, Yoshi has been contacted by a few corporate entities and sports organizations that have inquired about his services.

“When you’re at a club, you pretty much know what the hits are to play,” says Yoshi.

“It’s easy to kill a two-hour set at a club.

When it comes to spinning a sporting event, you have to know the crowd, cater to the

DJ Yoshi: Spun Big Ten title game in Indy.

music for the PSAs, even though they can change on the fly depending on what the network is doing, is much tougher than just being in a club.

The programming also changes from sport to sport, as the speeds of the games and the layouts are completely different. “Basketball games for college are much different than an NBA game,” says Yoshi. “There are certain things that you can and can’t do at a college game, music-wise, that you can with the NBA. In college, it’s bandheavy. Basketball, there’s tons of time to drop samples for crowd chants and cheers. Football, you really have a few seconds before the huddle takes place after big plays. The PSA structure is completely different from basketball to football. When programming either game, we break it all down into categories.”

The categories include: Ingress: Light and fun.

Warm-Ups: Hip hop, a few rock cuts, trap remixes, etc.

Pre-tip or Pre-kick: Build the energy.

In-game: Inspiring music for how the game is trending.

Big plays: Exciting music.

Timeout: Depends on the PSA or segment.

Post-game/Egress: Depends on the outcome of the game.

“Those are the folders that I have lined up in Serato,” says Yoshi. “I also have the Billboard chart-toppers that will work when there’s an ‘entertainment-factor’ portion of the game. For warm-ups, I’ll normally turn to the players or the director of player personnel for the team so I can play what the team wants to hear. Other than that, I’ve built a library of sounds, samples, and music that will work for no matter what the situation is.”

Yoshi has so successfully integrated the DJ into football game presentations that other programs have contacted him to see how it’s done. We asked if he’d ever consider DJing full-time. “I’m at a job that I love and it helps to keep me grounded and calm from the DJing life,” says Yoshi, who was a couch-surfing, hotel-hopping touring DJ back in the day. “I get to step into my role as a DJ when I’m away from that office as an outlet. It’s really turned it into both being fun for me. I feel alive again when I’m spinning because I’m not bogged down with the worries of making X amount to not just survive, but to thrive.”

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CC012499

BUSINESS LINE SALES…MARKETING…SOLUTIONS…

By Pat Knipfing

Unlike producers of tangible products, DJs sell an experience, in many ways an illusion, and have more in common with “expertise-based” services—doctors, consultants, hotels and tourists bureaus—that use the transfer of skills and tacit knowledge to solve problems and create value for customers.

As such, services are often tough to price, nearly impossible to scale or standardize (as many DJ franchisors have discovered), and can be extremely labor- or cost-intensive. And when you’re not getting it completely “right” with a customer, it can be difficult for a DJ business owner to understand why.

An emerging discipline that management consultants and service business owners are beginning to embrace is Service Design, which can help diagnose “pain points,” fix problems, roll out new features or lines of service, enter new markets and identify opportunities for gaining competitive advantage through continuous, iterative improvement.

What is service design? As an analogy, it’s helpful to think of your DJ service as a movie—a dynamic process that takes place over a period of time, according to This Is Service Design Thinking (Wiley Books). The movie consists of a series of static pictures, which combine to make a moving sequence. Service

SERVICE-DESIGN THINKING: HOW DJS BENEFIT Design Thinking uses this analogy to deconstruct service processes into single touchpoints and interactions. These, when combined, create service moments. Every service process follows a three-step transition of pre-service period (bride gets in touch with your service), the actual service period (when she actually experiences your service), and the post-service period.

And just like a movie, any superior service should maintain a sense of expectation without creating anxiety or strain on the customer. To do this, you should be holding your customers’ interest—and, thusly, their guests—by providing a good narrative.

Some of the main advantages of service design include: It’s People-Centered Generally, people use DJ services to solve problems and enhance their lives. So naturally, in order to best understand your service and how to improve it, you have to put people at the center of the process—not just the users of your service, but all the stakeholders involved in production as well.

“That’s why service designers use ethnomethodology, in situ observation, semi-directed interviews, and other qualitative research tools during the ‘discovery’ phase of service design projects,” says Marshall Sitten, founder of NYC Service Design Community. “They’ll enable you to learn as much as possible about the culture, needs, rituals, social codes, behaviors and attitudes of all the stakeholders of your service, which can reveal not only the most obvious opportunities or challenges facing your service, but also the more subtle ‘weak signals’ that indicate possibilities for innovation.”

The insights generated from people-centered design research can help

your business avoid the “disease of familiarity” and groupthink, says Sitten, and force you to recognize realities that data alone—your bottom line, for example—can overlook.

It’s Inclusive & Collaborative Just like in the discovery phase of a service design project, the “codesign” phase – the actual process of brainstorming and prototyping improvements to your service based on the research findings—engages all of the people involved in the production of your service. Customers, front-line admin staff, fellow vendors, catering execs and other stakeholders are included in the design process to act as both a source of new ideas and as an important reality check.

It’s Multi-Disciplinary Service design is not a brand new field. It cobbles together teams with multiple areas of expertise, research, tools and techniques from established disciplines—economics, behavioral psychology, anthropology and user interaction, to name just a few—and applies them through a new methodology. As you encounter new kinds of challenges in service design—perhaps an unfamiliar industry, market condition or cultural context—your team will necessarily learn, grow and acquire new capabilities, adding to the creative potential.

“This multi-disciplinary, researchbased approach enables ser vice designers to examine services on several levels,” says Sitten. “Some service designers focus on a service’s ‘touchpoints’—the parts of your service that interact with people, or-

IT’S HELPFUL TO THINK OF YOUR DJ SERVICE

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

AS A MOVIE—

32

A DYNAMIC PROCESS THAT TAKES PLACE OVER A PERIOD OF TIME.

ganizations, or even other services (a concierge is a touchpoint, as is a website).”

Sitten says other service designers seek to understand and improve how a service interacts with the systems upon which it depends in order to function, such as its labor force, IT infrastructure or its supply chain— multi-system ops take note. “And others still look to answer the larger strategic questions, such as market positioning or whether the service is delivering on its ‘salient attributes’— those characteristics which give the service perceived value in the eyes of the customer,” says Sitten.

Service design incorporates several tools for improving services.

They include: Customer Journey Maps: An effective diagnostic tool that illustrates the client’s path through the entire timeline of a service interaction, from awareness (how did the client come to learn about your service?) to post-service feedback, documenting each interaction and touchpoint along the way.

Service “Blueprints”: Two-dimensional diagrams of the structures and processes involved in service production that show which “back-stage” processes (such as customer databases or order fulfillment) are required to support “front-stage” processes visible to the customer. Such diagrams can be extremely useful for visualizing complex service systems and identifying potential bottlenecks and “pain points.”

When you truly commit to using service design to help your business, says Sitten, “you are committing to opening yourself up to gaining new— and possibly exciting—insights about your business, your competition, your market and your services.”

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FEBRUARY 2015

ADJ’s new series of VF fog machines includes four models in a variety of sizes. The VF400 is a 400-watt mobile fog machine with an internal fluid tank that holds 0.5-liters for an output that covers 3,000 cubic feet per minute. The VF1000 is a 1,000-watt machine that holds one liter of fluid for an output of 8,000 cubic feet per minute. The 1,300-watt The VF1300 model covers 12,000 cubic feet per minute with an external 2.3-liter fluid tank. The 1,500-watt VF1600 has an external fluid tank holding 2.3-liters for a fog output covering 20,000 cubic feet per minute.

34

Cloud-based music creation app Soundation Studio has released Soundation Songs Digital Distribution, which allows Soundation Studio users to release a song to Spotify, iTunes, Google Play and Deezer right from the sequencer in their web browser. Once a song is completed, the user clicks “release track” and they are prompted to add a picture, release and render the track, which is then sent off to the aggregation queue to the selected digital stores/services. Users are allowed to upload as many songs as they’d like while keeping 100 percent of their rights and royalties.

App Your Hands

Ozone Layer

IK Multimedia 1153 Sawgrass Corporate Pkwy.

Sunrise, FL 33323 (954) 846-9101 www.ikmultimedia.com

iZotope 1 Kendall Sq Cambridge, MA, 02139 (617) 577-7799 www.izotope.com

IK Multimedia announced updated versions of its GrooveMaker 2 loopbased groove making app for iPhone and iPad, and DJ Rig for iPad. Both now feature iOS 8 compatibility, while GrooveMaker 2 now allows real time inter-app audio routing through Audiobus 2. In addition, both apps now offer native plug-and-play support for the company’s iRig Pads MIDI groove controller, which features 16 velocity-sensitive, backlit multicolor rubber pads. They are available as free updates for existing users on the App Store.

Ozone 6, the latest version of iZotope’s Ozone mastering software, works as either a standalone application or a suite of plug-ins. Ozone 6 features a fully-redesigned interface and real-time visual feedback in every module in order to help project studio producers and mastering engineers create masters with ease. “Ozone provides the warmth and character of analog sound without the restrictions of hardware,” the company said, and it is designed to take the guesswork and the manual labor out of the mastering process.

AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

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The Life Aquatic Harman International 400 Atlantic Street Stamford, CT 06901 (203) 328-3500 www.harman.com Martin Professional’s RUSH DC1 Aqua LED is designed for DJs and nightclubs seeking to create water effects through crowds, lounges, across walls and above bar counters. Powered by a 75Watt LED engine, the DC 1 Aqua features a full dimming effect, as well as a beam angle of 40 degrees. Additional features include variable manual focus, variable effect speed/direction control and five selectable colors, including open white and split color options. A bracket for surface or truss mounting is included.

Perfect Storm Chauvet 5200 NW 108th Ave. Sunrise, FL 33351 (800) 762-1084 www.chauvetlighting.com Chauvet’s Scorpion Storm FX RGB tri-color laser effect creates a star field effect with hundreds of red, green and blue beams that spread out to 100 degrees. The fixture operates on seven channels and features three-pin XLR connectors. An infrared remote is also included for wireless command of individual colors, modes and programs.

The red, green and blue diodes can be controlled independently, with or without DMX control.

Colors change and beams move around the room via built-in programs that are triggered in either automated or sound-active modes.

FBTUSA

The Creator DIGI Hardcase Large from UDG is constructed from durable, lightweight, compression molded EVA material with a laminated Nylon exterior, protecting its contents against drops, spillages, knocks and scratches. The case holds two external hard drives, USB sticks, SD Cards, cables, adaptor and flashlight. A powered, ultra-slim, aluminum seven-port USB 2.0 Hub is stored in a flap section so users can wire up all their devices inside the case, with only a single cable out to their laptop. Additional features include a 5V/2A power adaptor with four exchangeable adaptor plugs, and an 80cm USB 2.0 cable.

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DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

Beatport released the beta version of its new online music store designed specifically for professional DJs, Beatport Pro (pro.beatport. com). Beatport Pro is optimized for mobile phones and tablets, and it features a new visual design that the company says functions better in low-light conditions. The search function has also been enhanced so that not only do search terms display as you type, but also results are delivered quicker and clearly, according to the company. Beatport employed updates to the overall layout and link placements on the site in order to improve usability and make shopping easier.

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RCF USA introduced two EVOX Series portable speakers, which sports a self-contained design with the satellite cabinet fitting into the subwoofer for portability. The EVOX 8 system features a 700-watt RMS amplifier and a 12-inch subwoofer with a satellite module of eight two-inch full-range compression drivers capable of achieving 128 dB max SPL. The EVOX 5 system is powered by a 400-watt RMS amplifier and features a 10-inch subwoofer with a satellite module of five two-inch full-range compression drivers capable of achieving 125 dB max SPL. Frequency response on both models is 40 Hz – 20 kHz.

Hit the Road Pack

Oh My Quad

Namba Gear 3793 Rosepark Drive West Linn, OR 97068 (503) 850-4207 www.nambagear.com

Epsilon Electronics 1550 S. Maple Ave. Montebello, CA 90640 USA (800) 832-4647 www.epsilon-pro.com

The XXL Road Pack from Namba Gear is made with high-grade 1680D ballistic nylon material and designed to hold up to a 17-inch laptop, along with larger MIDI controllers such as the Native Instruments Traktor S4, Numark NS6, MicroKorg 37, or Line 6 PedalBoard. The bag is larger than the company’s Big Namba Studio Backpack, giving users an extra inch of depth in the back controller compartment, as well as an extra inch of width and five extra inches in height. Its features include lockable zippers, cable ties, extra wide shoulder straps with integrated phone pocket and a carry handle.

The Epsilon QUAD-MIX, a four-channel USB MIDI DJ controller, is now available in a white model, in addition to the black model that was already available. The QUAD-MIX is compatible with both Windows 8 and OSX and comes bundled with Virtual DJ Limited Edition Software. Features include a built-in high speed 16 bit USB 2.0 - 4 in/4 out audio interface, two large 134 mm touch sensitive jog wheels, XLR and RCA master outputs, jog wheel sensitivity adjustment knobs, long-life fader with fader curve adjustment, eight soft hot cues and sample pads with sample select knobs.

OOVES TRACKS…MIXES…COMPILATIONS

“OMEN” EP u Guilhem Monin u Colors Records On this three-tracker from the London-based DJ, we get a pair of sexy, slinky and funky deep-house cuts—“Omen” and “All the Way Back.”

Both offer that old-school house feel; meanwhile on the third track, we also get a tight remix of “Omen” by Chicago house vet “Boo” Williams.

All tracks offer a funky bassline with the seductive combo of saxophone and Rhodes keyboard.

Guilhem Monin

– Tommy D Funk “MY NEIGHBORS HATE ME” u u Sydney Blu u Black Hole The L.A.-based DJ/producer teases her upcoming artist album with a thunderous lead single. The arpeggiated refrain sets the stage for the relentless bass of its sinister tech-house rush, but it’s the melodic key sections that will keep the crowd moving. Blast this one—the noise complaints from your neighbors are well worth it.

Caribou

– Chris Caruso ENDLESS u Brawther u Balance Recordings A beautiful and well-crafted nine-track effort, produced by the French DJ/artist, is set for release on vinyl and digital. Choice cuts like “Asteroids and Stardust,” “Endless” and “Deep Down Paris” all boast that taste of French underground— ultra-deep and techy house. And don’t sleep on fave cut “Negentropy.”

Weiss

– Tommy D Funk Sydney Blu

“WE’RE ALL WE NEED” (SPADA REMIX)

u Above & Beyond ft. Zoë Johnston u Anjunadeep A slow burner, the Spada remix of A&B’s “We’re All We Need” highlights the vocals of Zoë Johnston and steals the spotlight in equal measure. The flowing bassline, electric organ, and fantastic vocal edits make his take uniquely gorgeous.

– Evan Maag CITY LIFE u Weiss u Toolroom Above & Beyond

Weiss delivers a fantastic dish of some of his best productions and remixes to date on this 10-track effort. Top cuts include “I Feel Better,” “Guitar Man,” and “Ghetto Boy.” And don’t miss the Weiss remix of Green Velvet and Riva Starr’s “Robots”—amazing. A superb collection of underground house.

– Tommy D Funk “GIVE ME LUV” (REMIXES) u Alcatraz u Yoshitoshi Here we have two pretty cool remixes of a brilliant and huge 1998 house anthem. Nicole Moudaber’s mix brings a different approach to the classic with her tough techno beats, plus her deep, dark and twisted stabs—but she never forgets that heavy and defining bassline. Also, Trent Cantrell’s mix delivers a perfect funky-house sound with a slight techno feel, and also maintains that hot, original bassline.

– Tommy D Funk “ELEMENTS” u Jason Ross u Anjunabeats

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

Ross’ debut single trades the massive energy found in his “Gravity” remix for a beautifully done breakdown. The real standout, though, is Sunny Lax’s old-school remake—his uplifting version hits just the right blissful feeling.

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“YOUR LOVE WILL SET YOU FREE” u Caribou u City Slang With his “C2 Set You Free Rmx,” Carl Craig delivers a wonderful trippy, dark, underground-Detroit club mix on this already amazing track. DJs get some great keyboard stabs and beautiful breakdowns, plus some haunting vocals, which sit nicely atop the track. A terrific journey, pure class.

– Tommy D Funk

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MP3s in 6

Compiled As January 8, 2014

NATIONAL CROSSOVER POOL CHART

NATIONAL URBAN POOL CHART

1 Calvin Harris F/ John Newman 2 Jennifer Lopez 3 Alina Artts 4 Amy Grant F/ Moto Blanco 5 Gia 6 Alesso 7 Nick Jonas 8 Aretha Franklin 9 Natasha Ashworth 10 Eden XO 11 Gorgon City F/ Jennifer Hudson 12 Jennifer Hudson 13 Taylor Swift 14 Annie Baltic 15 David Guetta F/ Sam Martin 16 Jesse Jay 17 Duke Dumont 18 Zhu 19 Kristine W 20 Mark Ronson Bruno Mars 21 Charlie XCX 22 Kim Cesarion 23 Mary Lambert 24 Salt Ashes 25 Gali 26 Cathy Tramontana 27 Dupree 28 Erika Jayne 29 Tove Lo 30 Pitbull F/ John Ryan 31 Wolfgang Gartner 32 Meghan Trainor 33 Anything But Monday 34 RAC F/ Matthew Koma 35 Tydi F/ Melanie Fontana 36 Mr Probz 37 Bastille 38 Rainie 39 Perfume 40 Gwen Stefani

1 Ilove Makonnen F/ Drake Tuesday 2 Rae Sremmurd No Type 3 Dj Khaled F/ Chris Brown / August Alsina Hold You Down 4 DEJ Loaf Try Me 5 Nicki Minaj F/ Drake Lil Wayne & C Brown Only 6 Trey Songz F/ Nicki Minaj Touchin, Lovin 7 Bobby Shmurda Hot Boy 8 Wale F/ Jeremih The Body 9 Beyonce 7/11 10 August Alsina No Love 11 Usher F/ Juicy J I Don’t Mind 12 Disclosure F/ Sam Smith Latch 13 Tamar Braxton F/ Future Let Me Know 14 Kid Ink F/ Usher & Tinashe Body Language 15 Snootie Wild F/ K Camp Made Me 16 Migos Handsome And Wealthy 17 Mila J F/ Ty Dolla $ign My Main 18 Dj Drama F/ Jeezy, Young Thug&R.H. Right Back 19 J. Cole Apparently 20 Nicki Minaj F/ Beyonce Feeling Myself

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

Salt Ashes Gorgon City F/ Jennifer Hudson Mark Ronson Bruno Mars Mary J Blige Kim Cameron Rainie RAC F/ Matthew Koma Gwen Stefani Perfume Mr Probz

Blame Booty High Enough Every Heartbeat World Heroes Jealous Rolling In The Deep Back To You Too Cool To Dance Go All Night It’s Your World Shake It Off Low Key Dangerous Bang Bang Won’t Look Back Faded Love Come Home Uptown Funk Break The Rules Undressed Secrets If You Let Me Go Tomorrow Never Dies Talk To Me I Found Love Painkiller Habits (Stay High) Fireball Unholy All About That Bass I’m Still Standing Cheap Sunglasses Redefined Waves Flaws There Is A Light Spending All My Time Spark The Fire

Columbia Capitol REC Capitol Global Groove Universal Virgin RCA Global Groove Virgin Capitol RCA Republic Global Groove Atlantic Universal Capitol Mind Of A Genius Fly Again Atlantic Atlantic RCA Capitol Radikal Ryal Global Groove Chastity Records Pretty Mess Republic RCA Kindergarten Epic ABM Cherry Red Robbins Ultra Virgin Branch Universal Interscope

If You Let Me Go Go All Night Uptown Funk Right Now Drive There Is A Light Cheap Sunglasses Baby Don’t Lie Spending All My Time Waves

Radikal Capitol Atlantic Capitol Side FX Branch Cherry Red Universal Universal Ultra

REPORTING POOLS

n Masspool - Saugus, MA; Gary Canavo n Chew Fu - Woodbridge, CT; Chew Fu n Dirty Pop Productions - San Diego, CA; DJ Drew n Dj Stickyboots - Goshen, NJ; Blake Eckelbarger n NW Dance Music - Shoreline, WA; John England n Fusion Radio - Chicago, IL; Manny Esparza n DeeJay Creativity - Los Angeles, CA; KSXY KPAT n Next Music Pool Los Angeles, CA; Bob Ketcher n Pittsburgh DJ - Pittsburgh, PA; Jim Kolich n Soundworks - San Francisco, CA; Sam Labelle n New York Music Pool - Levittown, NY; Jackie McCloy n Dixie Dance Kings - Alpharetta, GA; Dan Miller n DJ Rafy Nieves - San Juan, PR; Rafy Nieves n WPTV-Prty 105FM Frd MdMx - New York, NY; Mike Rizzo n MOOD Spins - Seattle, WA; Randy Schlager 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 for qualified DJs in the US. We service CDs and MP3s in dance and urban formats. Feedback and membership dues required.

770-740-0356

Warner Brothers Interscope Republic Columbia Republic Atlantic Epic Atlantic Columbia Def Jam RCA Interscope Epic RCA Epic Quality Control Capitol EOne Columbia Republic

Most Added Tracks 1 Nicki Minaj F/ Beyonce 2 Beyonce 3 J. Cole 4 O.T. Genasis 5 Nicki Minaj F/ Drake

Feeling Myself 7/11 Apparently Coco Only

Republic Columbia Columbia Atlantic Republic

NEW NATIONAL LATIN DANCE POOL CHART 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

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11.

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Vein feat J Balvin & Belinda Rigu The Bello Boys feat Kat Deluna Dasoul feat Maffio Miratti J Balvin Luis Vargas Juan Luis Guerra Enrique Iglesias feat Gente de Zona Marlow Rosado Luis Enrique DJ samuel Vs Adassa Patrulla 15 Zawezo Ricky Martin Yunel Cruz Karen Martello Hector Acosta Limit 21 feat Jowell Froilan Jay

Translation Dame Una Oportunidad Last Call Vamos Pa’ La Calle La Noche Provoca (RMX) Ay Vamos Alejate Tus Besos Bailando Quiero Que me Noche De Copas Ole Ola El Moreno Drink Up Adios (RMX) Ay Amiga Besame Asi Ojala El Gallo y La La Suegra

Paradigm Warner Radikal Roster Music Trigg Ent. Universal Chocoalte Prod.

Universal Universal Big Label Top Stop Music Kult Records Ringo Digital Launch Sony Machete 47 Music Dam Latin Inc. Sony Bungalo/Universal

Most Added Tracks 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Gente De Zona feat Pitbull Grupo Karis Chino y Nacho Renzo NG2

Yo La Quiero La Persona Ideal Tu Me Quemas Volver A Empezar Y Ahora Me Voy

Universal Grupo 360 Universal Mayimbe 360 group

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.

A Perfect Balance

(continued from page 18) and Vanessa Daou. That was really a case of just doing what I wanted to.

Shadow Davis), who AndDJthere was(aka theJosh album, Tourism, is best known his direct and contriand tracks likefor “Elements” “Be bution to But the later development instruYourself.” on, studioofbudgets mental hip-hop for his groundand record labelsand were plummeting, breaking album Endtroducing…, and I was1996 just concentrating on havsat down withasusabefore the show to ing a career DJ. Since around discusswhen the ways whichremixes Bambaataa 2002, I didinthose for influenced Mode his sound, wellLoved”] as how Depeche [“I as Feel he came “Planet Rock” and Kingstoofdiscover Tomorrow [“Finally”], his youth.

Hedone also anything describesmajor, how I inhaven’t really both himself and CutOno Chemist (aka except for the Yoko “Walking Lucas on ThinMacFadden) Ice” remix,carry whichBambaataa’s I never remessage, which vital tomore continuing ally thought of asis much than a the hip-hop movement Bambaataa novelty project. and others pioneered in thespecific ’70s DJ Times: Do you have and ’80s. releases? plans for any upcoming DJ Times: Tonight thehungry secondto Tenaglia: Yeah, I do.isI’m York Citystudio; show of this tour. getNew back in the I think things How the firstsoon. showBut, last with night?all will be was happening It anyone was an amazing dueShadow: respect to who I’vehonever or. Bambaataa there Iand it was worked with inwas a studio, don’t feel NewI’ve York City.

It was a culmination like ever found another person of not only vibe a yearwith. of talking about that I really Working in a doing with this, someone and looking throughshort the studio is nothing setting thewith records of records being in and a relationship someasideand andit’s going through the the records, one, always felt like peobutwho distilling needed ple I felt Iwhat couldwereally get from things the collection actually done with—theand people whocreating I could really rely on—can’t be there. They’d be traveling, I’d be traveling, or whatever. I mean, there have been people, like DJ Vibe or Tom Stephan… but I was never able to find that one particular partner who I could rely on.

DJ Times: Do you feel like you need a partner when you work in the studio?

Tenaglia: I know where my talents lie in the studio. I know that I can be pretty good with basslines and samples, rhythms and soulful vocals.

But I need to be able to inject that into what the other person is injecting into a project as well. If it’s just me, it’s not really enough—I tend

to get lost within my roots of deep house and garage.

DJ Times: Can you name anybody who you might like to work with?

Tenaglia: I could name a lot of people, like Chris Liebing, Adam Bayer, Timo Maas or Joseph Capriati. But I only see them in my travels; they’re not in New York.

DJ Times: And you don’t think just sending tracks back and forth with a partner would work for you?

Tenaglia: Nah, I’m not a longdistance relationship kind of guy!

DJ Times: I guess we’re lucky that you’re still around at all. It was around two-and-a-half years ago that you announced that you were, as you put it, “resigning.”

Tenaglia: There were a lot of elements involved in me getting to that point. There a real deep frustration, and I think I chose inappropriate words to say that I was “resigning, but not retiring.” It was kind of lost in translation; I didn’t realize the effect that could have. I didn’t mean to say that I was leaving forever or anything.

DJ Times: What did the frustration stem from?

Tenaglia: A big part of it was that I had lost my laptop, with so much stuff on it. My tracks, my edits—I lost a lot. But that was just the icing on the cake, and things had been really been brewing for a while. The frustrations of travel was getting to me; all the language differences time differences, jet lag… as soon as I would readjust back to New York, it would be time to pick up and go again. People say, “Oh, you have such a luxurious life—I wish I had that life.” They don’t know. Even when you get a first-class seat with the flat bed and everything, it’s only a six- or eight-hour flight, and eventually you’ve got to get there,

check in, deal with people and get to the event. And that can be frustrating, especially when it’s for a festival.

DJ Times: How so?

Tenaglia: Its like, you brought me all the way over here for 90 minutes?

I was just feeling like my time was not being properly utilized. It’s four or five days to do one or two gigs like that, and their not bringing me the joy that I would get from, say, playing at Vinyl. And there were more things involved, too. My mom and my aunt had passed in 2008, and I don’t think I had properly filtered that. I had just turned 50, which wasn’t easy. I was starting to have thoughts like, where is this all heading? Am I just doing this to pay rent? I didn’t know where I fit in. The world was changing, and I didn’t really know what to do.

DJ Times: You actually did take some time off from DJing, right?

Tenaglia: Yeah, and a lot of good came out of that, really. I lost myself in other work, doing things like revitalizing my files and learning Traktor.

And that renewed my interest in DJing. It took my frustrated producing skills, and taught me how to bring those skills to the DJ booth. It’s given me a new spontaneity.

DJ Times: Do you find that as satisfying as actually working in the studio to make a record?

Tenaglia: Maybe more so. It enables people to see the kind of magic that they would never witness if I was working in a studio. People don’t get to see when Peter Daou is doing a solo, or when I’m tweaking a Liz Torres vocal, trying to get that magic moment down. Once a record is released, there’s not much thought of how that was conceptualized.

But now that I can do that live, it’s a whole different world. I can do things

in a DJ setting that I never would have imagined would have worked.

I just wish I had this technology 20 years ago!

DJ Times: I’m sure you would have loved to explore the possibilities that you now have at, say, Vinyl, when you were playing to an adoring crowd every week.

Tenaglia: Oh, that would have been amazing. But even if I get a residency again, it would never be like Vinyl was.

DJ Times: A lot people who came to hear you at that club think of you as their version of Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage.

Tenaglia: I’ve heard that, and I really, really love when people say that, even if it’s some random person on Facebook. “You are to us what Larry Levan was to you.” I mean, like really? How? But it really makes me feel so good. Vinyl was a real home to a lot of people.

DJ Times: Do you feel it’s an apt comparison at all?

Tenaglia: Larr y was able to make you feel what he was feeling— that’s what I learned from him. And I think that I was able to express that at Vinyl. I have such a love for that venue, its sound and the people who came there. I really do care for those people. They were the ones who made the party.

DJ Times: Do you think you ever actually will retire from DJing?

Tenaglia: I don’t think so. I think it will progress as it has, from pubs in Williamsburg in ’77 to roller discos to where I am now—and who knows what’s next? I don’t think I’ll ever retire from a life in music. It’s what I eat, sleep and breathe, and I really can’t imagine doing anything else. n

David Guetta: Superstar DJ & More…

42

I’m a DJ/producer…

But I’m looking pretty good, n’est-ce pas?

David Guetta, Next Month in DJ Times

Photos by Ellen Von Unwerth

DJ TIMES

FEBRUARY 2015

And not really a model.

TACTILE VINYL CONTROL TRUE VINYL FEEL - ACCURATE CONROL - ZERO DRIFT - ZERO SOFTWARE LATENCY

“... this new DVS system really kicks ass. It’s actually at least as good as the others, if not better. I didn’t expect that from VirtualDJ. But I’m having a blast using it!”

- Dj EtRoNiK (DMC USA Champion/WMC Scratch Champion)

BRAND NEW VINYLS NOW IN STOCK High quality control signal for maximum performance & realability. Get yours today at www.virtualdj.com

XTREME VINYL CONTROL

DVS ENGINE 8+

NEW SUPERCHARGED HQ TIMECODE ENGINE

FREE TRIAL DOWNLOAD Download & try with your existing DVS system for free today. Our DVS engine works with most existing timecode vinyls, CDs and soundcards.

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WHY SETTLE FOR LESS, WHEN YOU CAN DO MORE! GET VIRTUALDJ 8 TODAY AT WWW.VIRTUALDJ.COM