DJ Times September 2016, Vol 29 No 9

AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988 SEPTEMBER 2016

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NOTABLES…MILESTONES

RedOne: Expo speaker & host.

Alesso: Tops Monday’s bill.

DJ EXPO ’16: BIG NAMES, BIG IDEAS IN ATLANTIC CITY

Scene Kings.

On Tuesday, Aug. 16, Peavey Electronics and RedOne will present “Ladies Night at DJ Expo.” Co-hosted by Public Enemy’s Keith Shocklee and three-time Grammy-winning producer RedOne, the event will feature vocal and vinyl divas. They include Sophia Del Carmen, Samantha J, plus DJs PonFetti, NYLA and Ria. Later on Tuesday, the Promo Only Summer Sessions Finale at the Borgata’s Premier Nightclub will present its own lineup of luminaries: Alesso, Markus Schulz, Morgan Page, Cash, Cazzette, Cheat Codes, Bright Lights, Fenix, Jay Dabhi & DJ Toro. All Expo badgeholders will be admitted free.

On Wednesday, Aug. 17, the annual “DJ of the Year” competition—hosted by Mike Walter at the Black Box Cabaret—will bestow awards in a variety of categories to the best mobile-DJ performers. Also, that night at the Ego Lounge in the Taj casino floor, the Expo Afterparty featuring “DJ Skribble & Friends” will take attendees deep into the night.

Big-name keynoters will present during show hours, as well. As part of the Expo’s “Keynote Q&A” series, at-

tendees can enjoy hour-long sessions from RedOne (producer for Lady Gaga, among many other stars) on Aug. 16, Markus Schulz (voted America’s Best DJ twice) on Aug. 17 and Cash Cash (this month’s cover boys) on Aug. 17. Bring your best questions for these special Q&A sessions.

CRY BABY

Markus Schulz: Expo keynoter.

Of course, the Expo seminars will run Aug. 15-17 and its showfloor will be open Aug. 16-18. At the show’s end, one lucky attendee will win the “Ultimate DJ Giveaway,” which includes products from ADJ, Global Truss America, JBL Professional and Pioneer DJ.

NEW RELEA SES

SEPTEMBER 2016

AC Bound: Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano.

www.newhousegrooves.com

DJ TIMES

By Jim Tremayne Atlantic City, N.J. – It’s finally arrived. DJ Expo 2016 is upon us and, once again, it’ll offer big ideas for professional DJs, present the industry’s biggest names and showcase the market’s top products.

Set to run Aug. 15-18 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., DJ Expo will have: three days of exhibits and demo rooms featuring the latest DJ-related products; three days of seminars, panels and workshops handling the main issues related to mobile, club and studio DJs; and three nights of sponsored events and parties, bringing top entertainment to show attendees.

The Expo’s first night promises plenty of excitement. On Monday, Aug. 15, at Scores’ Black Box Cabaret, DJ Times will present its “Mobile KickOff Party.” Hosted by Elite Entertainment’s Mike Walter and featuring hip-hop MC Lil’ Nate Dogg, the event will give first-day attendees a chance to get loose before they party late into the night...

Because immediately afterward at Robert’s Rooftop Oceanfront Bar & Lounge on top of Scores, The Remix Top30 Countdown/Digital Music Pool will present a party lineup of hitmakers, global favorites and radio mix-show talent that includes superstar Alesso. Expect the Swedish DJ/ producer to spin his chart-topping hits “Heroes (We Could Be)” featuring Tove Lo, “Years” featuring Matthew Koma, “Cool” featuring Roy English, and “Under Control” with Calvin Harris featuring Hurts.

Also on the bill: Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, the Dutch duo that has set the festival world on fire with their deep, tribal house sounds and their “Sexy by Nature” parties have become legendary from Ibiza to Miami and Las Vegas. Hosted by Remix Top30 Countdown’s Sean “Hollywood” Hamilton, the party will also feature Remix Top30 residents Victor Dinaire, DJ Brad Bodega and The

5

14 22 Jersey Boys All Summer Long

VOLUME 29

NUMBER 9

Cash Cash Might’ve Traded in Band Gear for Big Beats, But Their Songwriting Chops Keep Them Topping the Charts

BY CHRIS CARUSO

America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Goes Coast-to-Coast

BY DJ TIMES PHOTOGRAPHERS

26 True Pioneer

Still Mixing House, Dub & Downtempo Vibes, Mark Farina Celebrates 25 Years of “Mushroom Jazz”

BY JIM TREMAYNE

28 Trade-Show Tips

What’s the Best Way to Make the Most of Your DJ Expo Experience? Some Show Veterans Weigh In…

BY JEFF STILES

DEPARTMENTS 9 Feedback

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

6

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

30 Making Tracks

Steinberg Cubase 8.5

32 Sounding Off

Stanton’s Deckadance

34 Mobile Profile

Philly’s DeeJay Shelly

SAMPLINGS 36 Business Line

10 Borgeous

38 Gear

12 In the Studio With…

Turn Trivia into Weekend Gold New Products from Mixware, Peavey & More

46 Grooves

Phat Tracks from Lee Foss, Full Intention & More

49 Club Play Chart

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

Ride On Time

Optical

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FROM THE EDITOR

DJ Expo #31 If you’re reading this in Atlantic City, N.J., chances are that you’re at DJ Expo—and we thank you for that. This is the 31st show that DJ Times and its publisher Testa Communications have produced since 1990 and, because of you, DJ Expo remains the longest-running and most-successful DJ exhibition/convention in the Americas. This promises to be an eventful week and we hope your experience is meaningful and fruitful.

Onto the September issue… this month we bring you Cash Cash, the Jersey-based trio that’s been peppering the charts in recent years with tunes like “Take Me Home.” The group—Sam Frisch and brothers Alex and Jean Paul Makhlouf—traded in its traditional band equipment for big beats and DJ gigs, but its songwriting chops keep them ahead of the game. Our Chris Caruso caught up with Jean Paul to talk about the group’s new full-length, Blood, Sweat & 3 Years, which finds them collaborating with some of their favorite artists, from a variety of genres. Additionally, be sure to catch Cash Cash perform and speak at DJ Expo—details are on Page 3.

In Samplings, our L.A.-based scribe Lily Moayeri continues her drum-n-bass hitting streak by connecting with genre legend, Optical. Also, Long Islander Michelle Fetky interviews rising EDM star Borgeous. And in a smaller feature, I talk “Mushroom Jazz” with the legendary Mark Farina, who has provided many a satisfying evening on the dancefloor.

We also give you a spin through the sites from America’s Best DJ Summer Tour, which has hit clubs and festivals in markets like New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Detroit, Denver and San Diego. Presented by Pioneer DJ and DJ Times, the tour will run through Labor Day and voters at the events and online will have a chance to be picked for the grand prize – a trip for two to Omnia San Diego for the America’s Best DJ Award Ceremony/Closing Party on September 30. Who will be voted America’s Best DJ 2016?

For this month’s tech reviews, Denver DJ Wesley Bryant-King tackles both columns. For “Making Tracks,” he goes into the studio with Steinberg’s new Cubase update—8.5. Additionally, for “Sounding Off,” he completes our Pro-Audio column by testing out Stanton’s n ew Deckadance 2 DJ software.

On the entertainer tip, we visit with full-time Philly DJ Michelle “DeeJay Shelly” Lee in “Mobile Profile.” For Business Line, New York mobile Mike Alevras explains how he uses weeknight trivia events to leverage big weekend paydays. Also, our Iowa-based mobile scribe Jeff Stiles talks with a trio of DJ Expo veterans, who explain the best ways to maximize your experience at our annual Atlantic City show.

That’s it – and we hope AC and DJ Expo are good to you this week.

Cheers,

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

assistant editor Chris Caruso ccaruso@testa.com chart coordinator Dan Miller dmiller@testa.com contributors Joe Bermudez Wesley Bryant-King Shawn Christopher Paul Dailey Reed Dailey Chris Davis Tony Fernandez Tommy D Funk Michelle Fetky Greg Hollmann Kelly Kasulis Mike Klasco Michelle Loeb Evan Maag Duanny Medrano Lily Moayeri Phil Moffa Natalie Raben Deanna Rilling Jeff Stiles Reisa Shanaman Emily Tan Bruce Tantum Phil Turnipseed Curtis Zack President/Publisher Vincent P. Testa FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO ORDER SUBSCRIPTIONS, CALL 800-937-7678

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

Jim Tremayne Editor, DJ Times

8

VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.djtimes.com

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

digital art director Fred Gumm fgumm@testa.com social media coordinator Matt Van Dyke mvandyke@testa.com

advertising manager Tom McCarty tmccarty@testa.com marketplace advertising sales manager Ricky Pimentel rpimentel@testa.com art/production assistant Ricky Pimentel rpimentel@testa.com Circulation circulation@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 © 2016 by DJ Publishing, Inc., and must not be reproduced in any manner except by permission of the publisher. Websites: www. djtimes.com and www.testa.com September 2016

visit our website: www.djtimes.com

FEEDBACK SUMMER TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

AMERICA’S FIRST MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL DJs ESTABLISHED 1988 AUGUST 2016 $4.95 US $6.95 CANADA

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board effects and the all-new included rekordbox video DJ software.

Chauvet DJ presents “Becoming a DJ Lighting Designer: The Power, Profit & Potential with Jeremy Brech.”

Discover how DJ fixtures can create big impact at gigs. Be inspired to go beyond sound-activated dancefloor effects and increase your lighting cre‑ ativity in order to increase profits.

Brech will share insights, tips and tricks using real Chauvet DJ fixtures in

a typical ballroom setting.

QSC Audio presents “Grow Your Business from One-Man Show to Multi-Op Corporation.”

A panel of successful mobile vets will cover the aspects of delivering a con‑ sistent product, while producing mul‑ tiple events per night. Topics include staff training, equipment, branding, marketing and more.

Eternal Lighting presents “Learning Luminair 3 to Make Your Light Show

Stand Out!” Introducing Luminair 3. Learn how to use your iPad to program and control amazing shows with new uplighting or the uplighting you already have.

ADJ presents “You’re a DJ… Now What?!?”

Hosted by Arnoldo Offermann, this fast-paced session will explain the transition from “Just a DJ” to “Pro‑ duction Company”—and why you may already be halfway there.

7/14/2016 1:46:04 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.

Expo Sponsored Sessions Each year, DJ Expo exhibitors give attendees the opportunity to dig deep‑ er with their products by presenting sponsored seminars that showcase the technologies, but also offer infor‑ mation and unique solutions. The fol‑ lowing are DJ Expo sponsored semi‑ nars presented by show exhibitors: SpeedQuizzing USA presents “Extending Your Business Opportunities Is Not a Game…Or Is It?” SpeedQuizzing is an engaging, fastpaced, fun software system that brings a game-show-style trivia game to your client’s devices. Great for bars, res‑ taurants, weddings, corporate events, and more. No pen or paper needed.

Electro-Voice presents “Unleash the Power of Your Powered Speakers.”

This in-depth, but simple seminar will show DJs how “wow” clients by getting the most out of their loud‑ speakers. Complete with hands-on demos, this session will show you how to properly set gain structure, crossovers, EQ, delay and cardioid subwoofers.

Pioneer DJ presents “The Expanding World of rekordbox.”

See what’s new in the ever-expanding world of rekordbox & how rekord‑ box dj, rekordbox dvs, and the new rekordbox video will take your DJ per‑ formance to new levels with Pioneer DJ hardware.

Pioneer DJ presents “Intro to the DDJ-RZX Ultimate Professional DJ Controller & rekordbox video.”

Expo attendees get an exclusive first look at the DDJ-RZX DJ controller with three 7-inch touch screens, large jog wheels, performance pads, on‑

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DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

BORGEOUS RIDES IT

10

For most DJs and fans, Borgeous jumped into EDM consciousness in 2013 with “Tsunami,” the mega-hit which shared authorship with Canadian duo DVBBS. The tune became a festival favorite and, a year later, a vocal version topped charts worldwide.

Fast-forward three years and Borgeous (aka John Borger) has returned with a new album (titled 13) on his new Armada Music-connected label, Geousus Records (pronounced jusus). Mixing EDM, bass, house and indie leanings, the collab-filled full-length features ultra-catchy singles “Ride It” (featuring Sean Paul) and “Lost & Found,” (with 7 Skies featuring Neon Hitch).

DJ Times recently caught up with Borgeous to discuss the new release, his influences and favorite spots to play.

DJ Times: How did you start DJing?

Borgeous: I was going out in L.A. a lot and was working at the nightclubs. I knew I could create the music I was hearing out in the clubs, so I just started plugging myself into the nights. Seeing the amounts of plays on my Soundcloud and getting a massive response to “Tsunami,” I knew that DJing was what I wanted to do. So, that is where it all started, in Hollywood.

DJ Times: Who were your main DJ/producer influences?

Borgeous: Before I started DJing, I listened to Kaskade, Dada Life and Alesso.

DJ Times: Have your musical influences changed from then to now?

Borgeous: Not really. I kind of just influence myself in a way. I like to focus on what I’m doing. I hear stuff on the radio here and there, but that’s really it.

DJ Times: For your new album 13, where does the main inspiration come from?

Borgeous: It comes from things that I have listened to my whole entire life – from rock to hip hop to dance to whatever other genre it may be.

I don’t really go into the studio with this idea of being inspired by other music. I do it because I want to do it

13: Borgeous’ new CD features collabs aplenty.

and I didn’t just want to continue doing singles. I really wanted to create an album and produce a body of work that is very diverse and represents different things that I have done or liked to listen to and combined them into 15 different tracks.

DJ Times: You’re debuting your album under your own label, Geousus, in conjunction with the powerhouse, Armada Music. Tell us about your label.

Borgeous: The label is a play on my name and the words “just us.” I called it that because I wanted it to represent the festival community—from the ravers to the DJs. DJ Times: The first single that you released from the album was “Ride It” featuring Sean Paul. Tell us about that one…

Borgeous: Well, my background is Jamaican – black and white. Sean Paul is Jamaican as well and I’ve always wanted to do a song with him and it just felt right to release “Ride It” first.

DJ Times: What type of DJ equipment do you use?

Borgeous: Pioneer CDJ-2000s.

There is a lot that can go wrong on a computer. The CDJs are definitely easier to use and are more dependable.

DJ Times: Being a DJ definitely brings you to some amazing places. What are your favorite venues and festivals?

Borgeous: Top venues are Stereo Live in Houston, New City Gas in Montreal and Create in L.A. Top festivals that I played and liked are Tomorrowland in Brazil, Spring Awakening in Chicago and Electric Zoo in New York.

DJ Times: Did you ever imagine yourself being where you are today?

Borgeous: Yes, I am a ver y determined, self-motivated, hardworking person, every single day, which is why I knew that I would be where I am today as a DJ. That’s just how I am.

DJ Times: What advice would you give aspiring DJs? Borgeous: Be persistent, but keep it classy and clean. Don’t flood peoples’ DMs and comments with promo stuff, but rather let it happen naturally. It’s basically a bit of luck, timing, and skill.

– Michelle Fetky

IN THE STUDIO

Optical’s new collection spans two decades.

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

OPTICAL: D-N-B LEGEND

12

If you ask anyone who makes drum-n-bass music why they became enamored by the genre in the first place, chances are good they’ll tell you Optical’s productions had something to do with it.

Well-known for his collaborations with Ed Rush, the British DJ/producer’s work has long been the standard by which much of d-n-b is measured.

Considered a genuine pioneer in the techstep and neurofunk sounds, Optical singles like “To Shape the Future” b/w “Raging Calm” (1997) and collabs with Rush like Wormhole (1998) remain genre touchstones.

Now that he’s been making music for two full decades, Optical (aka Matt Quinn) has released the rightly titled, 2-CD collection, 20YearsOfOptical (Virus Recordings).

The 22-track package delivers the afore-mentioned genre classics, plus winning movers like the funky growler “The Shining,” some unreleased dubs like “What’s the Difference” and hard-to-find remixes, like the one Optical did for Josh Wink’s “Simple Man.” “I chose the ones I liked more from 150 or so tracks,” says Quinn, simply. “The album wasn’t meant to be stuffing music that people already

have down their throats again. And I didn’t want to lose these tracks in the sands of time. Back in the day, I had no idea that Optical was going to be anything. I was happy to let people take the DATs, which they then lost.”

Quinn spent an inordinate amount of time reclaiming music—about 25-percent of the collection—from ancient 10-inch dubplates, cleaning them, using software to take out crackles, pops, clicks, and rumbles from the turntable. Whether coming from dubplates or from the original DATs—most of which Quinn dug up from around his London flat, which is more studio than home—the tracks on 20YearsOfOptical mark the years like signposts.

“There’s an innocence to the way they’re made, that I wish I still had,” Quinn says. “This was my time-off music, the stuff I was doing for myself while I had more important projects going on for other people. I went through ages of putting them through modern gear, pumping them up. When I listened to them, I felt they lost their charm. So I undid all of that. It’s not just a case of turning it up—that can change the dynamic of the song. You have to be careful not to go too far. That almost redesigns

sounds in a recording, so it turns into a completely different song, which is not what I’m after.

“Most of the re-masters are so the tracks are at the right level for today’s equipment,” he continues.

“And they are improvements I would have made at the time if anybody had allowed me. ‘Moving 808s’ on Grooverider’s Prototype Recordings, they took off a lot of the bass end to fit it on the record. I always felt it sounded a little hollow, so this master is back to how it should have sounded from the DAT.” The histor y of Quinn’s drumn-bass production can be traced through the evolution of his samplers, which started with the Akai S700 and its six sample spaces, each under one-second long. He eventually landed on the E-mu e6400—in his opinion, still the best sampler ever made. With this one machine, plus a cheap effects unit, he found that he could efficiently make an entire track, a unique skill for that time.

“We were trying to copy the punk guitar techniques and bring it to sampling,” he recalls. “What came out of those experiments, no one was expecting. What annoys me these days is using a bunch of plug-ins to simu-

late what went on naturally. It’s been made vastly overcomplicated. I look at the amount of equipment people use to make a song—in real life, it would be four rooms of gear. It seems astounding that it takes that much to get to what should be a fairly simple song. With my first Akai, you had to pick the six sounds to make a song really carefully. There’s none you can throw away. Coming from that background made you have a deep appreciation for sampling, which helped to be ahead of the game.”

The impression out there is that Quinn rubs a piece of gear and magical sounds come out of it. In reality, he spent his first decade in the studio really learning, with hours of doing the same thing over and over. Of course, that discipline helped when he had to relearn everything during the more recent technology shift.

Virtual synths—the Serum wavetable by Xfer, in particular—are where Quinn sees the future of this music and he cites Serum’s ability to slice, analyze, and re-synthesize for manipulation as a practical breakthrough.

But he rejects hints at becoming an expert on that platform. Between making music, running his Virus Re(continue on page 50)

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DJ TIMES

Doublemint Gum will lead you to believe that double the pleasure is double the fun, but for Cash Cash, the magic number is actually three.

The New Jersey-based group is comprised of three members—Samuel Frisch, plus brothers Jean Paul and Alexander Makhlouf—and its impressive journey to the heights of the EDM realm is succinctly summed up—and underscored—by their new LP’s cheeky title: Blood, Sweat & 3 Years (Big Beat/Atlantic).

The album’s origins—appropriately enough—date back three years to the trio’s crossover radio smash “Take Me Home,” which featured stadium-ready progressive-house stylings and an infectious hook sung by singer Bebe Rexha.

The unexpected mainstream success of the single thrust Cash Cash into the proverbial stratosphere, leading to highprofile festival slots, relentless airplay, and residencies at top-tier clubs like Marquee Las Vegas.

In the 36 months since, the guys have been chugging away and releasing hit after hit, blurring the lines between clubready smashes and old-fashioned songwriting with their innate musicality and methodical production process.

The end result of this hard work? A 16-track journey that features a jawdropping list of collaborators (including

14

CASH CASH MIGHT’VE TRADED THEIR SONGWRITING CHOPS

IN BAND KEEP TH

G E A R F O R B I G B E AT S , B U T EM TOPPING THE CHARTS.

BY CHRIS CARUSO

JERSEY

John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, Busta Rhymes, Christina Perri, Nelly, and Fitz of Fitz and The Tantrums) that truly showcases the musical growth and maturity that the three Jersey boys have achieved in the years since they’ve traded in their band-based formation for DJ kicks.

We caught up with Jean Paul Makhlouf to talk about the road to the album’s release, as well as the unique circumstances of the group’s dynamics that have led to their creative success.

DJ TIMES: CONGRATS ON THE NEW ALBUM. IT’S BEEN A LONG JOURNEY, BASED ON THE TITLE BLOOD, SWEAT & 3 YEARS. HOW DID THE ORIGINAL IDEAS FOR THE ALBUM BEGIN TO TAKE SHAPE? Jean Paul Makhlouf: The funny thing is we always knew we wanted to make an album, but we never knew an exact time frame of when it was going to be done and we were just so focused on going song by song by song—not really rushing any of them. That was pretty cool because in the end, we have this album we’re even more attached to because we don’t have any songs we had to rush on just to make a record.

DJ TIMES: WAS THERE A SPECIFIC PROCESS OR APPROACH? Makhlouf: Every song was like a little baby child, in a way. It was one of those things where eventually we were like in the back of our minds, “Yeah, when we have enough songs, we’re going to put an album out.” It got to a point where we just looked at the computer in the master folder and were like, “We’ve got a lot of songs. I think we’re done—we’re finally here!”

SEPTEMBER 2016

DJ TIMES 16

D J T I M E S : I T WA S F I N ISHED… Makhlouf: We all just then knew that the album was ready, and when it came to naming it, it just made sense to land on Blood, Sweat & 3 Years because that’s pretty much what we put into the album. We fight a lot because we’re brothers, so we’ve got that brotherly love thing going on.

There’s bloodshed, holes in the walls, late-night arguments, all for roughly three years.

DJ TIMES: NOT TO OVERSIMPLIFY IT, BUT WHY MAKE AN ALBUM WHEN SO MUCH OF THE EDM WORLD IS FOCUSED ON SINGLES AND EPS? Makhlouf: I think the three of us would agree that we grew up on albums—albums are how we would get attached to music.

They would define periods of our life. When you put on a certain record, it could send me right back to high school or elementary school or college: What I

was doing at that time, who I was dating, who I was friends with, who was in my life, who left my life. They’re really emotional things. They’re very powerful.

It’s just this magic, you know? We wanted to do that. We felt like we needed an album to kind of define the last three years of our lives, which have been the best three years so far.

DJ TIMES: YOU WANTED TO MARK THIS ERA FOR YOURSELVES. Makhlouf: At the same time, we figured we would do that for people as well. We hope it has that same effect with the listeners who will eventually put on Blood, Sweat & 3 Years and remember the festival they were at or remember a certain person they were dating or emotion they were feeling.

Sometimes it’s hard to do that with just one song, you know? People won’t necessarily associate a time frame with that one song, but when you have an album there’s just this crazy magic that I hope still exists for at least the diehard music fans out there.

DJ TIMES: WAS THERE A SPECIFIC AUDIENCE YOU HAD IN MIND WHEN MAKING THE ALBUM? WAS IT AIMED AT THE DANCEFLOOR, RADIO, FESTIVALS, OR SOMETHING ELSE? Makhlouf: That’s a really good question. The simplest form of an answer I can think of is, overall, we knew going into it that we wanted to make a diverse album. We didn’t want to do the same song twice. The cool thing is that there are different songs linked together, like you’ll hear some of the progressive-house ones like “Surrender,” “Take Me Home,” and “Turn.” Then you’ll drift off and hear the stuff we did with indie-pop artists, rappers, indierock singers, alternative rock singers [like Goo Goo Dolls and Fitz & The Tantrums], so it’s this weird journey. They’re all connected in weird ways, but the overall album is really diverse as far as the features go, the tempo, BPM, and even just sonically.

DJ TIMES: IS THERE A MUSICAL THREAD THAT RUNS THROUGH IT?

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Makhlouf: I think there’s this thing that brings it together and makes it sound like a Cash Cash record by the little things like the production, mixing, and mastering as well as the way we do our vocals, the harmonies we choose—we tend to lean very melodic.

When you listen to it, you’re going to think it sounds like a record even though it’s so diverse.

DJ TIMES: THE FIRST THING PEOPLE ARE GOING TO NOTICE EVEN BEFORE LISTENING TO THE ALBUM IS THE STRIKING SET OF COLLABORATORS ON THE TRACKLIST. DID YOU GO INTO THE PROCESS WITH A WISH LIST OR DID IT HAPPEN ORGANICALLY? Makhlouf: The one wish list I can definitely say was John Rzeznik from the Goo Goo Dolls. I’ve always wanted to do a song with him—even just meet him—since back in the day because we were so influenced by his music growing up. When we got in the studio with him, it was one of those moments that was like, “Holy crap!

How did this happen?” Things started to snowball, and we realized that we were making a record that was going to mean so much to us from just the people we were working with that have been a part of our growing up.

DJ TIMES: LIKE BUSTA RHYMES? Makhlouf: We grew up listening to him and idolizing guys like him. Even Nelly was an influence. It was crazy! Those are just the priceless moments that you really cherish beyond anything when you’re sitting in the studio with these people that you listened to and you were affected by.

DJ TIMES: DID THE CROSSOVER SUCCESS OF “TAKE ME HOME” OPEN UP MORE DOORS FOR YOU TO WORK WITH

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Cash Cash: (from left) Sam Frisch, Alex & Jean Paul Makhlouf.

EVEN MORE VOCALISTS? Makhlouf: Oh, 100-percent.

I mean, I think that it even just gave us the confidence to be like, “No, maybe we don’t need to second-guess every single melody and every single song.

Maybe we’re doing something right.” It gave us the confidence we needed internally to just be more productive. As far as outside, I think it definitely did because people were saying, “Oh, these guys are out here making competitive music,” and people liked our production.

It was cool because instead of us having to go reach out to people, people were reaching out to us.

DJ TIMES: THAT HAD TO FEEL GOOD. Makhlouf: We felt cool because the people wanted to work with us versus us picking up the phone being like, “Hey! Work with us! Work with us!” I think that was cool. Even on the remix game, Katy Perry’s team hit us up because they wanted us to do a remix. We did one for Bruno Mars, Icona Pop… It makes you feel good as a producer when people are coming after you.

DJ TIMES: WHAT IS YOUR PROCESS WITH EACH VOCALIST? ARE THEY BRINGING IN LYRICS AND IDEAS AND SINGING TOPLINES, OR IS IT A COLLABORATION? Makhlouf: It’s always a collaboration for us; we find that we get the music that way. I know a lot of DJs and producers like to focus on the music, but the thing about us is that we grew up being songwriters playing guitar, piano, drums, and all of that [and also] writing lyrics. We like to bring the artists into the studio always and start from the barebones. We’ll be jamming out on acoustic guitars and pianos—it’s re(continued on page 48)

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1 Omnia: San Diego fans hit the terrace.

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2 Denver Scene: ABDJ voter at Red Rocks.

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5 At EDC: Skrillex & Marshmello.

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6 Global Dance Fest: Sparks fly at Red Rocks.

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7 Honey Soundsystem: Bézier in Detroit.

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8 Movement: Maceo Plex on mainstage.

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13 SF Scene: Donald Glaude & DJ Dan at Temple.

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DJ Times

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SEPTEMBER 2016

DJ TIMES 26

As he’ll freely admit, Mark Farina has been living and working in two musical worlds for the past time, and we definitely had our own take quarter-century. on the mixing style, combining the jacky/ The Chicago-born/San Francisco-based DJ/producer got hip to the burgeoning Windy City disco styles of Chicago house with the house scene in the mid-’80s and has toured the world mostly playing house-oriented sets at clubs, more rock/funk elements of West Coast raves and festivals. But his most notable releases have been part of his Mushroom Jazz series of mix house. Most parties I did were definitely compilations. With its mélange of Acid Jazz, smoky hip-hop, deep downtempo grooves, the series more house-style, with Mushroom Jazz now celebrates its 25th anniversary with Mushroom Jazz 8. With funky, dubby and elegant flavors intermixed here and there, especially for from DJ Spinna, Freddie Joachim, Emapea and the Slipmat Brothers, MJ8 can work a dancefloor as early in the afternoon or a B room, where well as your headphones. We recently caught up with the legendary Mark Farina.

Mushroom Jazz would be more appropriDJ Times: What was your original vision for the Mushroom Jazz series? How did it evolve? ate rather than straight house.

Farina: We’re going way back. The cassette series that was the first installment—Chicago, 1991.

DJ Times: Over time, what changes My vision was a fusion of East Coast, early-’90s hip hop and late-’80s hip hop—a lot of that being in the DJ world have impacted you most instrumental at that time—mixed with U.K. Acid Jazz sounds. Everything else was house in the directly? early ’90s. I wanted to make a tape that wasn’t house. All of the records being sold in the record Farina: The technology has definitely stores in Chicago were house music and I really wanted to change that up. affected some stuff. In the beginning evDJ Times: What initially inspired you to DJ? erything was on vinyl, which obviously Farina: I started DJing in around 1986-’87. I first got into DJing when I was in high school. We limited what we could do. Nowadays, on started going to clubs when I was a sophomore, 1985. Once I sort of learned what DJing was and how it came about, I got into it right away. Once I saw a Technics 1200, I was like, “Woah! What is that!” Until we saw turntables, we didn’t really know where the records were coming from and how they came together. That instantly hooked us. the CDJ-2000s, I can do so much more when it comes to mixing—looping, cues, DJ Times: What inspired you extending, etc. It gives me a bit more creativity than vinyl could. I still get tracks to produce? the same way, but I just have so many more options with those tracks for these Farina: I was in a bunch of current mixtapes. cover bands in high school. We DJ Times: Your typical DJ set up now? were a new-wave cover band, Farina: My basic set up is the two Pioneer CDJ-2000NXS2’s and the Pioneer covering things like U2, MinisNXS1 player. Also, I like the Pioneer DJM-900 mixer. I also like to add two turntry, Real Life, R.E.M. Eventually, tables to that. Ideally, the best set-up is both. I always like to have vinyl accessible, we got into drum machines. The as some stuff just sounds better on vinyl and that’s never changing. At a club, concept of not having a drummer CDJs are just always going to be more reliable. In a club, that was always a pet in a band was our thing—it was peeve – skipping and glitches that come with vinyl. A club is a crazy place! It’s not how we stood out! After high the best environment for something as sensitive as vinyl sometimes. In general, school, I started learning about I like the fusion of the two.

MIDI. That, along with meeting DJ Times: In the studio, what are the most vital elements you used to put Derrick Carter around 1989… together the latest version of Mushroom Jazz? he really showed me the ropes on Farina: For the latest installment, I used Ableton to edit every track involved, how to make old-school Chicago/ along with my mixing engineer Jameiro Espinoza. We did re-edits for every track Detroit house.

– extend intros, make them more cohesive for the mixing I wanted to do. Mainly, DJ Times: I remember seeing though, I just used CDJs to mix it all together.The freedom that Ableton allows for you play a Sunset Cruise in San in terms of letting me arrange things exactly how I want to is really special, though.

Francisco in 1997 and it was a Still, the most important thing is the CDJ-2000. Having the freedom with it to do blast. But I also remember how everything I need to do is invaluable. I love those units and I will use them until different your set was at that parsomething directly better comes out. ty, compared to the Mushroom Jazz material.

DJ Times: How do you view the U.S. underground dance-music scene now?

Farina: Yeah, that period in Farina: I believe the underground scene right now is doing great—really vibrant. Having the EDM culSan Francisco, I would say that ture has brought electronica back to a lot of all these kids. There was a period in the late-’90s/early 2000s was a really crazy period there. All when raves started to die due to the Rave Act and all of the gigs transferred to 21-plus. I think this really kinds of parties, Full Moons, early removed electronic music out of those late teen years that are crucial in developing music preference and start of the rave scene. It was a taste. “EDM,” even if I don’t necessarily agree with the style generally, changed that – it gave young people great scene! My style at the time a place to go and listen to electronic music in their teen years. Obviously, the internet helped, but nothing definitely straddled two sides of really replaces going and seeing a musician or DJ firsthand. It’s good to see that kids can now go to these music. The Mushroom Jazz side electronic shows again – that definitely disappeared for a while. definitely gave me some different DJ Times: Which DJs impress you? material to work with. House, on Farina: I still really like the old heads – Derrick Carter, Spinna, Kenny Dope, Louie Vega. The way older the other hand, was always my DJs know how to handle the tempo of a night and a set is somewhat of a lost art. Newer stuff? I really like early calling. It’s how I got my legs, Detroit Swindle and how they incorporate live stuff. In general, I’m really old-school in this respect – I very in Chicago and San Francisco. much enjoy the people who have been doing this for 20 years.

DJ Times: That West Coast DJ Times: Any advice for a DJ starting out now? house scene was so different Farina: For young DJs, things are just so different. Make lots of mixes – practice, practice, practice. I from what was going on here in practiced so much in high school, until I would just pass out from tiredness. Do your homework – know the New York at the time. How did tracks, the music. Avoid the sync button! You need to learn how to mix on your own. Know your tempos you make your way out there? and how to feel the room. It’s such a lost art.

Farina: One of the first gigs DJ Times: How has the perception of the DJ changed over the years?

Derrick and I got in San Francisco Farina: The perception of the DJ has changed a lot, definitely. I think skill will always transcend time, was for the Hardkiss guys in 1991. though, if you’re good now or back then, you’ll get noticed. Now, with the music so accelerated and ubiqAfter that, we got booked for a uitous, you can definitely get a lot of people writing you off – “So what, you’re a DJ? Next!” The lines are lot of gigs there. There was a lot blurred these days about what a DJ is actually doing, too. There’s so many different methods now – from of different kinds of house going Ableton Live to Serato to Traktor to vinyl. I think it still has great face value as a job, but I think now more on in San Francisco around that than ever, DJs can really come and go. Here today, gone tomorrow. n

P TRUE I O N E E R

DJ TIMES

STILL MIXING HOUSE, DUB & DOWNTEMPO V I B E S , MARK FARINA CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF “MUSHROOM JAZZ”

SEPTEMBER 2016

BY JIM TREMAYNE

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W T A D R A H H

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

BY JEFF STILES

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Terry Moran Jr. in Manchester, N.H., is always looking for more ideas to help build wealth for his DJ business, Crown Entertainment.

And the best place to find fresh ideas and the latest products, Moran says, is at a trade show. At DJ Expo 2016 in Atlantic City this August 1518, he’ll be looking for even more ways to increase his income.

“I own all my gear, so I’m especially looking for strategies for my staff, for multi-ops, for marketing perspective,” he explains. “As Larry Bird once said, ‘We’ve constantly got to take things to another level.’”

As the DJ Expo drew closer, we sought out some unique ideas from mobile jocks on how to maximize our attendance at trade shows. More than the usual schtick about networking, we asked for some cool and fresh ideas.

“Right now logistics are what are important to me,” explains Moran, whose company specializes in event producing, event lighting, mobile DJs, photo-booths, video displays—all things he’s become educated about at the DJ Expo. “The one app I use nowadays for client communication is GoToMeeting.com. I can have up to six video cams live on a screen—all in HD—from different locations. This works great for our out-of-town/state/country couples that we produce weddings for in the destination market of New Hampshire.

“As for the show floor, I usually have a good idea of what I’m looking for, but I browse through very carefully. I’ve found some outstanding products by asking serious questions and requesting demos. This is where we grab the secrets that your local competition won’t find out about until months later.”

W H A T ’ S T H E B E S T W AY T O M A K E T H E M O S T O F YO U R D J E X P O E X P E R I E N C E ?

S O M E S HOW V ET E R A N S W E I G H I N …

SEPTEMBER 2016

Even though he hails from Chicago, K.C. KoKoruz and his crew from The Keith Christopher Entertainment Group are regulars at the annual DJ Expo.

His first piece of advice for getting the most out of the DJ Expo? Come with an open mind.

“There are DJs coming from all over the country, and with all different levels of experience and of differ-

ent company sizes,” says KoKoruz. “Everyone’s needs and wants are different, and not everyone you meet will impress you. Not everything you hear in a seminar or over coffee, lunch, breakfast, dinner, drinks or just in the hallways will necessarily impress you.

“All you need is to be open-minded enough to hear enough things that can make your trip very rewarding and profitable for your company in the future.”

KoKoruz says the most important thing for an attendee to bring along to a convention of any type is business cards.

And not just a few, he says—bring a whole box of them.

“A lot of the exhibitors all have raffles, so you’ll obviously want them for that,” he explains. “Plus, the easiest way to introduce yourself to someone is to say hello and offer to exchange cards. This automatically opens easy dialogue about where you’re from, as well as anything specific about what you do.

“For example, my business card mentions LED dancefloors. This is an item that most mobile DJs don’t offer, so this would open up an entire conversation about the logistics of owning one.

“Also, make sure your phone is well-charged and that you even bring a battery-operated charging device. Most of the presenters will be doing PowerPoint slides, and it’s super easy to simply take a picture of a slide and reference it when you get home. The same goes for taking pictures and video of new products on the trade-show floor.”

When you want to get up during a seminar because you think it isn’t worth sitting through, KoKoruz says it’s important sit your butt back down in the chair.

“You never know when someone’s going to say something that you can use,” he says. “I’ve been attending conventions for over 20 years and have heard every type of sales workshop there is; however, I can still learn something from it simply being presented in a different way.”

And finally, with all the partying going on every night at the DJ Expo, KoKoruz says it’s alright to enjoy ourselves, but to keep in mind that there’s a time and place for everything.

“I’ve walked into my hotel room over the years many times at 4 a.m., feeling no pain, but I’ve always made it up in time for seminars. If you want to have fun, have fun—just have some balance.

“I’m a huge fan of ‘Work-Hard-Play-Hard,’ but my body just can’t handle playing as hard as it used to.” n

DJ TIMES

While Corey Rusch of Rusch Entertainment in Freeland, Mich., says he’s only attended two DJ Expos in Atlantic City before this year (mostly due to the need to travel halfway across the country), he says it’s always good to share tips with other attendees and learn from their experiences as well.

“I feel the exhibit floor is the most beneficial aspect of a trade show, since we get to see so much gear up close—as opposed to those online demo videos that make it hard to tell what the lights are capable of unless it’s pitch dark and with heavy fog,” says Rusch. “The Expo gives a more realistic look at the lights, plus you can see their actual size and output.

“Also, how many times do you want to buy speakers, but not know how they sound? The sound rooms that QSC Audio sets up, for example, are amazingly helpful for people who don’t have stores nearby that showcase this stuff.

Rusch suggests, in order to not feel overwhelmed by the breadth of exhibit-floor products, that we should take it in pieces.

“It’s so tempting to jump right in and slam through it all,” he says, “but there’s so much to see so we should take a section at a time.

“It’s important to go in a group; otherwise, you can’t make all the seminars that you want. You can always share what you learned with others who attended different seminars. Plus, with us being from Michigan, we’re definitely the outsiders, so having some people to hang with really helps at the beginning.”

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MAKING TRACKS STUDIO…HARDWARE…SOFTWARE…

CUBASE 8.5: STEINBERG’S UPDATE

By Wesley Bryant-King

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

This is a good time to be a music creator; at no time in the history of recorded music has it been so easy, efficient or affordable to get musical creations from concept, to performance, to recording, and on to mixing, mastering and release.

Typically, the majority of that process occurs these days on a computer, using a digital audio workstation (DAW) application. And at no point have we had more DAWs to choose from; that market dynamic has proven to be quite good for end users, since DAW makers keep working to make their products more innovative and competitive. One of the more recent examples of this is none other than Steinberg’s Cubase, which not long ago was updated to version 8.5—the subject of this review.

Cubase’s long and storied history dates back to 1989 – practically an eternity in this space. Back then, Cubase was basically a MIDI sequencer, not a DAW, as many of the applications at that time were.

As computing power improved, hard-disk capacities increased, and better hardware came onto the market, the era of DAW software came into being as support for digital audio was added to MIDI capabilities. Cubase made that jump in the early ’90s.

Steinberg may not deserve sole credit for all the innovations involved, but in the mid-’90s, the company took a big jump to help facilitate the large and viable market of third-party effect and instrument plug-ins we have today when they designed and added Virtual Studio Technology (VST) technology to Cubase—then proceeded to license the technology to others, and allowing anyone to benefit. VST continues to be one of the dominant technologies for DAW plug-ins.

Level-Set: For those unfamiliar, Cubase is a full-function DAW application, available in three versions for both Windows machines and Macs.

Cubase Elements (which technically remains at version 8) is the low-end entry version for new users

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Cubase 8.5: Included VST Transit collab system.

and those with very basic needs. Cubase Artist is Steinberg’s mid-level offering with much broader specs, and finally, Cubase Pro provides—as you might expect—more power and “all-inclusive” content and tools to support your music-making endeavors. The Steinberg web site has a comprehensive comparison chart available to help pick the right “size” for your needs.

The user interface of Cubase may not win any awards (in my subjective opinion) for user-interface design, but it’s pleasant and typical in arrangement in its default view, and will be familiar and usable to most anyone who’s used a major DAW in the past. The focus is on the timeline, with tracks arranged as a vertical stack. All the expected tools are there to create tracks, add effects, drop-in instruments, program MIDI, record audio or MIDI, and manipulate the results to whatever extent is needed.

For this review, however, the focus is on the new 8.5 version, so let’s look at what’s new to the application.

Improvement & Innovation Abound: Steinberg proved its focus on innovation by developing VST plug-ins, as I mentioned earlier, so perhaps it’s no coincidence that the company chose the VST moniker for what is perhaps the biggest new feature of Cubase 8.5: VST Transit. In short, it’s a way for Cubase users to collaborate on projects via the Internet using cloud technologies. Steinberg has chosen to leverage Amazon Web Services, the same infrastructure that powers Netflix, Expedia, Pinterest, and Amazon.com itself, among others. Customers are provided a basic level of service at no additional charge; a premium plan is available that increases both storage capacity and download usage caps.

The naming of this feature is perhaps a bit misleading, because unlike the “other” VST, this one doesn’t play with others; it’s solely for cloud storage of projects from Cubase, and collaboration with other Cubase users—not that I would have expected otherwise, really; it’s just a naming choice that suggests that it’s perhaps broader than it is. The emphasis is also much more on enabling collaboration, rather than facilitating it. Some of Steinberg’s competitors have focused more on the latter, enabling creative matchmaking of sorts. One could easily view this as a bit of a missed opportunity, but technical collaboration and project sharing does have value.

In any case, the idea of online music collaboration is exploding, but so far, the implementation of available options has felt clumsy and difficult. Cubase 8.5 makes it easy and intuitive to share and manage shared projects. But while I applaud Steinberg for jumping on the bandwagon, after kicking the tires a bit, I remain unconvinced that the offering provides any significant advantages over simply using a cloud storage service like Dropbox or OneDrive, and using other methods to find potential collaborators. The advantage of a general purpose approach is that you can store any type of documents or files, and collaborate in multiple applications, versus being limited to a single application; arguably a better financial value if you’re opting for a paid service.

Steinberg have also updated Retrologue, the product’s included analog modeled synth plug-in. As a bit of an analog head, I’m a sucker for these classic, rich sounds, and Retrologue 2 doesn’t disappoint. The company added another oscillator, polyphonic LFOs, new filters, and a slew of other new goodies to very good (continued on page 40) (continued on page 50)

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DECKADANCE 2: STANTON’S DJ SOFTWARE

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

By Wesley Bryant-King

32

It was just before Christmas back in 2011 that Gibson—best known as the maker of guitars of the same name—went on a little holiday shopping spree, and came home with three well-known brands in its shopping bag: KRK, Cerwin-Vega, and Stanton DJ. All three were collectively the “Stanton Group,” and today are part of a large and growing family of music and audio brands under the Gibson umbrella.

It’s probably not overstating things to suggest that Stanton has not been the main focus for Gibson in intervening years. A recent peek at the brand’s web site seem to reflect that; product information has seen some updates, but the news section’s most recent post was in 2013. That may be the bad part.

The good part, however, is that the rumor mill is rife these days with talk that things at Stanton are shifting, and in fact, there are tangible signs of movement on that front. For starters, late last year, Gibson announced that it had acquired Deckadance, the digital DJ software product developed and previously marketed by Image Line (makers of the popular FL Studio DAW), along with the product’s development resources, and a commitment to continue to support and expand the software’s capabilities. The company logically placed Deckadance under the Stanton banner, did a quick rebranding of the software itself, and grafted in place a new software registration system tied to functionality provided as part of Gibson’s primary music software brand, Cakewalk.

It is, in fact, the newly rebranded and recently updated Deckadance 2 that is the subject of this review.

For the review, I decided to try Deckadance primarily in its DVS (digital vinyl system) mode.

In this mode—which will be familiar to users of other DJ applications with so-called “scratch” support—the software uses unique media, either CD- or vinyl-based. The media is encoded with a specially designed audio signal. When played from a CDJ or turntable, the audio output of that special signal is in turn used by the software to control the transport within the DJ software. (The music, incidentally, is provided through digital files housed on the computer.)

Using DVS mode requires something beyond run-of-the-mill audio interfaces, because in addition to a way to get your actual music audio out of the computer system, you also need a way to get the audio signals into the computer from the decks playing back the encoded media. While other “scratch” DJ applications typically have a specific, logical path for those connections, or perhaps even offer dedicated hardware for that purpose, Deckadance takes a different route that’s apparent not only with the DVS mode, but throughout

the software: one of flexibility to be configured in myriad different ways.

That approach has its plusses and minuses. Of course, the plus side is exactly that: extreme flexibility. The down side, however, is that connecting and configuring Deckadance can require a bit more technical depth of knowledge, and the need to have a few hardware tools in your closet to support the effort. In my case, I happened to choose a multichannel audio interface from a competing DJ software company that provided enough ins and outs to do the job quite nicely.

The next step was getting the DVS media. Here, too, Deckadance takes an über-flexible, vendor-agnostic approach to the problem, supporting a wide range of DVS (“scratch”) media from a range of other parties, including competing DJ applications.

It even includes a “learn” mode to enable the software to figure out scratch media it’s not otherwise familiar with. But in a unique twist, you can actually

burn your own DVS media to CD; Deckadance produces an audio file to the hard disk that you can, in turn, burn to CD-R media. Honestly, it’d been so long since I’d burned any CDs on my computer (years, actually), I had to re-learn how to do it, and burned a few duds before getting a pair of CDs that worked properly. (The CD must be burned as an audio CD, not as a CD-ROM, for starters.)

Once I had a couple of successfully burned CDs, I inserted them into a pair of older CDJs, and with everything cabled together (along with a standard DJ mixer) and properly set up in Deckdance’s configuration, I was off to the races (although getting to that point required a couple of full evenings’ worth of effort).

On the surface, Deckadance looks much like any modern DJ-software application, with virtual decks (either two or four) positioned on the top half of the screen, and your song library on the (continued on page 48)

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MOBILE PROFILE CAREERS…INNOVATIONS…SUCCESS STORIES

34

Philadelphia — As a child, Michelle Lee (aka DeeJay Shelly) always had music around her. She grew up listening to everything from Prince to CCR, knowing that somehow music would be a big part of her life. That’s why at age 16, she started working with Balshem Entertainment as a DJ assistant and dancer.

Three years later, she decided she no longer wanted to just be the assistant. “During my first three years with Balshem Entertainment, I worked various types of events in Philadelphia, from weddings at the Downtown Club, to private Philadelphia Flyers events at the Spectrum—now the Wells Fargo Center,” she says. “Stuart Balshem, the owner, was making money doing what he loved: playing music. I realized I could, too!

She wanted to be DeeJay Shelly.

So she borrowed $3,000 from her grandmother to start her mobile DJ business, Sounds by Shelly. She was 19.

But breaking into the industr y as a female was a challenge. “A few people told me I was silly, or crazy,” Lee recalls. “I was even told, ‘That’s a stupid idea.’ Once I became a DJ, no one wanted to believe I was the DJ. I would walk into almost every party planner and say, ‘I’m the DJ. Can you tell me where I should set up?’ Almost every single time, the event manager would reply, ‘Tell the DJ he can set up over there.’ If it wasn’t for my mom’s amazing support, I may have given up.”

At first, she took these comments personally. “I felt people didn’t think I was good enough to be a DJ since I was a female,” she says.

“I stopped listening to anyone who had negative comments,” she continues. “Mind you, critical feedback to help you is very different from negative comments that offer no other purpose than to put you down, or hold you back from your fullest potential. I surround myself with other positive, supportive, hardworking, and goal-oriented people. I feel this is one of the best things you can do for yourself.”

The next biggest challenge occurred when she decided to go full-time two years ago. “I had always relied on Sounds By Shelly as a second source of income. It was very scary to decide to rely solely on my business to support me financially.”

How did she manage? “I put a spin on it! I took my biggest challenge—being a female DJ—and made it my biggest asset. I realized being female made me different. It was one thing to help me stand out from the crowd. I realized I needed other things to make me stand out. I started wearing bright red

[SonyMDR X05] headphones. I also started using the slogan, ‘Get SHELL Shocked!’ which I trademarked in August 2014. These marketing techniques helped me to book events with famous celebrities like fashion designer, Betsey Johnson. Betsey was specifically looking for a fun, female DJ for one of her fashion events. Having that said, I’m certainly not hired on the sole fact I am a female.”

Her presence on social media also helps her stand out in her market.

“When I began my Facebook page, I would post short clips from each of my events of people partying. While the parties looked fun, I wasn’t giving visitors any information about me, or any real reason to follow me. What I needed to do was show my personality.”

Lee thinks it’s also important to think about the audience you’re trying to attract. “Then, make sure your posts relate to

this audience,” she urges. “This way, you’re more inclined to gain these followers. For example, I decided I wanted to use my social media to connect me with music lovers all over the world. While I do post about my events, I post more about music. For example, I normally post a ‘SHELLZAM!’ A song of the day, it’s a twist on the music app, Shazam. This also helps me to find clients who are passionate about music.”

Her typical gear set-up includes Serato DJ software with a Numark Mixdeck Express controller, two JBL Professional EON515XT active 15inch speakers, an R300-HD ElectroVoice wireless microphone system, various Chauvet DJ lighting units, and a Grundorf DJ façade.

“The Numark Mixdeck is perfect for m e ,” s h e says. “It doesn’t

PHILLY DJ STANDS OUT WITH A SPIN DeeJay Shelly: Full-time DJ, unique approach.

have a lot of the bells and whistles that some of the other controllers have, but I don’t need them. Also, the Mixdeck is an investment for me because I can hand it down to my beginner DJs—it’s how I teach them when they come on jobs with me. It’s the perfect controller if you’re teaching someone.”

We asked Lee about the best advice she’d ever heard about running a business. “When I need advice about business, I go to my dad,” she says.

“He ran his own business for many years. He’s where I get my entrepreneurial spirit. The best advice he gave me was, ‘Never put all of your eggs in one basket.’”

How does this relate to the entertainment industry? “Right now, you may be receiving a big part of your business from one club, one venue, or one planner,” she says. “You may have had this relationship for years. Well, guess what? Things change — especially in this industry! Don’t ever put all of your time and energy into just one thing. I spread my marketing efforts across many different avenues.Venues used to be a huge part of my referral business. Now, it’s the Internet. I’ve seen DJs lose a huge part of their income because a venue took over new ownership, and stopped sending them business. Don’t let this be you!”

Lee’s business comes from many different sources — planners, venues, internet, blogging, e-marketing, and social media. And even though her Facebook page has her largest following, she continues to post content to her Sounds By Shelly YouTube channel, Instagram and Twitter.

Lee says the biggest differentiator is the experiences her guests have at her events. “While I am a DJ, most people have never seen a female DJ, so this makes our services different. Yet, we go a few steps further. My entertainment team will also dress to the theme, or company branding of an event. In some cases, we even greet guests in different languages.”

For this reason, Lee says, her competition is actually other types of unique entertainment, not necessarily DJs. “I have experienced a few competitive DJ companies in my local area,” she says. “However, in general, I would have to say I feel we’re more of a community, rather than companies competing with each other. I feel very happy to have a large network of DJs who help support each other. For example, Gregg Hollmann with Ambient DJ Service—who recommended me for this article!”

Nice to have friends in high places, right?

Christine Angeline Photography

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

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TURN WEEKNIGHT TRIVIA

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

By Stu Kearns

36

Mike Alevras of the DJ Solution has been producing trivia nights for years. The Hopewell Junction, N.Y.-based jock has found that they’re useful beyond just filling weeknights, however.

Rather, they’ve been a rich source of referrals for his DJ business.

Alevras will be speaking at the DJ Expo in Atlantic City, N.J., this Aug. 15 about how to turn weeknight trivia events into profitable weekend revenue. We asked him some questions in advance of the seminar: How did you start leveraging trivia to get bigger events?

You start by getting to know your trivia audience. You spend time every week to chat with them and start to build a relationship. This helps foster confidence in you as a trivia host and entertainer.

You also use trivia as a showcase for your talents as an MC. I always explain to potential clients that “yes, it is true you are not seeing me perform a wedding or mitzvah… but you are going to see my personality, how I prepare a successful trivia event and how I work a crowd.”

What do I need to do to get started?

Simple: you need a speaker, wireless mic, some kind of music playback (control deck, CDs, laptop, tablet) and, of course, questions. You also need an outgoing personality.

What’s the secret? Knocking ’em dead at the trivia event to get referrals?

The secret is to be prepared. Your trivia show should be a performance without looking scripted. You should be ready to inject humor—especially at yourself. When your trivia players applaud at the completion of a trivia night—you are on to something that makes the evening an event. And guests will remember that for their weddings, mitzvahs and corporate events.

Are trivia referrals more solid than others?

They certainly are. We invest time in producing a fun trivia show. We spend time getting to know our trivia guests and cultivating them to become regulars. This turns them into future clients that don’t ask us how much we charge for a wedding; rather, they ask how much they need to give us to hold the date. When it comes time for the contract, they never have sticker shock. They are excited to have us at their event.

You say that you can also use trivia as a showcase for your talents as an MC. What are the similarities?

At a wedding showcase, you would feature your MCing skills, your intros and such. When we run a trivia night we are constantly on a microphone. We don’t just ask questions; we perform. We have intros, make announcements, obviously ask questions and are interacting with the crowd.

How do you prepare a successful trivia event?

It starts with writing our own questions. This helps with muscle memory and a smooth presentation. Trivia is never hosted sitting down. We move around and engage the crowd. We design questions that are purposely written to create humor and fun. We have additional games and activities that can be done without a dancefloor to add additional fun and interaction. We also are prepared with prizes that will keep people coming back. This is done through corporate sponsorships and through our venues.

What are two tips to working a trivia crowd?

Know how to make fun of yourself and the trivia teams without being meanspirited. There is a fine line and you need to hone your craft to do this well. Also, write questions designed to elicit a funny answer. This injects humor into the game.

Can you give us an example of writing a question to elicit a funny answer?

Sure: “According to studies, one in three men do what while driving a car?” This question can get a lot of funny, even made-up answers. But it does have a real answer: One in three pick their nose while driving.There is nothing better than humor and laughter during a night out.

When did you start doing trivia and when did you realize it could be leveraged to make money?

We started in January, 2011. I realized they could be leveraged very quickly.

Within the first three weeks of trivia, I had a client ask at the end of a meeting if there was a way to see me perform at a wedding. I politely told her that she could not attend or “look in” on someone else’s private event. And I give them the usual reasons: We wouldn’t do that to their wedding, it is frowned upon by the venue. I am there for that particular bride and groom.

But… you can come see me in person at a trivia event. I explain they will hear me on a mic, get a feel for my personality, see how prepared we are and how much fun we and the guests have. I explain to the potential client to imagine what we can do for your wedding. When the client came to trivia they were planning on only staying for 30 minutes. They ended up staying the whole night and, as they left, the client said, “I know you do not have the contract with you now, but here is a check for the down payment. Send me the contract ASAP.” Right then, I knew what I could do with trivia events.

What percentage of your gigs are generated through trivia?

About 15- to 20-percent now can be connected to trivia—either directly as clients cultivated from the trivia guests or from clients cultivated elsewhere that come to see us perform and then close on the booking.

You say to be prepared. How? For anything. Knowing that your questions and answers are accurate; how to spot cheating and how to eliminate it without starting any trouble; how to tease the teams without insulting them; how to encourage new guests to participate and understanding your venue’s needs and how to keep them happy.

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Booths Are Made for Walking Mixware, LLC 11070 Fleetwood St, Unit F Sun Valley, CA 91352 (818) 578-4030 www.mixware.net Mixware’s Opti CS150 and CS120 Control Stations are portable DJ booths designed for mobile jocks. The CS150 is five-feet wide and the CS120 is four-feet wide. Both are designed with an aluminum truss frame, stainless countertops, and a white perspex panel attached to the front of the console that provides a blank canvas for projecting lighting effects and logos. According to the company, both models can be assembled without tools, in less than five minutes, by one person.

Stinger Like a Bee ADJ Products 6122 S. Eastern Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90040 (323) 582-2650 www.americandj.com ADJ’s Stinger II effect combines a moonflower effect, strobe and laser. It comes with six 5W hex-color LEDs (RGBA + White and Pink) and a 30mW red/green laser, plus a circle of eight atmosphere-enhancing UV 3W LEDs for UV washes and color embellishment. Stinger II features 15 pre-set colors and comes built with long-life stepper motor technology for “accurate positioning and dynamic movement,” according to the company. The unit can be operated using Sound Active and DMX-Controlled settings, as well as the separately sold UC IR wireless remote and free-to-download Airstream IR App.

P2 Pan Peavey Electronics 5022 Hartley Peavey Drive Meridian, MS 30305 (877) 732-8391 www.peavey.com Peavey’s P2 Powered Line Array System features eight four-inch custom high-frequency drivers and a 12-inch subwoofer. There is a 3-channel input on the back panel, including a variable mic/line input and vocal boost selector on Line 1; dual ¼-inch inputs on Line 2; and dual RCA inputs on Line 3. Additional features include an XLR through output; a fan-cooled power supply that provides 20Hz to 20kHz amplifier fidelity; and an onboard DSP that offers an optional frequency boost/cut.

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

Into the Groove

38

Steinberg/Yamaha 6600 Orangethorpe Ave Buena Park, CA 90620 (714) 522-9011 www.yamahaproaudio.com Steinberg has expanded its line of VST Sound Instrument Sets for Groove Agent 4 and Groove Agent SE 4. The latest Style expansion pack, Pop Essentials, offers mid- and uptempo grooves designed for creating backing tracks, as well as inspiring new compositions and improvisation sessions. The expansion pack includes intros, main parts, fills and endings of different tempi and signatures for each of the 10 styles. Every style is featured in a VST preset and comes with a dedicated mixer setting.

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

If The Shoe Fits Blizzard Lighting N16 W23390 Stoneridge Dr. Suite E Waukesha, WI 53188 (414) 395-8365 www.blizzardlighting.com The Stiletto Glo19 from Blizzard Lighting is a beam and wash moving head that features 19 15-watt OSRAM 4-in-1 RGBW LEDs. There is RGB color mixing Glo Control on a secondary LED array underneath the lens plate that creates a background glow effect. The unit can zoom from 11 degrees to 58 degrees. Features include 1,000 to 2,500 Color Temperature Control, color macro effects, 3- and 5-pin DMX in/out jacks, PowerCON compatible power input and a five-button LCD menu.

Good MixVibes-Rations MixVibes 4 rue de la sablière 92230 Gennevilliers France +33 (0)1 58 37 33 61 www.mixvibes.com Mixvibes’ Remixlive 1.2 and Cross DJ Pro are now available for iOS 3.1. The updated version of Remixlive features an overhauled sample collection and the Essential PX pack, which includes four extra effects. Remixlive can also be used to add extra loops over tracks playing in the updated Cross DJ Pro. Both titles now feature an Ableton Link update, which allows users to sync the two apps with each other, as well as with Ableton Live or with any other Link-compatible app. All connected apps will automatically play in sync across all devices.

The Pearly Gator Gator Cases 18922 N. Dale Mabry Hwy Lutz, FL 33548 (813) 221-4191 www.gatorcases.com The Tote Series from Gator Cases includes four models designed to fit eight-, 10-, 12- and 15-inch speaker cabinets such as the QSC K Series, Yamaha DXR Series and Turbosound iQ Series. The cases are made out of water-resistant polyester and they feature a protective, padded, lined interior. A large pocket is included for cables and accessories. There are dual zippers at the top of the bag, as well as secure wrap dual reinforced handles and straps that help redistribute the weight.

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

Rhyme & Reason 9

40

Propellerhead Hornsbruksgatan 23 SE-117 34 Stockholm.Sweden www.propellerhead.se Reason 9 Music Production Software is now available from Propellerhead. The latest version features a new Pitch Edit mode that can fix out-of-tune notes, adjust vibrato, change timing and dynamics, and more. Reason 9 also features three Player devices—Note Echo creates rhythmic, pitched MIDI delays for melodies and drum rolls; Scales & Chords transposes notes to a selected scale to automatically generate chords and harmonies; and Dual Arpeggio transforms chords into rhythms ranging from classic up-and-down to polyphonic and polyrhythmic.

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Pusher the Envelope Waves 2800 Merchants Drive Knoxville, TN 37912 (865) 909-9200 www.waves.com The Waves Infected Mushroom Pusher plug-in is a collaboration between Waves Audio and electronic music duo Infected Mushroom. The plug-in can be used on individual sounds, on busses/groups or for mastering. Six controls are included—Low, which enhances the low frequencies; Body and High, which enhance the mid and high frequencies; Magic, which boosts the dynamics of all frequencies at once; Push, which is designed for use when mastering; and Stereo Image, which widens the stereo image of higher frequencies.

Show Me Some iD4 Momentum Audio Sales 1500 Palma Drive Ventura, CA 93003 (805)233-7831 www.MomentumAudioSales.com The iD4 from Audient is a compact bus-powered audio interface housed in an all-metal enclosure. It comes with Monitor Mix, which lets users monitor a blend of both iD4s inputs and the DAW playback; and Monitor Pan, which lets users create a balanced headphone mix by panning both the mic pre input and D.I. input from left to right. Features include dual headphone outputs, console-style monitor control, an Audient console mic pre and a Class-A/B headphone amplifier with dual outputs.

Gone Rogue Chauvet 5200 NW 108th Ave. Sunrise, FL 33351 (800) 762-1084 www.chauvetlighting.com Chauvet’s Rogue R1 FX-B features five individually-controlled, pixelmappable, 15-watt RGBW LEDs. With an illuminance of 5,361 lux at five meters, the Rogue R1 FX-B is capable of producing sweeps, crossing patterns and aerial effects by utilizing its seven-degree beam angle, infinitely variable pan and tilt and 16-bit dimming. Control of the Rogue R1 FX-B can be achieved via DMX, Art-Net, sACN or Kling-Net. The unit also features built-in color macros and a dual mode that allows the pixels to be operated by a separate controller from the rest of the functions.

Taken to TASCAM

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

TASCAM 1834 Gage Road Montebello, CA 90640 (323) 726-0303 www.tascam.com

42

TASCAM has released the iXR, a full-featured PC/Mac USB audio interface that delivers direct connectivity to an iPhone and iPad via the standard iOS Lightning or 30-pin connector.

The iXR features two Ultra-HDDA mic preamps with phantom power, mic and instrument-level inputs, zero-latency monitoring, MIDI in and out, and balanced stereo outputs.

The unit supports up to 96kHz/24-bit resolution and comes bundled with Cubase LE for Mac and Windows, as well as Cubasis LE for iOS.

GEAR AUDIO…LIGHTING…STUFF

Touch Innovations 11451 NW 36th Avenue Miami, FL 33167 (800) 965-7320 www.touchinnovations.com The Emulator 2 touch-control DJ system from Touch Innovations is designed for both PC and Mac users. It features a newly designed editor feature that includes a full color palette, MIDI learn, OSC protocol and standard keyboard commands. Users can create a custom interface from scratch, or customize one of the built-in pre-made templates. Emulator 2 can be used as a stand-alone main controller or as a companion to existing hardware devices. All system components are fully customizable.

Stop, Trop & Roll Native Instruments 6725 Sunset Boulevard, 5th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90028 (866) 556-6487 www.native-instruments.com Tropical Frequencies is an original video series from Native Instruments “dedicated to mapping new breeds of electronic dance” ranging from digital cumbia to trap, kuduro and others from across the globe. The series launched with “Poder Verde,” an original video that explores cumbia from Peru.

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

KSHMR Sweater

44

Splice Sounds Splice.com/sounds Sounds of KSHMR Vol 2 includes more than 1,500 samples, including kicks, toms and snares that are all processed and keylabeled.The collection also features 38 animal sounds that are processed and tuned to key. Users can access ethnic instruments from all over the world, as well as drum loops that range from Indian percussion to crowds stomping in a gym. There are more than100 vocal shots, beds and loops, as well as three folders of guitar loops featuring chord progressions on both acoustic and electric guitar.

TRACKS…MIXES…COMPILATIONS

Full Intention

EDX

Chris Lorenzo

u Various u Toolroom Trax Following the simple concept of underground music made by DJs for DJs, Toolroom’s sublabel offers some fine house and tech-house tracks from the likes of ATFC (“The Drum”), Piemont (“Wake Up”), Pablo Say (“Party Time”), and Acid Skys (“Focus Point”). Make sure you check “Punch,” a groovy, tech-house bomb by The Deepshakerz.

THIS IS TRAX, VOL. 1

“DANCIN’” u Full Intention u Full Intention The first Full Intention cut makes a timely return as the boys continue their quest for renewed dancefloor destruction. With its kicking house groove and a couple of huge disco drops, this should get plenty of support.

– Curtis Zack “TOUCH HER, FEEL HER” u EDX u Enormous Tunes

– Tommy D Funk

From the rugged, rhythmic “Goombah” with its soulful vocal stabs and deep bass, to the killer, vocal-house title cut, this two-tracker packs a wallop.With elements of Nu Disco and house, this release maintains a sexy, deep undertone – hot.

– Phil Turnipseed “TROUBLE” u Offaiah u Cormac Music Already being hailed as the track of the summer, “Trouble” will have no trouble destroying the dancefloor. Crisp production and a haunting chant make this simply devastating.

– Curtis Zack

“COME WITH US (F9 EDITS)” EP u Sophie Ellis-Bextor u EBGB’s After ditching her electropop persona, Ellis-Bextor returns with an unabashed disco romp accompanied by a trio of groovy edits from Freemasons member James Wiltshire. Brassy horns, slapping basslines, and huge piano chords all come together for a larger-than-life explosion of camp and funk that would border on cheese were it not for Ellis-Bextor’s posh singing voice pleading for the listener to join a potentially cultish family.

The “F9 Mixshow Edit” is the highlight, splitting the difference between the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Radio Edit and the club-focused Extended Disco Mix. Deliciously sinister stuff.

– Chris Caruso “THE GIFT” u Lee Foss feat. Camille Safiya u Emerald City For deep-house fans, Foss brings the love with a sexy, soulful, vocal gem.

With its chunky bass and catchy chord work, the original perfectly showcases Safiya’s beautiful vocals. The Sonny Fodera remix brings a bouncy, funky tone, while the Lee Curtiss mix is a thick and heavy house banger.

– Phil Turnipseed “FOLLOW ME” (REMIXES) u Robbie Rivera feat. Shawnee Taylor u Juicy Music On this high-octane, progressive workout, Taylor’s vocals raise the roof and bring an urgent, soulful vibe – the original scores with a deep, tribal groove and gorgeous chord work. We love the piano-driven “Lahox Remix,” as well as the Reza & Nik Denton piano-themed house mix. Also, the Sted-E & Hybrid Heights remix takes it deeper and makes it fatter. Vocal-house at its best.

– Phil Turnipseed

Pylon

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

“SLEEP TALK” u Chris Lorenzo feat. Alex Mills u Azuli

46

On this stomping house track, Lorenzo delivers a fantastic bassline—perfectly pitched for underground dancefloors. Also, don’t miss Mills’ beautiful vocal, which takes the track to another level. A club monster, full support here.

– Tommy D Funk “MASK OFF” u Rhemi u Music There’s no stopping the Rhemi boys at the moment, and they feature the triumphant trio of the Hanlei girls and Lifford on vocals for their next release. If this doesn’t move you, not much will.

– Curtis Zack

TRACKS…MIXES…COMPILATIONS

GUEST REVIEWER: NEV JOHNSON “Come Go With Me” (Joey Negro Found a Place Remix) Pockets Z Records I used to dance to this 1977 funky disco tune, written by Earth Wind & Fire’s Verdine White, and now Joey Negro has delivered a terrific remix for my dancefloor. And it’s included on Joey’s Remixed With Love, Vol. 2, which features classic groovers (like “Mister Nev Johnson Magic” by Grover Washington, Jr.) reworked for the modern dancefloor. Electric.

Lee Foss

Robbie Rivera

EXPERIMENT 1.3.2 u SakkieFTW u Sakkie Music

SEXY HOUSE, VOL. 1 u Various u Karmic Power

Of the five tracks, check the funky, electro vocal “Spiral” (feat. Kaeli McArter), as well as the sick dubstep “In Chains.” For more hardcore dubstep, check the blistering title cut. Compelling stuff.

French producer Marc Tasio brings us an uplifting soulful-house collection that includes top producers like Oliver Gunning, Paul Hutchinson and more. Each brings their individual flavor to well-crafted tracks like Tasio’s “Don’t Make Me Wait” and Gunning’s “The Reason.” Pick hit of the bunch: “When I Think of You,” a housed-up Janet Jackson cover, by TWISM & B3RAO and Rick Marshall.

– Phil Turnipseed DISCOLOVE, VOL. 1 u Various u Boogie Basics A superb summertime compilation featuring six deep, jackin’ house tracks.

The pick of the litter: “Let’s Groove” by Funk Mediterraneo.

– Tommy D Funk

– Tommy D Funk “SO SMOOTH” u Poow, Jean Aita & Texture Unity u Minaturesrec Ireland’s Gary Tuohy takes this solid house cut and turns it into a sundrenched anthem. With haunting stabs and a piano line to die for, this has all the right ingredients to make you move.

– Curtis Zack “LOVE LIFE” u Genetic Funk & Michelle Weeks u Grounded Quality all around on this new one from Grounded Records. The original is a classic outing with lush strings and deep bass, while the vocal remix ups the energy levels that are driven by a house piano backing Weeks’ vocals.

– Curtis Zack “BARELY BREAKING EVEN” (OPOLOPO REMIX)

Leroy Burgess u Groove Odyssey It’s a tall order for anyone to better the original version of this Patrick Adams song, but Peter Major (aka Opolopo) may just have done that.

The unmistakable vocals of Leroy Burgess, jazz funk licks and an awesome bassline combine for disco heaven.

– Curtis Zack “CONTINUOUS CYCLE” EP u Totemic u Totemic Sounds The Canadian producer’s latest features fusions of tribal, d-n-b and experimental grooves. Our picks include “Mist” and “Nightfall,” sexy, jazzy d-n-b gems. And we love “Daybreak,” a lively, yet deep d-n-b workout.

– Phil Turnipseed

– Curtis Zack “HOW LUCKY”

Thomas Blondet, Eric Kupper & Arnold Jarvis u Rhythm & Culture D.C.’s R&C label goes from strength to strength and this is arguably their finest release to date. Oozing pure class from production and vocal alike, you will find yourself playing this over and over.

– Curtis Zack

DJ TIMES

Italy’s HSR Records returns with some soulful goodness. Divine keys and a great falsetto vocal, courtesy of Ramirez, turn this into a track worth hunting out.

SEPTEMBER 2016

“YOU LIFT ME UP” u Guido P & Philip Ramirez u HSR

47

Cash Cash

(continued from page 18) ally stripped down and organic, sometimes with no computers or paper.

DJ TIMES: CAN YOU GIVE AN EXAMPLE? Makhlouf: It was really cool working with Nelly. I’m so mathematical and jotting lyrics down, and he was like, “Put that away! Put the phone away! Put the computer away! If the lyric’s good, we’ll remember it.” It was interesting because I’m super-OCD thinking we’re going to forget the lyrics yelling, “Let me just write it down!”

DJ TIMES: JOHN RZEZNIK? Makhlouf: When we were with John, it was more just us with acoustic guitars in a room going lyric for lyric. I was doing melody, he was doing melody, and we would see which one we liked—very collaborative, in the studio as well, too. We bring these artists into our home studio. Christina Perri, she came here to Jersey. We kicked it, and when we were done, we went to The Sopranos house because we knew she’s a big fan. We get really close with the artists. They become almost like family.

DJ TIMES: YOU GUYS COME F RO M A B A N D - B A S E D B AC K GROUND. WHAT SORT OF INFLUENCE DOES THAT HAVE ON YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS WHEN YOU’RE CREATING SONGS? Makhlouf: I think just knowing music theory, harmonies, and being more musical gives us a leg up in the studio. Even just working with the artists—we don’t need to hire someone to do vocal production. We produce vocals ourselves. We’re writing the harmonies for the features, we’re doing all the inversions; we can do all that stuff ourselves. You kind of feel more attached to the song, too, because you worked on it in so many different ways. I think even more than that, being in bands put us on the same page as a lot of the features because we come from the same world.

We have a lot to relate to versus a feature getting into the studio with just an engineer. I don’t know! I just feel like we connected more with a lot of the artists because there was

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

Sounding Off

48

(continued from page 32) bottom half. The default configuration and screen layout will be familiar to any experienced digital DJ. Indeed, getting material into the library was a simple matter of drag-and-drop from Finder on my Mac system (the file management utility of OS X) into the library panel in the software. Then, I just dragged tracks into the virtual decks, and voila—music!

Using Deckadance from that point was intuitive and simple, but I did find a few more rough edges than I might otherwise have liked. Thankfully, all are just small “nit” or polish

just so much more to talk about.

DJ TIMES: TRACKS LIKE “TURN” STILL FEATURE LIVE INSTRUMENTATION. IS IT A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO KEEP LIVE ELEMENTS LIKE THAT IN YOUR WORK? Makhlouf: One-hundred percent.

We like to do little hints of stuff. We keep guitars around in the studio and pianos. If we can find the place for it, we’ll always do it. When we were doing “Lightning” with John Rzeznik, how could we not put acoustic guitar in this thing? Classic Goo Goo Dollsstyle shimmery, open-tuning acoustics.

That was another spot where we put [instruments] in there.There are also a lot of little flourishes we sneak in there when we could do it with a randomass synth and are like, “Let’s make an instrument out of it.” Another thing we do is broken-down versions of a lot our singles that will be acoustic guitar or piano and strings, like we did for “Take Me Home,” “Surrender,” and “How to Love” That’s cool, too, because we’ll perform them as well, sometimes for different events. It gives us the opportunity to play again.

DJ TIMES: AND IT SHOWS OFF THAT THE MUSIC IS SONG-BASED, AT THE END OF THE DAY. Makhlouf: Yep! That’s another thing when we’re talking about unifying the album: Everything is pretty song-based—very focused on a lyric, a concept, or a theme. Of course, we put out club tracks, but there’s always something that’s very clean about the songwriting. That’s just our style.

DJ TIMES: YOU SEE A LOT OF DUOS IN EDM, BUT TRIOS ARE A BIT RARER. WHAT SORT OF ADVANTAGES DOES HAVING THREE PEOPLE IN THE KITCHEN GIVE YOU, ESPECIALLY IN REGARDS TO TOURING AND PRODUCTION? Makhlouf: Oh my God, there’s so many. Where do I begin? The first one is that all three of us don’t have to tour because you really don’t need three people DJing. It’s great when we do have all of us because it makes things easier—there’s a lot of things we do live like live triggers with a cappellas and one-shots and mix on-

the-fly, taking risks. We’ll do cool stuff, like mashing up a certain a cappella with another track—just going for it. It’s cool when you have someone else up there cueing something up or checking the key while you’re up there, but ultimately two people get the job done.

DJ TIMES: AND THE THIRD PERSON? Makhlouf: We like to leave the third person home in the studio working on something because we found that when we touring all three of us—that’s how we started off—not enough original music and remixes were getting done. We have a radio show on [Sirius XM] BPM [now] and we were doing Royalty Radio [online], too—there’s just so much to do, and we felt like we were falling behind.

Now we’ll keep someone in the lab, so when two of us get home, they’ll be something started.

DJ TIMES: ARE THERE ANY CHALLENGES? Makhlouf: There’s three cooks in the kitchen at all times because all three of us are producers, we’re all songwriters, and we all mix and master. All of us are jumping in and out of the hot seat. That being said, you also have three opinions, so we usually operate on a majority rules way. It gives us confidence. If two of us like it, chances are it’s probably better.

If someone really feels strong about something, we’ll always hear the person out, and sometimes the minority will say something they feel strong about and three days later we’ll all come together and say, “Holy shit.

He was right. We were both wrong. It should be like this.” We have a pretty good dynamic. We fight, but we’ve been doing this for so long that we really know how to respect one another and take it.

DJ TIMES: YOU GUYS ARE STILL USING CUBASE FOR PRODUCTION, RIGHT? WHAT REASONS DO YOU PREFER IT TO OTHER DAWS? Makhlouf: There’s so many. I just think it’s so intuitive. When we first started, we had them all up there—

this is the time when Cubase, Cakewalk, Pro Tools, and Sound Forge and shit like that. We were messing with Ableton a little bit, but it wasn’t really what it is now—it was hard to do full productions in there. It was cool to make some beats. We messed with FruityLoops, but since we came from more of a producer world of actual recording instruments, vocals, and editing all that stuff, Cubase was great.

DJ TIMES: WHAT WAS IT SPECIFICALLY? Makhlouf: The workflow was great and you could also program beats in there. A lot of times we would sync it with FruityLoops or Ableton via ReWire—we were using Reason for a lot of stuff—but the host was always Cubase so we stuck with it over the years.

DJ TIMES: WHAT ABOUT YOUR PREFERRED DJING SETUP? Makhlouf: We keep it pretty simple: just four [Pioneer DJ] CDJs. We’re not one of those artists that will freak out when the rider’s now right. We’re simple, man! We show up and put our USB sticks right in. We do some cool stuff, like running our own visuals, which is dope. We just started doing that after the “Untouchable Tour” with Tritonal.

DJ TIMES: WHAT DOES THAT ENTAIL ON YOUR END WHEN YOU’RE UP THERE? Makhlouf: It doesn’t really change anything. It’s all in the computer. We literally make our own visuals—Sam makes them himself and you link them to a song. It takes a little extra work beforehand, but it’s cool because you still have flexibility to do whatever you want. And you then don’t have to worry about a VJ knowing what you’re going to play next and having to coordinate with him—it’s all linked up. We do fun stuff like visuals of us just messing around. Lyrics are cool, too, because people start to sing back.

We feel like it just really stepped up our game, and we definitely have to thank the Tritonal guys for that. It was one of those things that seemed really hard to do, but then they passed down the knowledge and said, “You can do this, too!” n

issues, not major showstoppers. For example, I found that BPM analysis was frequently 1/100th of a BPM shy, such as a 128 BPM track displayed as 127.99 BPM. Additionally, loading a new song into an already playing track seemed to confuse the DVS system about the actual start point of the song. (Stopping playback and reloading the track worked around that easily.) And finally, while mostly just cosmetic, the pitch slider goes to the full “up” position when the media player is paused in DVS mode.

However, one not-so-small issue was that there is no key lock in Deck-

adance when it’s operating in DVS mode, which strikes me as a not-sological design choice. That’s fine if you’re pitching a song up or down by a couple of BPM, but any farther, and you’ll end up with either chipmunk vocals, or slug vocals, depending on the direction of pitch. Hopefully, this will be addressed in a future update.

In any case, in virtually all other areas, Deckadance has attempted to achieve feature parity with its competitors, and in many cases, has worked to reach beyond that bar. Its frequency-isolated effects (i.e., effects applied to different EQ bands), for

instance, model the capability of some recent high-end DJ mixers.

Among Deckadance’s more interesting features is VST support—in both host, and client mode. What this first means is that you can bring VST plug-ins into your DJ workflow.

And while the software includes a comprehensive, multi-effect plug-in called Effector that covers all the usual DJ bases (delay, flanger, phaser, filters, etc.), you have the freedom to bring in other favorites you might use in your studio DAW workflow today. But you can also do the reverse: bringing Deckadance into your DAW

MP3s in 6

Compiled As July 26, 2016

NATIONAL CROSSOVER POOL CHART 1 Calvin Harris F/ Rihanna 2 Justin Timberlake 3 Alex Newell,Jess Glynne & DJ Cassidy 4 Chainsmokers F/ Daya 5 Sia F/ Sean Paul 6 Fifth Harmony F/ Ty Dolla $ign 7 Justin Bieber 8 Rihanna 9 Sir Ivan 10 DNCE 11 Zayn 12 Various Artists 13 Alan Walker 14 Dirtyfreqs And Vassy 15 Drake F/ Wizkid & Kyla 16 Meghan Trainor 17 Selina Gomez 18 Philip George & Dragonette 19 Dillon Francis Kygo F/ James Hersey 20 Meghan Trainor 21 Rihanna 22 Billy Rae Martin 23 Alessia Cara 24 Jennifer Lopez 25 Win Marcinak 26 Rosabel F/ Jeanie Tracy 27 Coldplay F/ Beyonce 28 Jes/Austin Leeds And Redhead Roman 29 Gorgon City 30 Janice Grace 31 Joe Bermudez F/ Louise Carver 32 Pitbull F/ Enrique Iglesias 33 Halsey 34 Martin Eriksson 35 Arianna Grande 36 Adele 37 Salt Ashes 38 Rob Thomas 39 Jane Badler & Tracy Young 40 Nick Fiorucci & Block and Crown

Most Added Tracks 1 Salt Ashes 2 Pink 3 Meghan Trainor 4 Cash Cash F/ Sophia Reyes 5 Rosabel F/ Jeanie Tracy 6 Pitbull F/ Enrique Iglesias 7 Kristine W. 8 Nick Fiorucci & Block and Crown 9 Joe Bermudez F/ Louise Carver 10 Arianna Grande

This Is What You Came For Can’t Stop This Feeling Kill The Lights Don’t Let Me Down Cheap Thrills Work From Home Company Needed Me Imagine Cake By The Ocean Like I Would This Is For My Girls Faded T.U.T.P.(Turn Up The Party) One Dance Me Too Kill’em With Kindness Feel This Way Coming Over No Kiss It Better The Glittering Gutter Wild Things Ain’t Your Mama Look Up To The Sky Living For Love Hymn For The Weekend Happy All Four Walls Save The Planet Sunrise Messin’ Around Colors Stranger Dangerous Woman Send My Love Save It Pieces Black Silk Stockings Trust In Me Save It Just Like Fire Me Too How To Love Living For Love Messin’ Around Out There Trust In Me Sunrise Step On Up

NATIONAL URBAN POOL CHART Roc Nation RCA Atlantic Columbia RCA Epic Island Roc Nation Peaceman Republic RCA Motown RCA Radikal Republic Epic Interscope Motown Columbia Epic Roc Nation Sire Def Jam Epic Burning Tyger Carrillo Atlantic Intonenation Virgin Jaguar 617 Records RCA Capitol Southside Republic Columbia Radikal Atlantic Me Jane Hi Bias

Radikal RCA Epic Big Beat Carrillo RCA Fly Again Hi Bias 617 Records Universal

REPORTING POOLS Peter K. Productions - ;Peter K n Masspool - Saugus, MA; Gary Canavo n OMAP - Washington, DC; Al Chasen n Dj Stickyboots - Goshen, NJ; Blake Eckelbarger n Nexus Radio - Chicago, IL; Manny Esparza n MetroMix - Pittsburgh, PA; John Hohman n Next Music Pool - Los Angeles, CA; Bob Ketcher n Soundworks - San Francisco, CA; Sam Labelle n Klubjumpers - San Antonio, TX; Dan Mathews n New York Music Pool - New York, NY; Jackie McCloy n Dixie Dance Kings - Alpharetta, GA; Dan Miller n DJ Rafy Nieves - San Juan, PR; Rafy Nieves n DJ Laszlo - Las Vegas, NV; Laszlo Szenasi n Northeast Record Pool - Revere, MA; Justin Testa 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.

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1 Kent Jones 2 O. T. Genasis F/ Young Dolph 3 Designer 4 Rihanna 5 Future FT/ Weeknd 6 Beyonce 7 Bryson Tiller 8 Fetty Wap 9 Beyonce 10 Alicia Keys 11 Future 12 Drake F/ Wizkid & Kyla 13 Kevin Gates 14 50 Cent F/ Chris Brown 15 Dj Khaled F/ Drake 16 Drake F/ Popcaan 17 Wale 18 Fat Joe/Remy Ma/ Jay Z F/ French Montana 19 T.I. F/ Marsha Ambrosius 20 Usher F/ Young Thug

Don’t Mind Cut It Panda Needed Me Low Life Formation Exchange Wake Up Sorry In Common Wicked One Dance Really Really No Romeo, No Juliet For Free Controlla My PYT All The Way Up Dope No Limit

We The Best Atlantic Def Jam Roc Nation Epic Columbia Trippinout RFG Columbia RCA Epic Republic Atlantic Capitol Epic Republic Atlantic Empire Roc Nation RCA

Most Added Tracks 1 2 3 4 5

Tory Lanez Belly F/ Kehlani Jidenna Ayo Jay Dj Mustard F/ Nicki Minaj

Luv You Little Bit More Your Number Don’t Hurt Me

Interscope Roc Nation Epic RCA Roc Nation

NATIONAL LATIN DANCE POOL CHART 1.

2.

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Juan Magan ft Luciana J Balvin Rey Chavez Jay Cool Charly Black Prince Royce Alfredito Linares Gente De Zona ft M. Anthony Don Omar Tito Nieves Jau D Alx Veliz Ben James feat. Fuego Grupo Niche Jandres Thalia ft. Tito El Bambino Ivan Montero Tomas The Latin Boy Farrukot Mini-Marley Adassa

Baila Conmigo Universal Bobo Universal Lo Aprendi Contigo J&N Señorita (RMX) JayCool Charisma Gyal You A Party Animal Aftercluv La Carreta Sony Ain’t No Sunsunshine DJ Gonzo Prod.

Algo Contigo Sony Te Recordare Bailando Universal Yo Se Que Es Mentira TN Creations Lady Love Cutting Dancing Kizomba Universal Que Sera Cha-Del Niche Como Yo 360 Group Te Voy a Amar South Star Vuelveme a Querer Sony Music Nos Entendemos Montero Music Aventura (RMX) Latina Chillax Latin Hits Caballero (Extended Club Mix) DCP

Most Added Tracks 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Pedro Arroyo Perdoname Puerto Rican Power Mi Error Obie Bermudez Vida De Colores Domenic Marte Como Quisiera Alexandro S. ft. Yiyo Serante Hablame De Mi

Promo Mambiche Zhar Ent. Direct Balance Mayimba

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.

as a plug-in. I didn’t actually evaluate this functionality for this review; perhaps more innovative thinkers than I can fathom how this might come together in terms of overall production workflow. Kudos for out-of-the-box thinking in any case.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Deckadance’s hardware controller support is fairly limited at this point, and given its new ownership, it’s seems a bit far-fetched to think that much

Making Tracks

(continued from page 30) effect. Several hundred new presets are available as convenient starting points (or to be used as-is), and the original Retrologue library remains intact in case you’re an existing user with existing favorite sounds.

MIDI note-editing is another of Cubase 8.5’s notable improvements.

It’s amazing that after doing MIDI sequencing for so long, Steinberg can still come up with some new tricks in this area, but it has. Note insertion and editing are greatly simplified, and don’t require tool changes to switch modes, making the process much easier and quicker; tweaking timing, duration, and pitch are now a breeze.

I mentioned my thoughts about the Cubase user interface earlier.

time would be invested in broadening that support to any great degree. For most users of hardware DJ controllers, this means that MIDI mapping of the functionality of one’s controller of choice will be a part of the mix in terms of setting up the software; the mapping capabilities in Deckadance reflect the same flexible approach as the rest of the software, making the job as simple as possible. And while I’m purely speculating here, it seems

logical to imagine that as Stanton receives more of Gibson’s attention, Deckadance might be married to some future new hardware offerings with the Stanton nameplate affixed to them. We’ll see what the future happens to bring.

Conclusions: With its very attractive price point ($49 for the regular version, and $79 for the version with DVS support—and now available on Steam), outsized flexibil-

ity, and comprehensive feature set, Deckadance has already received a strong following—even before Gibson brought the software under the Stanton umbrella. But with the commitment to continued enhancement, including new features like configuration snapshots and flexible screen layouts, it’s clear that Deckadance will remain a real contender in the digital DJ application market.

Steinberg has made several tweaks, notably through a new transport panel that’s easier to use. Manipulating the timeline has received some improvements, too, making it simpler to move and place locators, among other minor polishes here and there.

A short list of some of the other highlights: a more responsive MixConsole; improvements to make it easier to bring tracks in from other projects; dedicated punch points (now separate from locators) for easier insert recording of audio or MIDI; and an intelligent chord assistant for helping design great-sounding chord progressions. Again, the Steinberg website has the full details on what’s new.

Other Thoughts: While not specific to the Cubase 8.5 upgrade, there are a couple of additional thoughts about Cubase from my time with the product.

First, the requirement to use a USB dongle for copy protection seems more than a little bit dated to me.

Music software in general still suffers a great deal from rampant piracy, but many of Steinberg’s competitors have seemed to figure out less obtrusive ways of trying to stem the tide.

During the review period, I took my laptop on the road—but didn’t take the key out of my usual USB hub to take with me. Without the dongle, the software wouldn’t even run in a limited mode to let the review process continue as planned. This archaic approach to solving the problem the piracy problem might well be effective—but it’s highly inconvenient, and disappointing as well.

But on a more positive note, the PDF manual for Cubase is among the best-executed, and most complete manuals I’ve seen for a DAW. Your mileage may vary, but even in the age of YouTube videos and Google searches, I find a decent software manual to be invaluable. For Cubase, that manual is over 1,300 pages in

length, for a start, but accessing all those pages is made easy by a remarkably comprehensive table of contents and an exhaustively prepared index. As a formal technical writer, I can attest to the amount of work involved in keeping such a document current—and in creating a decent index. The manual is also designed to take good advantage of the PDF format, with appropriate internal linking; it’s not merely an electronic version of a printed manual.

Well-done.

Conclusions: For existing Cubase users, the extra capabilities offered by the 8.5 upgrade are well worth the price. Upgrade pricing ranges from a high of about $300 to as little as $50, depending on the version you’re upgrading from. New purchases of Cubase Artist 8.5 go for $300, while new purchases of Cubase Pro 8.5 will set you back $550, and deliver a new user a broad spectrum of functionality and creative power, with a comprehensive set of content (instruments, effects, etc.) to go with it. While the USB “dongle” copy protection is disappointment, the overall capabilities give you everything you need—and then some—for creative musical expression.

Optical

(continued from page 12) cordings, maintaining his DJ schedule, and managing his family, among numerous other responsibilities, he literally does not have the time.

“A lot of people get into DJing because they want to be loved,” says Quinn. “For me, it’s always been about pushing myself. When I see a rock band, I want to throw down

and expect to be headbanging—otherwise I haven’t had a good time. I want my gigs to be like that. I get very stressed and frustrated, and it’s one of the best ways to get it out. A weight is lifted when I come off stage.

Even if it is just for a few hours, I feel total relief.”

– Lily Moayeri

DJ TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2016

America’s Best DJ: Who Wins in ’16?

50

I didn’t start DJing to win fan polls.

But y’know what’s cool about this one?

The golden 1st prize really works.

America’s Best DJ, Next Month in DJ Times

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