So. I turned 42 yesterday.
Not sure what to make of that. To be blunt, it's been a bit of a shit year, and last year wasn't a whole lot better. It's been a bit of a struggle in regards to finances,...
So. I turned 42 yesterday.
Not sure what to make of that. To be blunt, it's been a bit of a shit year, and last year wasn't a whole lot better. It's been a bit of a struggle in regards to finances, work, not-work, relationships and a multitude of things coming together, resulting in a general state of stress and lack of sleep. Still figuring what to do now, to be honest. However, I also recently picked up a set of decks and have been enjoying getting back into mixing.
SHORT VERSION OF THE STORY
I had applied for the dream job - international demonstrator/educator for Native Instruments Traktor - was in the top three for the role. Now, if you know the DJ work, if you know a little bit of me, you might have a bit of an inkling how big that was to me. I was in Germany in the time, so perfect to pop into the NI offices for a chat and opportunity to present myself.
Some truly average planning on the part of the person doing the hiring at their end meant that, despite the unique opportunity of me being the country, down the road (relatively) from the offices, they couldn't organise for me to come in and say hello. It went downhill from there.
Needless to say, it left me frustrated, a bit bitter, and somewhat cynical of the industry on the whole. It kind of also signalled my departure from the DJ/Producer world - as I had managed to turn my hobby/passion into a job (of sorts) and then been cut off at the legs just at that final step.
DÉJÀ VU
Yup. Different details, similar feeling right at the moment.
ANYHOW, THE MIX.
Yes, I am aware it's basically a Skeptical / Alix Perez (who is/was living in NZ I believe?) Mega-Mix. I basically am going to grab a couple of new tunes every week off Beatport, so these mixes are likely to be my first mix of new tunes, and will likely all follow a certain trend. Maybe.
THE TRACKS
Are, I think, called dark rollers - clipped buzy and harmonic; "damaging yet delicate tracks".
I trace my main interest in Drum & Bass, preference in sound-wise, to Ed Rush & Optical's Wormhole - I had kinda nicked the Vinyl Album off my then partner, DJ B-Line, and would basically mix back and forth through the tracks on there. Quick development in the sound (Tech-Step/NeuroFunk?) would lead into it become a bit of a caricature of itself in the form of Noisia and of course, Pendulum, which sort of co-insided (to me) with the development of Electro-House (not Electro) and making things bigger and bigger, more and more obvious.
However, at the same time, Skeptical and the like were pulling things back into what I guess/think was called Drum-Step? I don't know... it all got a bit confusing. I am sure I have just butchered several genres and offended purists—whatever, not likely reading this anyhow.
THE KIT
So - Rane 57 - Serato Scratch Live, running out the analogue into a Zoom F4. The resulting file was rather harsh and digital in the top end, so I did a quick master (via Resolve of all things) and ran it through a Tape Saturation Plugin and worked on rolling the top end off a bit. Something in the chain is imparting a rather harsh digital sound to the recording - still - 100% better than the previous mix that was via Serato's internal recording.
THE MIXING
Mostly happy with it. 2/3 in the track comes in rather large and loud - not sure if I had adjusted the booth output just before, but regardless, the gain was a little high.
Remembering that Serato Scratch Live is the old version of the software - so grid-matching, beat-sync etc doesn't exist. It's the good old fashioned vinyl beat matching here.
The final mix is a bit of a stretch - but - the drum patterning is a bit complex - so the syncopation that does happen is more jarring than I would have liked. However, the drum programming is very cool in the track itself!
Want more of me?
kerry.co.nz
view more