A New Member To The Family

It's a small and disjointed family made up of audio equipment, computers, a camera or two, and other odds and ends, but it's a family nonetheless. Say hello to the newest member of said family:

I'm startled to say I actually went out and got myself a DDJ-1000 to upgrade from my little DDJ-400! Took a few tries to find someone actually legitimately selling one (and who would actually respond to my emails, grr), but at last, I've got a new friend to play with.

I actually got this closer to two weeks ago, to be honest. I've been a bit busy though, so here we are now. In saying that, I did already record a full drum & bass set with it that I've been dragging my feet on releasing, so now I can finally say, here's that:

Pick your poison - YouTube or Mixcloud. Neither are that great, but there's not too many choices these days.

Definitely a fun little mix. It's full of a bunch of random stuff - from some big and new releases (those new Sub Focus and Cyantific tracks, stuff from Acts Of Mad Men Vol. 2 tracks, etc) as well as old classics (Ed Rush & Optical - Compound, Hive & Gridlok - Standing Room Only, Calyx & Teebee - The Quest - to name a few) and some other gems. Really digging everything on the new Sewerslvt album, Draining Love Story, and D-Struct - One (ft. John Glist) is only a few years old but a huge, huge underrated tune.

Honestly though, one of the highlights is the Current Value track. I don't even like Current Value that much, but the Mellow Sonic remix of The Power has got to be one of the biggest tracks I've heard in a long, long time. I heard it in an episode of Shivaxi's "The Bipolar Sessions" from 2014 and I just had to have it, so I went searching and found... nothing. Except one guy on soulseek with a copy, but he was online very sporadically and didn't seem to speak much English.

Well, two weeks after first contacting him, and I am now the proud owner of this fantastic dub. I've already rolled it out on the radio and now it's in the mix. Amazing to me how few people have heard this track - it's an incredible tune!

It was a real pleasure to mix that track, and the other 24, together on the DDJ-1000 though. The little DDJ-400 has served me very well for the past year and a half or so, but the two channel restriction was honestly becoming problematic (noticed it a lot when doing the 2019 EOTY mix!), and things like the touch-sensitive jogwheels and tight spaces between buttons and knobs was getting a little old. Having four channels was the biggest selling point, and those jogwheels... I've been thinking about picking this thing up for a long time and I'm very glad I did.​

The ability to be playing two tracks together and previewing the next track - or next two tracks! - is unrivaled. It makes a world of a difference, honestly. Plus, being able to actually potentially triple or quadruple drop tunes is, frankly, absurd. I'm no Andy C, but I am here to have fun at any rate. You actually get to hear me mix three tracks together a few times in First Steps, with Compound, One, and Elevate This Sound (Remix) being the first and most noticeable example. Really love that section right there.

At any rate, bringing in this massive piece into my room was a tall task, as I've been so limited for desk space that I actually had to place my DDJ-400 on top of my turntable to fit it all in, so I haven't been able to play much vinyl at all for the last few months.

With a lot of work, I managed to space things out more. It's very tight, but I can finally have both my turntable and DDJ plugged in and both ready to go at a moments notice. Big quality of life improvement - and it even got me to clean up my desk a bit. Now, the rest of the room leaves plenty to be desired, but...

That is pretty much that. Just wanted to throw this little update out there while I'm thinking about it. I'll take this time to plug myself, though:

I may have moved to the DDJ-1000, but my DDJ-400 is still in service! I'll be taking it on the live radio with me some nights on my radio show, The Hour of Jungle, on WPCD 88.7 FM, every Friday night from 8-10pm, CST. Normally an alternative radio station, I get to take two hours to myself there every week to play out my favourite electronic music to anyone who happens to tune in. I play new releases, classic bangers, demos, dubs, other special tracks, and lots more, all covering whatever genres of electronic I'm in the mood for. It's a lot of fun and I really encourage you to tune in if you have any interest in electronic at all. Maybe just listen in for background noise or to try something new and outside of your normal types of music - whatever it may be, tune in!

Hoping to post some more stuff here in the coming months, so be sure to check back here regularly. No idea what the future holds, but that just means it's open for opportunity. 

Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
​SM