On Djing...

UK is just back to normal. They don't even ask for a Covid passport, nothing. They've given up. Mind you it does mean a return to dancing but hmmm

Uh, England, not UK. Covid passports here in Scotland, and Wales. lots of people getting knocked back from clubs here for not having their vaccine passport. but otherwise, back to normal here too.

I'm talking to a bar about doing a night playing private press soft rock and lounge records! Really excited! Has anyone had any luck replacing the Technics 1200 ground wire? I bought my turntables in '95 and they are troopers but the grounds sometimes cause issues.

yes, i have replaced mine just fine (i didn't do it so can't say how to though).

Relevant to the dJ dIsCoUrSe

honestly one of the best dj sets we ever saw was a single deck, no mixing, bit of tension between each tune, felt like an education

— Boomkat.com (@boomkatonline) November 8, 2021

I appreciate that, I am generally in the long fade minimal mix Levan-esque style myself

same. i once saw jah shaka play on a single deck and it was phenomenal. at one point he was in the middle of rolling a massive spliff when the record finished. he paused for a moment and then took the decision that finishing rolling the joint was more pressing than putting the next record on.

see also david mancuso.

I'd like to know what that set was. Used to enjoy the Jamaican elder who would spin reggae 45s in a pub I grew up near. One table and a cheap keyring sound machine which had been amped up somehow so he could press it while changing the record. It was brill

Hah xpost. It wasn't Jah Shaka. I don't think. Maybe?! But this was Hitchin so probably not

oops sorry I meant Mancuso, thank you!

long day at work lol

does anyone else here actually do live FM radio or am I the only one?

Where can we hear your radio show?

www.kwvaradio.org

on now actually, but not live-in-studio cuz COVID

4-6 PM Pacific time

That's us told

What the fuck is so hard bout djing that u guys need to talk abo t it this fucking much

— fka (@angelplaysmusic) November 8, 2021

lol

Is there something I missed? The whole of my Twitter feed seems to be people talking about people who talk about DJing tonight

I used to have a show on KVRX UT's college station with a friend, it was a blast especially with the calls we would get for requests.

really enjoying your show, sleeve. that bitchin bajas was so good and this 'sky ion' track is right up my street. is the rest of the album as good?

yes!! an obscure fave of mine

https://www.discogs.com/release/1416828-Rupert-Randall-Chappelle-Ozone-Music

he was also in a more minimal synth style 80's duo:
https://www.discogs.com/master/1794607-Arthur-Harrison-Rupert-Chappelle-Jobs-For-America

and has a weird Psychodrama connection as well

thanks. new to me - will investigate further.

this Alice Damon too!!

sleeve, I did college and community radio for years. it was my absolute favorite thing to do and i miss it dearly.

i did a community radio show for a few months in moab ut, it was awesome.

I loved doing radio. Was music director of my college station, WOBC in Oberlin and have done a bunch of guest spots on WFMU AND WNYU. I really miss it. When I make mixes at home I get really precious about it and take forever and only do it when invited by someone. Doing a regular live show is such a different feel and vibe. I’ve been lobbying to get a show on The Lot in NYC but apparently no longer have the caché.

I’ve had invites to contribute to other online stations but I just don’t want to record mixes ahead of time. I have to do it live somehow.

otm. ive been on fm for various stations for a lot of years now. when the pandemic hit at my station we all started prerecording our shows at home, but it was just 1000% less fun and i figured out how to patch in live from my home studio as fast as i could. i mean i love making mixes and stuff too, but its a different animal, being live is its own thing. it definitely makes me a better DJ, not being able to fuss over things and having to focus.

Dan, i was station manager at WOBC when i was there, tho i think we know that about each other.

Yeah, when was that again?

I was there from 93-97. I was "freeform music director" second semester of my first year and Music Director the rest of the time.

it became more of a "thing" when i was there— only juniors and seniors had higher-level staff positions.

i was freeform director my sophomore and part of my junior year, then was station manager from winter term junior year to fall of senior year— I basically ran the station while having a nervous breakdown (occasionally documented on this forum!) that fall, then took senior spring off. my final semester was spent as electronic director.

this was exactly ten years after you were there, 03-07.

speaking of college radio, i'm on air at good ol' KTUH FM Honolulu for the next two hours, raising money for the annual pledge drive.

tune in if y'like: http://ktuh.org

Cheeky plug, but as we're talking radio, and I don't often get to do this, I've got a guest mix playing out tonight at 8pm GMT as part of a show by the Back Room on lovesumerradio.com

Shoot, guess I just missed it. U gonna post it on their Mixcloud?

I think it almost certainly will, and if not I'll post it up myself

Since you asked, here it is: https://www.mixcloud.com/charliestoic/ravey-bangers-mix-for-the-back-room-lovesummerradiocom/

fun mix! That Jon Talabot remix is a recent favorite of mine as well

yes, it's great - i believe it was our very own mount4in g0at who got me into it and i try and drop it every chance i get. cheers davey!

so by throwing these parties and connecting with new people here, i've run across this kid whose disco mix is really freaking good. i don't think he's really "trying to dj" but i'm going to ask if he wants to play at the next party we do. i'm going to post the mix here if people don't mind, it isn't like it hasn't gotten plenty of listens but i think it would be funny if suddenly he got 10 new plays from the uk or whatever.

https://soundcloud.com/sam-armend-riz/disco-shoes-on-vinyl-2020mix

i'm djing tonight for the first time since early march of 2020. Benefit for Good Room in NYC. I'm djing with the italomatic party in the smaller "bad room". I'm going double-masked and feel weird about it. Wish me luck.

good luck, dan. i'm sure once you are in about it all you won't feel so weird about it.

Thanks

You'll have a great time. Hope you enjoy(ed) it

I got called up at last minute last Saturday to play a venue of wanted to play for ages and ages. The booked DJ had pulled out and I ended up doing 5 hour set and had an absolutely blazing time. It was so good to have an audience of people dancing rather than a few people either sitting down drinking or just milling about

that's fantastic

wanna hear how dan's good room experience went

2nd party went great, next one is v day weekend with a disco theme. it's the first one where we're going to charge a cover (novel, i know). also, i'm done warming up for now, going to go second so i can play to dancers. i hope we have enough momentum to pull it off.

v-day disco party is a dream DJ scenario for me! bet it's gonna be great

the weekly party i was DJing at prior to lockdown is apparently coming back in january to a different bar (the old one closed in march 2020 - not due to covid, it had been slated to close that month anyway). the new venue is this kinda fancy bar near my house, which is convenient for me. they had a kinda soft re-open this week that i went to and it's a fairly awkward space for a happy hour, not much bar seating, pretty much no space to dance, and the bar itself is kind of $$$ (even the happy hour selections!), but honestly i just want to get back out there again. keep fantasizing about starting my own thing somewhere, too, have a rough concept for it, just gotta put myself out there.

oh good luck! a v-day disco party with you playing at it is a dream dj experience for me too :). i have a few people in mind locally to ask, but no one who ticks all my boxes tbh.

Good Room was GREAT room.

The place was packed, which was surreal. Almost NOBODY wore masks.

I wore 2, an N95 and a custom Il Disc italo cotton mask, with a filter.

There were maybe 4 other people in the whole club who wore masks.

There were a lot of things going in my favor...as a guest I was treated well, like I had my choice of when I djd. As usual I asked for an early set so I could play some slower stuff and warm up, and a more prime time set. I'm used to the early set starting out to an empty floor but by the time I went on around 11:30, people were already dancing. So I was nervous about killing the floor, but I kept it going and built it and by the time I stopped 50 or so minutes later at the end of that first set I was riding high.

Went back on around 1:30 for another hour and had a blast.

The other DJs were all people I've DJ'd with before over the years and all totally nice dudes, Rok One, Facets and last minute guest Danny White. And it was great playing in a real club, where the equipment more or less worked, the monitors were loud and clear, and they brought back regular buckets of iced bottle water, White Label Club Mate and various beers and liquors, though I only had about 4 bottled waters and one Club Mate. This was all in the Bad Room, which is the smaller of the two spaces, but is still a nice little room, bigger than many bars I've ended up.

I mixed decently for the most part, only picked the needle up off the playing record once, got plenty of fist bumps and accolades, met some folks I hadn't yet, saw some old friends etc.

I had fun being mostly a purist. The party is called italo-matic and it's usually Rok One, Facets and Andi80s, who was off throwing her own party with a live Martial Canteral performance, and they often play a mix of italo and freestyle, ebm, 80s synth stuff, new wave etc. When I normally DJ I certainly mix it up but I had fun really limiting it. I played 1 freestyle track and maybe 2 hi-nrg tracks but everything else was not just italo, but like, 82-83 electro italo.

It was a weird scene, I mean I don't go out so much so anything feels weird, but Brooklyn in 2021, during a pandemic? Really weird. Hosts offered me to go back on and tag team some more after 2:30 but I declined...at that point it felt like it was just weirdos who'd dance to anything! I could've had fun but I was totally spent. I hung out people watching and dancing until 4 figuring it'd shut down then (legally in NY bars/clubs are supposed to close at 4) but when they kept going I ghosted. I'm still barely recovered.

dope

aww map :)

sounds fun as hell dan!

i don't really know very many DJs here, like personally. i wanted to meet the DJ at the thing on thursday (he was also one of the regular DJs at that party pre-panny). i think we have some mutual pals, and i dug his set, but i didn't really get a good window for introducing myself. also i usually feel shy/weird about approaching DJs while they're doing their thing, even though i myself don't mind when people do that so long as they're chill and respectful

social anxiety makes it very hard for me to do cold intros. i compensate somewhat by following up with a message on social media - "i went to your thing it was good sorry i didn't get a chance to say hi". and then it's easier to say hi the next time.