On Djing...

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.

peaking of DJing. I'm going on the Lot Radio tonight at 10pm. I love radio and miss it and am curious how much I'll dig this. Been wanting to do this for a while and relish the idea of not being limited to what might work on a dancefloor at any given moment...but also get nervous about the freedom that allows, which has always been an issue with years of DJing listening parties and such. Basically I have an eclectic batch of records and will play from them all, but always get inside my head that somebody will tune in and hear something weird, then turn it off before it gets to whatever would float their boat. Also just the fun but relative difficulty of moving in and out of clubby stuff in a short time. As usually I'm just gonna play it be ear and try to have some fun.

gonna be doing my first live radio show since early March of 2020, this afternoon

I can't imagine this is gonna last very long but I'm gonna enjoy it while I can

Good luck and enjoy it sleeve!

Would it be crazy to buy a new pair of Technics SL 1200-MK7 turntables (in black)? The published reviews I've read enumerate various design improvements and generally praise the product, but the word on the street is that it isn't as solid as Mk5's or Mk2's, frowning upon the digital pitch slider and lighter weight. Do any ILXors have any recommendations/warnings/advice they could share? I'm for the culture and am more inclined toward Technics, but I've heard that Reloop decks are very good and only half the price.

I might have an answer now. Reloop's taken a very big lead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtDn8dVZHHQ

hooooly shit I just bought two Reloop RP-7000Mk2's, a PLAYdifferently Model 1 and a Mastersounds FX unit :D :D :D

i've not used the reloop but have disliked the MK7 whenever i've used it.

there’s a little cheat i do sometimes to nudge a record, where i hold down the current speed button and tap the other speed button.
if it’s at 45 i hold down 45 and tap 33 with the other hand, which will arrest it very briefly to get it back on beat (ish). and vice versa. obviously you can’t do this with very melodic strings or something, because you’ll hear it, but it works with choppy beats. i’m sure this would be frowned upon. anyway i mention it because i bet that a non-technics wouldn’t allow this trick! (“good” comes the chorus okay i know i know)

not a dj at all, but i have that exact same reloop deck and it is every bit as solid and hefty as the guy in that video says. only downside is that you have to buy the lid separately (fifty flipping quid!) but that might not be something you particularly care about

I was wondering about that... I think I'm just gonna keep the whole setup covered with one of my trusty Khmer kroma. (I never travel without a kroma, they have a million uses.)

Also, heh, I called the vendor back and upgraded my order to the 8000Mk2, because *checks notes* Serato doesn't make standalone interfaces anymore, I don't want to spend >$2,000 on CDJs, and all standalone DVS interfaces have shitty phono pre-amps anyway.

XP to Tracer: I'm more comfortable pushing or pulling the record's label with an index finger but I'm keen to give that a try :)

Those look pretty cool but seems weird to be tapping buttons on a turntable.

i totally agree! but i think it'll be fun

i've been chatting with the owner of the new gay bar in town and we're going to try a tea dance party on saturday afternoons starting in march :)

I'm DJing three nights in a row at the end of the week! Yikes!!

hell yes! tell us about what the nights are like. different crowds i’m guessing?

One of the most fun things about DJing is you'll drop like some obscure Franco-Algerian pop tune and the bouncer will come up and shake your hand and say "I'm from Marseille, I know the guy who made this!" and it'll really make your night.

It happened again tonight, I played a ridiculous 80s samba-pop song I really like and someone came up all beaming and smiling "I KNOW THIS ONE!!" and you're like "YES MATE!"

It goes to show: treat your audience like the most intelligent listeners in the world and they'll appreciate it.

Tracer Hand -
Thursday was my monthly pub gig where I generally play to a sit down audience, so it's funk and soul, disco etc and then a bit of world music for the first half, then as people liven up I move more into house and adjacent sstuff

Friday was more of a bar venue with a really good sound system, youngish crowd student to 30. I started with funk and Motown and things like Stand On The Word etc, moved to RNB, Afrobeats then into more electronic dance stuff. People in Bristol love bass music but I'm not really into jungle and DnB so I play a lot of breaks and bassy techno etc

The Saturday was my friends' night which I've been wanting to play at for years. Went B2B with one of my best friends who's a regular there. Oh man I had more fun than anything ever. It's in this little basement with a booming system. We played first, 10-12.30 but people were dancing from the jump. We played Soca, Afrobeats, Dancehall. I even dropped some Amapiano and I was astounded by the response. 6 months ago it would have cleared the floor but I actually heard cheers - it's literally mental how a niche style can blow up in popularity in a small amount of time

I will be playing on the radio for the first time ever on Friday. I've not played outside of my flat for about ten years and I can't lie, I'm mildly terrified. My beatmatching is super rusty so don't expect any of that.

Also I believe that I will be the world's first aromantic, asexual, nonbinary DJ

Radio Buena Vida online at 1pm UK time on Friday for those that are interested. I will mostly be playing ambient/chill post-punk/artists that sound like CS + Kreme. I also plan on playing some Kraftwerk because I fucking love Kraftwerk but you never hear them on the radio or in mixes. I'll be playing something from World Of Echo for the same reasons

Nice one paolo. Bump the thread before you hop on to remind me to tune in

excellent! boxedboyf has been doing irregular shows for them too but theyve offered him a scheduled bi-monthly show

YES TO MOAR KRAFTWERK

And paolo, radio is such a fun venue for DJing (as long as you have the privilege of programming the music selections yourself). It should be a lovely time if you can get past the jitters. Please lmk if there's any kind of advice that you think might to calm your nerves. I have quite a bit of noncommercial radio experience.

Thanks! I can't think of anything off the top of my head. My main concern was timing, whenever I've been DJing before I haven't had to stick to a time limit so I was worried I might have say one minute left and I'd need to either leave a bit of silence or play just one minute of a track (which would be a bit rubbish), but I went to meet one of the folk who runs the station and he told me not to stress about it. So that's good. I guess if you have any generic bits of radio DJing advice that'd be helpful :)

Generic bits of radio DJing advice:

– Don't be shy, baby: talk to your listeners! The format calls for a host's consistent presence—and not just through their track selection. Even the super obnoxious, over-the-top, nonstop-frantic fellow DJ who I can't stand maintains a strong and dedicated listenership. I eventually stopped using prerecorded station IDs, drops and sweepers in favor of checking in personally.
— You can hardly give your listeners too many reminders of what station they're hearing. (Although if you're doing it after every song or two, you might like to use those prerecorded carts for variety's sake.)
– Don't back announce your selections, except perhaps the last song you played. People are tuning in and out all the time, and you will lose many of them if you talk about stuff they didn't hear. Tell them what's coming instead of what's passed.
– Conversely, it's nice to tease what's coming up in the show. Keep 'em anticipating.
– It's good to address your audience in the first person, as "you," "dear listener" etc. Using things lie "everybody," "all y'all," "my audience" &c. has an impersonal quality that's subtly off-putting.
– Remember that the microphone amplifies your vocal performance in a similar way to how a close-up shot magnifies an actor's facial expressions. My preference is to pot up the volume enough that I can speak like the listener is standing right beside me. It can work just as well the other way, keeping the fader down and bringing up the energy in your voice. Remember to watch the levels if those are not squashed by processing to tame loudness and boost quiet speech.
– As for timing, it depends how strict your station enforces its scheduled traffic. Assuming you're not at a commercial station that programs their broadcasts to the second (which must be set up with software), it shouldn't be difficult to set yourself up for a smooth finish. Around 15-20 minutes before the end of the show, check what's left to be played and give yourself a few options to plan the last leg to time. It's fine to give the last track the ol' "gentlemans fade," or play an extra cart to fill the last minute or so if you're too short on time for the erstwhile last track.
— Dead air is the bane of radio, and in my opinion, unless you're a talk show or doing the news, speaking for more than a handful of seconds without music playing under you is almost dead.
– There's an art to judging the right time to get on the mic as a track begins or ends.
– For music shows, I find it's best to make frequent announcements and keep them short but sweet.
– Keep a selection of "beds" (unobtrusive music for talking breaks) ready to play when you have longer announcements to deliver. Keeping beds at the ready is a good use for a third CD deck or other media player, which every station oughta have.
– Mind the levels if there's not a talkover processor to automatically duck the volume of everything else that's playing when you're on the mic. It took me quite a while to understand how far I need to turn the music down when I'm announcing. It should be probably a quarter of the volume of your voice, especially when you're saying more than the station ID, last track, and what's coming up now.
— Don't worry if you fuck up and stammer or misspeak. This is normal. It's not helpful to call attention to minor errors in speech. Correct factual errors when necessary and plow forward.
— Generally, but especially for less widely familiar material, I think it's important to mention bits about where the music came from, why it's worth our time or why I value it personally. I'm not sure how much my listeners care about the artists and song titles of the more underground and obscure stuff that I air, but I suspect the interest is fairly low.

Ok wow, hopefully that's not too much info. Remember that, barring some egregious transgression, the listeners are on your side. They want to like you because they're already listening to you. You're gonna do great.

PS. Not keeping it all about the music is a thing too. Give yourself the liberty to go off randomly, snark, charm, surprise. And if someone calls to harass you, the best script I can recommend is: "Got it. Thanks. Goodbye." Click.

interesting, I don't do some of those things (30 years on live FM, remote since COVID) but that's solid advice in general, I don't ever bother with beds and just talk, if I have things to say abt a record it's definitely gonna be before I play it and not after

yr right, beds aren't a must. being an engaging announcer's much more important