Escape from Upstate New York

My friend, Flav, is going to Buffalo, New York, for a bit. This mix is in his honour.

Playlist

Having all but given up the possibility of making a decent mix for my friend Conor, I've added the handy last.fm playlist to my blog, which pretty much says what I'm about. I must give thanks to KT for providing me with most of the tracks.

This is playing a variation on the tracks I'm listening to as I run up and down the hills around Dublin.

My actual hillrunning playlist is:

1. Art of Noise - Moments in Love [to relax the pre-run nerves]
2. Boyz Noise - Volta82
3. Antena - Camino Del Sol (Joakim remix)
4. Booka Shade - Tresspas06 [a motivational tool for attacking big hills]
   
5. Ricardo Villalobos - Dexter [classic and raises the hair on the back of my neck]
6. Dominic Eulberg - Potzblitz and Donnerwetter
7. Booka Shade - In White Rooms
8. Vitalic - You are my Sun
9. Ellen Allien & Apparat - Do Not Break
10. Nathan Fake - The Sky Was Pink (Holden remix) [to coast into the finish with]
    

Mix rage

Why must all music software be ridiculously complicated?

When I came across Pacemaker Editor I was excited by the prospect of doing a short mix for my friend Conor. Now all I have is a burning rage and a bitter determination to create this mix, even if it kills me. Not really the spirit of creativity.

Pacemaker's Editor software is intuitive and straightforward, but also has some good functions (a basic hi-lo filter and effects). Unfortunately, it also falls down on two big counts. It does not read all my music files - which admittedly are in sundry random formats - and (while it allows you to upload your mix to the Pacemaker website) it cannot export/render a mix as an audio file, for simple burning.

There is probably a workaround with FL Studio, but my skills with this software are less rude than rudimentary (and it is designed for arrangement, rather than live mixing).

Ableton Live seems ideal, but complex and pricy and I took one look at the Traktor interface and nearly wept.

Finally, in my quest for the perfect mixing tool, I've come across Mixxx, which gets extra points for being open source and having a lovely interface.

I like the fact that the waveform is visible - and arranged one channel over the other, so that it's easy to see whether or not the beats match - and the interface is uncluttered. I dislike too many nobs and switches.

Wish me luck.

Shiny toys for Techno boys...

This is a bit of a departure from the normal subject matter of this blog.

Like most men/boys (and magpies), I like shiny gadgets. I've been yearning for this pocket-sized digital mixer since I saw it advertised on Beatport. You can just load up your tracks or mixes, rock up to the club and destroy the room! Well, in theory.

I'm listening to a lot of old techno at the moment a la Ricardo Villalobos and Richie Hawtin. I'd like to make a mix for my friend Conor, but since I'm trying to be thrifty these days, I'll just try out their free mixing software. Listen to this space.

I no longer feel obliged to keep up with the dance music scene. I've sort of grown out of clubbing - it's okay if I miss the hottest new tracks - but I still love the music. And the gadgets!