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Here’s a little mashup I did about 2 years ago that I found lying around on my hard drive. I personally think it’s better than either of the original songs.
Britney Spears - Toxic vs. Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting For
dj retrospekt
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retrospekt 
mashup, retrospekt 
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Late Night BREAK…get it? Cause it’s a break set? har har har…Anyway, just wanted to try out some vinyl I recently got that I haven’t had a chance to use yet.
First and foremost, this is probably more of a set to listen to in the car or something. It starts off with some break remixes of some classic trance songs and has a really mellow feel to it. Near the end are just some remixes of couple other classic non-trance songs. No planning went into this session so the mood seems to kinda jump randomly with some mellower songs in the middle of heavier beat songs. Also, I jacked the volume up slightly too high near the beginning so theres one point where you can hear me crank it back down near 13 min mark. This was a 100% vinyl set. The beat drifted from me slightly on some of the mixes, but I think I managed to fix them pretty quickly. One major flaw is that I started mixing in Faithless slightly early at a bad transition point so if you listen closely, you can tell I started the mix over. Anyway, the tracks are break remixes of the following:
1. ATB - 9pm Til I Come) 2. Delerium - Silence vs. Paul van Dyke - For An Angel 3. Faithless - Insomnia 4. Three Drives - Greece 2000 5. Nalin & Kane - Beachball 6. Summer Junkies - I’m Gonna Luv U 7. Bucketheads - The Bomb 8. Armand van Helden - You Don’t Know Me 9. Daft Punk - Around The World
All in all, I thought the mixes could have been somewhat better but was a decent mix considering a couple first time runs on some of the songs.
dj retrospekt
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Hi there Bakasan fans. DJ Retrospekt here just introducing myself. Bakasan has graciously allowed me to post some of the music that I like to groove to. I will be contributing more of the “dancy” material as I love vocal breaks, house, and freestyle, but I’ll also have the occasional r&b/hip hop set. Anyway, next time you see me I’ll have something for you to check out so stay tuned.
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Robin Thicke - Lost Without You India Arie - Simple Pete Rock - It’s A Love Thing Laurnea - Keep Your Head Up Space Hopper - Find Yourself Jibbs - Go Too Far Babyface - For the Cool In You Pretty Rickey - On The Hotline Berris Smith - Daddy Loves You Janet Jackson - Enjoy Yasmeen - Blue Jeans Musiq - musiqforthenight Al Green - L-O-V-E
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Thoughts
This mix starts off with some jazzy beats and neo-soul and eventually transitions over to mainstream R&B. There’s some volume issues though since I was recording fairly late and couldn’t have my studio monitors turned on for fear of pissing off the guy in the apartment below mine. Doing a mix purely in your headphones isn’t any more or less difficult than mixing w/ monitors, but it does present some challenges–with me personally, it leads to ear fatigue as after a sustained session at the decks, your ears start to lose the ability to hear nuanced differences in volume–talk to a DJ who is mid-set and I guarantee you that they’ll only be able to hear in one volume decibel–LOUD.
Weakest point in the mix is the mix in and out to the Berris Smith track. I dig the song and I think it conceptually fits where it is, but it’s the first time I’d ever tried using it in a set. Fairly standard issue when working with a song you don’t know inside and out, you’re flying blind as to how the song is structured, how it sounds, when the vocals come in, the kind of build up is in the song. I’m going to have to try to get my hands on an instrumental for it to make it a bit easier to work with.
One of the most common questions I get, particularly when I give lessons on basic DJ skills, is how a DJ should pick what songs go with what. While there’s a whole technical backdrop that can answer the question (i.e. bpms, key matching, song structures), I’ll focus on the more creative aspects of song selection–at least in how I decide what to play and when.
For me personally, it boils down to a question of venue, demographics, and mood. Any time I walk into a spot to spin, be it a house party, a record store, a bar/lounge, club, I assess what the venue is like. What’s the surroundings communicating to those there? Is it a dark and moody backdrop? Sexy, lounge-y beats subtly playing to add another component to the environment. Energetic, bright, lively bar? Lively, upbeat hip hop, R&B, maybe some indy or old school depending on the demographics of the joint. Demographics–am I looking at an older crowd? Younger? A room full of other DJs and therefore music snobs? Kids around? Maybe I should watch the language and lyrical overtones of the music I’m putting out. And finally, for me at least, the most important of how I build my sets is the mood that I’m trying to establish at any given point in time.
Early in the night, get em vibing, acclimating to the bar, club, party, whatever. Not the appropriate time to bust out the “heat”. Who really wants to walk into a bar at 10PM and the first thing they’re greeted is “FROM THE WINDOWS! TO THE WALLS! TILL THE SWEAT DRIPS DOWN MY BALLS!” Doesn’t exactly exude the sexy, classy vibe that I’d want to go for usually. I want to build out from that warm, welcoming vibe to draw em out onto the floor and then build upon that energy gradually. The dj has to think like an orchestra conductor, knowing what instruments to bring in when, when to highlight one over another to maximize the impact.
With this mix I wanted something on the more soulful but sexy side. I sometimes create an arbitrary scenario or “scene” in my head when I’m formulating what I want to put down in a mix. Once the image of what that scene looks like and the actors in that scene, I go about creating the musical score for it. The scene for this mix? Late teens couple in a nice car (probably the parents’) going for a nice scenic drive, the guy wanting to front and show how suave and sophisticated he is, so he pops in this CD….basically cuz’ he wants him some. 
(for the SR folks, let’s call him “Barry”)
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An older mix I made a couple months ago. Thought I’d add it here to mix things up a bit so it’s not just hip hop mixes on here. 
Pinay - Everything (Rhythmic Soul Remix) Jocelyn Enriquez - Do You Miss Me (Dreamhouse Mix) Lil Suzy - Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind MG - Sweet Honesty (Planet Hype Mix) Kai - Something Inside Me (Jazzy Jim’s Smokin’ Rhythm Mix) Angelina - I Don’t Need Your Love Jocelyn Enriquez - When I Get Close To You (Cubanito’s Breakbeat Remix) Ghost Town DJs - My Boo (Hitman’s Club Mix)
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Indy with a jiggy twist at the end.
Brother Ali - Truth Is DJ Jazzy Jeff ft Rhymefest - Jeff n Fess LORD ft Recworm - Freshmen Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - Thank Youse Funkdoobiest - Hip Hop Music The Roots - Don’t Say Nuthin DJ Format - Separated At Birth (Fingathing Remix) EPMD - Crossover Fu-Schnickens - La Shmoove Ghostface Killah ft Amy Winehouse - You Know I’m Not Good Nas ft Various - Where Are They Now (90s Remix) Pussycat Dolls - Button Young Capone - Lights Camera Action Bel Biv DeVoe - Word To The Mutha
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Thoughts haha, the mix into DJ Jazzy Jeff is rough. As I was mixing it in, I sneezed. HARD. Managed to salvage the mix and get it back beat matched, but listening to it again I can’t help but both grimace and laugh. Ish happens when you’re on the deck, just gotta handle it.
Mix to Funkdoobiest got away from me a little bit while I dug in my records. Easily fixed but listening back to it, it annoys me.
Need to focus on learning some of the lesser played songs in my crates better. Missed mix points twice in this set–once in brining in The Roots I have to fade Don’t Say Nuthin’ out and bring it back in again later. On EPMD to Fu-Schnickens you can hear the start of a new EPMD verse just as I cut over to La Shmoove. Knowing your wax is the biggest thing that one can use to distinguish him or herself from another DJ.
DJ Format tracks just BEG to get juggled.
Lingo break: juggling is the act of the DJ playing two copies of the same record simultaneously, each at a different point in the song. By cutting back and forth between the two turntables, a DJ can effectively alter the flow of the song and ad-lib a remix of the song live. The simplest and most common application of the technique (and what I use on Separated at Birth) is to offset the two records slightly so that you can produce an echo kind of effect. You basically hear the drum sounds and verses from the emcee double up. LA radio DJs are known the world around for their juggling tricks while mixing live on the air.
Love the Ghostface track and originally the intent was to drop it and take the mix over into more of a funk and soul vibe, maybe use all instrumentals and start dropping down breakbeats. As I was in the mix though, I changed gears and decided I wanted to keep it in the realm of hip hop and decided to drop in the Nas instead. While fading out the GF though, I shouldn’t have been so damn antsy and playing around w/ the Nas record. It sounds pretty meh. And I wasn’t really doing anything, just moving the record around due to boredom. Idle hands and boredom are the biggest dangers to a DJ.. they never take you anywhere good. ;P –
As an aside, do non-DJs find these little analysis of mixes interesting? I intended to use this blog a bit to help demystify the dark arts of DJing a little bit and breaking down these mixes were meant to both allow me a chance for some self-critique to look back on, but to also allow the non DJ an insight into the way a DJ thinks, how they build out their sets, how they make their decisions, etc.
If I’m just talking to myself, then perhaps I’ll move the notes to somewhere off the blog.. Still feeling my way around w/ the direction I want to take this podcast.
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Felt like a mostly jiggy set with a touch of old school. Craig Mack - Flava In Your Ear (Bad Boy Remix) Arrested Development - People Everyday Alkaholiks - Flute Song Game - Let’s Ride Bubba Sparxxx - Heat It Up MC Shan - The Bridge Masta Ace Incorporated - INC Ride Janet Jackson ft Nelly - Call On Me (NRC Hip Hop Mix) Jay Z - I Just Wanna Love You (Remix Mafia Break) 2 Pac - 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted Akon ft Snoop Dogg - I Wanna Love You E-40 - U & Dat Sean Paul - Get Busy (Selectah Mix) 112 - Peachies and Cream 2 Pac - All About You Souls of Mischief - 93 til Infinity
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Thoughts Since this is more of a jiggy set, going to post up my thoughts and critiques from the perspective of grading the…. jigginess of the mix.
Craig Mack > Everyday people, probably should have did the cuts on the “ohhhhhh” and “Yeeeeeeah” faster. Sounded good live at the moment, but on play back, it feels slow. The song itself is slow, so the pacing of the cuts felt fine at the time, but the effect gets mired on playback because of the song’s intrinsic tempo.
Still love that Bubba Sparxxx beat. One of the most versatile beats in my crates. First few juggles were a little mis-timed. Oops. 
Love The Bridge. Probably would have killed the floor though, going from a very southern beat and making a fairly wide diversion over to old school golden age hip hop. Mind quickly goes “quick, quick, grab a silver bullet from that same era! ” Hence the follow up over to Masta Ace after one verse of MC Shan, a 1/4 or 1/2 beat off, but was trying to quick mix it in. Another quick mix to Janet Jackson and Jay-Z to bring the crowd back into the 2000s.
I kinda dug the transition from the instrumental to vocal versions of Amerikaz Most Wanted. Followed with Akon ft Snoop. Perhaps a bit too “Snoopy”?
Akon to E-40 to Sean Paul. I feel like I’m at [insert your local top 40 hip hop joint here].
112 transition was fine from a technical perspective, but listening to it again after the back I question the song selection. Def would have lost some of the crowd. Good song w/ a vibe that fit in with where I was going, but the song takes so long to build up to it that I would have lost people. Oh, and crowd that can’t appreciate Souls of Mischief–well screw em, I already hate them.
All in all, decent mix, took a while to get warmed up and going. Recording session had started from a set of cold decks and just jumping in w/ the recorder on. First several mixes were minutely offbeat, typically a half beat or so. Probably easily missed in a loud environment, but on playback on headphones, easily picked upon if you’re looking for it. Lesson learned, warm up with a few mixes here and there before hit record.
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I’ve always believed that DJing was an under appreciated artform. From my perspective, it’s not much different from what authors do–you’re communicating with an audience, telling them a story, taking them on a voyage if one may be so bold. For awhile now I’d been using my blog (over at LJ) effectively as a pseudo DJ blog. The problem was that text just isn’t the most appropriate medium for a DJ to talk his or her craft.
Which is why I’m here typing this away. I had started my blog as a way basically for me to rant and rave, but more importantly, as an avenue for me to practice my writing. Hell, in another life, I was once primarily known and employed for my ability to communicate in the written word (I now am employed primarily to sit in darkened rooms staring at lines of cryptic jargon, curly braces and semi colons). So the hopes is to finally create that “DJ blog” that I’d envisioned–to use it as an outlet for my creative expression–this time in the cuts and beats of a DJ rather than in the written word of the author.
So here’s the goals for this place:
I’ll be publishing this as an episodic podcast. For the more Internet savvy of you that already know how to deal with podcasts, ’nuff said. For those of you new to podcasts this basically means one of two things. One, you can either just visit this webpage as you do any other blog and just click and download my mixes as you wish. Or, secondly, you can use specialized software to “subscribe” to my show and have it automatically download my episodes each time I post up a new mix.
Most of you probably already have a podcast capable application and may not recognize it–iTunes. Go to Advanced > Subscribe To Podcast and enter the URL of my RSS feed (http://bakasan.podbean.com/feed) and you’re good to go. Whenever you open up iTunes you can force it to go check up on your podcast subscriptions and if it detects that I’ve posted anything new, it’ll go ahead and download it for you… where you can then listen to it on your pc, synch it to your ipod, etc etc. Subscribe:
Viewing/Managing your playlist inside of iTunes
If you’d prefer a more specialized app, I highly recommend Juicer, available for Windows, OS X, and Linux.
I hope you enjoy some of the stuff I toss out, even if they’re “gems” in the rough. Oh. Uh. Any talented graphics artists want to help me make this look less, uh… stark and ghetto?
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