Dj Marc Reck Djing Events Tutorials and life in Birmingham

I finally had a meeting with leftfoot resident Sam Redmore yesterday to discuss and show how we do what we do, with the view to starting a dj partership.

It was nice to see a deeper level of geekery with the organisation of music, (and thankfully one that is imperative if you want to break barriers with it)

t was also interesting to see that although we have very different styles, and approaches, that there was a whole load of common ground, which should make this one very interesting collaboration.

Sam’s a resident at Leftfoot, and he is fast becoming known as one to watch, as he re-edits all of his tracks, so most of the stuff you hear is going to be original in some way. One of the main reasons for this is not to remix and put out a sam redmore style track, but so that he can smoothly mix music that isnt designed to be mixed, i’e live music.

The way he categorises his music utilises a well thought out system, 3 cd wallets, and a laptop with a spreadsheet on it! While this sounds strange it enables him to at a glance see what goes with what, what the bpm should be, what the key is, and where he can go with his mix.

The preedited stuff means that each mix has often been (prepared in a way) so he is free to work on the actual creative side of djing, as opposed to getting the beats to sync, or finding the perfect place to drop it. This makes a huge difference with the actual mix, and means that you can hear a wide range of music djed in the same way that you can hear dance or electronic music played.

Its similar in a lot of ways to djing withTraktor Scratch, which enables intelligent ways of storing and using your music, plus if you beatgrid all the tracks, determine the bpm (necessary if you want to beatmix live music due to its fluctuating time scales, or use the sync buttons) and the key, opens up all sorts of possibilities.

Sam it seems has built the Traktor system in a way which now seems old school?!?

Maybe its the beard though.

Its interesting…when i first moved to cdjs 8 years ago, i was moving from analogue to digital. Then when i incorporated Traktor Scratch into my setup this year, i’m now using cdjs and vinyl to control the digital music on my laptop. Sam is using a similar method but without the laptop, which seems in a lot of respects analogue now, (which it obviously isnt, but you get what i mean.)

Anyway…

The other thing we are going to be incorporating is 2 mixers. This resounds back almost 10 years ago to my first residency, (interestingly organised by 3 of our cities online gurus Stef Lewandowski, Antonio Gould, and Ed Russell!) whereby me and Yoda (not the cut n paste dj), would play a vs set on 4 decks and 3 mixers.

The technology, (and obviously my music and hairstyle!)  have changed dramatically since those days, which now means that between us, we can busy on 6 decks, 3 efx units, 2 mixers, one microphone, and our combined music collection!Endless possibilities, and with our current plan, one which should see something quite special for one of two sets at our forthcoming Project x Presents event on September 13th 2008.

We’ve also just confirmed that we will have the mighty Subsource playing!

Not to be missed!

After one of the hottest weekends this year, i’ve had a few hours early this morning (awoken by a neumatic drill!) to do some digging about about digital controllers, and how i can use them. Suffice to say there are a few people doing some groundbreaking stuff, and they have left their links for everyone to share!

I was a bit of a vinyl purist when i was younger, but once i saw the possibilities of cdj’s, i quickly integrated them into my vestax vinyl setup. When the Denon Dns 5000’s came out similar to the(Pioneer 1000’s but with more functions), i’d kinda lost interest spending all my money on expensive, bulky vinyl, and after about 6 months into 2006, I had converted pretty much everything to cd. The trigger/cue/sample buttons, playing two tracks at from one player, the portability and accessibility of cds, made all the arguments to just stay with vinyl fade into memory.

I kept one of technics decks of course, but played out on my cdjs pretty much everywhere.

Around that time the advent of Ableton, and digital djing was starting to gain popularity, (with Sasha being at the forefront with a very expensive custom made controller i seem to remember). Most of the dj’s i saw were hunched over a laptop, which i dont think works from an audience point of view, as djing is to me a lot about the performance. Having one piece of kit in front of you just allow enough moving about on stage, no matter how big your arm gestures are.

That said i was interested with really interested in what you could do, and got to grips with Ableton in the studio. Then at the end of 2007 i met the brother of my surrent landlady, who told me about Traktor Scratch. A piece of software with 2 vinyl and 2 cds, that would allow the dj to manipulate any wav or mp3 on their computer the same as if it were actually burnt onto a cd or vinyl. The amazing thing was that the tracking of the mp3 was soo tight, you really couldnt tell the difference.

This not only inspired me to learn to scratch (finally!), but also allowed me to develop aspirations i’ve had for a long while now. The basic premise was djing with 4 decks, 3 effects units, 2 microphones, and and an array of live instruments, musicians and recordings, alongside my entire music collection, and various tracks and loops i had created in the studio. Not only that but also working intelligently with vjs and performers, and other djs on laptops.

So from the start of 2008 i began the huge task of first sorting my 10, 000 records into genres, and then determining their key, in the hope that it would (a) be fun to jam with, and (b) be a common language of i could speak to musicians with. Thankfully because of my move to cds, i didn’t actually have to import and edit each one, and was just left with one collection that needed to be sorted. This process also inspired me to write tutorials and tips on the process, as it really was painstakingly long, and there are hundreds of different ways you can choose. These tutorials / blog posts are still on the backburner, but should have time for them soon.

Anyway a few months went by, and i sorted my music collection, backed it up (twice!) , and got to know Traktor Scratch that little bit better. I also developed my scratching ability, which i pleased to say now resembles something very similar to halfway decent scratching, (although i’ve yet to perform it out live). The 3rd Project X Presents was my first live outing with Traktor, and it went really well, although the reason i bought it was to take my djing to the next level, and although the set was more diverse, and rocked it well, i didnt really do anything that you can’t do on a normal set of decks.

So then i turn 30, and for my birthday i get a midi controller, and simultaneously buy a friends foot pedal. The day before i get my new (clever) midi controller, i finally learn how to programme my old (bad) midi controllers into cubase. This paves the way for my first reckorder blog, and has shown me how the idea for live performance and djing can work.

So now i’ve got the task of setting everything up and now seeing how it all can work. I have some really interesting gigs coming up this year, which will really allow me to spread my wings so to speak, and which will be great platforms for some of these ideas.

Mr Elephant’s bank holiday alldayer on May 25th, Project X Presents on June 14th, Giles Peterson on June 27th, and of course Custom Made on July 25th, will all allow me to explore my record collection with the Project X gig also an opportunity to play live.

Anyway thats a little intro to my new world of djing, and one i hope will fulfill the ideas. I was inspired by the links from this website, and its has some great ideas for anyone wishing to explore further, (and/or wants an alternative to Native Instruments forum.)

I hope you find it useful, and i look forward to sharing something interesting very soon.

The sun is glorious, so it was most definitly time for a bbq and beers in evening. I’d however gone to town to pick up my birthday present, so from 11pm it was time to get to know it.

On monday i went through the pain staking process of setting my other keyboard up. Working with midi and cubase sx, is not the most straightforward of processes, and one that i have found very troublesome. On of the main secrets i learnt if you are trying to use the learn funtion is that you need to keep clicking learn while you turn the controller! It does work, (though for years i thought i was missing something!)…..Anway more on this on my reckorder site coming soon.

This new little baby however is supposed to be designed for intuitively mapping itself to the plugs and controllers, mixers and instruments, that it is almost impossible to do in cubase sx 3. (though very easy with most other sequencers, thanks to the more intuitive midi learn functions).

The main reason for buying this was to have hands on control for my Traktor setup though, so as soon as i plugged it in, i was hoping to see the controls in Traktor moving. This however was not to be, and a little reading of the manual was needed. Being me, like most others i know, the manual was the last thing i wanted to read, so i played with it for about 5 hours, reading forums, and watching video tutorials.

Along the way i worked out a fair few things thoug, but basically to control Traktor you need to assign each controller in the remote sl editor, save the syx file as Traktor, and then create a .tks file in Traktor. There are some about on that djtech tools site, but unless you like using what they do, you better of creating your own.

In cubase however its a lot better, and most of the plugins are already recognised. All you need to do is load up the latest automap from the website, and then open up cubase, and the plugin, and it should automatically map your controls. There are also some templates you can dload from the site, if automap doesnt work well (like stylus rmx for example)

Either way making electronic music is a whole new world when you can actually move play the instrument, as opposed to program the instrument. Dynamics and flow of sound is crucial to making your ideas sound good, so get on those knobs, and record you movements.

I should add btw, that its only Cubase that i’ve had the controller problems with. Reason and Ableton have an easy midi learn. Still with whatever program i can def recommend this automap feature on the Novation control series of midi controllers, as its nice for it to map automatically.

In Traktor i’ve now built a template so that i can drop loops and cue points on the fly, and then play them with the pads and keys live. This is my first step to the live jamming idea i mentioned, and think it could really work and open up some new avenues for my djing (with a whole lot of practice of course!)

I also just ordered my first (30th birthday) djembe, from a friend that makes them for pretty much cost. With the arsenal of instruments, and people to play them, i’m more excited about djing, than i ever have been.

And this new controller is small enough for me to go and sit outside in the sunshine and dj with!