Dj Marc Reck Djing Events Tutorials and life in Birmingham

We’ve had to keep a bit quiet about the venue while it gets it’s license confirmed, but we can now reveal (for the second time!) that its going to be breaking in a new venue called BUSK (which is on Gough Street, opposite the Alexandra Theatre)

This beautiful flyer is the work of the supremely talented Matt Jinpow, who created the image and put the thing together, and i will be blogging more about the event and the venue when there’s time, because its pretty interesting.

For now all i’m going to say is that the theme is about digital distopia, and there was some extremely exciting happenings being discussed at the meeting last night.

Again more news soon, but from my side of things the 1st dj set will be chronological and feature an array of music, with Liam Blendstate flexing his visual light on the controls, and the second set, will feature two percussionists, 6 performers, and my own mask designed by Pyn, and hopefully a jedi cloak if i can get it knocked together with the support from our costume designer!

While it was nothing new as we’ve been talking about the ideas for a while now, it was nice to reconfirm the ideas, and always good to see people face to face, plus a few new faces who had the project x vibes flamin in full force. (i.e not having a particular skill but just really wanting to get involved in whatever is needed).

One interesting thing that i did learn at the meeting was just how much money we spent on food and drink last year…(£1250)

£250 of that was the rider which for 90 people is fair enough. But the rest of it, was on food and drink for the production week!  I offered the idea, that if we were spending £50 a day, then maybe we should take it turns to cook, (which hopefully we can do, as long as there arent any restrictions from the venue)

Just how much money in total we need also blew me away, and bought it home to me just how much of a financial risk it is, despite everyone working for free and a shitload of equipment being borrowed! £6500 is base level costs, which means if we dont get funding and half fill the venue, we are going to be couple of grand in debt!!?!

Itss weird to think, that if it were to be costed with people being paid fairly for their time, maybe in the same way that organisations like birmingham royal ballet, or bham opera are, (of which i only know total figures so dont quote me on that), but at a reasonable rate to each participant nonetheless, then we’d be looking at at least 120 - 150 times that figure!

Maybe one day!

After a great week celebrating Pyn’s birthday and our anniversary, it was full steam ahead this week, starting with 2 very productive meetings with 3 of Birmingham’s favourite promoters. Aside from being an opportunity to spend some very pleasant time with some very inspiring people, it has also led to some great opportunities.

• a new bi monthly gig in the Bulls Head starting on Saturday October 11th

•   a big celebration of Birmingham’s Underground on for the Mr Elephant / Night Times event on Sep 20th at the Rainbow Beach / Warehouse,

•   and a role as breaks reviewer for the Night Times!

Following the continuation of being missed off all promotion material for this surfs up festival, i’ve been thinking about how local artists are represented, often by their local promotors. Suffice to say, it was really refreshing to have this meeting, as it seems that both of the events will hopefully provide platforms to shine a light on local artists.

For me, as both a promoter, and dj, this is particularly important, as it seems we are increasingly in an age where local artists don’t get the support or promotion that the big names do. While this are many possible reasons for this, and filling a large venue without a headliner is no easy task, it does seem a shame that in this online age, that the people who often play for free, and in many cases rock the party a lot more noticeably than the paid headliners, are not promoted, linked to, or even mentioned in the same way the names are. 

That said, with the very best intentions, things can always get overlooked, and good promotion, filling venues, and building good relationshops is ultimately very hard work. It seems that while a headliner can provide a quick fix, there is nothing like building mutually beneficial relationships with people you like working with.

Certain promoters actively realise this, and in my eyes are really trying to build the local Birmingham scene.

Hare and Hounds, Bulls Head and Leftfoot Promotor Adam Regan, is one of these people, and has pioneered really positive change in the local area over the last ten years. Since re-opening the Hare and Hounds, Adam’s picked up on the Mr Elephant events, and has been increasingly supportive of my djing as a whole. To date i’ve had the opportunity to host 2 packed events and play 4 great gigs at the venue, which i’m pleased to say has really been mutually beneficial for all involved, which on a local level has felt really positive. 

Whats been nice about working with Adam this last year, is his understanding of both promoting and djing, so it was nice (and synchronistic) to get a call to host a bi monthly event at the Bulls Head From October. Not only is it an opportunity to spread my wings as a dj, play a wide a range of music, and invite local guests to a venue that already draws an open minded crowd, but also it will provide an opportunity to generate an income stream to go someway to support the huge amount of time that goes into djing, and promoting a night.

Event starts on October 11th 2008, and should be a scaled down Mr Elephant Presents with a range of multi genre party rocking music.

Another promoter and dj who is doing some great stuff in the city, is Breakthru promotor, and Night Times editor Ric Woodall, who has continued to provide platforms for local artists with his events, and much needed nightlife publication, The Night Times. After a set at Custom Made in 2007, he has also been really vocally supportive of my djing, and has recently asked me to be a resident at his new night Times events (and dj his wedding reception!)

This has paved the way to collaborating on the next Mr Elephant event, which aims to shine a light on Birmingham promoters, something important to both of us, and intrinsically important to brummy legend and House Of God Promoter Nic Wells aka DJ X & PCM, who has been involved with, and actively promoted Birmingham’s underground scene for about 20 years now. 

Initially i was going to do a manageable event with a host of other people, on the rainbow beach for the 5th (and proabably final of 2008) Mr Elephant, trying to feature as many promoters and their respective residents that we could feasibly fit in. Now however, with the addition of the launch of the Night Times event, and the 700 capacity rainbow warehouse, that 350 capacity event has now exploded to feature over 20 promoters and their residents, with 3 well programmed rooms featuring a variety of underground music.

We were all quite clear that we wanted to charge no more than a fiver, so the the thought of filling the 1200 people space was initally a little daunting, but if we can get the venue to support us, it could potentially be a big free all night celebration of Birmingham’s underground scene….And as its Mr Elephant Presents hosting the beach, you can expect the usual interactive and carnival esque additions, only this time x 10!

For more information thus far, check out www.mrelephant.com, and keep an eye out for next edition of the Night Times, and of course the flyers (which will have a mask on them!)

Oh and the date is Saturday September 20th 2008

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 a sleepless night from the heat and noise, i was suitably refreshed by a great meeting with Dubber as part of the AHRC Knowledge Transfer Partnership Fellowship. We discussed the forthcoming website idea, and after a while of getting all the ideas down, (or out in my case!), we had a great plan of action, ready for the build with Ant and open advantage.

Dubber also kindly offered to write the page to summarise and send to Screen Wm, as part of the 4IP, and Cultural Olympiad. There were big plans for the idea back and now even they seem realistic, and in turn have sparked off  a whole new strand of activity for Mr Elephant ideas, and its ethos. More news as it happend, but if it comes off, it will be a dream of mine, and a direction of Pyn’s that has been a long time coming.

Tonight i’m djing for Night Times editor Ric and Una’s wedding at chi bar. It’ll be quite a different bag of records, being a wedding crowd, so hoping it will go down well. Ric will be hosting the warehouse on the forthcoming Mr Elephant on the Beach party we got lined up on Sat sep 20th 2008, as a launch for his new Night Times events as he has a similar ethos of wanting to promote local promotors.

Its worked out really well, as we will be representing the two sides of the underground with a great big party. More news on that soon too, but i can tell you that the rainbow beach is absolutely one of the best venues i have seen, and i got chance to see for myself when i was next door djing at my Custom Made residency.

Custom Made was yet another great night, with really good sets from everyone, and that special custom made atmosphere. I got to drop a real mix of music, which thankfully went down a storm, and should pave the way for a nice evening tonight.

Here’s a few pictures from the night, and please put Sep 20th in your diary, as we have got some very special suprises in store.

 After looking at over 30 venues, (and having to say goodbye to some real life financial support from New Generation Arts because of it), i am pleased to announce that we have finally found the perfect venue to house, our 3 stages and 80 participants for our forthcoming Project X Presents event, to be held on Saturday September 13th 2008…

First a skate park, …then a warehouse, …. a brief experimental X-Lab:VL to break in Concrete ….where next???

 But we can’t tell you where!!! Apparently licensing law states that no events can be promoted in a venue before the license has been granted and unfortunately in this instance, the license has yet to be granted. So we’ve got to keep our mouths shut, tight! Suffice to say work is currently being carried out in the venue, and we’re set to move in on the 7th September to prepare for the production which is on Saturday 13th September.

Well, aside from needing at least a week setup time for the production of the show, it needs to be somewhere that’s big enough for three stages in the main room, and can accommodate an audience of at least 300 people in there, ideally have at least 2 other rooms, with a suitable smoking area, and of course be somewhere that we can make all the ideas generated by 9 months of planning and meetings happen to maximum effect.

It’s also becoming a bit of a tradition to “break in” new venues before they open fully to the public. As Rich pointed out, what we’ve done in each case, is got involved with a venue as it is becoming a venue. That is, at a time when it’s in the process of development - that “twilight zone” when it has some or all of the facilities we need, but isn’t yet a regular venue.

Before then however our merry band of participants will be continuing to work hard on developing our biggest show to date, with all manner of ideas being put into action to explore and create an unforgettable multi-sensory assault based on the theme of Digital Distopia, inspired by 1984, Bladerunner, and the impending threat of I.D cards.

With our full line up spanning over two rooms, musicians, performers, dancers, DJs, VJs, percussionists, comedians, poets and installations already confirmed and collaborating, Saturday September the 13th 2008, is most definitely a date for the diary, and i for one really hope you can be there to experience it.

This taken from our Mr Elephant website sums up just how much fun it was in that back bar on saturday! So many lovely people, and such a fantastic atmosphere, it was a really great djing experience, and we’re all really chuffed by how well received the room was.

“A massive shout to everyone who came into our room on saturday night at the aforementioned Longest Day Festival! It’s certainly fair to say that you (and the Mr Elephant djs and vj), created one of the most electric atmosphere’s ever seen in the back bar at the Hare and Hounds, and huge thanks once again to Bazaar for making it all happen.

Sound setup was handled expertly by Andy the sound man, with our resident visual artist Liam (and Charlie), setting up a huge video screen ready for his inspiring projections. Emma and Bazaar had invited Zen and a tarot reader down, and there was a friendly masseur who gave great head massages.

Pyn made the place look more beautiful with some nice bits supplied by Emma, and we welcomed Justin from Loafers Lounge back, who kicked things off with his beautiful blend of diverse sun kissed electronica and downtempo.

By 7pm the back bar was unusually busy, and it time to invite Olly Badaboon, (our “newcomer dj” from our first Mr Elephant event at Epic in March 2007), back to see where he was at musically. Just off a plane from Ibiza, Badaboon has certainly been honing his skills, and took over the decks with some new and classic funk and some choice scratching, raising the tempo and shaking some asses, as the place filled up, (and Chris the chef got his head massaged!)

8.30 came and the mighty Dani C from Funkatronic was up.

Dani is a great dj we’ve been wanting to invite down for a while now, and it certainly became apparent why, when after a few records, he had people coming up and shaking his hand and pulling all sorts of shapes to his summer and latino style house! A sure sign of an old pro

While our rooms was free entry all night, the two rooms upstairs, hosted by Bazaar, and B-Music were open from 8pm and were £7 quid entry to cover a great line up of musicians and djs. We managed to sneak a peek at around 10.30, when dropping up a backup deck (thanks Rob!) after one of the hired ones had gone down. While there wasn’t many people around yet, it looked fantastic, and full of promise to go off in true solstice style, with a bevvy of instruments adorning both stages.

Back downstairs however it was (fortunatly) rammed to capacity and time for our resident dj Marc Reck to take to the decks. The dancefloor was now nicely full thanks to some great mixing from Dani, and Marc dropped his diverse blend of cut up trip hop, classic soul, and upbeat swing, which got the place shouting, and the people smiling.

It was nice to see some scratching from Marc too, before he raised the pace into his more familliar breakbeat territory. Liams blendstate’s visuals and intelligent use of colour set the ever changing mood with real skill.

By 11.30pm, the back bar was now full to capacity, with people from the more chilled out front bar apparently taking it in turns to come and have a dance! This all paved the way for a return set from our friend (and headliner from our first event), Mr Boogie Dave.

Boogie most known for his pioneering dubstep, and of course the legend that is Drop Beats Not Bombs, threw down an amazing set of booty breaks, which got the crowd shouting and jumping, and ended with the most amazing remix of Rage against the Machine’s classic “Killing in the Name Of” track.

It was great to see such a huge reaction, as Boogie is a great and well deserving dj, and sometimes dubstep can be a little hard to grasp for some dancefloors.

12.30 upstairs, and there was some great music being played by some of Birmingham’s most talented musicians. There was some apparently some confusion as to who was actually playing as the flyers had been printed early, but we imagine that it was suitably going off, and the price had been thoughtfully dropped to reflect the time of night.

Unfortunatly we couldn’t go and see for ourselves, as 12.45 downstairs, the temperature had raised to sweating temperature! Dani C was back on the decks and by the time he dropped a huge remix of Cj Bollands Sugar Daddy, the whole place was on fire (literally!)

Handing over to Marc Reck for the last stretch, (who was so excited by this point he was bouncing around like Tigger on speed…or Marc on Staropramen!). Marc raised the pace with each record, quickly switching into Drum and Bass, and igniting the crowd into a jumping bass driven mass sinaglong!

All in all a most memorable night, and an atmosphere created by the local people in a local pub that will be very difficult to forget.

The full set of pictures we’ve got so far are here (thanks marc), and there was also a roving professional camera man (who had a proper camera, and was asking people to pose, etc) so there should be some good ones on the way.

We’ll post them as soon as we get a copy, and if you want to be notified when they are up, click on the rss subscribe button, and they will be delivered automatically to your chosen rss reader.

Wishing you all a most glorious rest of summer.

One love

Mr Elephant x

“

I’ve copied this from our Mr Elephant website, as it’ll be a djing gig for me this saturday, and i havent got time to write a post about it! (Plus it’s got the links to the people involved)

I’ll be djing some downtempo type stuff, and then hopefully we can pick it up a bit after midnight. Hope you can make it as looks like a great event

“Hey humans.

Firstly, apologies about the lack of posts these last two months. We realise they’ve all been about the events, (which to be fair have been dominating our focus since april, alongside switching servers), but we will be back on track very soon, with your tasty tips (thank you!), Ruth’s next installment of her reports on Birmingham, and Marc’s 3rd Mr Elephant Radio Show.

Remember Elephant’s never forget..its just takes them a little time to work out technical bits and bobs.

Anyway we have some news and yet another invitation for you! This week we have been asked to host a room at the Longest Day Festival! It is to be at the Hare and Hounds this Saturday (21st June), and its being organised by local promoter and Bazaar’s very own Emma Cutler.

We will hosting the back bar all day and night, and will be inviting some of friends from the previous Mr Elephant events to come down and play stuff they might not usually bring out (and some they would).

Our room will be free entry all day and night, and will feature some mr e style treats from Bazaar such as knitting (with instructions), a bbq, jewellery on sale, tarot readings, massage, origami and a host of other treats.

The upstairs rooms (one of which will be hosted by B-Music btw), will be £7 in after 8pm, and will feature some great live music from local bands like the Mama Matrix, and djs such as the bee’s tour dj.

All rooms will be on til two in the morn, and it should be a fitting local celebration of this years summer solstice.

Details are actually a little incorrect on the flyer for our room, as we have different timings and running order than those advertised, but suffice to say it promises to be a lovely day out, with a host of great music and activities, so hope you can join us.

Music wise our room should look like this :

Justin Bond (Loafers Lounge) - Eclectic Summer Chillout
Marc Reck (Project X Presents) - Eclectic laidback Mr Elephant type diversity
Badaboon (Digi phunk) - Funky biznizz
Dani C (Funkatronic) - Diverse downtempo up through to choice house
Boogie Dave (Drop Beats Not Bombs) - (Chilled Electronic Breaks up to more dancefloor breaks)

All of us from midnight with our party style tunes), and visuals will be hosted by our resident visual artist Liam Blendstate.

Happy Solstice to you all”

So the good news is that the dvd track fits really well apparently, and that all the hard work has been worth it, and the bad news is we’ve had to postpone Project X Presents on the 14th of June, as we have no place to do it

Apparently our last chance (which was the Que Club in Birmingham) is not feasible as there is so much other stuff going on, and there are simply no other options at this stage, which means we are going to have to postpone it.

No matter though, as we do have a new venue to break in, in September, so it’s looking like we’ll just have to say a sad farewell to the NGA funding, and take this sparkling show we have to september, and go with all our guns a blazin.

Bigger, Better, Badder, and bolder!

P.s this news was actually decided last week, but i forgot to blog it then.

P.P.S Other unfortunate news on a personal note was i had to give up my course, as June’s session fell on the project x week.  Now its postponed and too late to get back on it

Last week was all about promoting and preparing for our Mr Elephant Family Alldayer, and it went really well, securing the best bar take to date for the Prince, and bringing happiness to kids of all ages! This from our Mr Elephant website

Despite the forecast, the sun, and humans of all ages were out in full effect, which made for a thouroughly lovely afternoon.

It was our second attempt at a family event, since our first collaboration with Dramask last year. This time we got a lot more of our friends involved, and the result was more than inspiring.

Here’s some of the highlights this time in nice easy to digest picture form

Subvert Sounds made for a smooth setup and quality finish

Justin Bond rom Loafers Lounge kicked off the music with his blend sublime sun kissed music.

Pyn from Dramask demonstrated various gum strip and tissue techniques to a queue of potential mask makers.

whilst Jen (not pictured here) hosted another few tables for those that wanted to decorate our card masks.

Robin from Jam Jah was up next supplying his unique blend of roots and reggae.

Olly gave a drum skinning demonstration

Anna gave some juggling workshops

Rohit played some of his beautiful sitar compositions

Daz Dolczech and Anka played an amazing set of acoustic renditions of their own Mama Matrix tracks!

And as the sun went down Dj Marc Reck and Vj Liam Blendstate provided a sublime audio visual soundtrack.

Thanks to everyone that came down, and to our wonderful hosts, Keith and Diane at the Prince.

There are more pictures here, and we have recordings of the Daz and Anka’s set, and various of footage of the workshops, so please check back, or subscribe to the rss or the newsletter on the right.

One Love
Mr Elephant x

Are one sweet sound company, and they can host your party!

I had a meet with Subvert Greg and Pyn last night about doing a free party on this site we’ve heard about, and he told me all the kit he’s got, so i thought it would be good to post it on my blog, because he hasnt, and to be honest he’s one of the soundest sound and light engineers i’ve ever met. Gets the job done, really well, and works to your budget whatever the situation.

So they’ve got 3 x marquee’s (up to 20 x 50 ft each), full stage lighting (Led too, so not power sapping stuff) 4 Dmx controlled Parcams, and on the sound front, they got up to 10 k rig, suitable for any bands, or dance events of around 300 people, and they now have a full back line. Oh and of course staging, engineer, mixing desks, etc. He also added that he can source pretty much anything you need extra for a larger scale events, from the companies he works with on the bigger events.

So if you want to put on a gig, party, small scale event, or you want hire his marqee’s and/or expertise, he’s damn cheap (and very good)

He’s also quite busy, so is good to book in advance - Greg - 07938 361 114 (or dodgygreg@hotmail.com)