Rane TTM 54 Performance Mixer A high-quality mixer designed for the turntablist market.. A well-respected manufacturer of club-style DJ mixers, Rane is making its first serious entry into the growing turntablist-mixer market with its TTM 54 ge.. Designed with the turntablist-style DJ in mind, the TTM 54 is a well-thought-out, solidly manufactured piece of equipment with many appealing features. Although somewhat expensive, it costs $100 less than Vestax’s flagship PMC-07Pro-a price that should appeal to the wallets of DJs seeking a high-quality scratch mixer.. I hooked the TTM 54 up to my beloved Technics SL1200 turntables and immediately felt comfortable. The mixer is the same height as the 1200 (3 inches), and as it’s only 9 inches wide, it lets your turntables sit close together-essential for high-speed fader work. Encased in sturdy black metal, the mixer features gold-plated RCA jacks, large phono-ground terminals, and Rane’s proprietary phone jack-style power connector. The TTM 54 employs the popular double-panel system, clearing the top surface of protruding screw heads and other items that can get in the way of furious scratching. You can easily remove the top panel to reconfigure the Transform switch’s orientation (adjustable in 45-degree steps) and replace the faders.. SHORT CUTS A crossfader can make or break a mixer’s usefulness. With the TTM 54 you get smooth, long-life Active faders...
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You know electronic music is past adolescence when technology debates begin to separate the purists and traditionalists from the rest. While synth fans debate the merits of digital vs. analog, DJs are deciding whether to stick strictly with vinyl or to give in to the convenience of adding CDs to the mix. Although there are probably fewer DJs adamantly against CDs than there are, say, guitarists against digital-modeling amps, CD detractors make valid points about CDs’ lack of control and vinyl’s better sound.. Not much can be done about the difference in sound, but equipment manufacturers have begun to tame the wild disc with machines that attempt to mimic the turntable’s control of vinyl, including the ability to “scratch” CD audio. Not one of these machines has come as close to full turntable emulation as the Pioneer CDJ-1000, which at least should earn some respect for CDs from skeptical jocks and at best could become the Technics SL-1200 of the CD world, developing a legion of fanatic followers.. VINYL MODE. The CDJ-1000 is engineered to include most of the features expected from a DJ-oriented CD player, as well as advanced turntable-style control of a disc’s music. The key component of this control is the 7-inch Jog dial; it is touch-sensitive, so if you press on it while in Vinyl mode,...
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Radical changes in performance techniques often demand radical changes in equipment design. For example, the electric guitar remained relatively unchanged from its introduction in the ’50s until the late ’70s, when Eddie Van Halen came along with his flamboyant whammy bar dives, which influenced the creation of the Floyd Rose tremolo system. During the ’90s, turntablists pushed scratching techniques to new heights, and Vestax recently responded by developing the ASTS antiskipping tonearm system, whose exceptionally stable tracking is a significant improvement over the capabilities of the traditional S-shaped tonearm design.. Now Vestax has introduced the PDX-2000 turntable, which offers several major improvements over the beloved Technics SL-1200MK2. The most significant distinction is the PDX-2000’s incredibly powerful motor: it provides the fastest startup time (less than half a second to reach full speed from a complete stop) of any turntable on the market. Add to this an extremely solid platter, versatile Start and Brake controls, flexible pitch controllers (Fine and Ultra), and Reverse and Quartz Lock controls, and you have perhaps the most responsive turntable ever produced.. LOCKDOWN. Anyone accustomed to an SL-1200MK2 will immediately notice the PDX-2000’s superior performance. The motor, platter, and tonearm really lock on to a record, allowing extremely precise control. There’s none of the side-to-side tonearm movement or back-and-forth platter rocking that make most turntables somewhat...
Read MoreMusic, booze, lights, dancing. While it’s great to do it in the comfort of a club there’s something special about taking over the streets and going wild. We explore the three best party streets in the USA.. Bourbon Street, New Orleans.. Undoubtedly the most famous party street in the world, Bourbon Street needs no introduction. Once populated by peepshows and whore houses the current iteration of the legendary watering hole has been accused of Disneyfication and while an afternoon stroll might support such thoughts they go right out the window when the sun goes down. With over 40 bars and dance floors spilling onto the streets Bourbon Street knows how to entertain and while Mardi Gras is the time to experience Bourbon to its fullest any given weekend night is full of spice.. Bourbon Street by Craig Stanfill (Flickr). Yes there are beads and yes there are boobs but despite many a dive bar and bible belter letting loose after crossing the Mississippi there’s plenty of elegance to be found in the French Quarter. If you want some fine dining and smooth jazz that wont be a problem but if you want to get utterly demolished and awake in the gutter Bourbon Street will certainly provide the ammunition. It’s quite easy to trap yourself on a balcony watching the carnage down...
Read More2015 Las Vegas Residency at Drai’s Beach Club, Nightclub Launches February 21st.. Vicetone, one of dance music’s most technically skilled production teams, enters 2015 with their latest single “No Way Out” featuring American singer/songwriter Kat Nestel. Held to the utmost quality, the duo delivers “No Way Out” with their distinctive harmonic and melody-driven sound. With dazzling peaks, California native Kat Nestel’s sunny vocals soar as Vicetone’s piano-led melody reverberates through your soul. “No Way Out” is currently supported by the likes of Avicii, Martin Garrix, Hardwell, Nicky Romero, Tiësto and many more top DJs.. “Working with Kat and Clarence Coffee (co-writer) was an absolute joy and pleasure. They have a lot of synergy together and it’s amazing to work with such talented musicians. It was one of the first writing sessions we did in Los Angeles and a very memorable one for sure – we’re very happy with how the track turned out and can’t for our fans to hear it!,” Vicetone says.. Already considered a “must-hear” act by major players within the industry, Vicetone have graced the stages of some of the world’s most internationally renowned clubs and festivals including TomorrowWorld, Ultra Music Festival, and Electric Zoo. Today marks another incredible milestone for the guys who announce their residency at Las Vegas hotspot, the recently renovated Drais Nightclub. Vicetone’s first performance will take place on Saturday, February 21st.. “We’re delighted...
Read More“The Witches Son” is the title track taken from Cinder Ghost’s upcoming E.P “The Witches Son” – due for release August 10th.. “The Witches Son” is the title track taken from Cinder Ghost’s upcoming E.P “The Witches Son” – due for release August 10th.. Even though the majority of my own projects are in the mid-bpm range (between 125-132 usually) I often find myself drawn to the slower tempo when relaxing or trying something new. Something about the lower bpms which allows for more “feeling”, atmosphere and ambiance. Don’t get me wrong, there are many house producers who achieve amazing ambiance, but something about the spacing between the beats in slower tempo tracks is just pleasant.. This single from Cinder Ghost achieves that which I personally enjoy about downtempo/chillout electronica. The track starts off with a nice, filtered, warm ambiance. The bass wraps my ear canal, like a warm blanket on a chilly day. The reversed synth melody supports the plucking melody, the vocals fitting neatly between the layers. This relaxing chillout track is a great first entry for the upcoming EP. Check it out – there is even a [limited] free download of the WAV file available, at this time.. Via sonarismusic.com.
Read MoreA list of memorable songs over the past 16 years.. I’m 34 now. I’ve listened to a million songs over the 16 years I’ve been running this site. Here is my list, in no particular order, of my most memorable songs. No rhyme no reason, just a list of songs that run in and out of my head at various moments in my days. I should have written an article like this every year to see what gets added and what falls off the list. Perhaps I’ll remember to do this again next year. What are some of your most memorable songs? Comment below.. Orb – Little Fluffy Clouds (Live Album 1993)[This version in particular]. Royksopp – Happy up Here. Sia – The Girl You Lost to Cocaine. Marina & The Diamonds – I am Not a Robot. Scooter – The Sound Above My Hair. Bot’Ox – Blue Steel. Nathan Fake – The Sky Was Pink (James Holden Remix). Hive – Ultrasonic Soundhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO45LMlcq88. The Prodigy – Full Throttlehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA21C6eYl5U. Underworld – Born Slippy. Aphex Twin – Bucephalus Bouncing Ball. OK Go – This Too Shall Pass.
Read MoreRoughly 150,000 attendees packed inside Bicentennial Park in Miami this past weekend for the 2011 Ultra Music Festival, the first-ever 3-day festival in the event’s 13-year history. Headliners like Tiesto, Deadmau5, Duran Duran, and The Chemical Brothers drew crowds from all corners of the globe around the main stage and then rocked the house.. Featuring 8 sub-venues ranging in size from tiny tents to small geodesic domes up to the massive main stage, each line-up was practically worthy of its own festival.. Just like last year, one of the largest stages was the Carl Cox & Friends tent, which was large enough to warrant its own VIP section on a 2nd story scaffold. Artists including Carl Cox (obviously), Moby, Ferry Corsten, and Armin Van Buuren provided hours of seemingly endless house and trance music to a visibly satisfied crowd that danced under a roof adorned with tens of thousands of dollars worth of lighting effects, smoke machines, and avant-garde inflatables.. Deep rumbling bass and glitch sounds of dubstep were omnipresent, reflecting the genre’s surge in popularity in the preceding months. Besides artists like Rusko, and Benga & Skream who are well known to the dubstep community, notable artists including Laidback Luke and will.i.am even dropped some dubstep tracks. And unlike last year, where a comparatively small number of concertgoers were...
Read MoreRaising a few eyebrows.. How pleasantly surprised were we to hear the famous Gary Numan’s “Cars” melody in the middle of Chicane’s new single “Hiding All the Stars“. The nod to Cars adds a uniquely pop dimension to an otherwise very decent house single. The track opens beautifully, minimally, with Tash Andrews vocals. The harmonies and synth are very true to Chicane’s core.. The Michael Woods remix is absolutely stellar and would totally blow away the original if it were not more creative with the vocals. Powerful builds with a subtle swing feel bring on the chills.. The video for “Hiding All The Stars” features long time Chicane vocalist Tash Andrews looking sexy in sequins, then even more so in the boxing ring. The single is released on October 19, 2009 and is currently on the Radio 1 B List and No. 1 in the UK Club Charts..
Read MoreModern Day Baby Making Music.. The Brooklyn duo MGMT are still riding the tsunami of success after their last album Oracular Spectacular dropped in January of 2008. Currently they have 10 or 11 songs in working progress with tenacious plans of writing and producing more. Their pop friendly, electric punk undulates out of the speakers with the greatest of ease. The new album Congratulations will be released in early 2010 serving up a double whammy featuring one disc of pop and the other of psychadelica. The duo formerly known as The Management are certainly managing up affectively lately.. At recent concerts they previewed new tunes such as Congratulations and, It’s Working and a rather noteworthy diddy Song For Dan Treacy. One of the singer/guitarists Andrew VanWyngarden states that the album includes some tour inspired songs as their musical adventures have induced wild rivers of creative juices. Andrew and Ben [Goldwasser] have channeled their primordial instincts in order to produce something saucy. Electric Feel instantaneously left me wanting more.. Incorporating their signature catchy, sing along vocals and vivacious synths, this album is sure to make your toes curl. Dave Fridmann Mercury Rev/Flaming Lips producer is mixing this album which will surely infuse a sugar beat of pop styled jazz that will romanticize any ear drum. Succumb to the healing powers of their savagely delicious sound...
Read MoreAlex Ebert of IMA Robot has created a new pet project called Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. The album ‘Up From Below’ was released by the Vagrant Label July 14, 2009 and has been wowing listeners ever since. A raw sound delivered with a feathery touch makes us nostalgic for a time that our generation never really knew. They serve as a reminder of the counterculture that lead the most influential decade in the course of sociological history.. This true folk delight epitomizes the boho-rock of yesteryear providing by each listener with a sense of comfort, hope and solace. The adult version of Free To Be You and Me for listeners of both the new and old age forcing all to tap into their Id in hopes of remembering those basic drives. The wild spirit of this music drops at a perfect time when much of the world feels forever confined by their golden shackles. With lyrics that include ‘she had the sunset on her breath’ and tunes such as ‘Home‘, ’40 Day Dream’ and Kisses Over Babylon’, this album offers brief refuge from the responsibilities that dictate our daily lives and an opportunity to roll around in the soft, white sand of happy calm. Their prolific sound facilitates an escape to a simpler state of mind during one...
Read MoreCelebs get wild with Sharam on his latest album.. On Friday, April 17th, I had the opportunity to see Sharam at M2 Ultra Lounge (formerly Mansion) in New York City. I had been curious about him since he went on sabbatical from Deep Dish to pursue his own artistic goals. While I could not stay for the entire show, I will say I found the show rather interesting. Notice I say “show” as opposed to “set.” There was definitely a set, but I really felt like I was at a show. I’m not sure if it was the midget cowboy staring the audience down while underdressed, good-looking cowgirls executed, in my opinion, a less than well choreographed dance– or maybe the fact that the VIP section was smack right in front of the stage. Needless to say, I wasn’t too thrilled by the initial display. But wait! I do not aim to trump innovation, and if this is the direction that DJs will start to take, I don’t want to go down as the doomsayer who criticized it.. I’m a fan of innovation. For example, I liked when Tiesto incorporated orchestras and choirs into his sets; and I will concede that this may be a similar attempt in that direction. In addition, I definitely enjoyed the accompanying video Sharam had...
Read MoreFell through the cracks.. How did this groin grabbingly sexy dance music video miss my radar? I must be getting old. But apparently many others over here state-side missed it too. No problem, we have the video for Ben DJ feat. Sushy “Me & Myself” (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) right here.. Music Video. “Ben DJ ft. Sushy – Me and Myself (Wolfgang Gartner Remix)”. The video was apparently filmed in Milan with a swath of Italian model “extras”. The direction is sheer genius: take a bunch of hot girls, put them in tiny clothes, get a piece of plexiglass, tell them to mash their boobs and butts on it. Film the whole thing. I’m sold.. The track has ben around since the Summer ’08 and got rather far around the scene. You can pick it up in the usual stores and spots..
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Deckadance is a software for DJs whose first version came in 2007 from Image Line, a popular company for creating Fruity Loops, a popular and complete professional music creation software mainly oriented to electronic music that in its beginnings was little more than a drum machine software. Deckadance was mainly developed by Arguru, a Spanish developer who sadly passed away in 2007 shortly after the launch of Deckadance. . The evolution of the software continued thanks to the work of the Image Line team of developers who collaborated with Arguru initially. Almost 2 years after its last official version, 1.9, a beta version of the next evolution of Deckadance has finally been made public. The new version 2.0 is really surprising since it does not limit itself to providing functions and views in other popular programs for professional DJs to try to be up to it, this version brings features so far never seen in other programs and that will provide you with a status own within the sector. We downloaded and tested the beta version, and this is what we found.. Interface. The interface appears to have been redesigned from scratch. In the central part we will have an area where we will have different control panels according to our needs, these panels can alternate between the mixer (with...
Read MoreRapping blowfish and dancing seahorses. Fire up the grill.. I admit that I didn’t get “Salmon Dance” when I heard the single for the first time; it is very different from other songs on the album and first impression was: painfully annoying. Now that I have seen the video, its silliness has been confirmed. It served as a reminder that although we are mostly high-brow electronic music aficionados, we need to learn to not take ourselves too seriously and have a laugh once in a while.. On a second listen, the song structure is actually quite good, solid beat and a thick & juicy bassline; kind of how I like my New Zealand King Salmon. Admittedly, I would have enjoyed the video much more if the kid got a fish-slap to the face at the end. “Salmon Dance” is the latest video single released from the Chemical Brothers’ latest album “We Are the Night.”. Music Video. “The Chemical Brothers – The Salmon Dance”. “We Are The Night”. Artist: The Chemical BrothersFormat: CD/LPLabel: EMIReleased: July 20071. No Path To Follow2. We Are The Night3. All Rights Reversed4. Saturate5. Do It Again6. Das Spiegel7. The Salmon Dance8. Burst Generator9. A Modern Midnight Conversation10. Battle Scars11. Harpoons12. The Pills Won’t Help You Now.
Read MoreOur review of the new DVD from Sasha and Digweed’s legendary tour of America, plus a video trailer and giveaway. Right here.. 2002, for some it doesn’t seem too long ago for others it feels like alifetime and for those 85,000 people who experienced the Delta Heavy tour where Sasha, John Digweed and Jimmy Van M went on a six week American road trip it must seem like only yesterday. The success of the tour is testament to the vibrant club culture that continues to blossom in the US while the UK scene is starting to slump. Delta Heavy was DJ’s touring like rock or pop musicians do and it worked, course it doesn’t hurt when you’ve got heavy hitters like Sasha and Diggers sleeping in the back of the bus.. The DVD release on February 7th promises to show us what happened behind the scenes. Was it three exhausted DJ’s crawling off a bus to spin a couple of records or was it Rock and Roll electronic style, read on…. Produced and directed by Ben Turner, who has championed electronic music worldwide for 15 years, and executive produced by Sasha & John Digweed themselves, Delta Heavy promises to be a compelling and intimate documentary film that takes the viewer behind the scenes of the largest DJ tour ever mounted...
Read MoreInternetDJ House favorite Wally Lopez, a resident of the exclusive Pacha nightclub in Ibiza, presents his take on the true Pacha sound in his debut artist album. Listen here.. Five. years after Farley and Heller crafted their Pacha sound on volume one, . Wally Lopez received the honor to create volume two. Except this time . things are a little different, not only has Lopez mixed onto disk the . sound that he perceives to be of Pacha – he has also created each track . himself. The 12 track album personifies a night at Pacha – from the warm. up to the encore, with Lopez’s dark Spanish flavor bridging the gap . between the classic Pacha sound and the slightly more cutting edge sound. of Pacha ‘now’ perfectly.. The album includes collaborations with singer SOL and guitarist . Chamani on ‘Outside’, Ivam from Xperimental Shop on ‘Love Time’, Global . Room resident Mucho Muchacho MCs on ‘Perreo’, ‘Do You Wanna Dance’ . features Beatmaster G and ‘Trompetta’ features the multi talented (he . plays the trumpet as he DJs) and regular Pacha DJ/trumpet player Gordon . Edge.. “Perceptions of Pacha Vol. II“ Composed and Mixed by: Wally Lopez Format: 2xCD Label: Pacha Released: October 24, 2005 (US) 1. Warm Up 2. Strings Action 3. Outside 4. Love Time 5....
Read MoreThe world’s top DJs and dance music creators descended on a fortress on the banks of the River Danube in Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro. Read about this amazing 3-day event from a member who was there.. The State of Exit Festival takes place in the picturesque Petrovaradin Fortress, which is an 18th Century Austrian built fortification on the banks of the River Danube in Novi Sad. The fortress offers a magical setting for this social and cultural phenomenon that is not only about music, but a powerful symbol of unity and freedom.. Exit was born in the year 2000, from a 100-day long peaceful protest which drew 200,000 people together to vote against Milosevic. Following the election results there was an exodus (EXIT) to Belgrade after Milosevic failed to step down. EXIT joined the famous 500,000 strong political demonstration which forced Milosevic from the National assembly building and ultimately from power. EXIT has evolved way beyond its humble beginnings as a student-initiated project and is now one of the biggest festivals in Eastern Europe.. Each year the festival gets bigger and better, attracting big name acts and festival goers from all over the world. This year was also significant in Exit’s history, as BBC Radio 1 would also be broadcasting from the festival for the first time.. There were...
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