I’m in between shows right now; that means it’s time for me to evaluate and upgrade my DJ gear! My most immediate need is a mixer. I figured I’d go ahead and share with you my process for finding the right one, and help you to find one too. More and more people are beginning to learn how to DJ and manipulate music on their own. Whether you’re using turntables, CD players, iPods, laptops, or whatever; the mixer is the most important piece to DJ-ing, in my opinion.
First, you need to know: What kind of DJ are you? What techniques and skills are most important for you? What kind of control do you need? These simple questions will guide you in your decision making. Most mixers will allow you to do all the essentials, but let’s customize a little further.
Scratching is important to me, so I want a mixer with an adjustable cross-fader curve. Here’s a quote from hiphop-directory.com:
A crossfader curve adjustment on a mixer allow you to gradually alter the way how fast a crossfader will cut in the second sound. The settings of the curve range gradually from an X-curve into an inverted U-curve. The X-curve means that when you move the crossfader from one end to the other, the sound that is playing will fade out gradually, and at the same time the sound playing on the other turntable will become louder gradually. With an inverted U-curve, as soon as you move the fader even a little off the other end, the new sound will be audible at full volume, but you will also hear the original sound in the background. Thinking of the settings visually might help in understanding it – with X-curve, both sounds increase and decrease very linearly. With an inverted U-curve, sounds cut of very abruptly at both ends of the fader, making this setting very essential for any type of scratching.
So there you have it. This was my first hard lesson in mixers. My first mixer came as part of a DJ-in-a-box kit. My friend had bought it for himself but then decided that he didn’t want to learn to DJ. I was so eager at the time AND I was getting a discount on it, so I bought the whole set from him. I didn’t realize why I wasn’t sounding like my favorite DJs. You can still learn technique with any kind of mixer, but you’ll be at a handicap if you get a DJ-in-a-box kit. I am grateful for that kit, since before then I had NOTHING and would not have ever gotten started. If you can wait, and you can get a little more money; I recommend saving up for a better quality mixer.
What else? Do you need EQ control? Effects Send & Return or even built in? How many channels do you need based on your situation? For mine, I can get by with the basic 2 channel mixer. Although for a typical show, I max out that mixer (2 sources per channel). One feature that I like to see in a mixer is a transform switch. My most recent mixer has the switch but I’ve worn it out and since the mixer is discontinued; I can’t get replacement or compatible repair parts. Long story short, each channel on a mixer can go phono or line. You can switch between the two, but you can also have a transform switch allowing you to switch quicker and you can actually “scratch” within the two sources from the same channel. Anyway, look at MixMaster Mike as he does this (at 2:00, 2:35, & 6:04):
Okay, so you know what kind of DJ you are; you know what you need your mixer to do and what features it needs to have. Now, you have to look at cost. Do you want to get buy and then try to upgrade later? Or do you save up for the best possible mixer and get it first? You might spend more money in the long run doing the buy-low/ upgrade strategy. But you make up for it because you have a mixer actually with you. Depends on how fast you can make money. While, I don’t think all mixers are created equally, I do think that if you know what you’re doing and what you need the mixer to do; you can have a great experience.
Here’s some other links I found that might help you on your search:
Tips for Choosing Your DJ Mixer
Where Can I Buy a DJ Mixer?
And here are my favorite mixers:
1. Rane TTM 57SL with Serato Scratch Live – The Crown Jewel of Mixers. Complete with Serato!
2. Vestax PMC-08Pro – This one does just about everything.
3. Vestax PMC-05ProIII VCA – Has all you REALLY need.
4. Stanton SA.3 – Stanton has pretty good mixers; usually at a lower price. I’ve used Stanton for a long time.
5.KAOSS Dynamic DJ Mixer – What’s cool about this one is the KAOSS pad built directly into it!
Okay, to recap:
1. Determine what type of DJ you are.
2. Determine what you need your mixer to do.
3. Decide what mixer features you need.
4. Look at the cost.
What do you think is important when trying to find your mixer?
I’m in a strange, never-experienced-before predicament. I’ve spent some time promoting an upcoming show with some friends here in town, KNAPSACKHEROES! (Yeah, you’re supposed to type it with all Caps and an exclamation point at the end, but I’ll refrain from here on out.) They are a mix of new wave pop with rock and hip-hop. When I moved to Nashville, I first heard about them at a house party I went to. I met a couple of guys, one from this band, and the other from this other band. And they said that I would probably really be into Knapsackheroes because I like hip-hop and I like electronic music.
Well I never got to see them until about a year later. I was doing synth and samples for a band; we ended up opening for them. Immediately, I noticed that they had a really energetic live show. The girl I was dating at the time said that the drummer scared her by how he was playing. Well, that’s a good sign. Knapsackheroes was dangerous.
We did a couple of shows together over the years. I’ve gotten to know them a little bit and they’re a great group of guys. They are actually deep students of pop culture as a whole; and between the 5 of them, they have a wide variety of musical taste. Well, we like a lot of the same bands. So I’ve been excited to get to do another show with them on March 17th at Mercy Lounge along with Details Details (a Postal Service meets Owl City electro-pop artist) and Eyes Around (rock band from Alabama).
On Monday, Vinyl Jones, the rapper in Knapsackheroes, had a stroke. He’s been in the hospital for the past couple of days. I don’t know all the specifics. I’m getting updated with the rest of the world on the Knapsackheroes facebook page. I don’t know if he’ll be okay for the upcoming show. I don’t care about a show. I just hope he’ll be alright and can recover. He’s got a loving family (complete with 8 kids) so I know he has some support. But please pray for him. Pray for his family. Pray for his band.
EDIT: He’s home from the hospital; doing physical therapy and the show will go on! Keep praying. But wow!
And check out the Knapsackheroes! EP
Machismo EP
I’m really excited and please about the Machismo EP. It’s a collection of some tracks I’ve done with some of my friends & favorite emcees. Let me tell you a bit about it, track by track:
1. False Alarm -
One night I went to Fuel and my friend Chip Greene and I were flirting with the bartender. Anyway, he was telling her that my music was like Blue Man Group except that you should call me Black Man Group. I thought it was hilarious. I came home with thoughts of Blue Man Group in mind and made this song. It’s fitting because Blue Man was the first show I saw that ever really grabbed and inspired me.
2. I Am…(featuring James Fate)-
I knew I wanted a theme song. It might be because of my long history with watching WWE as a kid. Theme songs and entrance music are a major part of the whole thing. I spoke about James Fate in a previous post. He is one of the best emcees I’ve heard in town. I knew that Fate would do a great job with it and he did. One of my favorite tracks for obvious reasons. Also I should mention, I got the idea for the beat after watching Paper Route perform. I saw them live at The End (also previously mentioned). They were playing a song from their EP, but I swore there were all of the sounds from the stage that I didn’t hear from the EP. Lots of electronic samples and delays. I wanted to recreate that kind of feel for the track.
3. Audition (featuring WT the Musical Mastermind) -
Audition was probably the first song I actually finished on the record. I was hanging out with a local Nashville producer who was making beats with such ease in the studio. I was really inspired. A lot of what inspired me was the producer’s ability and the rest of it was that I really wasn’t doing much with my life at the time. So being in there while he was making beats was kind of a kick in the butt. Anyway, I came home and did this track. WT is probably the main guy that got me into music. We were in a group together in college. I knew I wanted him to be on a track. This track was a good fit.
4. Machismo -
I was messing around on a sampler, the Roland SP 404. I tried running different sounds through the BPM Looper. I was actually running a synth line that I had heard somewhere; tweaking different things and distorting it. Eventually, I had changed the sound so much that I heard the beginnings of bassline. That was the beginnings of this song. So, I just built around that idea.
5. Still Single remix (featuring Spoken Nerd) -
You probably haven’t heard the original Still Single track, but it was one of the few tracks inspired by specific life events of mine. Also, Spoken Nerd is one of the more prolific emcees in town; always working on his next record. Check out his latest on youtube here. I asked Spoken Nerd to write topically for this track and I changed it up to give it a hip-hop bounce. It should be noted that this song was an indicator of where I was at the time and that it in no way reflects on Spoken Nerd, himself. Although, he did write it; and I think it’s a great measure of his lyrical brilliance. I hope this song is one of your favorites.
6. Wildfire (featuring J. Prodigal)-
I told you just a little bit about J. Prodigal. He had been waiting to get on a track for a long time. He actually wrote several verses for this song; I had to whittle it down to just two verses. He can write for days and freestyle for longer. Glad to have him on the EP. Also, I really like this beat. It was one of the few times I used an outside source vinyl sample for a melody instead of playing it or arranging it midi-style. But I’m not telling from where.
7. Our Time (featuring E.T.) -
You’ll like this one. Definitely check out E.T.’s music at the link I provided but ALSO please check out his side project, a hip hop crew called The Underground Senate. Some of the best hip-hop you will ever hear. Anyway, E.T. just moved to Louisville but before that he was in Nashville. He had been saying I should come over to his studio and do things for about a year or so before I finally went over there. I did this track in the corner in my laptop while a lot of emcees were there writing rhymes for a different track. I love this song so very much and am thankful for how it came together.
8. BlogWorthy (featuring J. Prodigal, WT, E.T., Spoken Nerd, Bobby
Exodus, Iller, James Fate, & 247) -
I told you about most of the emcees on this one. I even mentioned two of them (Iller & 247 of The Billy Goats) twice in previous posts. (here and here). So let me tell you about Bobby Exodus. Bobby also wrote different versions of his verse to this song. But I love the one we have here. He has a really unique kind of flow AND it’s really good. It’s easy to be different. Not easy to be different and GOOD at what you do. So, I was especially excited to finally get Bobby on a track as I have yet to do a full length track with him. I wanted an all-star track with all these guys on it. But the hook was an idea I got from listening to some west coast hip-hop. It’s a shout-out to artists like Jurassic 5, Dilated Peoples, Pigeon John, & Ahmad. In addition, I finally got to use the vocoder stuff (You hear it also in Wildfire). You know it’s BLOGWORTHY!
I definitely want you to have this music. Now that you know all about it, please go ahead and click here and put your email address in there and I will send it to you!
Click here to download the “Machismo EP”
Quiet Entertainer at The Rutledge
I finally got to do a show at The Rutledge! It was a lot of fun. Robert, Frank, & Andy were very nice to me and all of my friends who came out. Thanks to them; and thanks to Tyrone Carreker, Rebecca Moreland, and Xilehom for allowing me to be on the show with them. Great people.
Click the picture above to get more pics from that night; courtesy of raywen.org
This was a cool show since I finally had J. Prodigal there. It was the first time in a while I’ve gotten to perform the tracks with J. Prodigal since Machismo starting playing on Pandora. So far, it seems like only Wildfire, I Am…, and Machismo from the Machismo EP have been getting Pandora plays. So that was cool to have him there along with James Fate.
If you haven’t heard those tracks from the Machismo EP, you can download it for free.
Even though I lean more towards the DJ side, I’ve always booked myself like a band would. That just means that I’ve played mostly venues & bars instead of traditional night-clubs. This is great because in addition to meeting a lot of area DJs; I’ve also met a lot of great bands and seen wonderful shows. Below is my list of favorite venues to play in Nashville.
5. The End – I’ve played The End just a few times here in Nashville. None of them recently. I did Mashville there way back in 2008; Also BEAT Nashville. And we booked the Holla/Blogworthy joint show there. Speaking of Mashville, I attend frequently. It seems that of all the venues that host it, The End works the best. Just has the right kind of vibe for it, I guess. I’m not going to say it’s hard to get a show there because people play there all the time, right? Anyway, I’ve had nothing but good experiences there with everyone who works there. I wish they had food though Here’s a video of me at the End.
4. 12th & Porter – This place has the lounge and then the big room. If you play the big room, you get the benefit of having “the lights.” I put it in quotations because I can’t readily think of a better light display in a bar/venue in Nashville. With great quality comes a hefty price tag for artists though. All that aside, the people who work there are great. In a town full of artists, they always remember me and are as helpful as possible. For whatever reason though, I can not get people out to see me at 12th & Porter. Why not? don’t you know that I look like THIS when I play there? :
Quiet Entertainer @ 12th & Porter
3. Mercy Lounge – You probably read my last entry about my recent experience at Mercy Lounge. What’s cool about this place, they have great sound and great sound-men. Really nice bartenders and nice manager who seems really in touch with local scene and music overall. And they have a green room behind the stage! If you’re an unknown DJ/performer who doesn’t get to play out of town much, this is pretty cool. Their green room is better than The End’s green room, let me tell you. 
They have a free music showcase on Mondays called 8 off 8th. And while sometimes it seems like the same bands play it all the time, I could probably say that about ALL the music venues because we’re all here playing the same places. Nobody’s fault but ours. I played 8 off 8th once:
Quiet Entertainer at Mercy Lounge
2. The Basement – I have never had a bad show or experience at The Basement. Only good. Plus it’s located underneath Grimey’s, my favorite record store in Nashville. I’ve never really booked a show there myself; I have only been able to jump onto other people’s shows. Chip Greene, for instance, is an artist in town that has always put me on to shows there. My most recent show there was part of New Faces Nite, a free music show they do every Tuesday night. Here’s a video clip of me at The Basement.
1. The 5 Spot – I haven’t played there in a while, but from what I can tell it’s still the most artist friendly place/experience that I’ve personally had. Very straightforward booking process. Great bar staff. Friendly door-persons. I’ve met a lot of my closest artist friends there. I guess I’m ranking them ahead of other better sounding venues because of overall atmosphere and vibe. I don’t smoke at all but it’s a smoking venue and a lot of people are into that. This is great because you don’t want people outside smoking while you’re playing your set. They might as well be inside watching you while they do it! It’s not for everyone but the 5 Spot is great for artists/musicians who want to have a great show.
Quiet Entertainer @ The 5 Spot
I didn’t mention any of the bars and places on Broadway and downtown. I just don’t go there really. Do you? Where’s your favorite place to see a band in Nashville?
I’m playing a show at The Rutledge on Tuesday night. This is especially significant since I have never played the Rutledge before. I’ve always seen it as one of my final frontiers of venues to play here in Nashville. Alright so come out and see me play at the Rutledge, Tuesday night at 8pm!
