Been away

Working on a post about traveling...most specifically, do's and dont's of flying. Gimme a couple of days.

My equipment @ home.

Decks: Technics 1200 M3D.
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 25 I - II.
Mixer: Allen & Heath Xone 62.
Needles: Shure M44-7 mounted on Technics headshells.

June 2010 - GourmetBeats Radio

Thanks to everyone that locked in. Great times....

TRACKLIST:
Mos Def & Slick Rick - Auditorium
Mala - I Wait Part 2
Cyrus - The Calling
Mala - Bun Da System
Lost - Tumbow
Mala - Eyes
Mala - City Cycle
Lost - Elephant Tusk
VIVEK - Sirens
Skream - Arola
GothTRAD - Cosmos
Distance - Reboot
Kutz & DJG - Hella Tight
Lost - Cheesemonster
Hatcha & Lost - Candy Coated
LD - Fiberoptics
GothTRAD - Sublimation
Vaccine - Bad Habit

DOWNLOAD - right click, save as.

JoeNice Mixes - where are they?

Question: "Joe, where can I find your mixes?"
Answer: www.joenice.net

June 2005 is the earliest radio show archive. 5 years of archived radio shows -- not bad. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the recorded radio shows from May 2005 to the start of Gourmetbeats Radio in September 2003.

If you have any of these mixes, pass them on. I'd love to complete the archives.

Thanks.
JoeNice

Mind over matter? No....your mind DOES matter.

This blog entry is copied text from my response to a post on the Buzzlife Messageboard. The topic was "Teach Me How To DJ".

NOTE: This original post is 3 years old. You live and you learn with time. Experience is always the best teacher. I'm gonna add to this.

1. Know your records/beats. Tempo, intro, drops....know the tunes.
   
   
2. Watch another dj mix. If you've gotta stand near the dj or watch a dj mix on a youtube video, do it. It's not with the intent of trying to bite someone's style. It's so you see how certain things are done. You see with your eyes. The eyes don't lie. Seeing is believing.
   
   
3. Practice -- but not for the sake of practicing. If you're having a bad day on the decks -- STOP. This is how you develop bad habits. And -- you don't necessarily need to practice for 3 hours a day. You practice as much as you feel you need to.
   
   
4. Analyze and understand everything that you do. Most dj's have 2 likely scenarios:
   
   
   1. If you have a good night, you're not gonna focus on what you did to create that success. You were on point -- why mess with it?
   2. If you have a bad night -- your focus is gonna be the mistakes you made. You messed up -- and this is on your mind for the next couple of days.
   
   NEITHER APPROACH IS CORRECT. Question everything that you do. EVERYTHING. If you only question what you did incorrectly, you'll never question and/or understand what you did correctly. Eventually, you begin to believe that you are mixing/performing simply to avoid making mistakes. That's a negative mindset and you won't have fun. As a result, you get worried....you get nervous...and i don't think i need to tell you what you're gonna hear from a dj that's both worried, nervous and not having fun. You have to believe that you're gonna mash up the venue. Mashing up a venue is a positive mindset. It's fun to believe you're actually going to be successful. You're not worried. You're not nervous. This phrase is overused, but when you believe in you, and you're free of all nervousness and worry, you're able to "let yourself go". This "concept" took me years to learn/figure out and i'm not ashamed to admit it.
   
   It's the age old argument: "Does success create confidence or does confidence create success?" Might be a bit of both.
   
   
5. Understand yourself. Maximize your successes, minimize your mistakes.
   
   
6. Don't get complacent. There's someone out there that's working just as hard as you. There's someone out there that wants to headline. There's someone in their mom's basement that's working for what you've worked for. STAY HUNGRY !
   
   
7. DJing is not about beat-matching. Anyone can "beat-match". There's software that will assist you in making sure you have two tunes at the same tempo. That's beat-matching....the name of the game is MIXING. DJ's that are about their craft -- they mix. It's about making two tunes sound like one. Let's face it....plenty of dj's have the same tunes -- mixing is when you can make those same tunes (that everyone else has) sound better because you're the dj that's mixing them.
   
   
8. Believe in yourself. No one will believe in you more than you.
   

First Blog Post / The Mission

During my travels (as a DJ), there's trial and error....much more the latter than the former. You live and you learn. You move on. You gain experience. You repeat the positive and eliminate the negative. The purpose of this blog -- to share my experiences about being a DJ. Not necessarily the technical aspects of DJing or mixing. It's the other stuff: hotels, traveling/airports/airplanes, things to bring, things to leave at home, what to do, what not to do. Mindset. Positive attitude. In my experience, there really wasn't anyone I could ask about these sorts of things. There also wasn't anyone that took a couple of minutes to show me the ropes. It's not always about showing up to the gig, getting a few drinks, playing and returning to the hotel. The life of a DJ is much more. The DJ life has given me so much....it's time I give back. Every person is different....some of the concepts/ideas/topics might not work for you; personal preference. It's my thing. These things don't have to be "your thing", but if you want them to, go for it.

I'm always open to discussion and suggestion.

If one person finds this blog useful: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.