Justify It

One of the major complaints that people have about Ableton DJs is that they have lost the interaction with the music because that are not beat matching. The rebuttal to that argument is that by using Ableton we as DJs have so much more power available to us through effects and multiple channels that our DJing sets have a potential to be much more exciting. Unfortunately, many Ableton users don't back that up, but instead do a traditional a-b approach that looses the organic nature of having to manually beat match but has no gain from using computers.

Danny Stamp, a DJ based out of London falls into hat category. And this posting is not intended to bash on him by any means, far from that. In reviewing one of Danny's recent mix I told him that although the mix was decent, it did not take me to the next level and suggested that he break out of the two channel paradigm. Being the big man that he is, Danny listened to the criticism and gave four channel mixing a try.

Below is Danny's mix along with my review from the ALDJ forum:

Danny Stamp - Mood Music (tech/deep house)
http://www.myspace.com/dannystamp

Decided to do something different and try running a mix with 2 or 3 channels pretty much constantly on the go, with 4 active at some points. It's allowed me to squeeze in some tracks I otherwise wouldn't have been able to include. Tracklisting may be confusing as some tracks are only used for a small portion of the mix.

Download it here (right click save as)

Total time: 61:09

[01] Tarekith - Coil - [artist MP3 - www.tarekith.com]
[02] Andy Stott - Massacre - [Modern Love]
[03] Tarekith - Tidal - [artist MP3 - www.tarekith.com]
[04] Ricardo Villalobos - Primer Encuentro Latino-Americano - [Sei Es Drum]
[05] Rufus Wainwright - Tiergarten (Supermayer remix) - [Polydor]
[06] Gel Abril - Very Wrong (Chaim remix) - [Be As One Imprint]
[07] Cirez D - Teaser (Deadmau5 remix version 2) - [Mouseville]
[08] Marascia & Dusty Kid - Plumbi - [Boxer Recordings]
[09] Daniel Portman - White Russian - [Unreleased Digital]
[10] The Rice Twins - Goatee - [K2]
[11] Anja Schneider - Belize - [Mobilee]
[12] Danton Eeprom - These Eyes - [Fondation Records]
[13] Henry & Denis - Catabolism (Efdemin remix) - [Dessous Records]
[14] Efdemin - Just a Track - [Dial]
[15] Samuel L Session feat Elbee Bad - Off the Chain (main mix) - [Klap Klap]
[16] Andreas Heiszenberger - Perfect Moment (Efdemin's Cremant De Cramant mix) - [Brut!]
[17] Gabriel Ananda - Trommelstunde - [Karmarouge]
[18] The Rice Twins - Can I Say - [K2]
[19] Oliver Moldan Pres. Prawler - Club 69 (Jim Rivers Club 96 mix) - [Audio Therapy]
[20] Danton Eeprom - All I Can Say (Shonky's remix) - [Freak 'n' Chic]
[21] DJ Koze - All the Time - [Philpot]
[22] Paul Kalkbrenner - Press On (Joris Voorn remix) - [BPitch Control]
[23] Jamie Lloyd - May I (Quarion remix) - [Future Classic]

My review:

"So I gave the mix a solid listen this morning. First off I am impressed that you are making an effort to push the boundaries. It takes a lot to put yourself out there like that, and if you don't mind I want to post a blog about this.

I enjoyed your mix. I think that this mix had a much looser feeling to it than the last one, and the way the tracks came in and out it felt more traditional just because the rising energy. However, after 45 minutes of listening sonically my brain needed a rest from all the activity that was going on. I think it was Richie Hawtin that said that the silence is just as important as the music.

What I think you should work on developing is a balance of straight a-b mixing and layering of sounds (either as loops or just multiple songs). What I would suggest is start mixing a-b with a couple of extra channels left open. As you are playing and cueing songs you will hear things, maybe a riff, some drums, or a voice that stands out and makes you think, this would really work good withe the song that is playing. When you hear that, bring that element in. You can either loop that element throughout a song, or grab several elements and play with the transition. The key is to be free and experiment. by fine tuning your approach a little, i.e. I have 4 channels open to me, but I don't have to use them all of the time, you will let your mix breath. Overlay 4 elements and bring the energy way up and then drop that bass line for that key track and let it play.

You are definitely on to something here so keep up the good work."

- Charles Cushman