I can't remember exactly how old I was when I fell in love with DJs. Young. Probably around 14 or so. And I'm not talking about radio hosts. My discovery of electronic music coincided with this infatuation and led to me saving my pennies so I could purchase my first set of turntables and mixer.
I got them secondhand from a friend. They were purple Numarks, very plastic and not at all fancy but still - turntables. And they were mine.
I still remember the first record I bought, too. The town where I lived had just gotten its first music store that sold new dance records, so I threw a few bucks together and headed over. I picked up a remix of Tori Amos' "Professional Widow" and a couple other cuts - and that was it. I was hooked. I spent hours teaching myself how to beat-match (because no one I knew in the area really did it so there was no one to pester into being a tutor), bought records, played a couple of house parties...and one day even upgraded to a pair of really nice Numark's and mixer that I still have now.
The trouble was that being a really good DJ requires a serious time commitment that I just wasn't able to make. Between everything else I got up to and a full-time job, both the tables and my skills started to collect dust.
But over the past couple of years - and especially since I've embarked on my desk-jobless life - the allure of mixing has taken hold of me again. And now, with the advent of mp3s and laptop mixing technology, you don't need to lug around an expansive vinyl collection to play shows. So I figured I've let it go for long enough. It's time to get back into the swing of things.
I've got a lot of coins to save before I can get a proper laptop setup, but in the meantime I'm going to work on the basics. A new mix about once a month, if I can manage it, even though I still don't have the ideal set-up (as things stand, the program I'm using doesn't let me hear incoming tracks, so I have to do everything visually and by being really familiar with the songs).
And the first one is here! It's all electro-house (and indie-dance) all the time! Enjoy:
Millbots Electro-A-Go-Go by Millbot
Thursday, July 15, 2010
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6 comments:
Having lost my job on the 9th of July, and not having internet access at home, i missed this. now that i have a new job and access, i'll be rocking to this music a lot. i looooove 'lectronic music! great jorb!
Thanks man! Glad you dig it.
Awesome, Emily. I found this post via LinkedIn and the Edgewood College Alumni group. This is a great mix, no leveling problems, nice clean transitions, and totally engaging from start to finish.
Are you collecting your mixes somewhere? I'd like to hear more.
DPNB - Thanks much! So far this is the only mix I have recorded and uploaded. Any future mixes will end up at my Sound Cloud page, too, so you can always check back there for more.
"They were purple Numarks, very plastic and not at all fancy but still - turntables."
My age is showing: In my day, EVERYONE had a turntable. I ditched mine in 1983 and never looked back.
Nataraj - Hah! Well to be fair I grew up with a little plastic Fisher Price turntable that I would listen to my mother's 45s from the '50s and '60s on. So I've almost had a turntable of some sort.
But I'm just lucky. :)
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