Archive for DJ

Bionic at Triple Crown and Dirtybird Party in the Park this Sunday

Posted in Music with tags , , , , on August 1, 2009 by Jack

Sunday, August 2nd is a big day in San Francisco for electronic music parties. I’m spinning at the legendary Bionic party this Sunday night from 11 pm to midnite at The Triple Crown on Market at Octavia. Come and shake it with me!

I'll be DJing from 11 pm to midnite

I'll be DJing from 11 pm to midnite

Also, during the day, another installment of the free Dirtybird’s party in the park. Here’s the details, not to be missed!

Host:
DirtyBird Records
Type:
Party – Club Party
Network:
Global
Date:
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Time:
2:00pm – 6:00pm
Location:
golden gate park
Street:
off of 25th
City/Town:
San Francisco, CA

Description

free rave in golden gate park

Please respect the park and don’t pee in the bushes!

Ages: All Ages

Recent renegade parties throughout Golden Gate Park have made it harder for legitimate operations… such as dirtybird to do our thing. We have spent a lot of time and money cultivating a solid relationship with the Parks Department, and we would like things to stay that way.

*THERE MAY BE A RANGER MONITORING THE EVENT FOR SEVERAL HOURS. Please take this into consideration and let others know. Be discreet with your alcohol and whatever else you decide to bring. The park also has a strict no smoking policy.

*Please do not go to the bathroom in the bushes! This was a main concern in our last meetings with the Parks Dept. The ranger will be specifically watching for this. We have ordered two portapotties for this event, so there shouldn’t be a need to head for the wilderness.

*Please monitor your trash as you go!!! We will be bringing extra garbage bins to ensure that cleanup is painless.

So with all that out of the way, let’s get down to business – ANOTHER DIRTYBIRD SUNDAY IN THE PARK

dirty bird

2 Comments »

Unsung heroes: The Set-up Sound

Posted in Music with tags , , , on June 14, 2008 by Jack

Almost every party revolves around the headline DJ. His or her name splashed across the flyer in some extravagant font, conspicuous notice that the DJ will be flown in from some exotic locale, and whispers of that brilliant set spun on what is actually a computer-synched DJ mix. Nothing should be taken away from the headliner – his/her status and reputation is what gets people into the venue. But I want to focus on the name that goes below the headliner on the flyer: the set-up DJ.

The set-up DJ is the one who comes on before the headliner, the DJ who is mixing while people are filling up the club, buying their first rounds of cocktails, and showing love to their friends and cohorts. This DJ actually has a difficult balancing act to perform: he/she must create an atmosphere that points towards greater things to come, i.e the headliner, while building a vibe out of thin air. There are many ways to mess up the set-up slot: a tempo that’s too fast, the volume too high, the music either too deep or worse, that tries to be peak-time fare. When it’s done properly, the room is abuzz about what’s too come from the headliner. The set-up DJ builds the platform from which the headliner will launch the crowd into the stratosphere of sonic delights.

I’ve been DJ’ing a good part of ten years now, and I was always good either at mixing peak hour sets or really chill, lounge affairs. It wasn’t until I ran my own monthly, and consistently opened for the DJ’s I booked, that I began to understand the nuances of the set-up. In that sense, the most difficult slot is the set-up slot because the entire night essentially depends upon it. It’s too easy to have people leave the venue before the headliner because the atmosphere isn’t balanced between music that is both immediate and reserved at the same time. The sound has to loosen people up, put them in the mood, and keep them wanting more. In a cruder sense, you’re the fluffer.

But while this DJ may be the most critical link in the line-up, he/she is often forgotten at the end of the evening after the superstar headliner has blown the crowd away with peak-time record after record. So I want to give a shout-out to all the DJ’s out there who have dutifully done their best working in restraint, teasing the crowd without giving in to the urge to go all the way, and then stepping aside as the headliner stands on your proverbial shoulders to be showered in accolades at the end of the night. Here’s some love =)

2 Comments »

Beat(off)port

Posted in Blogroll, Music with tags , , , , , , , , , on February 8, 2008 by Jack

 

It’s two o’clock in the morning and I’m in my office.

Point. Click.

Point. Click.

There’s a knock at the door.

“Honey?”

It’s my wife!

I scramble.

An “Uh, yeah,” stumbles out of my mouth as I fumble with the mouse trying to close the browser.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, not much . . . I’m just . . . just . . . looking at porn.”

Silence.

“Well, as long as you’re not on Beatport.”

“Oh, c’mon, baby, you know I said I wouldn’t be doing that anymore.”

It’s a silly scenario, but not altogether without truth. With the easy access of digital music tracks, time well-spent on gay midget bondage videos is now going towards scrolling through genre after genre of the latest in electronic music. In addition, with the scores of formally out-of-print back catalogs being added, there seems to be no end to the deluge of dance music one can scan through.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love vinyl. The feel on the fingertips, the cue under the needle. But vinyl, alas, is expensive. And more importantly, in limited quantities. I can’t count how many tracks I’ve heard and then ran down to the record store to find it only to hear it’s not in stock when I know there are five copies underneath the counter saved for the “crew.” A morally devastating routine, to be certain. But it’s also understandable for the record label to print a limited quantity – it costs a lot of money and time to master, press and distribute vinyl, and even the biggest hits can be in high and hard-to-find demand.

But with the advent of the digital format, no track will ever be out of stock again. That, as a DJ, is simply brilliant. I will never have to suffer the knowledge that I won’t, eventually, be able to acquire a track. I mean, I just downloaded the Surgeon’s “Magneze,” almost ten years after I first heard Jeff Mills backspin into it on his classic “Live at the Liquid Rooms” mix. I’ve dreamed of owning that track and suddenly I can have it forever, without fear of warping, scratching, or theft – only my hard-drive crashing.

The other by-product of on-line digital shopping, with it’s easy access and low-cost, is that now anyone can acquire what was otherwise a strictly DJ-only form of music. That track you heard on your favorite DJ mix can now be yours – in its entirety. And for me, as a DJ who loves all genres of music, I can now afford to buy music that at a record store I would have to put back because I could only afford records that I knew would eventually be used for live performance. I mean, I started buying drum’n'bass again, almost seven years after I stopped spinning it! And I’m all the happier for it.

As a music junkie, I can never get enough. I have to have it, and I have gone to huge lengths to acquire certain tracks – like special-ordering from Germany – for an import price I’m embarrassed to mention now. But, now, since I have unlimited access, I can’t seem to stop. I just know on the next page is that little gem hidden amongst the rows of WAV files that will finally fulfill me. Oh, but, wait, there must be one more on the next page, or the next page, or . . .

Knock, knock . . .

“What are you doing, honey?”

1 Comment »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.