On Djing...

First three,

If you can scratch well(or not), here ya go:

1. Start it up with a sexy hip hop joint or a downtempo track. Nothing bangin', just sweet yet attention grabbing. Make it a track that people aren't exactly familiar with but you wanna make them curious. You must scratch/mix something with it you are sure of your abilities though.
2. Mystic Moods' "Cosmic Sea" is a massive cut to ease into as a second song. Flip it and mix/scratch with something comfy.
3. When the ridiculousness goin' off, the crowd should be into it, then really go into funky overdrive with something like "Theme from Blackbelt Jones" or your holy grail blaxploitation of choice. The party should be off to a good start at this point.

Then when they are getting drunk and frisky and ready to dance,"More, More, More" and "White Lines" are never disappointing spins.

try to keep it interesting, that's my only advice.

i opened my last set with the books' "enjoy your worries, you may never have them again" with robert ashley's "in sara, mencken, christ & beethoven..."... tried to keep it fun and strange.

closed with a bird songs record that i was messing with into the long intro to the colette no5 DFA mix of casiotone for the painfully alone's "baby it's you"... for me it's just something that makes my hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

i really want to do this in some form or another and i think i have a potential foothold at an older gay bar in town. i know/am casual friends with the manager and i've asked him a few times about an empty monday night slot. he's been a little cool about it so far but encouraged me to come on a monday and hear what the later guy was playing. i'm not really hip to popular gay classics or anything but i think some italo and etc. disco wouldn't bomb? (crowd is older gay dudes and random hustlers.) the manager is an ex-cattle-showing country guy who probably wouldn't get too excited if i talked to him in playlist-ese, which is how i'm used to talking to people about music. but i really think the bar (one of the oldest landmarks in the city but kind of "uncool" now) might benefit from something a little more interesting than what it plays right now -- bring in a younger crowd, etc., but also keep its current clientele psyched to come out.

really my question is how should i make this happen? (obviously the first step would be to go there on a monday night and check it out and talk to manager; i haven't yet because of the holidays and assorted stress.) any things to say / pitfalls to avoid? i really want to dj somewhere, somehow, and right now this seems like my best bet.

in general though, how pathetic and gauche is it these days to do the mp3jay thing with an ipod? i think at this particular bar no one would really give a shit, but if i want to keep it up / do something else... i need to invest in a turntable and start buying vinyl right?

re general dj-ing advice: what's the best way for someone who likes music a lot and likes watching people enjoy music and has music he thinks people would enjoy to start playing enjoyable music for people in a public (or any kind of) setting? keep in mind i'm not very good w/ people or schmoozing but getting better and i feel like this is necessary for my future uh happiness. thanks

do you have a laptop?

download traktor and use that.

Based on my experience I'd give two general pieces of advice:
1) Get used to people making ridiculous wishes for a tune, and generally not understanding you don't have every record they'd like to hear readily available in your bag.
2) Get used to people trying to hit on you.

I've DJed mostly in university student parties though, maybe your club is a more specialized setting so these things won't happen so often.

I am a rock guy that came to the DJ game pretty late. It's a fucking blast getting to play my records for other people.

Here's a few quick tips:

1) unless you are going to do dance nights, you don't need to learn to beat match, scratch, or show off any other "skills"

2) FLOW is the single most important thing you can provide. Don't fuck with the audience repeatedly, even if you're playing adventurous music. At least use the "punishment/reward" concept if you must satisfy yourself

3) Don't be embarrassed to pick up a really cheap and useful book called "How do Dj Right". I read great reviews of it, and was blown away at how simple and correct its methodology is.

***

Other than that, yeah--don't use mp3s if you can help it. That's gay.

BTW, you don't need to own turntables unless you're going to do a lot of gigs at places that don't already have them. I do recommend investing in your own cartridges though. That will run you around $60 and will save your records from harsh needles on public decks.

Also, in case you didn't get it, my mp3 comment was a joke. I rely heavily on my vinyl collection because I don't beat match or whatever. So I fall back on two things: my great record collection and my immaculate flow.

:)

Oh yeah, one more thing I've learned: the more drunk the crowd, the less adventurous music the probably want to hear. If you're playing at some club centred around certain genre(s) it might be different, but in general clubs people just want to have a bit of fun and not expand their musical horizons too much.

i've got good flow, thanks. gr8080, no laptop :(. do you think a cheap-ish notebook/laptop w/ traktor or whatever is a better investment for all-purpose dance-ish semi-weirdo dj-ing than a turntable in the future?

tuomas, i'm not gonna be too weird. if anything i'm too sensitive to crowd moods--that is, if i take advice from upthread and don't do it drunk.

And Nate is correct about not needing specialized DJ skills: if it's not a dance or hip-hop club, people probably don't care shit about such tricks. Basically you just need to learn to use the crossfader and try not to follow one tune with another one in completely different tempo (no slow r'n'b jams immediately after a fast house tune). The only things people will notice are blatant fuck-ups, like accidentally pressing the pause button. Which leads to one more piece of advice - don't get drunk, even if your drinks are on the house. A few drinks might be good to ease the tension, but if you get too drunk the potentiality of such fuck-ups is very high.

(x-post)

thx tuomas, good advice.

p.s. manager told me cds were the operating media here so i guess that would be best (though i think i can get away w/ an ipod since the mixing "booth" is like above and hidden from anyone and i could probably find a stereo in and bring some jacks). what i really need to do is check out the set-up tomorrow and see how they're mixing em.

i'd stay away from using your ipod and use cds if you can. burn your best sounding files to cd at least.

ok thx

if you're unfamiliar w/ the basics of using a dj mixer (or even if you are familiar but haven't used the specific type the bar has) see if you can drop in before they open and mess around for half an hour or so, so you can get comfortable with the basics of going from one cd deck to the next.

even if you don't plan on beat matching, the more comfortable you can get with compensating for volume variances between different tracks, minimizing dead air between tracks, perfecting your general flow, etc.

also, bring your own headphones if you have a pair with a 1/4" jack.

also, nate otm. at least stop by the book store and spend half an hour thumbing through "how to dj right".

ok. i'm not a total mixer n00b but i'm unfamiliar with dual cd mixers if that's really what they have. this is great advice + making me think about what i haven't actually thought about yet because i'm too self-deluded and arrogant. i'll check out the set-up tomorrow if i can and report back for everyone's reading enjoyment. and i've got to grab that book; it looks really really helpful. thx nate!

dont forget to have fun, too.

dont get too caught up in pre-arranging your music ("i'll play this track and then this track and then this track...") the best part of deejaying, even at a bar w/o a dancefloor, is connecting with the room and seeing where they're at with regard to what you're playing and how that influences your next selection.

if someone makes a request and you have it, play it. if you don't have it, be honest, but use their request as a springboard to a different topic, musical or otherwise. if people are super annoying and complaining about what you're playing or making vague and non-specific requests, tell them that the next deejay plays the kind of stuff they're into and he goes on in an hour.

also don't listen to tuomas; if you get to drink for free take advantage of that shit! its a bar, not a dance club, right?

always play 'you make me feel mighty real' by sylvester.

haha yes! sylvester will not be MIA

yeah gr8080 i just need to check their set-up and make that work w/ what i have +++++ the flexibility axis. this place is definitely NOT a dance place. people are drinking, eyeing other men and occasionally playing pool. some nights the bar just plays an xm radio station. monday is 'oldies' night but god knows what that means (general '70s/'80s). if anything i need to educate myself on some mainstream (gay) shit from that era to keep the crowd alive. and i am NEVER one to turn down a free drink.

I didn't mean you should take any free drinks, just that you shouldn't get too drunk, if you want avoid errors. But if it's just a bar night I guess it doesn't really matter that much.

I think it's always good to know the general age of your audience, because people usually tend to love the music of their youth the most, so you'll know what songs will be guaranteed floorfillers. For example, I usually DJ in student parties where people are in their early twenties, and I've noticed I shouldn't play too many eighties and early nineties tunes, because those youngsters might not be familiar with them at all. One time I was playing "Informer" by Snow, and two girls actually came to ask me what song it is, they'd never heard it before.

x-post haha i'd like fuck you if you played informer.

nah it really does since i won't be familiar with the setup. but you know, i know my alcohol limit for basic motor/mental control etc. this is all riding on future knowledge at this point though so.....

thanks everyone for yore knowledge and responses. i really needed the feedback, if only to get my own juices going for the whole thing. do you ever have something stewing in the back of yr mind for way too long but you just don't have the guts to bring it into a frontal lobe until you mention it to other people? that's me on this thread. thanks bye

I had weekly DJ gig at a Irish pub in Sunnyvale for a couple of months but ended up quitting over some (admittedly) mild drama. The owner wanted Thursday to become a "Rockin' College Party Night" but we ran into a few problems:

1. The bar was totally dead almost every Thursday, not very rockin'
2. When remotely college-aged people showed up they wanted to hear hip-hop
3. Barflys would bitch and moan when I went off the classic rock playbook and tried to play something edgy like The Clash or Talking Heads.

All of this would have been much more tolerable if they ever gave me A DRINK TICKET OR TWO. I stuck it out for a couple months because the pay was decent, which is never a good reason to keep do something you otherwise love. But after some drama with being replaced without notice for a couple weeks by Ronnie the Karaoke DJ I decided to quit.

I've gone back to mobile DJing and private parties and am much, much happier.

anyway.. strongo break a legski!

haha that's not strongo.

the best part of deejaying, even at a bar w/o a dancefloor, is connecting with the room and seeing where they're at with regard to what you're playing and how that influences your next selection.

this is great advice.

strgn u know u better announce ur first gig we'll be there. i don't know shit about djing so carry on.

if you ever want to play vinyl, needles are essential, as not all clubs even have a house pair and you're expected to bring your own...and if they do have a house pair they're usually crap.

Depending on the quality of the dual CD players, you'll likely find it much easier to use than mixing with your ipod, though having the ipod as back-up won't hurt.

If you're going to burn a set of CDs, make 2 copies of each, that way you can mix from one song two another on the same comp.

Use a short fade or do a quick fade on the first song and fade in or even just start the second song from zero. For instance, when you're cueing the second CD you'll start getting used to finding the beat and even when not beatmixing, you can still make for a smoother transaction by starting on beat. You'll also find yourself getting really bored back there and you'll play around with beatmatching in your headphones because there's nothing else to do. That's how I learned to DJ at least.

ok that makes more sense now that i've finally checked out the two-cd deck. the guy who drops it there monday evening (6-9) is gonna school me on the decks next week (hopefully). and in any case i think i've got a night, or something. thanks everyone for the info and encouragement.

p.s. what sounds as good as "inspiration information" by shuggie otis?

eddie kendricks - 'date with the rain' y/n

definitely practice a bit beforehand. it's actually quite scary, even in a bar or something, suddenly being in control of the music that's playing. stuff like volume levels is actually really important too especially if you're using music that's come from bought cds and mp3s etc, just make sure you stay with the lights at the same level on the individual channels and use the gains to help you with this.

it can be sort of embarassing if you are not beatmatching and the track you mix in is way too loud (or way too quiet)

I wouldn't bother using the crossfader, just volumes up and down, it's more logical when you start off.

if you can practice on the soundsystem even for 45 mins or an hour beforehand that's pretty good too. I know it's a bar but some records sound much more manic and loud when you play them on a bigger system: you may have stuff you planned to play early on that is like this and you'll think "oops" when you play it.

if nobody is dancing, don't be afraid to make things more mellow rather than more intense.

i had a recurring and cliched dream where the track is about to finish and for some reason you haven't and can't get the next one going.

we talk about that a lot on a DJ mailing list I'm on. I don't know if it's specifically anxiety about DJing, or just your mind using that as a way to express anxiety in general. I've been DJing for well over 10 years and in every situation possible, and while I still can get a little nervous, I'm pretty comfortable DJing, yet I'm constantly having these dreams where the song is about to end and I don't have my records with me or I have records but they're all the wrong ones or the equipment is working...

i have been teed up to play a party tonight. i'm not actually a dj and i'm out of practice!! is this going to be a disaster???

the party is a 'P'-themed party. i am going to fudge it with paradise garage-y records, ie: the disco and house in my collection

my first thought:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYTEQjwxXzU

So, I'm thinking about buying a CDJ, as I don't intend to stop buying CD's, and as I have/buy a lot of straight up dance albums, which have many a track that it would be nice to be able to mix.

This all makes me nervous, though, since I've always been rubbed the wrong way by CDJ's, and I can't help feel it'll be an affront to my vinyl (I would really hate to start neglecting it as a neglect). Keep in mind I have no intention to, and don't really want to, use this to play burned CD's.

These aren't cheap, even on craigslist, so I have no idea if it'll be worth it?

must admit i've toyed with this idea in the past - and never followed it up due to a) not being a working DJ, b) the cost.

(party refernced upthread was excellent - tho i finished up lost in a k-hole somewhere - then i played another party a couple months later and it was terrible. never again.)

Hmmn. Well I might able to get a good pioneer one for as little as $400 on craigslist, but even still, $400 doesn't just come out of nowhere.

i guess if you already have enough cds with enough music unavailable to you on vinyl then it is definitely worth it

i think once you've made the leap though, it might be difficult to resist the temptation of buying mp3s and burning them to cd-r, and in that case you'd probably be better off with a copy of serato or whatever

Yeah, I'm kind of afraid of that, but I'm kind of weird in my resistance to burning mp3's (see: "lol teenage guilt over stealing music"), most notably in the fact that a week ago I deleted all the mp3's off my computer (backed up of course) to focus on listening to my acquired music more.

It seems like there's all sorts of pressures to move away from vinyl, and I hope this wouldn't be a push in the wrong direction (though having only one would prevent that).

i think once you've made the leap though, it might be difficult to resist the temptation of buying mp3s and burning them to cd-r, and in that case you'd probably be better off with a copy of serato or whatever

This is exactly where I am at right now.

Hmmmn. I see a pioneer CDJ 800 mk1 for $400. The inadvertently nice thing about the mk1 is that it can't play Mp3's (I guess you have to convert tracks to wav's first), which would be an extra barrier against the potential temptation to play mp3's.

To those out there who DJ...do you enjoy having a sparring partner in the booth? Is it a hindrance?

depends on the person. mostly a hindrance imo. i only ever had one setup where i used to come back to dublin once a month and dj with a mate and we did 3 and 3 the first night and it went great so we continued doing that.

it's very hard to find someone whose music complements your own even if you think you have similar tastes, imo.

I've got it mostly worked out. Most of my playlists aren't that long. I just have this one playlist called "Recent" which is 278 songs that were recorded like, after 2000. I know, my idea of "recent" is ridiculous. And I play almost none of it. Some of my early 2000s nu-disco friends like Metro Area and Danny Wang yes, but much of the rest of this stuff, not really. I just want to? I have a bunch of mixes I've made over the years with a lot of this stuff, that I'm happy with, just never seems to fit in with my decidedly more retro sets, which is what I've always been most comfortable with. So fun to make those mixes, which I started as a sort of "see, I have new(ish) music too".

But I generally have trouble working a lot of that stuff in. Like the old techno and house I play works well with the old italo and new wave, but the new stuff sounds too different to me. And I LIKE being eclectic.

It's a lot of bandcamp stuff, some pretty small/obscure. But also stuff like Border Community, Norwell, Lawrence Le Doux, Roy of the Ravers, Oyvind Morken, Roman Flugel, Young Marco, D'Marc Cantu. Stuff on Lovefingers ESP

I could probably split some of it out into nu-disco, nu-techno, nu-house. Or go by region.

Though I may just split it up into tiers based basically on how likely I am to actually play it.

Stuff like these mixes:

https://soundcloud.com/lodown95/lodown-presents-new-york-endless-another-mix-pt1?in=newyorkendless/sets/mixes

https://soundcloud.com/throneofblood/tob-podcast-075-dan-selzer-aka-new-york-endless-pt2?in=newyorkendless/sets/mixes

https://soundcloud.com/newyorkendless/a-heavenly-imposition

are completely unlike anything I've ever even tried to play in a club/bar/party/etc. But I'd like to. Maybe I just haven't played those kinds of parties. Maybe I'm still stuck on my old days in my 20s where you really had to lay on enough vocals and hooks to get it going. And I don't mind doing that still! I love that.

this mix is a better mix of newer house/techno and classic house stuff that I like, but still isn't what I actually sound like when DJing.

this is more akin to what I sound like playing out:

https://soundcloud.com/the-magic-message/009-magic-message-radio-dan-selzer-womr-921-wfmr-913?in=newyorkendless/sets/mixes

or the first 35 minutes of this:

https://soundcloud.com/newyorkendless/bumped-my-ass-off-at-james-bday?in=newyorkendless/sets/mixes

I don't know if I want to find the best way to mix it up, or find ways to find myself in contexts where I could play more deeper house and techno. There's been a change in NY where techno really blew up in the past 10 or so years and I'm jealous of people where they're banging out techno an the audience is into it and into the energy and not just waiting for something they recognize. I have PTSD, years of "play some michael jackson or prince" requests in Williamsburg bars. On the flip side, I don't actually like the techno and house 99% of people are playing these days so feel conflicted. And find when I'm djing it's still a more low-key space and early enough that I stay in my comfort zone, even if it's a relatively eclectic one, but it's one with vocals and songs, because that seems to work better for me, and because I think it's fun!

Not that I don't like any proper contemporary DJs but even then I find it more likely that they'll mix it up more. Optimo never sounds like the same thing all night long to me, thankfully. I saw Scott Zacharias DJ a sunday night in a bushwick record store 2 months or so back and it was mindblowing. I didn't know a single song and there were long stretches of just deep banging jacking house stuff that could've been chicgo 1987 or somewhere now and then stretches of weird european classic rock or whatever. I don't know what but it was fantastic and everyone was dancing. And I was there from 9pm to 11pm, then went home and got a good night's sleep! What a dream.

Sorry I'm ranting. Generally things are great in NY. People dancing at 8pm or 10pm. On a sunday night. There were MANY years where nobody would start dancing until like midnight in manhattan or 1:30 in brooklyn. The new kids are so keen to just have a good time, it's really cool.

And I'm not being naive, I know what the good and/or popular parties were like 20+ years ago, I was there. More than I am now. Even those huge gigs didn't kick off till later.

not sure I'm making my point, going to go to bed now so I don't say more conflicting things or anything petty or bitter. Tomorrow hopefully I'm gonna process the dozens of tracks I digitized a few weeks ago.

Which does bring up another question. I'm gonna remove some pops, remove the space before, fade out the end etc. Eventually normalize. But does anybody do any mastering of any kind at this point? Or do you figure the record sounds how it should and I ripped it well and should just let that be? Or do you think oh some subtle mastering compression/eq or whatever can help this compete a bit?

When I said "this mix is a better mix of newer house/techno and classic house stuff that I like, but still isn't what I actually sound like when DJing."

I meant to post this: https://soundcloud.com/newyorkendless/definition-of-a-plan

AND getting work using iZotope RX and Ozone for some subtle restoration and mastering and I realize that somehow a good half of the records I ripped months ago are in mono. Finding some of these on the iTunes store so just gonna buy them. This really sucks. Half of those are not available anywhere so I'll likely re-rip. I know Mono is ok in the clubs, but I want it for mixes and listening.

I took Siegbran’s advice and checked out “djay Pro.” Despite the terrible name, it’s nifty! It’s far more interesting than Traktor Pro 3, and, from a software perspective, way more functional than a CDJ-3000. I feel bad that it took me thing long to take a look. I blame the name.

“Fluid Grid” provides a proper, Ableton-like grid where it statically registers a dynamic track to a dynamic grid. I say “it” because, in my limited experience, I couldn’t find much tooling to modify the track and even less tooling for modifying the grid. Nevertheless, it does a reasonable job at the translation, even on tracks where I would’ve assumed it would shit itself like “Good Vibrations” and “Proud Mary” by Ike and Tina Turner (a staggering 90 PM to 170 BPM change). It even managed to keep _reasonable_ time to my vinyl rip of Suicide’s “Ghost Rider” and the J Dilla tracks I tried. It doesn’t do part detection, as far as I can tell, but the analysis did find all the key changes in “Paranoid Android” so parts were easy to spot.

Siegbran was right about the cross-fader. It’s sick. It does all the transitions I’d want as someone who almost exclusively plays dance music. However, it’s so sick that I now want to customize or build my own cross-fader automations, e.g., it doesn’t ship with a jungle or drum and bass rewind transition!

I still need to mess around with NeuralMix (i.e., their segmentation feature) more but so far the results have been mixed.

Not that I don't like any proper contemporary DJs but even then I find it more likely that they'll mix it up more. Optimo never sounds like the same thing all night long to me, thankfully. I saw Scott Zacharias DJ a sunday night in a bushwick record store 2 months or so back and it was mindblowing. I didn't know a single song and there were long stretches of just deep banging jacking house stuff that could've been chicgo 1987 or somewhere now and then stretches of weird european classic rock or whatever. I don't know what but it was fantastic and everyone was dancing. And I was there from 9pm to 11pm, then went home and got a good night's sleep! What a dream.

I miss Detroit parties.

I've always been a fan of djay pro. Started using it in the pre-pro days and thought it got written off because it was so mac/iphone based and had a cute skeumorphic interface. But it was obvious to me at least that it was also extremely easy to use, totally functional and powerful. I've had two controllers over the years that worked primarily with djay off the phone or iPad and was very happy with it. I only moved up to getting a pioneer XDJ-RX2 so that I could DJ with just a thumb drive and get more used to the same controllers/mixers that are in most venues.

Siegbran was right about the cross-fader. It’s sick. It does all the transitions I’d want as someone who almost exclusively plays dance music. However, it’s so sick that I now want to customize or build my own cross-fader automations, e.g., it doesn’t ship with a jungle or drum and bass rewind transition!

I say “it” because, in my limited experience, I couldn’t find much tooling to modify the track and even less tooling for modifying the grid.

The Crossfader Fusion thing, I can see where that is headed: put 8 crossfader presets under your performance pads, select one and map a button to "apply crossfader", and voila: automated transitions. I can see why Algoriddim is hesitant to put this in the interface too prominently though, this is going to absolutely infuriate traditionalists.

Oh and the other cool thing about Djay Pro is that it's as of now the only DJ platform that can use Apple Music (the streaming service).

Me and Nick B have started a new radio show (I’ll post a link when the archive is up). I was a bit sceptical of the studio because they don’t have physical decks, just a little controller with Djay Pro - I’ve got to say I was pleasantly surprised how good it is.

eh speak for yourself, i was having a mare (just for a change)

At the risk of mortifying Nick, here is our first show warts and all! I like it, but I think we’ll get better :) In particular on my side I had a very busy and stressful week at work and have about 15 minutes to get some tunes ready.

https://www.totallyradio.com/shows/special-treatment/episodes/special-treatment-09-may-2024

Nona Hendryx - Transformer
Asti Spumanti - Luxury Life
Fun Fun - Sing Another Song
Scan Man - Arabian (Mang & Trujillo Long edit)
Stone - Girl I Like The Way That You Move
Time Capsule - Sexual Desire
Electric Party - Caribe
La Sellrose Can Can - Happy Morning
Van Jones & Mary Diggs - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?
Rude 66 - In Exile
Mark Du Mosch - Nazomer
Bolis Pupul - Completely Half
Hannah Diamond - Affirmations
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Signal
Jesse Rae - Hou-Di-Ni
Lime - On The Grid (extended)
Gino Soccio - Remember
Pleasure Pool - Ask Your Body
Haruomi Hosono - Turquois
Perfect Vision - This Hook
Jean Luc Ponty - Open Mind (Luke Solomon Body Edit)
PowerPlay - Foolish 4 Ashanti
Life Form - Come Down (June Mix)
Erika De Casier - My Day Off
Needs - Walkin Thru Circles (Thump Mix)
Jordan GCZ - Sunny Side Up
Propaganda - (The echo of) Frozen Face
Change - The End

yeah some truly abysmal mic technique on my part, ugh. it's the one thing that you never practice isn't it? and then you open your mouth to speak and all words and thoughts have vanished from your mind, like cats out of an airlock

i would love to do a presenter-led radio type thing but my delivery is poor. i can talk for england but as soon as a mic is on or i feel i have an audience, i hesitate, repeat myself, lose my train of thought, run out of breath

exactly that. OTOH chewshabadoo is freakishly pro at it, so unflappable. it's just not fair tbh

yup. i have frineds who d a weekly one and they're just great - really clear, no umming and ahhing. it's a chore to listen to me

Haha, pro is definitely pushing my radio abilities! But I have got more confident in managing to bluff a load of utter nonsense out in a clear-ish fashion

loving the show guys

I never heard that Nona Hendryx song. So good.

OMG! They used to play that Nona Hendryx song at the first club I ever attended regularly and I never knew what it was. Thanks for solving a 40 year mystery!

Looking forward to listening to the rest.

Not umming and ahhing is way harder than one might imagine.

when I first started doing "real" radio DJ slots in early 1991, I had only ever broadcast on cable FM, which like its name is only available in homes w/cable. so I had to get a real paper license from the FCC, I still have it. the station manager had this little tape player rigged up so that it started recording as soon as the mic went on, and stopped when the mic was cut. then he would sit there with you, listen back through your show but just the voiceovers, and (pretty nicely really) shred you to bits over every obvious mistake. he turned out to be a jekr in some ways but he was a great old school radio teacher, and those lessons have stuck with me ever since.

also, for most normal mics, position them at a 45 degree angle to your mouth, it helps minimize the sibilants and plosives. and listen in headphones of course.

"jerk" lol

Celia played the Nona Hendryx - it’s featured on the film Love Lies Bleeding out at the moment.

I've always had a love/hate relationship with Laswell and his catalogue, but when he was great, he was great. I was already pretty steeped in NY disco not disco type stuff and had that Material album One Down and probably had never listened to it. Then a few years into my descent into italo-disco I finally realized my favorite ever italo song was a Material cover. The cover is better...but not much.

I like all the early Material stuff from when they were an actual band, Temporary Music and Memory Serves, I have zero interest in everything afterwards

was interviewed for a radio show...DJ was exploring the book Meet Me in the Bathroom and wanted to talk more about what was going on in NYC in the early 00s. As I'm happy for any attention and chance to reminiscence, I was game. Plenty of talk about DJing, then and in general, as well.

https://soundcloud.com/donplay/interview-w-dan-selzer-on-meet-me-in-the-bathroom-plant-bar-and-deejaying-in-the-electroclash-era