I used to DJ back in the 90s but life, career, family etc took over as they do. Most of my old mixes are long gone, victim to several house moves/clear-outs and the short shelf-life of old analogue cassette tapes, but on this page are some that I have kept.
These mixes below were put together using Traktor Scratch Pro (recorded live, using
pre-programmed cue points and looping sections on the fly as I saw fit), controlled by a Hercules RMX
console. I had a couple of years during which I was able to experiment with new DJ tech and had a spurt of enthusiasm.
And then kids arrived 😂
I was asked to put together a mix for a friend's 50th birthday bash. I asked for some suggestions for songs she'd like to include, some favourites from back in the day, and the rest was me filling it with similar tracks or other classics that I thought she would like to hear. It's a mix that jumps around different genres but, hopefully, the one common theme is "That one's a big of a corker!"
A small mix of some of the slower (and angrier-sounding) Prodigy tracks. Having completed a 2-hour megamix some years back which included mostly fast tracks, this has been on my action radar for a while. Includes a few new tracks from No Tourists. Put together in Traktor Scratch 3 with Kontrol S2 mixer/controller (a new toy!)
Having had twin babies arrive in December last year, there's been close to ZERO chance for me to do a mix, or even switch the DJ kit on! But one weekend they both slept for long enough one evening for me to get this one done. The tracks are not brand new - still got backlog from last year! Perhaps I should buy some new tunes ... [UPDATE] And this was the last mix I ever found time for :D
Thinking "What would web geeks like?", this mix ended up being a mix of Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, Trent Reznor (Social Network soundtrack) and Prodigy, as well as some old skool hip hop classics. In short, not my usual approach! Couple of little glitches (I'm not going to airbrush 'em out!), but Ssssshhhh! Don't tell anybody; I don't think they noticed!
... in which I take forever to get around to updating the track listings (as in, I STILL haven't). Rather than let this trifling detail hold things up any more, I'll simply put the mix up here for your listening pleasure. As always, there are some old classics thrown in for good measure along with the new ones. Can you name 'em? If so ... wanna write a tracklisting? ;)
I had some new tracks to mix but decided, for December, to skip them entirely and instead pick out my favourites from 2010 and see how many I could cram into a couple of hours' mixing. Plenty of floor-fillers in here. Happy Christmas!
Another few months pass by and due to various commitments I've not done a mix. Well, obviousy that drought is now over. Bit of a mixture here - some brand spanking new choons, a bit of a Toolroom Records blitz (well, I got a couple of albums and there were so many to chose from) and some more old classics thrown in for good measure. As ever, hope you enjoy!
I tried something a little different in this mix. I had put together a few standalone mashups a short while back, and decided to drop them all in to this one mix. The title is a Jim Bowen reference. Why? No reason at all. I just get bored naming this shit. Oh, and in case you're wondering about the cover art ... you need to see this crazy old DJ. That's what it's all about!
This was an interesting one. I did this without headphones, without pre-checking the tracks I was going to mix and relying *solely* on the re-prepared cue points and beat grids I'd set up. No external controllers or soundcards, just the laptop and built-in speakers. Basically, I just loaded up each track, jump to the point in the track I think will work and hope for the best. Why did I do it like this? For the hell of it, nothing more!
So that one above was the so-called 'harder' mix, thus this one is the softer. Bah! It's still housey-housey duf-duf music at the end of the day. And hey, I used headphones on this one (AKA, I didn't wing it). I think I overused tracks by Pryda on this one ... but they so nice!
The day before @Media London, organiser John Allsopp casually mentioned in an email that he'd thought about asking me "if I'd be able to DJ, but it's complicated now". Nope, it's not ... And one day later I was there, playing for the conference attendees. Archived here for your listening pleasure :)
Arrrgh! A glitch at the beginning of this mix (about 15 minutes in) in tries its best to derail things. Flaming audio recorder threw a wobbly. Small glitch aside, this is another mix that I'm happy with, if not somewhat amazed given that it was done while knocking back endless amounts of lager with my mate Nick. Better fun than going down the pub and spending 3 quid a pint and listening to shit music, eh? Make your own fun and all that. No more mixes for February, so enjoy this.
Back in the days before hip hop turned all dark and moody and when people wore really bad tracksuits thinking it would help them with their 'cool breakdancer' look, Electro was what all the B-Boys listened to. On the east coast, Miami Bass ruled, while LA claimed the electro crown on the west coast. Anyway, enough of the history lesson ... this is some old electro shit right here. It's a pain in the arse to mix, because while the tracks seem like tight production, the producers can't edit for shit and so it's a nightmare keeping stuff in sync. This was take 5 ;-)
A collection of (mostly) laid-back house tracks that didn't make it into some of the other mixes that I've put together recently, hence it's a 'mop-up'. But don't let that put you off ;)
This mix overlaps slightly with the House/Tech house mix I did in December (see further down), but some new tracks in here too that I bought, had not had a proper listen through but threw them in to the mix anyway. Strangely, it worked out well :-)
The whole purpose of this mix was to ensure that everything flowed smoothly *in key*, not just beat mixing, so the playlist was built around that (oh, and I also wanted to put in the house tracks that I thought were just too long to listen to unmixed on account of the ball-achingly long intro and outro beats, taking the best bits in effect!). Got to say, I love the way some of this stuff fits together, one of the smoothest mixes I've ever done :-)
Another mix put together (partly) from suggestions from people over on the VW forum I sometimes lurk on. Armed with 8 bottles of beer, I put this lot together. Two and a quarter hours long with 45 tracks, there should be plenty of your fave old rave tracks in here. As ever, enjoy!
Just under 2 hours of Prodigy, mixed live using Traktor Pro. Tracks from all albums available at the time (this predates 'The Day Is My Enemy' and 'No Tourists') and the early EPs on XL Recordings. Prodigy lovers the world over, enjoy. And the good news? I still have another 47 tracks that I didn't fit into here, so there may be a part two!
Or *mostly* hits. Having done a 2-hour Prodigy megamix, I played it in the car. My wife said "It's good ... but there are a lot of tracks I don't know. Can you do one for me only with the ones I know?" So this is what I did! Sort of (* OK, so there are a couple here that aren't chart hits - they're just more recent ones that my wife knows from listening to Invaders Must Die album! Regardless, enjoy!)
I fancied putting together a mix made up entirely of songs by request from the people on the Volkswagen forum I lurk on. Would it work? Would it be a bit pants? Perhaps a bit of both? Towards the end I had all but given up on it, but I share it here nonetheless! Overall, I think the process of asking for requests worked quite well though.
The first mix that I put together using the new tech (or, the first one that I put together that I was happy with, having learnt the ropes with the new tech!). Quite a few banging tracks on here - hope you like it!
Like This! (Nari & Milani Club Mix) - Unconditional
6 Million (Original Thrashing Rave Mix) - Hatiras
Killer (Jean Elan Mix) - Jean Elan
Who's Afraid Of Detroit (Stanton Warriors Remix) - Claude VonStroke
Going Underground (Original Mix) - Muzzaik
Downpipe (Original Club Mix) - D.Ramirez, Mark Knight, Underworld
Cool (Afrojack Remix) - Spencer & Hill
Serious (Original Mix) - Jean Elan
Wolfgang's 5th Symphony (Original Mix) - Wolfgang Gartner
Latin Fever (Original Mix) - Wolfgang Gartner
Flick A Switch (DJ Dan & Mike Balance Mix) - The Loops Of Fury
Granny Grams (Original Vocal Mix) - Hatiras
Disco Decay (Felguk Mix) - Neelix
Play It Loud (Original Mix) - Far Too Loud
Shake It (Original Mix) - Skinny
Trash House Music (Original Mix) - Dirtyloud
At Night (Original Mix) - Dave Spoon
Bad Girl (At Night) feat. Lisa Maffia (Beat Vandals Remix) - Dave Spoon
Keyboard Cat (Original Mix) - Bass Kleph
More Than Friends (Nhan & Taan's Electro Boogie Mix) - Fukkk Offf
Disco Recordz (Original Mix) - Dirtyloud
You're No Good For Me (Original Mix) - Gareth Wyn
Soul Heaven (Original Mix) - LYS, My Digital Enemy
The Dozens (Original Mix) - Fake Blood
When Love Takes Over - David Guetta feat Kelly Rowland
The Man with the Red Face - Laurent Garnier
Vinyl mixes - just two SL1210s and a mixer!
These were mixed on the trusty Technics turntables and recorded straight in to the computer, so no dodgy tape hiss here. Tracklistings are available for each. Enjoy.