Disco Mixers

[discokicks]

Quite a few years ago, I bought some 12" vinyl disco mixers at a flea market. They're a fascination of mine because of how much work is involved in creating these busy mixes but the labels have very little information on them.

The one 12" is a 'Goodie Goodie Mixer'. I vaguely remember seeing that title in old Billboard magazine ads. Another one is called the 'Panther Mix'. Then there's the 'Bits and Pieces' mixer which I know I've seen advertised.

I'm assuming these were created by popular club djs at the time but who? How many copies would have been produced? What sort of cost was there in making them? Were they simply a dj's experiment and creation with no intention of gaining anything financially? There's no mention whatsoever of who put so much talent and effort into them.

Oh...and another question: did club djs at the time find these useful?

[Bernie]

One that made some big noise even on New York radio back-in-the-day was The Big Apple Mix by Mikey D'Merola.
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/6343_0_2_0_C/

This was one of the few Disco mixers that I liked and had decent sound quality. Well worth seeking out.

[discokicks]

Originally Posted by Bernie

One that made some big noise even on New York radio back-in-the-day was The Big Apple Mix by Mikey D'Merola.
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/6343_0_2_0_C/

This was one of the few Disco mixers that I liked and had decent sound quality. Well worth seeking out.

Is there one particular song in the Big Apple Mix that the project was based around? I see it was out in 1982. I'd love to get my hands on a particular mixer that I used to play in the early 80's that was based around Yaz's Situation. I can't remember the name of it but Big Apple Mix doesn't ring my bell.

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by discokicks

The one 12" is a 'Goodie Goodie Mixer'.

Is that the 1 that starts with Jimmy Bo Horne's "Is it in" and Pink Floyd's "Money"????

People fought for that one over here as it was an extremely rare bootleg and recordshops were under strict surveillance for not selling those "illegal" mixes BITD. SABAM, the Belgian author-rights society is very strict and expensive. I pay a lot of Euros to them for the permission to play music on my attractions.

And is the "Beats And Pieces" this one?

http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/4387_0_2_0_C/

[discokicks]

Originally Posted by Videoskooter

Is that the 1 that starts with Jimmy Bo Horne's "Is it in" and Pink Floyd's "Money"????

The first song could be Is It In followed by KC's That's The Way I Like It. Are these the lyrics of the first verse of 'Is It In':

It's not the lights or the music, it's something that you're doing to me girl
It's not the dance that we're dancing that's making my heartbeat explode.

I'm not familiar with the track (I loved Bo Horne's Spank though). The chorus of 'Is It In' comes in about half the way into the mix. Overall, it's an excellent mixer with pretty good sound quality too.

As for the Bits and Pieces mix, it's got a label on it 'Disco 79'. The mix is very new wave....terrible quality too. Halfway thru it goes into My Sharona. I don't know what track they've based the mix around. I wasn't too keen on new wave disco back then.

The second side is interesting though...there are two cuts. The first one is a remix of M's Pop Muzik and the second is Cerrone's Rock Me. Both throw 'bits and pieces' of other songs into their mixes. This piece of vinyl must have been released late summer 1979.

[paul]

[quote="Videoskooter"]

Originally Posted by discokicks

And is the "Beats And Pieces" this one?

http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/4387_0_2_0_C/

I thought it was the cut and scratch record from around '81/'82.

[kaliffen]

Originally Posted by discokicks

Is there one particular song in the Big Apple Mix that the project was based around? I see it was out in 1982. I'd love to get my hands on a particular mixer that I used to play in the early 80's that was based around Yaz's Situation. I can't remember the name of it but Big Apple Mix doesn't ring my bell.

Its called OUCH
Starts out with early in the morning Chicken scream OOOKKAYY then to Hardtimes then Situation

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by discokicks

The first song could be Is It In followed by KC's That's The Way I Like It

Yep, that's the one, starts with intro of "Is it in", then a guy says "uh-uh-uh" and then the feast continues. It's a laidback but very well done Discomix and it's golddust, I can tell you that. :lol:

[in-the-groove]

You might want to check out Disco Patrick's excellent website which details many of the various bootleg mixers which came out in the 80's. He includes label scans as well as track listings on many of these. Go to http://members.home.nl/discopatrick/ then click on the 'Bootleg Mixes' link.

Here is a direct link to the Goodie Goodie mixer info: http://members.home.nl/discopatrick/othmix7.htm

Cheers,

Kevin

[discokicks]

Wow...thanks for the info guys!

I checked out Disco Patrick's website and saw a few of my mixers there. What an amazing collection of information! Interesting to see the Controversy Mix (which I have)...also answered my question about that neat combination of At Midnight/ I Will Survive that I remember hearing on a Saturday night radio mix that I used to love back then.

I think it's just nice to hear that raw creativity that djs had in the 70's and early 80's. I remember making my own medleys with a cassette player...hours and hours spent trying to get the beat right on. Of course, you can still find that creativity today but with digital technology, it's just a little too easy now.