DJ Question: How did DJ's get such perfect mixes?

[Thereza bizarre]

Music concrete is a wonderful thing ,but by the early 80's so was digital splicing techniques as well as sampling and yes the razor always comes in handy......good mixing and a great dj with a marvellous perspective of the perfect sound and image.....

[ianmusic]

ive still got grand groove tapes madonna megamix and a couple of hi nrg mixes id forgot all about them ian b

[eddieo]

Limited time offer!!! That is, yousendit only lasts a week (this is too big for zShare---anyone know of another host?)
I was digging around in the basement and came across this circa-1994 Club KISS Afterhours show I had done, digitized it (THAT was a P.I.T.A.) and uploaded it to YouSendIt. My wife says it sounds really gay (not that there's anything wrong with that), but if you were in clubland in the mid-90's, you might enjoy it. The DJs among you can goof on me (like you weren't already), but this is a couple of very clean sets (I always did this show sober---go figure!). Part 2 is the better half. Enjoy.....or delete!
Part 1
Break (song list from Part 1)
Part 2

[QUINNY]

EddieO: You're a brave man.

I'm glad this thread has been resurrected.

Not knowing any of the music makes it difficult (but not impossible) to be subjective, but if anyone listens to part 2 above and thinks it's well done....PM me and I'll give you the technical lowdown on some of the mixes.:icon_biggrin::icon_biggrin::icon_biggrin: Suffice to say, what I, MixMachine, EddieO and others have written above, largely went out of the window when a DJ had to perform a live mix (often under pressure and/or in a hostile envoironment), proving to some extent that subjectively, DJs didn't get such great mixes going (especially BITD). This is not so much a criticism as a realisation of facts. Once you were in there, doing it....it took a super human effort to get it absolutely right, time after time after time and to attempt to do so was crushingly fatigueing. Hell, I listen to my old tapes and I cringe at some of my mixing. Some mixes between records are brilliantly faultless, but in the main they're just O.K. at best (judged in 2007).

Remember, we're listening to mixes with virtually '20/20 vision' and the benefit of at least 20 years where the tempii on records have been steady enough to make beat mixing a doddle. It may be that this in itself, makes modern day mixing perfection actually more difficult to achieve (especially with dics that are sooo generic). For anyone who's only been accustomed to mixes from the last 20 years, it also might make it incredibly difficult for them to actually know what makes a mix good, bad, or indifferent, except for when the two records go out of sync (which nowadays they should never do).

I still don't believe any of us were super human, but find a tape that disproves it and I'll be the first person to eat humble pie and praise the DJ in question.

[Videoskooter]

if you were in clubland in the mid-90's, you might enjoy it

Eddie, this very moment you're mix is playing live on the bumpercar track and the people really enjoy it. Even if it's older stuff and they don't really know the songs, I've people coming to the cashbox asking which CD I'm playing!!! Very well mixed for a heavy soundsystem. And mine is heavy, I can tell you that :icon_lol: Good mixing, good transition of tracks and I don't hear mess-ups, so...Videoskooter approved!

BTW, who's the sexy female voice on the tape?

[VINYLLIFE]

Thanks eddieo for sharing. I too am blasting your mix here in L.A!!! You've gone global!!! Thanks agian! If you care for early 80's Disco mixes, the guys at Backtodisco.com share occasionally.Thanks again!

[eddieo]

I'm glad the mix is so well received! I realized after posting that there is also a house music forum, which may have been a more appropriate place to post it, but I've never frequented those boards. I started spinning Disco in 1976, stopped in 1981 or so, then had an unlikely "comeback" in 1992 (-1995) spinning house, techno, Hi N-R-G, euro, etc. Maybe with a little more digging, I'll come up with some tape from the 70's! Let me know if anyone is aware of an alternative to YouSendIt, which expires after a week.

BTW, who's the sexy female voice on the tape?

Y'know, I had forgotten all about her, the On-Air personality on the weekend overnight shift at KISS-108 Boston (for any out there without any radio exp., that's the lowest rung on the ladder). Her name was/is June Knight, and while it's often foolish to picture someone based on their voice, June's an exception:

I really just remember that she was sweet to repeat my name so much!

[Videoskooter]

Her name was/is June Knight, and while it's often foolish to picture someone based on their voice, June's an exception

Thank you Eddie! You see, that's where my instinct never fails. I knew she was blond, I knew she was gorgeous. Don't ask me how!

Maybe Graham Start knows a better way of hosting your mixes.

[eddieo]

Eddie, this very moment you're mix is playing live on the bumpercar track and the people really enjoy it....Very well mixed for a heavy soundsystem. And mine is heavy, I can tell you that

y'know the ironic thing is that, when I would make the original mix for the radio show, I would record direct to DAT, which was, at the time, somewhat of a pro-audio niche/novelty (for me at least). my club had a DAT deck (in the lightman's booth, of all places), and I would go in during the day (sober) and bang it out. Because the show would air at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday night, while I was wrapping up at the club, I would record it remotely at home on cassette with a timer. So the ironic part is that while it was recorded digitally with the best available technology, the only surviving copy is the cassette of an FM broadcast that I now, using Roxio, converted to WAV, then AAC, then mp3. That there's any audio quality left is miraculous. I was a skinflint, reusing those DAT tapes over and over, thinking, I guess, that I would never need to keep the originals. I should have known better: back in the 70's, I would make tapes of the hottest stuff for my best friend, and he would routinely give me back a tape after a few months, asking for me to record over it. I warned him that someday he'd wish he spent the extra couple of bucks for a new blank rather than sacrafice this tired old mix. Years later, we would look at tapes and wonder how many layers ago was this or that great blend.

[qdearl]

eddieo - The link has already expired!:icon_sad: I'd love to hear what everybody's raving about. Any chance of reloading the mixes?

[eddieo]

eddieo - The link has already expired!:icon_sad: I'd love to hear what everybody's raving about. Any chance of reloading the mixes?

I'll do it, 'cuz I luv the raves, but does anyone know a host that'll last longer? ZShare can't handle the size, 'cuz they're 30 mins+ .......

[eddieo]

eddieo - The link has already expired!:icon_sad: I'd love to hear what everybody's raving about. Any chance of reloading the mixes?

sorry it's taken me so long to re-upload these mixes....you'd be amazed at the various and sundry projects that I've been so occupied with, like finding and downloading a bootleg of the 1973 Led Zeppelin concert I'd attended. Any way, here are the links again, and, again, they expire in about a week:

Part 1: http://download.yousendit.com/DD87815C3F9F7343
Break: http://download.yousendit.com/A6523BBE0F06BB8A
Part 2: http://download.yousendit.com/EA9DCCC042288568

[eddieo]

alright, last time I hope. I guess Z-Share upped their limit, 'cuz I was able to upload a zip of the whole show here:
http://www.zsharenet/download/5284370cfa46ee/
Supposedly, this doesn't expire. I just uploaded it for a cousin in South Carolina, who says he's gonna post it to YouTube with a slideshow or something....way beyond me (I'm old-skool!).
This really never belonged on this forum, as the songs and the broadcast are mid-90's, so sorry. The setlist is:

Elton John & Ru Paul: Don't Go Breakin' My Heart
Culture Beat: Got To Get It
With It Guys: You And Me
Apotheosis: Dance The Night Away
Haddaway: What Is Love
Sensation: Beautiful Morning
Culture Beat: Mr. Vain

Sharon S.: Wonderful
Kathy Summers: I'm In Love
Robin S.: Love For Love
Juliet Roberts: I Want You
Erick Morillo: I Feel It
Taylor Dayne: I'll Wait
Michael Walford: So Into You

[Houseman]

There's really no secret to perfect mixing (if there is such a thing).

People on the dance floor are out there to have fun... that's number one.
Nobody wants to jerk from beat to beat when a record changes, but I've found as long as the groove of the mix set is solid, the mixes then become less critical to be perfect.

As to your question of how to get perfect mixes, there really is no other way than to know your music... when to come in and when to get out. It is the magic of the DJ that makes the mix sound perfect when in all actuality is just lining up the beats and blending. You can look at it like mixing a cake... to many ingredients will ruin it, but just the right amounts will make it come out perfect.

I was one of the first to experiment with overlays. I did this Chic - LeFreak backbeated by two and on a third turntable use the exit break from Macho I'm A Man... that used to get 'em goin'. Although these two songs were in way different keys and pitch... it's the way you bring one in, level it and fade your underaly out at just the right times. The crowd actually thought it was the record, but it wasn't and people used to say to me... how can I get those disco mixes you play? I can't find them anywhere, and I'd just politely smile and let someone else tell them he's up there doing that himself.

I didn't mean to go on and on, but perfect mixing is like a magician creating magic. It takes practice but mostly creativity.

Hope this helps.

Houseman

[eddieo]

...I was one of the first to experiment with overlays. I did this Chic - LeFreak backbeated by two and on a third turntable use the exit break from Macho I'm A Man...

I think we're all honored to have one of the 'originals' among us, but I remember hearing stories of the pioneers when I started in '76; later, when LeFreak came out, I was considered established, at least in my area, and we were all doing overlays (and echoes, phases, lengthy blends, etc.), and I'm nobody! Where'd you work?

[Houseman]

I think we're all honored to have one of the 'originals' among us, but I remember hearing stories of the pioneers when I started in '76; later, when LeFreak came out, I was considered established, at least in my area, and we were all doing overlays (and echoes, phases, lengthy blends, etc.), and I'm nobody! Where'd you work?

I guess I'm a nobody as well then. I started playing at several clubs and bars in the St. Louis area back in 1977-1978 era. I was 18 years old when I first got behind a turntable. It was just a fluke how it happened but it turned out OK. I then went on for years after that playing at a variety of clubs with everything from old school funk to italian imports.

If you started in 1976 and was doing turntable tricks, I would hardly say you're nobody. If you've made this long and still like the music, I would say that's a pioneer.

Houseman