Picked up a new piece of equipment yesterday from Guitar Center. First of all I'll plug Guitar Center again for a sec... they pricematch from the web, AND I can go pick it up immediately. Totally a win-win situation.

So since I've been getting into spinning more of the funky breaks and hip hop shit, I really want to be able to have a bit more freedom and flexibility and not just be bound to what I can get on vinyl or mp3. Since I've always been a harwdware dj (instead of software), a sampler seemed the logical choice. But, instead of just being limited to a sampler, I decided to go with the Roland SP-404 which is a combination sampler / drum machine.

After a night of experimenting and trying to learn how to use some of the different features, already I'm pretty happy. Recording samples in to the 404 is relatively easy. Hit the record button, and it'll record from whatever audio source you're using, or there's even a built-in mic (which I haven't tried yet). Trimming down the samples and loops is a bit tedious at first, and it can take a little while to get the loops to sit properly, but once you've done it a number of times you get used to the process. a

I'm still getting used to all the nuances, but I've spent most of a day with the 404 and already it's proving to be exactly what I was looking for. Listen for it in the next few podcasts and mixes, I'm sure you'll still hear me getting used to it for a little while!

I really wish there was a Dave & Busters a little closer than Providence, this place is fucking magical! No cover charge, relatively cheap drinks, lots of video games, definitely an adult playground! Kind of forgot it was Valentine's Day, though... quite a bit of talent, but unfortunately very little of it was unattached. Just a little disappointing. Oh well, just means more booze. :)

So we hit D&B on our way over to Therapy in Providence, really just a few minutes away. I think we'll be making this the regular meeting spot when we head down to Therapy again; looks like a few others had the same idea, we ran into a few other DJ's there relaxing before the club opened. Unfortunately, D&B was totally the highlight of the night... we stayed there until about 1:30am after the bar had closed (damn, I missed last call and didn't get to get a final drink!), then drove over to Therapy. It was basically an after hours night at Therapy, they opened the doors at 1am. Really poor turnout, I'd say about 50-60 people when we showed up. Again, forgot it was Valentine's Day, and it seemed to bring out a lot of the 'it's my first rave' crowd. I must just be getting old and jaded, but the stupid fucks with the glowy necklaces and bracelets like you're at the goddamn county fair, seriously? What happened to the good old glowsticks and pacifiers we used to make fun of the candy kids for?

At least if the crowd isn't good, you know you've always got good music to make up for it, right? Nope, sorry, not this time. Sneaker and the Dryer v3.0 (Beatz is going through partners faster than I go through toilet paper) were not good at all. Being a breaks DJ myself, I am always supportive of the breakbeat acts that actually get to play main room, but I just couldn't find the heart this time. I didn't bother going up into the DJ booth to see the equipment, but from the dance floor I could see both Beatz and TJFX had computer screens in front of them. The mixing (if they were actually mixing anything) was a bit sloppy, and the tracks were pretty weak. They were trying to spin some ravey breaks, but it just came out sounding low energy and boring. On top of that, the sound was all muddled and a little distorted, so it wasn't really even banging the system like it normally does.

Anyways, left Therapy at like 3:30 quite disappointed. At least we had entertainment for the ride home. :) But yeah, Dave and Busters was fucking awesome.

Went down to see the Crystal Method guys play a DJ set last night at Underbar. Underbar is down on Tremont street, right in the theatre district, so parking was kind of a bitch. We were able to get a spot pretty easily once we drove away from the club a bit, but man, it was so fucking cold I could barely move by the time I walked in the door!

I've got to say, Underbar is an unbelievable venue. It's pretty unassuming when you first walk down the stairs, and the front room where they were playing some downtempo house was only mediocre, but when you walked into the back room (which is obviously the main room), it turns into a pretty cozy little club! The sound system in there is crazy. There were huge 2 1/2 foot horns flown around the dancefloor, and I have no idea what they were using for subs, but when the bass hum hit it definitely made it hard to breathe. :) The audio rack was quite impressive, floor to ceiling processors and amplifiers. I love flashy lights. But, of course, all the glitz and glamour does come at a price -- a goddamn steep price for drinks. At $10 apiece for mixed drinks, I was glad I didn't come out with the express purpose of getting hammered; I can't believe how much those full bottles must have cost, and there were groups of kids POUNDING bottles of Grey Goose...

Melee was playing when we first showed up, and something Bookum said to me that I totally agree with is that Melee does an awesome job of staying in his place when he's playing an opening set. I mean, when he plays at 2am at Therapy or something, he smashes the place up with peaktime tracks, but for this opener he kept it down to a steady pulse. There were still lots of great tracks and I thoroughly enjoyed the set, but you could tell he was holding back a little bit.

So the Crystal Method guys jumped on around midnight, and I was pretty impressed. Usually there is a complete separation between good DJ's and good producers. Usually good producers are relatively shitty DJ's and vice versa. One of the two guys was a noticeably better DJ than the other, but they pulled out a lot of harder electo breaks, electro house, and some stuff that I can't really even put in a specific genre. :) Not really sure what all they were using for equipment up there, I mean I know he was spinning CD's, but there was a Mac laptop up in the booth, so I assume they were running Ableton or Serato too. They ended up turning out a really good set, lots of ravey breaks and buildups that kept the whole crowd with their hands in the air. You've gotta love it when the DJ's really understand how to play FOR the crowd... too many DJ's these days are playing TO the crowd instead of for them.

But I really really really fucking hate goddamn club sluts. I would love to impale one of those stiletto heels through their eye.

First of all I really want to say that this party kicked some serious ass. Honestly, I haven't seen a full on RAVE like this in a long time. There was an awesome vibe, everyone was definitely having a great time, and I saw some heads I haven't seen in a while.

I was a little skeptical of the venue, and honestly a little concerned about the turnout of this party since it was 4 fucking hours up into Maine, but when we rolled in and saw all the cars, then walked inside to the rave wonderland with all the decorations and shit, I knew it was going to be solid.

Costumes were great, I think Keither was the best with his Tin Man on stilts! I have absolutely no idea how he managed to make it into the second room on those during my set, but fuckin props to him.

There were also some great sets at the party, Lunchbox fucking killed it, especially on decks that were a little shaky (Bookum and I actually spun CD's most of our set since the tables kept skipping!). Also, as always, Fig and Soappy kept the vibe going with an outstanding breaks set in the main room.

Bookum and myself spun some harder electro styled breaks, with some booty and a little fidgit thrown in. Definitely thanks to Audio, Soappy, Tight Crew, and Mass Mafia for having us out, I had a great time!

I picked up a DBX Driverack PX from Guitar Center the other day (Guitar Center pricematch FTW!) to go with my JBL Eon G15 powered speakers, and what a difference this module makes with the sound in the DJ Room. The biggest thing about this box is that it comes with presets for most of the major brands of powered speakers, including my JBL's. Pulling up the JBL from the menu, the Driverack is automatically loaded with the proper crossover settings and filter configuration for the speakers. Badass.

The other piece of technology in this thing that blows me away is the RTA mic input and the Auto EQ function. Basically, you plug a mic into the Driverack, the module pumps out some pink noise, then analyzes the output and automatically sets the rest of the parameters such as EQ, Feedback elimination, etc. This really allows you to open up the capabilities of the speakers and let them perform as they were designed to!

Now, the driverack isn't limited to handling just powered speakers, I've also got it set with a little bit of custom configuration to drive the 18" subwoofer as well. With the Subharmonic Enhancement turned on, I can literally vibrate my shirt from across the room! This 1U rackmount box has replaced 4-5 different pieces in my audio setup, and done a FAR better job than any of those standalone components could. I give it a 5/5. Fucking awesome piece of equipment.

Ok, there have been some changes with the way the site is being hosted and I realized the podcast has not been getting updated recently. I'm actually going to put the podcast on hold while I get the site redesigned and get all of the kinks worked out. Don't worry, Studio Sessions will be back with all the funk, breaks, dnb and whatever the fuck else we feel like playing.