Day 135: Saturdays, a terrible thing.

They really are, especially when the sun is shining, and things are good. Had the BBQ smoking today, with some friends, and some home made sangria... kinda reminds me of being back in Bristol, with that bank holiday feeling. It's a wonderful feeling at that.

The idea that, well forget about Monday the only important thing is right now.. that's something important to hold on to. Really it's how you should thing all the time, I mean, ok so that report has to be in by next week... but does worrying about it make any sense, NO. So just get on with the good times, and prepare accordingly for the bad.

Seriously...

2/365

p&&l

bang!

Day 134: @btdj

As the ghost of Facbook fades almost beyond memory, the young upstart that is twitter starts to ever more proudly reign supreme.

As with Facebook, I didn't really get twitter at first, and, also as with Facebook, now I am annoyingly hooked.

I once scoffed at RT @bollox, and #hashtag nonsense, now all my best thoughts are compact in to 140 chars.

Predictably it's sucked me in, and, I guess like most, it's the openness of it all. There is something pleasing about reading @diplo tweet to @ac_slater. Somehow you feel part of the gang, and, from a DJ perspective, you get more than a whiff of what it's like to be one of these DJ's day to day. "In Dublin now... off to Kuala lumpur next" etc etc...

Bastards.

2/365

p&&l

bang!

Day 133: All you have to do.

There are just two things you need to do today.

1. Download this

2. Watch this:

2/365

p&&l

bang!

Day 132: Needs more kitten...

You know those tunes you hear and you think "could be a bit more kitteny", well here is the answer to your woes. A Glitch/kitten generating VST plugin.

Here is an actual image of the user interface: (I shit you not).

Just open this bad boy up in your DAW or favorite VST host, on top of another midi synth, and let it do it's magic. Below are two mp3s. One just a dull analog stab, and the other one amped up with kitten torturing power.

Get this for yourself from Ohmforce...

No cats:

Some cats:

2/365

p&&l

bang!

Day 131: I want a Lemur (who doesn't).

I remember when midi controllers were at best, a grey box with some buttons, knobs, and if yer lucky pads. Nowadays they are a world unto themselves.

Many will already (possibly unknowingly) be familiar with yamahas tenori-on thanks to blackpool sex kitten Little Boots. This is a fairly conventional 16beat step sequencer/controller really, just with a new pretty interface.

The Jazzmutant Lemur on the other hand takes it to a new level. A multi touch, modular control surface means you can basically run all your synths, and DAW from it at the same time.

They say pictures speak louder than words, and here is a collection of them in quick sequence, in what people popularly call a VID-E-O. It'll never catch on though:

2/365

p&&l

bang!

Day 130: Some footage from the weekend.

Ok so we went to the Meneo gig, and it ROCKED. Had all the energy of 90s ATR, but with the fun of new skool chip tune groovery.

Check out the vid for yourself, and mug shot of Bang the DJ with Rigo from the band.

I know BASIC.............

2/365

p&&l

bang!

Day 129: Getting the frequency right

After beat matching, I would say this is one of the most important/effective things I learnt about DJing. Seems so simple when you think about it, but using kills to drop out conflicting parts of the tunes you are mixing can really make a massive difference.

Once I understood thins my mixing definitely went to the next level, and you suddenly start to have more control over your mixes, and become more creative with them. Once you got this licked, plus beat matching, and know your bars and phrases, you've got the solid foundation you need. Get these right before anything else, it really is worth it.

2/365

p&&l

bang!