8 ms·

The Art of DJing: Jeff Mills

92 points by pmcpinto 8y ago

dnhz 8y ago
Example no. 1. Jeff Mills once put out a DVD demonstrating his techniques. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtw2-kL32YM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtw2-kL32YM (Exhibitionist Mix, 2014). Excerpted in the interview (start around 18:00 for The Bells)
- 0db532a0 8y ago
  There’s The Purpose Maker as well: https://youtu.be/vUgwa5sJRKs https://youtu.be/vUgwa5sJRKs
empath75 8y ago
My advice if you want to be a DJ is to skip learning how to mix with turntables and go straight to ableton live. It took me years to get good at beatmatching, and played gigs in front of thousands of people, but you can be perfect with a few hours spent learning ableton live, with as many effects and filters as you could possibly want. I switched to ableton basically the second I found out about it and never went back. It’s really hard to do what Jeff mills is doing with turntables. Like years and years of many hours a day practice. You can recreate it in ableton live with absolutely no practice at all and then do more stuff on top of it. Of course ableton doesn’t tell you the right moments to mix or the right songs or the right way to filter and so on, so there is still a lot of artistry and skill, but just in terms of dexterity, it’s a lot easier.
- hjek 8y ago
  > My advice if you want to be a DJ is to skip learning how to mix with turntables and go straight to ableton live. Mixxx[0] is a good free/libre option (not necessarily for doing what Ableton does, but for DJing). [0]: https://mixxx.org/ https://mixxx.org/
- pennaMan 8y ago
  Depending on the musical niche, mixing with turntables and actual vinyl records earns you valuable respect, at least until you make a name for yourself.
  - igotsideas 8y ago
    Facts!
- igotsideas 8y ago
  This is terrible advice. It’s like telling someone to not learn how to program, just use wix for your websites. If you want to learn how to dj, learn to mix on turntables, cdjs, or a controller. IMO, you’re missing a lot of fun if you rely on Ableton for everything and you have less control over your mixes. You can do just as much with Serato fx as you can Ableton effects if that’s your worry.
  - platz 8y ago
    For a long time in the U.K. they didn't even beat match, because being a DJ was about song selection and arrangement.
  - laumars 8y ago
    I am an ex-techno DJ and have had quite a number of bookings in the UK as well as produced a few tracks of my own too. I made the switch to Ableton years ago when I found turntables actually hampered my creativity (and I don't say this likely since I was a competent in 3 decks and beat-mixing tracks of different time signatures - which is a hard skill to learn) Beat mixing is only a very small part of DJing and is not a creative part of the process. It's a technical skill - nothing more. Telling people they must learn how to beat mix on turntables before learning Ableton is like saying someone must learn how to paint with oil paints before they're allowed to use Photoshop. What actually matters is what enables performers to create the best live performance. One thing I will agree with you on is that I have more of an emotional connection with vinyl because I'm physically connecting with the playback media. I've never gotten the same emotional connection with CDs nor Ableton. However this is a tactile response and nothing to do with the music itself so the audience wouldn't experience that.
    - empath75 8y ago
      > Beat mixing is only a very small part of DJing and is not a creative part of the process. It's a technical skill - nothing more. This. I spent years djing at clubs and opened for some of the biggest names in the world and know tons of djs and producers. Nobody talks about beatmatching except people just getting started. A lot of people learned it because it was the only way to mix records for a long time, but to me, it's an utterly pointless skill to have any more.
- pwssb 8y ago
  In the end its about music after all. You can be shitty on Turntables but as well on Ableton Live. Beatmatching is only the groundwork of good mixing. Jeff Mills is great both in technial but also musical terms.
  - empath75 8y ago
    I agree. I think he's a genius. But I think it's easy to look at what he's doing and think that the turntable part is the genius part and it's really like 10% of it, but it's a huge barrier to get started.
- schrijver 8y ago
  I never properly learned DJ-ing with turntables, but that’s how I first got introduced to it, and I must say the inherent simplicity (hard, but simple!) of that setup made it easier to understand how mixing works. There’s definitely an elitist side to the new turntable purism though and I think DJ-ing with software is much more practical and accessible for most. Although I think it makes sense to try out turntables at some point just to understand where it comes from. When you talk about mixing in Ableton, the one thing I wonder about is the live aspect. In most DJ-software it’s super easy to set cue points and loops and do remixes on the fly. As far as I understand, with Ableton you’d have to prepare your track properly by cutting it up in ‘clips’ before-hand. Or does that become super fast with practice?
  - empath75 8y ago
    I usually marked them up ahead of time, but it doesn't take very long to add a loop point on the fly. I'd usually have maybe 40 or 50 songs ready to go for a 2 hour set and play maybe a third of them? It was very very rare that I'd add in another song, usually from a request. When you're djing a lot you don't tend to change your live set that much. So doing prep work is like moving around a dozen songs between sets maybe.
- lewisflude 8y ago
  I've worked as a DJ and have roughly 10 years experience using Ableton Live. When I've used Ableton for DJing, I've found it's really good if you set up your set and performance macros (filters, delays, reverbs, other effects) in advance. I'd actually recommend Traktor (https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/traktor/ https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/traktor/) if you want some training wheels/assistance getting all the beatmatching stuff right. It's a really great compromise between "live-ness" and all of the handy functionality you get from using software. Some CDJs have pretty reliable/great sounding effects built in that do the job really well.
- haywirez 8y ago
  It's not that hard to learn to mix well with turntables, especially if you have a background in music production or instruments. It's a logarithmic curve, I think you can get there in ~2 months, putting in some time daily. Compared to learning how to play any musical instrument well, it's rather trivial. It's probably harder to get good at handling the mixer, levels and EQ as DJ software abstracts this away with auto-gain (again if you have no solid experience in sound engineering). Learning how to choose good cue points (phrasing) will again take some time if you have no idea about musical composition, but it can be simplified (usually 16-32 bars, outro -> intro, breakdown -> buildup). On top of that, add 'harmonic mixing'. The thing is, if you don't put in the time to learn beatmatching by ear and hands, you likely won't learn how to listen attentively. Even if you auto-match the tempos based on BPM, you'll get ugly phase mismatches on the kicks and snares/claps that will sound bad and you won't even be able to notice how a small nudge could make it all gel much better. Another tendency is to simply mix and switch tracks too fast because you have nothing else to do, the software makes it instant. The audience always takes a longer time to get into a track than you. But in the end, I've seen no correlation between skill and event lineups. Source: 15+ years of experience
- MaddAgent 8y ago
  While I sort of agree with the sentiment of this, I really can't see any downside to learning how to do a decent mix on a pair of turntables. It helps to break things down to the bare minimums, no fx, no beat-sync, nothing. Basically, if you can pull off a great mix with just two dekcs and a mixer, you'll be fine to move forward with whatever else you choose to use. Plus you know (and hopefully respect) where it all started / came from.
- doublerebel 8y ago
  Ableton is actually worse at beatmatching than the human ear. A trained human can easily recognize a shift of 11ms, which is a fraction of a BPM [0]. Beat matching algorithms are not as good or reliable, leading to "thick" beats where the two tracks aren't quite aligned, causing weird audio artifacts. Of course, if you never learn to beatmatch by ear (and never learn to drum), you probably won't develop the skill, leading you to think the mix is right on while educated listeners are cringing. Effects and filters only sound good if the underlying mix is great. Effects and filters are widely overused... Just like in Photoshop. Better just to start with fundamentally good art, it will need less additions. [0]: At 130bpm, a tenth of a beat is 46ms, so if both tracks are auto-beatmatched to one-tenth of a beat precision (130.0) as is the typical accuracy claim of every major dj tool, it's still 4x less accurate than the human ear. (1000ms * 60s)/(130bpm * 10)
  - empath75 8y ago
    > Ableton is actually worse at beatmatching than the human ear. I never relied on the automatic beat detection. I manually adjusted the beat markers on every single track I played ahead of time. For most EDM the BPM doesn't waver at all, and most producers tend to use round numbers, so it's generally not actually that hard. The only trick is being consistent about where in the kick you mark it. I tend to use the snare/claps to calibrate, because those are generally where you can tell if there's drift. It's also easy to shift a track by a few milliseconds live if you notice that it's a bit off. > it's still 4x less accurate than the human ear. It's still way way more consistent than even the best analog turntables. You have to adjust constantly when mixing with technic 1200s because of drift.
    - doublerebel 8y ago
      Yes, every track has a different matching point, you're quite right and that's the attribute of bpm most difficult for computers: which peaks to count? Manually pre-setting tracks has to be very consistent too -- if you pick claps on one track and go for snare on another, claps might bias the upbeat and snare the downbeat and when Ableton matches the tracks the kick will sound off. That's the problem as you identify: any two tracks may have a sound that matches best for that particular mix point, so it might need to be adjusted live. But if you are adjusting tracks live by a few ms... It sounds like you have learned beatmatching and are using it! To your other point: analog turntables, especially 1200s in good shape, do not drift. A proper beatmatch can and should ride the whole track. Multiple manufacturers make turntables of this quality. The error you saw was either poorly maintained equipment or an inexperienced DJ.
- caseyohara 8y ago
  This is terrible advice, and completely misses the point of the article. It’s really hard to do what Jeff mills is doing with turntables. Like years and years of many hours a day practice. You are right it's really hard, but that's exactly what makes Jeff Mills a special and respected DJ; that virtuosity is the art of DJing. Anyone can skip all of the hard work, just learn Ableton Live, let the software sync everything for you, and blend two tracks together. But there's no art in that. That said, Ableton and other digital DJing software are a perfectly good place to learn and grow, just not a substitute for putting in the hard work.
  - balfirevic 8y ago
    It's about the music that comes out of your performance - you don't get extra points for doing it the hard way. Some people will admire the skill but they might also admire DJ-ing while playing Tetris with your other hand. If you get the same results by doing it the easier way - all the better. > just not a substitute for putting in the hard work It appears that it is. Well, not really of course, the actual important part of choosing what, when and how to mix, responding to the audience and creating the atmosphere - that's something you still have to do.
    - empath75 8y ago
      It's a substitute for _learning how to beatmatch_ which is incredibly time consuming and a big barrier to getting started.
b0bby_tabl3s 8y ago
Art!? ROFL!!!!
parksy 8y ago
I enjoyed reading this article immensely. I'm a nobody bedroom producer but the description of the feathering and blending out tracks, and his interaction with the audience and how he's using layers to tell a story from his mind and not just appeasing the crowd really spoke to why I do what I do the way I do it, made me respect the man all the more for his integrity, and it's something that is increasingly difficult to do - be an artist above being a slightly randomising musical xerox. There's a message there for producers and DJs that there's a soul or spirit that's always at risk, and we have the ability to uphold it. Reading Jeff's description of the mental process not just the mechanical process... I was sad the article seemed to just touch on those areas and would love to see deeper into the artistic process. When he's imagining approaching a planet, or being in the forest, and how that translates to music for him. What a legendary DJ. I'd love to see / hear him do a modern set mixing old school hits records like he described. And now I'm falling down a youtube hole back into the 80s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejSvyXlin_s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejSvyXlin_s
pmcpinto 8y ago
It's nice to see so many electronic music fans in HN
0db532a0 8y ago
For people interested in learning more about the Detroit electronic music scene, here are some more must-check names: Drexciya James Stinson Gerald Donald DJ Stingray Sherard Ingram Der Zyklus Dopplereffekt Gedankenexperiment Transllusion Clarence G The Other People Place Underground Resistance Robert Hood Marcellus Pittman Moodymann Theo Parrish Juan Atkins DJ Qu DJ Jus-Ed Eduardo de la Calle Terrence Dixon Omar S Clone Records
- chiefalchemist 8y ago
  I realize you listed UR but we have to give respect to Mad Mike and list Mad Mike as well. p.s. Thanks for keeping +8 off that list ;)
  - 1001101 8y ago
    Batting 1/3 on the Belleville 3.
  - escapologybb 8y ago
    Mad Mike Banks and Richie Hawtin literally made my head turn into a small puddle of goo at Glastonbury 98, I honestly think I left a couple of drops of my soul in a field that sunny afternoon.
- escapologybb 8y ago
  I'm not sure if this is topic or not, but I saw pretty much most of the people on that list in a convention centre in Amsterdam for my 21st birthday. There were 25,000 people in attendance and it was so big that there was a full-sized fairground ride that you couldn't see it from one end of the hall to another. It was so big that the teeny tiny Jeff Mills couldn't really be seen behind the 8 decks he was using (I mean seriously, 8 decks.. who does that?). That was 20 years ago this year, and other than Orbital live it is still probably one of the best electronic music nights I've ever been to. And considering I grew up in Manchester in the 1990s, I've been to a lot of Techno nights! Anyone enjoys the list you've posted (which is very excellent by the way, we should totally be BFFs!), might also enjoy Dave Clark, the Baron of Techno and for something a little bit more on the bouncy house side there is also the giant Carl Cox. I'm listening to Changes Of Life[1] full volume right now, I've literally got goosebumps. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tFBH_BWibg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tFBH_BWibg
clydethefrog 8y ago
Fantastic feature aside, does anyone love the design and functionality of Resident Advisor? The only review sites that feels like an institute in it's genre nowadays, while all the other review platforms have sold their soul. They have an excellent artist and event database too. Fingers crossed it will never change.
- shermanyo 8y ago
  I can't speak highly enough of RA, they've been a key part of my music discovery and insight into so many of the artists I follow.

92 points by pmcpinto 8y ago

dnhz 8y ago

Example no. 1. Jeff Mills once put out a DVD demonstrating his techniques. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtw2-kL32YM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtw2-kL32YM (Exhibitionist Mix, 2014). Excerpted in the interview (start around 18:00 for The Bells)

0db532a0 8y ago
There’s The Purpose Maker as well: https://youtu.be/vUgwa5sJRKs https://youtu.be/vUgwa5sJRKs

empath75 8y ago

My advice if you want to be a DJ is to skip learning how to mix with turntables and go straight to ableton live. It took me years to get good at beatmatching, and played gigs in front of thousands of people, but you can be perfect with a few hours spent learning ableton live, with as many effects and filters as you could possibly want. I switched to ableton basically the second I found out about it and never went back. It’s really hard to do what Jeff mills is doing with turntables. Like years and years of many hours a day practice. You can recreate it in ableton live with absolutely no practice at all and then do more stuff on top of it. Of course ableton doesn’t tell you the right moments to mix or the right songs or the right way to filter and so on, so there is still a lot of artistry and skill, but just in terms of dexterity, it’s a lot easier.

hjek 8y ago
> My advice if you want to be a DJ is to skip learning how to mix with turntables and go straight to ableton live. Mixxx[0] is a good free/libre option (not necessarily for doing what Ableton does, but for DJing). [0]: https://mixxx.org/ https://mixxx.org/
pennaMan 8y ago
Depending on the musical niche, mixing with turntables and actual vinyl records earns you valuable respect, at least until you make a name for yourself.
- igotsideas 8y ago
  Facts!
igotsideas 8y ago
This is terrible advice. It’s like telling someone to not learn how to program, just use wix for your websites. If you want to learn how to dj, learn to mix on turntables, cdjs, or a controller. IMO, you’re missing a lot of fun if you rely on Ableton for everything and you have less control over your mixes. You can do just as much with Serato fx as you can Ableton effects if that’s your worry.
- platz 8y ago
  For a long time in the U.K. they didn't even beat match, because being a DJ was about song selection and arrangement.
- laumars 8y ago
  I am an ex-techno DJ and have had quite a number of bookings in the UK as well as produced a few tracks of my own too. I made the switch to Ableton years ago when I found turntables actually hampered my creativity (and I don't say this likely since I was a competent in 3 decks and beat-mixing tracks of different time signatures - which is a hard skill to learn) Beat mixing is only a very small part of DJing and is not a creative part of the process. It's a technical skill - nothing more. Telling people they must learn how to beat mix on turntables before learning Ableton is like saying someone must learn how to paint with oil paints before they're allowed to use Photoshop. What actually matters is what enables performers to create the best live performance. One thing I will agree with you on is that I have more of an emotional connection with vinyl because I'm physically connecting with the playback media. I've never gotten the same emotional connection with CDs nor Ableton. However this is a tactile response and nothing to do with the music itself so the audience wouldn't experience that.
  - empath75 8y ago
    > Beat mixing is only a very small part of DJing and is not a creative part of the process. It's a technical skill - nothing more. This. I spent years djing at clubs and opened for some of the biggest names in the world and know tons of djs and producers. Nobody talks about beatmatching except people just getting started. A lot of people learned it because it was the only way to mix records for a long time, but to me, it's an utterly pointless skill to have any more.
pwssb 8y ago
In the end its about music after all. You can be shitty on Turntables but as well on Ableton Live. Beatmatching is only the groundwork of good mixing. Jeff Mills is great both in technial but also musical terms.
- empath75 8y ago
  I agree. I think he's a genius. But I think it's easy to look at what he's doing and think that the turntable part is the genius part and it's really like 10% of it, but it's a huge barrier to get started.
schrijver 8y ago
I never properly learned DJ-ing with turntables, but that’s how I first got introduced to it, and I must say the inherent simplicity (hard, but simple!) of that setup made it easier to understand how mixing works. There’s definitely an elitist side to the new turntable purism though and I think DJ-ing with software is much more practical and accessible for most. Although I think it makes sense to try out turntables at some point just to understand where it comes from. When you talk about mixing in Ableton, the one thing I wonder about is the live aspect. In most DJ-software it’s super easy to set cue points and loops and do remixes on the fly. As far as I understand, with Ableton you’d have to prepare your track properly by cutting it up in ‘clips’ before-hand. Or does that become super fast with practice?
- empath75 8y ago
  I usually marked them up ahead of time, but it doesn't take very long to add a loop point on the fly. I'd usually have maybe 40 or 50 songs ready to go for a 2 hour set and play maybe a third of them? It was very very rare that I'd add in another song, usually from a request. When you're djing a lot you don't tend to change your live set that much. So doing prep work is like moving around a dozen songs between sets maybe.
lewisflude 8y ago
I've worked as a DJ and have roughly 10 years experience using Ableton Live. When I've used Ableton for DJing, I've found it's really good if you set up your set and performance macros (filters, delays, reverbs, other effects) in advance. I'd actually recommend Traktor (https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/traktor/ https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/traktor/) if you want some training wheels/assistance getting all the beatmatching stuff right. It's a really great compromise between "live-ness" and all of the handy functionality you get from using software. Some CDJs have pretty reliable/great sounding effects built in that do the job really well.
haywirez 8y ago
It's not that hard to learn to mix well with turntables, especially if you have a background in music production or instruments. It's a logarithmic curve, I think you can get there in ~2 months, putting in some time daily. Compared to learning how to play any musical instrument well, it's rather trivial. It's probably harder to get good at handling the mixer, levels and EQ as DJ software abstracts this away with auto-gain (again if you have no solid experience in sound engineering). Learning how to choose good cue points (phrasing) will again take some time if you have no idea about musical composition, but it can be simplified (usually 16-32 bars, outro -> intro, breakdown -> buildup). On top of that, add 'harmonic mixing'. The thing is, if you don't put in the time to learn beatmatching by ear and hands, you likely won't learn how to listen attentively. Even if you auto-match the tempos based on BPM, you'll get ugly phase mismatches on the kicks and snares/claps that will sound bad and you won't even be able to notice how a small nudge could make it all gel much better. Another tendency is to simply mix and switch tracks too fast because you have nothing else to do, the software makes it instant. The audience always takes a longer time to get into a track than you. But in the end, I've seen no correlation between skill and event lineups. Source: 15+ years of experience
MaddAgent 8y ago
While I sort of agree with the sentiment of this, I really can't see any downside to learning how to do a decent mix on a pair of turntables. It helps to break things down to the bare minimums, no fx, no beat-sync, nothing. Basically, if you can pull off a great mix with just two dekcs and a mixer, you'll be fine to move forward with whatever else you choose to use. Plus you know (and hopefully respect) where it all started / came from.
doublerebel 8y ago
Ableton is actually worse at beatmatching than the human ear. A trained human can easily recognize a shift of 11ms, which is a fraction of a BPM [0]. Beat matching algorithms are not as good or reliable, leading to "thick" beats where the two tracks aren't quite aligned, causing weird audio artifacts. Of course, if you never learn to beatmatch by ear (and never learn to drum), you probably won't develop the skill, leading you to think the mix is right on while educated listeners are cringing. Effects and filters only sound good if the underlying mix is great. Effects and filters are widely overused... Just like in Photoshop. Better just to start with fundamentally good art, it will need less additions. [0]: At 130bpm, a tenth of a beat is 46ms, so if both tracks are auto-beatmatched to one-tenth of a beat precision (130.0) as is the typical accuracy claim of every major dj tool, it's still 4x less accurate than the human ear. (1000ms * 60s)/(130bpm * 10)
- empath75 8y ago
  > Ableton is actually worse at beatmatching than the human ear. I never relied on the automatic beat detection. I manually adjusted the beat markers on every single track I played ahead of time. For most EDM the BPM doesn't waver at all, and most producers tend to use round numbers, so it's generally not actually that hard. The only trick is being consistent about where in the kick you mark it. I tend to use the snare/claps to calibrate, because those are generally where you can tell if there's drift. It's also easy to shift a track by a few milliseconds live if you notice that it's a bit off. > it's still 4x less accurate than the human ear. It's still way way more consistent than even the best analog turntables. You have to adjust constantly when mixing with technic 1200s because of drift.
  - doublerebel 8y ago
    Yes, every track has a different matching point, you're quite right and that's the attribute of bpm most difficult for computers: which peaks to count? Manually pre-setting tracks has to be very consistent too -- if you pick claps on one track and go for snare on another, claps might bias the upbeat and snare the downbeat and when Ableton matches the tracks the kick will sound off. That's the problem as you identify: any two tracks may have a sound that matches best for that particular mix point, so it might need to be adjusted live. But if you are adjusting tracks live by a few ms... It sounds like you have learned beatmatching and are using it! To your other point: analog turntables, especially 1200s in good shape, do not drift. A proper beatmatch can and should ride the whole track. Multiple manufacturers make turntables of this quality. The error you saw was either poorly maintained equipment or an inexperienced DJ.
caseyohara 8y ago
This is terrible advice, and completely misses the point of the article. It’s really hard to do what Jeff mills is doing with turntables. Like years and years of many hours a day practice. You are right it's really hard, but that's exactly what makes Jeff Mills a special and respected DJ; that virtuosity is the art of DJing. Anyone can skip all of the hard work, just learn Ableton Live, let the software sync everything for you, and blend two tracks together. But there's no art in that. That said, Ableton and other digital DJing software are a perfectly good place to learn and grow, just not a substitute for putting in the hard work.
- balfirevic 8y ago
  It's about the music that comes out of your performance - you don't get extra points for doing it the hard way. Some people will admire the skill but they might also admire DJ-ing while playing Tetris with your other hand. If you get the same results by doing it the easier way - all the better. > just not a substitute for putting in the hard work It appears that it is. Well, not really of course, the actual important part of choosing what, when and how to mix, responding to the audience and creating the atmosphere - that's something you still have to do.
  - empath75 8y ago
    It's a substitute for _learning how to beatmatch_ which is incredibly time consuming and a big barrier to getting started.

b0bby_tabl3s 8y ago

Art!? ROFL!!!!

parksy 8y ago

I enjoyed reading this article immensely. I'm a nobody bedroom producer but the description of the feathering and blending out tracks, and his interaction with the audience and how he's using layers to tell a story from his mind and not just appeasing the crowd really spoke to why I do what I do the way I do it, made me respect the man all the more for his integrity, and it's something that is increasingly difficult to do - be an artist above being a slightly randomising musical xerox. There's a message there for producers and DJs that there's a soul or spirit that's always at risk, and we have the ability to uphold it. Reading Jeff's description of the mental process not just the mechanical process... I was sad the article seemed to just touch on those areas and would love to see deeper into the artistic process. When he's imagining approaching a planet, or being in the forest, and how that translates to music for him. What a legendary DJ. I'd love to see / hear him do a modern set mixing old school hits records like he described. And now I'm falling down a youtube hole back into the 80s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejSvyXlin_s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejSvyXlin_s

pmcpinto 8y ago

It's nice to see so many electronic music fans in HN

0db532a0 8y ago

For people interested in learning more about the Detroit electronic music scene, here are some more must-check names: Drexciya James Stinson Gerald Donald DJ Stingray Sherard Ingram Der Zyklus Dopplereffekt Gedankenexperiment Transllusion Clarence G The Other People Place Underground Resistance Robert Hood Marcellus Pittman Moodymann Theo Parrish Juan Atkins DJ Qu DJ Jus-Ed Eduardo de la Calle Terrence Dixon Omar S Clone Records

chiefalchemist 8y ago
I realize you listed UR but we have to give respect to Mad Mike and list Mad Mike as well. p.s. Thanks for keeping +8 off that list ;)
- 1001101 8y ago
  Batting 1/3 on the Belleville 3.
- escapologybb 8y ago
  Mad Mike Banks and Richie Hawtin literally made my head turn into a small puddle of goo at Glastonbury 98, I honestly think I left a couple of drops of my soul in a field that sunny afternoon.
escapologybb 8y ago
I'm not sure if this is topic or not, but I saw pretty much most of the people on that list in a convention centre in Amsterdam for my 21st birthday. There were 25,000 people in attendance and it was so big that there was a full-sized fairground ride that you couldn't see it from one end of the hall to another. It was so big that the teeny tiny Jeff Mills couldn't really be seen behind the 8 decks he was using (I mean seriously, 8 decks.. who does that?). That was 20 years ago this year, and other than Orbital live it is still probably one of the best electronic music nights I've ever been to. And considering I grew up in Manchester in the 1990s, I've been to a lot of Techno nights! Anyone enjoys the list you've posted (which is very excellent by the way, we should totally be BFFs!), might also enjoy Dave Clark, the Baron of Techno and for something a little bit more on the bouncy house side there is also the giant Carl Cox. I'm listening to Changes Of Life[1] full volume right now, I've literally got goosebumps. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tFBH_BWibg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tFBH_BWibg

clydethefrog 8y ago

Fantastic feature aside, does anyone love the design and functionality of Resident Advisor? The only review sites that feels like an institute in it's genre nowadays, while all the other review platforms have sold their soul. They have an excellent artist and event database too. Fingers crossed it will never change.

shermanyo 8y ago
I can't speak highly enough of RA, they've been a key part of my music discovery and insight into so many of the artists I follow.