11 ms·

Show HN: I love Essential Mixes. So I made this.

125 points by kreutz 14y ago

kevinrpope 14y ago
Looks like I'll be spending a lot of time on here... First impression feedback: while quickly looking at a bunch of the Essential Mixes, many of them don't have the location where it took place. Personally, I've mentally sorted a lot of these by location && artist, so might find it hard to find something specific I'm looking for.
- kreutz 14y ago
  Thanks for the feedback man! We are trying to keep it as complete and organized as possible. We tried to get the location of the majority of the ones that are live or recorded at clubs. If you find anything that is off please don't hesitate to let us know.
  - kevinrpope 14y ago
    No problem. Now that I've played around with it a little, a couple more points: - on the search results page the term 'essential mix' is set as a link, but when I click on it I'm taken to the entire collection of essential mixes - I'd expect the chosen essential mix to start playing. I see why you've done this, but I found it confusing as a first-time user. - I really like how clicking nearly anywhere on the search result starts playing the chosen mix
    - coda_ 14y ago
      Agreed, I had the same issue when I first hit the site. Also: ability to seek would be nice, these are single tracks that are an hour or two long... not like you can just skip to the next song :)
earwolf 14y ago
Blow me down - you have the best EM ever, props http://mixture.fm/search/psychonauts http://mixture.fm/search/psychonauts
- jordanbrown 14y ago
  We have them all! Thanks for the props.
jskopek 14y ago
For those who aren't aware, getting offered to play an essential mix is a huge honor in the electronic music world. Most of the mixes on this site are from artists giving it their very best. Cracking good work! This looks incredibly polished for a side project; are you planning on building it up?
- kreutz 14y ago
  Thanks for the kind words! Yes, we are planning on building it up. Just wanted to get it out and get some feedback.
  - Tossrock 14y ago
    In case you don't know, the BBC is pretty happy to take down sites hosting their content. Be careful. I'm pretty sure Mixriot tried the same thing and got burned. Feedback-wise, you might want to look into more flexible search for non-standard letters. Concrete example, "Tiesto" returns no results, but "Tiësto" returns seven. I have a feeling most people are not going to take the effort to find an umlauted e and will just assume you don't have any of his mixes.
  - calebmpeterson 14y ago
    Thanks for this! I've been out of good EDM mixes for about 5 years now because I didn't know where to get them. Podcasts just aren't the same...
    - fumar 14y ago
      Check this out for solid EDM. https://www.fabriclondon.com/store/fabric-products.html https://www.fabriclondon.com/store/fabric-products.html
  - anon808 14y ago
    I hope you're going with this where i think you're going with this. This is way beyond essential mixes . . . I haven't come across one good dj mix sharing website out there. Linking to already hosted content is 100% the way to go. Please keep it going.
nerdyworm 14y ago
Wow I've been looking for some of the older sets for a while. Thanks! p.s. shameless self promotion of my music site: http://trance-mixes.com http://trance-mixes.com
there 14y ago
Does this use Flash? I don't have it and clicking play does not play, but it also does not show any error.
- kreutz 14y ago
  Yes, unfortunately it does use flash:( SoundManger should fallback to HTML5 though... I'll look into it.
labaraka 14y ago
This is fantastic. I love the EM's but I hate the BBC player so I am always trying to find the mixes on SoundCloud or the other shady download sites. Now they are all neatly packaged in one place. Well done, dude!
- skeletonjelly 14y ago
  http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix has a massive collection going back many years available in FLAC too.
guywithabike 14y ago
Doesn't seem to work for me. I just get the following error in the console: soundManager.createSound(): Audio support is not available. ;_; Edit: Reloaded and it seems to be working now. YES.
- decklin 14y ago
  I'm still getting this error. OP, if it helps, I have click-to-play on for Flash.
nicholassmith 14y ago
Bookmarked, about to start furiously tweeting, this is excellent and kudos to you for doing it!
suhailpatel 14y ago
This looks and functions really well and you have a good selection of mixes. For those like me who want to listen to a particular Essential Mix from 1993 till mid 2011, someone has uploaded 910 Essential Mix episodes into a Soundcloud Folder which can be found at http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix/ http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix/. There are some real gems in here and it's pretty much a permanent tab for me. Enjoy!
- Inversechi 14y ago
  That is some impressive upload! Cheers for this!
  - joshka 14y ago
    Also, if you prefer to download them all as a torrent, check out http://themixingbowl.org/ http://themixingbowl.org/
- medell 14y ago
  Great share, thanks!
- dcpdx 14y ago
  Had no clue this existed. Got some work to do this weekend now...
rdeshpande 14y ago
Really like the UI and am already a big fan. Well done. Any chance you could integrate track listings (perhaps with the start/end times within the mix so you can identify the active song?)
- kreutz 14y ago
  That's our vision! Turns out to be a pretty giant task though. Stay tuned:)
Fluxx 14y ago
There was a Soundcloud account with a like every essential mix ever on it the other week, but shortly after it disappeared - I think due to licensing issues with BBC content outside of the UK. Did you look into that for your player?
- aidos 14y ago
  I'm still seeing it: http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix
  - Fluxx 14y ago
    Oh weird. Less than 24 hours after I first saw it from Twitter, the account was no longer active. Nice to see it's back!
Inversechi 14y ago
Thanks for putting this together... Looks good:) reminds me of console.fm. Is there any way to skip through the selected mix?
bernatfp 14y ago
A huge thumbs up for this! May I suggest the Resident Advisor and XLR8R podcasts to be added too? Again: Thanks for creating this site.
- kreutz 14y ago
  Thanks man! Those two are definitely in the works.
LeandroLovisolo 14y ago
I absolutely love this. Couple of things: - It would be nice to be able to skip to an arbitrary part of the mix. - Sound didn't work for me until I reloaded the page.
- kreutz 14y ago
  | It would be nice to be able to skip to an arbitrary part of the mix. This is in the works. Just wanted to get the bare minimum out the door. | Sound didn't work for me until I reloaded the page. Looking into this right now. Thanks for the feedback:)
  - dguaraglia 14y ago
    Yep, skipping the - sometimes longish - intro talks would be a plus. That said... awesome! Already sharing stuff on my Facebook :)
- christoph 14y ago
  I was going to leave the same feedback about skipping ;) One other thing.. the pause || & |> is misaligned (Windows Chrome) in the circle (it sits a little bottom-left rather than central) Other than that, great work :)
bcrescimanno 14y ago
Right around the turn of the millenium, I downloaded a couple dozen Essential Mixes while I was on the GT campus. This just made my day--I really hope any legal issues can be avoided and this can stay online. :)
- bcrescimanno 14y ago
  I really can't describe how much I'm enjoying going back and finding mixes from that era. Not only is the music great; but I feel like I just stepped into a time machine!
  - coda_ 14y ago
    love that you posted here when you first saw it, then posted again after listening to a bunch that brought back memories... i did the exact same thing.
zennit 14y ago
love the site design, can I ask what you are using to build the front/backend? Love the colours and the gradient used in the background, how is this generated? Thanks
- kreutz 14y ago
  Sure thing man! Frontend is all Backbone.js hooked up to a Rails API for the backend. We use MongoDB with Mongoid and LESS for CSS with the old bootstrap.less (which later became Twitter Bootstrap). As for the background I could of used a gradient but its just an image made with photoshop.
prmr 14y ago
Love it. Netsky's Essential Mix is amazing to listen to while programming: http://mixture.fm/search/netsky http://mixture.fm/search/netsky :)
- peterwwillis 14y ago
  Pandora plays the crap out of Netsky if you make a station of Ed Rush (and that's a good thing!). I actually like the occasional break in play from Pandora as it reminds me to get up and walk around a bit.
omarish 14y ago
Wow. Was about to go find the Nero Essential Mix and write a new feature, but this site takes care of the first part for me :). Great work!
- AmericanOP 14y ago
  Nero's Essential Mix really impressed me when it first came out. The long instrumental around 1h:16m was really unique for one of these mixes, probably a more artistic flair than they would even inject in a live set. The dramatic bpm flux around 1h:28m is also a really experimental, unique climax which could only work near the end of a long two hour set like this one. /ChristianBale
Eduard 14y ago
How can I upload my own mixes?
- nikatwork 14y ago
  This appears to only contain mixes from BBC's radio 1 essential mix, and FACT magazine guest mixes. So you'll need to become a world-famous DJ/producer to get your own mix uploaded.
  - Eduard 14y ago
    Wow. This is very elite Web 1.0
gravitronic 14y ago
Love it, and loving your selection I'm seeing in there. You might like the "mix youtube music videos" website I made. You can load any youtube user's video playlists as "crates" and then mix from track to track: http://burnsmod.com/fun/mixtube/mixtube.html http://burnsmod.com/fun/mixtube/mixtube.html
- delackner 14y ago
  That looks fun. Would be really useful if each list had a field to "cue" a youtube url that was not in the crate already. That way you can browse youtube in a separate tab to find a video, then cue it up and start the crossfade.
  - gravitronic 14y ago
    Good idea, thanks!
kreek 14y ago
Wow, looks (and sounds) great, listening to the Four Tet one as we speak :) It looks like all the sounds are hosted on SoundCloud, is this in your own pro+ account? I'm guessing this was the most economical way to host the files?
noinput 14y ago
You sir, are my new hero. Fantastic work. One added bonus here would be to include the track-list for each one. A simple contribution feature here I think would be a big hit so others can do the work to find them. For example, a few results down on: http://track-list.com/page/2/?s=deadmau5 http://track-list.com/page/2/?s=deadmau5 will give the track-list for item #3 in your list.
- joshka 14y ago
  Or checkout http://www.mixesdb.com/db/index.php/Category:Essential_Mix http://www.mixesdb.com/db/index.php/Category:Essential_Mix for a bunch of CC licensed set list info
stevengg 14y ago
edit: this site is awesome here are some my favorite essential mixes you may have missed mr scruff http://mxtr.fm/KBmUTW http://mxtr.fm/KBmUTW Essential Mix with Audio Bullys http://mxtr.fm/IDmIIU http://mxtr.fm/IDmIIU the goa mix ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_Mix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_Mix ) http://mxtr.fm/K4Yian http://mxtr.fm/K4Yian some other good sites to download dj mixes are http://www.livesets.us/ http://www.livesets.us/ and http://themixingbowl.org/ http://themixingbowl.org/ both great.
- Robot_Overlord 14y ago
  love mr scruff thanks for the link
AmericanOP 14y ago
Can't believe I'm seeing this here. Well done! I highly recommend http://core.thomaslaupstad.com/ http://core.thomaslaupstad.com/ The owner has been diligently putting out downloads of Essential Mixes and other top UK radio shows of the genre as soon as they come out. Cheers!
dsl 14y ago
I. Love. You.
joshka 14y ago
For those wanting a torrent download instead, checkout http://themixingbowl.org/ http://themixingbowl.org/
joshka 14y ago
Is the login with facebook button broken?
- Robot_Overlord 14y ago
  worked on chrome for me
coda_ 14y ago
dude, this is effing awesome, there's some classic mixes here that I thought I'd never hear again... thank you!
djkz 14y ago
Any chance of adding some Solid Steel mixes to the collections?
coda_ 14y ago
Great work! Good use of soundmanager2 (http://www.schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/ http://www.schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/) would love to see if it works on an iPad/iPhone and takes advantage of HTML5 audio capabilities. Please post of you've tried it with either.
ironsuturtle 14y ago
Love this!!
radley 14y ago
sigh Essential mix sites pop up every year or so and get shut down pretty quickly. The best one (~2010) used really simple code to store the files and my bud managed to auto-download the whole library, even after the site was "shut down".
AmericanOP 14y ago
For people who are new to the genre, Essential Mixes are one of the best ways to get to really know EDM artists. While artists typically get popular through hit singles, in full sets artists make a lot of experimental tweaks and changes to make it a unique experience. In the same way that CD's killed the full-album experience, live sets are bringing that "full" artist experience back. I've compiled a short list of well respected DJs in case you want to use this site to explore other big names in this type of music beyond the usual suspects (Deadmau5.) There are many, many more and this is just a sampling of different sounds from the most recent mixes only. Above & Beyond, Kaskade, Nero, Cosmic Gate, Flux Pavilion (dubstep), Jamie XX
- bcrescimanno 14y ago
  Those are definitely some good names today; but if you want a bit of a history lesson I'd check out Sasha in the late 90's and early 00's. Also Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, John Digweed, and Carl Cox were all in their prime during those days.
  - calebmpeterson 14y ago
    So true - Paul Van Dyk was my gateway into the whole EDM genre. After that it was Tiesto and Van Buuren. Nu NRG is also good.
  - dfischer 14y ago
    Digweed and Carl Cox still tear it up. Specifically Carl, damn that guy is a legend.
  - dcpdx 14y ago
    Armin Van Buren. He's been around awhile and still cranks out bangers consistently.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - adriand 14y ago
    If you dig that stuff, you should definitely check out what John 'OO' Fleming is putting out these days. His Essential Mixes are absolute quality, and he's also got a monthly podcast that you can get on iTunes that is very addictive.
lyime 14y ago
This is awesome! You should add track lists and scrubbing without having to download the entire set. Remind me of the days when I used to work on Mugasha. My main problem was that it was a pain for me to find good stuff to listen to while listening. Check out bunch of old essential mixes on there. http://mugasha.com/essential-mix http://mugasha.com/essential-mix So I built Mugasha and solved that problem. You can listen to a ton of essential mixes on there and other sets. Including track lists and scrubbing ahead. What's really sad is that I don't work on Mugasha anymore and I have the exact same problem again. - I cant easily listen to new DJ sets like I used to. - I have to resort to listening to Itunes podcasts again and have NO idea what I am listening (track list problem) - Maybe I can find a new owner for Mugasha so I don't have these problems anymore.
- coda_ 14y ago
  That's well done, hope you find a way to keep it alive.
mchristoff 14y ago
Rad! This is great.
GoofyGewber 14y ago
I love the design and layout!
waffle_ss 14y ago
Very nice work! Essential Mixes are what really got me into trance music way back around Y2K (particularly Paul Oakenfold's... don't much care for his work nowadays though). So thanks for the trip down memory lane, and thanks to the BBC for creating the program.
- giles 14y ago
  Oakies Essential Mix world tour? Absolutely incredible! Although I do agree his work nowadays is crap.
  - bcrescimanno 14y ago
    The one from Shanghai was just awesome! It was the first one I sought out on the site and listened to again.
  - waffle_ss 14y ago
    Yes, the world tour! My favorite one is Home @ Space in Ibiza[1]. [1]: http://soundcloud.com/djmixes/paul-oakenfold-1999-07-25-essential-mix-world-tour-live-at-home-space-ibiza http://soundcloud.com/djmixes/paul-oakenfold-1999-07-25-esse...
    - giles 14y ago
      This. Absolutely transcending!
ReedR95 14y ago
This is awesome. One thing I'd like to request would be the ability to skip around the mixes. I was 45 minutes into the Above and Beyond Mix and I accidentally clicked on another mix, losing my place. Otherwise, everything seems to work great!
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
fumar 14y ago
Not bad. I wish someone would create the same, but instead use Fabric mixes. A more well rounded mix series. Nothing against Essential. I just prefer Fabric and Fabriclive stuff.
- kreutz 14y ago
  Don't you worry. They're coming;)
  - fumar 14y ago
    Keep us posted. Keep up the good work.
ryankirkman 14y ago
This is the greatest revolution in music listening for me in my entire life. I love electronic music and when I'm coding I want my music to flow non-stop. You can't get that with individual tracks. I can't thank you enough! Props to helping people discover Essential Mixes.
rogerjin 14y ago
Hey Eric, your site is awesome. I love how easy it is to play music. I had some thoughts from a UX perspective of things I didn't like about it. Dislike: There’s no sign up, only a Login with Facebook button (which is annoying personally because I don’t like logging in with Facebook http://screencast.com/t/hsKqMkyuR. http://screencast.com/t/hsKqMkyuR.) There’s a bunch of white space to the right hand side of the page (http://screencast.com/t/2swhK5EPb2i http://screencast.com/t/2swhK5EPb2i), which makes the page unsymmetrical and doesn’t feel right. I don’t like how most of the things on the page don’t have any description beyond an icon. I know most frequent internet users can probably figure it out, but it still requires me to think for a second to make the associations (http://screencast.com/t/6E2ydk3kh http://screencast.com/t/6E2ydk3kh) and some older users and perhaps not as savvy internet users may not understand it at all (albeit the site might not be aimed towards them.) I know this site is for people who like Essential Mixes, but I have no idea what a collection, Essential Mix collection or FACT collection is. Adding a description could add an unnecessary element while removing a confusing aspect, so its up to you to make the choice. I think a description can be made (without hurting user experience) by adding a disposable box next to the collections briefly explaining what they are. Some specific aspects of the design I don't like (misalignment, pixels off center, etc.): http://screencast.com/t/1Tg9Fo75xo3 http://screencast.com/t/1Tg9Fo75xo3 Hope you don't take my thoughts negatively, just trying to help. Overall I like the site, its is simple and has no truly unnecessary elements, that’s good. Also, I like this touch http://screencast.com/t/oWFv5kkU2 http://screencast.com/t/oWFv5kkU2), adds to the user experience. And I like how easy it is to play songs (just click and it starts playing http://screencast.com/t/MwkkU8musZ http://screencast.com/t/MwkkU8musZ).
joejohnson 14y ago
Ah, I wish you could scroll through them. I really want to hear the end of Nero's.
- coda_ 14y ago
  Yes, after starting a few that bring back some major memories, I really want to skip ahead and hear stuff from later. It's definitely possible with soundmanager2, which he's using (http://www.schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/ http://www.schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/). Hope he adds that. Don't get me wrong, I love the site!
dgallagher 14y ago
Knife Party (formed by two Pendulum guys) released an amazing mix two weeks ago: http://knifeparty.com/news/ukf-live-stream http://knifeparty.com/news/ukf-live-stream You'll like if you're into Skrillex, Kill the Noise, Nero, Zedd, Swedish House Mafia, etc...
zmj 14y ago
Maybe I'm missing something obvious - is there a volume control?
- slyn 14y ago
  Love the site, just wish I could have this at a different volume than Mumble/Skype.
fagatini 14y ago
Pretty awesome. I love essential mixes too, so I suspect that I will be using this while I work.
cjstewart88 14y ago
From someone that runs a music streaming app, I love this, good job keeping it simple man.
mvkel 14y ago
So you made... a splash screen? I've been listening to EMs since 1999 - Oakey's world tour. Looking forward to whatever you're building.
- jordanbrown 14y ago
  Splash screen? You might of hit it on mobile. Check it out on your desktop computer.
deepkut 14y ago
What hover effect is going on here? Might someone point to the pertinent CSS? Is it just a glow effect?
brandonkm 14y ago
This is great! Immensely useful for browsing essential mixes. Would be awesome to see more BBC radio shows added in the future.
orftz 14y ago
I'd like to see an About page on this.
executive 14y ago
it's 2012.. can we get some seek controls?
pinchyfingers 14y ago
I just got home from seeing Steve Lawler and I saw this. Lawler's got mixes in the mixture.fm results: http://mixture.fm/search/lawler http://mixture.fm/search/lawler
- jordanbrown 14y ago
  Looks like you have a long night ahead of you. ;)
fiznool 14y ago
Brilliant site. One suggestion - can you add a 'Random' or 'Shuffle' button?

125 points by kreutz 14y ago

Looks like I'll be spending a lot of time on here... First impression feedback: while quickly looking at a bunch of the Essential Mixes, many of them don't have the location where it took place. Personally, I've mentally sorted a lot of these by location && artist, so might find it hard to find something specific I'm looking for.

kreutz 14y ago
Thanks for the feedback man! We are trying to keep it as complete and organized as possible. We tried to get the location of the majority of the ones that are live or recorded at clubs. If you find anything that is off please don't hesitate to let us know.
- kevinrpope 14y ago
  No problem. Now that I've played around with it a little, a couple more points: - on the search results page the term 'essential mix' is set as a link, but when I click on it I'm taken to the entire collection of essential mixes - I'd expect the chosen essential mix to start playing. I see why you've done this, but I found it confusing as a first-time user. - I really like how clicking nearly anywhere on the search result starts playing the chosen mix
  - coda_ 14y ago
    Agreed, I had the same issue when I first hit the site. Also: ability to seek would be nice, these are single tracks that are an hour or two long... not like you can just skip to the next song :)

earwolf 14y ago

Blow me down - you have the best EM ever, props http://mixture.fm/search/psychonauts http://mixture.fm/search/psychonauts

jordanbrown 14y ago
We have them all! Thanks for the props.

jskopek 14y ago

For those who aren't aware, getting offered to play an essential mix is a huge honor in the electronic music world. Most of the mixes on this site are from artists giving it their very best. Cracking good work! This looks incredibly polished for a side project; are you planning on building it up?

kreutz 14y ago
Thanks for the kind words! Yes, we are planning on building it up. Just wanted to get it out and get some feedback.
- Tossrock 14y ago
  In case you don't know, the BBC is pretty happy to take down sites hosting their content. Be careful. I'm pretty sure Mixriot tried the same thing and got burned. Feedback-wise, you might want to look into more flexible search for non-standard letters. Concrete example, "Tiesto" returns no results, but "Tiësto" returns seven. I have a feeling most people are not going to take the effort to find an umlauted e and will just assume you don't have any of his mixes.
- calebmpeterson 14y ago
  Thanks for this! I've been out of good EDM mixes for about 5 years now because I didn't know where to get them. Podcasts just aren't the same...
  - fumar 14y ago
    Check this out for solid EDM. https://www.fabriclondon.com/store/fabric-products.html https://www.fabriclondon.com/store/fabric-products.html
- anon808 14y ago
  I hope you're going with this where i think you're going with this. This is way beyond essential mixes . . . I haven't come across one good dj mix sharing website out there. Linking to already hosted content is 100% the way to go. Please keep it going.

nerdyworm 14y ago

Wow I've been looking for some of the older sets for a while. Thanks! p.s. shameless self promotion of my music site: http://trance-mixes.com http://trance-mixes.com

there 14y ago

Does this use Flash? I don't have it and clicking play does not play, but it also does not show any error.

kreutz 14y ago
Yes, unfortunately it does use flash:( SoundManger should fallback to HTML5 though... I'll look into it.

labaraka 14y ago

This is fantastic. I love the EM's but I hate the BBC player so I am always trying to find the mixes on SoundCloud or the other shady download sites. Now they are all neatly packaged in one place. Well done, dude!

skeletonjelly 14y ago
http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix has a massive collection going back many years available in FLAC too.

guywithabike 14y ago

Doesn't seem to work for me. I just get the following error in the console: soundManager.createSound(): Audio support is not available. ;_; Edit: Reloaded and it seems to be working now. YES.

decklin 14y ago
I'm still getting this error. OP, if it helps, I have click-to-play on for Flash.

nicholassmith 14y ago

Bookmarked, about to start furiously tweeting, this is excellent and kudos to you for doing it!

suhailpatel 14y ago

This looks and functions really well and you have a good selection of mixes. For those like me who want to listen to a particular Essential Mix from 1993 till mid 2011, someone has uploaded 910 Essential Mix episodes into a Soundcloud Folder which can be found at http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix/ http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix/. There are some real gems in here and it's pretty much a permanent tab for me. Enjoy!

Inversechi 14y ago
That is some impressive upload! Cheers for this!
- joshka 14y ago
  Also, if you prefer to download them all as a torrent, check out http://themixingbowl.org/ http://themixingbowl.org/
medell 14y ago
Great share, thanks!
dcpdx 14y ago
Had no clue this existed. Got some work to do this weekend now...

rdeshpande 14y ago

Really like the UI and am already a big fan. Well done. Any chance you could integrate track listings (perhaps with the start/end times within the mix so you can identify the active song?)

kreutz 14y ago
That's our vision! Turns out to be a pretty giant task though. Stay tuned:)

Fluxx 14y ago

There was a Soundcloud account with a like every essential mix ever on it the other week, but shortly after it disappeared - I think due to licensing issues with BBC content outside of the UK. Did you look into that for your player?

aidos 14y ago
I'm still seeing it: http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix
- Fluxx 14y ago
  Oh weird. Less than 24 hours after I first saw it from Twitter, the account was no longer active. Nice to see it's back!

Inversechi 14y ago

Thanks for putting this together... Looks good:) reminds me of console.fm. Is there any way to skip through the selected mix?

bernatfp 14y ago

A huge thumbs up for this! May I suggest the Resident Advisor and XLR8R podcasts to be added too? Again: Thanks for creating this site.

kreutz 14y ago
Thanks man! Those two are definitely in the works.

LeandroLovisolo 14y ago

I absolutely love this. Couple of things: - It would be nice to be able to skip to an arbitrary part of the mix. - Sound didn't work for me until I reloaded the page.

kreutz 14y ago
| It would be nice to be able to skip to an arbitrary part of the mix. This is in the works. Just wanted to get the bare minimum out the door. | Sound didn't work for me until I reloaded the page. Looking into this right now. Thanks for the feedback:)
- dguaraglia 14y ago
  Yep, skipping the - sometimes longish - intro talks would be a plus. That said... awesome! Already sharing stuff on my Facebook :)
christoph 14y ago
I was going to leave the same feedback about skipping ;) One other thing.. the pause || & |> is misaligned (Windows Chrome) in the circle (it sits a little bottom-left rather than central) Other than that, great work :)

bcrescimanno 14y ago

Right around the turn of the millenium, I downloaded a couple dozen Essential Mixes while I was on the GT campus. This just made my day--I really hope any legal issues can be avoided and this can stay online. :)

bcrescimanno 14y ago
I really can't describe how much I'm enjoying going back and finding mixes from that era. Not only is the music great; but I feel like I just stepped into a time machine!
- coda_ 14y ago
  love that you posted here when you first saw it, then posted again after listening to a bunch that brought back memories... i did the exact same thing.

zennit 14y ago

love the site design, can I ask what you are using to build the front/backend? Love the colours and the gradient used in the background, how is this generated? Thanks

kreutz 14y ago
Sure thing man! Frontend is all Backbone.js hooked up to a Rails API for the backend. We use MongoDB with Mongoid and LESS for CSS with the old bootstrap.less (which later became Twitter Bootstrap). As for the background I could of used a gradient but its just an image made with photoshop.

prmr 14y ago

Love it. Netsky's Essential Mix is amazing to listen to while programming: http://mixture.fm/search/netsky http://mixture.fm/search/netsky :)

peterwwillis 14y ago
Pandora plays the crap out of Netsky if you make a station of Ed Rush (and that's a good thing!). I actually like the occasional break in play from Pandora as it reminds me to get up and walk around a bit.

omarish 14y ago

Wow. Was about to go find the Nero Essential Mix and write a new feature, but this site takes care of the first part for me :). Great work!

AmericanOP 14y ago
Nero's Essential Mix really impressed me when it first came out. The long instrumental around 1h:16m was really unique for one of these mixes, probably a more artistic flair than they would even inject in a live set. The dramatic bpm flux around 1h:28m is also a really experimental, unique climax which could only work near the end of a long two hour set like this one. /ChristianBale

Eduard 14y ago

How can I upload my own mixes?

nikatwork 14y ago
This appears to only contain mixes from BBC's radio 1 essential mix, and FACT magazine guest mixes. So you'll need to become a world-famous DJ/producer to get your own mix uploaded.
- Eduard 14y ago
  Wow. This is very elite Web 1.0

gravitronic 14y ago

Love it, and loving your selection I'm seeing in there. You might like the "mix youtube music videos" website I made. You can load any youtube user's video playlists as "crates" and then mix from track to track: http://burnsmod.com/fun/mixtube/mixtube.html http://burnsmod.com/fun/mixtube/mixtube.html

delackner 14y ago
That looks fun. Would be really useful if each list had a field to "cue" a youtube url that was not in the crate already. That way you can browse youtube in a separate tab to find a video, then cue it up and start the crossfade.
- gravitronic 14y ago
  Good idea, thanks!

kreek 14y ago

Wow, looks (and sounds) great, listening to the Four Tet one as we speak :) It looks like all the sounds are hosted on SoundCloud, is this in your own pro+ account? I'm guessing this was the most economical way to host the files?

noinput 14y ago

You sir, are my new hero. Fantastic work. One added bonus here would be to include the track-list for each one. A simple contribution feature here I think would be a big hit so others can do the work to find them. For example, a few results down on: http://track-list.com/page/2/?s=deadmau5 http://track-list.com/page/2/?s=deadmau5 will give the track-list for item #3 in your list.

joshka 14y ago
Or checkout http://www.mixesdb.com/db/index.php/Category:Essential_Mix http://www.mixesdb.com/db/index.php/Category:Essential_Mix for a bunch of CC licensed set list info

stevengg 14y ago

edit: this site is awesome here are some my favorite essential mixes you may have missed mr scruff http://mxtr.fm/KBmUTW http://mxtr.fm/KBmUTW Essential Mix with Audio Bullys http://mxtr.fm/IDmIIU http://mxtr.fm/IDmIIU the goa mix ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_Mix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_Mix ) http://mxtr.fm/K4Yian http://mxtr.fm/K4Yian some other good sites to download dj mixes are http://www.livesets.us/ http://www.livesets.us/ and http://themixingbowl.org/ http://themixingbowl.org/ both great.

Robot_Overlord 14y ago
love mr scruff thanks for the link

AmericanOP 14y ago

Can't believe I'm seeing this here. Well done! I highly recommend http://core.thomaslaupstad.com/ http://core.thomaslaupstad.com/ The owner has been diligently putting out downloads of Essential Mixes and other top UK radio shows of the genre as soon as they come out. Cheers!

dsl 14y ago

I. Love. You.

joshka 14y ago

For those wanting a torrent download instead, checkout http://themixingbowl.org/ http://themixingbowl.org/

joshka 14y ago

Is the login with facebook button broken?

Robot_Overlord 14y ago
worked on chrome for me

coda_ 14y ago

dude, this is effing awesome, there's some classic mixes here that I thought I'd never hear again... thank you!

djkz 14y ago

Any chance of adding some Solid Steel mixes to the collections?

coda_ 14y ago

Great work! Good use of soundmanager2 (http://www.schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/ http://www.schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/) would love to see if it works on an iPad/iPhone and takes advantage of HTML5 audio capabilities. Please post of you've tried it with either.

ironsuturtle 14y ago

Love this!!

radley 14y ago

sigh Essential mix sites pop up every year or so and get shut down pretty quickly. The best one (~2010) used really simple code to store the files and my bud managed to auto-download the whole library, even after the site was "shut down".

AmericanOP 14y ago

For people who are new to the genre, Essential Mixes are one of the best ways to get to really know EDM artists. While artists typically get popular through hit singles, in full sets artists make a lot of experimental tweaks and changes to make it a unique experience. In the same way that CD's killed the full-album experience, live sets are bringing that "full" artist experience back. I've compiled a short list of well respected DJs in case you want to use this site to explore other big names in this type of music beyond the usual suspects (Deadmau5.) There are many, many more and this is just a sampling of different sounds from the most recent mixes only. Above & Beyond, Kaskade, Nero, Cosmic Gate, Flux Pavilion (dubstep), Jamie XX

bcrescimanno 14y ago
Those are definitely some good names today; but if you want a bit of a history lesson I'd check out Sasha in the late 90's and early 00's. Also Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, John Digweed, and Carl Cox were all in their prime during those days.
- calebmpeterson 14y ago
  So true - Paul Van Dyk was my gateway into the whole EDM genre. After that it was Tiesto and Van Buuren. Nu NRG is also good.
- dfischer 14y ago
  Digweed and Carl Cox still tear it up. Specifically Carl, damn that guy is a legend.
- dcpdx 14y ago
  Armin Van Buren. He's been around awhile and still cranks out bangers consistently.
- deleted 14y ago
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- adriand 14y ago
  If you dig that stuff, you should definitely check out what John 'OO' Fleming is putting out these days. His Essential Mixes are absolute quality, and he's also got a monthly podcast that you can get on iTunes that is very addictive.

lyime 14y ago

This is awesome! You should add track lists and scrubbing without having to download the entire set. Remind me of the days when I used to work on Mugasha. My main problem was that it was a pain for me to find good stuff to listen to while listening. Check out bunch of old essential mixes on there. http://mugasha.com/essential-mix http://mugasha.com/essential-mix So I built Mugasha and solved that problem. You can listen to a ton of essential mixes on there and other sets. Including track lists and scrubbing ahead. What's really sad is that I don't work on Mugasha anymore and I have the exact same problem again. - I cant easily listen to new DJ sets like I used to. - I have to resort to listening to Itunes podcasts again and have NO idea what I am listening (track list problem) - Maybe I can find a new owner for Mugasha so I don't have these problems anymore.

coda_ 14y ago
That's well done, hope you find a way to keep it alive.

mchristoff 14y ago

Rad! This is great.

GoofyGewber 14y ago

I love the design and layout!

waffle_ss 14y ago

Very nice work! Essential Mixes are what really got me into trance music way back around Y2K (particularly Paul Oakenfold's... don't much care for his work nowadays though). So thanks for the trip down memory lane, and thanks to the BBC for creating the program.

giles 14y ago
Oakies Essential Mix world tour? Absolutely incredible! Although I do agree his work nowadays is crap.
- bcrescimanno 14y ago
  The one from Shanghai was just awesome! It was the first one I sought out on the site and listened to again.
- waffle_ss 14y ago
  Yes, the world tour! My favorite one is Home @ Space in Ibiza[1]. [1]: http://soundcloud.com/djmixes/paul-oakenfold-1999-07-25-essential-mix-world-tour-live-at-home-space-ibiza http://soundcloud.com/djmixes/paul-oakenfold-1999-07-25-esse...
  - giles 14y ago
    This. Absolutely transcending!

ReedR95 14y ago

This is awesome. One thing I'd like to request would be the ability to skip around the mixes. I was 45 minutes into the Above and Beyond Mix and I accidentally clicked on another mix, losing my place. Otherwise, everything seems to work great!

deleted 14y ago

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fumar 14y ago

Not bad. I wish someone would create the same, but instead use Fabric mixes. A more well rounded mix series. Nothing against Essential. I just prefer Fabric and Fabriclive stuff.

kreutz 14y ago
Don't you worry. They're coming;)
- fumar 14y ago
  Keep us posted. Keep up the good work.

ryankirkman 14y ago

This is the greatest revolution in music listening for me in my entire life. I love electronic music and when I'm coding I want my music to flow non-stop. You can't get that with individual tracks. I can't thank you enough! Props to helping people discover Essential Mixes.

rogerjin 14y ago

Hey Eric, your site is awesome. I love how easy it is to play music. I had some thoughts from a UX perspective of things I didn't like about it. Dislike: There’s no sign up, only a Login with Facebook button (which is annoying personally because I don’t like logging in with Facebook http://screencast.com/t/hsKqMkyuR. http://screencast.com/t/hsKqMkyuR.) There’s a bunch of white space to the right hand side of the page (http://screencast.com/t/2swhK5EPb2i http://screencast.com/t/2swhK5EPb2i), which makes the page unsymmetrical and doesn’t feel right. I don’t like how most of the things on the page don’t have any description beyond an icon. I know most frequent internet users can probably figure it out, but it still requires me to think for a second to make the associations (http://screencast.com/t/6E2ydk3kh http://screencast.com/t/6E2ydk3kh) and some older users and perhaps not as savvy internet users may not understand it at all (albeit the site might not be aimed towards them.) I know this site is for people who like Essential Mixes, but I have no idea what a collection, Essential Mix collection or FACT collection is. Adding a description could add an unnecessary element while removing a confusing aspect, so its up to you to make the choice. I think a description can be made (without hurting user experience) by adding a disposable box next to the collections briefly explaining what they are. Some specific aspects of the design I don't like (misalignment, pixels off center, etc.): http://screencast.com/t/1Tg9Fo75xo3 http://screencast.com/t/1Tg9Fo75xo3 Hope you don't take my thoughts negatively, just trying to help. Overall I like the site, its is simple and has no truly unnecessary elements, that’s good. Also, I like this touch http://screencast.com/t/oWFv5kkU2 http://screencast.com/t/oWFv5kkU2), adds to the user experience. And I like how easy it is to play songs (just click and it starts playing http://screencast.com/t/MwkkU8musZ http://screencast.com/t/MwkkU8musZ).

joejohnson 14y ago

Ah, I wish you could scroll through them. I really want to hear the end of Nero's.

coda_ 14y ago
Yes, after starting a few that bring back some major memories, I really want to skip ahead and hear stuff from later. It's definitely possible with soundmanager2, which he's using (http://www.schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/ http://www.schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/). Hope he adds that. Don't get me wrong, I love the site!

dgallagher 14y ago

Knife Party (formed by two Pendulum guys) released an amazing mix two weeks ago: http://knifeparty.com/news/ukf-live-stream http://knifeparty.com/news/ukf-live-stream You'll like if you're into Skrillex, Kill the Noise, Nero, Zedd, Swedish House Mafia, etc...

zmj 14y ago

Maybe I'm missing something obvious - is there a volume control?

slyn 14y ago
Love the site, just wish I could have this at a different volume than Mumble/Skype.

fagatini 14y ago

Pretty awesome. I love essential mixes too, so I suspect that I will be using this while I work.

cjstewart88 14y ago

From someone that runs a music streaming app, I love this, good job keeping it simple man.

mvkel 14y ago

So you made... a splash screen? I've been listening to EMs since 1999 - Oakey's world tour. Looking forward to whatever you're building.

jordanbrown 14y ago
Splash screen? You might of hit it on mobile. Check it out on your desktop computer.

deepkut 14y ago

What hover effect is going on here? Might someone point to the pertinent CSS? Is it just a glow effect?

brandonkm 14y ago

This is great! Immensely useful for browsing essential mixes. Would be awesome to see more BBC radio shows added in the future.

orftz 14y ago

I'd like to see an About page on this.

executive 14y ago

it's 2012.. can we get some seek controls?

pinchyfingers 14y ago

I just got home from seeing Steve Lawler and I saw this. Lawler's got mixes in the mixture.fm results: http://mixture.fm/search/lawler http://mixture.fm/search/lawler

jordanbrown 14y ago
Looks like you have a long night ahead of you. ;)

fiznool 14y ago

Brilliant site. One suggestion - can you add a 'Random' or 'Shuffle' button?