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-- ::::::::. **** TA DJ Challenge Series - Theme Mix (completed) **** .::::::::
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quote:

Originally posted by Lews Nick, I realize now I never specifically said I was in, but I'm in

I said I was in but never put it down either. It's all good. You're in.

Sounds great, I can go in a few directions with this one... mid 90's 'spacey' prog, cosmic disco, cyberpunk-y breaks/electro...

I think this has the potential to be just as successful as the genre challenges. Looking back, I can see the downsides of the master crate ideas. While they would be fun, they do pigeonhole you a little bit, whereas this is much more open to interpretation. If this goes well, we could keep this and the genre challenge as annual fixations. 3 challenges per year is a little insane, actually.

There are so many interesting possibilities to this I can't decide which direction to take it.

Initially, I considered heading in an edgy, paranoid direction, but there's already enough of that in the world, so I'm formulating something comedic instead.

i'm having so much fun picking these tracks out.

a bit of a way away, but should we submit our mix in this thread, or make a new thread (so that it's easier for people to listen)?

quote:

Originally posted by jonmitz i'm having so much fun picking these tracks out. a bit of a way away, but should we submit our mix in this thread, or make a new thread (so that it's easier for people to listen)?

Submit them here. I'll link directly to your post from the original post with your name, just like the old genre challenges did.

I was originally gonna go a quirky, cheesy retro sci-fi route but decided on something a bit different for this mix, and definitely more fitting...

let me know what you think. tracklist on soundcloud page to avoid clutter will not paste it here.

E: genres, more or less: electronica, chill/downtempo, techno, ambient

Hmm, a good effort overall and a promising start, but I have mixed feelings regarding it.

I was a bit worried initially when I saw the length and scope of this mix, as some of the other mixes I've heard from you had the problem of being far too long for no real reason. Lacking the structure required to support such a thing. The first hour seemed to confirm this and was again testing my patience far too much. Too many tracks! Flow was chaotic, as the tracks themselves are usually fine pieces on their own but have no rime or reason to be dumped together in the same stretch of time. This is unfortunate because there were also a lot of great moments that were simply lacking the context to make them stand out for me.

Then after about an hour, you suddenly changed the course drastically. There was absolutely no precedent for it from what I heard, but then again I was greatly distracted because of the issues mentioned above so maybe it's just me. The mix from this point out however was actually pretty great, the tracks were a lot more uniform in tone. The theme was clearly identifiable, suitably spacey and I had no issues with the flow. Music was good, but then it was throughout the mix really barring some jarring wubstep moments earlier on in the mix.

To conclude: This mix seems to have a split personality to me, you could have really cut it in half and submit either of the two parts. As I've mentioned before in one of your topics I really think you should put some more time and effort in your mix if you're going for something super eclectic. I always appreciate the effort, but for something like that to work you need to slow the fuck down a bit sometimes and be more critical of what you put in there, it's very important for every part to have a purpose to keep people from feeling apathetic about the whole thing. Then again it might just be me, so I'm interested to see what the others think.

I'll try and have a listen tonight. I'm going to try and listen to every single entry and give some thoughtful feedback.

From what you said I more or less hit exactly what I was going for (hehe!). Per the name of the mix, it was not meant to be linear in any fashion but meant to fluctuate (I am not a fan of linear progression in ANY mix except one meant for the dancefloor) throughout, in both energy and styles; I felt this would be the only appropriate way to complete a space-themed mix. As you noted, I practically never do single-genre mixes and am very eclectic in all my mixes. I just wanted to say this because you need to consider these two items when thinking about the structure and flow - it's not going to be A to B with extended transitions throughout (although there are large sections of this in the second half, which you seemed to enjoy ). Different styles call for different mixing techniques, and as a DJ it's important to have the ability to recognize this and adapt. I am very interested in hearing from people about which transitions are not good in particular, and why - I could learn a lot from that type of feedback. Every mix I do I try to challenge myself to mix types of tracks I've never mixed before and this was no exception, so I am particularly interested in criticism on that front. I probably should have included a few words along these lines when I posted my mix so that people knew what to expect.

This doesnt make your comments any less valid, just trying to explain my thought process going into the mix. Thanks for giving such great feedback (despite the above, you have some very good points that I've noted and they will help me to improve in the future)! much appreciated!

I look forward to seeing everyone else comes up with!



e: VVVV not offended at all man, just wanted to say a few words about my mindset going into the mix. cheers.

quote:

Originally posted by jonmitz From what you said I more or less hit exactly what I was going for (hehe!). Per the name of the mix, it was not meant to be linear in any fashion but meant to fluctuate (I am not a fan of linear progression in ANY mix except one meant for the dancefloor) throughout, in both energy and styles; I felt this would be the only appropriate way to complete a space-themed mix. As you noted, I practically never do single-genre mixes and am very eclectic in all my mixes. I just wanted to say this because you need to consider these two items when thinking about the structure and flow - it's not going to be A to B with extended transitions throughout (although there are large sections of this in the second half, which you seemed to enjoy ). Different styles call for different mixing techniques, and as a DJ it's important to have the ability to recognize this and adapt. I am very interested in hearing from people about which transitions are not good in particular, and why - I could learn a lot from that type of feedback. Every mix I do I try to challenge myself to mix types of tracks I've never mixed before and this was no exception, so I am particularly interested in criticism on that front. I probably should have included a few words along these lines when I posted my mix so that people knew what to expect.

Well I think I get the intent behind it, I myself am a big fan of eclecticism and have carried that through all the mixes I've released on here. Sometimes successfully, other times not so much.
There's a good and a wrong way to do everything after all. Obviously we're bordering closely on the line of subjectivity here, but I have my own opinions on how such a thing should be done.

From what I've gotten from you you're an avid and enthusiastic music collector, and the frequency with which you push out mixes here and the way they come off when I listen to them makes me suspect that you lack some restraint when it comes to these things.
Even in an eclectic mix I'm still looking for some universally important properties, mainly overall consistency and clear intent. There's a reason why most mixes focus on a single theme or genre, the more sounds you draw in the more chaotic it becomes, up to the point were there is nothing to hold onto any more. That's why there always needs to be a reason for something to happen, you can't sacrifice the narrative. It's what separates good eclecticism from sheer randomness.

For some reason I always have problems with piecing together the puzzle in your mixes, and it has a lot to do with the tracks you pick. You can have a lot of different ideas in a mix, so long as you work them out properly and give the listener some time to get imbued with the concept. Having loads of short blends between tracks that are all fizzing with individual quality confuses the mind, you get a lot of tracks shouting: "Look at me!" and competing when they should be complementing each other. Pick your moments and have a good look at the overall product when it's done. You should be able to look back and feel that every place you went had a reason for being there, like providing a contrast to make sections stand out more.
Even if the only goal is pure what the fuck confusion then at least you have to stay consistent throughout and use music that beams that idea. None of this happened during your mix, as I noted it suddenly changed into a more normal structure making me wonder why the rest of it wasn't like that and if this really was the intent or whether something just went horribly wrong in the first part. I shouldn't be left guessing about that. All these mixes need for me is to slow down a bit, I'm not expecting it all to make perfect sense but I like to have an overview of what happened. I can't honestly say any of the parts in the first half were worthwhile because I simply can't remember them, even though I've just listened to it. They just didn't register any more after a while because the madness left me with apathy.

Also, the reason why I didn't comment on the transitioning itself is simply because I didn't think there was anything glaringly wrong with it. I remember some minute key clashing in the earlier part but it was gone before it could really bother me because of the quick mixing. Besides that I'd hate to send you down the path of obsessing over transition technicalities when I think you have other more important issues to work out.

Now, I think I've said enough about this. Take it as you will but I do hope you understand there's no bad intent here. I just like to fully explain myself as I think it's a lot more useful then just stating I didn't like it much and moving on. I understand if you decide to agree on a disagreement, as I've done with others as well who commented on my mixes at times but I still like to take it with me as it is one of the few moments you get to dive into someone else's mind when listening to your work.

I might sit down this weekend and record a mix of Millsian sci-fi bleep techno. Love that stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by jonmitz Per the name of the mix, it was not meant to be linear in any fashion but meant to fluctuate (I am not a fan of linear progression in ANY mix except one meant for the dancefloor) throughout, in both energy and styles; I felt this would be the only appropriate way to complete a space-themed mix.

I just have to ask... why? When I think of space I don�t think of chaos or constant fluctuation. By its nature space is deep, vast and slow-moving, and if you look back through the history of �space music� right back to the 1970s or earlier it almost always involves long tracks, gradual development, repetition and so on. This is something you achieved pretty well in the second half of the mix, which was an enjoyable listen. The first half featured a lot of interesting music and the mixing was very effective actually (which in this kind of mix is more about careful cueing and mix placement) but it just didn�t feel remotely spacey, and the tracks with field recordings of distinctly earthbound environments (running water, nature, subway stations) were poorly chosen. I was a bit surprised when you said this mix was going to be �very challenging� and then within a couple of days popped up with a two hour mix. I definitely feel you could have slowed down, thought more about the concept and the structure and taken a few more days on this.

quote:

As you noted, I practically never do single-genre mixes and am very eclectic in all my mixes. I just wanted to say this because you need to consider these two items when thinking about the structure and flow - it's not going to be A to B with extended transitions throughout (although there are large sections of this in the second half, which you seemed to enjoy ).

Just as a general note, eclecticism should not be used as an excuse to negate structure: a good eclectic mix is not just about sticking lots of varied tracks together. You still need to have builds and releases, peaks and lulls and gear changes, and that�s not the same thing as going A -> B or using long, smooth transitions.

Okay, I've nearly finished my mix. Just need to bite the bullet and upgrade my Soundcloud account so I can actually host it. I was actually slightly regretting entering this mix because I've had a lot of inspiration to work on other mixes and this one was a bit of an unwanted distraction. However I had a brainwave last week that kept me up to 3am on a work night and now I think I've got a pretty good concept down.

I can host it for you, if you don't want to upgrade your SC account. Just put it up on Mega.co.nz or something.

I would prefer to have it on Soundcloud, and it's becoming a pain in the arse only being able to host one proper mix on there at once. I think I'll just take the �29 option for now - I can host three 80 minute mixes which is about my annual output.

My mix is nearly finished too, I just need to record it.

I'm really hoping our ideas aren't too similar. A little nervous about what you're going to post.

Haha. I might rush mine online now so I get the originality points and you become the second-rate imitator. Even if we hit on the same concept I'm pretty sure the way we'll execute it will be totally different.

Don't keep me waiting now!

Here's my submission. I'll leave comments about how I thought it went until after I hear some initial feedback. Mp3 320 pending.

Tracklist:

1. S.U.N Project - Tribolus
2. Doof - Lets Turn On
3. Phreaky - Over the moon
4. Total Eclipse - Pulsar glitch
5. Multiplex - Flotation
6. Total Eclipse - Free Lemonade (Psychaos remix)
7. Etnica - Party Droid
8. Psychaos - Science Fiction
9. Plaeidians - Taygeta
10. Dimension 5 - Harmonic Convergence
11. Pigs in Space - Solar
12. Dimension 5 - Deep Space 5d
13. S.U.N. Project - Going With The Flow

My aspirations were a bit lofty in relation to my present schedule, so unfortunately, I'm going to have to bow out. Have fun, all.

Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately I can't let you in the genre challenge later this year. Maybe next year will work out for you!

Psyshell and jonmitz, I'll get to your mixes as soon as I finish mine!

Right, here's my mix. One of the reasons I lobbied for Science Fiction as a theme is that this is natural territory for me: just about all my mixes have been influenced by sci-fi to some extent, and I already had a couple of ideas that could be easily converted into something suitable. I was going to work on a mix themed around terraforming and planetary colonisation, but I figured I've done enough wishy-washy spacey interplanetary mixes and it was time to deliver something with a little more edge and attitude.

I threw this together quite quickly in an almost punk-ish mixtape stylee, and only made a few minor tweaks after listening to it through. It's heavily inspired by the likes of Neuromancer, Bladerunner, James Cameron and Deus Ex. Here's the loose concept blurb from SC:

This mix takes place at a point in the near-future where biotechnological augmentation has advanced to the point of allowing significant improvements to the human body and consciousness, offering transhuman transcendence to those who possess the wealth to achieve it. Of course, there are certain factions lurking in the overcrowded dystopian sprawls of future society who will inevitably be displeased with their exclusion from this new phase of human experience...



01. Synth Sense - Nexus II [Auxiliary]
02. Central Industrial - Integration [Auxiliary]
03. Hecq - Bad Karma [Hymen]
04. Sonic Saturation - Storm [Camino Blue]
05. Solarstation - Instrumental (PBK Remix) [Camino Blue]
06. Future Engineers - Night Trails [Camino Blue]
07. Orbital - Know Where To Run [FFRR]
08. Antibreak - Riot Control [Red Mist]
09. Antibreak - A Block Turned To Rubble [Red Mist]
10. Zero Method - Cold War [Red Light]
11. Cain Mos & Giocator - Hot War [Trust In Music]
12. Synth Sense - Nexus I [Auxiliary]

I recommend listening to this mix in the dark on a bass-heavy soundsystem.

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