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Questions about Zabiela

I've heard tonnes of great things about him, and I want to get to know his music. So I'd appreciate it if you guys could help me out.

Has James Zabiela produced any tracks? If so, what is considered the best?

And, what is considered his best/most famous compilation, or set, or mix?

Fanx!

all i know of as far as productions, are remixes, but i just started following him as of late so i dont know

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Has James Zabiela produced any tracks? If so, what is considered the best?

Yes. ficta-eli(zabiela"rave lizard"mix) is prolly his best so far from wat ive heard - which was actually produced by james and his bro.

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what is considered his best/most famous compilation, or set, or mix?

His alive mix comp for renaissance went down pretty sweeet but im still hooked on "sound in motion",get his two essential mixes aswell they rock.

as sasha put it to him "Go on my son"

Get everything by him. Check discogs for his productions and remixes, they're all good.

Without the aliases, I've only heard one track that he has produced himself. BBC listed it as 'James Zabiela - Zabielik Beats' in one of his essential mixes, but you never know.

As Ory said, get everything.

He's also produced a track called "Excited", atleast that's what the tracklist said.

JZ has done acouple remixes including:

R�yksopp Remind Me (JZ's Ingeborg Remix)
Pole Folder & CP - Dust (James Zabiela Dakota Bar Slam)
Boomclick - Homegrown (JZ Remix)
Dave Brennan - Drink Deep (JZ Remix)
Ficta - Eli (JZ's Rave Lizard Mix)
Ficta - Eli (JZ's Rave Lizard Reprise)

and some of his own productions

JZ - Excited
JZ - Document 3.1 (http://www.soundallianceuk.com/shop.htm)

He also spins alot of his own edits of his tracks in his sets like PvD.

He is awesome, but I wish people would focus more on his track selection, and mixing skills rather than the little tricks he does "OMFG he skratched teh rekkidz!" I guess thats what got him where he is though. Either way he still kicks ass.

Buy Alive, and Sound in Motion.

If you listen closely, you'll realise his mixing isn't very good at all in most cases, yeah. I dunno, I've just always looked past that in Zabiela's case.

The Essential Mix from February of this year is all you'll ever need.

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Originally posted by Ory If you listen closely, you'll realise his mixing isn't very good at all in most cases, yeah. I dunno, I've just always looked past that in Zabiela's case.

Can you give me a case where his mixing is "not very good"

I've found him to be the quite good in most cases. It's not usually overcomplex, but there really shouldnt be a reason for a dj to over complicate a mix just for the sake of doing so. I've always really like the way he pulls off those eq mixes.

I'm not trying to argue with you, I'm just curious as to what mixing technique you find to be sub par.

I on the otherhand am just not impressed with his scratching, or use of effects, and echo loops, so his mixing and track selection is what has always done it for me.

From what I've heard, it's mostly 30-second-cuts between tracks. I don't know, I'm just used to long 2 minute mixes Sasha-style.

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Originally posted by Ory From what I've heard, it's mostly 30-second-cuts between tracks. I don't know, I'm just used to long 2 minute mixes Sasha-style.

Hmmm...Well, I can see how it might sound like 30 second cuts, but some of his mixes are actually like...3 min+.

Like in some cases youll think the mix is over, but he actually has left the bassline from the previous song playing througout the proceeding one, which might not even have a strong bassline (or atleast he doesnt show it to us) And then after you think youve torn it apart, you start to realise that it could have been the opposite way around, so that the bassline in the first track was never shown to you, it was the bassline from the proceeding track that was playing throughout it. I dunno I still have a hard time figuring out whats going on sometimes.

I started looking into his mixes more when i found out that he didnt do all of the crazy tricks on his albums that people think he did (not that he ever said he did) Like in "Circuit Breaker" off of the alive album...he doesnt do all of that crazy stuff in the middle, its part of the original track off of the bits for breakfast album, but i originally thought it might have been done by delays on the efx. And apparantly the scratching in Diplomat - ZX Complex was not done by him either, my friend says that it was also part of the original track.

It's not really a production, but you need to check out his Enjoy the Silence / Wavy Gravy mash-up. If that doesn't make you go moist then you need your ears checked.

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Originally posted by Ory If you listen closely, you'll realise his mixing isn't very good at all in most cases

Haha, what?

In terms of straight up DJing technique, with the possible exception of the professional turntablists like Q-Bert, there are none better than James Zabiela. I'm not sure what you mean by "his mixing isn't very good at all", but I'm going to assume that you haven't seen him live, or - if you have - that you weren't paying very close attention to what he was doing behind the decks because I don't think anyone could witness this boy in action and be anything but completely blown away by him.

To quote myself from when he came out here in June:

quote:

Man I feel like jumping over the barrier & just masturbating over the decks.

Large quantities of beer may or may not have been involved that night, but I think that pretty much sums it up.

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Originally posted by Renegade It's not really a production, but you need to check out his Enjoy the Silence / Wavy Gravy mash-up. If that doesn't make you go moist then you need your ears checked.

It's not that good...personally I prefer just the tekara remix of enjoy the silence...

Yeah that gravy/silence mash up was no hell.

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Originally posted by beats and beeps "OMFG he skratched teh rekkidz!"

You caught me there! After a while I've started noticing his track selection as well. I like the 'attitude' he creates for his sets unlike those other big DJ's that make people go like "OMFG teh progzor is so random and variable!!!"

Some would still say he's a typical prog-dude, though. And in a couple of years I'll probably get sick of his style as well. Right now he's doing fine, however

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