Unleashed a few pennies last week on a Numark mixer. Many moons ago I had the choice at a young age to buy cheap turntables or a decent stereo. I took the stereo as I could still play the vinyl I had been buying.
Spin forward a few years and I after nearly a year living in Belgium during college, I came back from putting on parties over there and decided to do something in Coventry. Incidentally, the title for this post comes from a comment underneath the vid at the bottom. It mentions the glorious Mirano, Brussel’s premier club at one point, that I went to during my stay. More happy days. Anyway, thought it was apt.
I had friends who DJ’d, Dave and Greg both doing warm up slots for the most fantastic Wobble night in Brum. Ah happy days. So I started promoting the ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ nights on a Thursday(?) at Browns in the Lower Precinct. Nearly broke even, had some good times but quite stressful and hard going standing outside townie clubs at 2am, getting chased, then having hassle on the night of the event when the owner refused to let non-students in. Yeah thanks for that.
Next move was amsuing looking back on it. WE moved to setup a new night on Sundays called ‘Loosen Up’, the only Sunday night going in Coventry at that time, we thought we’d have them queuing at the door with cool house music to wind down a weekend. Sadly the venue had other ideas when a *cough* electrical problem torched the place. Not mentioning its name!
So from promotion in Coventry, I started doing some nights in L0ndon after I moved down. The Slug in Fulham Broadway, KIngs Road pubs, parties and a wedding out at Cobham. All good fun.
From the early decision of taking the stereo, if I had taken the decks… who knows. … So never having lost the enjoyment of playing music, I purchased a Numark mixer last week and using it as a controller, hooked up my Macbook with Traktor software. Well, so far so good. I’ve not yet purchased the external soundcard I have my eye on, or the affordable but very nice amp/speaker set… but again, who knows what a moment of weakness will produce.
I am working on some mixes for my own benefit but not releasing them online as I’m sure I could be slapped with a wealth of legal iss-shoows. Still, people know where I am… Whether or not I’m out doing anything in public, well unlikely but who knows.
After that ramble I have a few links I’d post up. Firstly, the place I bought the mixer from has been great. Dolphin Music are recommended for their prompt service and for generally being good guys. I think I found them via their ebay links but if anyone is looking for audio equipment online then head their way.
Second link is for Beatport. Here you can listen to and purchase a massive range of audio tracks, from psy-house, trance to nu beat. Warning is that any house heads can lose hours here. Few pennies more than iTunes but obviously more specialised. Had a few problems with payment set up but that was with my bank I think rather than their systems. Good guys.
Finally I’ll leave you with a YouTube vid of Aly Us’ ‘Follow Me’. Glorious 92, I remember playing this to death on an early Strictly Rhythm compliation I had. The vid is fantastic – cross between a feature slot, music video and home movie. Ace.
