TheReturn

Paul Tibbetts, post: 23827, member: 2488 wrote: This is the exact reason I’ve recently gone with iTunes match.

For £25 a year I can have up to 25,000 tracks in the cloud, ready at all times.
I did this mainly because I had filled my 160GB internal HD and can’t afford to buy a new one and didn’t want to get external hard-drives. Once synced and ready, my laptop only holds ‘DJing’ music for Traktor (I’m not claiming to be anything more than a bedroom dj) whilst my phone has whatever I want to listen to whilst out and about. I can always download new tracks to my phone and re-download others to my laptop, especially if where I’m going has no internet access, but for the rest of the team I can stream that one album I haven’t heard in a while but isn’t worth taking up HD space.

I know there are plenty of free alternatives but my music collection (all digital) has been specifically curated for the past 5 or 6 years and I didn’t want to lose all my efforts.

(Before anyone starts, I know Amazon and Google have their own alternatives that may or may not be cheaper or have more room but for someone with a Macbook and an iPhone, iTunes Match works perfectly)

hey that sounds like a good system. The only thing i am concerned about is this:

Even better, all the music iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/itunes-match/

As most of my files are 320 MP3s or WAVS itunes Match would actually downgrade a lot of my music.

To give better assistance it would be good if you could provide an example of why your mixes aren’t interesting? what do you feel they are lacking?

Since I don’t know what you’re mixing skills are like, I won’t comment on that, but I will give some advice on selection.

Pick a theme, a mood, a time of day, a story or any kind of narrative and build the mix around that. Your ideas can come from experiences in your life or from TV , fiction, history or movies or they can just emerge from messing around on the decks and stumbling across songs that work well together. Check these examples and the mix blurbs below.

A lot of mine are about creating a soundtrack to a real or potential experiences.

http://soundcloud.com/thereturn/dj-return-rotten-coconuts
You’re on a deserted island, all there is to eat is coconuts. You eat a bad coconut and it makes you trip out and run around the island a la Leonardo De Caprio in the Beach. This is the soundtrack to that experience

Where as others are about exploring themes within the music

http://soundcloud.com/thereturn/message-from-the-80s
This mix tries to capture a certain mood in the early 80s. All of these tracks tell a story of hard times, of struggle against racism, unemployment, poverty, drug addiction, urban life, Reaganism and violence. But most importantly they also say “there has got to be a better way” Many of these songs look to the future. Some are afraid that there is worse to come, while others view computers and technology as a positive way forward. However, the overarching message is that change is possible, especially if you take the initiative.

hope this helps

megamixes can be useful if you need to go the bathroom

tracks with real drummers.

softcore, post: 22323, member: 243 wrote: Never underestimate the “power” of a mediocre track as an intro to one of your “bangers”….In order tog et the audience high you first have to pick them up from “low”…….

I hope it makes sense – I know it does in my native language! 😉

I think ‘mediocre’ track is the wrong word.

You should always play tracks that you think are great! I think what you mean is you need to play a more restrained track or a building track or a deeper track.

interestingly enough – a venue in Melbourne did the opposite when Gaga and her entourage came to town. They turned her down and kept their weekly booking on the bill.

They bar and the band that played have now received so much free promotion as a result and they can keep their honor as a legendary place for Melbourne rock.

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/music/the-bar-that-said-nah-to-gaga-20120705-21jja.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jul/06/lady-gaga-entourage-turned-away?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

its my understanding that a lot of producers make mash ups for other DJs to play. Its good promotional tool for them. That’s why there are so many free ones to download on soundcloud and blogs etc.

So if someone asks what it is do what Vinyl Blanc said and refer them to the maker.