Story time: 'DJ setup' & 'That night that changed my life'

Howdy Hive,

Since my first two Hive posts were new DJ mixes, I figured I'd post today about the equipment used to make the magic happen, and some of the imprints that led me down this path.

I was born into what I consider to be a 'musical family'. Both my parents loved music, and it was usually playing in the rooms I grew up in more so than a television. My father loved jazz and classical, my mother loved 70's-80's rock. My Grandma on my Dad's side loved big band and swing, and my Grandfather on my Mom's side was the lead singer & guitarist for a country western band. In fact, one of my earliest memories is being on stage at one of his shows singing "Elvira" by Alabama to a full house. It seems as if from every angle and genre, I was scripted to seed a deep and ethereal passion for music and performing.

I've always loved singing & dancing, so I did the choir/show choir thing growing up as a child. I remember 12 year old girls swooning from the crowd as I would serenade them singing 'Goodnight Sweetheart' alongside my Barbershop Quartet in middle school. In high school the talent show performances took a turn, as grunge music first became popular, and I decided to follow in my grandpa's footsteps by picking up a guitar in an attempt to learn a Green Day song to play with my cool new neighborhood garage band. Life was good.

Fast forward to my early 20's, and many bands had come and gone. The most recent one had just dissolved, and I was feeling burned out about having to do anything musical involving any other person's 'ego', as THAT had seemed to be the cause of the downfall of most all of the now defunct projects. I honestly was kind of lost at that moment, both in direction, and creative motivation. That said, I still was harboring a heart full of songs that needed an outlet - and wouldn't ya freaking know it - the Universe had ready exactly the role assignment I didn't even know existed.

Just a few weeks later....

I'm standing outside, dressed as a Catholic priest, surrounded by literally thousands of costumed vessels of intoxicants. Its nearing 2 am, and the Downtown Halloween pub-crawl has just ended... well... kind of. The bars have closed, dumping a few thousand loud and happy participants out onto the streets, which thankfully have been closed and blocked off, in preparation for this exact moment. The party is over, and yet we 3,000 strong drunken Cowboys, Nurses, Priests, Pokemon, and Politicians won't be denied. The show MUST go on!

I mingle in the streets with strangers, making memories (that I certainly won't remember) with all of my friends. At some point while stumbling along the curb, we reach a corner where we are met with a few people, handing out flyers. These people are dressed in costumes.. I think.. I mean, I remember thinking 'damn, those are some big ass pants' as I stood there laying eyes on the first pair of UFO's I had ever seen. They seemed incredibly talkative and very friendly as they passed me their pamphlet. It was for a 'Pub-Crawl After Party' at some place I had never heard of called "Afterhours". It was clear there would be no alcohol sold there, but "All were welcome to come dance". My core friends pow-wow'd on that corner, and decided to check it out. "I like coffee, too", I thought as I noticed the 'Caffeine' logo on the man's shirt who had handed me the flyer, so onward we went.

We arrived at the club, and it was already wall-to-wall packed. I was feeling emboldened by the shots consumed earlier at the pub-crawl, and this white boy wanted to 'dance'. I use the 'quotations', because within about 15 seconds of hitting the dance floor and starting to move, I realized immediately that everyone around me was moving in a manner that looked like it was out of a video game, and I was severely out of place. What I was seeing was Liquid / Pop'n'Lock, for the very first time. It was exactly that second that I realized 'Oh shit, I don't know how to dance' and then spent the night hugging the wall on the dance floor, trying to imitate what I was seeing. I was amazed, and stayed until the club shut down at 6am.

I wanted to go back after that night, but just wasn't bold enough to go alone. That venue was nothing like what my friends would enjoy (or so I thought), and the night just some what became shelved in my mind as "A good party memory". Just a few short weeks later, I had a high school friend return home from the Navy on shore leave. He had been gone for a few years, touring the middle east on his boat, and had returned with a CD binder full of music I had never heard of before. I remember flipping through the book thinking "Ugh.. its ALL techno!!!" not knowing any better. As was our ritual at the time, the weekend called for a banner celebration, and he happened to pick the EDM club that I had accidentally discovered a few weeks prior. And that night, really changed my life.

I could (and maybe someday will) write a full post about that experience, but lets just say that all the "dark/sad/grunge rocker energy" that was inside me.. that was somewhat what I had crafted myself and my personality to be.. died that night. After then, I wanted to fill that void with nothing but musical love & light, and (to me) I feel that electronic music can do exactly that better than any other genre. That night, the Rock Singer/Songwriter died as well, and I've spent the last 20 years building its replacement.

I put a lot of thought, time, heart, and soul into my mixes. I do not take the easy way out, I mix by ear and refuse to run tracks using the sync button. If most DJs run their mixes for 30-60 seconds, I want to run mine for 3-4 minutes. I am who I've been made to be, and I take this hobby veeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry seriously. Its an honor to stand behind a pair of decks in front of a crowd, and have all those people put their blind trust in you, hoping that you can deliver the experience they're needing. It even gets very spiritual for me, at times. (And so much more, I could keep rambling right here for a long while.. but I digress)

And so..

I need equipment that will allow me to workflow with ease, and that I can count on to function as I need it to. There are hundreds of options and brands for DJ equipment these days. I still remember when everyone switched from Vinyl to CDJ's, then from CDJ's to Midi controllers, and now some controller artists have come full circle, and are buying Vinyl turntables again. I've had it all, and have always 'sold to upgrade' along the way. In that model, I'm blessed to be sitting somewhere near to what I would consider 'my dream setup'. There's always something new that I want, but I'm fortunate to be sitting in a very cozy spot , compared to the first set of plastic turntables I purchased a lifetime ago.

Here's the current setup:

Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol S4 MK3 w/ Traktor Pro 3 software (middle of turntables)
This is a flagship midi controller from NI. Its a 4 channel mixer, with direct-drive jog wheels, and integrated effects and looping. This device is used as the main mixer, sound card, as well as the transport control device for whatever songs I want to play off my laptop.
Reloop RM-7000 MK2 Turntables w/ Ortofon Concorde Black stylus' (pair of turntables)
These are a Technic 1200 clone, beefed up on steroids. The decks feature a motor with 3x more torque than a Technic 1200 turntable, which is the industry standard. They are metal, heavy, and imo function better than what ALL vinyl DJs are used to playing on, the aforementioned Tech 12. I had my doubts initially, but boy oh boy, am I now a believer in Reloop products. These 2 players are used when I want to mix a vinyl record, or two.
Native Instruments Maschine MK 2 controller w/ Maschine 2 software (left side of photo)
This thing is a spaceship. It can do so many things (sampler, effects processor, scene builder, step-sequencer, and on and on) but I mainly use it as a live finger drumming pad. There are times, usually during big theatrical track breaks, where I'll slide off to the side and throw down a little drumming for funzies. I'm not a master of any sort, but its fun and I have fun with it.
M-Audio Axium Air Mini 32 Keyboard
Small keyboard used with Maschine.

So yeah.. this post turned out way longer than I thought it would. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes when we hear music. Both in the story of the creation of the sounds, as well as the creation of the story or person that inspired it. Thanks for letting me share a little piece of my story with you.

Stay lifted,

~GG

( photo credit: @winstonwolfe )