This really was a mix to keep my momentum going. It feels like it’s been a little while since my last mix. So, it was fairly straightforward; 3 tracks. I’ve started playing around more with the FX on my new controller. So, you’ll hear an echo out of Shooting Star and a backspin out of Ocean.
The title of the mix really is a reflection of where I am in general. Earlier this weekend, I got an opportunity to test drive a couple examples of my dream car; a Porsche 911. The test drive reminded me of how long I’ve had that dream, how I’m not quite there, but if I keep at it, I’ll get there. Much like with DJing, I feel like I’m in a good spot.
The title of this mix is a favorite quote of mine from Mike Tyson. Over the past few weeks, I’ve gone through a decent amount of personal, romantic, and career setbacks. I got punched in the mouth. This week, I started getting things back on track, but found myself feeling sorry for myself and feeling like quitting during my Friday workout. But I had a second thought about how in the past, I had more of a fighting spirit when I faced adversity. I wondered what happened to it. The workout served as a reminder to pace myself, but push through challenges; as did the creation of this mix.
When I create mixes, I usually have a bunch of songs I would like to include, but as I begin trying to blend them together a subset of them naturally emerges. I don’t know if something was going on in my subconscious, but all of the tracks in the mix have a taste of melancholy in them. And this is definitely not the smoothest mix I’ve created, when blending in and out of Friends, I drop out of the track for a bar to avoid some crosstalk. The 2nd time around, it wasn’t too smooth. Honestly, the drop cut to go back from Friends to One Kiss was a tad bit rough too. Further, the mix into it flows, but there is a contrast between the beats.
On the plus side, this was really the first time I spend an extended amount of time on rekordbox and my DDJ-1000 putting together a mix. I’m still not as comfortable on it as my Traktor S2, but I am beginning to acquaint myself with the new set up. As far as new techniques, for the drop cuts in and out of Friends, I used a v-brake effect. For the transition into Pray, I used the low pass filter for 8 bars then faded out over the next 8. For the end of the mix, I applied the r. echo effect and faded out. Effects were pretty tricky with the S2, so it was nice to be able to incorporate them with ease using the DDJ-1000.
