Yes, this was another busy weekend – I did the usual Friday, Saturday, Sunday.  However, the real work was put in at my place on my computer.  All four of the major remix sites are currently having big sales, which lead to JD and I performing a nice, quality raping.  After dropping a little loot, (yes we support our friends!), we came away with close to 100 new tracks.  No, we don’t have plans on playing 100 remixes in a row, BUT, now we do have plenty of new ammo to keep from going stale.   I’m not gonna go in depth about this experience now, instead I will save it for tomorrow’s editorial, so make sure to check back manana.  I will say this now though:  All the DJs who are constantly asking how to switch up your sets, head to the sites now while you can get double for your money!!

www.YourRemix.com
www.CrooklynClan.net
www.Crack4Djs.net
www.StrictlyHits.com

Trust me, this isn’t an advertisement — this is advice.  Between all four sites, there is definitely plenty of useful stuff that we all are better off having in our crates!  Stock up now while you can get the most bang for your buck.  Again, more on this tomorrow.  (Don’t wait for our editorial before you buy, because the sales may be over!)

Speaking of the remix sites, I hope by now that everyone has copped DJ AM’s “It Takes Rock” from CrooklynClan.  It’s a track I draw for each and everytime I play at Scorpion Bar. Of course, with this weekend being the one year anniversary of AM’s passing, it made me think a little as I loaded it onto my serato deck.  I wish the crowd knew that this was an AM remix and if I had a mic there, I would have definitely mentioned it.  This track was really mind blowing to me the first time I heard it.  It was done about five or six years ago, and that was before doing something like this was more commonplace.  My crowd hears it every week and it never fails.  AM still lives for sure.

Finally, big shout out to Clinton Sparks!!  He’s been busier lately (busy is normal for him) knocking out tons and tons of custom edits of “Favorite DJ”.
When someone goes out of their way to take care of us, we NEED to support them.  This is a dope record to begin with, so that shouldn’t be asking too much.  Check out www.facebook.com/DjClintonSparks for info on how to get yours!  I can’t say it enough:  Support Clinton, support Lil Jon, support Honorebel, and anyone else who is going out of their way to service DJs with free drops.  Artists are like athletes who’ve been trained to say all the right things.  Of course they all say how much they appreciate the DJ, but few have actually put in the time and effort to show it.  That’s why it’s important to support the ones that do!!!

Spring
www.facebook.com/JaySpringFans

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Yes, another weekend has come to an end, and like Spring said, a good couple hours of it went to sifting through the remix sites for a few quality remixes/mashups.  You really have to dig sometimes, but you’ll find some gems.  And at $.99, even if you get a flop or 2, it’s not the end of the world.

If you like sales, you should also check out Guitar Center’s sale through tomorrow where you can Buy 1, Get 1 Free on select items.  I picked up 2 50ft. XLR cords for $50 and plan on getting 2 more by tomorrow.  We always need more wires!!

I have to say, this weekend was great.  The energy Friday night at Shrine was off the hook and I felt really good about my set.  Saturday I played a local bar, for the first time in a long time, for a friends birthday party.  It was an interesting night.  It was one of those, do I play what the person who hired me wants to hear, or what the girls dancing want to hear, kind of nights.  Everyone said they had a great time, so I guess I bridged that gap alright.  Until next weekend…

JD
www.facebook.com/therealdjjd

Another fun weekend!  In addition to doing Scorpion Bar Fri, Sat, and Sunday, I also spun at the Bud Light Pre-Party for the John Mayer show Saturday during the day.  It was a big show in Hartford and definitely a good crowd.  However, it was before the concert, and more of a mellow atmosphere.  People were sitting around drinking (Bud Lights of course) as opposed to dancing — and as I burned through a lot of my usual rock mixes, it definitely made me wish I had some non-hype versions of certain tunes.  There were a few times that the Scoop or generic “Hands in the Air” hype came off as a little obnoxious.   I’m gonna have to hit up some peeps and see if I can get some custom versions for the future.  Maybe look for them soon on upcoming edit editions??

Speaking of rock mixes, The Anthem Kingz are on a roll.  Last week I mentioned what they did with “Born to Be Wild”, and this week, I need to give them props for their flip of “Dynamite” that goes into the “Don’t Stop Believing” beat (Available at Crooklyn Clan).  It has been absolutely killing it for me.   Following it up with 2nd Nature’s mix of the Journey also works very well if you are getting towards the final minutes of the night.

Another remix crew, who are relatively new, that you should check for is Brass Knuckles (BrassKnucklesMusic.com).  They made a dope mix of Ne-yo’s “Beautiful Monster” and recently followed that up with a sick mix of the new Usher.  Definitely have a dope sound — look for their stuff at DjCity and DMS.

While the new Usher song is picking up steam, I’d have to say the biggest song of the moment now has to be the Enrique/Pitbull record.  Lots and lots of requests for that this weekend!  Jersey Shore took a record that wasn’t really going anywhere and blew it uppp.

In other news, just had a chance to listen to DJ Evil One’s set from a couple weeks ago on the MikiD’s show.  Had to shout him out cause he dropped a few of my fav songs from the high school days — “Wutcha Want” by Nine, “Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka” by BCC, as well as some KRS and even some Funkdoobiest.  Wow!  Peep his set as well as other dope sets from the top DJs at the MikiDz Show page at Beezo.net.

Finally, the funniest/most painful to watch moment of the weekend was Saturday towards the end of the night at Scorpion Bar.  I was playing Discotech’s “More Than A Feeling” Break and when the Cha Cha slide everyboy Clap Your Hands hype started, an older woman broke out a game of Pat-A-Cake with her husband.  Good times!

DJ Jay Spring
www.Facebook.com/JaySpringFans

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Yes, another crazy weekend for me.  Started out Friday at Shrine where we had special guests the Jump Smokers!  I know we all play a lot of their tracks and remixes and I’m happy to report that their live performance lives up to the energy in their recordings.  Although the crowd might not know them by name, they difintely knew some of the songs and had fun interacting with them.  We had a chance to eat at Fudruckers with Jump Smoker’s Dj Flipside (aka, aka, aka – He has a lot of other Dj names… lol).  We had fun chopping it up and trading stories.  We should be doing an interview with him soon, so be on the lookout for that!

Saturday I had the pleasure of DJing the wedding of two high school friends.  It was like a mini reunion.  Got to see a bunch of people I hadn’t seen in years and show off some of my DJ skillz.  Most of them had never seen me DJ, so it was fun showing off some skillz and many of them seemed impressed.  You know, we all have that little part of us that wants to get reassurance from our childhood friends, that we have actually done something with our lives.  It was nice to get that.

Like Spring said, Enrique’s new hit “I Like It” went over great with all age groups at the wedding and helped me keep everyone on the dance floor.  Sometimes you get to a point at a wedding where you need that perfect track that will appeal to the younger crowd who are tired of hearing the old stuff which has kept the older crowd on the dancefloor.  “I Like It” was that track.  Most Black Eyed Peas does the same thing.  Nelly’s “Hot In Here” was also a hit, getting the late 20’s crowd on the dancefloor with a quickness.

Sunday was another LONG day that started early with me getting to MGM at 10am to set up for the Liquid Sundays pool party.  The weather finally cooperated and when the music started at noon there was already a good crowd!  It ended up being an amazing day at the pool and Dj PS1 threw down a guest set from 3-5.  That night the party continued at Shrine and by the time I got home I couldn’t keep my eyes open.  Slept like a baby!

Dj JD
www.facebook.com/therealdjjd

Another busy weekend….

On Friday, I did Scorpion Bar as usual (The all-rock spot in Foxwoods, for those that don’t know).  And this time, I was armed with a little surprise   Dj Donk gave me the ”All I Do is Win” pella and I threw it over ”Brain Stew” — went over extremely well.  However, playing “Billionaire” afterwards did not lol.  I spent a while beforehand trying to think of what to play following that remix, but I guess I made the wrong decision.  I don’t usually play much rock stuff below 90 bpm during primetime , and I purposesly ended the remix with the last few words acapella so I could just drop something faster when it was over.  I know billionaire is pushing it for rock, but I try to get away with all the extra treats I can!

On Saturday, I did the premier of a super-upscale bar in Worcester, Mass called Sweet.  Went well for the most part, except for a couple small hiccups:

1)  It was more of a loungey atmosphere towards the beginning, and without thinking, I played the Sidney Samson remix of “No Getting Over” a little too early.   Through out the night, the energy level was constantly rising, but I at the time I played that Samson remix, it was really chill, and I almost felt a little embarrassed when the mix went Dutch.  It was just really uncalled for, and it reminded me of our discussion in our last interview with DJ Deville.  I learned my lesson!

2)  I accidentally played the regular intro version of “Carry Out” rather than the “Hook First” intro version.  Those Hook First versions that DjCity has are so useful, and really help keep the energy going.  When I quickly drew for Carry Out, I just forgot, and there was definitely a let-down in terms of energy level AND volume consistency.  It didn’t sound smooth at all    Again, only a minor hiccup, but should help me remember which version to draw for next time.

In other news, there seems to be alot of hot new music coming out at the moment.  Maybe not stuff I’ll be bumping in my car, but there’s quite a few songs getting some good airplay.  It seemed as though this summer was kind of slow in terms of pop-club bangers.  “California Gurls”, “Cooler Than Me”, “Bulletproof”, “Beautiful Monster”, “Love the Way You Lie”, and “Airplanes” were all pretty big, but nothing with the energy of a “Boom Boom Pow” or “Calle Ocho”.   I really like “Dynamite” and that’s finally taken off, as well as the new Usher.  As far as some of the other new stuff getting play that I was talking about before, —  New Boyz, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, and Maroon 5 all appear to have new hits on their hands.   I always make it a point to check www.sinternet.com every monday to check how much airplay stuff is getting.  Just scroll down a little, and check the Pop, Rnb/Hip Hop, and Rhythmic timetables which are on the left hand side.  It shows how long songs have been out for, and how many spins they are getting.  Gotta give a big shout out to DJ Holtie for bringing this site to my attention last year.  Now it’s a tool I couldn’t live without!!

Spring
www.facebook.com/JaySpringFans

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This seems like the summer that just won’t quit.  lol.  As you may have noticed we fell a little behind last week, which was mostly due to my schedule.  I normally DJ Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday, but in July and August I teach the Turntable Technique class on Wednesdays at Berklee College of Music in Boston, my alma mater.  It’s a lot of fun to impart my knowledge on a younger generation and teach them how to spin with REAL VINYL, not Serato.

That said, my schedule has been extra tight because of teaching the last few weeks and the addition of an all-day pool party at the MGM on Sundays has compounded that.  My current schedule is to DJ 2 parties on Sunday (12-7, 9-1), Tuesday, Wednesday (Teach), Thursday, Friday, Saturday.  It’s good to be bu$y.  lol.  But I do apologize for not keeping up last week.  We know a lot of you check our site daily for new content and we really try to do our best to keep our end of the deal.  Thank you for understanding.

Novation Dicer

In other news… I got the Novation Dicer last week and have used it at my last 4 gigs.  I really like it for the 5 cue points, especially when not using a TTM57.  Like Supersede said in his review, the auto loop mode might get overused.  I know I used them a little more than I needed to last week.  lol.  I’m cutting myself off this week.  The 1 beat auto loop makes a great poor mans echo though.  The loop mode is good, but It’s preset to do 1, 2, 4, 8 & 16 beat loops, no 32 beat like I use a lot.  The dicer does have some MIDI programing options, but you can’t reprogram any of the 3 main modes which is disappointing.  To use anything as a MIDI function you have to press 2 buttons at once.  Not ideal.  The one other thing that surprised me was how it actually got in the way a bit.  The area of the turntable platter the Dicer covers is where most of us drag on the platter to slow a song down.  It’s instinct for me to touch the platter in that area, but with a few weeks using it I’m sure I’ll be fine.  In the end, I really like the Dicer.  DJ’s are going to find it very useful and for $99 you can’t beat it.  My next test will be trying to use 2 per deck!

JD
facebook.com/therealdjjd

Whats up guys, back (a bit late) with another weekend recap and this was definitely a fun one!!  Got to spin at the Budweiser Pre-Party for the Jack Johson show at The Meadows in Hartford.  Having the rock background from doing Scorpion Bar definitely helps with these types of gigs.  It’s cool to see how amazed people are that a DJ can spin a three hour rock set.

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Looks like the new Usher ft. Pitbull “Dj Got Us Fallin’ In Love” is gonna be the next big tune.  You can usually get a good idea of that by the amount of edits in the music pools, and how fast peeps rush to put up versions on the remix sites.  Although, it’s definitely not guaranteed — see “Feel It” by Three Six Mafia.

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Shoutout to our friends The Disco Fries who just put out their new single “I’ll Be Your Trick/Bitch” featuring Dj Class.   Make sure to support it on Djcity.com and let us know how it works for you.

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Also, congratulations to DJ’s Supersede and Nick Morrison of The Miami Ski Team.  The duo finally released their highly anticipated CD entitled “Our Big Night Out”!!  Twitter users can to www.OurBigNightOut.com to download it. (Make sure to scroll down to the bottom of this cover here for a bonus download!!!)

As an added bonus, DJ Supersede was nice enough to share with us this dope new Miami Ski Team remix for Far East Movement’s “Like A G6″.

Fareast Movement – Like A G6 (Miami Ski Team Remix) by MiamiSkiTeam

Please let us know what you think — and don’t forget to wish Supersede a Happy Bday on Wednesday!!

Spring
www.Facebook.com/JaySpringFans

Here’s a new segment we’re gonna start….just a little blurb about the past week.  This will be a way for us to mention stuff that otherwise wouldn’t in with our other categories.  It will also give us a chance to talk about some of the stuff we receive in our inbox from you guys as well!

Pretty dope weekend!  Had my last Saturday off for the next few months, and got to enjoy it with my friends.  Then on the 4th, I spun at my first “Foam Party”.  Dope crowd and it was definitely fun.  Shoutout to DJ Joey G for hooking up the gig.

Finally got to check out Brian Armand’s complation cd of his latest remixes…and I was very, very impressed.   Brian is a regular in our comments section, and always has some good feedback on our posts.  His cd was alot of upbeat stuff, and he has a real disctinct sound.  Hopefully, he’ll let us post something for you guys here.  His mix where he flipped SHM’s “One” into “Zombie Nation” is so ill!!

Had the chance to drop a few new remixes this weekend.  Scooter’s dancehall remix of Billionaire is another smash.  He bumped it up to 95 bpm just like his “Rudeboy” mix, and this one hits even harder.  Also dropped Deville’s “All I do Is Win” Transition, and that worked extremely well.  If you haven’t copped either from Clan, I recommend you so ASAP.  Also, look for our interview with Deville coming up this week.

Finally, tomorrow is a big day for Miami Ski Team, who are made up of Supersede and Nick Morrison.  They are finally dropping their long awaited cd, “Big Night Out”.  We’ll have to chat with them soon and let you guys know more details.

— Spring
www.facebook.com/JaySpringFans

My week was, ehhhh.  I had my hopes up for the weekend, but knew the weather was going to be amazing and people probably would be doing things other than going to the club.  I was right.  Not only was it slow, but I just felt “off” all weekend.  It happens I guess.

I think the best part of the weekend was my mix for the Back In The Day Buffet on Jammin’ 107.7.  I had a lot of fun getting in the summer mood when I recorded it.

An old song I brought back with a GREAT reaction was “What Is Love” by Haddaway.  I mixed from the original into the Klass remix.  Seriously, people were rocking out!! hahaha  Of course the Klass sound isn’t the current electro sound, but it’s very accessible for a lot of crowds, especially on slow nights.

In other news, my mom just got the laptop of my dreams   17″ inch Macbook Pro with i7 processor and antiglare screen.  Never thought I’d be jealous of my mom’s computer.  lol

—JD
www.facebook.com/therealdjjd