OxyKon

mmmmmmmmmm, KRK 8"s dope setup bro

yeah maybe, but you have to admit, a lot of what he talks about is very true

We're not blind; hell, we make sure we keep our ears to the street, searching out the new talent that can't legally buy beer... or even vote in America. When you're realistic about the EDM scene, especially in America, you have to admit: The older DJs run this shit. The same DJs that were headlining raves in the 1990s are still going strong in 2013, and if you told some of your friends that legendary DJs like Carl Cox or Fatboy Slim were coming to town, we imagine many of them would be making sure they'd get their tickets. With so many considering EDM as being the music of the youth, why is it that so many adults have a hold on the scene? 1. They own the labels Many DJs started their own labels from the ground up, and know how to work these imprints like oiled machines. These days, the vinyl-buying public for dance music continues to get smaller and smaller, but one of the most important things of the "good old days" is that a label owner had to make sure they had a great tune on their hands, as pressing vinyl wasn't expensive. You waste funds getting a shitty single manufactured, you could lose your distribution deal, which would be death for some trying to make a mark in the music business. Just think about it: Pete Tong, Tiesto, Goldie, and others run some of the premiere labels in their fields, and many of the DJs running important EDM labels right behind them will be hitting the 40-year-old mark in no time. 2. There aren't many competitors The list of DJs over 40 is slim. People fall off. Find different interests. Get married. Have children. Get discouraged. There are hundreds of reasons why artists find other avenues for their happiness. This business isn't kind, and these DJs have learned all of the qualities that keep them relevant. Staying power means a lot these days There are very few DJs that are still in the game that were playing records when the best EDM producers under 21 were in diapers. These DJs are tried and true, and quite truthfully part of an elite crowd. 3. They are better DJs These days, many producers become DJs out of necessity; either they need to promote their tracks, or they make more money from gigs than they ever would from selling music. Most of the old guard started DJing because they wanted to DJ, many then becoming producers because they wanted to make a certain type of song that they weren't able to buy. Many times, you find that DJs who do it for the love of DJing end up being better DJs. Just watch the marathon sets that someone like Fatboy Slim puts on; he's just as in love with his sets as the ravers are in the crowd. 4. They have a history of greatness Say you're a promoter with a nice sack of cash to spend on a party. Now you definitely want to make a profit; it's damn hard to stack your lineup with a number of newer artists. Even if the over 40 DJ isn't headlining, you need to have their talent on the stage, especially if you're looking to diversifying your audience. One thing we're seeing overseas is that the average age of festival goers in the UK is 30-years-old - young kids just don't have the money. Now, who do they want to see... the flavor of the month, or a DJ with name recognition that they've either seen or heard has torn a rave down? 5. They have failed Failure is a part of success. Without making mistakes, one doesn't have a grasp on how to quickly recover. This encompasses all aspects of the industry. What promoters are shady, what venues are fun to play in, what audiences are looking for, what to do if there is a technical difficulty during a set, how to market content; the list could go on. Nobody makes it in this industry overnight, but those that have been around for decades have the uncanny ability to see trouble before it arrives and seize opportunity before anyone notices it. 6. They can spot a hit Years of time spent listening to new music then testing these tracks in the clubs allows a seasoned vet to spot a banger a mile away, especially when it comes to tracks that have potential to work in diverse markets worldwide. Sure, any DJ can grab the Beatport top 10 and have a field day, but guys like Carl Cox have spun for millions of people on many different continents; if he says something is going to ring off in the rave, you can take it to the bank. 7. They have established platforms Pete Tong has spent years bringing the Essential Mix to BBC Radio 1, so it made sense that when Evolution was bringing EDM to terrestrial radio they built their station around Pete's legacy, which he brings in the form of Essential Selections. When Pete puts on a record, it matters; there's usually no doubt of its importance. A younger DJ could talk a record up until they're blue in the face, but you will still need to hear it to make sure they weren't bullshitting you. 8. They have a proper education in music When's the last time a 20-year-old spent hours in a record shop digging crates? Do they have a serious education in the records that inspired what they're listening to? Music wasn't archived 10-years-ago like it is today. Every DJ traveled down different path, and found different records that inspired them throughout their career. A DJ over 40 simply has 20+ more years of these records in their catalog. When Moby shows up at Coachella and dominates the festival with a deep electro crate and years of skill, we're sitting back and smiling. This seasoned generation has gone through tons of phases, seen tons of trends, and heard an unimaginable amount of songs. Their ear and their opinion is unquestionably sharper than someone that's fresh on stage. 9. They're a known commodity Many new producers have solid Facebook and Twitter numbers, but who's to say they will be around in a year or so? You can bank on some of the older DJs, as their history proceeds them. 10. They can guide the next generation We (Nappy and khal) are the OGs of Do Androids Dance. We have much to learn from our younger counterparts, as they are certainly quicker with social media trends, picking up on what the younger generation is latching onto, and have grown up with the Internet. We have grown into it. That being said, our background in music started 10 years before theirs did. We lived the changes in trends, saw the rise and fall of many great musicians, and have a catalog in our heads that's just deeper than someone a decade younger. This translates to the art of spinning records as well. DJs were stuck with Technics 1200s and had to carry crates of records 10 years ago. We saw Serato become standard in clubs and in homes, and now controllers and CDJs seem to be the norm. Instead of fighting these changes and looking like condescending pricks, these veterans can reach out and help the younger generation with marketing, promotion, placement, and getting them connected to the venues, managers, and agents that will help them pay their bills. EDM was built on a generation that paved their own path because doors were shut in their face, because we wanted something different. The younger generation would love the help, and certainly look to their predecessors as inspirational figures in the industry. Source: doandroidsdance.com

its got a spacer at the top, thats the only thing i can see

Nice find dude

i just dont understand the reason for these, they are cute but like cupe i say, why?

the rep system has started

Yeah the 2 of them together put on a hell of a show

EDM Interview: DJ Shortee Talks Djing Not only is DJ Shortee dubbed “The World’s Premier Female DJ!” by the Grammy Foundation, “Queen of the Scratch World” by DJ Times, the only female DJ in the critically acclaimed Documentary “SCRATCH” but she also happens to be uniquely kind, honest, and so inspiring I’m about to step up my game. Magnetic was lucky enough to get an exclusive interview with the internationally known DJ, skilled Turtablist, published author and owner of record labels 5 Star Records and Heavy Artillery Recordings (these are just a few on her list of accomplishments). If you are a fan already, her answers resemble her music, vibrant, profound, charismatic (I actually just wrote magnetic, which she is and by the way so is the name of our magazine!). If you don’t know who DJ Shortee is, continue reading, you might find an extra pep in your step today. Don’t worry, it’s not obvious and we promise not to tell you got it from a “Girl” DJ. HI SHORTEE, HOW ARE YOU TODAY? MAY I CALL YOU SHORTEE? Haha, I’m doing great and yes! My homies also call me Shortness or Shannon whatever works best for ya ) WHAT WAS THE FIRST RECORD YOU EVER BOUGHT, OR RECEIVED, AND HOW OLD WERE YOU? I don’t remember the exact record I received because I was still in diapers but my first collection consisted of Strawberry Shortcake, Alvin & the Chipmunks and Disney records. I was also really into soundtrack records like “Annie” and “Grease” and I would put on shows for my stuffed animals with them. I still have all of those records! The first record I ever bought was Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” when I was in the 3rd grade so I must have been 7 or 8 years old I think. DID YOU GROW UP IN A MUSIC PROMINENT ENVIRONMENT, OR WAS IT AN OUTSIDE INFLUENCE THAT ATTRACTED YOU TO IT? I grew up playing music. My dad is a composer and musician and my mom always encouraged me to be creative in a variety of ways including music, theater and art. I started playing drums & percussion when I was 7 and also dabbled in piano, violin & trumpet as I grew older. I stuck with drums & percussion as my main focus and played in all the bands and ensembles up through high school. My favorite was playing snare drum in the marching band. Certified band geek ;O) In college I played drums in a punk rock jam band which was slightly higher on the “cool” scale but of course I cancelled that bit of coolness out by also playing in my university’s classical percussion ensemble. Band nerds represent! WHAT WAS IT THAT DREW YOU TO THAT VERY FIRST TIME YOU STOOD BEHIND TWO TURNTABLES, AND DECIDED TO MAKE YOUR OWN SOUND? Initially I was just curious. I was into going to clubs and raves and I really enjoyed dancing to hip hop, techno, house and breaks so I was aware of the DJ but I didn’t consider the DJ an actual musician because I thought they were just playing other people music. The first time I stood behind two turntables I was at a house party in college and there were open turntables so I asked if I could try to mix the next song in. It was probably a combination of beginner’s luck and liquid courage but the song was Run DMC’s Peter Piper and I beat matched and mixed it in on my first try! After that I didn’t feel challenged by it so I wasn’t really interested in it until I was lucky enough to watch DJ Faust scratching records in my friends living room for the first time. I had never seen anyone scratch like that before and it blew my mind. It was extremely complex and percussive and I was instantly drawn to it. That night Faust came out with us to a house party to watch me play drums with my punk rock band and he told me he was really impressed with my drumming skills. I told him I thought his scratching was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen and that I’d love to learn how to scratch someday. He said he thought I’d pick it up pretty quickly because when you are scratching you are using the turntable is a percussion instrument. He offered to teach me the basics and that’s how it all started. In addition to learning scratching and beat juggling, I also began mixing progressive house, techno, breaks and hip hop. I got really into putting together trick mixes, keeping the energy high and creating a story in order to make the blends more interesting than just mixing Song A into Song B. Its been 18 years since then and although my sound has evolved considerably, the core aspects of turntablism, energy and variety haven’t changed and that’s what still keeps me interested today! THE FIRST TIME I HEARD PARTY ANIMAL, I LOVED IT. I THOUGHT WOW, THAT IS THE CLEANEST SCRATCHING I’VE HEARD IN AWHILE. WHEN I FOUND OUT THE DJ WAS A GIRL, I WAS SURPRISED, THEN BEING A GIRL MYSELF, SURPRISED THAT I WAS SURPRISED LOL. DID YOU GET THAT REACTION OR UNDERESTIMATED A LOT PRIOR TO BEING KNOWN? Haha! Yeah, I definitely got that reaction a lot and still do! At first it was really frustrating to not be taken seriously simply because of my gender and having to work 100x harder than the boys to get the same amount of respect. It was especially tough because when I started there were very few females in the game and people weren’t accustomed to seeing girls getting down and mixing records, much less scratching them and doing tricks. Nowadays there still aren’t many chicks that scratch and juggle but there are definitely TONS of female DJs that mix so at least people are more used to seeing female DJs. I no longer get frustrated with people’s reactions because I realize that it’s a good thing to be different and it’s pretty awesome to be able to use shock value in a positive way to draw people in to what you do. But yeah, a lot of times when people hear my scratching on mixes without actually seeing me they assume it’s a dude doing the cuts… even if they know it’s me mixing! They assume that I got some other guy to do the scratching and are shocked when they realize it was me. And to be completely honest, just like you, I would be surprised too! It’s still pretty rare!! WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE TO SUCCEED IN A MALE DOMINATED INDUSTRY? We all measure success differently but surviving in a male dominated field has definitely been a challenge. That same challenge is also one of the things that kept me striving to do my best and reach the next milestone. When I started out I literally had to show and prove in order to gain respect because people weren’t taking the concept of female DJs seriously, mainly because there were so few of us in the game. Shortly after I started DJing I had the opportunity to be the only female member of a DJ crew with Faust, Craze (DMC Champion), Klever (DMC Champion), Shotgun, T-Rock and King James called 3rd World Citizens. It was really challenging to keep up with them in the beginning but it also helped mold me into what I am today because they didn’t treat me like “the girl” in the group. Either I had to keep up or I was out. I didn’t give up and just worked that much harder to have my own identity in the group as an equal rather than just the “token female”. I’ve kept that same work ethic ever since in order to make my own name in the industry and strive to gain respect in my field like every artist should. These days there are a ton of female DJs so that isn’t as much of an issue, however female artists are still objectified in a way that men aren’t which can be a bit frustrating. There are also a ton of highly influential and ground breaking female DJs and producers, however, females are still rarely included in the dialog about artists who are really contributing to the scene and at the top of their field. This also just drives me to work harder. With all that said, at this point in my career it’s really not as much of a gender related issue any more, rather to me it’s more about the struggle to stay relevant in an over saturated and constantly evolving scene. Its really difficult to have a voice in an overcrowded market that’s dominated more by PR and less by actual talent. That is a challenge that I share with most of my peers both male & female. DO YOU APPROACH A NEW MIX WITH SOME SORT OF INSPIRATION OR CONCEPT? HOW DID “PARTY ANIMAL” COME TO BE? I don’t always have a specific concept in mind, it just really depends on the music I’m playing at the time and where I’m playing it. Regardless of theme, the music is ultimately what inspires me to record a mix. I’m always testing out various combinations of tunes to see what works and what doesn’t in a live setting and then I take the best combinations that I’ve created over time and make an entire mix out of them. However, once in a while the stars will align and I will be super stoked with a particular live set as it is and get inspired to create a mix based on that exact set. “Party Animal” is one of those sets. I recently played a show called “Party Animals 3″ in Southbridge, MA for Mutiny Productions and that show inspired me to create the “Party Animal” mix. Its pretty much the exact same set I played at the event, mix points and all, except I added a few more tunes to round it out to 70 minutes. YOU’RE PLAYING NY THIS WEEKEND, HOW IS DJING THERE DIFFERENT FROM ANYWHERE ELSE? DO YOU HAVE A PREFERENCE OR A FAVORITE VENUE TYPE TO PLAY? Well, NYC is definitely it’s own city and there is no where else like it! That said, DJing in NY isn’t much different to me than any other large city in the world. Music transcends borders and people react very similarly to the energy in the room no matter where we play. I don’t have a preference on places to play as long as there are people in the space digging the music. We’ve played huge festivals, small clubs and everywhere in between. Its really an insane feeling to play in front of thousands of people at once all feeling what you do. As a contrast, sometimes the smaller shows have a stronger vibe than the larger ones because they are more intimate. I love both scenarios for very different reasons. DO YOU STILL GO RECORD SHOPPING? AND IF SO WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE SHOPS? What’s a record? You mean like on iTunes? Haha, j/k ;o) Groove Merchant in San Francisco is one of our favorite shops and thrift stores are the best but we haven’t been digging in a while. We have a huge record collection and we really don’t have space left to add to it! If I do go record shopping I’m mainly looking for old jazz, funk, soul, old school hip hop or classic rock records…or children’s records, those are my favorite to collect ) WHAT WOULD YOU TELL YOUR 12 YR OLD SELF, OR PERHAPS IF YOU TEACH KIDS, ANY TIPS OR ADVICE TO A CONSISTENT DJ CAREER? Practice your DJ skills like crazy, learn how to produce music, create a solid “brand” for yourself and promote it like crazy. If you asked me that question 10 years ago I would have just said practice your DJ skills and the better you get at your craft the more chance you have of having a consistent career. These days very few DJs can break through without successful production credits. Nowadays, really the only way to “make it big” as a DJ is to also be a solid producer and even with that, marketing is key to your success and longevity. In fact many of the “Superstar DJs” these days didn’t start DJing first, rather their DJing came second to production as the demand to see them “perform live” grew from their popular releases and most of them have enormous PR machines behind them promoting their brand. With that said, I still feel strongly that solid DJ & production skills are very important because that’s what people will hear and respond to the most. So above all, practicing your craft and honing your skills are the most important factors if you want to truly gain respect in your field. It’s a lot easier to promote and sell someone that takes pride in their craft and is good at what they do. (Unless you are Paris Hilton, then none of that matters, LOL.) OF ALL YOUR HATS, DJ, PRODUCER, AUTHOR, RECORD LABEL OWNER, TEACHER, TURNTABLIST, WHICH TAUGHT YOU THE BEST LESSON ABOUT YOURSELF? AND IF YOU DON’T MIND TELLING US, WHAT WAS THAT LESSON? There is no way to narrow this down to one thing. Each one of these hats has taught me valuable lessons not only thru the process of doing them but also from the amazing people I’ve met and worked with in each facet of the industry along the way. The most valuable lessons I’ve learned from wearing all these hats is to keep an open mind, stay humble, ignore the haters and keep learning from every experience. For me it’s been beneficial to see the industry from as many perspectives as possible. I’m continuously learning and that’s what I love most about what I do. Source: magneticmag.com

LOL

Behind the scenes work is done by the rest of the staff team. Don't forget those heroes. I know that, but i do know that you 2 alone, have been going at it as more than a full time job, even more than life Which also says a lot about this, even if its some what mainly about chat

yeah, its def more than a 2 man job, you guys have done awesome to keep this site a float, like i said, ill do what i can

I'm down, you know me i help where i can, plus would be good for me to start reposting good topics on my FB DJ page

Just out of Boredom during my lunch break I checked out flights to Melbourne on the Thursday with a flight back on the Monday morning, $239 each way on virgin, almost about the same as what I payed to get to the GC, wishing I had my tax return back already

Always like reading Ian's blogs, has got a lot of cool tips and tricks, When i 1st started out with DJ'n and when i started at my radio gig i always set my sets out like this, let it tell a story, i've been hitting up a lot of chill out these days so its sort of coming back to this again, putting a decent amount of effort into it to let it tell a story

Dope I'm gonna use that this week when I get paid, nice find dude

https://soundcloud.com/oxykon/oxykon-set-75-20th-july-2013

MXMGJLYBPT this worked for me this morning

i paid $650 for LP 9, da fuck

Am i viewing right that its only $199, is that for the upgrade from logic pro 9?

Have fun repairing the motor

Welcome dude

https://soundcloud.com/oxykon/oxykon-set-74-13th-july-2013 just a nice chilled out set for y'all to relax to

Welcome dude