DJ Academy - Ministry of Sound

Waaaay back in May last year, Dingo sneaked into an internet cafe on a beach in Ibiza and arranged a gift for me.  We were in the middle of a holiday in Ibiza, renting out a villa and enjoying the food, beaches and clubs that the island had to offer.  I had my DJ gear and was mucking about on the decks a couple of the nights - and Dingo got the idea for a gift.

She presented it to me and I fell over with surprise and excitement.  The gift: a 5 hour DJ Academy session at Ministry of Sound.  Booyah!  The Dingo rocks!

Fast forward to today and there I was, behind the decks in the main room (The Box), mixing a couple of CDs in front of seventeen other budding DJs and five cool as piss pros.  What a blast!  What a buzz!  They even had the lasers and smoke going to make it feel authentico.

At the start of the DJ Academy session, the "students" were split into four groups and allocated a professional DJ to show them the basics, using the real equipment in one of the four rooms of MoS.  We rotated once and then once again into one of the four rooms - The Box, The Loft, Room 103 and BabyBox.

The DJ went through the basics of beatmatching and gave all of us a go, using the music from our own collections.  It was so good to get some hands on guidance on how to beatmatch - even though I have been mucking around on the decks for some time now, I still learnt a hell of a lot - practical "experience" counts for so much.

The final part of the session was to move into the main room and as a group of four, put together a 15 minute mix to play for the other students.  Our group was kicking it and we did really well - enjoying the music and clapping the transitions.  So much fun!

It was the perfect present: lots of fun, lots of learning, and a chance to do what all DJs worth their salt have done - play at Ministry of Sound.

As I loaded the next track and cued in the music, I thought - this one's going out to the Dingo.  Kick it!!

SW4

Here's where me and my woman are going this Saturday - SW$!!! - she just arranged the tickets off Gumtree!!!

What a star!

the heavens will open

Taken from Space Ibiza's website - the Space Opening Party has been announced - Sunday 29 May 2011 - starting around midday I believe. No info on who will be at the decks yet, but one other website lists, possibly optimistically, Carl Cox. Either way, I will be booking tickets ASAP!



"Space Ibiza proudly presents the mother of all parties which marks the beginning of the summer's season in Ibiza. After the amazing and succesfull world tour during the winter months which has taken Ibiza's name and its music all over the world, and having received the Best Club In The World award at the "Deejay Mags Awards 2010" (thanks to all your votes) and having been nominated for Best Club In The World and Best Sound System Design at the "International Dance Awards" during Miami's Winter Music Conference, we are back with lots of energy to bring you a new season full of the best and most colourful parties with loads of good vibes and surprises. This brand new season will start with the most amazing Opening Party with an astonishing production true to Space's unique style: Seven different areas, including the acclaimed flight area, the best sound system in the world, with great visuals and lighting as well as dancers and performers who will take your breath away. Last but not least: the sound which, will be brought to you by world class DJs and producers as well as new talent; together they will take you on an unforgettable journey with their out of this world sets and performances. We will be soon revealing the names of those who will be with us to celebrate the Opening of the new season, a key date for all clubbers and music lovers in general who are always loyal to the magic of the best club in the world: Space Ibiza."

Photo (C) Space Ibiza 2011.

sharam has fun

"Fun" by Sharam

Love this tune! My favourite at the moment. The beat is good but its the vocals from Anousheh Khalili that hit the heart. No doubt this will be a big playa in Ibiza this summer!!

Listen to the "Funhouse" mix here on Beatport!

FMIF opening party 2011 confirmed

26 May 2011

It begins.

f**k me we ARE famous

International Music Summit and FMIF Opening Party 2010!

Watch the first three minutes and you might see a few familiar cool party animals in the crowd!

new from Afrojack

New tune from Afrojack:

Afrojack has been a busy boy of late, releasing some brilliant tunes on his Wall label - including a doozy with Tocadisco, and if Bridge is as good as his previous release, "Replica", I'm all for it.

Available only at Beatport at the moment - so go there and have a listen.

More info from Afrojack website:

"A masterly collaboration was born when Afrojack and Bobby Burns checked into the studio together. The first result was one of 2010’s top selling tracks ‘Bungee’, the second Beatport’s chart topper ‘Real High’. Now they are back with their third installment ‘Bridge’ and let us just tell you up front, it’s MASSIVE!

Pete Tong: ‘Premiered on BBC Radio 1’Annie Mac: ‘Played on BBC Radio 1’Tiesto: ‘Nice record’Armin van Buuren: ‘Cool record’David Guetta: ‘Full support from me!’Zane Lowe / BBC Radio 1: ‘Supported in my show’Steve Aoki: ‘Another monster!’"

the warm up

Back from the holiday season and looking forward to a hot 2011! Potentially not hot weather, but we are definitely going to turn up the heat with some good tunes, a bit of mixing and plenty of big parties!

Since I was last here in November, not a lot has happened on my own DJ development, but that will be rectified ASAP. Need to practice, practice, practice for a couple of upcoming mock gigs - more on that later.

Elsewhere though, things are hotting up!

*************************************************************************************

Christmas was spent in Australia with the family and I had a great time. A big delight was to be able to take my sister to see D Guetta at Summadayze at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne on New Years Day. It rocked out and the sis loved Mr G - I think she is hooked now!

Photos and vid are up on Facebook but I might add them here later.

*************************************************************************************

I signed up to a couple of DJ resources for my own education and enjoyment.

I signed up to Beatport, the number one place to get cool dance music and to find out what's hot and exclusive. This is where I find out first what new music is out there and where I discover new artists. It is a very handy tool to use and it gives you a good couple of minutes preview of each song, as opposed to a measly 30 seconds. Perfect for finding that right tune. To be honest though, it is a bit more expensive than iTunes.

I've also got a subscription to MixMag now - the number one DJ/Dance magazine in the country. Spotted it while I was in Amsterdam in the local library, bought an issue (see earlier post) and subscribed on the spot. Perfect coverage of all things that groove and bounce and a free mixed CD to boot - perfect for populating the tune library.

************************************************************************************

The year is looking great for partying! Have a few things lined up already and a few ideas as well. Tickets booked for Guetta at Brixton Academy in early May and I have been keeping my eye out on plenty of other artists to see when they are in town - like Afrojack, Swedish House Mafia and Deadmau5.

The biggest party of them all though is . . .

IBIZA! Yes, we are back! And this time for a two week stint. Should be loads of sun, sand, sea and shenanigans. Keeping our eyes out for opening dates of the clubs - FMIF for sure (will be the third or possibly fourth time I see D Guetta in 2011), Space Opening Fiesta, DC 10 opening party, and many more!

And the big news I am excited about is being resident DJ at the villa we are renting. Sounds a lot cooler than it actually is, but with a villa full of party animals for the two weeks, I will be dishing out the tunes as warm ups for hitting the clubs. Will be a small exclusive crowd of great friends each night, but damn, they're going to lift the roof.

************************************************************************************

That's the update at the moment - plenty going on and plenty to do. Hoping to be more regular on the blog with news about my DJ development, Ibiza opening parties and all round good times!

HyD

mixmag december issue

Ben's 30th Birthday Party (DJ H Dee Limo Mix)

Here's the play list from Ben's 30th:

WHEN LOVE TAKES OVER (feat. Kelly Rowland) - DAVID GUETTA

TIME TO PRETEND - MGMT

I GOTTA FEELING (FMIF Remix Edit) - BLACK EYED PEAS

EVERYTIME WE TOUCH - DAVID GUETTA et al

POKER FACE - LADY GAGA

SEX ON FIRE - KINGS OF LEON

WHAT ABOUT ME - MOVING PICTURES

STAYING ALIVE - BEE GEES

MIAMI 2 IBIZA - SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA & TINIE TEMPAH

I NEED YOU NOW (featuring Samantha Jade) - DAVID GUETTA

GETTING OVER (featuring Chris Willis) - DAVID GUETTA

ROCK THAT BODY - BLACK EYED PEAS

ONE MORE TIME - DAFT PUNK

STOPOVER (Tocadisco Remix) - DIRTY SOUTH & MARK KNIGHT

LOUDER THAN WORDS (feat. Niles Mason) - DAVID GUETTA & AFROJACK

YEAH YEAH (feat. Luciana) (D. Ramirez Instrumental) - BODYROX

ONE (Original Mix) - SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA

(I'VE HAD) THE TIME OF MY LIFE - BILL MEDLEY & JENNIFER WARNES

73 m 30 s

mixed 6 Nov 2010

Available - Limited Single Issued Edition for Big Ben

ben's 30th birthday bash

My cousin's boyfriend, Ben, had his 30th birthday on Saturday - it went off! Dim T dim sum with views of Tower Bridge in the background, followed by a limo ride to end all limo rides (we went up Kilburn High Road for Christ's sake - I'm sure that's not covered by the company's insurance) and ended up at Jewel for an intense hour of booze and stolen cupcakes. Great night cuz!!

No Ipod in the limo, so plans went from bringing a stack of CDs to me burning songs that we only had electronically onto a CD to recording a full 80 minute mix specifically for the big night!

In a way, and in different ways, this mix was more of an achievement for me than my infamous debut during the Ibiza House Warming - mainly because I had no preparation time and had to record a faultless mix in one sitting.

I was pretty happy with it - and so were the limo riders - and I gave the finished CD to Ben for his birthday - it was a success!!

To run a critical eye over it, I'd say it was a good effort, under time pressures, especially as I accidentally deleted the first run through! There were only a couple of misses on the transitions, but otherwise, I am happy with it.

And Ben loved it - and that means so much more!

Happy Birthday big fella!!

the set begins . . .

This year was the year of the DJ dream.

Ibiza - May 2010 - Pete Tong / Mark Ronson / Sasha - dancing away on D'alt Vila in Ibiza Town, sun setting in the background, bass beats thumping in time with my heart, dancing, dancing, dancing.

It was at that moment I thought - yeah, I wanna do this.

So I'm chasing down those beats, hovering over those decks, firing up that crowd.

I don't know where this dream will lead or how far I will go, but we are going to rock da HOUSE in the meantime.