City of Bass [Dispatches from DJ Mad Wax]

my last post about the next electro showcase mix got me thinking about how I used to put together mixtapes.

During my active DJ years, I released 3 professional mixtapes, with full on artwork and production, and probably 10 or so gray-blank tapes, with runs of 50 or so, all hand-dubbed. In retrospect, I wish I had spent more energy and effort during this time on pro mixtapes to build my DJ business, but I was a very different person at 23 versus now.

Whether or not a mix was slotted for pro release or not, I used to spend months planning and selecting tracks, and really worked hard to create mixtapes that would stand the test of time and stay in people's tape decks. And this was during a time when you actually SPENT your own money to produce a mixtape, there was a lot less competition because honestly, who's going to man up enough to expend the effort and money necessary? it wasn't too many people back then; I imagine its even harder to stand out now in these days of easy hosting and link-sharing.

To dial down to a particular mixtape, I had for years planned on doing a 3 part mixtape that would showcase the sounds of frankfurt trance, one of my "get misty-eyed and reminisce" periods of music. It's not a lie when I tell you that I work on this project for over 3 years, constantly scrapping tracklistings, weekends of recording (there wasn't any digital editing - if you f--ked up the mix, you had to start all over).

Ultimately, I gave up on the project - I just couldnt get it done and finally accepted it.

Then one evening 2 years later after I gave up, I walked into my apartment, opened a bottle of something smokey, hit record on the mini-disc player and put on the first record. 2 hours later, I had the mix down 100% perfect and the way I wanted it.

go figure