It was only back in August that I managed to grab 200 Likes on facebook. In only four short months I’ve hit the next milestone of 300 Likes and I am still going strong.
So what better way of giving something back to my loyal followers than putting together a special Facebook-only exclusive mix for all of you? That’s just what I’ve done and you can go and grab it on my Facebook page right now.
Thank you so much to each and every one of you that downloads my funky disco house podcasts each and every month and thank you for all the kind words and comments that you leave. The positive feedback I get really does keep me going.
I came across this great website the other day called Mix Of The Day. The idea is quite simple, each day they guys over at mixoftheday.co.uk post up a hand-selected high quality mix of their choosing - and I’ve been featured on a couple of occasions! Thanks guys!
They know their stuff as they post up mixes across various dance music genres such as Funky House, UK Garage, Breaks, Drum & Bass and House. Please go and pay them a visit and Like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter too so that you stay up to date with the latest mixes that they discover.
Here are a couple of videos recorded from my live stream that went out on the 8th October 2011. It’s mostly just a shot of me DJing but you get to see me dance like an idiot for a good few minutes
Lately I’ve seen more and more events and promoters running online DJ mix competitions. It seems like I come across new competition being launched each week so I thought it might be useful to throw together a few tips I have learned on putting forward a DJ mix submission.
Read The Rules
Study the rules carefully. Rules vary from competition to competition and its important that you meet all of the criteria asked for otherwise your mix might not qualify and all your hard work will be for nothing. Even if there are pages and pages of small print its worth spending a bit of time reading these too just to make sure you aren’t agreeing to anything you won’t want to do further down the line. Also find out what’s included in the prize - for example if the prize is a gig does it include transport to and from the venue, does it include accommodation and meals, are you sure you are available on that date, if the gig is abroad then do you have a passport etc.? Be aware of what it is you are entering in to and make sure all your bases are covered.
Do Your Research To Stand Out
Look into the promoters who are running the competition and see if you can tailor your set towards the kind of music you think they are looking for. If the competition is being run by a record label you might want to make your set comprise of just music from that label to help make you stand out. If the promoter is a festival event, perhaps your set could involve a few artists from the line-up. Try to make your set appeal to the judges and try to put yourself in their shoes - if you were a judge for this competition, what would you like to see/hear?
Don’t Compromise Your Style - Be Yourself
When I say you should tailor your set as mentioned above, I mean be flexible within your genre. Don’t start playing Trance if you are a House DJ, or play Garage if it’s not your thing. Lean towards a style that appeals but don’t break your integrity and start playing tunes you wouldn’t usually play. As an example, if I was entering a Hed Kandi competition I would play more upbeat slightly more commercial tunes. If it was a Defected competition I would probably root around in my DJ bag for some deeper-than-usual house. Structure your set exactly as you would if you were playing out live.
Listen Back To Your Mix In Full
Once the mix is finished then listen back to it in full - don’t just skip to the parts where you are mixing or applying effects, listen to the whole mix from start to finish to make sure the set flows properly and you aren’t radically changing BPM, levels or style. I personally feel that its perfectly OK to have one or two very minor flaws in the mix too as it shows you are human and that the mix is real. It all depends on personal taste but for me a mix that sounds too clinically perfect can do just as much harm than good.
Make Something Happen In The First 10 Seconds
If you are entering a popular DJ competition you have to understand that you are being judged by real human beings. It is very rare that judges will be intensively listening to every beat and every second of every mix that gets submitted as often they will have a lot to get through. So make sure something happens within the first 10 seconds of your mix to grab their attention from the start. For example don’t begin your mix with a track that has too much beat-only intro and instead begin with a track that has a more melodic opening. If you simply have to start with a specific track that has a lot of beat intro, consider starting your set from that track 30 seconds or so in so that there is some interest early on in the mix.
Title The Mix Well
There are any number of ways in which you can submit your mix online these days. Perhaps you have to email it, perhaps you have up upload it to Soundcloud, Mixcloud or otherwise. Either way, no matter how you submit your mix make sure you give it an appropriate title. Usually this will be the name of the competition and your name. For example “RANDOM EVENT FESTIVAL COMPETITION - DJ PAUL VELOCITY MIX”. Have a read of the competition rules to make sure the judges aren’t asking you to give your submission a specific name as I have seen this kind of thing requested in the past.
Add An Appropriate Image
When you upload a mix to Podomatic, Mixcloud, or Soundcloud you are given an option of uploading a picture to accompany your mix. Don’t upload a random image of a keyboard-playing cat. If possible, use the logo of the competition promoter - they will like that as it shows you are paying attention and publicising their brand too. If you have an amazing photo of you playing live then using that is a good alternative but make sure it still looks good when reduced to a thumbnail size.
Provide A Full Track Listing - Title, Artist, Mix and Label
You need to show that you know your shit when it comes to putting together a mix entry. You can help show this by putting a track listing together in the comments when you upload your mix, or write it in the email of your submission if you are sending it that way. Make sure you have the correct spelling of the title, the artist and mix of the track you are playing and number each track in order as well. If possible add the record label that the track is on too. This will help the judges see at a glance the kind of style of mix you have put together. Not putting together a track listing makes you appear lazy.
Keep It Unique
Chances are you already have a load of demo mixes stored on your computer somewhere. Resist the urge to pull out just any old mix and submit it. You should usually create a fresh mix for each competition you enter so that you can tailor each element of the mix such as the style, length or specific requirements as dictated by the rules. When adding a mix to Soundcloud the mix gets timestamped and shows how long ago it was uploaded. If the competition entry date was 3 days ago and your mix was uploaded 6 months ago it just shows that you are lazy and don’t care. Winners don’t use short-cuts.
Find Out Why You Won/Didn’t Win
If you have followed all these tips and you reach the unlikely conclusion that you did not win the competition, it’s always worth firing off a quick email to find out why. You’ve gone through all the effort and trouble of putting a mix together, you might as well get some feedback on it. Perhaps you weren’t quite the style they were looking for, perhaps they have some tips and pointers for you where you can improve. you never know, maybe the winning DJ is unavailable and you now find yourself in the right place at the right time. Its always worth an email. Just as important is to find out why you did win. Knowing exactly what you did to impress the judges will help to build a stronger relationship with the promoting brand and could lead to further work.
I hope this tips can help you out when you are considering putting together your next competition mix. Some of the tips might seem obvious but it’s definitely worthwhile checking all the angles before you submit your mix because just like a CV for an interview you only get one shot to make a good first impression. Good luck!!
I’ve put together a new mix which is a little different to my usual style. It’s a housey breaks mix and is an entry into a mix competition for the Hideout Festival.
It comes as no suprise as with any musical genre I have ever lived through has reared its retrogressive head in my direction. Growing up in the 90’s there was a definite 70’s revival going on in terms of fashion and music, all through the naughties there was a distinct 80’s analogue feel to everything and here in the 2010s (the teenies?) even the Godfather of Hardcore is re-releasing his oldskool classics. No doubt the dubstep of todays dancefloors will be staging its own oldskool comeback in twenty years time and so I guess it’s only fitting that the journey with UKG comes round full circle too.
The UK Garage scene for me was a very important part of where I am today. It was my first transition from the hard and heavy Happy Hardcore sounds I was into in my late teens, to the more mature beats and soulful vocals of a more down-tempo vibe. Garage music for me at the time opened up a whole new musical world and a lot of the influences from that yester-year style spurred me into the Funky House scene that I enjoy today.
Waffle to one side, I have put together an oldskool UK Garage mix that I thought I would share. I’ve already put up links on Facebook to this mix but here it is for you to enjoy again.
The brand new mix for this year is available to get hold of right now from the mixes page. Theres so much dirty funky house music in there I’ve had to use a crowbar to get it all in. So step well back when you take the lid off this baby!
Over an hour of pure dancefloor jetfuel to get you fired up as we approach that dreaded time when many of us have to go back to the reality of a full-time job. I hope everyone had a good holiday over the Christmas period, I know I certainly did.
Keep it locked for some very special exciting news to be announced very, very soon and enjoy the mix!
As a special treat to those that regularly download my mixes, I thought it would be a nice gesture to put together a special extra mix this month to get you in the Cristmas mood.
There’s no mention of Santa, no reindeer, no elves and no bloody mince pies. But there is over an hour of solid, thumping funky house for you to destroy your eardrums with.
Grab the special festive Funky House Mix from my mixes page right now.
Yep, I’m back once again and I thought I’d write a quick blog post just to let you know what’s been happening since a few months ago when I decided to jack it all in.
Without getting too personal, I’ve been on a bit of a downer for the past six months or so and at one point things got so bad I just wanted to stop doing everything and just go sit in a big dark hole. The DJing wasn’t really going in the direction I wanted it to go in and I had been toying with the idea of knocking it on the head for a while. A few months ago I decided to do just that.
However, almost as soon as I announced I was leaving the scene, I was overwhelmed with people sending me in emails and comments and tweets and messages saying how much they liked my sets and how much I would be missed. I was really touched that people take time out of their day just to drop me a message no matter how long or short that message was.
A few personal things have happened to me over the last few weeks and it has made me realise that music is one of the biggest passions in my life and perhaps the reason I had been a bit low is because I had let other things get in the way of me enjoying making and mixing music. After reading each positive email that had come in and with the support of my friends I’ve decided to make a comeback to DJing and to do the one thing in life that makes me truly happy… spinning huge, piano-led, wobbly basslined, dancefloor destroyers!!!!
And with that in mind I have put together what I feel is my favourite Funky House Mix of all time. It’s a real blinder of a mix with some ‘roight proppa nawty’ edges. A real mix of classics brought bang up to date as well as some fresh-out-the-oven HOT promos. Head on over to the Funky House Mixes page to download the December 2010 mix right now!
Always looking to expand my horizons and reach out to fresh new ears, my DJ sets can now be found on the wonderful Mugasha website. Mugasha makes it really easy to listen to Electronic Music podcasts and long sets from world famous DJs.
The ranks of DJs that Mugasha have on board currently are Tiesto, Markus Schulz, Andy Moor, Matt Darey, Menno de Jong, Roger Shah and I am honoured that my mixes are considered to be ranked among these great DJs.
Mixes and audio available from this site are intended for home review only. If you like the music, please support the artists and purchase the music legally from the links provided.
It was only back in August that I managed to grab 200 Likes on facebook. In only four short months I’ve hit the next milestone of 300 Likes and I am still going strong.
I came across this great website the other day called Mix Of The Day. The idea is quite simple, each day they guys over at 
So I hear there’s talk of a 
The brand new mix for this year is available to get hold of 
As a special treat to those that regularly download my mixes, I thought it would be a nice gesture to put together a special extra mix this month to get you in the Cristmas mood. 
Always looking to expand my horizons and reach out to fresh new ears, my DJ sets can now be found on the wonderful Mugasha website. Mugasha makes it really easy to listen to Electronic Music podcasts and long sets from world famous DJs.
