Neverrain listeners,

I now bring you "Syntax" for October 2006, an hour and twenty minutes of sharp tech house, progressive trance, and all-around good music. I hope you enjoy the sounds.

I received a few messages last month regarding what type of equipment I use in my studio, so I thought I would respond and inform you of what I use for both DJing, and producing:

DJ Studio Equipment:

(2) Technic SL-1200MK2's Turntables w/ (2) Ortofon Concorde "DJ" needles
(2) Pioneer CDJ-800 Compact Disc Players
Stanton RM-80 Professional Stereo 4-channel Mixer
QSC RMX 850 Power Amplifier
(2) JBL TR125 PA Speakers (225 watts each)
Tascam DA-20 MKII DAT Recorder

Production Studio Equipment:

Hardware:
Access Virus Indigo Synthesizer
Roland JP-8000 Synthesizer
Roland Alpha Juno-1
Evolution MK-449c Midi Controller Keyboard
Evolution X-Session Midi Controller Deck
M-Audio Trigger Finger Drum pad
Mackie DFX-12 12 Channel Mixer
(2) M-Audio BX8a Professional Stereo Monitor Speakers
M-Audio Firewire 410 Audio Interface

Software:
Ableton Live 5
Reason 3.0
Recycle 2.0
Soundforge 8.0
Native Instruments Reaktor 5.1
Native Instruments Kontakt 1.01
Native Instruments Absynth 2.0
Various VSTs and audio plugins for compression & dynamics

Now, without further delay, I present "Syntax":

*Tracklisting:

1. Muzzaik, Tommyboy - "Ain't Right" - Tommyboy Remix
2. Benny Maze - "Current"
3. Flowjob - "The Asian Persuation"
4. Fitalic - "Farscape"
5. Joy Marquez - "Meet With The Pleasure" - Joy Part 2
6. Fitalic - "Disillusions"
7. Fitalic, Atmotech - "Thought" - Atmotech Remix
8. Benny Maze - "Into the Night"
9. Chris Micali, Kasey Taylor, Chris Meehan - "Humbled" - Chris Micali Remix
10. Tunerman - "Electrolyzed"
11. Benny Maze - "Catapult"
12. Fitalic - "Transition"
13. Chris Micali, Kasey Taylor - "Trapped" - Chris Micali's No Really I Can Make The Kick Louder Mix
14. Patrick M, Olivier Berger - "Late Monday" - Olivier Berge Remix
15. Roger Martinez - "Sofia"
16. Dominic Plaza, Kasey Taylor, Chris Meehan, Parham - "Simplicity" - Parham & Dominic Plaza Mix
17. Inkfish, Martin H, David West - "Eye Am" - David West Remix

Posted by Eric Jordan at 07:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBacks (0)

Neverrain listeners,

I am pleased to bring you September's mix; "Eclipse", a journey through silky-smooth progressive house and deep melodic trance.

As I was wrapping up this month's mix, I realized that some of you may be interested in my method of mixing for Neverrain, so I thought this month I could tell you a little about how I go about developing my mixes for Neverrain, in case any of you are interested in what goes on behind the scenes.

I typically start each month searching for a variety of records that will achieve the mood or vibe I want to create for the next mix. I will often listen to hundreds of records at my local record store, or at online record stores such as "Hard to Find Records" (www.htfr.com). If I cannot find the track I am searching for on vinyl, I will resort to buying it in digital format from places like "Beatport" (www.beatport.com) and burn the track to CD. It is important to develop personal relationships with the people who work at the record stores you shop at, as they will aid you in getting a hold of rare tracks that you are searching for. I have been spinning for approximately 15 years now, so the people at these stores know what style I am looking for and will typically hold onto records for me that they know I will be interested in spinning.

Once I have a good amount of potential records for the set, I begin narrowing down what I really want in the set. Usually I have around 50-100 records that I need to go through, and eventually narrow them down to 15-20 tracks that I think are worthy of the set.

I then begin planning the order of the set, which is very important. I test the transition-ability of each record from one to the next. Once I figure out the transition order of each track, I am pretty much 90% there. I know all the tracks I want to spin, and I know the order I want to spin them in.

At this point, I hit "record" on the DAT recorder and spin the set. If a transition doesnt go the way I want it to, I start over. Sometimes it will take me a good 5-10 tries to get the set exactly the way I want it to sound.

Once I am happy with the mix, I will feed it into the computer digitally and run it through Sony SoundForge. At this point I am simply looking to eliminate noise, vinyl distortion, etc. I use Sonic Foundry's Noise Reduction plugin to isolate noise and remove it. Once I am happy with the overall sound of the mix, I compress it from .wav to .mp3 at 192 kbps (44,100hz, 16 bit, Stereo) and the mix is done.

For those only interested in the sounds, I apologize for the tangent and without futher ado, I present "Eclipse":

*Tracklisting:

0. Intro - Exerpt from "Runaway" - Neil Kolo Dub Mix
1. Greed, Andre Absolut - "The Other Side"
2. Dominic Plaza, Parham - "Everyday Elevation"
3. Amani, Danny Howells, Teapot - "Breathe" - Desert Dwellers Remix
4. Dominic Plaza, Parham - "Once"
5. Dominic Plaza, Kasey Taylor, Parham - "Trapped" - Parham & Dominic Plaza Mix
6. Zack Marullo - "Snowin"
7. Dominic Plaza, Parham - "Lokotron"
8. Off Mind, Pablo Roma - "Broken Cells" - Off Mind Mix
9. Pablo Roma, Marcelo Vasami - "Pushing Me Away"
10. Inkfish, David West - "Aftermath"
11. Roland Klinkenberg - "Nick of Time"
12. Thomas Penton - "No More" - Thomas Penton Mix
13. Life In Streams - "Brainwash" - Club Mix
14. Bill Hamel - "Into Nothing" - Last Time in 9 Vocal Mix

Posted by Eric Jordan at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBacks (0)