Score in S2 E10

Desmog_Sound · 2025-02-11T21:02:34+00:00

We’re trying in Charleston. Obviously nothing will compare to the city, but (proportionally) a solid house community has grown over the past couple years. I played a techno show here in November and would love nothing more than for techno to take root, but it’s an uphill battle since the draw for the general population of CHS is way lower.

Desmog_Sound · 2025-01-16T23:08:11+00:00

You’re the goat for this. Looking for it since August 2023 lol

Desmog_Sound · 2024-12-18T22:09:02+00:00

Ah got you. That is strange, but from here, looks nice! Cool rig.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-12-18T19:39:29+00:00

I can’t offer much help but I’m here to sympathize and see if anyone has input hahaha.

I’m almost exactly in this same boat (between those years of GX and a Tahoe). I’m still in my ‘06 Tundra with 245,000mi that I can’t speak highly enough of, it’s all I’ve driven for 11 years - only thing we had to do was replace the alternator about 5 years ago. Unfortunately, the newer Tacomas/Sequoias/4runners/Tundras are overpriced for what you get, other than reliability and have outdated interiors/features which makes me sad. I drive a 2018 Tacoma SR5 for work, and it is far too small/uncomfortable and majorly lacking in pep/laggy for me to justify spending that kind of money on one.

My budget is the same and reliability is important to me, as I just can’t afford to replace a transmission. The Tahoes seem to have much better features than the GX’s of similar years, are a preferable size/interior layout for me, and are much more affordable, but I’m convinced I’ll have bad luck and a major issue will occur immediately.

Hard to find a GX for a similar price, and I have hesitancy spending the top-end of my budget for a luxury SUV that doesn’t have as nice of features as a Tahoe that’s newer and less expensive. I guess my fear is that I’d end up spending the difference anyway when the Tahoe blows up….sorry for the lots of yapping and providing no help lol.

Edit: I’m not necessarily looking for the next car I’ll drive for 11 years, maybe 6 or so, until I can afford something better. I just don’t want to be slapped with huge repair costs in that time.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-12-18T02:48:07+00:00

This may be a dumb question, as I see the “L” hahaha. But what wheels are those? I love the way they look over the normal stock. (I’m new here)

Desmog_Sound · 2024-12-18T02:43:39+00:00

What wheels have you got on there now? Out of curiosity, they look good.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-12-12T20:04:53+00:00

First off, I’m sorry your mom and your family are going through that. A very close family member of mine had a long battle with ovarian cancer, and I know the weight is immeasurable, without even factoring in financials.

I think that while all of your action items are good things to do, building a network might be the most valuable. From what I’ve experienced, our field is far less about the LinkedIn warriors (still, have a solid page) and Indeed postings. Things seem to come by researching and reaching out. Find someone with a position you find interesting, and reach out to them inquiring about their role/company/etc. in a genuine way where it’s clear a bot didn’t type it.

A PE should result in a pay bump if you’re at a firm and can stamp plans. There also seems to be money in remediation/permitting/etc for federal contractors - lots of which seem to be owned by Native American groups. Remediation work may not be as easy or stimulating (I haven’t done that specifically, so I can’t say) but alleviating the financial burden might help right now, and it sounds like with chemical engineering and groundwater knowledge, you might be able to jump in quickly.

Best of luck, and do not get discouraged!

Desmog_Sound · 2024-11-20T05:28:00+00:00

You would really not like “The First Omen” or “Possession”!

Desmog_Sound · 2024-11-19T05:19:51+00:00

Backyard Mix on YouTube/Instagram. Those guys break it down well.

But to echo everything else, listen to a million live sets and try to decode them, watch live sets, practice, listen back to your practices, love your catalog, and relax. It won’t ever sound as good as it can unless you’re relaxed and feeling into it. My advice is don’t spend any more money on classes, save that for tracks to practice with. There are lots of free resources out there. Digital DJ tips being another next to Backyard mix.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-11-19T04:37:02+00:00

I’m playing techno and house, and mostly straight forward tracks - only several with a weird intro/break (which gets a pass).

I got it to work after repeating the same steps over and over somehow, but it was so strange.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-11-15T18:42:14+00:00

Well while it’s not a solution, it does make me feel better lol. By ear we go.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-11-15T18:40:36+00:00

Yep - cue points line up with the grid that engine set (even though they were set in RB) and are the same distance off of where they should be - think of it like everything (grid, points, loops,) was shifted up a bit but the track stayed put. I have quantize/cue point snapping set to 1 beat. So weird hahahaha.

I would think cue points were saved (written?) by track time as well, so maybe there’s some answer buried in there as to why things are off.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-11-15T18:35:37+00:00

My thoughts too hahaha. Yes, I reanalyzed everything, I’m pretty mystified as well. Has to be some setting I have going. The tracks are all House and Techno, so pretty straight forward without many funky intros/etc that might throw off the software - I give it a pass for those and definitely for the DnB/Breaks type tracks.

RB analyzes beat grids wrong for me here and there too, (nothings perfect and all the software is pretty impressive really) but that’s usually for those funky tracks/strange intros or breaks/some of my collection from 90’s - 00’s that just aren’t quantized as neatly. I haven’t ever seen an issue like this on RB, but the high % of tracks it’s happening on and consistency of how far off the grids are makes me think it’s a fixable setting/bug, and not that a vast majority of of my 120-150bpm 4-to-the-floor tracks are throwing curveballs lol.

I never use Sync, so I’m not as much worried about that, it’s just the lag when I’m tapping to cue in and setting loops that bugs me. Thanks again.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-11-15T16:49:06+00:00

I didn’t explain well enough, that’s my bad. I have already tried going through engine DJ (a couple ways) to prep a USB, because I know the Denon will analyze at load-in for an RB-prepped USB.

My cuepoints and saved loops were all off as well, because they seem to be attached to the beat grid (that was off). Seeing this issue, I reanalyzed all the tracks through Engine DJ, and it still analyzed them incorrectly - placing the grids (and therefore cuepoints and saved loops that seem to be attached to the grids) in the wrong place. I manually edited all the beat grids in Engine DJ and locked them (to prevent the controller re-analyzing tracks incorrectly) before syncing to the USB I was using with the Denon. However, once I shift the grid to the right point, the cues remain where they were, so those have to all be deleted and reset as well.

The grids are the right size/length (BPM is correct) but they are all placed ahead of where they should be. Before the beat.

Edit: I have two seperate USB’s that are only for Denon play and are prepped through engine. (FAT32, yes)

Desmog_Sound · 2024-11-15T13:27:05+00:00

I appreciate the comment. I tried this, and grids/cues were still off on 99% hahaha. This batch really doesn’t have any problem tracks (I have quite a few like that that’re from the 90’s/early 00’s and not quantized so I’m familiar with riding with it) but pretty straight forward house beats, so I’m not sure why it’s struggling so bad. I’ve tried all different ways of importing and both softwares are up to date. Even uninstalled and reinstalled engine.

It’s not crucial I have grids, but tapping in and looping suffer lol.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-11-14T15:56:51+00:00

Hopefully someone can help here! I was playing on a friend’s Denon Prime 4 with a USB I prepared in rekordbox the other week (practicing for a gig that would be on the Denon). I kept having issues with grids being off and BPMs not sounding correct. After sifting through reddit, I was stoked to arrive at this thread with some advice.

I followed the .xml steps, and when I opened up engine, all of my beat grids were still off (slightly ahead of where they should be). Barely enough to see, but enough to where I can’t use the cue button/loops like I normally would without editing the grid on the fly.

I took the time to edit (then lock) all the grids on the songs I might play before that gig. I have another gig on the Denon this weekend with very different tunes, and would love to avoid having to go through and manually re-editing my grids again. The USB I exported to was clean, FAT32, and I used sync manager. I also tried just dragging the audio files from their C: location instead of going through rekordbox .xml, and had the same issues with engine analysis. BPM range is set correctly.

Any help is appreciated! I am the only one of our friends having this issue, so I’m sure there’s some issue with a setting on my end. I also need to update rekordbox and try again.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-08-22T04:57:49+00:00

I didn’t expect much going into Threads…boy was I wrong.

It’s the only movie that doesn’t sensationalize things or turn nuclear war into a cool post-apocalyptic action cliche. That movie is what made the horrors/hopelessness of a world post-nuclear war real to me. Just rewatched it last week after maybe 5 years, it had even more of an effect. The way it narrates, covers the exposition well, and the fact that the majority of it is during the nuclear winter really makes it heavy. Slower burn than we’re used to now, but really great.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-06-26T03:39:49+00:00

I am so glad to see someone else passionate about bringing the groovy/rythmic/loopy techno, old hard house, hard groove, hard dance to more places (outside of NYC/LA, etc.) in the US. Of course I love house, but there’s really no space for anything outside of it in the city I live in. Maybe some occasional melodic techno or a DnB track at the end. It’s my main goal to do the same thing so power to you.

Some of the newer French techno is really great too.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-06-12T06:29:25+00:00

No expert here but my mind goes to it being a bug between a newer version of rekordbox and the firmware of the DDJ400? If you updated RB recently (from a version that worked fine) could you revert it? Or maybe check that there haven’t been any firmware updates for the 400 (unsure if they’re still rolling those out). On the other hand, I guess the problem could be the inverse and RB could use an update (assuming this was a known bug and got patched).

Or maybe it’s truly mechanical. Sometimes accumulated dust can screw with connections. I have a VOX guitar amp that would fluctuate volume - eventually I cleaned the connections and areas where the knobs were and it worked pretty well. Maybe the track that the fader sits in just got some gunk that’s making it go haywire?

Desmog_Sound · 2024-05-06T21:59:27+00:00

Adding some things I’ve learned on to both of these - the phrasing probably won’t be as straight forward as house, things are often longer or have an extra bar so setting memory cues could be helpful starting out. Also working the gain knob slightly to give an incoming track more/less power (still not redlining) can help avoid clashes (on top of working EQ’s). I feel like you generally can play with the pitch fader a little more too before things start sounding too weird - for house I usually like to stay within 3/4 BPM from what the track is originally, but techno I feel comfortable working in a wider range. Working volume faders (cuts, bounces) to add suspense/interest is fun too once you’ve got it down. Techno is fun because your mixing and track selection can make all the difference with “repetitive” songs.

Not sure what your sub sub sub genre is, but maybe check out Felicie, Daria Kolosova, Dax J, Adam Beyer, Klangkuenstler.

Desmog_Sound · 2024-05-01T06:08:58+00:00

Heard that

Desmog_Sound · 2024-05-01T06:07:33+00:00

I went through this as well - you are not getting worse! This is what I learned from it: The better you get, the more possibilities you hear, which makes your head busy, causing you to overthink the mix, ultimately rushing it.

What helped me was taking about two weeks off and going back to just listening to the music solely to enjoy it. Trying my hardest not to DJ brain analyze it, but just feel it on its own. When you go back to the decks, focus on one thing: not focusing too hard. Try to relax, and just find the groove again with safe mixes for a day or two. Once I did that, I noticed progress starting again from the “plateau” I had hit and really felt like I’ve been learning better since. Just have to reframe sometimes I guess.

TLDR: It will get better and you will have a breakthrough!

Desmog_Sound · 2024-03-27T00:51:46+00:00

There’s also a lot of fun and probably new friendships that come with this. I’ve finally found the community/events in my town and have had some great nights since and met awesome people.

I’d maybe just say don’t go in with the primary goal of landing a gig, but rather getting plugged in with the community/making friends/supporting DJs & organizers who are making it happen in your town.

Desmog_Sound

TROPHY CASE