Then and now, and not now and again....with the help of The Universe.

It's strange, but I remember this feeling, if not the same at least very similar. Standing in the studio at Dublin pirate Q95 and opening the mic...not knowing if a thousand critical skanger ears were intently tuned to the radio, or possible nobody at all. Not one. So kind of like talking to yourself like a gobshite. That went away, so I'm sure this will begin to feel less weird as the days go by... ;)

This is my first attempt at committing to a daily or somewhat daily blog relating to DJing, and particularly to myself as a DJ, so it's a challenge, but hell I used to enjoy writing so maybe I'll enjoy it again. The first few posts will be a little bit about introducing myself, if you don't already know my megastar ass. Only the universe itself knows where things shall depart from there on.

DJing has become a larger part of my life again, and I think it's because I'm starting to feel a little bit of the vibe online that you used to get hanging around in record shops for hours listening to and swapping tunes, banter was good and everybody was working their gig. There aren't really too many record shops around these days here in Dublin where I live, and a lot has changed in the DJ business too since me record-store-hanging-around days. I've fairly recently made the move to the dark side and digitized. I'm now using Traktor DJ software and a couple of Native Instruments MIDI controllers, and having used Serato Scratch for a while prior toTrakto,r I might swerve down the scratch set-up, I'm not sure as I'm not bored with the controllers yet :-)

 The move to digital

Maybe it's the challenge of changing how I think of the "limits" of DJing, the now very blurred lines between DJing and music production, or the buzz that certain musical styles are creating online, but I'm enjoying the whole process a lot more again...from digging for tunes to posting mixes and playing out. I'm also dabbling in producing again and enjoying that too. Again it's in digital format, with not an analogue synth in sight this time.

So I am sharing the experience... (might be therapeutic at the very least, the men in the white coats tell me.)

I know this is going to be a killer though - I've just about disciplined myself enough to upload a half hour mix to Soundcloud once a fortnight, with extreme difficulty, and more than a single failure I can assure you, so I'm certain daily blogging is going to be most excellent fun too... The Soundcloud page has been up and running for about three months so there are already a few mixes there, ranging from reggae and ghetto funk to tougher bass breaks etc. Feel free to pop over, check out some sounds, share them around, download them, and leave some feedback if you like. I will endeavor to eat my bran flakes and be a regular a blogger and mix poster (*not post-mixer) as I can, for all the readers who may take the time out to read my ramblings, or indeed there could be none...no readers at all. Yes Doctors it's going to take a few days for this feeling to wear off!  ;)

 Here's a recent Summer Jamz Mix brought on by the sunshine. Enjoy!

Irie