JJA Secret Santa Competition 2009...


Aza

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Hehe thanks N2. I really wanted to use Ayla first as it's got the really long intro. Your mix has just taken 2 and a half hours to download as my internet is screwed but it was worth it already just to hear playin with knives as the first track. Brilliant. Didn't expect it to be the original "oldskool" version used as I didn't think it would mix with house/trance but it works well. I look forward to the rest of the mix.

Still got 3 or 4 to download but I might wait til I sort my internet out!

*edit* - Pulser - Cloudwalking - not heard this in years :D

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Yeah I love Ayla, and the intro really does make the tune all that more special!! It's actually quite a fast BPM though, and trying to get any of my older choices in after it just wasn't working out! LOL trouble was I specifically wanted the tracks I've used (plus a couple of others) so it was a struggle. :redface: Got Andy and the Lamboy on there though :rolleyes:

Ayla has to be played at about -4% at least to mix with standard '99 trance. I started it off at about that or maybe even -5.

Andy & The Lamboy? - is that the last tune? I don't see it in your tracklist. I have always wandered what it was after previous times you've mentioned it. Anyways I like that last tune regardless - it's almost happy hardcore :)

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I plan to do a full post of comments for all... I don't want to comment on someone's and not the others.

Ian - apologies - solely receiving your mix meant that I indeed checked it out first - I thoroughly enjoyed it, but wanted to post a few more details, which I only thought was fair since I like it when folk post a few comments re: my mixes!

I've been sorting out my music collection over the holidays and are also putting these on my iPod for driving to work so hopefully will be able to have some great entertainmen en route!

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Yeah I couldn't have it too slow as that last tune HAS to be played at it's correct speed or it just don't sound right!

This is Andy and the Lamboy - Dies Irae 02. Nexxt Millennium - Never gonna get enough (Dies Irae) (A & L Club Mastermix) and that's the reason it took me so god damn long to find it and buy it! lol

They're all favourites of mine from throughout the years!

Ahhh ok nice one thanks for clearing that up. In that case I'm guessing the last track by Seb is the same Seb that made "Rainbow Islands"? It certainly sounds in the same style. Might have to track that one down for myself ;)

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hehe I love those obscure techy tunes Jules played alot of back in late 2000/early 2001. His sets from Sankys soap and Gods Kitchen in late 2000 are great example of that type of stuff.

hear hear! took me ages to ID both Strobe - Human Animal and Dave The Drummer - Hydraulix 006A, with the "Burnout... Misfits..." vocal... great stuff :)

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Ok all...

After spending pretty much all weekend bunged up in bed with a very nasty MAN FLU I decided to let my body's natural defence work it's magic by doing nothing but resting and conserving energy!

I loaded up my iPod with all of these mixes and listened to everyone's! It helped the weekend go nice and quickly, pass the time and I even feel better today :)

As mentioned, I have made comments on all the mixes and would like to share these with all...


IanK:

The mix I received...

Very smooth, swift and seamless. Soft, yet uplifting trance... Really takes off around the 20min mark (which arrives flawlessly) and there are some really great trance tunes. Callista - Stoneface & Terminal Mix - what a tune and what a remix. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems to remind me of S&T's Blueprint and a combination of A&B's Tranquility Base (the riff part)?

Just love and always do hearing RVB - Timeless... Great transition to more uplifting trance and concludes nicely.

Very good set on the whole and great mixing - perfect levels!

N2F:

Really impressive selection of tunes - well structured and certainly a lot of thought gone in to compiling those.

Tunes that rock - Da Hool (whoop - one of my ALL tim fave tunes), 2HD, Ayla - superbly slotted in mid-set(!!!), Tony De Vit - if only you slotted in some scribble scratching Halliwell stylee over the top (;) - always think of my Eddie Bosh CD - when hearing this tune!

Only comment I had on this was that occasionally it felt that some tunes could be left in a little longer to mix. On the whole, a fine feast of quality tunes - I can see the thought processes behind it :)

Moonman:

Love the ID3 album art :)

Really like this mix - a completely different approach than the rest of us. I'm definately going to keep this - this serves as a great group warm up mix before going out!

The mixing is well tight - and I notice that this style, unless it's me, but do you mix and cut by 8 bars? Also, I guess I know the tunes, but not the entire track and structure, but it certainly sounded like to me some looping in order to have a quality outro to mix on (any EFX or Serato??) - this worked really well and I smiled to myself hearing it. Love that kind of mixing.

Christian Hann:

For me, this stood out slightly on the fact that a lot of folk (myself included) went for more classic, old skool and tracks from back in the day or anthems. This set seems to utilise a lot of recent tunes and was extremely well laid out. Like Ian K's - IMO - this was a proper DJ trance set.

It really picked up from the very beginning - I'm a big fan of the many takes on 'The First Rebirth' and Randy Katana's track also gets you bopping. It flows nicely up to Mat Zo's track and that is where the highlight of the set really start's to change tempo and level for me. I love Mat Zo's sound, the productions and remixes are always top notch. Three Drives - what a track and your very own track slots in absolutely perfect - I didn't notice at first (alway's best way hey), but then after spinning a few of your tracks, I could hear a few elements ;)

Tempo slightly picks up and the set concludes nicely with Breakfast - very enjoyable!

Pleasure Paul:

Again, another really well thought out compilation of tunes. Some real classics and beauties and the mixing was really good - tight and structured.

Tunes that rocked: African Asylum (first heard this on Jules' first ever Clubbed CD - love it!), Terry Bones, Svenson & Gielen (love their work - pumping, uplifting trance), Green Martian and what really brought back a few memories was hearing Dirt Devils - I loved that tune and was v.happy to hear that. The set concludes nicely with Skip Raiders' Just Another day.

I have only one gripe and that is that Frank Trax seems to be too high on the gain?

JasonB:

The legendage who fired his mix very early to me! Love your thinking process behind this Guv... I know how Tom Bailey's influence on the proggy stuff rubs off on you - after our previous conversations - and that combined with your immensely amazing knowledge of many many dance records out there and put into a mix set is always going to be of the highest order!

Again, liking how it flows and is structured and John 00 and The Digi Blondes track was by far the best track on there for me - absolutely love it. Is it the Solarstone remix?

Matt Hardaway:

Lots of comments kicking round before posting feedback on this and how good this mix is - I can see why!

I just loved hearing Bomfunk MC's and the mix of Yomanda coming in to that was quality: "Uprocking - Whoop Whoop - Spinnin' and Glidin' - Whoop Whoop. It goes superbly!

Great to hear a mix of 'Power Woman' and love that Moonman track.

Lost Tribe is a cracking track and nice to see a different mix of Nebuchan in there before wrapping up splendidly with Brainbug's Nightmare.

Very easy to listen to, flows very well and a proud set of tunes and mixing - excellent!

Tremor:

Lot's of slightly differing types of choonage in this set and they all fit very well. Ayla and Koglin's track kick this off smoothly and the memories that Boy Wonder track brought back - Masterson does a fine job on this remix. Sticking with another Yomanda sound for the Funky G track before reaching what I guess is a tribute to both Jules, Masterson and us on the board with the legendary Pitchin'.

It is a great track, but it's just a personal preference, Toca Me FTW over Toca's Mircale :)

Love Universal Nation and Good Shot and Signum's remix of Bulgarian concludes very sweetly. Am a fan of your mixing - very seamless, a little cut ups and bass boosts here and there - just how I like it - well done :)

JayLo:

I really liked how this mixed packed in lots of different styles of dance/trance music and flowed from an almost summery, funky like opening to full-on uplifting trance.

Some real peaches in there and the intro reminded me a lot of Moonman's mix - I can now see why he liked it so much!

Hearing Voice of an Angel and Brainbox did it best for me. The mixing was good and on the whole I enjoyed it!


On the whole, this year seems to be probably the best. Every single person really went for it; the sets and tracklists were extremely well planned and structured and even though there are just one or two tracks used by others, it's easily forgiven because they are absolute beauties or just fit perfectly no matter where you play 'em.

I'd just like to thank you to everyone again, you've all been a superb bunch and these mixes (with permission from our very own board leader :)) are allowed to sit up there with there very own bit of web space. They compliment the audio archives we have and I for one will surely be keeping these on my iPod.

Cheers again!

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Cheers for the reviews Aza and thanks again for co-ordinating this year's efforts. I have to agree the standard of the mixes was great this year. Still got a couple to listen to and I will try to give feedback to those I havn't done yet before too long.

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I currently have 3 to check out at the moment. I was impressed by the one i received, and as stated, i went out and bought the Matt Darey tune that was on it! Oh Aza, yes i do 8 bar cuts, i like mixing to be nice and neat :) And yeah, i used Traktor Scratch Pro. There was a small bit of looping going on, its why i think DVS systems are the way forward, there are no boundaries anymore!

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I also have the original JM JARRE too.

Thanx for the reviews, great reading, wish I'd been more thoroiugh on my feedback posts, I still havent got thru everybodies yet, But I will do, coz the kids are all back to school tomorrow. YAY!!

I actually did leave the tunes longer before mixing for this, to stretch them out, in fact a couple of them even finished, normally I get the next on on quite quickly, but then normally I'm not recording and sharing on a DJ forum, lolol :rubbish:

Anyway, Aza you done a great job getting us all sorted and behaving, Thankyou. :winkthumbsup:

THE JMJ was an absolute beautfy - I remember having the CD single when I was about 13/14 :)

Have been fortunate to post in a little more detail on the mixes as all I did on the weekend was lay in bed bunged up - ill - and listened to them all and did nothing else. Like I said, it helped the time go by quickly (what do they say when you're having fun :)).

N2F: My comment about the longer mixing is purely positive feedback and just an observation from my point of view as with everyone else's. It's just meant as for example, with the Nalin & Kane remix of Love Parade, I heard it cut into the next track. I had to do this on my mix with the Cortex track as it is a b!tch to mix with - it's very loud to bring it due to the nature of the tune and only has an 8-bar into before cutting silently - I feel that's a weak point in my set, but worth the compromise of the tune as Simcut points out excellently - BOSH BOSH! :)

I currently have 3 to check out at the moment. I was impressed by the one i received, and as stated, i went out and bought the Matt Darey tune that was on it! Oh Aza, yes i do 8 bar cuts, i like mixing to be nice and neat :) And yeah, i used Traktor Scratch Pro. There was a small bit of looping going on, its why i think DVS systems are the way forward, there are no boundaries anymore!

Hey guys, I think it was Homelands wasn't it? Moonman, I'm sure Marcella Woods did a live performance of this track with Jules - it was brilliant and absolutely amazing :) Oh the days off Homelands and Radio 1 and Jules' shows there :)

Thanks for pointing out about the mixing too... I like the style of it - neat, tight and clean - excellent and well done!

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Nathan, Simcut , N2F or anyone who's listened to my mix so far:

Just wondering what did you think of it around the 'Turbulence/Play With Me' & 'Ricky Effe/Signum' sections? I thought I'd try something different and really took those tunes on with the mixing to try put a lot of energy into my set.

I never grow tired of Cosmic Gate's remix of Urban Train and also thought I'd conclude the set with a great tune that samples Pulp Fiction (although the title is very naughty and certainly likely to offend the ladies :()...

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Thank you, N2F - let us know what you think - hope you enjoy it! :thumbsup:

I love energy too - full fire ;)

You're right: I used/played Signum on last year's mix, it's one of my all time fave tunes (right up there with a tune you featured in your mix; Da Hool's Love Parade), but this time used the Andy Farley remix, which has not really seen the light of day that much...

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Cheers, N2F - appreciate the time taken to listen to the mix :)

What I tried to do around the Turbulence is layer Boca's Play With Me (see where it breaks down at 21:25mins and it's dropped on the first beat with the fader in the mix) before Turbulence and Boca's bassline both kick in at 22:05mins. I then loop it for a bit with a few effects.

A very similar style is done with the Ricky Effe tune (see at 46:31min) but instead with Farley's remix of Signum and they both kick in at 47:11mins. BTW, what did you think of this Signum remix compared to the others?

Nathan, not sure if you have noticed this, but as it was a little daring, I was keen to get feedback/comment in particular around these parts...

Aside from that, as with the rest of the mixes on my website, I gave this the title, Influence. This is mainly for the reason that the approaches mentioned above and some of the tracks used are heavily inspired and influenced from Eddie Halliwell. In fact I used to listen to a lot of his very early sets whilst learning how to mix :rolleyes:

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Nathan, not sure if you have noticed this, but as it was a little daring, I was keen to get feedback/comment in particular around these parts...

Hi mate,

Sorry I've not really given you a proper detailed feedback yet... I know its a bit annoying when people dont do that.. I think I need to take another listen to the whole mix but I am just listening around those areas you mention. The mixing is certainly flawless in that it's tight and everything fits well together. I must admit the first time around I didn't especially notice the looping and the way in which you mixed these sections but that is because I didn't know the tunes. There is perhaps only 1 or 2 tracks off your mix I actually own (one being tiesto - lethal industry) which means I have no concept of mixing the tunes for myself and don't know them well enough to realise the looping is going on etc.

One of the things I loved about you mix though was that for me it was great to hear some tunes which are obviously big influences to you but they are new to me giving something fresh. It's also a style I really like - a bit harder and techier. Anyway I'm glad you pointed these sections out and explained what you'd done because I can tell when listening back now that you've done those things and I can see it really works. I'm sorry wasn't able to notice it for myself due to a lack of knowledge of the tunes. I think with the techier trance stuff its easy not to notice the looping etc because it could easily be the way the tune was made originally but this is a good thing because it shows you have used the looping and effects well to make mixing flow really nicely. It is better to do that than do something that sounds really blatant and where a small mistake in the loop points or something would sound rubbish - this is the mistake Jules makes when he starts playing with the loops etc after too many vodkas!

Top set anyway mate and I will listen again to it all properly - just been a bit busy this week.

Keep it up :)

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haha I've been slowly working through these and have nearly listened to all of them.

Here's a couple of reviews I wrote whilst listening to the sets. I was going to compile them all in one post but still need to write the rest so will kick off with 2.

Ian K:

This was a superb mix, as Aza said, a proper trance set with a great structure to it. It builds nicely through the first 4 or 5 tracks and there are some really nice “bass led” tunes in there which I liked. Then it starts to hit the main room trance peak with JOC’s Out of nowhere, setting the pace for the rest of the set. Sun Decade and Tingle follow on very nicely and of course it all concludes with the huge JVD remix of RAMsterdam. Very well mixed and put together. I thoroughly enjoyed this mix.

N2F:

I really enjoyed this mix as the tunes on it are so well chosen and laid out in the set. It was a good bit of education also as there were a few tunes I’d never heard before and others which sum up exactly the sort of classics I love (bocaccio life, Cygnus X, Pulser and Energy 52 for example – btw loved hearing the original kid paul mix). Rather childishly though the highlight for me must have been the last track, Seb – Sugarshack. Being a big Happy Hardcore fan it was a nice surprise to hear that in there and I had not heard it before but it’s instantly catchy. Great stuff!

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