Eric K.

April 13, 2011 @ 6:54 pm

very very cool! thanks steve! the interview and the uncollected material are very nice

Nick Francis

April 16, 2011 @ 3:58 am

Hi Steve – Really enjoyed the mix for Creative License. Thanks.
I have a question regarding this quote from the above interview: “Playing live is on temporary hiatus while I work out a different method (I hope) of playing dance music in clubs.”
I recently saw a video of you testing out the Akai APC 40 w/ Ableton. Did that work out? Or are you still searching?

steinski

April 16, 2011 @ 2:35 pm

Nick – Thanks very much for the kind words about the Creative License mix. I’m glad you liked it.

Regarding my attempts to work out an alternative but complementary arrangement for playing out; I’ve been using the APC-40 for almost 2 years, and I think it’s made my DJ sets more interesting and nuanced. I really enjoy DJ’ing with other people’s records, but (for me as a player) there’s a certain lack of spontaneity and flexibility when a set turns into a fixed routine, no matter how much cool technology and hot music is involved. I’m trying to work towards a performance where I’m mixing between different elements and effects, and still produce something that’s – if not 100% get-down danceable – interesting and fun to listen to, with a looser approach.

A few years ago, Douglas and I did a very relaxed set opening for Negativeland at a venue in New York. We were off to one side by the sound man, not on stage, and people were just hanging around, so there wasn’t a lot of pressure. We came in with a ton of loops, effects, and elements like spoken word, and I really enjoyed the vibe of the performance, which was sort of dub/ambient/stoner groove. I’m using that feeling as something to work towards. Not that I’m giving up playing get-down music at all; I just like having something at hand that’s still fun but leaves room for improvisation.

Once I have the audio portion of the program wrestled to the ground, then I have to deal with visuals; but I ain’t there yet.

I have a performance coming up for a podcast early next week; if it’s not a complete disaster, I’ll post that, as well. It’s easier to play what I’m talking about than it is to describe.

More than you wanted to know, I imagine, but thanks for asking. St.

Eric K.

April 19, 2011 @ 1:56 am

Hi Steve
very interesting comment
As far as working on the visual side of your new dj workflow/program. I assume you are still working with ableton. I just discovered what look like pretty amazing max4live Vj plugins that run within the ableton work flow. It’s also my understanding that both of these projects are working with each other.. so each of these systems can talk to the other. Seems like it could be a pretty powerful modular system for visuals all within ableton.

http://www.fabriziopoce.com/max.html
http://zealousy.com/2011/01/vizzable/

steinski

April 19, 2011 @ 12:55 pm

Eric –

Thanks very much for the tip. I’m still very intimidated by Max, but this may be the incentive I need to have at it and integrate it into my setup.

St.