Reflections on the con (DJing)
AC has come and gone and looking back it was a fantastic time.
DJing on Friday night was the highlight of my con. In the days/hours leading up to it I was about as stressed as I could get. The days before were spent warping tracks and getting used to using my own custom ableton template. The interface I got was new as well so I was learning how to make sure that could be setup and taken down quickly. I spent the plane ride over reviewing what I wanted to play and how. In the last few hours before the dance I just paced back and forth in the DLCC trying to fight back the urge to throw up. When it time came to play, I saw that a bunch of my friends had come out to see me which made me feel better. Among those was Dire, which instantly made my stress drop away.
On stage I pushed myself about as hard as I could. Ableton gives me the freedom to do so much more with my mixes than before, dropping fragments and bits of other songs in times where I'm not mixing. I got so into one of my tweaks that I missed a cue point. Thankfully I managed to recover without too much effort. I worked up such a sweat that it was dripping off my forehead and onto my mixer as I played. When it came to drop the dubstep I didn't even think twice about it. I nailed the transition from 180 to 140 and watched to see what everyone would do. It took a bit for everyone to find the groove, maybe a track or two (4 minutes) but once they did it was awesome.
The sound was fantastic, the lighting set the mood and most importantly the crowd loved it. I was elated when I stepped off stage. To everyone that helped me cope with the stress before I played, thank you. To everyone that danced to the beats I brought thank you so much. I am reminded every year that it isn't just me that loves this music so much and I'm so lucky I can share that with you.
DJing on Friday night was the highlight of my con. In the days/hours leading up to it I was about as stressed as I could get. The days before were spent warping tracks and getting used to using my own custom ableton template. The interface I got was new as well so I was learning how to make sure that could be setup and taken down quickly. I spent the plane ride over reviewing what I wanted to play and how. In the last few hours before the dance I just paced back and forth in the DLCC trying to fight back the urge to throw up. When it time came to play, I saw that a bunch of my friends had come out to see me which made me feel better. Among those was Dire, which instantly made my stress drop away.
On stage I pushed myself about as hard as I could. Ableton gives me the freedom to do so much more with my mixes than before, dropping fragments and bits of other songs in times where I'm not mixing. I got so into one of my tweaks that I missed a cue point. Thankfully I managed to recover without too much effort. I worked up such a sweat that it was dripping off my forehead and onto my mixer as I played. When it came to drop the dubstep I didn't even think twice about it. I nailed the transition from 180 to 140 and watched to see what everyone would do. It took a bit for everyone to find the groove, maybe a track or two (4 minutes) but once they did it was awesome.
The sound was fantastic, the lighting set the mood and most importantly the crowd loved it. I was elated when I stepped off stage. To everyone that helped me cope with the stress before I played, thank you. To everyone that danced to the beats I brought thank you so much. I am reminded every year that it isn't just me that loves this music so much and I'm so lucky I can share that with you.