So I haven’t been blogging much lately. I’m sure you’ve noticed. I have however been doing a lot of things that are all positive.
First and foremost, the move to FL is complete. What a relief that is. For months now I had been flying back and forth for weeks at a time, while trying to juggle the buying and selling of homes. The dude who bought my house in CT was… less than accommodating. Lets just leave it at that. I do however now have a nice house at the top of South Florida. I also now have a decent room dedicated to music, which is hugh. I can wait to work my way out from under all the boxes, paint it, and set up my studio. I’ve got a lot of ideas in my head and I would really like to get back to making music.
I have also been making a few moves behind the scenes lately and will have a few announcements in the near future, here are a few hints:
- A big new gig at the end of January [You may want to book a plane ticket]
- An upgraded alliance to add to my portfolio
DanceCast Episode 40
DanceCast UK resident Mike Hindle brings us his new mix “Up out ya seats!” … trust me it sounds really good with a british accent.
Duration: 79:23
1. Costello – Bitchy Skills (Udachi Remix)
2. Emailkay – When I look At You (Sduk Remix)
3. Dre Skull – I Want You (AC Slater Remix)
4. Blatta & Inesha – Raw Power (Sawgood Remix)
5. Act Yo Age Feat Drop The Lime – Night Of The Hornheadz (Bird Peterson Remix)
6. Ajapai – Incoming
7. Tim Healey & Tai – Pocket Rocket (Tes La Rok Remix)
8. Doogie Houser – Raisen Brand (Aniki Remix)
9. Udachi & Jubilee – Smoke Rings
10. Boltan – Nine To Five (DZ Remix)
11. Trevor Loveys – Organ Grinder (Dub Frequency Remix)
12. The Count & Sinden – Elephant
13. Crystal Fighters – I Love London (Paparazzi Remix)
14. Round Table Knights – Belly Dance (Mowgli Remix)
15. Sub Focus Feat Culture Shock – Move Higher
16. Nadastom – Save Us
17. The Toxic Avenger – Toxic Is Dead (Drop The Lime Remix)
18. Lea Luna – Leaving For Mars (B.Rich Remix)
19. JFB – Duck Jam / Dj Blaqstarr – Shake It To The Ground (Hindle’s Shake a leg edit)
20. Will Bailey – Hit The Club (Mighty Fools Remix)
21. Sawgood – Pompin!
22. Twisted Bitz Feat MC Freeflow – Can’t Shake This (The Funk Outs Crunk Remix)
23. Butterflake & Garry Caos feat Renee – Immature (Calvatron Remix)
24. Twisted Groove – Accelerator (The Funk Outs Hit The Gas Remix)
25. Ninfa – My Baby Left Me (Gigi Barocco Remix)
26. Street Lord – It’s What You Do To Me (Jack Beats Remix)
27. DJ Fresh Feat Stamina MC & Koko – Hypercaine (Nero Dubstep Remix)
28. Dekline & Wizard – Blow (The Bomb) (Future Prophecies, Erb & Dub, & Ed Solo Remix)
We want to hear your comments. Drop us a line at: mikecharles@gmail.com and tell us what you like to hear or leave us a review in iTunes.
DanceCast Episode 39
Here it is, Mike Charles’ last set in Connecticut before moving to Florida. Recorded live 9/12/09 at Room 960 in Hartford, CT.
This is part of my final set in my DJ home town, Hartford, CT. It took a little while to warm the crowd up and there were a couple technical difficulties you may hear, but it was a great night. I definitely got a proper send of from my friends and fans in the northeast. Its got a bunch of newer prog-tech stuff with a few classic to boot.
Duration: 63:08
1. Roadkill / Dubfire
2. Swahili Song / Libex & Marshall
3. Heart Shaped Box [Tronic Clash Remix] / Nirvana
4. Stranger To Stability (Len Faki Podium Mix) / Dustin Zahn
5. PS.You Rock [Spektre Remix] / Marc DePulse
6. Chiral / Spektre
7. Take The E-Train / Tigerskin
8. Bubblegum / Pencilgrass
9. 32bits (Original Mix) / Tek DiLuxe
10. Shnorkel [Dousk Remix] / Ido Ophir & Miki Litvak
11. Meta [Ingo Staar Remix] / Mecanique
12. Blood is Pumpin [Spacekid Remix] / Voodoo & Serano
DanceCast Episode 38
DJ Plex dropping some old shool funky house.
Duration: 65:10
Bobby Blanco and Miki Moto – Black Sugar (Warren Clarke Remix)
CZR and Alex Peace – This Is House Music (Bring Back The Loop)
23rd Avenue – Deluxe Pleasure
Richard Humpty Vission – Never Let Me Down
The Dukes of Sluca – Don’t Stop
JJ Flores and Steve Smooth – B Like Me (Accapella)
JJ Flores and Steve Smooth – Freak You
Raul Rincon – Like A Sax Machine
Aaron Smoth ft. Luvli – Dancin (JJ Flores and Steve Smooth Remix)
Harrison Crump – The Talk 2 (Bad Boy Bill Mix)
JJ Flores and Steve Smooth feat. Delano – Release (Full Vocal Mix)
Bomfunk MC’s – Uprocking Beats (Hatiras Remix)
Joey Beltram – Super Magnetic
Bryan Cox – Lay The Smack Down
Richard Humpty Vission – Freaks (Freaks Keep Loopin’)
Armand van Helden – Funk Phenomena 2k (Da Hool Remix)
JJ Flores and Steve Smooth – Time For Love
iTunes Power Tips #4
So I haven’t been blogging that much lately, and I’m sorry for that. I’ve been real busy planning this move to Florida.
Anyway, two weeks ago I wrote part 4 of my iTunes series for DJ Tech Tools. Its about using the new smart playlist features introduced in iTunes 9 to make your playlists even smarter. Check it out here.
DanceCast Episode 37
Another Mike Charles mix for KISS 95.7 out of Hartford, CT
Originally aired 09/12/09 on Randy Boyer’s BUZZ radio. Its some really interesting progressive and tech house.
Duration: 63:06
1. Trummerfeld (Oliver Huntemann Remix) / Extrawelt
2. I Tele U Bo / Okain and Thomas Muller
3. Shnorkel [Dousk Remix] / Ido Ophir and Miki Litvak
4. PS.You Rock [Spektre Remix] / Marc DePulse
5. Stranger To Stability (Len Faki Podium Mix) / Dustin Zahn
6. Twisted (Koen Groeneveld Remix) / Mario Ochoa
7. 32bits (Original Mix) / Tek DiLuxe
8. Chiral / Spektre
9. Green Space / Bansi and Riktam
10. Sleeping Awake [Original Mix] / Sydney Blu
DanceCast Episode 36
DJ Airty, back with another phenominal mix of whats going down on the poppier side of things. We are well one well rounded mix show if I don’t say so myself.
Duration: 73:53
01. Jean Elan – Killer (Jean Elan Mix)
02. Hott 22 – Wicked Games (Hott 22 Original Radio Edit)
03. Felix Da Housecat – We All Wanna Be Prince (Joachim Garraud Vocal Remix)
04. Rico Tubbs – Lumberjack (Calvetron Remix)
05. Rodney Hunter Freak On (Jean Claude Ades Remix)
06. Electrixx – Tetris (Original Mix)
07. David Guetta Akon – Sexy Bitch (Robson Michel Extended Version)
08. Carolina Liar – Show Me What I’m Looking For (Seamus Haji and Paul Emanuel Club Mix)
09. Avicii – Ryu (Laidback Luke Edit)
10. Fukkk Offf – Bloodfuck (Original Mix)
11. Bass Kleph – Keyboard Cat (Original Mix)
Q&A: Mike’s iTunes Workflow
The Question:
Hey Mike,
First off – thank you so much for your well detailed explanation of how you organize your music on djtechtools. I am going to re-do all my music and incorporate your technique. I have a couple of questions..
1) Once you tag all your songs with the proper genre and sub-genre, are they then placed in a folder with the same genre name? Like on House – Electro would then be placed in its own folder or would you just keep that all in a house folder and let iTunes sort it out in its smart playlists…
2) Once you have all your playlists and smart playlists set and you buy new music – do you then first place them in the proper folder on your computer and then just click on it so it plays in iTunes and then iTunes will sort them to their appropriate playlist? I dj many genres and on any given week ill have different types of house songs and hip hop songs newly added to my computer – where do u place them on your computer and then how do you transfer them to your itunes.?
Thank you for taking the time out to help… Im so confused and need to get my music collection in order.
Glad you liked them. Managing a digital record collection can be a real pain in the ass if you don’t organize up front. I couldn’t find anything out there to help, so I learned for myself and then wrote about it. Using the smart playlists & good tags, you can organize just about anyway you like. Anyway, let me try to answer your questions.
1. Personally, I will just have one folder for house. That folder will contain electro house, progressive house… you get the idea. You could have sub-folders for every sub-genre, but I find it unnecessary b/c all of my digital “crates” are driven by iTunes playlists, not folders. If I need to find a track in a hurry, I fire up iTunes, search for the track, right click it and choose “show in finder”. This automatically open up the folder containing the track and selects the track. I think iTunes has a similar function on PCs, but I’m not sure cause I’m all Mac.
2. Here is how I add new music to my iTunes library step by step:
A: Gather up new music in a folder on my desktop.
B: Select all, drag into iTunes.
C: Edit all tags with proper formatting.
D: Remove new tracks from iTunes**
E: Use iTag to rename the new tracks based on tagged Artist – Track Name.
F: Put new tracks into correct genre folders.
G: Drag new tracks back into iTunes.
H: Rate the new tracks [e.g. 1 to 5 stars]
I: Sit back and enjoy, because the smart playlists pick up the new tracks all by themselves.
** The reason I remove the tracks from iTunes after tagging them is because of a bug in Traktor Pro. If I kept the tracks in iTunes, but change the file names or move to a different folder then TP won’t be able to “find” the track to play it.
FYI: In case any missed any portion of my 3 part series on iTunes for DJing that i worte for DJ Tech Tools, here are the links:
The Final Gig
Just in case you’ve missed my previous blog, here is the story. I was offered a good job down south, and I’m going to be moving to Port St. Lucie, Florida. I’ve been laying low for the past month, making plans and preparing for the move, but I wanted to make sure I did one final gig before I leave. A few weeks ago Randy called and we decided to join forces for what will most likely be my final gig in New England.
I’m still going to be in CT for a little while, probably at least a month or two until I can sell my house. I don’t, however have any other gigs planned, and wouldn’t take any unless it was something I couldn’t pass up. So this is it… my final gig in my home state, and fittingly its only a half mile away from where it all began. Over the years you guys have been great and supported me tremendously. Now, I’m asking for you all to come out one final and dance, enjoy yourselves, and have fun with me.
Saturday, September 12th Randy Boyer and Mike Charles team up one final time at Room 960.
Mike Charles 10 to 12
Randy Boyer 12 to 2
This really doesn’t need much of a description. Over the past few years our parties at Hartford’s elite nightclub have always brought the best house and trance to the best crowd in New England. Its only 10 dollars for anyone on the reduced entry list. To get on the list, simply email me back at mikecharles@gmail.com with your name.
Room 960 is located at 960 Main St. in Hartford, CT. Inside the G. Fox building.
So not everybody on my list lives in the Northeast, heck some don’t even live in the US, but I’ve got you covered there too. If you can make it to the final gig you can still hear me play that same night on BUZZ, Kiss 95.7 FM’s electronic music show. The show runs from 12 to 4am on Saturday night / Sunday morning and I will be doing a guest mix for the show at 1am. Tune you radio to 95.7 if you are in the Hartford area, or listen from anywhere in the world by going to www.kiss957.com.
I hope to see you Saturday night.
-Mike
DanceCast Episode 35
Our resident wild man is back. UK DJ Mike Hindle with another crazy dirt and grime mix.
Duration: 71:00
1. Zodiak Cartel – We Don’t Play That (Aniki’s Playground Mix)
2. Foamo – Everything Cool (Gtronic Remix)
3. Rampage – War (Blatta & Inesha Go To Luanda Remix)
4. Reso – Beats In The Basement
5. Detboi – Y’all Want Mo (Sinden Remix)
6. Koochie – Funkin Ass (Aniki Remix)
7. Drop The Lime – We Are The Future
8. Orbital – Lush (Herve’s Tree & Leaf Remix)
9. Symbi – Fed Up
10. Fuck Jack – MC Wobblin (The Funkout Remix)
11. Heavy Feet – Nobody’s Ass
12. Don Diablo & Example – Hooligans (A1 Baseline Remix)
13. Dash EXP – Dried Up (Joint Forces Remix)
14. Buraka Som Sistema – IC19 (A1 Baseline Remix)
15. Reso – Smash Yer Face In
16. Nero – Sound In Motion
17. Wickaman & Hector – Blue Dreamers
18. Camo – So High
19. B-Complex – Beutiful Lies