This amazing A2 poster was made by my friend Tom Central (also head honcho for Keep Up! records). It shows a screen shot from every second of ‘Revenge of The Nerd’. If interest booms then i’ll be happy to get extras printed for sale but for now there is only a couple and maybe one extra for an future comp prize.

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For the nerds that care or the VJs who want to bite my shit… dive in.

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At the weekend, i was invited to one hell of a day in London…

First up we’d be boarding a boat on the Thames complete with massive soundsystem, 200 party hungry people and Craig Charles at the helm with a sack of funk and soul. As we sailed from London Bridge to the Dome and back we were treated to funk and soul from the classics to new cuts currently getting love on Craigs highly acclaimed BBC6 radio show. I got an hr to play a ton of vinyl i’d dug out the night before… i’ll get it recorded asap and off to Solid Steel HQ.

I (perhaps foolishly) decided this tee would suit the occasion:

We docked at 6pm and the offer of a 1960′s London bus to a roof party in Dalston had to be declined… i had an hr to get across London to Camden’s Roundhouse and soundchecked for an AV show in one of the Countries most prestigious venues. As you enter the Roundhouse the walls are covered in photos of those who have played before me; The Doors, Hendrix, The Stones, etc.

After finally getting everything set up, replacing some last minute corrupt video files and testing out a few of my new routines i grabbed a falefel and spent the next hr in nervous excitement.

The full set of official photos from the day/night can be seen here:

- Funk and Soul boat party photos
- Party bus photos
- The Roundhouse photos

Massive thanks to; Mo Hague (photos), Rob Waller, James Park, Rik Weightman, Suzi Green, Yoda and all at Roundhouse.

cheeba

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“We kick off the Soundcrash Podcast brought to you by Khalid with interviews from Bonobo, Anchorsong and Gonja Sufi. Along with some great music from the likes of Amon Tobin, Samiyam, Slugabed and more. Including a special guest mini-mix from DJ Cheeba. Plus look out for a chance to win tickets to Daedelus and Luke Vibert. “

Tracklist for DJ Cheeba minimix:

- King Cannibal – Intro
- Steinski – The Acid Test –
- Method Man – Release Yo Delf (Prodigy Remix) –
- Tipper – Cycles Within Cycles
- Glitch MOb – Animus Vox
- Modeselektor – Dark of The Sun
- Juice Aleem – Hologram (Si Begg’s Pleasure Principle MIx)
- Jacob London- Do What We Say (Si Begg Inst. Remix)
- Autechre – Basscadet (Basscadoublemx)
- DJ Food – All Covered In Darkness (Mr P Beats Remix)
- Steinski – Vox Apostolica
- Bonobo – In All Forms

You can also listen to just my minimix and grab a limited download on the player below

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Not quite good enough to warrant an invite to perform on the xmas Top of The Pops but still pretty stoked with this. 3rd in the Podcast charts for music video podcasts.

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To celebrate 10 years of Detectives of Perspectives we bring you this 15min mix of tracks, movies and samples all on a perspectives of detectives theme. Created by Cheeba this video mix is due for giveaway during our birthday celebrations in the summer 2011.

Music and video clips
in order of appearance

- Robert Benchley ‘How To Be A Detective’
- The theme From ‘Murder She Wrote’
(Video by James Reed and DJ Cheeba)
- Excerpt From ‘The Big Sleep’
- Matronix ‘King of The Beats’
(Video exerpt from ‘Naked Gun’)
- Tom Hanks and Dan Akroyd ‘City of Crime”
- Paul McCartney ‘Spies Like Us’
- Naughty By Nature ‘O.P.P.’
- The Muppets ‘Sherlock Hemlock’
- Excerpt From ‘Cagney and Lacey’
- Excerpt From ‘The Wire’
- Excerpt From ‘Star Trek’ (The Next Generation)
- The Herbaliser ‘The Real Killer’ (G-Pilot)
(Video by The Secret Cinema)
- Miraji ‘Be A Life Detective’
- Kormac ‘Rainstorm’
- Excerpt From ‘Inspector Gadget’
- Hall and Oats ‘Private Eyes’
- Excerpt From Pigeon Street ‘Mr Baskerville’
- Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince ‘Somebody Stole The DJ’
- Excerpt From ‘Detective Popeye’
- The Skatalites ‘Dick Tracy’
- Excerpt From ‘Revenge of The Nerds’
- Excerpt From ‘How High’
- The Thompson Twins ‘We Are Detective’
- Excerpt From ‘World’s Wildest Police Videos’
(Sheriff John Burnel)
- Quincey Jones ‘Ironside’
- Elvis Costello ‘Watching The Detectives’
(Video courtesy of TCM)
- They Might Be Giants ‘Hotel Detective’
- Excerpt From ‘Murder She Wrote’
- Excerpt From ‘Detective Goofy’
- Miraji ‘Be A Life Detective’
- The Theme From ‘Inspector Morse’
- The Theme From ‘Poirot’
- The Theme From ‘Midsomer Murders’
- Blake Leyh ‘The Fall’
(The Wire Closing Theme)

“There are some crimes against pop music in there that I hoped I would never hear ever again” – DJ FOOD

DOWNLOAD OF THIS MIX IS AVAILABLE FROM THE VIMEO PAGE FOR ANYONE SIGNED UP

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THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNER ‘SELECTOR DEMO’

Next Wednesday sees the return of Cut Chemist to Bristol. Its been a few years since Cut came to town and this time he’s bring an all new AV show. To win 2 tickets to the show simply comment below why you should be there in no more than 20 words. Winners will be announced and contacted on Monday the 11th.

FFI: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127832300630218

Cheeba

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A heads up about this weekend in London:

I have been invited to be involved in some very exciting shows in London this weekend, all with a very definite Ninja Tune theme.

Firstly, on Friday night, Amon Tobin will be coming to London’s Roundhouse with his much anticipated new live audio visual projection mapping show in support of his new album ‘Isam’. The hype for this show has been incredible and its no wonder considering the live trailers that have been going viral on the net and of course the incredible new album and back catalogue of Tobin. I will be DJing as support on the night and have been working hard on a much more electronic angle which i will be recording in the coming weeks for broadcast on Solid Steel. Sadly, this event is now sold out although there is rumors of a repeat visit in November.

The Roundhouse show is an early one so, as such, there is an after party nearby at Lockside Lounge that i will also be playing at along side newly signed Ninja Tune artist Raffertie and a rare appearance from PC (Cinematic Orchestra/DJ Food). Tickets for this are a barmy £3. For further info, aim your browser HERE

Saturday sees another installment of Videocrash, an all out audio visual night with Hexstatic’s Trailer Trax show headlining, DJ Food & DK on 4 decks and three mixers and my own take on video turntablism and VJing. In addition the second room will have none other than Quantic on the decks with PC there as well. There are still tickets available for this one, for further info click the image below.

DJ Cheeba store is now fully stocked and up and running:

After a slight delay (caused mainly by getting married) we have now set up the store page on the website to offer DVDs and also clothing via Dizzyjam.

The new DVD, ‘Revenge of The Nerd’ is presented with the following:

- Full colour artwork
- High quality printed DVD
- 3D glasses (for use with 3D minimix only)
- Full resolution feature. (70% better quality than the online version)

Exclusive DVD extras include:

- 3D minimix
- Roll credits
- Australia and New Zealand tour
- Mashed Potato (short)
- Interactive menu page

There is also a very limited number of ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’ DVDs available and is presented with the following:

- Full colour artwork
- High quality printed DVD
- Additional CD copy of the Solid Steel ‘Mix of The Year 2008′, The Case of The Missing Records.
- Full resolution feature. (70% better quality than the online version)

Exclusive DVD extras include:

- Roll credits
- Promotional trailer
- Interactive menu page

We also offer a wide range of men’s and women’s tee shirts and hoodies branded with a range of designs inspired by the Revenge of The Nerd artwork by Grampian Mountains as well as Cheeba and Detectives of Perspective logos by, long time Cheeba collaborator, DocVek.

And finally…

News of a very special night celebrating the Bristol based collective i have been involved with since moving back to the city in 2001.

In July 2001 the Detectives of Perspective formed as a collective to began hosting parties at a tiny venue in Bristol called ‘The Croft’ that aimed to create a very involving experience for the audience; Video projections, art, live and turntable based music and even a massive indoor geodesic dome! 10 years later in July 2011 the Detectives of Perspective are heading back to that same venue to show you where we’re at now and where we’re heading…

In that ten years DOP have hosted parties, turntable battles, festival stages, radio shows and the world’s only Solid Steel residency. DOP also gave a platform to countless local acts and brought to Bristol a massive roster of world class artists such as; DJ Shadow, Senor Coconut, Mixmaster Mike, Roots Manuva, Hexstatic, Death In Vegas, Cut Chemist, Peter Parker, Steinski, Herbaliser, Coldcut, DJ Krush, Qemists, The Bug, King Cannibal, DJ Vadim and more. Now for this 10th anniversary party we bring you friends and peers for a night of audio visual performances and an all consuming, detective themed, club environment.

To further celebrate i have produced an exclusive Detective themed mini AV mix ‘How To Be A Detective’, drawing in loads of samples from film and television as well as songs and artists that fit the bill. This will be given away on the night and soon after released for free download via www.djcheeba.com. WATCH THIS SPACE FOR FURTHER INFO AND RELEASE DATES.



All upcoming shows:

17 June: The Roundhouse, London, UK
17 June: The Lockside Lounge, London, UK
18 June: XOYO, London, UK (AV Set)
25 June: 7 Festival, Romania
02 July: Marisco’s, N.Devon, UK (AV Set)
09 July: The Croft, Bristol, UK (AV Set)
13 July: Fiddlers, Bristol, UK (AV Set)
21-24 July: Soundwave Festival, Croatia (Various Sets)
30 July: Bruksel Festival, Brussels, Belgium (AV Set)
06 Aug: Dalston Roof Park, London, UK

Thanks for reading, your support is always appreciated.

cheeba

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In 2010, DJ Cheeba‘s first audio visual mix ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’ set a new level of progression for DJs. Now in 2011 he returns with the next episode… ‘Revenge Of The Nerd’. A quick fire, attention frying, mash of sure fire club hits, stone cold classics, countless acapellas and turntable tricknology, all set to a visual feast of music videos, pop culture cameos, kung fu interludes and cinematic delights. Mixed with incredible flair and imagination, this is another bench mark in contemporary DJ culture. As Cheeba puts it… “It’s cut and paste sound and pictures for people with open minds and short attention spans.”

DVD includes:

- Full colour artwork
- High quality printed DVD
- 3D glasses (for use with 3D minimix only)
- Full resolution feature. (70% better quality than the online version)

Exclusive DVD extras include:

- 3D minimix
- Roll credits
- Mashed Potato (short)
- Interactive menu page

This DVD is for promotional purposes only and as such is offered FOR FREE with only postage and packaging to pay.

UK P&P: £8
Europe P&P: £10
Worldwide P&P: £12

Payment is by Paypal only and should be directed to djcheebadotcom@gmail.com. Please also be sure to specify which DVD you want and then add your postal address in the notes so we know where to send your DVDs!

There are also a very limited number of ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’ DVDs available.

Using two turntables and Serato’s Video-SL plug-in for Scratch Live to enable video controlled and manipulated by vinyl, Cheeba makes the most of this technology… mixing, scratching and juggling both sounds and pictures with stunning results. Original films, remixes and music videos made by Cheeba and James Reed (Thousand Thousand Points of Light) blend seamlessly with video mashups, animations and a wealth of other wonderful and often bizarre visual sources. With over 8 months producing the set and a further 6 developing it at shows, this revolutionary video mix has also been produced to coincide with the launch of www.djcheeba.com the new home of all Cheeba’s mixtapes, videos, blog entries and much much more. Plug in, sit back and “Enjoy this trip… and it is a trip!”

DVD includes:

- Full colour artwork
- High quality printed DVD
- Additional CD copy of the Solid Steel ‘Mix of The Year 2008′, The Case of The Missing Records.
- Full resolution feature. (70% better quality than the online version)

Exclusive DVD extras include:

- Roll credits
- Promotional trailer
- Interactive menu page

This DVD is for promotional purposes only and as such is offered FOR FREE with only postage and packaging to pay.

UK P&P: £8
Europe P&P: £10
Worldwide P&P: £12

Payment is by Paypal only and should be directed to djcheebadotcom@gmail.com. Please also be sure to specify which DVD you want and then add your postal address in the notes so we know where to send your DVDs!

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One of the rushes from the shoot I did for Pixillion Sessions. See the final site, profile and video bio here: pixillionsessions.com

Music and sample sentences from ‘Nervous Shock’ by Le Jad.

The finished film can also be seen HERE

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To coincide with the release of ‘Revenge of The Nerd’ we have set up a new line of tees and hoodies for sale featuring some of the artwork form the forthcoming DVD. There are loads of colours and sizes to choose from, just click the pics below to be re-directed. All items are 100% cotton and the design is assured for over 100 washes!

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In 2010, DJ Cheeba‘s first audio visual mix ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’ set a new level of progression for DJs. Now in 2011 he returns with the next episode… ‘Revenge Of The Nerd’. A quick fire, attention frying, mash of sure fire club hits, stone cold classics, countless acapellas and turntable tricknology, all set to a visual feast of music videos, pop culture cameos, kung fu interludes and cinematic delights. Mixed with incredible flair and imagination, this is another bench mark in contemporary DJ culture. As Cheeba puts it… “It’s cut and paste sound and pictures for people with open minds and short attention spans.”

Alternatively you can view ‘Revenge of The Nerd’ on Solid Steel and Vimeo. People who are signed up to Vimeo will also be able to access a download link. There will be an iPhone specific download very soon.

There is also this audio edit which was made specifically for Solid Steel which you can download by clicking the small black arrow to the right of the player.

Cheeba will be touring in 2011 to promote this mix using turntables, Serato’s Video SL software, and a heap of other far out gizmos that make for a truly spectacular audio visual show. For all booking inquiries please contact: ben@mixedbizness.co.uk

Thanks for watching and listening. Any comments are of course, welcomed and appreciated.

Artist – Title – Director – Label

Intro

1: Theme from ‘Sapphire and Steel’
2: Memory 9 – Samurai Skulls – Mario Rincon – Unreleased
3: Theme from ‘The Outer Limits’ (1961)
4: Funki Porcini – Orange Drop – Funki Porcini – Ninja tune
5: Mr Scruff Vs Kirsty Almeida – Pickled Spider – Jim Dawson – Ninja Tune
6: Kings of Leon – Closer – n/a – RCA
7: Daedelus – Just Briefly – Chroma*Fresh – Mush Records
8: Poirier (Feat. Omnikrom) – Jusqu en Haut – Unknown – Ninja Tune

In-fu-lude (Kung Fu TV pilot 1972)

9: Unkle – Heaven – Spike Jonze – Surrender All
10: Koushik – One In a Day – Jerry Henry – Stones Throw
11: Mos Def – Freestyle – Unknown – Unreleased
12: Kormac (Feat. Koaste) – Saturday Morning TV – Q The Monkey – Scribble
13: Dels – Shapeshift – Us (Design Studio) – Big Dada
14: Aloe Blac – I Need A Dollar (Eskei 83 re-edit) – Kahlil Joseph – Stones Throw
15: Beck – Where Its At – Steven Hanft – Geffen Records
16: Blockhead – The Music Scene – Anthony F. Schepperd – Ninja Tune
17: The Anomalies – Vibrations (DJ Cheeba re-edit) – DJ Cheeba – Absolute Marketing
18: Herbie Hancock – Rockit – n/a – CBS
19: Deltron 3000 – Positive Contact – Unknown – 75 Ark
20: Man Parrish – Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don’t Stop) – Co-Directions – Polydor
21: Capitol 1212 – Good Feelin – JK:AK – 1212
22: Talking Heads – Burning Down The House – David Byrne – Sire
23: Beastie Boys – Alive (Accapella) – Nathaniel Hornblower – Capitol
24: Neneh Cherry – Buffalo Stance – Unknown – Circa
25: Eprom – 64 Bytes (Ill Gates Remix) – n/a – Addictech
26: Foreign Beggars – Contact – Tony Traund – Dented
27: Time Machine (Feat. Greg Nice)- The Unfortunate Twist – David Whittle – GITD Records
28: David Bowie – DJ – David Mallet – EMI
29: Hexstatic – Red Laser Beam – Hexstatic – Ninja Tune
30: TC – Where’s My Money (Caspa remix – DJ Moneyshot Re-Edit) – Lord Fader – Unreleased
31: Flight of The Conchords – Sugar Lumps – James Bobin – Sub Pop
32: Area Code 615 – Stone Fox Chase – DJ Cheeba – Polydor
33: Ewan Hoozami – Falcon Punch – Lumen AV – Pig Balls
34: Mantronix – King of The Beats (DJ Prince re-edit) – DJ Prince – Simply Vinyl
35: Breakestra – Getcho Soul Together – Unknown – Stones Throw
36: Eddy Cheba – Looking Good – n/a – Music Response
37: DJ Kentaro – Free – Kasumfumi Kimura – Ninja Tune

In-fu-lude (Thunderkick 1974)

38: Hexstatic – Ninja Tune (Akira Kateshi Remix) – Hexstatic – Ninja Tune
39: Vanilla Ice – Ninja Rap – Unknown – SBK
40: Squarepusher – My Red Hot Car – Kurt Miller – Warp
41: Parker vs Black Sabbath – Iron Mandem – DJ P – Unreleased
42: Mike Relm – Iron Man 2 – Mike Relm – Unreleased
43: Lord Fader – Ground Zero – Lord Fader – Unreleased
44: Coldcut – Atomic Moog (Qemists Remix) – DJ Cheeba – Ninja Tune
45: Foreign Beggars – No Holds Barred (Noisia Extention Remix) – Barbu TV – Never Say Die
46: Lord Fader – Something For Nothing – Lord Fader – Unreleased
47: Die Antwoord – Zef Side – Sean Metelerkamp – Die Antwoord
48: Three Six Mafia – Smokin On Da Dro – Lindsay Scoggins – Smoked Out Music
49: Coldcut – More Beats and Pieces (United States of Audio Remix) – n/a – Ninja Tune
50: Jamhamster – Bod (Having It Large) – Jamhamster – Unreleased
51: Pogo – Skynet Symphonic – Pogo – Unreleased
52: Amon Tobin – Esther’s – Charles De Meyer – Ninja Tune
53: Danny Byrd – Red Mist (DJ Cheeba re-edit) – DJ Cheeba – Hospital
54: Noisia (feat. KRS 1) – Exodus – Alexander Lehmann – Vision
55: Cabbageboy – Departure – DJ Cheeba – N:Tone
56: DJ Prince – Pump Dis Volume Up – DJ Prince / DJ Cheeba – Unreleased
57: Noisia – Machine Gun – Henk Loorbach – Division
58: Coldcut & Hexstatic – Timber (Seiji Remix) – Hexstatic – Ninja Tune
59: Riton & Seiji – Computer Juice – Joe Lea – Turbo Recordings
60: Nobody Beats The Drum – The Drum – Rogier Van Der Zwaag – Nobody Beats The Drum
61: Chemical Bothers – Get Yourself High – Joseph Kahn – Freestyle Dust

In-fu-lude (Mystery of Chessboxing 1979)

62: Bonobo – Flutter – Conkerco – Ninja Tune
63: Boards of Canada – Happy Cycling – Framewall – Warp
64: Cut Chemist – My First (Big) Break – Kyle Ruddick – Warner Brothers
65: Mac Lethal – Undertow – Kyle Harbaugh – Black Clover

Outro

Promotional trailer

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Following the widely acclaimed audio visual mix ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’, DJ Cheeba returns in 2011 with another journey for your eyes, ears and mind in… ‘Revenge of The Nerd’

In the coming weeks expect a DVD of the feature with loads of previously unseen extras to be available as well as a web version to hit www.djcheeba.com, Solid steel and the associated podcast.

Cheeba

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Seasons greetings…

Another weird and wonderful year has nearly passed. I’ve been lucky enough to have some amazing shows this year and meet so many lovely people, so thanks for all involved; the promotors, the venues, the supporters and especially the party people making all the shows so unforgettable!

December always brings the Solid Steel ‘mix of the year’ comp. Your chance to win some amazing prizes for the price of sending an email. (details quoted below). Im not one to upset the ‘International Electoral Observer Committee’ but i would thrilled if you chose my mix from Februaury as your choice for resident mix of the year!

DJ Cheeba – Solid Steel mix -Februaury 5th 2010






We hit December and it’s time for you to let us know your favourite mixes. As always, we’re looking for TWO votes and we have a great prize (with a little help from Serato) to give away to one lucky winner.

The FIRST vote is for your favourite mix by one of the resident DJ’s, which are Coldcut, Strictly Kev, DK, Hexstatic, Boom Monk Ben, DJ Moneyshot, Ruckus Roboticus and DJ Cheeba. Don’t forget to let us know the date of the mix that you are voting for.

The SECOND vote is for your favourite guest mix and you can see the names of all the guest DJ’s in the drop down list at Solid Steel. The last two shows of the year will be made up of the most popular mixes, as voted by you.

If you need to refresh your memory, you can listen and download nearly every show from this year HERE

The winner (picked at random) will receive a bumper prize of;
- 8GB Scratch Live watch
-set of Ortofon Serato S-120 Conchordes
-4 x Limited Edition Serato Pressings
-Solid Steel 20th Anniversary audio DVD
-DJ Food & DK ‘Now, Look & Listen DVD
-DVD containing an MP3 of all this year’s shows.

There will also be 10 runner up prizes of the DVD of this year’s Solid Steel
shows.

Send your votes to solidsteel@ninjatune.net and don’t forget we need your name and address with your vote.
The competition will close on 17th December, so start your voting and good luck.

In addition to the Solid Steel vote, the Becks advert from earlier in the year has also been nominated for an award! If you could do what you can to send that to the top spot we would be very grateful! The concept, direction and production were incredible so all involved really deserve the praise. (click the image to fill in the vote)

Good luck and thanks for your votes! For now though, im off to finish off the new AV mixtape, smoke a mince pie and get this little gem on the gramaphone…

cheeba

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Audio is a DJ Cheeba* re-edit of: ‘Children Talking‘ by Aphex Twin.

*DJ Cheeba does not condone the use of mashed potato in sandwiches.

Mashed Potato? from DJ Cheeba on Vimeo.

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I am back once again to fill your inbox with a few delights to forefill your eyes, ears, minds, hard drives and lives. I know i previously said i would blog more often and send out news to my mailing list but i got distracted and as a result you are getting half a years worth of news in one mega mail. Forgive me.

It’s been an exciting and often very weird time over the last few months and i’ll try my best to round it up without waffling on and just get down to showing you the goods.

Tours:

Seen many a planes, train and automobile gigging at tons of incredible venues this year but the big one was ‘The Reels of Solid Steel Tour’ back in March. Landing right on my birthday me and the Boom Monk hit up loads of dates down under. I took my video camera to document it and in typical fashion have only just finished the edit…. check it out here:

If you missed that… there’s plenty more to come so hope to see you at one of these upcoming shows:

Sat, Sep 25, The Book Club, London
Sun, Sep 26, Thekla, Bristol
Sat, Oct 02, BPM, NEC, Birmingham
Fri, Oct 22, The Roundhouse, London
Fri, Oct 29, Metropolis, Bristol
Fri, Nov 05, Motion, Bristol
Sat, Nov 06, Loerrach, Freitongebiet, Germany
Fri, Nov 12, Katowice, Poland
Sat, Nov 13, Motion, Bristol

Recording:

This year i’ve also been featuring on some really interesting tracks. At the start of the year, good friend Kormac asked me to feature on a song for his new album alongside DJ Yoda for a battle of itchy fingers, wordplay and wit… The track ‘Kormac’s Scratch Party’ is available now in all good record stores. For a preview check it out here:

Buy the track and the incredible album ‘Wordplay’here

Another track I’ve lent my scratchy wotnots and wordplay to is a remix by Tom Central for The Leisure Allstars. ‘Friday Night’ features Lady Chann on vocals and is an out and out party tune. For my parts i used elements of everything from a Brill Cream advert to Trainspotting for another wordplay verse at the end of the track. Check it out here:

I have also done a verse of cuts for Mr Benn on his upcoming album. The track ‘It’s A Shame’ features one of my favorite vocalists, NYC’s Emskee from The Good People. You’ll have to wait to hear this one though but it will be worth it! Massive tune.

Video projects:

No new video mix from me yet this year but I have been releasing full length videos from The Reels of Solid Steel optimised for Video SL so grab them and load them up to rock your party, front room or laptop. If there are any you want but dont see, send us a mail or leave your requests on the Facebook page.

Witness Team GB

Mashin’ on The Motorway (Bullitt edit)

Come To Sugar Daddy

Some readers may have seen me also rocking some unusual beer taps of late? The advert i appeared in for Becks Beer was based around a really cleverly rigged bar where every beer tap played samples and stems as well as pouring a pint. Clever stuff indeed, for the full advert, story and the gloriously nerdy technology behind it read the full story. Click the image below.

Interviews:

For a deeper look into my level of nerdism and an insight into how badly my music files are organised take a look at these interviews i have done recently:

1) ‘Space mixes‘ for the discovery channel’s ‘How stuff works’ Blog

2) Interview at Serato HQ for their Whitelabel Blog

3) Soon to be published, a look at the first 5 things that appear on my iTunes in shuffle play for the brilliant 273 blog. eeek.

Goodbye and Hello

Sad but true, its time to say good bye to a couple of things… First up MySpace. I wont bore you with my feelings about the odd evolution of myspace but sadly im kinda letting my page fizzle out now. What once was a great community and resource is now the victim of its own attempts to be more like Facebook. Wait though, this is where the irony kicks in… I’m now using the excellent Bandpage for Facebook, which is an app tab that is making Facebook pages look more like myspace used to be. Confused? Don’t worry about it, all you need to know is this is the new place to keep up to date with my tour dates and daily brain spillages.

The other thing thats leaving us sadly is the promo page on the website. Since the launch of DJCHEEBA.COM we have sent out; over 20 pairs of Scratch Live control records, 10 mega memory watches, a couple of very rare TTM57 faceplates and countless DVDs, tshirts, stickers and CDs to people joining the mailing list. Sadly the swag bag is now empty but we are looking at new ways to reward you guys for your feedback and involvement with the website and comps.

“And Finally”

I’ll leave you with news of a few gigs that im especially looking fwd to.

October sees the UK’s biggest music and DJ expo, BPM hit the NEC in Birmingham once more. I’ll be there doing demos and answering any questions on the Rane/Searto stand throughout the three days of the show as well as a 1hr AV set in the main arena on the Saturday before my man Yoda headlines with his awsome video show. During the weekend Serato are also running Scratch Live training sessions, if you’re coming along for the day, sign up here and become a ‘Serato tech mate’.

This summer I was asked to curate a series of AV shows at Bristol’s ‘Metropolis’ Venue and as such i have been inviting friends and peers from the world of AV DJing to come and join me in this incredible space for some brilliant parties. We kicked off with DMC champ, Beardyman collaborator and all round good egg, JFB who came and showed us incredible turntable skills with really imaginative video clips to illustrate his wikki wikka wahs. Last week we had Sampology over from Australia with his ‘Super Visual Smackdown’ and headlining was Robin Hexstatic with his new ‘Trailer Trax’ project who both smashed it and impressed everyone there with thier individual takes on the medium.

Coming up on October 29th is the much anticipated ‘Turntables in Technicolour’ AV show from DJ Woody. So, whether you’re an AV nerd, hip hop lover or just looking for something different to the usual kind of vibe clubbing in the UK offers, get yourself along to Metropolis in Bristol to give your feet and mind a workout.

This year sees the 20th birthday of the Ninja Tune label. 20 years is an incredible achievement for an independent record label and to celebrate they are holding massive parties all over the world, releasing a massive boxset of new material, holding exhibitions and even painting murals across London. Having hosted the Solid Steel club nights for over 5 years Detectives of Perspective have managed to line up a sizable bill for a Bristol based Ninja XX party that i will be playing at. Check this for a line up, then buy a ticket cause you know line ups like this are very rare indeed and it is going to be an incredible night!

COLDCUT
MIXMASTER MIKE
STEINSKI
THE BUG feat FLOWDAN (live)
DJ FOOD & DK (AV Set)
JAMMER (live)
DJ VADIM
QEMISTS
KING CANNIBAL
CHEEBA (AV Set)
DOP ALLSTARS

Tickets available here: www.bristolticketshop.co.uk

If all that wasn’t enough, you should see what else we got coming before the end of the year!

Cheeba out.

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quick heads up about a couple of tracks i have appeared on this year… making wikky wah noises and messing about with scratched wordplay.

Have a listen, let me know what you think

cheeba

Leisure allstars feat Lady Chan – Friday night (Tom Central remix feat DJ Cheeba)

Kormac – Kormac’s Scratch Party (Feat DJ Yoda and DJ Cheeba)

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Back in April 2010 i was first approached by the lovely people from 580 to take part in a tour promoting Becks Vier as part of their ‘Music Inspires Art’ campaign. It involved about 8 dates nationwide showcasing my AV show and drinking the odd pint. (all in the name of promotion of course)

Leeds, Nation Of Shop Keepers – May 20

Sheffield, Bungalows & Bears – May 27

Liverpool, Weather Forecast – June 3

Nottingham, Spanky Can Dykes – June 10

Bristol, Start The Bus – June 17

London, Village Underground – June 18

BOurneouth, 60 Million Postcards – July 1

Portsmouth, Kraken Wakes – July 15

Following this i was approached by marketing company Outsideline who wanted to confer with me about an ad concept they had been working on… a few meetings followed and im pleased to say the shoot and outcome have turned out really well. The ad has now spread like wild fire all over the net and i’ve been greeted by comments about my “frothy lip” by people all over Bristol.

So, here it is… check it out, let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your comments

cheeba

*Oh, and make no mistake, this is not a viral ad full of post production trickery… the beer fonts really were engineered very cleverly to trigger music stems and samples!

DJ Cheeba performs an exclusive live mix using Beck’s Vier beer taps to trigger audio samples and lighting effects across a grid of 600 LED-lit Beck’s bottles. In order to get the beer pumps to play music, we wired each of the 10 pumps to a custom wired Arduino board ( http://arduino.cc/ ) As the pump was pulled an electronic contact was broken which then sent signals to a custom made flash application, triggering each sample.

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A simple edit of clips from Cheeba’s performance at Videocrash 5 on April 10th 2010 at London’s HMV Forum. Apologies for the poor sound.

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Welcome to another exciting installment of Cheeba’s blog (roll)

2010 kicked off in spectacular fashion with 2 weeks in my favorite playground on earth… Chamonix, France. Sitting at the foot of Mont Blanc lies the most happening ski resort in all the alps and probably the world. I’ve been back to Cham for the last 12 years… the people, the steep and deep, the nightlife, hedonistic vibe and the best tap water you’ll ever experience all make this place something really special to me.

Arriving on Jan 2nd i had 1 day to settle in before a wild schedule of a gig every night for pretty much 2 weeks. Playing alongside my man DJ Irk we played both AV and DJ shows in all the prime bars and clubs in the valley… mad props to all at Terrasse, Monkey, Cantina and Bar’d Up for having us and accommodating our ever growing tequila habit.

Of course after waking from the night before’s gigs the mountains were always calling and we got out pretty much everyday to, yet again, some incredible conditions… I’m talking bluebird powder days and riding with friends… its stuff like this that really makes you feel alive!

Massive thanks to Irk for setting up these shows… I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to get a trip like this in exchange for rocking some parties. The Saturday night show at Cantina was a definite highlight… although its only a small bunker of a venue and the screen died meaning i couldn’t do videos it was still one of the best shows I’ve been a part of for a while… think the end of 8 mile, moshpits and pure good vibes all night long!

Again, thanks to all who helped out, danced, bought me tequila, heckled me from chair lifts and made the trip what is was; Irk, Felix for the place to crash and late night politics rambles, Kay Hole for the lift and laughs, Tosh for the board and heckles, Hazel at Terrasse, G & Chris at Bar’d Up, Will, Ali and all at Monkey, all the Cantina crew, Cutmaster Guillaume, Johnny for the endless props, The Mo-megaman and anyone else I may have forgotten.

“Hello? yeah, i think we’re gonna need more tequila”

Cheers to Mo (above) for the photos. The full set can be seen HERE

Next up im off to MC2 in Grenoble, a Rane sponsored event with DMC champ DJ Switch in Birmingham and also just puting the finishing touches to a mini tour of the Balkans with Tom Central from Keep Up! Records.

2010… the best year yet? Almost definitely

Cheeba

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Yo (Ho Ho)

Just a quick mail about the Solid Steel ‘Mix of The Year’! its that time of year once again when listeners of the best radio show in the world vote for the best mix of 2009.

Not only does the voting fill you with a warm feeling inside but can also net you these fabulous, and undeniably rare, gifts from Solid Steel and Serato.

- A Scratch Live UDG Bag,
- An 8GB Scratch Live watch,
- Serato Pressings,
- DVD containing an MP3 of all this years shows (including all the video podcasts).
- There will also be 10 runner up prizes of Serato Pressings and the DVD of Solid Steel shows.

So what you waiting for? Mail you entries for ‘Best Guest MIx’ and ‘Best Resident Mix’ to solidsteel@ninjatune.net and with any luck you’ll be rolling in cool gifts by xmas morning!

Here’s the word from SS HQ:


It’s competition time for ‘Mix of the year’ at Solid Steel HQ. Once again, we are looking for TWO votes. The first vote is for your favourite mix from one of the resident DJ’s, who now include Boom Monk Ben, DJ Moneyshot, Ruckus Roboticus and DJ Cheeba, as well as Strictly Kev, DK and Coldcut. The second vote is for your favourite guest mix and you can see the list of guests in the drop down bar.

The winner will be picked at random and will receive a fantastic prize from Serato containing a Scratch Live UDG Bag, an 8GB Scratch Live watch, Serato Pressings, plus you will receive a DVD containing an MP3 of all this years shows (including all the video podcasts). There will also be 10 runner up prizes of Serato Pressings and the DVD of Solid Steel shows.

Send your votes to solidsteel@ninjatune.net and don’t forget we need your name and address with your vote. The competition will close on 16th December, so start your voting and good luck.

If you need any inspiration for who to vote for… read the list of mixes in the drop down menu on the Solid Steel homepage, check them out on the podcast or watch this, maybe it will help sway things.

Show link HERE

Whatever you do don’t take too long about it, entry closes on 16th Dec!

Good luck and happy holidays!

cheeba

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Greetings one and all…. ITS CHRISTMAS!

well not quite but i’ve got a tree up and feeling rather festive in the all new studio space here in Bristol.

This will be the first of the DJ Cheeba monthly newsletters, I promise i wont spam you with crap… just good news and the occasional blag.

First up this month is news on the comp we ran in the blog. The brief was simple: Either make a video or print/web marketing advert for the website, post a link and spread the word.

Here are the prizes (As kindly donated by Rane, Docvek and 12InchSkinz):

1st prize:

Rane / Serato ‘mega memory watch’, Scratch Live T-shirt, a DVD copy of ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’ and stickers.

2nd prize:

Docvek & DJ Cheeba TTM57 faceplate, Scratch Live T-shirt, a DVD copy of ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’ and stickers.

3rd prize:

Scratch Live T-shirt, a DVD copy of ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’ and stickers.

And the winners are:

Video

1st: RBletz (823 views) Stupid people video

2nd: Gpapa (283 views) Live in Bristol video

3rd: Tisse (86 views) Dustbowl video

Print/Web

1st: Dub Cowboy (extreme abuse of twitter)

2nd: Ninja Seal (poster design from photo)

3rd: RBletz (star wars remixed poster)

Congratulations to all the winners, we’ll be in touch to get your postal address and get the prizes shipped out to your corners of the world asap

Next up is news of some shows we have lined up for 2010, these are some of the highlights so far. Keep an eye on the ‘Shows’ page on the site for more details and ticket links….

Jan 2 – 15: Chamonix, France (various venues)
Jan 16: Koko, London (With DJ Vadim & Bonobo among others)
Jan 23: MC2, Grenoble, France (this will be the postponed gig from this w/e)
Feb 4: Queen of Hoxton, London (Launching the new AV show!)
Feb 18: Glasgow, Scotland
Feb 20: Dundee, Scotland
March: Australia, New Zealand & Tasmania (various venues)
April 5-9: Snowbombing festival

Cheeba has also now confirmed for Soundwave Festival in Croatia in July. Easily one of the best festivals around in simply idilic surroundings, this one is not to be missed! Last year had artists such as DJ Yoda, The Bays, Red Snapper, Hexstatic, Alice Russell, etc and this year promises to be even better!

FFI and ticket info, see here:

The sharp eye’d among you may have spotted in the listings above that im launching my new show in February, im in the the middle of getting all the new videos together and have already been roadtesting some of the audio segments including tracks from the likes of Leisure Recordings, Ninja Tune, Ben One and Peter Parker. Its always daunting starting new projects like this but now i’ve got going im sure this one will really twist your melon while still getting you moving! If you would like to enquire about booking Cheeba for a show in your city/town/clubnight/bar/house/bedroom in 2010 then point your email at: ben@mixedbizness.co.uk

Thats all for now, I’ll leave you with some photos form the show in Bristol last weekend courtesy of Emma Catlady and a live video from Chimpski. Cheers for these guys!

For daily updates you can follow my brain spillages on Twitter/Facebook/MySpace/etc.

Word to the nerds

Cheeba

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Thought i should just recap on the show i did at the weekend. Those lovely folk at Soundcrash put on some of the best music events this side of… well actually, they put on the best music events full stop. This weekend was the 4th of their ‘Videocrash’ events at probably the best venue i’ve ever done a show at, London’s Koko in Camden. Not only was the line up, crowd, sound and vibe incredible but the venue is nothing short of spectacular! Koko on Wikipedia

The night opened with two really cool bands, Oszibarack and Glass Diamond who both impressed with deep and heavy beats and bass fronted by really cool female singers. Check them out. The former reminding me a lot of The Cranes which took me back!

Oszibarack

Glass Diamond

Hosting the Night was Juice Aleem. Part of New Flesh and also the MC that has been touring with Coldcut for years, it was a real treat for me to be introduced by him as im a massive fan of his projects, especially his new solo album, Jerusalaam Come, which is one of my favorite albums of 2009. You should go buy it now! Click here

Juice Aleem bigging me up.

A massive thanks to Mo Hague for all of these stunning photos of the night. Boy has mad skills… and a nice camera! You can see the full set on his websitehere

Its not often you get to eat your own head!

Next up were Stonephace. Some stunning musicianship from this much hyped cornish band on the Tru Thoughts label. On this occasion they had a vj with them providing stunning visuals too…

Headlining on the night were, pioneers of the whole audio visual genre, Hexstatic, who on this occasion had one of the most important beatboxers ever on stage with them… Shlomo. He has been around for ages pushing beatbox to new levels with his vocal orchestra project, Foreign Beggars and Bjork. He came on stage with a backing video of muliple layers of his face… rather than me attempt to explain how cool this was, check it out for your self!

If you were there, i hope you enjoyed it as much as me. If you weren’t, you should have been… keep em peeled for the next one!

Cheeba

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SORRY, THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW ENDED

Yes yes… more free swag to giveaway.

Since the site launched a few weeks ago we have had loads of interest, lots of people joining the mailing list, a few winners of the promo gifts, loads of comments and tons of mixtape downloads! Now we want to take it to the next level and this is where our competition comes in…

There are two categories, each with prizes from our promo swag pile for 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

1) Viral video:

Create a short video to market www.djcheeba.com. The video can be anything up to 2 minutes long and must promote ‘www.djcheeba.com’. The top three entries will be determined by how may views the videos have achieved by the 1st Decemember 2009. It doesn’t have to be a film with slick editing and stunning graphics, its all about how viral you can make it… that means, its a video people will watch, pass on and forward! use Youtube, Vimeo, MySpace etc but please only upload your video to one host. Combined counts from different hosts will not be counted.

2) Viral marketing:

Not everyone is has access to video production tools such as cameras or editing software so we’ve opened this category up to all forms of viral marketing… this means you could create a poster for print, tattoo yourself, get a djcheeba.com t-shirt on the Dali Lama, etc. Use your imagination to inspire others… The top three entries will be chosen for their ‘creativity and proven impact’ so its not just about your new djcheeba.com tattoo but where it is and how many people have seen it. hubba hubba!

For more info on ‘viral marketing’ see Wikipedia

To give you some ideas… here are the top ten viral marketing campaigns of all time according to The Times newspaper (2007)

1st prize:

Rane / Serato ‘mega memory watch’, Scratch Live T-shirt, a DVD copy of ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’ and stickers.

2nd prize:

Docvek & DJ Cheeba TTM57 faceplate, Scratch Live T-shirt, a DVD copy of ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’ and stickers.

3rd prize:

Scratch Live T-shirt, a DVD copy of ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’ and stickers.

Further details and pictures of the prizes can be seen HERE

Terms and Conditions:

- Entries for both categories will be judged by Cheeba on 1st Decemeber 2009 (gmt).
- All entries must promote ‘www.djcheeba.com’
- To enter simply post a link in the comments section of this post
- Only entries posted in the comments field below by 1st Dec 2009 will be judged.
- Entrants can enter with as many different adverts as they like but can only win once in each category.

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Just a quick update this time to say the Artwork for ‘The Reels of Solid Steel’ has now been completed, printed, boxed and ready for promo giveaways at upcoming gigs. The DVD package also contains Solid Steel ‘MIx of The Year 2008′ on CD: ‘DJ Cheeba Investigates… The Case of The Missing Records’. Seems like a million miles from making 10 cassettes and drawing the artwork in MS Paint (as seen in one of my previous blog posts).

Logo design is by DocVek, Photos by Sarah Webb and additional thanks to ‘the mystery man’ who helped with the design layout and fonts.

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Record collecting is a part of being a DJ right? At least it was… maybe it still is. Sort of.

There’s now a new generation of DJs out there who have only ever known mp3′s or CDs. They have never been digging in the dusty back room of a record shop, hunting for rare shaped picture disks, that japanese import that only had 200 pressings, finding a copy with the poster still inside, every release on a long forgotten label or just buying a random record because it had a funny name or striking cover. They will also never know the pain of moving house when you own a ton of vinyl or the cost of transporting a flight case of records on an aeroplane.

The biggest selling 12″ vinyl record in the last 14 years is the control vinyl for Serato Scratch Live. A record that plays a control signal, a tone, a “beeeeeep”! Not only is this testament to how many Scratch Live users there are around the world but also that those users have started to collect the increasingly varying colours and designs that are being pressed.

In response to this Serato have pressed loads of colours, picture disks, 7 inches, 10 inches, etc… Some are widely available, some are hard to find, some are promotional items given to sponsored Serato Artists and some are test pressings or factory pressing mistakes. In the last year i’ve seen crazy bidding wars on Ebay for colours such as the promotional white pairs. Over $400 for a pair!?! Sorry, but that just doesn’t compute with me…. that is like a months rent on my flat… on a pair of records… with a “beeeeep” on it.

I have been collecting proper records for about 20 years and have a few treasured ones including my prized copy of the Animal House soundtrack signed by the main cast including my hero, the late, John Belushi. To me that is priceless but in auction terms my most valuable records are some of the coloured vinyl i have been kindly given as gifts by Rane and Serato. The most valuable of which are my 4 pairs of whites, 7 inches, various picture disks and a very limited pair of marble ones i was given at the BPM exhibition this weekend with this post-it note attached

There are a growing number of people who have taken collecting control vinyls to dizzying heights of obsession and cost. You can read more about their collections on the Serato forum thread on the subject.

Im going to focus my efforts on continuing to collect soundtracks and spoken word vinyl i think… All the while hanging onto these control vinyls incase i ever get the urge to match my vinyl with my outfit.

Cheeba

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Without wishing to sound like an annoying uncle who goes on about old media formats, i have always been a fan of the humble cassette tape. When i heard they were phasing out the sale of blank cassettes i went and bought all the decent ones i could find… I loved their chunkiness and listening to an album was just that… no skipping to track 7! In fact The Walkman that saw me through my school years didn’t even have a fast forward or rewind so it really was all or nothing.

One day i’ll make a proper mixtape and put it out on cassette… i still have a decent 3 head tape recorder/player and still listen to a few tapes now and again. Digitising them just seems a bit criminal to me and i love the clucky sound of the mechanism.

The point of this starry eyed ramble was because my good friend Granpapyellaman passed this to tape to me the other week and i thought i’d share. Its a tape i made on my old Vestax PMC 03A… there’s no scratches on it, the cover was drawn in MS paint or something and it highlights how shallow my record collection was in those days. Saying that though there are a quite a few good tracks on there and the beginnings of some sampling skill (keith chegwin flexi disk yo) and it was all done in one take… well probably practised quite a bit but still, no layering and certainly no software.

‘This Side’

‘That Side’

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Solid Steel in association with Serato (11th September) and it’s a special one from DJ Cheeba this week. Alongside the weekly audio mix we also have a video version of his “Reels of Solid Steel” mix, plus a video podcast will be delivered direct to your iTunes inbox when you subscribe.

Using two turntables and Serato’s Video-SL plug-in for Scratch Live to enable video controlled and manipulated by vinyl, Cheeba makes the most of this technology… mixing, scratching and juggling both sounds and pictures with stunning results. Original films, remixes and music videos made by Cheeba and James Reed (Thousand Thousand Points of Light) blend seamlessly with video mashups, animations and a wealth of other wonderful and often bizarre visual sources. With over 8 months producing the set and a further 6 developing it at shows, this revolutionary video mix has also been produced to coincide with the launch of www.djcheeba.com the new home of all Cheeba’s mixtapes, videos, blog entries and much much more. Plug in, sit back and “Enjoy this trip… and it is a trip!”

Sadly, we had to reduce the quality of the video by more than half to fit into Vimeo’s 500mb upload limit. If you want the full resolution copy with the best quality sound you are going to have to reach a show to get the DVD or win it on the promo page.

Now, I knew Solid Steel had many fans, followers and subscribers all over the world but recently it hit number 8 in the podcast download chart with the Ninja Tune podcast hitting number 2! Think about it… that is nuts!

Please do comment on this video, i’d love to know what you think!

Cheeba

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After reading this topic on Discogs i began to think about the 15 years or so i’ve been hammering, testing and inevitably breaking dj mixers. Im pretty happy with the Rane TTM57 mixer now although even that has had a few issues here and there. Anyway, here’s a list of the good, the bad and the terrible. Feel free to add your experiences in the comments field… i am a massive nerd and would probably enjoy reading your stories more than you realise!

———————————

At the age of about 15 i first got my hands on my mate Mo’s turntables and Citronic mixer while he went off travelling round europe for the summer. Between us we can’t find a picture or any info but rest assured it was a piece of shit. Still, it got me started and its punch buttons had me thinking i was worthy of DMC fame.

The first mixer i bought was this; The Citronic ‘DJ Pro’. Needless to say there was nothing particulary “pro” about it! I got it because i thought having a 1inch xfader would make mixing quicker and the punch buttons would continue to contribute to scratch dj stardom. It did have XLR ouputs though (although i never used them). I talked a friend into buying one too and he managed to keep his going for over 10 years without a sign of xfade bleed or anything! I managed to kill mine though… faders went, channels died and it went in a skip.

As i got more into the cutting side of djing and started to watch DMC videos i realised i was kidding myself that punch buttons were the way to go… what i needed was a smooth xfader so i could crab, flare and do body tricks with. I’d heard Vestax were reliable and the faders were good for scratching so i bust out the student credit card and got this PMC 03A. I cant begin to explain how quickly and often i wore out the faders on this thing, in the end i think i spent twice as much on replacement faders as i did on the mixer in the first place. All the chrome came off with my cutting and the skip got another mixer.

I kept some of the faders as i thought they’d make a pretty cool turntablist nerd chain so i could show all sucka djs how brutal my cuts were. I never wore it.

Watching more DMC videos and scratch DJ shows i was now convinced i need what the pro’s use… i wanted to do the DMCs and i need the Technics dj1200 mixer that they use in the contest. Now this isn’t the new improved version that Kentaro champions, the original version had analogue faders and was, as it turned out, made of rubbish. I got it from the Richer Sounds store as they had a two week ‘no questions’ return policy, in that two weeks i broke every fader including the spare and took half the shine off around the fader. They took it back but we’re understandably pretty pissed off. I took the refund and plotted my next victim.

At this time mixers started to appear in the magazines and in shops with the fabled promise ‘lifetime xfader gaurentee’. This made my eyes light up! Imagine that a mixer that i would never have to buy a replacement fader for! I went with the Stanton SK 2F as its fader (designed by DJ Focus) was so light Jeremy Beadle could have crabbed on it and for a few years it did as it promised. The problem with these optical style faders is you couldn’t get to the rails to lube them and it gathered dirt which slowed it down and made any mildly tech scratches near impossible. This was also the first time i had encountered that annoying thing hardware companies do and provide you with a power cable you cant buy anywhere! This one was like a 3.5mm jack with an optic light in it… i have no idea what that was about. I eventually passed mine on to, a then 15, DJ Snafu for him to later send to oblivion.

Further info on the Stanton SK 2F here

I had got a lot out of the Stanton and figured i needed something similar but with better build quality. I’d been eyeing up the Vestax PMC 07 as i fancied having EQ controls on faders and a master volume on a fader, once I’d saved the pennies i headed to the shop to have a demo and hopefully buy one. When i got there they had a new display of Vestax Samurai mixers. Pretty much the same design as the standard PMC range but came with a digital xfader, you could change the curve a million different ways and even have a gated setting. Once I’d felt how light and responsive the fader was i out the door with a big whole in my wallet. Everything performed well on this mixer except the damn power cable and its juction box. I broke a few of those and it nearly killed any chance of music at my brother’s wedding. Luckily there was an electrician who managed to fix it with a table knife and an plaster.

Further info on the Vestax PMC 07d here

Then i heard about Serato’s Scratch live software. Now, i was right there when Final Scratch was introduced but i didn’t have a laptop, didn’t like the sound of all the crashes and it didn’t support Mac’s (a must for computer novices like me). SSL promised stability, Mac supprt and everyone i aspired to be like was using it. I was booking and playing with loads of artists from Ninja Tune at the time and they always turned up with this software. “Play you’re own songs, edits and have two copies of everything… oh and you cant ruin your records anymore”. I saw this as the future, my mixes were always limited by how fast i could get the records out of their sleeves, on the turntable and to the sticker point… SSL meant i could do everything i’d ever dreamed of with music.

As i was trying to raise the funds to get the SL1 i heard rumours of the new Rane mixer that had the box built in and software controls on the mixer panel, meaning you wouldn’t even have to touch the laptop! I’d had a go on a Rane TTM56, loved the butter feel of the fader and knew Rane were widely regarded for their high quality audio hardware.

Rane TTM57 SL Prototype

After pestering every supplier in the UK and even one in Alabama i managed to get my hands on one of the first wave of production models. To say i was stoked was an understatement!

Further info on the Rane TTM57 SL mixer here

Got to say, i’ve been really happy with the Rane. The faders are insane and can be cleaned with ease, the sound is great and it takes XLRs and a kettle lead for power. I have damaged it a few times though… Cut Chemist managed to snap his headphones in it 2 weeks after i got it and i’ve bent several knobs mostly due to poor care during transit. I’ve got it sorted now and only move it in a Pelican flight case so it can come to no more harm.

The one major design floor for me was the darkness of the design. In a dim club i would often miss fire the B1-B6 buttons due to them being nearly the same colour as their background and have even sent a track playing backwards once or twice as a result. When i heard about companies like Styleflip and 12Inchskinz who could make custom faceplates for audio hardware i got onto longtime friend and DOP designer DocVek to come up with something that would change this while pimping my ride to the max! Below are versions 1, 1.1, 1.2 and the current design i use which we made with the help of DJ Kentaro’s brother Kotaro who translated the text to japanese for us to give it a futuristic style. I got one to kentaro at a recent show and he’s now rocking it everywhere he goes!

Whats next…? I dont know? Maybe a 24 bit, 3 channel TTM 58? Maybe something that has a screen to do away with the need for a laptop? Maybe it’ll have an iPhone dock to run software? Touch screens? I know whatever it is i’ll be watching and taking a great interest… A big ‘fingers up’ to my design tech teacher at school Mr Forey who said i had no passion for design technology.

Word to the nerds

Cheeba

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3,2,1… back in the room.

Its been a relatively quiet month or so on the gig front, which turned out to be perfect for getting the website ready to go live (its been on a holding page for over 3 years) and get the DVD ready to be seen by all and sundry either on their telly boxes on DVD or as part of the Solid Steel Podcast. Its all pretty much complete now, the DVD has gone to DK for him to check out and upload to the Solid Steel site and associated iTunes podcast… very soon all this editing and development will finally hit the public domain. eek.  Artwork is on its way from Byte Design who brilliantly helped with the design of ‘The Case of The Missing Records’ cd cover too. The DVDs will be going out at shows as promo items and will be double cases which will also include that CD too.

I wanted to commit this show to DVD/podcast as i’ve been doing it since about february and wanted to draw a line under it and get into some of the other video projects that i’ve been toying with recently.

This weekend i was in Dublin for a couple of shows courtesy of Eardrumbuzz… lovely promotors who seemed genuinly really excited to have me in town to do the AV show (Many thanks Tara, John and co). Caught up with my man Kormac, very exciting to hear about his debut album which is out soon… im sure it will be essential listening.

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Well apologies for being so far off the radar… (yet again) i’ve got no excuses but i do have some updates and good news to deliver.

whats been happening? well a few cool shows… Videocrash III was epic as expected, The Anomalies smashed it early on as i hoped they would… if you’ve never caught their show, do! It really is something and while they’re not the hip hop sample monsters they used to be they really do cross over into an indie style with great effect (and obviously free of sample clearance woes in order to promote their album) Hexsatic and the Nextmen got the place warmed up for me (arf) and i went on fashionably late to finish things off. On this occasion i was doing the show without james there to mix the camera feed… Koko is a massive venue, the stage is HUGE and boy I felt small that night!

Glastonbury came and went… it was pretty good. i took it much more relaxed than previous years, enjoyed lots more circus stuff and got alternativly soaked and sunburned. Highlight for me was the Qemists live with Jenna G, since getting their new album out on Ninja it has really grown on me. They opened with S.WA.G. and from there i was locked in. DJ Food followed and sadly came a cropper to a world of sound and video problems… ever the proffessional though he carried it off and kept the tent filling up untill Yoda came on with his slightly more youth aurientated video show. You got to give it to him, he carries his humour well into his show and the kids were loving it but i had to take a walk when he started to mix the Fresh Prince theme tune with inspector gadget.

I was lucky enough to have a video show this year too. At the slightly less human time of 4am monday morning but it was great fun all the same. They had me in the Silent Disco which was a great experience…. if you’ve never been to a silent disco, do! everyone gets wireless headphones and can all control volume independantly. Run by a couple of dutch guys (like all good raving ideas) this trend has been getting more and more popular at festivals to counter act the sound cerfews. Word on the grapevine is there will be one at the Bristol Festival this year in september so maybe i’ll get another go at it

Last week i forfilled a long time dream of djing with Kid Koala… not only the most inventive and musically skilled dj on earth but a seriously humble, funny and all round good guy. I’ve seen him on pretty much every tour he’s ever done in the UK but the simplicity and sheer genious of this show was something else. Hosted by soundcrash in the newly refurbished Garage in Islington… the venue was perfect, my only gripe being it was a bout a million degrees in there and they hadn’t tested the projectors and cables which meant i had to leave the videos out on this occasion.

After the trip to capital city for that show i made it back to Bristol in time for the annual St Pauls Carnival… a huge celebration of culture in the St Pauls area of Bristol. So many beautiful sound systems (and i mean really beuatiful to look at as well as hear)

Check this out…. ‘The King Earthquake’ system from Brighton

Start of a new week and i went to a secret location to catch up with my man Jagos on his radio show. I played some tunes from bristol’s history as well as a mashup mix of lots of mixes i have done over the years… it was great fun, i’d love to have a crack at radio but i dont think i come to life until midafternoon. Jagos was smart enough to record the experience so you can ‘Listen Again’ should you want to?

check it out here: http://www.jagosonpassionradio.mypodcast.com

For a final word i’ve got some new pages for you to check out: Yes, just like myspace, facebook and the rest i have been avoiding twitter. I’ve been assured its a must and a great tool for letting people know what sort of biscuits i like, what time i go to bed and what is currently the most cringe worthy video on the internet.

And i’ve hosted my mixtapes on soundcloud to assist with streaming for my website when it launches. i’ll be adding more once my 5 uploads in month rescriction has passed so keep checking back when you can.

Thanks for reading. As always i welcome gramatical corrections and spelling errors pointed out. there are always a few.

cheeba

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