[xs2man]

Please listen to my latest mix. Its for a competition, and the more plays it gets, the better. Feel free to like, comment, and share this mix to as many people as you can... And even if you dont like the style of music, you could still hit play and turn the sound off

http://www.mixcloud.com/xs2man/snowboxx-dj-competition/

30 Minute Tech-House inspired mix for your listening pleasure.

This is a set made for a DJ competition where the prize is a DJ slot at the Snowboxx Festival in Arinsal - Andorra. So this mix reflects more of a warm up set rather than a peak time banger.

Mixed on a pair of 1210's. running Traktor Timecoded vinyl, playing mp3's from Traktor Scratch Pro 2.6 on an Allen & Heath DB4 mixer.

Please listen, like and comment below, and share to as many friends as possible. One of the deciding criteria is the number of plays, so the more you listen, or your friends, the better the chance of me winning.

And look out for my New Years mix next week.

Cheers.

Track-listing

Follow The Step - Kink Beat Mix By Rachel Row
The Healing - Hot Chip Remix By James Zabiela
Desenjumi By Phonogenic
Iridescent By Wiretappeur
Zoulou By Julian Jeweill
Always Bet On Black By D.A.T Soundsystem
Cafe Del Mariachi - Nick Warren Remix By Shiloh

[xs2man]

Don't usually bump my mix threads without a new mix being put up, but as this is for a comp, and the more listens the better, this one will need a wee

[E92Dan]

Nice bumps!

[rogerxp]

Christ, though that post was by 'E92fan' - thought it must be Christmas but them realised Id misread it . Wonder how many people are thinking who the hell 'E92fan' is

[xs2man]

Just thought I'd pop it up on here since there are a few DJ types out there.

No cable management. Having too much fun I'm afraid. However, a wee addition to the set-up...



Why sir, that looks suspiciously like an extra set of 1210's...

[AWBimmer]

Nice Set up bud! I'm looking for a pair of 1210's soon-ish and wonder what one should look out for on a used pair? All the best for the comp.. I've listened and a nice mix!

[xs2man]

Cheers. Needing as many plays and favourites as I can get, lol. I dont expect to win (don't play cheesy enough). Would be nice to get to the last 5 shortlisted though.

What to look for in a used pair? 1210's (and 1200's) are fairly bullet proof, and parts are pretty easy to come by. With the new set, all I checked was that the platters were spinning, and checked the pitch calibration really. To do this, you set the decks spinning, and set the pitch to zero. There are a series of dots on the platter (from top to bottom - 2 small, one big then one small).

The big dot should look as if its not moving at 0 pitch adjustment.
Then move the pitch slider slowly to see how smooth the movement is. If its smooth, then your mostly good. Look for a second zero point in the range (where the big spot stops moving). If there is a second zero point, this can be fixed with a bit of time, and a multimeter.
Then check the other dots movements. From top to bottom, top small - +6%, middle small - +3%, bottom small - -3%. This is when they stop moving. But this doesn't matter so much, as this is also easily adjusted. My original set are actually calibrated fast, so I can mix through a larger BPM range, but then this does affect the ability to narrow in on specific BPM's, for beatmatching.

Youtube is full of video's on 1210's. Viperfrank is awesome with his vids...

[xs2man]

In fact, here is a wee guide stolen off another forum...

Originally Posted by Xonetacular

I made this post recently and people keep PMing me with questions so I figured I would make a new thread- most of this applies to buying tables in person on craigslist or other local boards. If buying online you want to be more scrutinizing and will probably pay a bit more.

It's hard to really go wrong with technics (if you are at all handy) unless they are really beat- i've bought, refurbished, and sold technics on craigslist quite a bit and going through around 50+ technics total I only encountered one I had to use for parts that had a bent tone arm not worth fixing and the chassis was bent like it was dropped off a stage. Pretty much anything minor can be fixed at reasonable expensive if you do it yourself- servicing can range from $75-$200 on average.

The biggest thing to look at is overall appearance to get a sense of age and how it was used. This will also determine price and if you want pristine tables expect to pay more. Power it on, hit play and adjust the pitch paying attention to the strobe when the dots on the platter stay still looking at the led strobe which correspond to pitch increments. make sure the dots stay steady.

Put it on 33 and 45 rpm and slowly move the pitch fader through its range, if the pitch is dirty or worn out you will see the dots on the platter stutter in the led strobe showing the platter speed is inconsistent. you don't want this unless you are good at DIY stuff since this is easy to fix if you take apart and clean the pitch fader, or just buy a new pitch fader for like $30.

Look at the numbers by the strobe and put it on 3.3%, 6%, and -3.3% and see if the corresponding dot is steady at that number. I usually skip this and just look for stutter since calibration is easy.

Make sure the tone arm is straight, if you can, see how a cartridge fits on the arm and if any of the contacts on the tone arm look pushed in or shot/corroded. play a vinyl record if possible and see if you get an output in both channels. if they have a mixer that shows left and right output levels make sure one isn't significantly lower than the other (and if it is be mindful that could be a styli problem too). look at the rcas and the ground wire, check to see if the ground wire is close to original length and not chewed up or cut down. check to make sure all wire insulation is in good shape and check what the rca connectors look like and if they have a tight fit.

If it is appropriate remove the platter and look for any signs of anything being spilled (usually won't cause permanent damage but i have cleaned some thick nasty goop out of tables). To remove the platter just take the slip mat off and put you thumb on the spindle and middle fingers through the holes and pull up.

Check the pop up light and see if it is out. I replace them with LEDs anyway so it doesn't really matter. Check the 33/45 buttons and make sure they don't stick. make sure all the leds stay steadily lit and don't dim or flicker at all indicating a power problem (usually means the drive IC needs to be replaced). Make sure the tone arm clip isn't broken off and if it is you can get a new one for a few bucks but make him knock down his price a bit.

If it plays stereo fine and the pitch is good then it's a solid table. The going rate for a used looking pair of 1200s with no mods seems to be $600-$800 a pair. You may get lucky and snag a pair for less and I have been known to. This may vary depending on area and for nicer tables you may expect to pay more. Fully customized completely refurbished pairs of pristine MK2s go for $1000-$1500, and if you're buying a pair of 1200s for life then it may be worth it to do it right.

If I were looking for myself I would look for M3Ds or MK5s. M3Ds are usually the best deal and are improved over the MK2s with the reset button. The importance of this is personal and will bring the price up a bit, many people are perfectly fine with MK2s and you will usually find MKIIs out in most venues and it is uncommon to find anything else.

M3Ds might as well be the same thing as MK5s the only difference you will notice is they have an incandescent pitch light where the MK5 has a white LED. This is an easy mod and you can throw all color LEDs on for $20-$40 and you pretty much have nicer tables than MK5s for much less. MK5s also have higher anti skate but you probably shouldn't care about that.

A big thing I would look out for is if they have aftermarket RCA cables. Turn the table over and see if the original plastic rca clamp bracket is on there. This secured the cable in place and prevents pulling on the RCA from putting any pressure on the small board it is connected to. Sometimes people replace the RCAs with thicker ones then they can't fit the RCA clamp on so the wires just kind of hang out through a metal hole in the bottom and this can put a lot of stress on the board if they pulled the RCAs and cause damage.

Here is a table I got on craigslist with a bad RCA cable mod and they ditched the clamping plate- not good.



which means all that's holding the RCAs to the board is a zip tie and if it got yanked it could rip the whole little board out.

View post on imgur.com

You want to see the RCAs secured with this plastic clamp:



I'm not sure if I would want tables that someone else internally grounded. If they did a bad job it could cause issues with timecode calibration. If it did become a problem you could always fix it yourself or put a ground wire back on but you have to trust the person who did it is competent.


I'll try to update this in the next few days and maybe add some videos and more pictures of what to look for. Anyone have any questions or anything they want to see?

[Danny.B.]

very good mate, enjoyed that

going through your others now

[335d Rocco]

Looks a great set up you've got there, are you staying loyal to vinyl or have you got some CDJ's stashed away as well.

I've given up and sold my decks a few years back, my mrs tortured me into selling them, kept some vinyl and have nothing to play it on now, I'm now getting pressured into selling my old vinyl, would you be interested??

It's old hardcore, 1993 onwards

[xs2man]

Cheers Danny B.

Uk 330d, I did have some CDJ's, a pair of Pioneers 350's. They were okay, but a bit basic considering the cost of them. Sold them and my DJM 800 mixer to buy the Allen & Heath DB4, and now I run Traktor Scratch Pro using the 1210's to control mp3's. Now I have another pair of 1210's though, it makes it a little easier to mix proper vinyl in there too.

I am just waiting to see if Pioneer will release CDJ 900 nexus players, and see what the spec of them are before considering purchasing them. That said, I am quite happy with the 12's controlling TSP, so might choose not to spend that couple k on something I can already do.

[xs2man]

Oh yeah. And as for the records, well they aint really my thing. And as your in Yorkshire, and I'm up in Scotland, the cost of shipping the records would likely be more than I'd want to pay, lol. No offence intended though. I used to be into hardcore (more gabba to be fair, I have never really liked cheese), but also liked a lot of Diss Reaction, Ultrasonic, Dye Witness etc....

[335d Rocco]

no offence taken, happy new year all the best

[xs2man]

Got a couple more mixes to fire up. Been a busy year so far...

http://www.mixcloud.com/xs2man/xs2ma...11-03-01-2013/

http://www.mixcloud.com/xs2man/xs2ma...12-05-01-2013/

Feedback appreciated.

[texasjohn]

Are these mixes downloadable or do you have to listen to them from the interwebnet?

I only get chance to listen to music in the car alas.

[xs2man]

You can download them using this site: http://offliberty.com/

Just copy and paste the address into the box, and hit off. The box will then change and tell you to right click and save as. Then it will download you an mp3.

[texasjohn]

Thanks!

[AWBimmer]

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=788957

offtopic sorry OP but this seemed a fairly relevant thread which. Adv over in the classifieds.

Any Q's give me a shout.

Good Luck with your 'hits' rate OP

[dobbo99]

i wish i never sold my gear years ago, early 20's and sold it all to go to Oz for a few months. still got 4 or 5 boxes of vinyl and CD's at my mums place in the roof of the garage, its probably all ruined now.

having said that, Ive never got the time to clean the car, so to sit and dedicate to the new music coming through would be impossible.

Xman, I downloaded the mixes, will have a listen whilst in the gym over the next week or two.

[xs2man]

Cool. Let me know any feedback you might have...

Latest one here:

DB4 V2 Techno mix

Allen & Heath DB4 running 4 1210 mk2's, running Traktor timecode vinyl with TSP 2.6 with a Reloop Contour controller for transport functions.

Here we have a 1 hour Techno mix.

Well, last weeks mix was earmarked for a DJ Battle comp on a DJ forum (here), so it will be uploaded here (mixcloud) after voting ends, so its been 2 weeks since my last cast.

#013. Unlucky for some. Well, for me at least with this one. This is the second attempt at recording this mix. The first attempt was terrible. The levels were all wrong, and the whole mix was clipping from start to finish.

Anyway, this time round, its ALL techno. Acid, minimal and straight up techno for an hour. Mostly pretty new tunes. I did actually really enjoy this mix both times, so I hope it was worth it and you enjoy it too.

As always, enjoy, share and comment. All feedback welcome.

Cheers


Tracklisting:

Ares (Alex Di Stefano Remix) By Sergio Trillini
My Black Line (Alex Di Stefano Remix) By Nhb Vs Sisko Elektrofanatik
Budapest (Original Mix) By Loco & Jam
Antidote (Original Mix) By Mark Reeve
Acid Feeling (Original Mix) By Snello
Dark Soul By Delphi
The Box (Alex Di Stefano Remix) By Drumcomplex & Roel Salemink
Pendular (Dave The Drummer) By Kardinal & Lowkey
Dynamik (Original Mix) By Skober
Albatross (Original Mix) By Sasha Carassi & Mikael Jonasson
Gate 56 (Original Mix) By Matt Minimal
System Overload (Original Mix) By Hollen, Gonzalez, Gonzalo (Spain)
Skeksis (Original Mix) By Alan Fitzpatrick
Chemtrails (Original Mix) By Sutter Cane

[xs2man]

Well, what can I say about this one? Its a little shorter than usual, but it was actually meant for something else. But decided I liked it so much that I was making it this weeks cloudcast.

Here we have a nice Deep House sort of affair. Well, at least what I have in my collection that sound kinda Deep House to me at least.

Only 45 mins long, so a quicker listen than most. But I very much enjoyed making it.

As ever, comment, share, enjoy...


http://www.mixcloud.com/xs2man/xs2ma...14-26-01-2013/


Track-Listing:

Driving Me Away By Liam Geddes
Slow By Sebo, Madmotormiquel & Nayan Soukie
Monocrhome By Ceo Basso
Vanish - Flatlines Mohican Vocal Mix By Capoeira Twins
Luv In The Club Feat. Hype Hunnets (Instrumental) By Dj Romain
Serious - Max Chapman Remix By Alex Arnout
Everyday By Simian Mobile Disco
I'Ll Wait For You By Maher Daniel & Nikko Gibler
Desenjumi By Phonogenic
Iridescent By Wiretappeur

[DanTheManc]

Nice set up. I very reluctantly sold all my gear about 3-4 years ago due to tve birth of our first child. I'd love to get back into it but I just dont have the time or space anymore.

I've had loads of equipment over the years