Let's Mix

Congratulations on winning the amazing Pioneer DJ kit! Must make being in Saint Barths even better. Tell us about island life!

Saint Barths is a Caribbean island notorious for being a playground for the rich and famous. I had been here on vacation before and knew there were big parties with great house music so I relocated because I figured there would be opportunities to work as a DJ. Also, the fact that it’s sunny and 85 degrees every day with breathtaking beaches made the decision to pack up and move an easy one!

How is the local competition for being the island party starter?

There are a dozen or so very talented DJs who live full time on the island and only a handful of nightclubs so the competition can be stiff. But so far I’ve been pretty lucky… I ended up getting a full time residency with Nikki Beach and have played at many cool parties including one hosted by Diddy.

E L E C T R O F Y from Brooke Johnston at Letsmix.com.

You suggested that you’ll use the CDJ-350s as a mobile unit. Sounds like a great plan!

As I mentioned before I REALLY needed the new equipment. When I moved here I brought my vinyl turntables with me. Each one weighed 50 lbs with the case (nearly half my body weight) so it was a nightmare to carry them around the airport and to the ferry to get to St. Barths. And if I play at a private party for a yacht or villa I dread the thought of transporting them. So I am absolutely thrilled to be getting the cdj-350s which are so light and portable. It will make my life so much easier. Thank you Pioneer, Let’s Mix and to everyone who voted!

Promise us you’ll celebrate with a proper house party!

I definitely think a house party to celebrate is in order… but since this is St. Barths maybe we should do it on a yacht?

Yes, there are older heads/musicologists in the Pioneer DJ Network jury as well. This time around, upon hearing the Sequencers from Mexico, these senior members of the jury raised their voices when it came to the final decision! While recent winners, in their own brilliant way, have come through with the greatest in progressive house, electro and minimal, Sequencers caught us off-guard with a smashing set of disco house!

Hey guys, congratulations! What do you think you got right with your song selection and vibe?

Thank You! We really like this disco vibe a lot! It’s very rich musically; it has all the right elements to make you move in every possible way and also is versatile enough to blend with a lot of other genres perfectly. Concerning the song selection, well we really enjoy music and that is what lead us to a constant search for new sounds, melodies and rhythms, so it was this way that looking in our record collection we found all the tracks that seemed right to build this mixtape.
As in everything we do, we try to make it with some certain sequence, particularly in this mixtape we passed from point A with slowed down grooves and laidback melodies all the way to point B of pulsating beats and relentless bass, we like to use music that can suit in the mix seamlessly without getting too monotone. From the very beginning this mixtape was intended to make you dance, have fun and never lose the funk!

Late at our Basement Mixtape from Sequencers at Letsmix.com.

A lot of the music you spin has come to be associated with Northern European DJs. Has it gotten popular in Mexico as well?

That’s right… we try to follow as many labels and producers as we can, this music is often associated with Northern European DJs and producers but there are also many talented producers in South America that have amazing records! Nowadays you can find great music from all around the globe; it’s just that you have to look in all the right places!
On the other side Mexico has been developing a great scene in general, at least we can speak for our hometown Guadalajara where a lot of people have been involved for quite a while now, good promoters that in combination with great venues make exposure of many international artists as well as emerging local talents, this has helped being an eye-opener for the people who is interested in the scene.
However this particular sound isn’t really popular in here as maybe other commercial genres! In general terms we can say that this kind of music has the crowd that really needs, nothing complicated or pretentious just people who wants to go straight to the dance floor and have a good party!

What is a typical gig weekend like for you?
To be real honest we don´t have this “gig weekends”, in fact we do this simply for the love of music and fun, our “gigs” are mainly with friends, whenever we can throw a nice but pretty local party.
We’ve never been involved in anything too serious although it would be great, but right now between jobs and college we have a pretty tight schedule!
Nonetheless we do program some studio time on weekends to re-listen all the tracks we found in past days and decide what we really dig so we can buy those records, also try new things on the decks or write and produce some pending tracks as well, we make edits of tracks that we want to play, which by the way are pretty basic, just for the purpose of making them a little bit dj-friendly and ease things out.
In a few words our weekends are simply about playing a lot of music and practising any recently acquired and very ridicule dance moves!

What features will you get into on the mixer after unboxing it?
We don’t know where to start! This mixer features a lot of functions that we are really eager to try, we guess some of them are the midi mapping plus soundcard to make use of Ableton and CD players in a more integrated way, besides the frequency mix and FX will totally help to build a smoother mix and then we could get creative with the sidechain FX manipulating audio, also the live sampler sounds interesting! Maybe we could use some live vocals? Our intention is to explore all the sound capabilities it can deliver!

Right now: Another round of Pioneer DJ Network is on!

The winner of the September-October cycle of Pioneer DJ Network is the mind boggling leftfield disco antics of the Sequencers, from Mexico! So many great entries this time around, but this one showcased a selection with great personality, music which had us thinking that it could also really benefit from the DJM-2000 hands on approach to mixing and mashing.

1st place

Late at our Basement Mixtape from Sequencers at Letsmix.com.

2nd place

It’s a Dirty Basement Funk (Pioneer Basement Tracks) mixed by Dushan Von Funk from Dushan Von Funk at Letsmix.com.

3rd place

Dj Starx – Pioneer Pro DJ Mix from djstarx at Letsmix.com.

Congratulations to the Sequencers!

DJ Oleg Dee Key takes first place in Pioneer DJ Network’s summer competition – the second round of competition in Pioneer DJ Network. Before we go on to the next one, we wanted to catch up with the extremely satisfied winner, claiming the 2 x CDJ-2000 grand prize!

Tell us something about yourself. How old are you, what do you do day and nights?

- My name is Oleg Krasnyh, I’m 34 years old, from Russia. I live in Stavropol City. Well, where’s that? If you look at the map you will see that Stavropol is situated exactly on the 45th parallel, between the Black & the Caspian seas. The main part of my time I spend working for a big trade company but all my free time – of course – I spend hobby-DJ:ing.

After all the mixes were in for the second cycle of Pioneer DJ Network, the winner this time turned out to be a progressive DJ! What do you think makes progressive music attune to the competition theme – the sound of summer?

- I always have a definite idea about my own sound and what music I want to play. I will always try to find an invisible contact with listeners and give them what they want to hear. I think I actually achieved this. Progressive trance is music which, above all, is energetic sounding. It is full of feelings, unforgettable sensations and a very special positive energy. That same positive energy can only be had from sun and water. So, there’s progressive trance music’s connection to summer!

Pioneer Summer Madness – Atlantic Ocean 2010 from Oleg Dee Key at Letsmix.com.

To some it may seem exotic that Eastern Europe is engulfed in trance music – that it is such a popular genre. Tell us why you think it is that way?

- I don’t want to let you down, but Eastern Europe and Russia in particular isn’t engulfed a genre as popular as trance music. Trance music is popular only in big cities, and in more remote, off-center areas of Russia this kind of music is at an underground level. It is very difficult to for any local trance DJ or musician to make a name for themselves. Recently, trance music has started to develop a lot, taking in all the best of other kinds of electronic music. I consider those Russian DJs and musicians who have chosen progressive trance to be on the right path, but there’s still a far way to go.

You spin such luxurious sounding music – you already have a pair of CDJ-2000s right?

- Nope, I don’t yet anything as great a device as the Pioneer CDJ-2000. For recording of my mix I was on my laptop using controllers. As far as technique goes, the emphasis was on harmonious joining, and smooth undistinguished transitions between tracks. With the pair CDJ-2000s, my DJ’s skills will rise to entirely new levels.

What will this price mean to you?

- In Russia the recognition of local DJ, by western electronic music experts, is highly appreciated. This victory in the Pioneer Dj Network will give me new possibilities to DJ entirely, and to advance progressive trance music in local club culture. I hope that this will get me an opportunity to leave the underground of the scene and rush into club life of our major cities.

What is the party scene like where you live right now?

- There is enough of clubs and other platforms for performance in our city. But all of them are almost in electro and house music format, with rare exceptions they’re techno and minimal.

Make sure to check back at Pioneer DJ Network real soon to be around when the third cycle of Pioneer DJ Network competition kicks off!

Want a pair of CDJ-900:s and top-of-the-line HDJ-1000 phones for the summer? The May 25th voting deadline for the first monthly Pioneer DJ Network competition is drawing very near indeed, but if we switch to Internet time and start counting hours you still have loads of time on your hands. So if you’re close to the 50 votes needed, gear up and start making that final promotional push!

At the time of writing, 237 mixes are qualified. Starting tomorrow, these will be reviewed by representatives from Pioneer, Let’s mix and May’s special PDN guest judge, BBC Radio 1’s DJ Kutski. The final winner will be revealed soon. For the time being, let’s just say that we’re overwhelmed by the reception to the Pioneer DJ Network: Well over a thousand mixes submitted in less than four weeks. Yay!