I’ve made another mix, and this one is legit quick—there are no sneaky speed adjustments like on Digitigrade. Did you know it started at 106 BPM and gained 28 more throughout the mix? The idea was to start from a mellow, disco‐like vibe and move to a more, uh, pie‐eyed pace by the end. I detoured instead and included a couple of nods to one of my favourite mixes of all time, Sasha’s Involver. Then I stuck a mashup mix I’d done at the beginning, and the ending was something that caught my ear at the last minute and had to be included as well. Though it started off and ended up roughly where I planned, Digitigrade still felt like it was all over the place—but I learned a lot by making it. I’m generally pleased with the way it came out, all things considered.
But this time around, I’m genuinely pleased with the result—mostly because it was unplanned. A couple weeks ago I was messing around with the DJ software I’d used for the last mix along with whatever I could find on my computer to practice with. Things evolved from there, and I ended up with just about 45 minutes of me essentially goofing around. My mindset was one of but will it blend? I tidied up after.
It reminded me, oddly, of learning to ride a bicycle. I had been instructed on how to ride one a few times, but to no avail—I remember always almost falling over. I don’t believe there was anything fundamentally incorrect about the way I was being taught—I just wasn’t getting it. It wasn’t until one day, when I had no one showing me, that I figured out how to ride a bicycle without falling over—eventually. I fell over a lot that afternoon as well. I bounced my chest off the handlebars a few times, once so badly I experienced the sensation of not being able to breathe properly. I’d never felt that before, so I actually ended up learning two things by the end of the day.
Similarly, I had been instructed on how to mix music together a few times, but it never really landed until now, when I’ve had the opportunity to quietly figure it out at my own pace.
And if this all sounds like too many words and not enough music, consider this the release party for the album, and I’m just another MC who won’t get off the mic. If I’m pretending to have an audience for these mixes, then I’m pretending to have launch events for them as well. It’s just more practice.
That said, I might take a little break from mixing. While it was really excellent to have something I could eagerly work on for hours at a time, day after day, there are some other creative projects I would like to spend as much time on and with as much singular dedication. Kerouac wrote the first draft of On the Road in three weeks. I don’t know what I’d be capable of writing in three weeks, but there’s only one way to find out—handlebars to the chest be damned.
Here’s mix number three in the meantime.
Track List
- Fasten Your Seatbelt — Pendulum ft. The Freestylers
- Intruder — Armin van Buuren ft. M.I.K.E
- Ghosts’n’Stuff (Original Instrumental) — Deadmau5
- Umbrella Beach – Owl City
- Love You More – Armin van Buuren ft. Racoon
- Wall of Sound (Parc Mix) – Airbase ft. Justine Suissa
- Superfabulous (RS Edition) – BT
- Purple Haze – Mesh
- Children – Robert Miles
- Tears After the Rainbow (2020) – Planet Funk