Advice for Wedding DJ's (and Brides!)

I just added a comprehensive guide to the Training section of my main website, to help wedding planners and brides who need to select a DJ.  The guide will also help a developing DJ realize the critical importance of making sure things go right if you're selected to provide the music and/or be the Master of Ceremonies.

The page on my main website goes into far more detail than this blog post, so I'd suggest that you click on the link below, and visit the website right away:

djbolivia.ca/weddings

Basically, here are some of the things that I cover on that page:

The Importance of a Professional DJ:

- Time commitment required.

- Planning.

- Providing professional sound and lighting systems.

- Surveys from brides demonstrating how important the Entertainment is.

Challenges & Key Considerations:

- Equipment Required.

- Lighting.

- More than just playing music.

- How a DJ's credentials are vetted.

- Cultural sensitivity.

You've Picked Your DJ.  What's Next?

- Deposits & service contracts.

- Pre-planning & consultation.

- Documenting requirements.

Picking the Music

- Categories for specific parts of the evening.

- Hundreds of suggested tracks for various special songs.

I think this information will be really useful to anyone involved in event planning for weddings.  Trust me, it'll be worth your time to review it.  Again, here's the link:

djbolivia.ca/weddings

Thanks for visiting!

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Learning About Mobile DJ'ing

I've moved this information to my main website as of early 2024.  Here's the newest link:
    

djbolivia.ca/mobile

Any updates that I make to this training info will be updated on that link, rather than within this blog post.  I'd recommend that you check things out there, unless you find the formatting of this blog post to be preferable.

A lot of potential DJ's have asked me for advice about becoming a Mobile DJ. There are a lot of special events that require DJ's, and new DJ's recognize that this is a market that might let them get established as a DJ more quickly than by trying to get a residency in a club. Also, the wider variety of events and parties that a Mobile DJ can work at makes the job more interesting. However, Mobile DJ'ing is also probably the hardest segment of the DJ industry. Hopefully I can give you more background about the pros and cons of becoming a Mobile DJ.

 

 

Mobile DJ'ing 1 of 2: The Industry, and Business Considerations

In this video, I talk about aspects of the industry that you need to think about, such as types of events, vehicles, licensing, insurance, costs, setting prices, accounting, marketing, contracts, deposits, competition, etc. The second video will focus on the gear that I use, which you can use as a model for your own mobile rig.




Mobile DJ'ing 2 of 2: Basic Gear, and a Sample Setup

I go through an explanation of all the gear that I use in my own Mobile Rig. Not everyone will want the same gear, but I'll give you advice on where you can make changes or substitutions. I also have a full list of my own gear inventory available in Excel spreadsheet or PDF format. I'll put the links to those further down in this post.




Before I go any further, I need to point out something that I forgot to talk about in the video: smoke & fog machines!! I don't usually use them, because they can set off the fire suppression system in a venue! If a client specifically asks for one, I recommend that you have them sign a liability waiver so they take responsibility for costs incurred if the fire suppression system is set off! There could be damages to your gear, and a bill from the fire department!!!


As a Mobile DJ, you're going to be playing at a huge variety of events. Some of these potential events will include: weddings, college/university dances, junior high dances, high school dances, proms, class reunions, block parties, street parties, corporate events, business openings, conventions, banquets, fundraisers, singles dances, community hall events, pool parties, house parties, and bar mitzvahs.

Weddings are an animal all of their own. Although the process of setting up gear and playing music isn't much different than most other gigs, there is a HUGE amount of additional prep work that needs to go into a wedding. This is a very important event for your client, and it has to go smoothly. I've made a special page just to cover some of the additional considerations that you need to be aware of before accepting a request to play at a wedding:  djbolivia.ca/weddings

You'll need some form of transportation to move all your heavy speakers and other equipment around. The obvious choices are an enclosed truck or a cargo van. Buying one of those new is very expensive. Leasing is expensive. Buying a used vehicle means you have a higher risk that it will break down on the way to a show.

Licensing is something that should not be overlooked. This process will vary from country to country, but in almost everywhere you are required to register as a professional DJ and pay an annual fee to be legally allowed to perform and/or play pre-recorded music in public.

There are two types of insurance that you should consider. First, liability insurance will protect you in case one of your speakers falls over and crushes someone, or in case your equipment catches on fire and burns down a community hall.

There is lots of paperwork to think about if you're running a Mobile DJ business. You'll need to keep track of revenues and expenses for your accountant. You'll also need to ensure that potential clients sign contracts, to protect yourself. With a signed contract, you'll be able to ask for a deposit up front, and enforce cancellation fees.

As a Mobile DJ, you need to look and act respectable and professional. This means dressing appropriately, being diplomatic with guests of your clients, and staying away from alcohol and drugs before and during your events.

As a mobile DJ, you'll need to be familiar with a huge variety of music. You can't just play the types of music that you enjoy personally. You might be asked to play everything including current hits, classic rock, alternative, indie, country, hip hop, dance, EDM, and golden oldies. You'll need to own a large catalog of popular hits in all these genres, and you'll need to be familiar with all of your music.

Getting the right gear is another challenge. First of all, a professional Mobile DJ rig is fairly expensive. You will probably need to budget approximately ten to twenty thousand dollars (USD) for gear, depending on the types of mixers and CD players and speakers and lights that you choose. Although you want a comprehensive set-up that will fill the needs at 90% of the events that you are booked for, you don't want to over-spend and buy gear that is rarely used. For a big event that requires more speakers than you own, you should just rent extra gear for the weekend. My second video covers the gear that I use in detail, so you can decide what similar equipment might be available in your local market, and what will meet your needs.

Here's a link to my Gear Inventory spreadsheet:

Document Format (PDF)

Here are links to a few books that you may find useful:

The DJ Sales & Marketing Handbook

The Mobile DJ Handbook

DJ'ing For Dummies

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

STU Graffiti Party, 2012

I just played at the Holy Cross Graffiti Party at STU this past weekend in Fredericton. As always, the crowd was great and I had a lot of fun.



The set was done on CDJ players, not through Ableton. I didn't record it, but I did write down a set list below. It was a very mainstream/top40 sort of event, and I played requests for most of the night. I ended up playing about 17 or 18 requests, and unfortunately I had requests for four songs that I didn't have (well, one that was an inappropriate genre at the time, one track that I didn't have, and two tracks that I couldn't identify based on the possibly-inaccurate titles that I was given). I played some downtempo tracks (mostly classic hip hop) for the first hour, and the dance floor was pretty packed for the last two hours, when I played a lot of older top40 hits (these were mostly requests).


Here's the set list:

01. Digable Planets, "Rebirth Of Cool"
02. Black-Eyed Peas, "Imma Be"
03. Dre, "Nuthing But a G Thang"
04. Fugees, "Ready Or Not"
05. Outkast, "Ms Jackson"
06. Kanye West, "Golddigger"
07. Notorious BIG, "Juicy"
08. ODB, "Baby I Got Your Money"
09. Nelly, "EI"
10. Nelly, "Hott In Here"
11. 50 Cent, "In Da Club"
12. Jay-Z, "Big Pimpin'"
13. House Of Pain, "Jump Around"
14. Chiddy Bang, "Ray Charles"
15. Snoop, Wiz Khalifa, & Bruno Mars, "Young, Wild, & Free"
16. Gym Class Heroes, "Stereo Hearts"
17. Jay-Z & Kanye West, "Ni**as In Paris"
18. Downtown Fiction, "Thanks For Nothing"
19. Hot Chella Rae, "I Like It Like That"
20. Lady Gaga, "Just Dance"
21. Ke$ha, "Blah Blah Blah"
22. BOB, Airplanes.
23. Estelle, "American Boy"
24. Rihanna, "Please Don't Stop"
25. Usher & Pitbull, "DJ's Got Us Fallin' In Love"
26. Katy Perry, "Firework"
27. Jennifer Lopez, "Papi"
28. Flo Rida, "Good Feeling"
29. LMFAO, "Sexy & I Know It"
30. LMFAO, "I'm In Miami"
31. Maroon 5, "Moves Like Jagger"
32. Alexandra Stan, "Mr Saxobeat"
33. Milk & Sugar, "Hey Nah Nah Nah"
34. David Guetta, "Who's That Chick"
35. Ke$ha, "Take It Off"
36. Yolanda, "We No Speak Americano"
37. Sak Noel, "Loca People"
38. Ke$ha, "We R Who We R"
39. Katy Perry, "The One That Got Away"
40. Rihanna, "Only Girl In The World"
41. Rihanna, "Rockstar 101"
42. Swedish House Mafia, "Save The World"
43. Avicii, "Levels"
44. Wolfgang Gartner, "Illmerica"
45. Tiesto & Diplo, "Maximal Crazy"
46. Benny Benassi, "Cinema"

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Felguk Video from Halifax

Felguk is the stage name of the Brazilian DJ's and music producer duo Felipe Lozinsky and Gustavo Rozenthal. Felguk were brought into the Paragon on March 5th, 2010, by a friend of mine, the late Galen MacDonald (GTM Group). Thanks to Felguk, the Paragon, and GTM for their assistance in getting footage to create this video:


YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdGlP8ftAp0



Audio backing tracks used in this video include:

0:00 Felguk, "Buzz Me" (Rework 2011 Master).
2:03 Felguk, "Galaxy Traveller" (Original Mix).
4:32 Felguk, "Side By Side" (Felguk Intro Mix).

Click here for a discography of the group.


Unfortunately, the footage that was taken that night was almost lost due to a major malfunction in the camera used. Galen and I talked about it last summer, when I was working out west and initially tried to start editing. He was disappointed that the footage had been lost and it wouldn't be possible to complete the video. However, I rediscovered the tapes again last week and by using some older cameras in the my studio, I eventually managed to recover a small amount which was used to put this video together. If you look closely at the final video, you can still see a few skips and artifacts that I regrettably had to include, since there was so little good footage that I could recover. However, I think that if Galen was still around, he'd be very happy to know that something came together eventually.

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

STU Graffiti Party 2011

I played at the Graffiti party at St. Thomas University in Atlantic Canada several hours ago, and it was quite the event. I really wish that I had recorded the last couple hours of my set to post online. It really came together - some of the tightest two hours of DJ'ing that I've done in a while. Technically, almost flawless. I was pretty hyper while I was playing. In fact, I'm still bouncing around and probably won't get to sleep until lunch.

Here are track listings from the show, for those who are curious. As you can see, it was a mainstream/top40 party. I did half a dozen older hip hop tracks to get started, but moved into more upbeat tracks pretty quickly.

01. Jazzy Jeff - Parents Just Don't Understand.
02. Skee Lo - I Wish.
03. Dre & Eminem - Forget About Dre.
04. Wiz - Black & Yellow.
05. Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood.
06. BOB - Airplanes.
07. Lady Gaga - Just Dance.
08. Estelle - American Boy.
09. Ke$ha - Blah Blah Blah.
10. Usher & Pitbull - DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love.
11. Haddaway - What Is Love.
12. Katy Perry - Firework.
13. Lady Gaga - Poker Face.
14. Livvi Frank & Pitbull - Now I'm That Chick.
15. Beyonce - If I Were A Boy (Karmatronic Mix).
16. Benny Benassi - Satisfaction (Afrojack Remix).
17. Global Deejays - One Night In Bangkok (Club Mix).
18. Pussycat Dolls - When I Grow Up (Wideboys Club Mix).
19. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy (Richard Humpty Vission Mix).
20. Rihanna - Please Don't Stop The Music.
21. Rihanna - S&M (Joe Bermudez & Chico Extended Mix).
22. Katy Perry - ET (Dave Aude Club Mix).
23. Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart (Wideboys Club Mix).
24. Far East Movement - Like A G6 (Disco Fries Remix).
25. Martin Solveig & Dragonette - Hello (Club Edit).
26. Zoe Badwi - Freefallin' (Moto Blanco Club Mix).
27. ATB - Could You Believe (Original).
28. David Guetta - Who's That Chick (Martin Souza Extended Edit).
29. Rihanna - Only Girl In The World (Liam Keegan Remix).
30. Tim Berg - Seek Bromance (Samnuele Sartini Extended Mix).
31. Avicii & Sebastien Drums - My Feelings For You (Original Mix).
32. Flo Rida - Club Can't Handle Me.
33. Lady Gaga - Born This Way (Sandy Rezek vs Liam Keegan Remix).
34. Robyn - Indestructible (Laidback Luke Club Mix).
35. Ke$ha - We R Who We R (James Rendon Club Mix).
36. Swedish House Mafia - Miami 2 Ibiza.
37. Freemasons & Wynter Gordon - Believer (Club Mix).
38. Taio Cruz - Higher (Radio Edit).
39. Taio Cruz - Dynamite (Mixin Marc Club Remix).
40. Tiesto vs Diplo - C'Mon (Original Version).
41. Wolfgang Gartner - Illmerica (Extended Mix).
42. Tomcraft - Loneliness (Benny Benassi Remix).
43. Black Eyed Peas - The Time, The Dirty Bit.
44. Lady Gaga - Telephone (DJ Dan Extended Vocal Remix).
45. Pink - Raise Your Glass (Jump Smokers Extension).
46. Duck Sauce vs Deadmau5 - Barbara Needs A Ladder (Sonny D Mashup).


That last track was such a good track to end the night on. It's not an official release - just something that one of my good friends put together the other day. You can listen to it here:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7c8ZXgRBj0




Like I said, I wish that I had recorded the last two hours. However, I was planning to put out another top40 workout mix next week anyway, so I guess maybe I'll just do that sometime later this week. I can probably use a lot of songs that I played tonight on the next workout mix.

To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:

djbolivia.ca/dropbox 

Then go into the folder called "Bolivia's DJ Mixes & Live Shows"

Thanks for your support!

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Thallowe'en 2010

I played at the big Thallowe'en party at Mount Allison University on Saturday night. It's a mainstream/top40 sort of event. I put this post up for anyone who wants to see a set list, or download a copy of the recording from the party.




Here are track listings from the show:

01. A Tribe Called Quest, "Buggin' Out."
02. Dream Warriors vs Pierre J, "My Definition" (Pierre J Remix).
03. Primitive Radio Gods, "Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth."
04. Outkast, "Ms. Jackson."
05. Skee-Lo, "I Wish."
06. Notorious BIG, "Hypnotize."
07. A-Trak, "Ray Ban Vision."
08. Classified, "Oh Canada."
09. Nelly, "Tippin' In Da Club."
10. Diddy & Dirty Money, "Hello, Good Morning."
11. Felli Fel, "Get Buck In Here."
12. Jay Z, "Empire State Of Mind."
13. Kanye West, "Power."
14. TI & Rihanna, "Live Your Life."
15. Kanye West, "Stronger."
16. Miley Cyrus, "Party In The USA."
17. Hot Rod feat Tila Tequila, "I Like To Fuck."
18. Lady Gaga, "Just Dance."
19. Livii Frank & Pitbull, "Now I'm That Chick."
20. Rihanna, "Only Girl In The World."
21. LMFAO, "Shots."
22. Far East Movement, "Like A G6" (Disco Fries Remix).
23. Flo Rida, "Low."
24. Stromae, "Alors On Danse" (DJ's From Mars Club Remix).
25. Afrojack & David Guetta, "Louder Than Words" (Original Mix).
26. Taio Cruz, "Dynamite" (Mixin' Marc Club Mix).
27. Remady & Manu-L, "Give Me A Sign" (Levantina Club Mix).
28. Flo Rida, "Club Can't Handle Me" (David Guetta's Mix).
29. Dresden & Johnston, "Keep Faith" (Original Club Mix).
30. David Dejay & Ela Rose, "I Can Feel" (Lo Que Remix).
31. Afrojack, "Take Over Control" (Original Mix).
32. Wynter Gordon, "Dirty Talk" (Radio Edit).
33. Antoine Clamaran, "Gold" (Thomas Gold Remix).
34. Britney Spears, "3" (Groove Police Club Mix).
35. Avicii & Sebastien Drums, "My Feelings For You" (Original).
36. Katy Perry, "Teenage Dream" (Liam Keegan Remix).
37. Ke$ha, "Take It Off" (Jake Walmsley 2010 Electro Remix).
38. Hypercrush, "Keep Up" (Tony Arzadon Remix).
39. Rihanna, "Rockstar 101" (Dave Aude Club Mix).
40. LMFAO, "I Am Not A Whore."
41. LMFAO, "I'm In Miami."
42. Usher & Pitbull, "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love."
43. Kaci Battaglia & Ludacris, "Body Shots" (Dave Aude Club Mix).
44. Yolanda Be Cool, "We No Speak Americano" (Jarleen Bootleg).
45. Duck Sauce, "Barbara Streisand" (O God Remix).
46. K'Naan, "Take A Minute."

Like I said, it was a mostly mainstream/top40 show. I started with an hour of 90's hip hop mixed with modern hip hop, and then went into more upbeat tracks for the last couple hours. I think that the only thing I really regret is throwing the Usher/Pitbull track in near the end. I had to speed it up quite a bit to make it beat-mix, so it sounds out of place to me. There were a few minor slips in the beat mixing and key mixing, but overall, considering the chaos, the mix is pretty good. This was mixed live on CDJ's, not on a laptop. I ended up "mastering" the mix heavily with the Waves L3 Ultramaximizer plug-in, which I am not fond of doing, but it makes the end mix sound more like it did in person. That's kind of important, since a lot of people won't be listening to this on a loud system like we had at the party.

To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:

djbolivia.ca/dropbox 

Then go into the folder called "Bolivia's DJ Mixes & Live Shows"

Thanks for your support!

And finally, here are a few photos from the party. Click on any of them to see them in higher resolution:

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Mix: Bolivia, "Live at Ninja Party 2010"

I'm really starting to feel like I'm getting caught up on the backlog of old projects in the past week or so. I now have the mastered version online of the set that I played at the Ninja Party in July. The levels were a bit up and down during this set, so I ended up compressing it quite a bit - unfortunately, the compression degraded the sound quality a bit (but it's still pretty good).

The Ninja Party is the most prestigious party of the annual DefCon hackers' convention, held in Las Vegas every summer. This was the eighteenth year for DefCon (and the third that I've played at it). Estimates for the number of people overall at DefCon vary, but reports are usually between about ten and twenty thousand attendees. The Ninja Party, however, has strict limits on attendance. Only one thousand "badges" are given out, and the badge acts as an official party invite. Each badge is also allowed a +1, so in theory, two thousand people should attend the party. tProphet (one of my good friends, who set up the sound system and show) and I didn't use our +1's, but probably every other one of the 998 badges did, so attendance was probably just shy of two thousand people.

The party was held at a boutique hotel just off-Strip, and since it hadn't yet opened to the public, the Ninja Party was sort of its christening. I played in a large open courtyard, with swimming pools. The shuttles that were taking people from the Riviera to the venue were mobile parties in themselves. When I climbed aboard, someone was dispensing vodka from a large pesticide spray container directly into peoples' mouths. The party itself was open bar, and playing in the warm weather under the skyline of the Strip was pretty surreal.

Here's a photo of my "badge." The badges were pretty high-tech (after all, it IS a hacker's convention), and change from year to year. This year's badge featured a sort of D&D type multi-user game, with the badges communicating with other nearby badges via wireless. Characters could fight each other, or solve challenges or go to certain locations to fulfill a set of ten goals. I saw one of the badges listed on eBay (lame) before the party for $2,000.





Here are track listings from the set:

01. Matteo DiMarr feat Dashka - Blower (Original Mix).
02. Laidback Luke feat Jonathan Mendelsohn - Till Tonight (Bolivia's Edit).
03. Philip Whirlpool - Time Has Come (Bolivia's Edit).
04. EDX - Thrive (Bolivia's Edit).
05. Victor Del Guio - Americano (Bolivia's Edit).
06. Bolivia - Highway 22 (Ninja Party Instrumental).
07. Peter Punck - The Mix (Bolivia's Edit).
08. Maurizio Gubellini feat Mia Crispin - Getting Personal (Bolivia's Edit).
09. Adam Beyer - Filthy Lobster (Bolivia's Edit).
10. Nick Muir & John Digweed - Tangent (Bolivia's Edit).
11. Stefano Noferini - Ghuroom (Bolivia's Edit).
12. Quivver - Boom Boom (Original Mix).
13. Phunk Investigation - Dark Floor (Bolivia's Edit).
14. Harry Choo Choo Romero - Phuture (Bolivia's Edit).
15. Saints & Sinners - Pushin Too Hard (Bolivia's Edit).
16. ALCA - Calling Africa (Bolivia's Edit).
17. Kid Culture & El Mundo Satori - Around You (Bolivia's Edit).
18. Mark Knight & Wolfgang Gartner - Conscindo (Bolivia's Edit).
19. Crazibiza - Spinning Around (Bolivia's Edit).
20. DJ Chus & Gonzalez Gonzalo - One Night In Havana (Bolivia's Edit).
21. DJ Josh Blackwell & Miss Babayaga feat Rachel - Professional Widow (Bolivia's Edit).
22. Peter Brown - I'll House U (Bolivia's Edit).
23. Spencer & Hill - Housebeat (Bolivia's Edit).

To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:

djbolivia.ca/dropbox 

Then go into the folder called "Bolivia's DJ Mixes & Live Shows"

Thanks for your support!

Overall, I was really happy with the set, and the venue and event was incredible. The first half hour was pretty good, but after that, I felt like everything was flowing better than any other show I've ever played. Here's a couple of photos that Pinguino took at the event. You should be able to click on either photo to go to the full photo gallery, or click on the direct URL link below:






Penguino's DefCon 18 Photo Gallery:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinguino/4865105991/in/set-72157624667002016/lightbox/

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Las Vegas Mix from July 30th

I've got a mastered copy of the set that I played on July 30th, 2010, at the Defcon 18 Hackers' Convention.

A bit of background about the set:
- I was pretty reluctant to post this at first, because I didn't think it was that great. But after listening to it this week, I realized that it didn't turn out that badly.
- The first half hour has some rough mixes - the show was the first time that I had touched a pair of CD players in four months, so I felt a bit rusty. After realizing that I was a bit wobbly, I played extremely conservatively for the rest of the night, and just focused on making sure that the timing was good.
- I was playing on a mixer that I wasn't entirely familiar with, so there are no effects or filters in the set.
- Yeah, I screwed up a bit just before the 18:00 mark. I started to bring a track in, and faded it out quickly.
- The track of my own that I played during the set (Highway 22) was not mastered properly (I was working off a laptop and headphones all summer), so it sounded pretty lacklustre compared to the other tracks from Beatport and from other producers. I mixed out of it well before the end of the track for this reason. I won't apologize though, since my mastering of the full set this week masked some of that weakness.
- The end of the set was slightly distorted, I don't remember why I cranked the levels too high on that very last song. Not major, but noticeable to the trained ear.
- The mastering sort of tamed all the levels down for the version that you're downloading, but if you're a producer and looking at the audio file closely, you'll see where tProphet's announcements at the start were pretty peaked, so I ended up hard limiting them even after massive compression on the rest of the set.

The crowd was pretty much perfect for my first set in four months. About maybe 250-300 people by the time I finished playing, but it was more of a socializing crowd than a dancing crowd, since the event was a mixer party first and foremost. However, I was surprised to get quite a few people on the dance floor by the end of it.


  

I've played some of these tracks on my radio show in the past couple of weeks, and if you listen to both, you'll notice the ones on the show are different than the ones in this set. On the show, I don't edit any of the tracks, and leave all the breakdowns alone. For the live sets, I chop out almost all of the breakdowns and do a bit of other editing before I burn the tracks to CD, to keep the dance floor sweating. However, based on my positive experiences with making my radio show in Ableton lately, these could have be the very last two major live house/trance/techno shows that I ever perform using CD's. By the way, if you want to know which remixes I used as the basis for these edited tracks, you should be able to figure out most of it from the track listings of my Subterranean Homesick Grooves episodes from the past three weeks. If not, email me and I'll let you know which mixes I started with.

I played again the following night at the Ninja Party, off-strip. The Ninja set was amazing, in my own opinion, and one of the best shows that I've played. I'll be posting the mastered version of the Ninja Party set here in a few days. I have a radio show to make first though, for Friday night, and a show on Saturday night, so I probably won't have time to get the Ninja set online until Sunday. So think of this set as a warmup to the Ninja set.

To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:

djbolivia.ca/dropbox 

Then go into the folder called "Bolivia's DJ Mixes & Live Shows"

Thanks for your support!

And finally, here are track listings from the set:

01. Human Beans, Manambros, & Vidaloca - House Of The Rising Sound (Original Mix).
02. Edo van Asseldonk - Fly To The Moon (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
03. John Acquaviva & Ramon Zenker - Dot Bomb (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
04. Marco Bros - I Hook U Up (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
05. Helvetic Nerds - Mistaken Identity (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
06. Patrick Hagenaar - Work It Till Ya Pass Out (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
07. Basti M & Brockman - Sweet Sexy Housemusic (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
08. Marc DePulse - El Lobo Loco (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
09. Erick Morillo & Eddie Thoneick feat Shena - Nothing Better (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
10. Promonova - The Rhythm (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
11. DJ Ortzy - Infected (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
12. Horny United - Lady Of Ice (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
13. DJ Groover & Jelena Milosev - At Night (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
14. Stereofunk - Happy Piano (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
15. Bolivia - Highway 22 (Vegas Instrumental Dub).
16. Oliver Garcia feat Dilek Taskin - House Wa (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
17. Slava Flash & Alena Lvova feat Alena Lvova - Her Jogging (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
18. Technotronic, Dimitri Vegas, & Like Mike - Pump Up The Jam (Bolivia's Re-Edit).
19. Tune Brothers & Anthony Locks - I Like It 2010 (Bolivia's Re-Edit).

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca