SHG Radio Show, Episode 199

Welcome to this week's edition of Subterranean Homesick Grooves™, a weekly electronica-based radio show presented originally on CHMA FM 106.9 at Mount Allison University in Atlantic Canada (but expanded to a distribution on other terrestrial radio stations), and also distributed as a global podcast through iTunes and numerous other sites. The show is normally programmed and mixed by Jonathan Clark (as DJ Bolivia), although some weeks feature guest mixes by other Canadian DJ's. The show encompasses many sub-genres within the realm of electronic dance music, but the main focus is definitely on tech-house and techno, and a small amount of progressive, trance, & minimal. Liner notes for this episode (SHG 199) can be seen below.

Para la información en español, vaya aquí.




Here’s a link so you can listen to the show or download it from SoundCloud:



In addition to being able to download each episode from SoundCloud, you can also visit our DJ Mixes folder on Dropbox (which allows for bulk downloads).  That folder hosts hundreds of episodes and other DJ mixes.  Here's the link:

djbolivia.ca/mixes

And of course, you can download Bolivia's individual tracks from this link:

    djbolivia.ca/tracks

Here are Track Listings for episode 199:

01. Luigi Madonna, "Primo" (Original Mix).
02. Sam Paganini, "Shade" (Mattew Jay Remix).
03. Audioleptika, "I See You" (Original Mix).
04. James Delato, "UFO's Dancer" (CutBox Remix).
05. Christian Smith & Wehbba, "Someone Else" (Original Mix).
06. David Zor & Pablo DePrieto, "Great Skill" (Original Mix).
07. Tony Verdu, "Shark Women" (Original Mix).
08. Mr Costy, "We Go" (Original Mix).
09. Funky Monkey B, "Go" (Original Mix).
10. DJ Wady & Carlos Jimenez, "Machete" (Original Mix).
11. Staffy & Mark Grandel, "Advanced Age" (Original Mix).
12. Hot Since 82, "Planes & Trains" (Dosem Remix).



Here are links to either personal websites, Facebook pages, or [usually] the SoundCloud pages for a few of the original artists and remixers/producers listed above.



Luigi Madonna (Italy)
Sam Paganini (Italy)
Audioleptika (Germany)
James Delato (Brazil)
Christian Smith (Brazil)
Wehbba (Brazil)
David Zor (Spain)
Pablo DePrieto (Spain)
Tony Verdu (Spain)
Mr Costy (Spain)
Funky Monkey B (Argentina)
DJ Wady (United States)
Carlos Jimenez (Spain)
Staffy (Hungary)
Mark Grandel (Hungary)
Hot Since 82 (Britain)
Mattew Jay (Italy)
Dosem (Spain)


Subterranean Homesick Grooves is a weekly specialty EDM music show with a basic weekly audience base of about 1500 listeners per week through podcasting and direct downloads, another hundred or so listeners through SoundCloud, and an unknown number of listeners through terrestrial FM broadcast. If you're a radio station programming director, and would like to add Subterranean Homesick Grooves to your regular programming lineup, contact djbolivia@gmail.com for details. We currently release SHG as an advance download to a number of stations globally on a weekly basis (at no charge), and we welcome inquiries from additional outlets.


We also have a file containing complete track listings from all of DJ Bolivia's radio shows, studio mixes, and live sets. The PDF version can be viewed from within your browser by clicking directly. Both the PDF and the Excel versions can be downloaded by right-clicking and choosing the "save link as" option:

View as PDF file: http://www.djbolivia.ca/complete_track_history_djbolivia.pdf
Download Excel file: http://www.djbolivia.ca/complete_track_history_djbolivia.xlsx

Follow Jonathan Clark on other sites:
        SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/djbolivia
        YouTube: youtube.com/djbolivia
        Facebook: facebook.com/djbolivia
        Main Site: www.djbolivia.ca
        Music Blog: djbolivia.blogspot.ca

Using Ableton Live to create Studio DJ Mixes

I recently put together three YouTube videos to teach people the basics of using Ableton Live software for DJ'ing. There are two separate approaches to DJ'ing with Ableton. Some people are interested in using it for live performance. Others are interested in using it to put together podcasts or radio shows.

The three videos that I have online right now are related to the second approach, putting together podcasts or radio shows. If you're interested in using Ableton for live performance, I'll have a few more videos coming in another month or so, although this first set of three videos for creating mixes will still be useful.

When the "live performance" videos are available, there will be three separate videos to teach you the overall process:
- Warping your tracks, to prepare for a live show (similar to the existing warping video)
- Using Ableton as a live DJ (mixers, controllers, sound card interfaces, dj booth hookup, performance)
- Actually doing a live performance

For the current approach, making a DJ mix, we have three videos online now:
- Warping your tracks
- Putting together your DJ Mix
- Mastering and marketing your mix


Warping Your Tracks in Ableton:

This video teaches you the basics of using Ableton, ie. how the software is laid out, and how to prep for a mix by importing and "warping" your tracks. Warping a track properly and accurately can usually be done in about a minute, once you know how, but you MUST warp your tracks before you play, if you expect to be able to beat-mix. If you're planning a "radio-style" mix format, ie. just fading in and out of songs without worrying about beat-mixing, then warping isn't critical.






Putting Together Your DJ Mix:

This video explains the process of bringing each individual track into the "arrangement view" and then using cross-fades on volume and other effects parameters, through the use of drawn automation, to make a great-sounding continuous DJ Mix.





Mastering & Marketing Your DJ Mix:

Once you have a mix exported from Ableton, you're not quite done. You want your final mix to sound as good as possible for listeners. This video teaches you how to do simple edits like removing leading and trailing silence from your mix file, adjusting the overall volumes through amplification or normalizing, the basics of compression, various encoding options, and more. At the end of the video, there is a short discussion about marketing your mix, such as choosing distribution methods, adding graphics files and "ID3" tag data.





I have a second series of videos that complement this series, and which focus on actual live performances using Ableton, ie. in front of a crowd. Those videos also talk about related aspects of being a performance DJ, including the use of external sound cards, MIDI controllers, and integrating your set with a DJ mixer, as well as tips that might help when you're playing in front of a crowd. Here's a link to learn more:

djbolivia.ca/ableton

I have an additional series of shorter "Ableton Q&A" videos that I produced to answer viewer questions from the above videos. You can see a list of these videos if you go here:  djbolivia.ca/videos


If you find that these videos are useful in helping you learn about how Ableton can be useful to you as a DJ, I'd really appreciate if you could share them! Post links to the videos (or to this blog post) on your facebook walls, or on music/production message boards, or tweet the URL. Thanks for your help in sharing these tutorials.


And finally, these particular three videos used the creation of episode 100 of my weekly radio show as the example mix. If you want to listen to that mix, here is the SoundCloud link to the show:

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