NoiSMkR’s DJ Blog

Today marks the end of Movember and alas also means the end of my mustache. It’s been a hilarious process growing it and believe it or not, I think I might miss it a little, but not enough to make me consider keeping it

So here is the final product:

Don’t mess with the Mo.

Deep thinking Mo

Thursday night was also the Gala marking the end of Movember. I was asked to DJ the event and I had a blast the whole night. I was super nervous going into it, but I think I pulled it off in the end. Thanks to all those who came out to support me, I really appreciate it.You can check out the photo gallery here. Unfortunately I only made the cut on one of em, but I have a few more that I’ll post later.

So thanks to all of the wonderful people that donated, my final total raised for prostate cancer research (yes, there is actually a good cause behind all of this) is: $335

If you just hadn’t gotten around to donating and you ment to, of course you still can. Click here and follow the ‘donate to me’ link. Thanks very much for your support!

The ’stach’ is coming along nicely I think. It’s also had a few nights out now and has gotten a lot of laughs. For those of you that have donated, thanks so much! I’m up to $135 and going strong!

I’ve been told not to pose like a dweeb with a mustache when taking these photos, but unfortunately…I AM A DWEEB WITH A MUSTACHE! What do you want me to do?

If you were still hoping to donate you can do so by clicking here and following the ‘donate to me link’.

It has also been confirmed that I am going to be DJing the Movember Gala in Toronto on November 27th. It’s a retro party held at the Pheonix and it should be pretty funny to see all the mustaches out in full force. I’m super excited as it’s going to be the biggest venue I’ve played at so far. I’m going to be working hard on my retro mixes until then. I haven’t confirmed any guestlist information yet, but when I do I will post it on here. If you’re interested, let me know.

It’s been one week since I started growing my mustache for ‘Movember’. So far so good although I’m am definitely in the discusting “Are you really growing a mustache?” stage. I’ve decided to go for a Mo that just folds over at the sides of my mouth. I didn’t think that the full Fu Manchu would be appreciated at work, so I’m going to keep it classy.

Here’s a few pics so far:

For those of you that have already donated, thank you so much!

If you’re looking to donate, you just click here to get to my ‘mospace’ and you can donate using credit card, paypal, or cheque.

We had a halloween party at our apartment again this year and I thought I’d throw up a few pictures of me Djing that night. I think my set up was pretty cool. I just opened up one of the pocket doors in my room and turned it into a bit of a dj booth.

Check em out:

Gettin’ set up.

Keeping the Japanese tourists entertained.

About to be murdered by a really creepy clown.

My costume was a Spartan from the movie 300. I got it in Trinidad at Carnival in February and thought I’d whip it out again.

I have decided to take part in the charity event called ‘Movember’ . This is a charity that works to create awareness around men’s health issues and raises funds for carefully selected beneficiary partners (that are also charitable organizations) in each country, with a focus on prostate cancer. In Canada the beneficiary partner which receives these funds is the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada (PCRFC). Those of you that know me may know that my father is a prostate cancer survivor and I think that it’s high time that I contributed to help concur this disease.

So, for the month of Movember (November) I will be growing a beast of a mustache to help raise money in support of this cause. I’m also planning to do a few blogs about the experience of both growing a mustache and being a part of this month long event.

You can check out my progress (so far…none) at my ‘MoSpace’ . If you’re interested in donating you can simply click the link on this page to donate by credit card, PayPal account, or by cheque.

I would greatly appreciate any funds that you could spare for this worthy cause. Keep checking back as I will be posting photos and updates as my Mo progresses!

So here’s my first picture. My official start date was November 2nd (last time I shaved) and I’m going to go for a bit of a beard first then go down to a mustache.

So far so good.

So I thought that for my first post on my Blog I would talk a little about the current gear that I am using. Unfortunately I am still in the market for a digital camera so the pictures are not mine, but they still give you an idea of the gear I have.

My mixer is a Stanton RM-3. It’s a three channel mixer with 6 line, 3 phono, and 2 mic inputs. It has all of your basic knobs (bass, mid, and high) but it also has an individual pan knob for each channel with is kind of neat. I haven’t actually been in a club situation where this has worked properly, mainly because of the way the sound system is set up at the clubs. However I have used this as a unique way to fade in songs on the two speaker set up I use for most for weddings.

One other great feature that this mixer has is bass, mid, and high kill switches that can be switched in between inputs. These are really useful for electro and house music and lets me do some interesting kills when playing out.

STANTON RM-3:

My turntables are both Technics 1200mk2’s. This is the industry standard for vinyl turntables and they are found in most club setups. These turntables have been great to me so far. They are very durable and can hold up to typical wear and tear no problem. The only issue that I have had with mine (and it is a common issue) is with the RCA outputs. Because the RCA’s are soldered directly to the circuit board inside the turntable, you are not able to remove the cord in transport and it tends to take a beating, making it the first thing to go. However the RCA cord is not that difficult to replace and can be done in under an hour or by your local repair shop (I’m hoping to do a post on this later)

Technics 1200MK2:

I also use Serato Scratch Live which is a vinyl emulation application that allows you to use digital audio files with your existing vinyl set up. Scratch live can also be used with CDJ’s. I was introduced to this program soon after I started djing and was immediately interested. Not only does it allow me to use my extensive MP3 library on my turntables, it also save me from having to bring crates of vinyl out to my gigs which can be a hassle.

Some people will argue that it’s not really DJing if you are using a computer and that has some merit. But I prefer to think of scratch live and other vinyl emulators as extensions of classic vinyl and possibly the future of djing. There are things that can be done on scratch live that make a live dj set much more entertaining both to listen to and create. Having said that, I do not feel that scratch live should be used for scratching. The reaction time between the computer and the control records just isn’t fast enough for proper scratching.

So that’s a little bit about my current DJ set up. I haven’t gotten into what cartridges, headphones, speakers and amp I use. Maybe I’ll cover that in a later post.

This blog is a new project that I am trying out. It is under some serious construction and I think it will be for the next few weeks.

Hope you’ll check back once it’s up and running!

-Robin (NoiSMkR)