Mixing in the Valley

[partyradio1039kpty]

Its sad that we have no more good mix shows here anymore, The only decent mix show is the on 96.9 and thats from a club. Kiss fm's kiss mix is good sometimes, and there saturday nite show isnt that great.

I rememeber a time when on a saturday nite, there was mix shows on the old edge, the zone, party radio, 1047 zzp, as well as power.

I remember when kiss was still being called 1047 zzp, they had the planet z saturday nite mix, that was a decent mix show, it covered all types of music.

I whish we could bring back the fri/sat nite party mix's of party [email protected] , those were the best.

But no instead we get to listen to kiss's top40 only mix's, mega's allful mix show, i remember that one being a little better in the past, and of course power's mixing and live from the club 96.9. Its not a bad mix show, just dont like that its not the radio station doing the show.

Ok I am done ranting about this, I have my memerios, and mix myself to make me happy.

 

[Scrappy]

I was just thinking the same thing this weekend. Memorial Day Weekend usually had the CHR stations in "full Summer mode". I gotta say I wasn't impressed with the mix shows this past weekend.

With Power changing to a less favorable frequency, you'd think they'd have some TSL problems. Thats just a guess on my part. Having worked fringe frequencies, you need to be aware of TSL, as listeners have a hard time sticking with you thru the static. Listening to Powers' mix this weekend - you'd get like 5 different songs in 5 minutes. While I have the utmost respect for mixers - they can provide LOTS of magic for a Rhythmic-current driven station - - I heard a number of people by the pool complaining that they don't play enough of their favorite songs in mix shows. That & a weak signal could mean a TSL problem (just my opinion)

Hope y'all stayed safe this weekend!

 

[Realist]

Do mix shows and specialty mix shows and weekend appeal to the average radio listener or the average radio geek? No doubt that some of those mixers are highly talented people, but I think certain specialty features are outdated. Programmers today need to throw out the old style of programming and focus on what today's radio listeners REALLY want... not what they thought the listeners wanted 10 years ago.

 

[talkarizona.com]

Mix shows were good back when they weren't on every station and the DJs weren't pumping out remix service mixmeister mash-ups of the top 10 current song on the stations playlist. The lack of creative talent in the mixing arena has saturated the market enough that listeners are now numb to anything creative and mediocrity is the accepted norm. In fact, now 'creative' and 'weird' mean the same.

I can put together a week full of mix shows in a couple hours. Will they be any good? Not to those who know better. But this is what the 'mix show DJs' now are doing.

 

[94117]

it's all online

 

[urban]

Forgive me for my ignorance as I'm not in the industry but a radio fan... what are Djs using now that allows them to put a weeks full of mix shows together in a couple of hours? I've been a fan of mix shows since the early 80s and definitely they are not what they used to be. Many of them, especially on rhythmic stations like WIBT here in Charlotte, sound canned. And all of the songs have the same remixed sound to them. Please educate me..

 

[KMGX]

This topic speaks to a much bigger issue in radio; I find that most program directors are just lazy. Think about it, how many 'special programming events' do you hear on a given radio station in Phoenix (or other big markets)? I'm not just talking about "mix shows" either, A-Z weekends, countdowns, artist/genre blocks, acoustic blocks/weekends, etc. Sure, these features exist here and there, Mix969 occasional has 80s block party weekends or their token 90s at 9, which is excellent... but you don't get the special programming on stations like you used to even as recently as 15 years ago.

I guess to partially answer my own question I need to only look at the cause for most problems in radio: CONSULTANTS. If a consultant says "special programming doesn't really matter to listeners" then a program director takes that as gospel, sigh.

I don't actively seek out "Mix shows" myself, but I think they are a nice break from the monotony of normal programming. "Mix shows" used to be a big deal in radio, I remember in the 80s KZZP had the "Friday Night Hot Mix", which went well into early Saturday Morning... I always thought it was a cool concept back then. I suppose it has been played out a bit these days--especially with the ease at which beatmixing can be done now... just about anyone with Cool Edit Pro/Adobe Audition, Protools or another piece of editing software can put together a reasonable beat mix... some not so good, but in the world of radio in 2007, mediocre and half-ass are the credo for many decision makers and their underpaid, overworked staff.

 

[fiazco]

but you don't get the special programming on stations like you used to even as recently as 15 years ago.

Thank God for that . There is nothing more aggravating than turning a station looking for what you want, and getting some awful "Grateful Dead Hour" or "Pogo Saturday Nite."

You know what? Develop a product, and give it to me consistently. Make me know that I'm going to get what I want when I come to your station. Please dont turn me away.

 

[KMGX]

but you don't get the special programming on stations like you used to even as recently as 15 years ago.

Thank God for that . There is nothing more aggravating than turning a station looking for what you want, and getting some awful "Grateful Dead Hour" or "Pogo Saturday Nite."

You know what? Develop a product, and give it to me consistently. Make me know that I'm going to get what I want when I come to your station. Please dont turn me away.

Translation: I want my same 50 songs over and over, please don't ever try to give me anything other than that!

With that attitude, I simply can't imagine why people are turning away from terrestrial radio; purchasing ipods, listening to internet streams, tuning into satellite radio and other forums of entertainment.

Developing a good product means leaving the door open to the possibility of interspersing some type of specialty programming. I'm not saying you do it ALL the time, otherwise it's as predictable as the average station playlist and thus loses it's value, but maybe in this much more competitive landscape of broadcasting, it might not be a bad idea to be a little creative.

 

[Godfather]

The correct answer is www.krckradio.com ;D

 

[Godfather]

Oh yeh I have to add I miss my old 103.9 Party days I had fun 1996-2003 alias "The Godfather Benny Arce & Jack MeHoff on the Edge, the longest employed Dj in 103.9 history it was a roller coaster ride

 

[amnesia440]

Forgive me for my ignorance as I'm not in the industry but a radio fan... what are Djs using now that allows them to put a weeks full of mix shows together in a couple of hours? I've been a fan of mix shows since the early 80s and definitely they are not what they used to be. Many of them, especially on rhythmic stations like WIBT here in Charlotte, sound canned. And all of the songs have the same remixed sound to them. Please educate me..

Hello urban - Let me share with you what I've done for mix shows I have been on here in the valley.

You have 4 basic tools the are used for DJs to do 'bulk' mixing with: Mixmeister , Sony ACID, Ableton Live, and Adobe Audition.

I don't have much experience beat mixing in Audition (I use it for mainly editing) so I can't comment on the ease of use of that.

Let's start with the easiest tool: Mixmeister (Mixmeister.com). To get your mixshow donce in 10 minutes you just load up a playlist, hit the beatmix option and and it does the meat aligning for you. You can set each song and how you want it mix (8-16-32 etc... beats) on a per song/mix basis, or you can just drag the song around til it sounds good. There is limited support for effects. But you can literally put an hour mix together in 10 minutes. Want to add some extra beats, hi-hat, or bass line? Just create a loopable file (in fruity loops for example) and then repeat the loop for how ever long you wish. Easy like sunday morning. It can remix, but Ableton is the tool for that.

Ableton is my personal choice because it not only auto tracks the beats but it has a MIDI part to it that lets you create beats, sounds, and control virtual instruments from inside the program. So if you wanted to add a bassline to a track you would just 'program' the bass sequence into ableton and then overlay it onto your mix. No 3rd party software needed (unless you use a virtual instrument that isn't included in ableton). Ableton comes with samplers, drum machines, and a decent instrument library to use. Great software package for remixing and mixing and has more than I can get into here.

ACID from sony is good and is what I used before Ableton. It has a 'beatmapper' that is a wizard to help it map out the song beats (and tempo) and is pretty straight forward for basic show mixing. It does support effects (many are included) and also supports virtual instruments. I would actually skip this package and get into Ableton.

Audition. This is what I use to edit sounds. It's what is basically used if a company doesn't want to or cant afford pro tools for their studio. Beat matching is something I've never done with it, so I can't really comment on that.

As for the canned sounding remixing, your right. Most mix show DJs don't do their own remixes. They get their mixes from remix companies such as Fumkymix, Ultimix, Full Tilt, etc.. (thesourceformusic.com is a ood supplier).

I enjoyed the HotMix shows. It was produced here in Phoenix for it's beginnings and had remixers like Markus Schultz, Aaron Scolfield, and some other well known DJ's that I can't remember. I liked Hotmix because they were creative in their shows and (I think) ahead of their time at that time.

Now the thing that hasn't been discussed is the 'Live' mix show. I know of a couple live shows here in Phoenix (I think they're still live) but they still use software that auto beatmatches songs (Serato Scratch) and they actually use the library of music from the radio station since everything is hard drive based anyway.

To get a mix show it's not about skill as much as who you know. And unless yu already have a name for yourself, your not going to get rich from a mix show. It's like anything else in radio; there is always someone who will do what you do for half your salary. I've heard most shows in the valley and they all are about the same. Mix 96.9 heavily uses the Looking Back and x-mix Club Classic remixes while the KZZP mix show uses a lot of the mix factor/funkymix/ultimix remixes. Although I so have to say that there is *some* original stuff from the KZZP show as the guy who mixes it also does 'yourremix.com.' (legal?)

All in all, if you want a taste of how easy it is to mix a show, see mixmeister.com.

(now..just wait for the first dj to say "I mix it all by hand...")

 

[urban]

Amnesia440, thanks for the '411. Times definitely have changed from the vinyl to today. It's amazing to me that a one-hour mix can be completed in 10 mins. Technology is a mutha!

 

[DJ_Perry]

some things never change. The same users either posting trash or tooting their own horns. It's ironic that people remember the "Hot Mix" days when Dave Rajput set the standards on KOPA / KZZP only to be syndicated nationally. This movement also led to "Powerhouse Remixes" which included the talent of Mickey Oliver, Markus Schulz, Aaron Scofield, and CL McSpadden just to name a few. I am very proud to say that I have worked with all of these guys, and I do feature their work on my classic mixshow. It seems the common attitude of these pioneers here is favorable. Yet in an earlier post, my show was noted as "awful." Kind of a contradiction when I'm using many of the same remixes and techniques that I grew up on.

 

[DJKILO]

ok as far as the topic goes , it's like saying what do you think of chicago style pizza in scottsdale! but Perry was right, he of all the mixers i've heard in the 5 years ive been in arizona is the one that most resembles that of the Hot mix era. And best of all is ,he does it LIVE! nuff said!