TLDR: DJ Dreams
DJing. A hobby that I was intensely into for a couple years a long time ago and now just dream about getting back into seriously again. Someday. I had the love for it and the ear for it but not the confidence. Not pursuing it harder is one of my life’s few regrets. I never played more than a few house parties even though I had DJ friends who had their own weekly downtempo night at our favorite bar who likely would have given me a chance if had just asked…but I was too afraid to try. Oh well, I still love and listen to a ton of music and I’m making sure my children have deep musical roots.
Best of Practice Mixes
I have 42 recorded practice sessions from back then. This batch from the summer of 2006 are some of the better ones during a period when I was really able to practice frequently. They are completely uncut and unedited. Nothing was planned in advance; my goal was to play a continuous set with tracks I chose in the moment so I could follow a crowd’s mood. Every mix isn’t always perfect (emphasis again on practice mixes) but I love the tunes so much that in time I’ve (mostly) been able to let go of my nickpicks and just enjoy the music. Most of them are a mix of jazzy downtempo and ’00s laidback hip-hop; my vibe was usually background music for a cocktail party/bar.
What’s with your DJ name, Zagouti?
#19 Extended
June 2, 2006
Until now I had never recorded a session over 50 minutes long, but I was feeling good with this one and was able to go an hour and a half. Only one song choice I don’t like anymore, otherwise still happy with this one. [download]
#22 Fullofsushi
June 10, 2006
Was stuffed after a night of sushi out with friends but managed to get in an hour of practice anyway. Starts off with downtempo hip-hop and fades into a jazzy ending. (Warning: The first couple of beats come in a bit loud but I get the levels adjusted, I promise.) [download]
#23 Organmeat
June 24, 2006
There’s some organ-y songs in the middle of this set but it’s mostly other jazzy musings. One unfortunate track choice near the end but otherwise a pretty solid mix. Mostly instrumentals; tunes start out downtempo and build up the pace. [download]
#24 1200dunbroke
July 8, 2006
So named because one of my Technic 1200 turntables was in the shop for repairs. Because of this I alternate between a standard vinyl record on the remaining turntable and mp3s via laptop software. Honestly the challenge of this limitation probably helped me focus and do some good work. [download]
#25 Sheesha
July 9, 2006
Second session alternating vinyl/mp3s while I was missing a turntable. I had a friend living in the United Arab Emirates who brought me a little hookah (called a sheesha in the UAE) that was I smoking at the time. This was my favorite accompaniment when playing records and always put me in a mellow and musical mood. [download]
#26 Reunited
July 16, 2006
Back from the repair shop – all vinyl set in celebration of having two turntables again! [download]
#27 Falsejoy
July 21, 2006
I had received news from a friend that they were excited about (but I was not) and had to pretend to be happy for them. This set is slower and moodier to match my pity party. [download]
#33 Grapeape
Oct 8, 2006
Skipped ahead a few months because I’ve always liked this one. Strictly hip-hop. Named for the grape-flavored sheesha tobacco I was smoking that night. [download]
Backstory
Me + Music = <3
I’ve always been into music. When I was little I listened to my parent’s large record collection (my favorite was that black one with the rainbow coming out of the triangle 😉 ) and when I got a little older in the late 80s my mom was an aerobics instructor and she had TONS of cassettes to use as source material for her exercise classes. I’ve made many, many mix tapes, had huge folders of CDs, ripped WinAmp streams, collected hundreds of vinyl records. I almost always have music playing in the background and make sure my children are exposed to many different styles of music. During middle/high school I was in band for 7 years and think that experience of knowing the principles and the math underlying music is part of what attracted me to DJing. No matter what the medium, I’ve always heavily curated my music collection(s) and made mix tapes/cds/mp3s for friends.
Crate Digging
Within certain genres/eras, I’m one of those people that can hear a few beats and usually know what other song it was sampled from (or have it torment me until I can figure it out). One of the things that thrills me (super nerd alert) is finding the obscure source of a sample from a song. Two of my favorite examples of this are a woman’s voice on a DJ Krush track that I discovered was Lt. Uhura on a children’s Star Trek storytime LP, and a Herbaliser track that sampled a conversation between a doctor and a nurse that I found on a 1950’s tv show bloopers album. To know that an artist I admire sifted through these same old kooky records and found what I found…too cool.
Old School
I love turntables. Turntables are beautiful, seductive and mesmerizing….the pattern from the spin of the timing dots, the way the cartridge bobs rhythmically ever so slightly along its path, the glistening of the grooves reflecting in the dim pop-up light…. just love ’em. I love vinyl records. The way you can look at them and “see” the songs….not just the song gaps but the very beats and breaks in the reflection of the grooves. The big covers with room for big art and lengthy explanations. If I really like an album I want to own it on vinyl if at all possible…to possess it for both its sound qualities and as an object of art.
Grand Prize Winner
I had been listening to hip hop and electronic music for awhile in the early 2000s and was a fan of the DJ scene already when there was a contest from the UK-based Ninja Tune record label (my favorite at the time) to win a Tracktor system. (This consists of special records that allowed you to play mp3s via a connected laptop and skratch/mix those tracks just like they were physical vinyl instead of digital.) To enter you were supposed to find a code on the inside sleeve of a certain CD and when I couldn’t find one on my copy I politely emailed Ninja Tune to inquire as to where the entry code was located. They responded that it was limited to the first 500 copies or so, but since I asked here was a code to use to enter. I won the grand prize soon after that!
Nudge I Needed
Well, I finally had an excuse to buy turntables for myself, now didn’t I?!? I bought a very basic mixer and found a pair of Technic 1200s on eBay that had seen a rough life but they are still workhorses anyway. I figured out how to run the sound through a second computer to record myself and then I plunged into buying vinyl, practicing my mixing whenever I had a chance, and keeping my music laptop next to me at work so I could methodically optimize and add metadata to mp3 tracks as I listened to them in the office to make them work better with the Tracktor software. Any time I had the opportunity to travel to larger cities like Chicago or Portland – usually solo for business trips – I would map out where the record stores were before I got there and spend hours sifting through their inventory instead of sightseeing like a normal person.
Get Confident, Stupid!
I played at a couple friend’s house parties (and a couple of my own) which was cool, but one of my biggest regrets in life is that I never played in front of an audience out at a bar. I had DJ friends at the time too, who had weekly nights in town and offered to let me learn from them but my mid-20s self was extremely self-conscious and just terrified to take them up on it. I was buying lots of records and recording myself practicing for a couple hours at a time with no breaks so I could potentially handle a weeknight debut alongside someone more seasoned but I never ended up doing it. (And Doc, if you ever happen to read this…I still kick myself that I never asked if I could play a Thursday night at Speakeasy with you!) It’s an interesting thought experiment: how different a direction my life could have taken if I’d had the confidence to try that life and liked it.
These Days
I’ve made peace with this becoming just an occasional hobby. We moved our bedroom furniture into a smaller room and turned our master bedroom into our “Lounge” with my turntables hooked up to a 5-speaker surround system, comfy couches, etc. so it’s a relaxing place my husband and I hang out in after the kids go to bed. I still try to occasionally get out to live DJ shows and revisit my happy place on the dance floor. My town had quite the DJ scene in the 90s-00s that has since faded, but every once in awhile an old school DJ will come through and there are still semi-regular drum n’ bass nights to look forward to.
New Life
During the COVID lockdown I discovered I could watch DJs stream live shows on Twitch and I got excited about upgrading and using my equipment again. My whole setup was 15 years old at that point and having issues that made it unplayable. I replaced everything but the turntables: a digital Pioneer DJ mixer hooked up to an Apple Mini running Recordbox with mounted flat screen and a modern Denon receiver that can handle bluetooth/Airplay, etc. I discovered new online music stores and started buying downloads of new tracks (mostly drum n’ bass) that are expensive to obtain on vinyl and also are a different musical style than my old mixes (I still have all my records though, of course!)
Watch Out Now!
I bought training videos to learn all the new software tricks, but my biggest obstacle is feeling too exhausted to practice at the end of the day. However, my youngest son will regularly ask me “can I DJ?” and loves to give it a try while wearing amazing outfits he has put together and I might just need to keep up! 🙂