The DJ Podcast » News

Show off Your Skills: 3 DJ/Remix Contests

Peter — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:43:36 +0000

Think you’re the next big DJ or Producer? Here are three contests that you can enter to get your name out there and win some cool prizes.

Spin Out Records is holding a remix competition for Adam Shaw’s “Organyc”. The winner will receive a Vestax VCM-600. Entries must be submitted by October 1st 2009. Head over to Spin Out Record’s website for more info.
Mixed in Key is holding a harmonic mixing DJ contest. Submit a 10-15 minute mix and you could win a new laptop, a complete Traktor Scratch Pro package, and a few other great prizes. Visit contest.mixedinkey.com for more info.
Alex M.O.R.P.H. is holding a remix contest for his new track “Wanna Be”. Grab the remix pack over at TrackitDown and enter for your chance to have a track released on Vandit Records. You better act quickly, as the contest ends on September 28th.

Mixxx 1.7.0 Released

Peter — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:02:55 +0000

Mixxx is an open-source DJ mixing program for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. It allows anyone with a computer to mix without spending any money. The 1.7.0 update brings customizable Midi scripting, a slew of bug fixes, and support for a wider range of Midi controllers.

While I have not tried Mixxx myself, it has a set of features to rival commercial software. Some of the notable features include:

Vinyl Control support for timecode by Serato & Traktor
MP3, OGG, Flac, and Wave playback
Waveform summaries and Parallel waveform displays
In-Software mix recording
Multiple soundcard support

Visit Mixxx.org for more information and download version 1.7.0. Also be sure to check out version 1.8.0, which includes looping and better beat detection, when it is released in ~6 months.

Beatportal Announces Depeche Mode Remix Contest

Peter — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:52:54 +0000

Beatportal, Beatport’s music community, announced its Depeche Mode Remix Contest. Depeche Mode has made the parts of “Peace” – the first single off of the band’s new album Sounds of the Universe – available for download for $3.99. The winning remix will be released by Mute Records and available to purchase on Beatport.com.

The song parts are available today with the submission period starting May 12th and ending May 26th. Visitors to the Beatportal Remix page will be able to vote for their favorite remixes from May 26th to June 9th. The winner will be announced on June 25th.

The winner will receive and awesome prize package including a JazzMutant Lemur touchscreen controller, Native Instruments Maschine, Pacemaker, pair of headphones from V-Moda, and $250 Beatport gift card. Not bad for spending $3.99.

For more detailed information and the contest rules, visit Beatportal and the Contest Announcement Article.

Scratch Live 1.9 Released

Peter — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:22:39 +0000

The newest version of Serato’s Scratch Live software was released a few days ago. As always, it is a free download for all Scratch Live users. Some of the most prominent feature of the update are the new SP-6 Sample Player, support for the new SL3 interface and the Pioneer MEP-7000, loop roll and much more.

I am most looking forward to the SP-6 Sample Player and History function. A lot of DJs will probably use the SP-6 with their drops or to overlay an accapella on top of the track they are playing while still having control over both decks. The History function is great because it will finally allow DJs to export the set tracklists. This will save a lot of time when uploading mixes or creating .cues for burning CDs.
Some of the other new features include:

LiveFeed
Album art on each deck
Key Tag support
A Custom Crate Column
TTM 57SL firmware update
A long list of bug fixes
Some minor user interface/graphical changes

Visit Serato’s website to read the complete release notes and download Scratch Live 1.9.