Out of Town!!!

Well, we've done it!

Did my first ever gig out of Folkestone this last weekend at ViViD in Herne Bay, some 30 miles away - very atmospheric and dare I say homely!!!

Did a alright job as well!!

Sanity In The UK

Evening and I have to write tonight about what is going on in this country right now. It seems to me that our beloved government led by Call Me Dave is trying their level best to shaft the electorate up the Bournville with some of its policies right now. 

A definite form of divide and rule is also coming through with some of its polices - the job losses in Portsmouth regarding the shipyards yesterday in favour of keeping work on the Clyde as part of a cynical ploy to placate Scottish voters ahead of the independence election next year being a clear example of this being in play. 

Meanwhile, it seems to me that the majority of the electorate seem to not give a flying fuck just how close to the shitter these bastards are taking us. By time they see the light it will probably be too late. 

Lovely thought. 

Uncertain Periods

Well, it looks like that I'm in a state of flux right now. The place where I'd do a couple of gigs each month has closed its doors for the time being - it being November think it was pretty clear that was going to happen. 

Suggest that this may well be a good time to assess where we are and where we are looking to go over the coming six to 12 months. I didn't think back then that I would had had such a steady amount of work such I have had since then. 

Am expecting, hoping that Christmas brings a continuing steady stream of work. 

Bob

No Time To Think!!!

Evening fuckers!!

Been a very long while since the last post so thought whilst I'm in a reflective mood and in quite a bit of pain thanks to this cunting cramp in my right leg that I'd put a few thoughts together over what has been a ridiculously busy period. 

Although I have been only gigging every other week for the past couple of months it's very much is still go for me - I'm getting my collection sorted on Traktor after constant harassment by fellow DJs that it's a nightmare for them to use it - which is rather ironic as it's only me who is to be using it!!! Still could be worse! 

We've been getting offers for private gigs as well - got a 21st birthday party in early December to get sorted out - so that's slowly creeping up on us. We're going to see just how much money I'm able to save with the gigs I get given over the festive period before deciding our plans for next year. 

Gonna stop there as this pain is getting much too much!!!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

Quite an amazing few months for me - all the sets I have done in that time have gone down with extremely popular feedback from clubbers and promoters alike. The S4 is without a doubt helping in my sets and the mixes are getting tighter and tighter - in one case a reveller came round to my booth to see what I was doing on Friday - the fact that she was a hottie probably helped as well!!! Hopefully we are going to be in a position where we are going to get regular gigs not just in peak time summer but between now and Christmas. 

If that does happen then we're going to be in a position where I'm going to have saved some considerable funds (if I don't drink it in the meantime) come next summer. The plan from there if we get to that point is to leave my day job and go abroad for six to 12 months - some of my friends have suggested going on a working holiday and trying to get some gigs abroad which truly does intrigue me.

The bottom line is that I'm 31 years old. As many people keep on telling me - I don't look that old - probably five years younger or so - and so I have that going for me - it is something that I would jump at doing if the chance came up and I would be a twat if I didn't contemplate it whilst I am in a position to do so. Mother retires in a couple of years and I don't want to be doing that whilst she is on her own at home whilst my sister seems to be finally getting herself up the greasy pole at her place of work - so there is that I need to consider. 

All in all, it looks to me - how we are going to do this is this:

I would have been at my daytime job for 10 years next May. And no doubt I will get some hamper or bottle of cheap plonk. At that point, that is when I am going to be departing and head abroad - the only time I've been abroad before was as a 11 year old when we went to Northern France for a week with my school in Broadstairs. 

It's a opportunity that must be clasped with both hands. 

And it will be.  

Changes for the better...

So here we are, sitting on the shitter after yet another weekend of madness. One night almost didn't happen due to the VMS4's sense of timing in being a cunt. And the other night went almost too well!! More about Friday night in a bit. Last night was just intense. It was like most night's at the Bank a bit of a slow burner - thanks in part to the thunderstorm that arrived just after I arrived there - but once there we just did our thing. Even played Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics!! Fucking hell!! But I didn't have that much DubShite. Meh!!

Moving onto the night before - we get down to Vasa about an hour before - to get everything sorted and wired - and if the previous guy on the Sunday had just left everything behind the booth - then have time to move that away. Problems began when we didn't get any sound at all - from the A6. And then the VMS4 started to not do its thing. Eventually we found that it was a dodgy USB cable - but the damage was done. We got on for the 8:30pm kick off, but for the rest of the night - just felt that we just couldn't get into the groove. 

Following on from that - and knowing that we had saved money for Bestival in September - I took the decision to shaft that to one side - as I probably should have done initially and bought an S4 from DJTechTools. Should be with us by the end of the week - touchwood - so we could have it for Vasa this Friday. It's a no-brainer isn't it!!!

Thoughts.

This has been a difficult period, one where I have put DJing on the back burner purely because I haven't had any gigs coming my way. It has given an opportunity to work on some tracks - but nothing really isn't giving me much satisfaction right now, which is rather depressing. Hopefully things will start turning more positive in the coming days and weeks. 

Now What?

Evening,

Apologies for the long period in between posts - quite a bit has happened - not all positive I'm afraid!  The gig that I had every Saturday has gone tits up - to the extent that the owner thinks that he was close to going bankrupt due to that night in the week alone - he has cited that I don't have my own following as such which is frustrating but true. My following - if there is such a following has come from online mixes - something that I  going to start doing again - something that I'm gonna have a chat with someone who is rather close to hitting the big time after his mashup went viral in the past week!!

What this does mean however is that I'm now available to do other gigs over the weekend - and I almost did a set down our main club on Friday - problem was however - my guy who sorts my gigs out called me about it called me just after 2pm, as I'm hard at work doing my day job - I don't get the message till the end of play at 5pm which means that in the three hours since they rang me - they've have had to presume that I'm not available and so have got someone else. Frustrating. 

What this does mean is that I've got my time for my mates - as I have recently become some sort of a social recluse which is never a good thing - particularly if I'm trying to make a name for myself on the local scene - a few weeks or months away from all that might do me the world of good, have already arranged some lessons with someone to show me the basics of mixing with CDJs - as I think that could be another useful bow to have on my CV!!!

B

Sauntering Along...

So here we are, the middle of the week - we've got some new stuff into the record case for this weekend - have also got some old stuff as well, though Rokanrolla has to be a little bit busier for my liking and for the management's liking. 

The bottom line is that they need to continue to promote the bar however for some unknown reason they are not able to do so. I have my own suspicions why this is - but I am not going to use this page to go into conspiracy theories purely because as far as I'm concerned - I am purely there to play whatever crap the punters want me to play and that is that. 

We need to however look away from RokanRolla in the long term. That is clear in my view and look for something a little bit more secure with backing from an ambitious bar owner - because it is inevitable that as night becomes day the owner is going to look towards me and say that I'm not able to get the punters in. That is the bottom line. Now, he has said that it has been dead for the past week or so, but we cannot continue to play in front of at times recently, empty bars. That is beyond soul-destroying. 

I am however not wanting to try and get friends and family to push owners to give me gigs here there and everywhere. I'm wanting them to come to me. That might sound very arrogant but that is how it has to be. Owners live on their decisions and not on ones which are fostered upon then. 

Simples. 

Bob Bob's Summer Anthems

Get On This!!!

Leftwing & Kody - You Were (Original Mix)

Heard this a few months back, there is a lot of quality deeper stuff which is coming mainstream in recent weeks and months - will be trying to get as much of that into my upcoming promo mix later this month.

As I alluded to on my Facebook page earlier this week, I intend to do three promo sets (of sorts) this month, one will be my usual monthly promo mix, consisting of the newest cuts as well as some classic stuff from the past few years and beyond.  Another mix will consist of some of my all-time favourite old skool garage and house (almost summery!) - and the last one will be a DnB mix as requested by quite a few of my friends and colleagues at work!!!

Looking forward to it massively!

Robosonic - The Edge

Believe it or not - I only found the name of this tune at my illfated birthday gig at the start of last month.  Suspect this could be in my next monthly promo mix later this month!

Reaky - Kata

This is fucking sick – proper techno in my eyes!!!

Where Are We Now?

First things first, an apology.

When starting this blog, the idea was to try and post not every day but certainly two or three times a week which I haven't been doing. Just been the case of being too busy with other stuff.

Last night, I started my new night, which we are calling 'Saturday Sessions'. The only reason why I called it that was purely because it was the first thing that came to mind!!! The thinking is to try and cater for the wide spectrum of people that we have, drinking and socialising at Rokanrolla and so to try and mix it up every week.

So last night we started the night with some charty commercial shite - followed by a good 45 minutes of 80s and Disco - followed by a good hour and a half of commercial house, dance and some old skool Garage - though I think next week, I'm gonna try and get some club mixes of stuff by Ne-Yo, Lady Gaga and Pitbull. I think you know where I'm going there! We then moved things on for a bit - going up and down the genres - playing some stuff that I wanted to like Daft Punk's new anthem 'Get Lucky' and ended the night with some classic trance.

The most important thing was to keep the crowd in - which on the whole we did - certainly more people in there on Saturday at any one period than I can remember for any single band before last night - though I could be wrong!!!

And I got £50 from last night, which has been duly spent on upgrading Traktor Pro to Scratch to compliment the Numark TTs and more importantly the Traktor A6 that I recently bought for that purpose and to plug into mixers in other clubs so I don't need to be lugging around my VMS4!

A good night all in all.

Traktor Audio Sorted. I Think!!!

After much pissing about these past few weeks we've finally got the A6 sorted in regards of removing any pops, crackles and drop outs.

The main issue is that the A6 is on a automatic latency setting of 256 samples - whereas the advice is for those running MacBooks is 512 samples - though if you're running time code you might want to go for a lower setting.

Now although I'm upgrading to Traktor Scratch - this is more of a case of wanting the option to use Turntables or if needs be the system down the Priz here in Folkestone as and when I'm needed to do any early sets down there in the coming months. Hopefully sooner than later!!

As for the general set up - we have two RCA outputs connected to the VMS4
so we can still use the XLR speakers to hear out. The sound is fabulous - very much noticeable in comparison to the American Audio ASIO sound card of the VMS4.

Gonna be testing this down RokanRolla tomorrow night from 8pm. Hoping that its noticeable there. Should be!!!

Social Life Issues

With having to devote so much time away from work - that's the day job - to preparing upcoming sets I am starting to worry that my social life is beginning to not look as good as it did previously.

Of course now I'm living on my own, my social life is as important than never before.

I wonder what other DJ's do with this issue. It's gotta be difficult.

Perhaps that's just one of the pitfalls of DJing.

The Mash!!!

I've been doing quite a few bootlegs or Mash-Ups to those of us in the game for the last few years - but its only been since I've started playing out live that I've started to explore this aspect a lot further. DJs are not getting gigs now purely for their technical ability to be able to mix two tracks together - but for what else they bring to the party!

Having just about got used to using Ableton for this purpose now - I am enjoying being able to mix two, three or in the case of one particular mash-up I'm doing for my forthcoming birthday set - five remixes of the same song - and it does open up a whole different aspect to the art of DJing and how to get the crowd going.

Where Are We Going?

Apologies for these irregular posts - been meaning to write for a while but just haven't had time nor chance to get down and write.

Am down at RokanRolla in town this evening from 8pm. Those who follow my twitter account will know that we have been on a trial period for theist six weeks to get a crowd in - but the bar's previous reputation as a place that people wouldn't want to be at continues to precede it - and not in a positive way at all.

All that said however - we've also done a few Saturdays there as the entertainment after the live bands finish at 11pm - I suspect with the owner extending to doing this on a Friday as well now - that the opportunities to play live will increase substantially over the coming weeks and months.

Audien - Wayfarer

http://youtu.be/UhZlO4IpEP8

Trance is getting back into it in a big way!!!!

Here Again.

Morning,

A while since my last post and although things are going great guns with my new night at a local bar in Folkestone due to start next Wednesday - have decided to get back to the doctors as my mood is rather up and down at the moment.

Something that just cannot continue.

We'll see what the doctor suggests soon.

Bob Bob's Year Mix!

http://www.mixcloud.com/bobbob5482/bob-bobs-2012-year-mix-and-a-few-from-2013/

It's here and it's been uploaded - 20 tracks packed into 47 minutes of pure orgasmic heaven.

Get on it!!!

Frustration!

Morning!

Spent about four hours on Ableton this evening - in fact I've just about finished on there doing a mash-up for a mix which I'm gonna do either later today or tomorrow before I head back to work on Tuesday - that I will not explain away the tracks involved as I might, just might tweak with it before hand. I've been looking for a particular track to go with it - but the name of the song has completely been lost in my head!!!

Off to the gym in eight hours or so - then off to Mum's to sort out their decorations and have dinner - then to JD's for the Mansfield game.

Be lucky!

Capa - Chances (Original Club Mix) - Toolroom Records

http://youtu.be/Xjvwt9Y3wxU

This is gonna be an absolute monster for the coming months - it's got that feel that it's gonna be a timeless classic - you can play it as a peak-time stormer or play it earlier with the BPM down a few notches!!

Lessons Learned - Don't Fuck With Traktor A Day Before A Gig!!!

Good morning.

Quite a difficult evening to start with at the bank. Traktor was a bit of a bastard to start off with.

Saying that though, after about 15 or 20 minutes figuring it all over again, when something like that would take me forever to deal with - we were able to continue the set, and made the owners and people in the bar happy with the eclectic set.

Having said that - I got back from the bar about 12.30am and spent an hour or so pissing around with Traktor to get it back to how I want it to be.

Lesson learnt!!

First Gig of 2013

Just confirmation that I've got my first gig of the year tomorrow night at the Bank Bar in town - gonna be playing there from 8pm!!!

Starting That Track

Morning!

Going to start my first track on Ableton today - Got a few ideas of how we want the track to sound. We want it to sound very melancholy almost like a journey through my life. Starting almost very much Orbital's Halcyon On and On - with a rhythmic sounding beat - I'm looking for a drum machine program on the iPhone so I can get some ideas together!!

New Year Resolutions!!!

Happy New Year, Cunts!

Apart from the usual resolutions of losing a bit of weight and to cut the crap - one that's been somewhat damaged by the fact that I've had a Chicken Royale from Burger King - I've got several more resolutions with a bit of substance.

1) Update this blog! Pretty self-explanatory really!

2) Get more gigs - and try to get gigs away from town! I've always been stuck in regards of having to stay in Folkestone due to lack of transport - but I've been promised the chance of helping with gigs in London in the not so distant future - something that excites me but also fills me with dread - or perhaps it's just nerves!!!

3) Get into producing - I've dabbled with producing for about 15 years but e mastering side of things and creating that final mix has always freaked me out somewhat!

4) Be happy! I've documented my troubles with depression and how that has led to me having issues with weight in one shape or form. Now I've moved into my own place - I'm needing to be an awful lot more aware of how I am feeling in myself - and that is going to be helped by something that one of my mates is giving me as my housewarming present. A exercise bike!

Have a quality year!!!