A day in the Life – Page 4

Every DJ has their own Obsession

April 2, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in A day in the Life

So if you have ever met a DJ, you know they tend to be a ‘special’ kind of person or at least a little different (then again these days everyone is a dam DJ so that statement tends to loose its power) Anyways, you will probably find most DJs have obsessions, hobbies or other quirky things they do outside of DJn and music. A popular one is often video games which is definitely one of mine, others can range from strange collections to shoes or anything you can imagine really. Thou a lot of the time you will find they are based on technology and DJs tend to have more than just a little inner nerd/geek about them which is something you really need if you are to keep up with the new technology! As for myself I have a few things I am in to, but a big one has always been anime and since moving to Korea it is much easier to find things related to anime especially figures and toys. One of my favourite anime programs was Gundam Wing (the older one with the 5 Gundams etc) and since moving to Korea its been really easy to find Gundams to build, so this post is actually directed towards building one of my Gundams. I have been working on the main gun dams from the Endless Waltz Series and finally have them all, just need to build one more and put stickers on 2 more but for now here is my recent build (yeah this is about toys, get over it lol)

So this Gundam is Zero One piloted by Hiro Yui, its slightly different from the original Zero One from the original series with its colours and some slightly different structure of the wings, buster rifle and shield but overall its still pretty cool

First up is the head, a little annoying with the eye stickers

The body can be a little tricky depending on the Gundam

The shoulders can be a pain in the ass as well as the arms, not to build but being the more mobile of joints they often fall off the easiest

The wings are usually easily movable and can be used to counter balance nicely

The legs are usually the easiest part to build and the most sturdy

And here is the body assembled, but still need to add in the weapons

And finally here is the full assembly with weapons

Shout Out Time

March 17, 2014March 17, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in A day in the Life, Events

Well its been a crazy weekend and had a couple of good shows but there was also a lot of other things going on around Seoul as well. I will post up a review etc about them later on once I track down the videos but for now I got a couple of mentions I want to make

First up need to give a shout out to the bro CJ Gardner aka CJ Infinite and for dropping his new tracks, if you want to peep them and you def should check out his sound cloud here

CJ’s Sound Cloud

The beats are really nice (I’m a big fan of old school sounding beats or beats with an older more natural sound to them) and CJs flow over them has its own uniqueness about it that makes the tracks nice to listen to and a nice break from a lot of the rubbish thats gets constant airplay these days. There is a lot of really good hip hop out there, you just need to go and find it but you should always support local artists as they always need plenty of support and most of them really deserve

Speaking of supporting local artists, the Seoul expat scene has been getting a much needed injection of support recently. Its a hard scene thou because expats are usually only here short term, very rarely long term so it makes maintaing a community very difficulty. So when artists start thinking of strengthening the community then they deserve mention and support. There are a lot of people here who have been putting in hard work who deserve mention but will save that for another time, for now this post shout out goes to Part Time Cooks, a group of 3 dope expat MC’s who have come together to form what should be an exciting crew. Now I don’t know much of their back ground but I have heard some of their stuff and it is def worth checking out, but the reason for the shout out is their willingness to get out and support other artists and also what will hopefully be a weekly or very regular web series from them interviewing and showcasing the local expat talent in and around Korea. Its this support and giving back to the community that will help keep it strong here in Korea and I applaud their efforts to do so. Check out the video below for their first instalment video. The editing could use a little work but as far as content goes and being the first instalment, its very good and has me looking forward to more! A scene is only as good as its support so again I urge you to get out there and support local artists

Also make sure you go check out their show coming up in conjunction with Show Kings on the 29th of March

Click here for the event page

See you there! Chur!

How I got my DJ name

March 9, 2014March 9, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in A day in the Life

So short post today, just a quick story about how I got my DJ Name. Those who know me, know I’ve gone by many aliases over the years that have been attempted to be placed on me by others, some good, some ok, others just dumb but the one that has stuck is Blaze and that is also the one I have had the longest. But the thing that does confuse people when they first meet me is they assume being from NZ and having the name Blaze means I smoke weed etc, the whole Blaze it up thing but I actually don’t smoke weed and have never smoked it. The worst thing is the name is pretty popular and there are a lot of Blaze’s around, the most famous one being Just Blaze (who is the man) but the thing is I have been using my name (at least the origin of it) since the early 90’s when I first hit high school, Blaze is short for Blazing_187 which was my first gaming tag I used to always use when playing video games and it was also my first email address which I still have to this day!

So Blazing, kinda of self explanatory when it comes to video games, I love FPS games so blazing guns etc is where that comes from, now as for 187, remember this movie?

Well this is where the 187 part comes from, watched this and was like ah, 187 is the code for murder, so decided my gamer tag should be blazing murder shortened down to blazing_187. And of course when I started DJn it was easier to shorten it down again to Blaze and thus you have DJ Blaze!

Now as for the aka part that I have used in all of my social media, well given that DJ Blaze is a popular name I needed something easy to distinguish the name from other DJ Blazes out there. I settled on aka (also known as) because I did go thru a period trying to figure out a better alias and also having various others ones used on me by people from different areas in my life there was a lot to choose from, so in the end it would be what ever some one called me and aka DJ Blaze (Hey its Dragon aka DJ Blaze) so I decided to stick with akadjblaze since not only does it have some history to it, its also easy to remember and unique enough for me to have it as my user name across all social media sites I use

So there it is, the history of my name and how it came about. Chur!

The Madness that is Bar Fly

February 23, 2014March 9, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in A day in the Life

So welcome to my residency, Bar Fly in Sinchon, a long time student favourite and one of the only clubs in the Sinchon area. Home of craziness, scandals, cheap drinks, helpful regulars, good bar staff and good people, can’t ask for much more from a local bar (well you can but thats another issue) So lets have a quick look around with what Im working with

So the DJ Booth, DJM 800 (in desperate need of new faders and a service, same with the CDJs…), CDJ 2000’s, SL4, my laptop, iPad (touchOSC) and dicers. Out putting video to a projector and 4 screens around the bar. Not a bad set up for a mid level club.

View looking next to the DJ Booth, there is space upstairs and this is looking down to the floor level tables and bar, screen and projector as well as your useless advertising sign board posted pointlessly in the corner lol oh yeah, and top stage with stripper poles!

Looking at the bar from up top, its a nicely enough set out bar with plenty of room, as you can see a lot of junk hanging from the ceiling…

Looking down at the dance floor, it is a decent size club, you wouldn’t think so from the outside but that is always the surprising things with clubs here, most are built in the basements of buildings and can be very deceiving from the outside

Looking out on the club…

And lastly a look at the crowd, this was a student party, as you can see a lot of foreign students that night, usually its mostly Koreans but still a lot of foreign students come here to party and there is a strong crowd of foreign regulars who come as well, not to mention that a lot of the Koreans there are Korean/Russians, Korean/Spanish etc, it really is a diverse range of people which adds to the place

Its open during the week but not many people come through, Friday nights are usually the one, also a good vibe with people hitting it hard after work or a week of studying, Saturday is hit and miss depending on the week, the crowd fluctuates depending on parties and University schedules. Being in a University area it really dictates the mood of the area as you would expect. So there it is, a quick run down on the place, I might post up more about it later on, introduce the staff and regulars, drinks etc but thats for later on.

(just a note, when I say crazy, I don’t mean it in a bad way, for some reason over here people associate the word crazy with meaning bad, but I mean it in a good way)

And just for good measure, here is some fun with fire

Home Studio

February 18, 2014March 9, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in A day in the Life

So one of the projects I am working on this year is learning how to basically run my own home recording studio so I can record vocals for some things I have in the works. Sounds difficult at first but the setting up and getting it running isn’t actually that hard, the difficulty really lies in first, reading through as many reviews as possible so you can decide which piece of equipment you wish to use and then, secondly, learning about recording and mastering of tracks (the second part I’ll cover in another post). So, for the mean time I’m going to quickly run over the gear I am using and also the price I paid just in case your interested in costing out your own set up

So first up lets start with the Microphone, after some exhaustive research I settled on the reasonably priced Rode NT1-A

In the box it also comes with shock mount, xlr, mic bag and pop filter all for 266,500won. I settled on this mic after reading reviews and its recommendation as a good mic to capture ‘Hip Hop’ vocals well. I will be looking at adding a second microphone soon, geared more towards female singers, and after reading reviews it will probably be the Audio Technica AT-2020

Cost is 145,000won so very reasonable (yes I am sticking to the budget end of the scale for now since I am only starting out)

Next along the chain from the microphones is the USB/Recording interface. At first I was going to go with an M-box of some design, but after talking to a friend I found something else that could turn out to be alot better and so I settled on a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2

2 Channel with phantom power, audio and headphone outs, this tight little unit will set you back 189,500won

Next along the chain is the DAW program. This was kind of a no brain-er since I’m using a mac so the obvious choice was Logic Pro. I have already had experience using this program in the past and find the interface pretty intuitive and easy to use

You can get Logic Pro from the Mac store for around 199.99$ (USD I think) and is worth the investment if you own a mac since it is very easily integrated into other mac features (one of the bonuses of using all apple based hardware and software)

The last main component is monitor speakers, again another long research process trying to find speakers with as flat as possible sound for a reasonable price, again after all most going back to M-Audio, I ended up settling on a pair of Alesis M1 Active 520 Studio Monitors

Still waiting for these to arrive, but should be here later this week and cost me 347,200won

Other bits and pieces I also picked up were a couple of mic stands (28,400won each), a mic thing to reduce ambient sound (75,000won) and adjustable speaker stands to make sure the monitor speakers are the right height (50,000won each)

The only thing I’m left to decide on is headphones (a pair for the artists to use as reference and maybe a pair for myself to use as second monitors) But I have a couple of pairs that will do in the mean time.

Since I am just starting out I didn’t want to break the bank with the best of the best gear so I did my research to try and find quality gear at a budget price that would hopefully meet my requirements and ended up with a full working set up for around 1,200,000won (1,400,000won if you include the second mic and a standard pair of headphones)

For those of you who are also thinking of making your own home studio, the most important piece of advice I can give you is to first decide just what exactly it is you are wanting to achieve and from there you can start doing you research into what you will need so you can start researching he right gear in your price range. Make sure you do you research and read reviews and if you know people who work in the industry, ask them!!

Chur!

Serato + ME = Winning!

February 13, 2014March 9, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in A day in the Life

Since my long overdue upgrade to using ME as my video plugin, I have now been using it for a few months and I thought it would be prudent to post up a quick overview of the program, what I like about it and also my screen layout for people (mostly DJs) to look over and get an idea of the work flow, so here is the basic layout

So, ignoring the Latest Import Folder being completely un-organised, this is my basic screen, Serato in the back ground, and ME on top. As you can see it is relatively easy to make ME fit over top of a normal Serato Layout since everything can be freely moved around the screen

This one shows the Sequencer options which is one of the best things ever! I really wish Serato would make a built in Sequencer to use with like cue points and samples etc… But the sequencer in ME is very powerful, allowing you to use multiple fx to trigger on beat (similar layout to fruity loops) and to create different sequences you can save and trigger at will

For control of everything within Serato I use dicers, for ME I use a midi/usb connector to the mixer and I also use TouchOSC on my iPad to control both Serato and ME

Here is my TouchOSC layout, its a work in progress as I am adjusting it to suit my play style but its almost finished!

So, since switching to ME instead of using Serato Video for my video DJn (mostly at Bar Fly) there is some noticeable differences that I like and loving

1. ME outputs videos at a much higher higher quality

2. ME is adjustable so you can move it around and show or hide windows and is still fully integrated with Serato

3. The Sequencer! This just kicks serious ass! And really allows you to focus on other things rather than trying to mess around with fx etc

That about sums it up, there is differences with fx and transitions but thats not really a big issue since they both come stocked with a lot of options, some different, some the same. There wasn’t much of a learning curve as its pretty simple to use, just a little messing around at first while you get use to it but thats to be expected and once I upgraded to Mavericks OS it has been running very smoothly with no problems. Overall ME is a great product, I just wish Serato would either merge ME fully into their system or sort their shit out and put some more development work into their own Serato Video Program as it has had very little change since its original release, so ME is just really blowing them out of the water.

Chur.

Video DJn Prep Work

February 11, 2014March 9, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in A day in the Life

So, for those who might be interested what I do with a lot of my time, quite a bit of it is obviously geared towards DJn and sorting thru the mountains of music available out there and trying to find the right mix or making the right mix of a song to suit my needs. While this is standard for most DJs, things are a little more harder for me because I also do Video DJn

(basically I have the video playing at the same time as the song, for those who don’t know, It requires the use of mp4 video files and what ever I do with the audio it is also shown with the video like loops, scratch, cue etc)

As you can imagine finding music videos is hard in itself, finding high quality ones is even harder and then finding videos with an intro or that are practical for a club is well yeah, hard! So I spend a lot of time doing my own video edits, some are just simple edits like making an intro for a track

or replacing the audio from a video track with a higher quality audio file while other edits can take a lot longer to make depending on what I want to achieve (like adding in remixed intros etc)

While I am pretty good at this process now and it really doesn’t take me long anymore at all to bang out a simple edit, the time consuming part is often waiting for the conversion process to finish which can take anywhere from 10mins to over an hour depending on the video quality.

Then there is some of the Video mixes I do, these take longer, mainly because I like things being a certain way so I tend to spend a lot of time first re-doing the sound recordings

and then editing the video transitions, so the work screen can often look a little something like this

and can be a longer process, but at least the finished product is usually very good (at least I think)

http://vimeo.com/43451987 Or you can see for yourself here 🙂

The program you see is Sony Vegas HD Platinum 10.0, I have been using Vegas for years and is a really easy to use and basic but effective program, however it is time to start learning on some other platforms as well so next posts will be my journey into learning how to use Final Cut X and Logic Pro

Chur!

Time to Revive the Blog!

February 11, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in A day in the Life

So Im trying to renew my blog writing and will split it up between this and Tumblr for now and see how it goes, its been a year since I jumped on here, and its been a busy year… some of the highlights include

– Sponsorship with DJ Korea

– Thre3style Qualifier

– DJn around the Country with Pinnacle the Hustler

– WDJ Fest with DJ Korea

– 2nd Place BeFM DJ Competition

– B-Boy Shows with Show Kings

– Guest Appearances at MadHolic

– PKDC Qualifier

– Steady Residency at Bar Fly

There was more but thats it for now, for my blogs Im going to keep them strictly DJn orientated to hopefully make sure I keep them going since this year I have a few projects planned… so lets see how it goes!

In Review

January 6, 2013January 6, 2013 by akadjblaze, posted in A day in the Life

Well happy new years to everyone! 2012 the year the world ended or was at least meant to has come and gone and we now move into 2013, time definitely flies when your busy and 2012 was a busy and very good year for myself hopefully setting up 2013 to be a stellar year for me if things go to plan…

Anyways before getting to far ahead of myself, 2012 in review, here it is

– Jan: NYE DJn at the loft, while NYE isn’t a big deal here compared to most countries it was still a good night, the countdown went well, Auld langsyne mixed into party rock anthem then a selection of the previous years club bangers kept the reasonable crowd happy

– Jan: The 1am curfew began to take its toll on the nightlife around Itaewon, resulting in me finishing up at the Loft end of Jan making it my first full year residency here in Korea, good times, fun memories and met a lot of great people! But the place was holding me back and the timing to leave couldn’t have been more perfect

– Feb: With time now on my hands, came the arrival of Redbull Thr3style, while only had a few weeks to prepare I managed to get a set put together and recorded granting me passage into the top 16, while I wasn’t out to win this competition I still wanted to put my best out there as the exposure from this would be more beneficial than anything else

– Mar: Played my set at Club Eden, because of my dumb teaching job, no sound check, but my set went well, I didn’t screw anything up so I was happy, I didn’t make it thru to the next round but I had played well enough to turn heads and impress everyone who was there but more importantly I met some great people who have become good friends

– May: After Thre3style I continued to met other DJs and go see their gigs and get to know them better, eventually leading to my discovery and first guest set at Madholic in Hongdae, while unfortunately it wasn’t very busy that night there was still a few in attendance who I also got to met and become friends with

– June: While playing a few charity and other small gigs, this month saw me take on my 2^nd residency here in Korea at JR pub, more of a sit down drinking and dinner orientated establishment they wanted to increase their nightlife more and thus I started playing here to great success and also used it as an opportunity to do video mixing as well

– July/August: Kept going much the same, DJn at JR pub, then afterwards going to Madholic or other gigs to see other DJs with the occasional side gig or random DJ appearance (Flow/KingClub etc), also I was away on holiday during this time so it was all in all a low key cruising month

– Sept: Saw the end of my tenure at JR, possibly a victim of my own success or behind the scenes politicking I will never know but finished off strong and enjoyed my time there

– Oct: This was a busy month having multiple appearances at different bars, the main ones of note being DOJO (I use to love her), FLOW (becoming part of the Soulful Sat line up) and a return to Madholic (which in hindsight I might have messed up, playing for the crowd instead of playing me… more to come on that later)

– Nov: This month and April were my quietest all year, no gigs, just a couple of one offs so meant time spent going around other clubs and catching up with people and seeing other DJs at work and seeing how crowds react to different songs and playing styles, basically as they say, research time!

– Dec: often the more busy month of the year, and this ended up being no different for me, had some major gigs, Move2 being the most important one for me, Seoul Seekers being the most forgettable one (due to laptop failure…) Other gigs included Flow and Bar Fly. Also a DJ workshop with DJ Angelo meant meeting new DJs and getting re-acquainted with other DJs

– But most importantly by the end of this month I now have 2 residencies, FLOW Bar, Friday nights 11-1 (Hip Hop & RnB) and Bar FLY Friday and Saturday 2-4 (Electro Pop/Hip Hop Club Joints)

So it has been a busy year, not crazy intense busy but as far as networking goes and getting myself out there, very good, plus the friends I have made and people I have met are awesome and will definitely help lead me to bigger and better things in 2013 however that isn’t something I will rely on and will always do my best to make it on my own merits which I have always done but its always nice to get a little help from your friends and to help them out as well.

Before I sign this off I have to give shout outs to all the Thre3style DJs I met, especially the Brand Nu boys and the other Korean DJs, its hard being a foreigner here at times but getting to know these guys and work with them has been a privilege. Also shout out to JC and the Iconz Media crew, been a pleasure working with them and last and def not least shout out to the Show Kingz crew, again its been a pleasure

So whats in store for 2013… as I said if things go to plan… well you just gotta wait and see!

Its November already?

November 7, 2012November 7, 2012 by akadjblaze, posted in A day in the Life

I know its been awhile between posts, so thought its time to throw up a little update of where I am at and whats going on.

So, its finally November and its getting dam cold, the big thing I have been looking forward to this month is the release of Halo 4, off to try and get a copy tonight and will do a diff blog post on how I find the game. I have had a couple of games of reach online to get use to the online gameplay again since its very diff to that of COD which is what I have been playing most of the last year. Teaching still sucks, my manager needs to slap herself in the face and give me my dam holiday dates for winter. Been keeping relatively low key in-between gigs except on sat night which was a blast, ending up eating breakfast at McD’s at 10am, might have to do round 2 this sat if the Island crew makes it up to Seoul…

Right enough of that, the real update is for DJn. So at the moment, I have no set DJ residency which kinda sucks, but I have been DJn pretty much every weekend for the last 2 months so it hasnt been much of an issue yet. In that time I have done gigs at JR, FLow, Dojo, Sinbin and Madholic so been getting around.

Madholic is prob still my fav bar but its getting dam busy there! Best thing is its strictly Hip Hop and RnB, a bit of new styles but mostly old skool and people really dig that there and get into it. The 4 DJs there do a mean job so I feel lucky when I get asked to guest DJ there. The set up isnt bad, DJM 800, a 1000mk2 and 800mk2 with good sound (thou the 800 plays up occasionally..) Hopefully Ill get the chance to play there again soon

JR, well thats an interesting place, I have done 2 functions there the last month, both were jam packed, music styles is really my choice but I always play old skool first then some club bangers later on, however the old skool again still seems to rock the show the best. The set up thou sucks, only 1 800mk1 works, the mixer is a behringer and it is just a poorly thought out mixer, trying too much to be like an Alen and Heath. Anyways, as most of you know, I know longer have a residency there due to noise complaints, jealous neighbours and the fact their license only allows them to be a restaurant not a club… go figure… Either way, ill be back there only for special functions.

Sinbin, well that wasnt really a DJ gig, it was meant to be, but yeah, fail! No set up at all, just home theatre speakers set up and a DJ who plays music from iTunes, was a waste of time really, I dont even know why they get the guy in their to ‘DJ’ but each to their own.

Now to one of the best set up clubs, Dojo, while its a little small, it has that feel to it, not cosy but its just a nice club. At first I was a little apprehensive because I knew it was a House club, but doing a hip hop night there was really fun and had a nice crowd digging it too. Mean sound set up, you can tell a DJ set it up, 2000’s with a DJM 900 and sound set up to match, one word, DOPE! Will hopefully be back there again soon!

Now the last place, FLOW, this is a strange bar because it has so much potential yet is not living up to it, thou they have been bouncing back and forth between lots of diff things its no wonder. There is much to be said for consistency in your clubs entertainment… Set up is pretty oldd skool, 800mk2 and DJM 600, but plenty of room in the booth and nice sound, thou overkill on the smoke machine often happens… But the couple of gigs I have done there have been really enjoyable keeping it mostly RnB/New Jack Swing styles, and I might be working more and more with the club to try and pick things up so looking forward to the challenge…

So, thats it so far, at this stage I dont have much lined up, but lately that seems to change very quickly so Im hoping that trend keeps going. The best thing thou is that I have been playing the music I really love, RnB, New Jack Swing and Old Skool Hip Hop, that feel good music we all grew up too. In a way I do miss playing those crazy ass club sets but thats all good, save that for the Thre3style battle next year!! I still want to get into the bigger clubs, there is nothing quite like that big club feel and mixing up crazy sets to hundreds of people, but at the same time, that intimate feel of the smaller clubs esp playing those feel good tracks where people can just get their sexy (not slutty) groove on is just as good… Welcome to my 2 completely diff styes of DJn lol

Anyways, have to give shout outs to the Crew and DJs at Madholic, the Korean DJs (DaQ, Qyu, Nol.e, Kone, Maniac), DJ Que and Potty Mouth, Iconz Media, DJ 4Play and Dojo and My Seoul Photography for the dope photo! Looking forward to working more with you guys and others in the future!