In the Mix

[Battista Corleone]

I've always said that the most fun thing you can do...well...maybe the second most fun thing you can do in Second Life is DJ. To me, its a euphoric experience. As a DJ, you've got almost complete control, setting the tone of your particular gig with your music, and using that dangerous weapon called the microphone to help get your guests and staff involved and having fun.

I like to make music my own when I DJ. I used to play real world nightclubs in a past life, so I bring that into Second Life. Playing mixups and mashups from various sources is fun, but when I take those same songs, and make them my own, live, during an acutal stream is what I love to do the best. Sometimes you hit those mixes, sometimes you don't. Hey, its live, and if you miss a beat, you move on. But there are nights where you reach Valhalla, that moment that you mix a string of songs and the stars and moon align and you just know you couldn't of hit those mixes any better. I call it a natural.

Last night at Gateway to Heaven, one of my regular gigs, I hit that natural. I'm running 80's and 90's this night, with an occasional foray into newer stuff, mostly from requests, and the club owner, a dear friend, wonderful person, and absolute horn-dog, shouts in chat that she needs some music to get her back "in the mood". File-Search-Bilingual-Sigh. Don't get me wrong, Bilingual is a great track. But I hear that damn track all the time. Its one of the most abused, overplayed tracks in SL. It's also god-awfully long, chewing up almost 2 minutes before you actually get to the "good stuff".

Fortunately, Bilingual is one of the easiest tracks to 'play' with when DJ'ing. If you haven't tried beatmixing when you DJ, Bilingual is a great starting point to try club-mixing, but that, my friends, will be the subject of a future blog. I always do something to Bililngual when I play it. I've never played it straight end to end.

So on to the Natural. I come out of the gate with a Techno remix of "I Kissed a Girl", shouting it out to a couple of my girls workin the poles who are damn good at playin' off each other in chat. At the end bridge, I tap in CJ Dee's Short Dick Man. I've played with Short Dick Man and Bilingual a lot...the beats play off of each other real well, and the contrasting subject matter tends to be quite entertaining. As CJ Dee gets into second verse break, I bring in Bilingual early, looping it and adjusting the tones of the songs so that Bilingual's beat is prominent. At the end of the break, I unloop Bilingual and let these songs run together for what seems to be an eternity. Magic now happens...Just as SDM's lyrics stop, Bilinguals' vocals start. I say bye-bye to CJ Dee and take out Calabria to finish out the mix, gradually bringing it's beat over the previous track.

As a DJ, you can play music, or you can make it your own. When you make it your own you make it unique, a point in time that may very well never be experienced again by you or your listeners. It's what I live for.

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Battista Corleone is a Second Life Resident and DJ. You can find him spinning tunes every Friday Night at Gateway To Heaven from 6 to 8 SLT, and occasionally over at Club Remedy from 6 to 8.