Thursday, May 29, 2014

That's a nice night you have planned.....too bad it's canceled.

I love the smell of failure in the morning! Smells like.....victory.

Ooops! Can I have a do-over?


Been a while, hasn't it? I've been fairly busy gigging (yay!). But, I've had a bit of a setback. I was working on getting a brand new house and breaks night set up at a nice venue. Getting the DJ's lined up. Starting the promotion. Deciding on how to grow the night over time. Yes, all that good stuff. Less than two weeks to launch, I get the IM from the promoter. "Venue changed their mind." The night isn't going to happen. Promotions taken down. DJ's apologized to.

And then what?

Anger.
Disappointment.
Frustration.

But this happens, doesn't it? No bridges were burned. No feelings were too deeply hurt. Time to step back, take a breath, re-focus, and decide what's next. That open-decks night at DC9? Maybe. More time to lock down a killer set for Ravemasters in 2 weeks? Definitely.

Lets mix.....

Sunday, March 16, 2014

theFREQSHO recap mix!

Happy Sunday, music lovers.

A couple of weeks ago, DJ Jordank had me on his regular Saturday night broadcast of theFREQSHO on WLVS/Listen Vision Studios in DC. Jordan is a super cool guy with a love of great underground EDM and so this was right up my alley. He asked me to come on and play for an hour, and I had a great time!

I recorded a recap** version of the mix I played that night and am posting it here for you. I'll be broadcasting live from WLVS on Saturday April 12 from 9pm to 10pm so tune in and crank it up!




**So what's a "recap" mix anyways? Well, I did not record the mix I did at the studio. So, the next day I did a live mix of the entire set, song for song, of what I played at the studio. I did change the intro sounds just a little bit in order to have a smooth start, but other than that, it was the same as what you would have heard if you had tuned in live!

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

DJ vs Rockstar

DJ vs Rockstar

Take a look at this picture below. Look closely. Does anything look strange to you?

Everyone is watching the DJ mix. Sure, they may be dancing or jumping up and down, but in essence, they are just watching a guy mix. 


For those of you who have gotten into EDM and the DJ culture it is part of within the last 3-4 years, this may seem totally normal. The stance of the crowd is the same if its a DJ or if its the Rolling Stones.

For those of you out there who, like me, got into electronic music in the 80's, this scene still looks foreign to my eyes. While my mixes are (hopefully) exciting and make people want to dance, I have never quite gotten comfortable with audiences watching me DJ. The act of pushing buttons, using the cross-fader, twisting knobs, etc just does not seem that visually appealing. At least not in the same way seeing a live band perform their music on stage would be.

So what are your thoughts on the whole "DJ vs Rockstar" issue? Let me know in the comments section or via Facebook or Twitter.






Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Return To The Groove - Volume 1

Originally posted at One Love Massive

DJ Daryl Northrop Return’s To The Groove

Freezing in February? Me too. So, I’ve put together some pure audio heat with the first edition of my mix series “Return To The Groove.” Lets go get our soul’s thawed out and moving with the beat. Normally as a DJ I go for higher energy breaks/breakbeat type tracks and a driving vibe for the dance floor. But, you can’t go full-throttle all the time, you need to pull back a bit, get a little deeper, and return to the groove. Still moving, still growing, still dancing, let this mix take you on a journey that energizes and focuses you on what matters: our music, our community, and our shared experiences.

Lets all Return To The Groove.


Saturday, February 15, 2014

4 Great Sources for Underground EDM Tracks

When two DJ's meet, two things usually happen:
1. We exchange the secret DJ handshake*
2. We ask each other where are good places to find music online

***ok - there really isn't a secret DJ handshake.....OR IS THERE???




















This post is about where I like to find new (to me) EDM tracks that generally trend to the underground. By "underground" I mean not likely to be heard on corporate owned radio stations and not likely to be in the Beatport top 20 of whatever genre they happen to be. But, I don't look at music via the "if it's popular, it must be crap" viewpoint. Sometimes popular songs are popular because they are really really good. However, a lot of the popular songs, at least on Beatport tend to sound strikingly similar. I crave variety, even within my favorite genres, so other I need other sources to turn to.

Free Breaks BlogOne of my favorite outlets for breaks/breakbeat tracks is . Updated nearly every day, they provide excellent free downloads from fantastic breaks producers from around the world. Also featured are in-depth interviews, full DJ sets, and links to the producers Soundcloud and Facebook pages. Free Breaks Blog also maintains its own Soundcloud page which is a great repository of music.

Funk 'n Filth: A great blog that covers the gamut of bass music including hip-hop remixes, breaks, breakbeat, along with some glitch and DnB. Added bonus - with many of the DJ sets available for download, they supply the track list! As a music scrounger, you do not know how happy this makes me. I kid you not, I heard a snippet of a track that I really liked in someone else's set, and it wasn't until a year later I found out what it was. A YEAR. That's like 75 years in normal-people time. Seriously.

Glitch hop/Dubstep/House/Drum N Bass/Moombahton/Electro/Future Garage: Here is the mother load of free EDM tracks. This site is part of the EDM Network family of webpages that feature blog entries and loads of free tracks, with links to the producers web pages. These are the web pages that I refer to as "the labyrinth" - there is so much here from so many sources that you can quickly get lost, in the best kind of way.

Soundcloud: You do have a soundcloud account, right? Right. Me too! Go there now and take a look around. You may be thinking "Ok, there's DJ Daryl Northrop's super dope mixes." Well, yes, of course they are there, but there's more. Who do I follow? What tracks do they produce? Who do those folks follow? What tracks do they produce? Get the idea? Lather, rinse, repeat. Here's a little journey. I follow Kid Digital, a great breaks producer from Russia. He follows Canary Breaks, a group that produces awesome tracks out of Spain, they follow Com Truise, an American glitch/electronica composer and artist. See how playing the music version of "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon" can broaden your music outlook?

The sites I've mentioned are just a tiny slice of the music that is available out there. The internet has taken crate-digging to a global level. There is literally no corner of the planet not available to you when it comes to sound. Want to put together an all-Russian set of breaks? You can do it. Fancy a showcase of the best in DnB from Spain? No problem!

Play on!




Thursday, February 13, 2014

Fake fame via fake followers via fake comments etc etc etc....





FAKERY! It's all around us, not just in the DJ world. While it seems the quick route to fame, money, success, romance, adventure, it just cheapens what for many of us is a form of artistic expression. Lets look at a couple of examples.

1. "Instant DJ - just add water" - these are scams that have one goal - to separate you from you money with the promise that you'll be able to mix like DJ Jazzy Jeff or (insert your favorite DJ name here) in 2 weeks when it takes everyone else years. The short version is - this stuff doesn't work. Yes, you can learn some basic technical skills in the course of a few weeks or months. But, assembling a music library, practicing, learning, constructing a set, learning how to improvise takes years to accomplish. Plus - this course in particular promises that DJ'ing is merely a vehicle to money, women, and fame. 




2. "Astroturf fame" - which is a clever way of buying fake listens, fake followers, fake downloads, fake twitter fans, fake likes on facebook to make it look like you are far more popular than you really are. This might be tempting, because a few dollars can buy you a lot of fakery. But, when it comes time to total up tickets sold, or the number of people who actually come through the door to hear you spin, then there's no hiding from that truth.






Stay true to yourself, people. Don't do this crap. It cheapens our art, and it cheapens you.




Thursday, February 6, 2014

What's in a practice session?

Lots, actually!

Hello everyone. One of the keys to me improving as a DJ is practice and experimentation. Some of my best mixes/transitions/themes have come from just chucking tracks together, fiddling with the sequencing and layering, and HOLY COW THAT SOUNDED GOOD, CAN I DO IT AGAIN????

Below is my latest mix, and it's an exploration of a somewhat more laid back indie-house/breaks/electro vibe.

Let me know what you think!


Feb 2 2014 Practice Session - a bit of indie house and breaks by Dj Daryl Northrop on Mixcloud

Monday, January 27, 2014

In the mix with DJ Romin

Good people make for good music! DJ Romin and I had a practice session a few days ago, basically just throwing the mix back and forth every four or five songs, and kicking around some ideas. 

For those new to the DJ game - why would you want to have a practice session with someone else? Well, first of all, they are going to hear all of your mistakes, or at least you can point it out and ask for input right there on the spot. Another reason is that having another person there can automatically make you a better DJ. Why? Not sure, but from what I have noticed, my mixing gets better when I have someone listening, especially another DJ. 

Plus, when you have practice session with another DJ, you often get a little bonus like this: Romin is proficient in scratching while I love breaks-style EDM. So, I mixed some breaks while Romin did scratch routines on top of them. IDEA TIME!!! Between the 8 cue points on each deck and the 6 sample decks on my Novation Twitch controller, I could have 22 breaks-based loops ready to go that can be scratched over. We'll have to see where this leads.....

So what did I learn from Romin? Plenty. Romin is an open-format DJ which means he goes from hip hop to EDM to reggae to indie-pop and on and on. That means you have to know every mixing technique and transition trick in the book: slams, beat-mixing, scratching, mash-up, etc etc etc. 

Shots of the set up...


Be sure to have a mixing board that you can both plug your audio into - makes it easier to transition!
And....DJ Romin doing what he does best!


My thumb thought it would be funny to photo-bomb this pic...

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The First Step is Always the Hardest

Originally posted at One Love Massive

Hey EDM lovers young and old, it’s your man here – DJ Daryl Northrop! I’m here to share my experience and knowledge with you about one of the most daunting challenges of the DJ/EDM scene. Is it becoming a super-star world-renowned DJ or the best producer out there? No. The challenge is landing your first club gig and putting together your music for that night. My unscientific research has shown me that the majority of bedroom DJ’s never play out at a paid gig. Shocking, right? Well, I’m here to tell you about some steps you can take to get over that obstacle,lay down a mix that will keep the crowd going, and get you on the short-list to be booked again.

mixer screenshot DJ Daryl Northrop

First off, where can you find your gig, or better yet, create your gig?
Sure, it’s easy as hell to find all the big clubs in town where the well known local talent, and the special guests from out of town play, but those places are not for you, not yet at least. As someone just starting off, you will need to be a bit craftier at finding a place for your first few gigs. Lets run some options, shall we? Option 1 – an established promoter than runs an open-decks event. These are events where a portion of the night is set aside for newbies to come and show their skills (Example – GLAS Mix Projectdoes this in the NOVA/DC area) Option 2 – organize your own EDM event at a community arts/music venue. This will take a bit more coordination and planning, but you can work with your friends and other up and coming DJ’s who are just as hungry as you to start playing out. Often they are non-profit and rely on donations, and usually do not allow alcohol sales, just so you know. BloomBars in DC is an example of this type of venue. You ain’t gonna get rich off these gigs, but they are a great way to start a regular event that features you, your mixes, and gets you noticed by club owners. Option 3 – DJ Busking. Yep, I’m talking about setting up your gear and a mobile PA system of some sort in a public place and just getting your mix on right then and there. Sounds crazy right? Well, it kind of is, but it works, too. Warning – check with your local government and other buskers about the regulations surrounding this. All you need is your DJ gear, a power source (battery, or nearby outlet – get permission!), and some amplification and you are set. Pick a place that gets a lot of foot traffic and is in the area where you want to end up DJ’ing. Example – 14th and U Street NW in DC. DJ NietZsky and I busked in this very spot! People will stop to talk to you about what you do. Be sure to have your business cards ready!
All of the options I have listed above do these things: They put YOU in charge of your reputation, YOU learn important lessons about organizing and working with venues, and YOU start building your ‘DJ Resumé’ that you can point to when you approach club managers and the promoters that work with them. Nothing inspires confidence more than to point out that “hey, I started something from nothing and have grown it steadily over the past 6 months, let me do the same for your club.”
So you’ve built your reputation and your following by using one or more of the options I spoke about, now you are in to your gig. This is why, as DJ’s, we do what we do. Mixing for the dancefloor has a special kind of magic and we want to be that special something that makes the night great. When you have your chance to get behind the decks, what are you going to do? Are you going to be paralyzed in fear, train-wreck all your mixes, and ruin your reputation? It could happen. But let me share some techniques to raise your chance of dropping a killer set that will leave people wondering when they can hear you mix again.
What is expected of you?
Always, always, always know what is expected of you for a gig. Sometimes the promoter or club manager will spell everything out to you in the form of an ‘Event Sheet’ or ‘Advance Notice.’ If so, great. But often, you may get little more than “hey bro, your sets starts at 10pm.” If so, time to pepper the person with questions: When should you be there? What type of music is expected (don’t want to show up with electro to an all drum and bass event!), who is playing before/after you, how are transitions handled, do you need to bring your own gear (controller/cdj’s/needles for turntables), how and who pays you, who is your contact at the venue (often it is NOT the person that booked you, fyi). Getting these questions answered will not only make the night easier and more enjoyable for you, it sets you apart as a professional who is organized and considerate, and can be counted on.All of the options I have listed above do these things: They put YOU in charge of your reputation, YOU learn important lessons about organizing and working with venues, and YOU start building your ‘DJ Resumé’ that you can point to when you approach club managers and the promoters that work with them. Nothing inspires confidence more than to point out that “hey, I started something from nothing and have grown it steadily over the past 6 months, let me do the same for your club.”
So you’ve built your reputation and your following by using one or more of the options I spoke about, now you are in to your gig. This is why, as DJ’s, we do what we do. Mixing for the dancefloor has a special kind of magic and we want to be that special something that makes the night great. When you have your chance to get behind the decks, what are you going to do? Are you going to be paralyzed in fear, train-wreck all your mixes, and ruin your reputation? It could happen. But let me share some techniques to raise your chance of dropping a killer set that will leave people wondering when they can hear you mix again.
Choosing music and pacing your set.

example set DJ Daryl Northrop

This is the core of the evening. This is what will set you apart. Real talk time – since you are likely new to the DJ world, you probably are not the headliner at the event, so do not prepare as if you were. That’s just the way it is. It’s time to play your position, and prove to the club manager, the promoter, the other DJ’s, and most importantly, the audience, that you can lay down a killer set that is just right for your set time, and for the people coming on after you. Step one: Know your headliner. Listen to their mixes and tracks they have produced. Do not, under any circumstances, play one of their tracks that they have produced or remixed. You are likely poaching from their set. Step two: If you are the opening DJ or one of the early DJ’s for a night, try to pick tracks in a complimentary genre but with a slightly lower energy level than the headliner. Example – if your headliner is a drum and bass DJ, try to keep to spinning slower breaks, uptempo house, and breakbeat tracks. Busting out a 175bpm “Amen break” drum and bass anthem at 10:30 at night will not win you any friends. Again – play your position. Another example – if your headliner is known for vocal house, then you can start the mood off right with more minimal house/tech-house type tracks to lay the foundation, but not steal the thunder of your headliner. Being a good opener will not only win you points with the headliner, and make it more likely they will request youto open for them, but it will prove to the venue and promoters that you are serious about being a team player and can be counted on.
Preparing your set.
When it comes down to the nitty gritty of planning your set, there are many strategies. Some DJ’s like to plan their set down to the millisecond. Some dislike pre-planning at all, feeling that it stifles spontaneity and creativity during the night. I use the middle option. If I have a one hour set, I generally load 1.5 or 2 full hours of music so that I have some options. Often I can start my set in one of two places, either a slightly slower, lower energy zone, or I can jump into a faster/higher energy zone right away based on the mood of the crowd, music played before me by other DJ’s, etc.
Tips for set success:
  1. Practice, Preparing your set.When it comes down to the nitty gritty of planning your set, there are many strategies. Some DJ’s like to plan their set down to the millisecond. Some dislike pre-planning at all, feeling that it stifles spontaneity and creativity during the night. I use the middle option. If I have a one hour set, I generally load 1.5 or 2 full hours of music so that I have some options. Often I can start my set in one of two places, either a slightly slower, lower energy zone, or I can jump into a faster/higher energy zone right away based on the mood of the crowd, music played before me by other DJ’s, etc.
  2. Practice, practice- yes, we’ve heard it a million times. But why? Well, when you are up in the booth at a new venue, early in your DJ career, with a crowd waiting to be entertained, it can be damned nerve-wracking. Practice makes you more comfortable with the tunes, the transitions, timing, everything. Remember, this is supposed to be fun, right? No point in getting so twisted up by nerves that it’s an exercise in terror.
  3. Stack the decks – literally. Here’s a tip that has worked for me many times. It often takes me the first 15 or 20 minutes of my set to really relax and get into the flow of the music. So, I stack the first 15 or 20 minutes with songs and transitions that I know well and that flow together.
    Keep an eye on the crowd – Especially for us DJ’s that use laptops – avoid Serato-face at all costs (staring blankly at the screen as if you were editing a spreadsheet).
flosstradamus - serato face tumblr

If possible, set your laptop to the side. If not, make sure to be watching the crowd, and let the crowd know you are having fun! This is not permission to Jesus-pose for a full hour, but if you are into the music, nodding your head and some DJ booth dancing are a good way to share your energy with the audience! Wave to the crowd! Say hello to the people who pass by the DJ booth. Remember, you are not a machine that just plays music, you are one of the people at the venue helping make it a memorable night.
Here’s a mix I did that puts together the concepts I’ve gone over. It flows from slower, lower energy tracks into faster, higher energy tracks, yet periodically pulls back on the energy level to let the dancefloor catch its breath, go for a drink, socialize, etc. Hope you you enjoy it! If so, download and share!




Alight – class dismissed. No test. No homework. I hope all of this information has helped you get to where you want to be. Feel free to follow up with me via email at DJDarylNorthrop@gmail.com

DJ Daryl Northrop - mixology

DJ Daryl Northrop is a breaks, house, and electro DJ based in the Virginia suburbs of DC. DJ Daryl Northrop spins across the greater DC region, from Jimmy Valentines to Backbar at the 9:30 Club, and on to Paradox in Baltimore. He is also co-founder of the EDM collective Dancekraft which hosts genre-bending, innovative parties at venues in the DC region.
Daryl brings a fun approach to underground dance music, lighting up the dancefloor with rare tracks, remixes of classics, and more. Anyone can play Top 40 remixes, or the Beatport Top 20, but when you want style and innovation, DJ Daryl Northrop brings a music experience not to be missed!
For booking, contact: DJDarylNorthrop@gmail.com or call 703-261-9341
*****
Copyright 2014 DJ Daryl Northrop