The Records Keep Spinnin’

The records keep spinnin’

In no particular order, let’s sift through the files on the desktop, and see what’s going to be burning ‘em up this summer.

Our first two are both reggae-fueled:

Sean Kingston - “Beautiful Girl”. Built around a sample of “Stand By Me,” this is a cute, bouncy pop gem that should connect well on a radio near you.

Kat Deluna with Elephant Man “Whine Up”. An agressive club jam, based in both dancehall and deep house sonically, with the drive to be this summer’s answer to “Culo”, and like that song from a couple summers ago, is also bilingual. Elephant Man adds his rap flair and reggae credibility, making it extra hot.

Dance crazes?

Cupid - “Cupid Shuffle.” Hailing from the south, Cupid has a novelty hit on his hands with a simple dance that appears to be on the rise. It’s not revolutionary, but it’s not bad, and I like having something at a fast pace to play (142 BPM).

Wine-O with U.N.K. - “Hokey Pokey” I’m really hoping this one doesn’t take off. SLOW-beat hip hop of the corny variety, but I fear it will. You have been warned.

50 Cent - “Amusement Park”. We’re already up to the second single from 50’s current album, and it’s typical. Think “Candy Shop” with a different analogy.

Beyonce - “Get Me Bodied”. Her “B’Day” album has been surprisingly strong, and Ms. Knowles has really “went for it” vocally on this album in ways she hadn’t previously. While stretching her range was annoying on “Ring The Alarm”, this time it works much better. A catchy, bouncy backbeat never hurts, either.

Amy Winehouse - “Rehab”. What is soul? In the hip hop era I don’t know anymore. Amy Winehouse is the toast of the U.K. right now, and it’s partly her music, and partly her persona (not unlike the U.S.). She’s a hard-partying, hard-drinking, tatted singer who favors 60’s soul, versus more modern sounds. It’s a good sound, but modern too, lyrically. “They tried to make me go to rehab, I said ‘no no no’”. Catchy! (Slight) remix with Jay-Z on it, but stick with the original.

Sum 41 - “Underclass Hero”. I like this song, but mostly because I LOVE their song “Fat Lip” from a few years back, and this is JUST like it.

Puddle Of Mudd - “Famous”. Straightforward rock winner, without the salicious lyrics that made “Blurry” or “She Hates Me” big hits. Rocks hard, and shows with this band is made of. Reminds me of Velvet Revolver.

Michael Buble - “Everything”. Michael has done standards so well that Rod Stewart should hang his head in shame. Michael is now branching out musically, and it works very well. This is a mid- tempo love song that doesn’t “dance” really, but it’ll brighten up a room nicely.

Chris Brown - “Wall To Wall”. Chris is the clear front-runner in the “next Usher” sweepstakes, and might just overtake Usher, as he’s been very prolific, and Usher isn’t. He’s got the looks, the dance moves, the voice, and the production that makes ‘em go for him, big time. Does he have the abs, too? I haven’t looked.

R. Kelly & Usher - “Same Girl”. Speaking of Usher, and prolific… If Usher isn’t, R. Kelly IS prolific, and this ballad, full of the drama that makes both men the hitmakers they are should satisfy the appetites of fans of both of them. But please: don’t go any further than a part 2, at most.

Fergie - “Big Girls Don’t Cry”. A shrewd and bold move for the latest Fergie single. Prior to being the female Black Eyed Pea, Stacy Ferguson was part of the pop diva trio Wild Orchid. This latest single is aimed squarely at pop audiences. The video shows no Will.I.Am, instead showing a punk-looking band behind Fergie, and a scruffy, tatted love interest. A melancholy moment that’s very well done.

Ozomatli - “After Party”. If I were making bets, this one is my “long shot”. But sometimes the long shot is the one you really wanted to make it, but didn’t think could, you know? Ozomatli is a highly-underrated Southern California band that has bubbled under the radar for several years. Their music is what gumbo would be, if gumbo were a musical style that originated in California. They’re just fun!

Steve Sharp is a DJ in Southern California who has been spinning since 1981. In addition to running his own successful single-op business, Signature Entertainment, he also creates a weekly radio remix show for Bo’s Saturday Night Party on B95.1 FM. Steve is one of the few people who can not only play the hits, but gets involved in the story behind them and can often tell you who produced, directed and published the song and how their actions affect the music industry.

If you would like to contact Steve, he can be reached at thatdj@aol.com

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Music In The Corporate Mix

With limited song choices, more creative energy is needed to propel company partiesThe focus of my writings for Mobile Beat is the very foundation upon which most events are built, as I see it: the MUSIC. My angle has been specifically: new music. More than ever, music permeates everything around us. Because music truly is everywhere now, the ability to program it well and somehow make the music WE play more engaging than something automated is more important than ever before. It’s my belief that too many DJs rely too heavily on the tried and true, making their events bland and probably forgettable, at best.

It’s with this as the backdrop that my editor suggested that for this issue, I examine corporate parties…but, with a focus on new music. This might have been the shortest article ever to appear in Mobile Beat! Instead I chose to expand the focus to music programming overall, in the context of corporate functions.

Presentation Points to Ponder

My company does only a few corporate events per year, with most of our business being weddings, and the ocassional school dance or Sweet 16, so I decided to interview some DJs who do more corporate work than I do.

Steve Lynch, owner of Extreme Entertainment in Buford, Geogia has lots of experience in this area. Being in a suburb of Atlanta, Steve counts CNN among his corporate clients. He agreed that newer songs at corporate events should be few and far between, based on 1) the familiarity factor, 2) possible lyrical content issues, and 3) (possibly most importantly) the energy level!

Much like programming for a wedding reception (and maybe even more so), the right music to play at a corporate function should be familiar to the vast majority of your audience: songs that are “old friends” to those in attendance. Steve likes to start with ‘60s soul and Motown music, because it has this kind of appeal, and is also great to dance to. He then uses the reaction to it as a barometer to indicate which direction(s) to take the event musically from there. Steve reminded us to “play to their age range.” If the average age of the attendee is mid- to late-20s, the latest Avril Lavigne song is likely totally unfamiliar to them, even if it’s a huge current hit.

Steve suggests we “stick to classic, family-oriented stuff,” which sadly is another good reason to avoid much current music…unless you want the finger-wagging and/or earful of criticism you could be asking for by playing even the radio edits of many current songs. It only takes one complaint of this type to ruin your reputation, ruin any chance for repeat business with a company, and even prevent you from being considered by other corporates. Unlike wedding receptions, this should not be looked at as a “one shot” deal. (This is not to say that weddings don’t involve potential referrals; I’m just pointing out the bigger differences.) You can potentially get annual contracts for all the events within a company or group of companies, possibly touring to do it, too. And if the person in charge at the company leaves, you want her or him to take your information with them to their next position. Corporations spend lots of time and energy to project and protect their “image.” It’s your job to reflect that in the most positive manner possible, and make them look wonderful.

However, simply avoiding new music isn’t always enough to insure you won’t upset the sensibilities of someone at the event. Steve recalled the story of realizing the “hard way” how dirty the “Grease Megamix” is, when someone complained and couldn’t believe the DJ was playing “such filth.” I concurred, telling him a similar experience I’d had with “Hot In Herre,” and then suggested where and how to edit the Grease Megamix.

Most importantly, keep the energy level of the music up. Energy is not to be confused with the volume. Beyond the familiarity factor, frequently older music works better simply because it has a more positive and fun “vibe” and often a faster pace than much of today’s music. An exception to this rule is the 2007 hit “Cupid Shuffle” (by emerging hip-hop artist, Cupid), which is not only squeaky clean but fun, with a brisk, 142-BPM tempo, and yes, it has it’s own dance, too! I expect to see this in the MB Top 200 next year.

Companies also love theme parties. These themes often have musical ideas already “built-in.” Sometimes you can futher demonstrate your value by suggesting themes and how to implent them, if asked. But don’t push your ideas on them, especially with new clients-build a rapport first.

Finally, be flexible and responsive. For example, Steve told a story of a corporate client whose committee filled out a pretty extensive DJ Intelligence request list consisting of lots of R&B music, only to find that at the event…country music turned out to be the surprise big hit, based on the volume of countryrequests at the event.

Amalgamate Your Entertainment Quotient
I also spoke with Paul Welsh, of Welsh Entertainment in Orlando, Florida, which is home to a multitude of big companies looking to be entertained. While Paul does many of the things we all do, he has also collaborated in creating a “show” aimed at corporate clients called the Big Dawg and Paul Show, which includes contests and lots of games, and which is marketed towards openings and team-building events, among other occassions. Paul points out the contrast that at a wedding reception, “people pretty much are there to be supportive” to the bride and groom, while at a corporate event “they don’t want to be there,” so really entertaining an audience is even more crucial. Paul’s music programming philosophy is also spiced up with drop-ins from television and movies. He agrees that “any slow song at a corporate is just not gonna cut it” unless it’s a holiday party, so keep it upbeat!

While admitting that building momentum for a custom show has been challenging, the results are rewarding, and demand is building as word spreads. If you can offer something specific that no one else offers (I couldn’t be Big Dawg and/or Paul, could you?), you’re no longer pressured to compete with other DJs because what you do is so removed from the stereotyped definition of DJ.

Creative Limitations

Rather than needing to be on the cutting edge of the popular music world, the challenge presented to mobile entertainers by corporate clients, from the standpoint of programming music, is taking material that is very familiar and presenting it in a way that’s still exciting and fresh. You have to be creative within parameters provided by the event planners, based on the purpose(s) of the event. I’m confident that if you use some of the ideas here as guidelines, you’ll be off to a great start!

Steve Sharp is a DJ in Southern California who has been spinning since 1981. In addition to running his own Signature Entertainment, he also creates a weekly radio remix show for Bo’s Saturday Night Party on B95.1 FM. Steve not only plays the hits, but brings his encyclopedic knowledge of the stories behind them to each of his music columns. Steve can be reached at thatdj@aol.com.

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Remix It!

He can claim it all he wants, but Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, or (just) Diddy can claim he invented the remix all he wants, but he didn’t. I believe that remixing first began when stereo was introduced in the early 1960s, and soon the single versions deliberately sounded “hotter” than the album versions of the same songs - with stereo and mono versions differing considerably sometimes. In the meantime, reggae producers in Jamaica were experimenting with “dub” versions for the “B” sides of singles. Flash forward towards the disco revolution of the 1970s, and the rise of the DJ along with it, the concepts of beatmixing and scratching, and remixes began to be commissioned to feed this market.Remixes run the gamut from simply extending a song or portions of a song to completely new versions of a song, with few, if any, elements of the original recording included in the remix. By the late 80s, not only were the record labels issuing remixes they had commissioned, DJ-created labels began creating remixes. Some remixes are pure magic, creating a new work that enhances the original song in ways that even the artist never imagined. Others are horrible (which to me means “overdone” usually) and make you wonder “what the hell were they thinking”? Part of the fun is debating such things with other DJs. I know people who love certain mixes that I would never play in a million years, because I think it’s crap, and vice-versa. And what is the value of medlies and megamixes? Some DJs love ‘em, while other DJs think of them as “canned” mixes for lazy DJs.

While remix service labels should get permission from the original label to remix their materials, some do, and some don’t. The “bootleg” element of this segment is also fueled in recent years by a steep drop in costs to produce a remix (what can be done on a desktop computer for around $1200, would have taken a $25,000 studio to produce, ten years ago), coupled with the rise of the internet (instant distribution). Many, many labels have come and gone over the years. This week and next, I’ll highlight some of the best of the current group of American remix labels - remixes made by DJs for DJs: a great way to perform better beat mixes, and enhance your performance!

Select Mix

As with at least one other remix company before them, Select Mix began as an offshoot of a radio mixshow. In order to play certain songs in a mix, there needed to be a useable mix of it. When there wasn’t one, they would create one to use on the radio show. But why stop there? Make this new mix available for other DJs. In 2004, Select Mix did just that. Select mixes typically remain pretty faithful to the original production, with most of their alterations being structural. Select pays particular attention to up and coming mixshow hits from multiple genres, and their issues are usually very timely. They also have an old school series, a rewind series (older, but not old enough to be “old school”), and a slow jam series. Last year, Select took over the reigns of one of the original remix labels, Hot Tracks, and resurrected their Street Tracks series, as an urban remix series, with the focus being on clubs and some of the tracks being “dirty” and typically not playable for radio shows or mobile DJs. Other than some selections on Street Tracks, all other Select Mix products are “radio-friendly”. Run by Scott Thomas and programmed by DJ Jynxx, more information and audio samples can be found at selectmix.com.

Winner!

Congratulations to Lance Hill, of Sound Bytes Entertainment, of Kalkaska, Michigan who correctly identified the artist Pink as Alecia Moore. Lance will be receiving 5 back issues of Prime Cuts Monthy CDs. Nice!

More great remix service information, next time!

Steve Sharp is a DJ in Southern California who has been spinning since 1981. In addition to running his own successful single-op business, Signature Entertainment, he also creates a weekly radio remix show for Bo’s Saturday Night Party on B95.1 FM. Steve is one of the few people who can not only play the hits, but gets involved in the story behind them and can often tell you who produced, directed and published the song and how their actions affect the music industry.
If you would like to contact Steve, he can be reached at thatdj@aol.com

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Remix, Part 2 (But Not The Remix)

This week, I’ll highlight more of the best of the current group of American remix labels - remixes made by DJs for DJs: a great way to perform better beat mixes, and enhance your performance!

Full Tilt

The newest of the services in this discussion, Full Tilt remix was founded by members of the original Select Mix team, including T.J. Hess, and Ben McMillan. The formula of what gets the Full Tilt remix treatment is similar to which tracks make it to Select Mix - danceable songs (at least when they’re done with it) that you might hear on the radio: be they clubby, or top 40ish, or even rock. Sometimes there is duplication in track selections among the services (and not just between Select and Full Tilt). Best bet: visit the websites of the services you’re interested in, and listen to samples before ordering. The competition between services only heats up the creative process, and results in better mixes for all of us. Some of my favorite Full Tilt remixes are Ben’s treatment of rock songs. Extending beats or breaks to hip hop songs is not as challenging as turning a staid rock song into a dance floor hit. It takes more skill to pull this off.

Ultimix (and Funkymix)

I believe Ultimix is the longest continuously-running remix services in the U.S. Ultimix was founded by remixer Brad Hinkle (who previously worked for Hot Tracks - which would have beat out Ultimix in the longevity department if it hadn’t gone dormant and been resurrected in the past few months). Ultimix distinguished itself early on with higher quality standards than their competitors. This standard of quality exists to this day, but is less noteworthy now, as the spread of quality audio technology has made the differences in attention to detail harder to discern between services. Unlike Select and Full Tilt (which primarily have the “all in one” approach), Ultimix has historically had many different offshoots (satellite services) over the years, specializing in more specific genres. Today, Jeff Richards runs Ultimix with their primary two services: the signature Ultimix service, which is primarily club/house based, often with club versions of popular hits remixed and/or restructured, and a sprinkling of radio mixshow hits, at their original tempos, and Funkymix, which is hip-hop/urban in nature, but always radio-friendly (clean edits). Their consistent quality and brand longevity add to their popularity to this day.

Xmix has been around for a long time as well, and gone through many changes, over the years. They have several regular current “product lines” as well as some that seem to appear “from time to time”. Xmix Dance focuses on dance mixes, sometimes of current hits from other genres, and sometimes of songs that are natively “house”. If you use mainstream club and/or house, the specific song selections on this series are well chosen, and the mixes are easy to program. Xmix Urban is hip-hop & r&b, all radio-friendly. Xmix Chartbusters focuses squarely on radio music that doesn’t otherwise fit neatly into the other two categories, and may have a reggaeton song remixed, right next to a pop/rock song, right next to a country song. Xmix Club Classics remixes a rotatating stable of the songs most mobile DJs might use at an event. As much as I like this last series, especially based on my mobile business, I must say that I find the results to be spotty, at best. If you take a song from 1978 (for example) and make it sound more like 2007 is that a good thing? Sometimes yes, often times no. But, it depends on your personal tastes and who your audience is. If you’re playing an overly souped-up remix (of a “classic” song) in a club it’s different than playing that same song at a 40th Birthday party. Other services in the Xmix arsenal include Dancehall Devastation (reggae and reggaeton), Short Cutz, and Essential Megamixes.

Spice up your music library with great remixes!

For more information on these services, listen to samples, and buy their services go to:

www.ultimix.com

www.fulltiltremix.com

www.xmix.comUntil next week!

Steve Sharp is a DJ in Southern California who has been spinning since 1981. In addition to running his own successful single-op business, Signature Entertainment, he also creates a weekly radio remix show for Bo’s Saturday Night Party on B95.1 FM. Steve is one of the few people who can not only play the hits, but gets involved in the story behind them and can often tell you who produced, directed and published the song and how their actions affect the music industry.

If you would like to contact Steve, he can be reached at thatdj@aol.com

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Save Money, Learn More

Last week, we went through some “pick hit” new releases, and this week for fun, here are some opposites:

Hits and misses - the misses

The following are examples of “what were they thinking” and (in my view), won’t be of interest for any demographic, and perhaps a study of what sort of artists and/or songs NOT to invest in. I challenge any who disagree to email me a compelling counter-argument.

LaToya Jackson “I Don’t Play That”. And you shouldn’t either. In a pointless attempt to be relevant, LaToya sing/raps about her “glock” in this rock/rap song that succeeds neither as rock or rap, complete with blanked out profanities. Let me try to be positive (this is hard). She looks pretty on the promo shot.

Jay-Z… um, pick a single! I think I’m happy to see that the “keep it real” ethic of hip hop appears to come around (and what goes around, comes around, so I hear). If you’re going to retire, retire. Or, at the very least, make the “comeback” have more impact. For a few weeks recently, it seemed like every week there was a new Jay-Z single, and in the end, none of them are doing well.

Ashley Tisdale “He Said, She Said”. I think we’re at the saturation point for new, teen-oriented pop performers. This year may be a slugfest for who gets the fame and glory. Fresh from her role in High School Musical as Sharpay (I have a kid, I have to watch this stuff), Tisdale releases her debut solo album (of course). I hope there’s better material on the cd, because this one is just kinda “typical” and has gotten lost in the shuffle.

Medley!

While I’m a fan of remix services, they don’t generally get coverage here, as we focus instead on new releases (good, and sometimes bad), and overall music and music business trends. If the song is good, a structured remix of it is probably also good for those who beat mix and prefer it (as I do). However, on the latest Funkymix issue (105), there’s an outstanding medley of hip hop from 2006: DJ 2nd Nature’s 2006 Hip Hop Medley is a radio friendly, just under 20 minute tour of all the prime hip hop hits of 2006, in ascending BPM. Exceptionally good!

Timba!

I’m spending some time with the new Timbaland album “Shock Value” and it’s good. Tim Mosley’s at the top of his game, and this could be his peak. With his production on “SexyBack”, and “Promiscuous”, Tim made a stylistic right turn to more up-tempo tracks, and it’s worked like a charm. Is he stuck in a production “sound” rut (again)? Well, it depends on how quickly you tire of a “sound”. Pre-album single “Give It To Me” with both Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado is doing well, and the next single “Release” (another cut with Timberlake) will be next. Tim’s smart in that he knows his best work has been with guest artists. Every cut features at least one of a host of guests like 50 Cent, to newcomers to rock acts, like Fall Out Boy, and even Elton John.

And now, our exclusive Special Offer - Save money!

Months in the making, we’ve excited to have arranged an unprecedented special offer for readers of this column! For new subscribers, mention Steve Sharp when you sign-up for the weekly Prime Cuts CD service from JonesTM between now and the end of April 2007, and take $5 each month (for up to three years) off the price of your subscription. Get all the new music you need, in every significant musical genre (in the English language - or add their Latin service, too!), every week, shipped right to you. Mention me (Steve Sharp) and they’ll drop their already low prices another $5 per month, every month. You’re welcome!

Steve Sharp is a DJ in Southern California who has been spinning since 1981. In addition to running his own successful single-op business, Signature Entertainment, he also creates a weekly radio remix show for Bo’s Saturday Night Party on B95.1 FM. Steve is one of the few people who can not only play the hits, but gets involved in the story behind them and can often tell you who produced, directed and published the song and how their actions affect the music industry.

If you would like to contact Steve, he can be reached at thatdj@aol.com

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Spice Up Dinner

Spice Up Your Dinner MusicIt’s my belief that almost all really great ideas are revolutionary because of their simplicity. An idea that I’ve used over the years has recently come back to forefront of my mind, used in a new analogy that made it much clearer to me what a great idea this is. And we’ve touched on it in this column before: more variety in “dinner music”.

Last week, I saw (for the second time) Peter Merry’s presentation “The Best Wedding Reception… Ever”. The first time I saw this presentation was over a year ago, and prior to his publication of his book of the same name, and Peter’s Wedding Entertainment Director^TM guild. The topic of expanding dinner music selections was one small idea among those covered in this book, primarily aimed at brides. I won’t be quoting from the presentation, or the book (in fact, I don’t even have the book… yet - hint). But, for more information, visit www.weddingentertainmentdirector.com

Clients (especially wedding clients) often put together long lists of songs they’d like played at their event. How often have you looked at a list, thinking to yourself “how on earth do they expect people to dance to that?” In some cases, maybe they don’t, they just like the song(s) in question. Find ways to include at least some of their ideas into what you’re already doing. Doing so puts a subtle, yet distinct, personal imprint from the bride and groom into their wedding reception.

My bride and groom this past Saturday night had a couple of interesting sets of ideas that effected how the music was handled. One of them was: they wanted classic rock during dinner. They’re both fans of Van Halen. So, I put together two playlists - here’s one of them, which took care of the first hour and 20 minutes of the evening:

Peter Frampton - Show Me The Way (live)
Cars - Good Times Roll
Elvin Bishop - Fooled Around And Fell In Love
Zombies - Time Of The Season
Van Halen - Finish What You Started
Stealers Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You
Bruce Springsteen - I Wanna Marry You
Cheap Trick - Surrender
Styx - Too Much Time On My Hands
Sting - Message In A Bottle (acoustic)
Bad Company - Can’t Get Enough
Doobie Brothers - Black Water
ZZ Top - Cheap Sunglasses
Fleetwood Mac - You Make Loving Fun
Eddie Money - Two Tickets To Paradise
Paul McCartney & Wings - Maybe I’m Amazed (live)
Boston - Long Time
Heart - Barracuda
Eagles - Take It Easy
Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle
Billy Vera & The Beaters - At This Moment (live)
With few exceptions, I would be highly unlikely to play any of these songs during dancing. There are always more songs that people won’t dance to versus those they will dance to, so why not play songs the client will like, and/or whatever style they might prefer, instead of “the usual.” For these clients, it was fantastic. Songs that rock harder, songs that rock softer (but not to the point of John Mayer), songs of different vintages, and several songs that reflect a theme of being in love and even marriage itself.

Here’s another I put together yesterday - smooth jazz cover versions. This one will be great for many different client events, because it’s familiar, fun, not too “in your face” but not “elevator” either, and while the songs are familiar, it’s not “played out” because they’re redone in the smooth jazz idiom. They are almost all instrumental. Expect guests to be singing or humming along, in the course of this playlist.

Brad Mehldau Trio - Still Crazy After All These Years
David Wells - Strawberry Letter #23
Tom Braxton - Let’s Stay Together
Kenny G. with David Sanborn - Pick Up The Pieces
Kirk Whalum - Whip Appeal
Rick Braun - Groove Is In The Heart
Foreplay - Fields Of Gold
Jason Miles - Sexual Healing
Warren Hill - Low Rider
Nelson Rangel - That’s The Way Of The World
Tom Scott - Holding Back The Years
Wayman Tisdale - Get Down On It
Larry Carlton - Sleepwalk
Phillipe Saisse Trio - Lovely Day
Wayman Tisdale - Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now
Brian Gallagher - The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
Jimmy Sommers - Take My Heart
Eric Darius - If I Ain’t Got You
While other genres of songs sometimes get covered, smooth jazz is in some respects what old school grew up to be.

Almost all the songs in the 2nd playlist example came from JonesTM’s Prime Cuts Smooth Jazz series, which brings me to:

Free stuff!

I have a five pack of Prime Cuts Smooth Jazz cds (the last five back issues) to give away, courtesy of our friends at JonesTM! Here’s the question: who are the original artists for the first and the last song in the 2nd playlist? Email your answer to me at ThatDJ@aol.com with the subject line “Dude, I Know Those Songs”, along with your name, company name, mailing address, and phone number. Sumissions must be made by 11:59 p.m., Sunday, May 20th to be eligible. I will draw a winner from the correct entries on Monday, May 21st, and announce our winner one week from today!

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New Music You Might Also Love

Just this morning I read a post at Start.ProDJ.com bemoaning the quality of music so far in 2007. While there is a seasonality to “blockbuster” releases (summer and Christmas holidays), I truly believe the quality remains the same pretty much year-round. Sometimes the good stuff is handed to you, and other times you have to “dig” more for it. Here are some new releases I think you should consider. The tracks I mention may not always be the song(s) that just came out this week, but being “to the minute” current is rarely what makes a great mobile D.J. These are current songs to be aware of, if you’re not already aware of them:

quick cuts (in no order whatsoever)

Chamilionaire with Kelis “Not A Criminal”. The more I hear this, the more I like it. It challenges the stereotypes in hip-hop, and is at a decent 100 bpm tempo, unlike his signature (and Grammy- winning) hit “Ridin’”, a completely different style and tempo. And you can dance to it!

Christina Aguilera “Candy Man”. Christina seems to go for a different look or style with each new song, and this time she’s doing a big band vamp, a la “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”. If you’re looking for something fun, try this one.

Beyonce & Shakira “Beautiful Liar”. With both of these red-hot divas on the same song, it’d be pretty hard to miss. They don’t. Put it on, and watch for womens’ hips on the dance floor.

RDB “Wanna Play”. Youth-oriented bi-lingual act that appears to be breaking through. Being marketed to both English and Spanish speaking audience. Nice reggaeton-inspired beat. Don’t miss it.

G. Love “Beautiful”. G. Love has been part of contemporary blues for around ten years, and had several really cool songs along the way. His latest isn’t blues at all, but doesn’t miss an ounce of “cool”. This is a duet (unfortunately I see no credit for the female who he’s dueting with). If you play Jack Johnson at any point during a party (cocktails or dinner, for the “cool” that Jack brings), you can use this song.

Rob Thomas “Little Wonders” Movies continue to be a good source for new hit music. This one is from “Meet The Robinsons”. Not for the dance floor, but quality music, with a guitar line that reminds me of the Edge from U2. I’m hoping that Matchbox 20 isn’t done.

Sarah McLachlan “Ordinary Miracle”. Another movie moment and a new song from an instantly- recognizable voice. From “Charlotte’s Web,” it’s a simple, sincere, and beautiful ballad. Useable as a slow dance, or part of a playlist for cocktails or dinner. Voices like Rob Thomas’ and Sarah McLachlan come on and it’s like hearing from an old friend.

Billy Joel “All My Life”. Speaking of “old friends”, there’s a new “pop” song by Billy Joel, his first since 1993. This is a love song in a big band, even “Sinatra” style. To prove again how odd of a time we are in for the marketing of music, this song was originally available exclusively on the People magazine website (around Valentine’s Day), and then itunes, and this week: everywhere. I fully expect to need this for a first dance before the end of this summer.

Big & Rich “Lost In The Moment”. If you ever accused this column of being light on country music, I’d have to agree with you. But here’s one not to miss. It’s not kind of country-rock lunacy that made Big & Rich famous, instead it’s a great ballad that I suspect will also be used for weddings. Very good.

Silverspun Pickups “Lazy Eye”. This one has bubbled under for a while. A sinewy (and long) rock song with an insistent groove that easily reminds me of “1979″ by Smashing Pumpkins. You might not get hooked by this song at first listen, but after about 3 listens, it’ll have you.

Steve Sharp is a DJ in Southern California who has been spinning since 1981. In addition to running his own successful single-op business, Signature Entertainment, he also creates a weekly radio remix show for Bo’s Saturday Night Party on B95.1 FM. Steve is one of the few people who can not only play the hits, but gets involved in the story behind them and can often tell you who produced, directed and published the song and how their actions affect the music industry.
If you would like to contact Steve, he can be reached at thatdj@aol.com

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SCOOP - B-52 Prodigy FX: All in One Is One for All

The ProdigyFX from B-52: a seamless blend of players and mixer

Technology keeps pushing forward in multiple directions, sometimes all at once, it seems. B-52 Professional, known primarily for a wide range of speakers, including their Matrix series of powered speakers, have released an unexpected surprise in the form of an integrated dual CD deck and mixer workstation, the Prodigy FX. While it is an integrated “plug and play” workstation, do not compare it to other basic CD-mixer combo units. While the Prodigy FX is meant to configure easily, it is also meant to offer performance far beyond basic playback. This is for DJs who want to manipulate and really work “hands on” with their music. If that’s you, read on…

Meet the Prodigy
The Prodigy FX is hefty, and looks built to last. At first inspection, it’s clear that lots of thought was put into creating this piece. The unit can be used on a tabletop or from within the custom flight case that is included, so you’ll have zero accessories to buy. While it’s big in size, it’s not so big or heavy that you’ll need several friends to help you schlep it around. The entire unit is fan cooled and the case designed to support the airflow of the automatic and variable speed cooling fans. Heat kills electronics faster than any other single thing. The harder you work the Prodigy FX, the harder the fans work to keep the unit cool and fully functional. The mixer section uses VCA components, which are known for their durability and accuracy. Indeed, all the controls have a high-quality “feel.”
The unit configures easily. I had it out of its double boxes and “live” into powered speakers in less than ten minutes. As a quick test, I turned the unit off and on with the power to the speakers still live and loud, and there was no pop at all, at any time. Nice. Basic operation is totally intuitive with the well laid-out control panel. CD decks and their controls are located to the left and right symmetrically, with the mixer in the middle, so anyone who has DJed previously should be able to work with the Prodigy FX right away.
The CD decks are slot-loading from the front, so there are no trays or door mechanisms to break. There’s even a “forced” reset, which will eject the disc and reset one side of the unit, in the unlikely event a CD jams inside of it during a performance. For longer laser life, the decks go to sleep if left idle for too long (but you can disable or change the parameters of this protection). The decks can play audio CDs, as well as MP3 CDs natively; you don’t have to upgrade it to make it MP3 capable and it is as feature-rich with an MP3 CD as it is with a standard audio disc. Oversampling and shock memory are included, of course.

Control Yourself
Above the slots is the jog wheel, which is a 5″ replica of a standard 12″ turntable “wheel of steel.” Behind the wheel are the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) controls that unleash a host of effect options, allowing tons of creativity in live performance; I found these to have a level of quality and accuracy I’ve never seen before in an “all-in-one” unit. They’re laid out logically; you’ll only have to read the manual for the nuances of operation-the basic operations are totally intuitive. The effects can be stacked on top of each other, up to four (one per “row”), and can be beat-synchronized!
Three programmable hot starts are on each player, as well. Behind it all is the large, well-designed display, which reads well in low light or bright sunlight, from a wide viewing angle, with adjustable brightness (I found I could generally read the Prodigy FX display better than the screen on the notebook computer that I’m using to write this, especially in direct sunlight). The entire deck control area looks very modern (like an iPod® or maybe a Zune® lCD display), which shows CD text on standard CDs, or tag information on MP3 discs, so you know what you’ve got loaded in your player at all times. Track number (or folder and track number, on MP3 discs encoded that way), time (selectable to elapsed or remaining), pitch (including pitch lock), and BPM (automatically calculated, or manual “tap”-your choice), are all shown here, too. BPM calculates and recalculates in “auto” mode, and if you alter the pitch (or tempo) in either direction, the BPM adjusts accordingly, so the current BPM is always displayed.
Finally, an oval with a slice missing, representing a “needle drop” position, graces the center, reacting to movement of the jog wheel, in order to help you quickly find (without headphones, even), the start point from where you might “juggle” a beat or sound, in the same way a vinyl turntablist might put correction tape on a record, to find his “marks.” In regular mode, the top and sides of the wheel simply slow down or speed up playback with your touch. In either of the two scratch modes, the top of the wheel scratches, while the sides still speed up or slow down the audio. The two scratch modes are: “blue” LED indicating standard, where the “needle” sticks to wherever you manually direct it to be, while the “red” LED mode indicates that when you touch the wheel, you go back to the last cue point, and scratch from there. I believe this feature was first seen on the Pioneer CDJ 800, and makes complex and fast “juggling” simple to execute. Getting really good at it? That’s up to you.
To the right of this all is the pitch adjustment slider, which can be set to 4, 8, 16, or 100%. Additionally, there a button to activate and deactivate the pitch, pitch bend buttons, and a master tempo button. The audio is very good, even when pitch or tempo is altered, within reason.
Loops can be set on the fly with ease, played and later relooped at will, and edited to absolute perfection. Start and end points can be saved to the internal memory. If you save cue or loop points, the next time you load the same CD, the Prodigy FX will remember them. You can store up to 1,500 of them per CD player.

Sound Routing
The mixer section has four channels, and up to three mics inputs, the primary two featuring adjustable talkover as well as DSP reverb, so you can perform effects on your vocals while you do strange and wonderful things to your music mix. The four mixer channels each have 3-band equalization and kill switches in each band, as well as a master trim controls, allowing the DJ to compensate for extra loud or extra soft sources. If the onboard DSP effects on the decks simply aren’t enough for you, each channel has an effects loop, so you can use an outboard effect units, too. It’s as simple as the push of a button. The first two channels carry signals for the built-in CD decks, but can also be selected for other line-in audio sources. The decks themselves have line out jacks as well. If you combine these ins and outs, the DJ is enabled to loop timecode CD audio into (for example) a Serato box, and back through the mixer section of the Prodigy FX, allowing this workstation to control (for example) Rane’s Serato Scratch Live, M-Audio’s Torq, or Virtual DJ software. (One word of caution here: do not use the DSP effects on the CD decks when using timecode discs. The effects will only make the programs “hear” distorted timecode, which could cause all kinds of odd behavior in the programs.)
Both CD decks also offer direct digital outputs, so they can be used for studio or other applications requiring a direct digital output. Channels 3 and 4 are offer selectable line or turntable inputs, and channel 3 also has a dedicated stereo mini jack input, marked “MP3.” If you wanted to use an iPod for dinner music, and later, cut things up on the decks, it’s pretty easy to do, and the iPod can sit out of sight, right in the back of the case.
The crossfader is switchable and selectable (and user-replaceable-another pro feature not often seen on your typical “combo” unit), and the fader curve is adjustable. If you scratch better with one hand versus another, there’s a hamster switch to “flip” sides. In addition to the main balanced XLR output, there’s a separate booth output and volume control, as well as two other sets of RCA outs. The headphone cueing section can be “split” left and right, and/or have the main output mixed into the headphone output.
Wow. I can’t think of a single feature this mixer lacks… all the way down to the “mono” switch. As small of a thing as having a “mono” switch is, I’ve seen even high end mixers that lack this basic ability. In the unlikely event you lose an entire mixer channel, you can use “mono” and the remaining “good” side of the board to finish your event; or if you’re doing a job that’s really small with only one powered speaker, hit the “mono” switch, and you’re good to go.

Prodigy in Action
“In the lab” (ok, it’s my garage) the Prodigy FX got high marks for excellent design, ease of layout, and overall quality. What about “in the field”?
I was called to assist with a Sweet Sixteen party a friend of mine had booked. I decided this was the perfect time to “road test” the Prodigy FX. I set the flight case on an x-stand, tapped into my friend’s board, and was ready to go. With three hours of dancing to prepare for, I assembled and burned two identical MP3 CDs and played off those (6 hours of material on each). With the exception of any requests that I didn’t have the foresight to burn, which I played from Virtual DJ directly (no timecode, this time) my entire night was played from two identical CDs, one in each deck. I ran loops, echos, flanges, pans (left and right to the beat), and mixed, scratched and looped throughout the night. The audience loved it! And it was a blast for me too!

Mixed Messages
For one final set of tests (and a second and third opinion), I invited over a couple of DJs I know locally who are big on beat-mixing, and for being particular about their gear. One was a fan of the American Audio Pro Scratch 2 CD decks, until he switched to the Numark CDX, which is his current favorite. Our other DJ friend prefers the Technics SLDZ1200 CD decks. I’ve watched several times as the two of them have “debated” each other over which one of them had a better set of players, so I knew this would be quite an animated discussion and mix session. The hardest thing to do here was separate their observations regarding “preferences” versus “functionality.” They both found (as I did) the Prodigy FX to be feature-rich, but (for example) they had difficulty gaining accurate control of the “scratch” features, mainly because of the size of the wheel, and the entire console being “too cramped” compared to what they’re used to; as an all-in-one it can’t be separated to suit their spacing preferences. They liked it, but (of course) not quite as much as what they’re already using.

Winning Combination
In terms of engineering and layout, the Prodigy FX is fantastic. It’s both “retro” (with the elements of turntablism) and futuristic, built with the look, functionality, native feature set, ability to interface with outboard effects and timecode DJ programs, and even basic playback of MP3 players, that DJs increasingly need. It is a combination unit of the highest order, featuring high quality and ease of use. The price, while not small, is a great value, compared to what you’d pay in money and time, buying and assembling all the individual items of this caliber, as well as the flight case to carry them in. The Prodigy FX is smart…and did I mention it’s also fun?

Prodigy FX Specs

CD/MP3 Player Features
• Plays all formats of CD, CDRW and MP3 files with full functionality
• Dual mode high resolution touch sensitive jog wheel
• Seamless loop with on-the-fly access to loop editing
• Independent buffer memory anti-shock for each player
• Pitch control & master tempo with up to +/- 100% shift range
• Oversized blue LCD display with wide viewing angle and brightness control
• True instant start for both CD and MP3 operations
• Easy MP3 file search by folder, file name, title or artist
• Onboard DSP effects with multi-mode scratching, auto and manual filter and phase shifting as well as flanger, echo, trans, pan, & reverse
• User-friendly beat synchronization for DSP effects
• Auto BPM or manual TAP tempo
• Three hot cue points
• Three independent memory banks can remember up to 1500 cue points and/or samples
• Integrated fader start
• Slot loading transports with blue LED illuminator
• IPR - Independent Player Reset for each CD/MP3 player provides fail-safe disk jamming protection
• Built-in memory to save settings (memory is upgradeable)

VCA Mixer Features
• 4-channel VCA mixer with flexible input configurations
• Dedicated DSP reverb and talk-over on MIC channels
• Dual rail premium quality Accutrack^TM crossfader
• Effects loop with independent assign button on each channel
• Hamster switch
• Rotary crossfader curve control
• 3-band EQ on each channel with - oo to +12dB range
• Kill switches for low, mid and high on each channel
• Dual mode SPLIT/BLEND headphone monitoring
• 10 segment tri-colored LED metering on inputs and outputs
• Master MONO switch
• CD direct outputs and mixer inputs for use with Serato Scratch LIVE, M-Audio Torq and all other time coded systems

Connections
• 4 Line, 2 Phono, 1 MP3 and 3 XLR / 1/4″ MIC inputs
• Balanced master XLR outputs plus booth, master, record & master digital RCA outputs
• Independent digital SPDIF outputs for each player
• Digital master SPDIF output
• Fan cooling for improved thermal performance
• Voltage selectable power supply for worldwide use

Professional ATA Flight Case Included

MSRP: $2,399.99
Street Price: $1,199.99

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Summer Wrap and Summer RAP

While I haven’t managed to churn out columns as regularly as I intended, I stand by my predictions. Back in May, I predicted hits for both Sean Kingston and Kat DeLuna. My anecdotal reports say these were the hits for the summer of 2007!

What’s now, and what’s next

The summer is being wrapped up by Disney’s “High School Musical 2″, and the accompanying soundtrack, and any and every kind of merchandising tie-in you can think of. If you don’t know about the HSM franchise, you’re either 1) Amish (no media in your home), 2) Living under a rock (ok, maybe this is the same as 1), or 3) Have no children, nor do you know people who have children. I haven’t managed to be home long enough to watch the entire movie, but I’ve heard the entire soundtrack. It’s not as good as the first one, but it’s good, and will serve its’ target audience nicely, and likely leave them hungry for even more.

I have lots of respect for how Def Jam is setting Rihanna up with a great shot at career longevity, with each single sounding great, with videos that look great, and each single being different, and relatively original. This being said, doesn’t “Shut Up And Drive” sound like it totally needs to be mashed up with “Blue Monday” by New Order? (If you make one, send it to me).

For my money Keyshia Cole is the next Mary J. Blige, a hip-hop soul diva who just wails! But in this wild and unpredictable marketplace, Keyshia’s first album was noticed, but mostly fizzled. She’s maintained a healthy public profile via appearances on other artists’ singles (most notably with Sean Paul, on “Give It Up To Me”), and finally has a bona fide hit on her hands with “Let It Go” featuring Eve. Her 2nd album drops on September 25th, and I expect it to fare much better than her first.

The biggest mouth in rap, Kanye West, drops his third proper album “Graduation” on September 11th. Will it live up to the hype? Is it even possible? Nothing wrong with ambition, and we’ll soon see!

Expect to see (and hear) Madonna return with Justin Timberlake (and Timbaland) soon, with a performance at MTV’s VMA awards in September. What was that I was saying about ambition?

As the “major label” paradigm continues to shift, many veteran artists are taking matters into their own hands, with their own labels and/or unique joint venture deals. Two of those will be coming out soon: The Eagles are touting their first full album in 28 years! At first, this claim seems incredible. But, can you count “Hell Freezes Over” (from 1994) as a new album when it contained two new songs, and the rest being new, live renditions from their vast catalog? True, you have to go back to “The Long Run” from 1979 for their last full-length album. Wow. The lead single is “How Long” (and no, it’s not a cover of the Ace song from the 70’s), which leans country in sound, and has lead vocals that trade off between Glen Frey and Don Henley. Also, expect the imminent release of new Garth Brooks material, exclusively at Walmart. Have these acts still “got it”? We’ll soon see!Steve Sharp is a DJ in Southern California who has been spinning since 1981. In addition to running his own successful single-op business, Signature Entertainment, he also creates a weekly radio remix show for Bo’s Saturday Night Party on B95.1 FM. Steve is one of the few people who can not only play the hits, but gets involved in the story behind them and can often tell you who produced, directed and published the song and how their actions affect the music industry.

If you would like to contact Steve, he can be reached at thatdj@aol.com

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Spring Hits

Spring hits!

Maroon 5 “Makes Me Wonder” - The long-awaited follow-up to their breakthrough 2002 set “Songs About Jane” album is coming soon. Wow, was it really that long ago? It doesn’t seem like five years, partially because “Songs About Jane” didn’t “critical mass” with the general public until almost 2 years later. This release continues with the rhythmic pop which made the band connect with a large fan base in the first place. “Makes Me Wonder” is another heartbreak song, cleverly disguided by happy music, this time reminiscent of the Earth, Wind & Fire rhythm section. I expect this song to perform very well, and to age well, since the lyrical hook of the song isn’t battered into your head. Instead, it’s a little more clever. Indeed, the reason I like Maroon 5 in the first place is that while they’re unabashedly “pop”, there just a little more clever.

Linkin Park “What I’ve Done” - Speaking of long-awaited, Linkin Park is back with a new single, just before press time. LP is a group of very talented individuals, who together are better than the sum of their individual parts. While this song isn’t bad, and will likely do well, it’s missing some signature elements we’ve come to expect from this band. I’m told they are “progressing” out of the rap-rock hybrid that they helped create and define, which is fine. But on this well-written single, all the vocals are from Chester Bennington. Where is Mike Shinoda? To me this would be like having a new single from the Ying Yang Twins, and there was only one of the twins actually on it (and no, they’re not actually named Ying and Yang). Or, if you can’t relate to that analogy, try this one: if it’s Mick Jagger singing, but Keith Richards isn’t playing guitar on it, is it The Rolling Stones? I’m all for expanding the scope of what you do as a band, especially one as talented as Linkin Park, but this single doesn’t hit me as hard as I thought it would, at least on initial impression.

Rihanna with Jay-Z “Umbrella” - Not to harp on it, but I find it a shame that Jay-Z sounds better as a guest on this track, than anything I’ve heard from his own “comeback” album. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised at how well Rihanna has done in her career, thus far. And most of her hits have all sounded unique, too - which bodes well for her career. “Umbrella” is considerably funkier than the “Tainted Love” of her previous hit “S.O.S. (Rescue Me)”, with hard-hitting, rock hard live (sounding, at least) drums, and sinewy synths more often used as “blips” in hip-hop songs, versus for melody, as they’re used here. After Jay’s strong starting, Rihanna’s vocals stand up to the strong track that’s almost rock & roll, with r&b singing, yet with a stacatto rock & roll attitude. Original and very strong.

Don’t miss!

If you mention Steve Sharp when you sing up for the weekly Prime Cuts cd service from JonesTM between now and the end of April 2007, and take $5 each month (for up to three years) off the price of your subscription. Get all the new music you need, in every significant musical genre (in the English language - or add their Latin service, too!), every week, shipped right to you. Mention me (Steve Sharp) and they’ll drop their already low prices another $5 per month, every month. It’s the very best offer available, and it’s only available if you drop my name, and I could only get it because I have really clear blackmail pictures of Jim Weisz and Dave Foster that they don’t want published. Their indescrections are your gain!

You know, sometimes I just say things to see if you’re paying attention.Steve Sharp is a DJ in Southern California who has been spinning since 1981. In addition to running his own successful single-op business, Signature Entertainment, he also creates a weekly radio remix show for Bo’s Saturday Night Party on B95.1 FM. Steve is one of the few people who can not only play the hits, but gets involved in the story behind them and can often tell you who produced, directed and published the song and how their actions affect the music industry.

If you would like to contact Steve, he can be reached at thatdj@aol.com

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