Western Massachusetts, with its mill towns and hill towns, was a particularly isolated place in terms of electronic music in the 90s. As a child, my first exposure came way around 12 years of age courtesy of the '94 Tempest 2000 soundtrack. The soundtrack to Psygnosis's first Wipeout game in '95 solidified my interest. A slow, home dialup Internet connection provided brief glimpses of an alternative musical landscape. Before MP3s, the Techno XVI website and AOL's File Manager provided music through .ram, .s3m, and .mod. I remember saving up to buy copper wire to attach to my FM radio's antenna in hopes to improve reception for the weekly techno broadcast from Connecticut. Try as I may, Dave Dresden's signal had a hard time travelling through the diverse terrain. However, advertisements from stronger stations confirmed the existence of an electronic music scene, although largely inaccessible.
I was not aware of any vinyl record stores. My adolescent cost-benefit analysis did not warrant the purchase of record players or vinyl when compared to inexpensive and easily obtained CD compilations. My collection slowly grew. Music became an escape. It abstractly spoke and became of sort of self-interpreted philosophy.
First attempts at mixing were fruitless. Connecting a portable CD player to the inputs of the household stereo provided no way to control tempo or volume separately. Goldwave, a sound editor for Windows, at least allowed for time stretching and mixing via unwieldy post-production. The DJ Decks software, controlled with a mouse and keyboard, was next. Over the years, I upgraded and used vinyl, CDJs, Serato, and various MIDI/USB controllers.
Currently, my setup consists of a Macbook, Xone:DB4, Trakor, and Kontrol X1s. My approach to mixing electronic music mainly focuses on selection – finding flowing or intentionally contrasting tracks to elicit a reaction. On my mixes page, you will find old sets recorded from 2008 to 2012. On this site, I hope you find my software and videos useful.
