The “Segue Does Disco” Dub:

The Original Mix:

The new gear I mentioned testing out was basically a Jazzmutant Lemur and a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 headphones. The Lemur I talk enough about elsewhere, and the headphones replace an infamous set of Pioneer HDJ1000’s that I posted about earlier. This remix was quite fun, as I simply grabbed all the source files, threw them in Ableton and flagged the bits I thought sounded usable. Those bits I threw in a number of Ableton Drum Racks, which I have mapped out on the Lemur in a custom template I’ve built to act a little like an MPC. Think “modular sampler”. The fun part of using Drum Racks like a sampler is taking a melody, such as the original record of Chris playing his bass, and dropping it into a few slots. From there I just use the Start and End points to isolate unique notes, which I can then jam on the Lemur in real-time.

This let me flip the bass and melody grooves by replaying single notes, and the rest fell into place. Other fun stuff included some cameo vocals from guests around the studio that was as complex as pointing an SM58 at them, and digging through some old disco records for some cheesy fills. As I had a day to do it, I found myself second guessing the new headphones and the “sound” of my new studio space, being the first mixdown I’ve done here, so I went for a drive at midnight around the inner city Brisbane suburb I live in. Which is often patrolled by Police. Leading to me imagining them pulling me over and asking “excuse me son, why are you doing laps of these streets at midnight?”.

“Checkin’ the mix man. Just checking the mix”. I hope you check the remixes and original of Guise out when it drops in a few weeks!

Seriously now. The universe told me to get some new headphones. So I did. Dropping in to see Porl at Musiclab, checking some cans with my old staple “Dig Your Own Hole” as a reference disc, I soon walked out with some Beyerdynamic DT770’s. I wouldn’t normally post about new gear, as a music technology writer and reviewer of new gadgets and gear every damn week, but this is a momentous occasion. One to mark with a suitable amount of respect. The passing of the Pioneer HDJ’s.

I’ve never been much of a kind parent when it comes to headphones. Being in a number of live acts over the last decade, from 145bpm breaks to 138bpm acid techno, has signalled an early retirement for many a smashed set of cans. Without checking the facts precisely, which would make for far a less interesting story, I had picked up a set of HDJ1000’s somewhere along the line. Someone else’s set of HDJ1000’s mind you. I saw them lying around a previous house, grabbed them for a Segue gig and that was that. Something wasn’t comfortable about them for the start, and by the time I had moved to Sydney to spend a year enjoying the cold charms of corporate apartments and airport back and forth antics, they were even more annoying. As I should have worked out by the very faint trace of, well, trance music, they did in fact belong to Brisbane trance DJ and apartment neighbour, Angus Gibbins.

By the time we worked this out, I had used them in a wide range of adventures, including being laughed at by a rooftop party adjacent to one of the Surry Hills apartments I stayed in for a while, writing the track that came to be known as “Cronies”. Not seeing them as I stood at the raised dinner table and laptop wearing nothing but boxer shorts, a hat and the headphones plugged in to my beleaguered X-Station. Good times.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Since then, these cans have been seriously abused on and off stage, to the point where they are remembered not for the annoying bass boost or odd dynamic response, but the many necessary gaffer tape repairs. After a particularly hectic gig (attempting to keep up rather than) playing with Silent Shadow, as evidenced in the video above, their fate was sealed. One too many times thrown to the floor, one too many layers of gaffer tape. Now, they could barely sit comfortably on my head. Or your head. Or anyone’s head. But still, they persist in usefulness, albeit with a distinct heavier tilt and the risk of one’s hair getting caught up in acres of gaffer tape and years of, yes, sweat and grime. Despite all that, it is with a heavy heart that I retire these completely terrible, poorly suited and effectively stolen headphones from the studio and, if I can build up the courage, from the stage. Rest in peace HDJ’s. Or, as the case may be, in pieces. Also, welcome the DT770′s. May they rock my mixes with the clarity of laser cannons.