Monday, September 14, 2009
Satellite Reunion Party
This was an awesome party. I got coerced into going under the pretense that I would DJ on the rooftop, but I quickly figured out that that wasn't going to happen. But the music was great and I ran into a lot of old friends from the store. It was great to see everyone again and see how they were all doing, and it was great to just be on a rooftop in Manhattan and hear awesome music (mostly of the old school variety, very New York house circa 94-96, a strong chapter in the glory years). I'm wondering if there is a resurgence of dance music in New York and maybe the country at large. It always seems to go in cycles. The people at the party were mostly old store employees, but there were definitely people there to just hear good music. I even talked to some people who were there just to learn about real DJing. Good job Scott on putting out a great party.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Podcast 3: Continuous Disco Edits
I upgraded my aging copy of Traktor DJ Studio 2.6 to Traktor Pro. Definitely a lot has happened in 5 years. Here's my NEW MIX I just ripped after spending an hour learning my way around. Best new things:
Thing I miss:
- Faster track analysis
- Four decks
- Crazy (too many??) effects
- Dedicated filter
- Easier/Faster MIDI control surface mapping/editing
- Bit grid hacking seems easier, works a lot like live, but still I find it easier to just beatmatch and not screw around too much with the "automatic" mixing. It seemed to just do the right thing 75% of the time, and the more funky stuff with a less pronounced kick drum you just have to mix like a real DJ.
Thing I miss:
- Either it's harder to figure out how to edit the layout, or the layout control options are more limited
- Default controls for tempo are way too coarse - many things seem designed to be optimized for use with store-bought controllers like the VCI-100. I had to do (and still need to do more) a fair bit of tweaking on the tempo sliders
Monday, August 3, 2009
The Set-up: DJ'ing w/ MIDI
Check out my MIDI controller as Traktor interface. Deck A is on the left, B on the right. I have the scrub functions mapped, and the cue-pause and cue-play buttons. For fun I have the EQ's mapped to the knobs. Levels for the decks are mapped to the vertical faders. I want to change the filter parameter controls for the deck that has focus to use the sliders and use the filter knobs just to apply filter to deck A or B. Fun stuff!
New Podcast - Continous Live DJ MIX
Check out my first attempt to DJ with Traktor Studio. Pretty cool stuff! http://computerpaul.podomatic.com/entry/2009-08-02T23_28_54-07_00. The possibilities with Traktor are INSANE. I felt some pressure to try to do a lot of cool stuff. I set-up my own midi controller with some success, definitely some improvements to do. The funnest thing of all time is taking 16 bar loops of disco tracks and mixing them with house. Real time Ron Hardy in effect. I have a lot of thoughts about all this but I just wanted to get this post up.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Wedding DJ Services
I'm proud to offer Wedding DJ Services! I've been informally DJ'ing for my friends weddings and it seems there is a growing demand for wedding DJs that don't play the chicken dance. People want to have a great party and want their weddings to be memorable. So why not? Check out my wedding DJ website for more information.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Podcast Number 1 is up
Check out my first podcast. This is in a radio show, un-mixed format and features a variety of my favorite tunes from the past and the present.
Tracklisting:
CP Podcast #1 - Recorded in Brooklyn and Seattle Tracklisting:
1. Ramsey Lewis Trio - Slippin Into Darkness
2. Edwin Starr - Easin' In
3. Little Brother - The Way You Do It
4. Kano - Over and Over Again
5. Freaky Flow Presents The Heavy Petters - Same Thing
6. Beth Orton - Daybreaker (Four Tet Remix)
7. Nobody + Mystic Chords of Memory - Feet Upon the Sand
8. Dntel - Umbrella 9. Miracle Fortress - Hold Your Secrets in Your Heart
10. Out Hud - The Stoked American
11. Pete Rock - One MC and One DJ
12. Diamond D - So Confused
13. Ayah - Might Not Be
14. Chic - Chic Cheer
15. Nightlife Unlimited - Peaches & Prunes (Edit)
16. Rufus & Chaka Khan - Do You Love What You Feel
17. Suzy Q - Get On Up Do It Again
18. Cerrone - Give Me Love
19. Mandrill - Funky Monkey
20. The Trammps - What Happened to the Music (Dmitri From Paris + Idjut Boys Edit from Nightdubbin)
21. Touch Sensitive - Body Stop (Toby Tobias Remix)
You can subscribe from itunes or visit my page on podomatic to listen to the show now, or subscribe in any number of formats to make sure you get the fresh sounds first!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Pan-fried Fish with Tamarind Sauce
Cooking is just like producing and DJ'ing. No great big revelation there - mixing really is just like cooking. There's equal ingredients of science and artistic innovation, put into motion by combining sometimes disparate ingredients, sometimes familiar ones, in new and unexpected ways.
That being said, I've been experimenting with Southeast-Asian cooking for many years now. I've found Green Mangoes and Lemon Grass to be the best cookbook to get you started. There is some equivocating in this and most other SE Asian cookbooks about substituting ingredients. What I've learned is that you must use genuine ingredients to get the true taste of the food, and no substitution is worth it.
If you live in NYC, Udom is your one-stop shop for all things Thai. The block of Chinatown that this store is on is where to find all of your SE Asian cooking needs, though Udom has most of what you'd need for any SE style. The owner gave me some crucial hints that I'd like to share. Also if you're in Seattle, Viet Wah is the BEST store ever for all asian groceries, though they specialise in SE Asian.
Many of the recipes in Green Mangoes rely on making "tamarind water" by soaking Tamarind Paste in warm water and letting it sit for 15 minutes, then using the resulting water. The guy at Udom said to use this Tamarind soup concentrate, and boy is he right! I use less of it then the "tamarind water" usually. Also the other key I'm finding is to use real palm sugar. It's a much smoother, rounder sweet taste, and when combined with Tamarind, makes things taste like Thai food! Regular sugar is just too sweet and harsh. Tonight I'm going to try using a new kind of fermented bean paste with ong choy (water spinach), I'll post results - another ingredient suggested by Udom.
So I feel ok in posting this recipe from Green Mangoes because I am tweaking it with the above ingredients. You should buy the book. It's gorgeous and has tons of hints and a useful dictionary of ingredients. PS I use peanut oil instead of veggie oil. It is amazing stuff that burns a lot hotter than any other oil and it tastes good esp. when you're frying stuff.
1/2 cup of Tamarind sour soup base (see link above, must be this brand)
1/4 cup of water
4 tblsp fish sauce
3 tblsp palm sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1.25 lb white fish filets (I used local northwest red snapper, but halibut works great too!)
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup flour (corn flour is best but I've used regular white flour)
Enough peanut oil to fry the fish in a wok (I poured in enough to cover the bottom of the wok with about 1/4" of oil) - this is another key mod
1 tblsp crushed minced garlic
1 tblsp finely minced ginger
1 large red chili (I used a korean red chili as is commonly available at Uwajimaya to great effect), minced
2 tblsp minced fresh mint
Combine the sour soup base with the water, fish sauce, sugar, and soy sauce in a bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Depending on the type of palm sugar you got, a bit of may stay gloppy. Most of it should melt. Set aside.
Rinse and dry off the fish. Grind a bit of pepper onto it, and then dip each filet into the flour, coating both sides. Heat the oil until very hot but probably not smoking if you're using peanut oil. Add the fish, skin side down if skin is still on (not a tragedy if not). Lower to medium heat. Cook 3-4 minutes depending on how thick the fish is. Flip the fish and cook another 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Don't throw out the oil.
Using the same wok and oil, stir-fry the garlic, ginger, and chili over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add rthe tamarind mixture and simmer 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the mind leaves and immediately pour the sauce over the fish. Garnish with extra mint sprigs.
That being said, I've been experimenting with Southeast-Asian cooking for many years now. I've found Green Mangoes and Lemon Grass to be the best cookbook to get you started. There is some equivocating in this and most other SE Asian cookbooks about substituting ingredients. What I've learned is that you must use genuine ingredients to get the true taste of the food, and no substitution is worth it.
If you live in NYC, Udom is your one-stop shop for all things Thai. The block of Chinatown that this store is on is where to find all of your SE Asian cooking needs, though Udom has most of what you'd need for any SE style. The owner gave me some crucial hints that I'd like to share. Also if you're in Seattle, Viet Wah is the BEST store ever for all asian groceries, though they specialise in SE Asian.
Many of the recipes in Green Mangoes rely on making "tamarind water" by soaking Tamarind Paste in warm water and letting it sit for 15 minutes, then using the resulting water. The guy at Udom said to use this Tamarind soup concentrate, and boy is he right! I use less of it then the "tamarind water" usually. Also the other key I'm finding is to use real palm sugar. It's a much smoother, rounder sweet taste, and when combined with Tamarind, makes things taste like Thai food! Regular sugar is just too sweet and harsh. Tonight I'm going to try using a new kind of fermented bean paste with ong choy (water spinach), I'll post results - another ingredient suggested by Udom.
So I feel ok in posting this recipe from Green Mangoes because I am tweaking it with the above ingredients. You should buy the book. It's gorgeous and has tons of hints and a useful dictionary of ingredients. PS I use peanut oil instead of veggie oil. It is amazing stuff that burns a lot hotter than any other oil and it tastes good esp. when you're frying stuff.
1/2 cup of Tamarind sour soup base (see link above, must be this brand)
1/4 cup of water
4 tblsp fish sauce
3 tblsp palm sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1.25 lb white fish filets (I used local northwest red snapper, but halibut works great too!)
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup flour (corn flour is best but I've used regular white flour)
Enough peanut oil to fry the fish in a wok (I poured in enough to cover the bottom of the wok with about 1/4" of oil) - this is another key mod
1 tblsp crushed minced garlic
1 tblsp finely minced ginger
1 large red chili (I used a korean red chili as is commonly available at Uwajimaya to great effect), minced
2 tblsp minced fresh mint
Combine the sour soup base with the water, fish sauce, sugar, and soy sauce in a bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Depending on the type of palm sugar you got, a bit of may stay gloppy. Most of it should melt. Set aside.
Rinse and dry off the fish. Grind a bit of pepper onto it, and then dip each filet into the flour, coating both sides. Heat the oil until very hot but probably not smoking if you're using peanut oil. Add the fish, skin side down if skin is still on (not a tragedy if not). Lower to medium heat. Cook 3-4 minutes depending on how thick the fish is. Flip the fish and cook another 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Don't throw out the oil.
Using the same wok and oil, stir-fry the garlic, ginger, and chili over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add rthe tamarind mixture and simmer 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the mind leaves and immediately pour the sauce over the fish. Garnish with extra mint sprigs.
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