dj marc stokes

Recently Gig, Seduction 90’s classics night with Andy Farley, Dave Lee, Aj Gibson, Craig Regan and Shane brown

more pics in the Gallery

I was trolling through my HDD and i came across my Old Skool mix set recorded some 5 years ago. A little nostalgia from when i started djing nearly 1 1/2 decades ago.

Uk Old Skool 91-94
OLD SKOOL FREQUENCY (right click save as)

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I recently asked one of my good friends and possibly the best house dj i know to join me in a colaboration mix of some sexy smooth and soulful house tracks.

So here it is, Love at the disco, Mixed by myself and Swedens #01 House dj Daniel.S. always a pleasue to mix with someone who’s been doing this even longer than my old ass, Anyway, hope you all enjoy it as much as we did making it.

Listen here

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Download Here Right click save as

Inspired to do something a little different for a change, I got in touch with a good friend of mine, a very talented and succesfull Nu Skool breaks dj called Alex Swan aka: Swain (formerly deckwreckers, now 101connection) and we got a track list together for me to mix and here it is. 1 hour set of some twisted break beats and bass lines, with an electro tip. A far cry from my usual vocal and funky hosue, Breaks is something i enjoy mixing at home.

Please check out Swains website for info on th 101Connection gigs and mix cd’s worth going to see if your ever in the area.

www.the101connection.com

 
PLATFORM TWO

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So i was doing some stock photography and figured you dj’s might enjoy this as a desktop image

More resolutions available here

Live recording from 7th Feb 2009.

Deep house set as a warm up to an evening with Dj spen at Gary Wards “Days like this”.

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Not a new product but a long while ago i was sent these to review and i never got round to it so here it is.

The Thomann Freefloat is an inflatable cushion designed to sit under a turntable, Soecificaly designed for the 1200 series but most turntables will fit perfectly well on these.
The idea behind them is that they reduce vibration and feedback to the stylus.
i took this picture at home to illustrate how you use these but my experience of these is quite extensive from a club i used to resident in.

FULL REVIEW HERE

So after only a few days waiting my Stanton SCS.3d Midi controler came in the mail. suffice to say i was pretty excited to get this thing unboxed and plugged in, especialy as i have spent all week writing and editing midi maps to make it work with my software.
The 1st thing i Noticed was the nice packaging it came in, a minor detail i know but it was a nice touch all the same. the same air of quality and style awaits inside the box too. a very classy and smart looking unit.

Plugged in, it was immediatly recogonised by the  free to download software called daRouter which it seems is the brains behind this unit and send the signals from it to your software using the preset or manualy made midi maps.
The unit springs to life and was up and ready within 10 seconds of 1st plugin using USB2. The USB i might add is very cleverly designed under the unit so that it cant be pulled out very easily at all and the user chooses where on the unit it comes out making it super tidy in any set up.

I was supprised  how quickly i adjusted to this unit and after just 20 mins or so i was using this to mix with as seemless as i would be using cdj’s or vinyl both of which ive been using for nearly 15 years. Even using 1 unit, everything is so well lit and labled that you never get confused as to what function is selected or which virtual turntable it is assigned to. the incrimental pitch was very accurate and extreamly simple to use, the vinyl mode is perfect for nudging. The volume slider mode is not used as i am running this through my Rane Empath mixer and controling EQ and levels from there, However the EQ mode itself is quite cool on the unit and i’ll use this more for eq tricks in a mix whislt retaining the eq’s on my mixer for mixing itself. looping and hotstarts are again a breeze. so far the only limitations to this unit have been through me not programing the midi map and not the unit itself. once those are mapped correctly i am struggling to find a single issue with it that i dont like. Time will ofcause tell. but from a days use and my limited experience using midi this is an absolutely fantastic bit of kit.

Recently Stanton and Djforums teamed up to do a competition to promote their latest Touch pad digital midi controler (which i am soon to be a proud owner of - review comming soon)

The competition was to design a new midi controler and i was amazed at the quality of ideas from both dj’s and producers alike. Not to mention the amazing graphics work that went into many of them.
The Competition was Won by Mark.Simm’s design which was 19″ rack mountable and won because of its simplicity, its ability to fit into existing racks, and because it compliments an existing set up, rather than replaces one.

Winning design

For anyone looking to buy a new midi controler and wants something truly unique and extreamly capable. I recomend taking a look at this controler. Here is Stanton showing you a little bit more about how it works.

Review of AKG k518LE (lambourgini ltd edition)

I’ve been after a good set of headphones for just listening to music (not for dj’ing) for a while. I was given some Skullkandys from the rep for free to review and if any of you read that review you will know that they are aweful, and after a few hours of listening to music (be it faderwave or just cd’s) the terrible sound quality starts to make my ears hurt.

AKG have a good reputation and i saw these on sale at HTFR and after some research i decided to get them. (although my mum did pay so i had to wait until xmas ) £34.99 - (approx $55 or €40)

The range has been out a while but the new ltd edition Lambourgini range offers a wide choice in colours, i chose green for no reason other than i just liked them.

Full Review Here