I’ve finally got the decks set up again; between the baby, the new job, and the move back to London I’ve not had much opportunity for mixing recently. Fingers crossed that will be remedied soon!
In the meantime, I’ve got two very different but equally massive guest mixes coming up very soon. First up is another great hard house/hard trance tribute by Tyssen, and then I’ve got a proper head-nodding deep dubstep mix from Brummy dj Audio Addict. Keep your eyes peeled!
Firstly, big up the mighty M-Zone for posting this video. Wow! (That gun-finger guy probably felt super rough the next day!)
Anyways, I’m 30, right. Married, a father, good job. A proper grown-up (more or less).
You would think I would be pretty sensible by now, right? And generally I am. No more three day parties for me!
Even so, sometimes I do things that are just foolish, that betray a real lack of foresight.
Like reading YouTube comments.
I know what you’re thinking … why subject myself to that? Although it is a great service, and a world-changing site, for some reason, YouTube also seems to attract a huge number of sub-literate morons, so reading the comments below most videos is an exercise in masochism.
Anyways, I was reading the comments (because, as mentioned, I’m not always sensible), and I noticed several members of the younger generation complaining that the people in the video weren’t dressed up and weren’t doing cool dancing.
Seriously, kids. What. The. Fuck.
Talk about missing the point, about getting things hopelessly, hopelessly muddled.
Raving was never about dressing up whether in fancy clothes or in neon bollocks with bracelets up to your elbows. It was about going out, dancing, meeting people, and having fun – about not worrying about impressing people or being cool or anything like that.
It’s the same with the dancing – the point was that you didn’t have to be a good dancer, but that you went out, expressed yourself, and had fun. When I spent a couple years back in New York and went out to raves that was one of the things I always noticed – lots of people standing around watching other people dance. That’s not how you do it! Just have fun and enjoy yourself and who cares if you look silly?
Life is long enough that you have many years ahead of you to worry what other people think about you; when you’re young you might as well take advantage of it and go for it.
right-click on the title and save as to download
Mixed in Ottawa, May 2011
(65:38, 90.5 MB, 192 KBPS MP3)
Zip pack (cut into individual tracks)
Large cover
Cue file
Style: Serious 1992/1993 breakbeat hardcore business
Sorry for the delay in getting some new mixes up – a few issues in the new flat have stopped me from setting the decks up yet. Frustration!
In better news, I’ve just received a wicked old skool hardcore guest mix from Canadian dj Karl Haze, which should be up within a week, as soon as the cover and interview is done. Fun stuff!
Hopefully I’ll have some more new guest mixes ready to go soon, and maybe I might even get a chance to do some new mixes myself at some point …
Kevin Energy, freeform hardcore legend, founder of the Nu Energy Collective, and general shit-hot dj, announced this week that after more than 15 years in the game, he’s going to be closing down his various labels and taking a break from dj-ing. If you’ve enjoyed any of my Rampage Turbo series of freeform hardcore mixes, then you’ll know that this is a sad day for lovers of the harder side of music.
If you’re into the Nu Energy sound, make sure to pre-order My Rave his farewell double mix compilation, on either cd or download. Featuring two mixes, one of new stuff and one of old, it looks frankly amazing.
right-click on the title and save as to download
Mixed in Edinburgh, March 2011
(76:53, 142 MB, V0 VBR MP3)
Zip pack (cut into individual tracks)
Large cover
Cue file
Style: UK Acid Trance
A pre-streamlined Skelp playing at Rampage, Edinburgh, 2002
From time to time people ask me if I’m planning on doing any more freeform hardcore mixes … and frankly it’s a pretty good question!
I’d like to, but I left my freeform collection in London when I moved to Edinburgh, so now that I’m moving back to London, it looks like I’ll hopefully get the chance to put together one or two old skool freeform mixes in the coming months.
Until then, however, you could do a lot worse than check out The End of the Beginning, the great new mix that my old friend Skelp has just posted. I’ve known Skelp since the Rampage days, and he’s always had an ear for quality tunage, and this set is no exception, slamming through some golden early freeform/trancecore favorites from labels like XY2, Nu Energy, Digital Beats, and Great British Techno.
As the man himself would say … yaldie! 😀
Oh, and sad bastard that I am, of course I created a cue file for it, which you can grab here.
There’s been a great response to Urban Takedown since I posted it, so I’d like to thank everyone who’s had a listen and left me a good comment on the various message boards I’ve posted it on. Thanks for your kind words, and I’m glad you like the mix! 😀
I’d also like to say a quick thank you to everyone else who has reposted it around the social web, with a very special thank you to Everyday Junglist and Tumblklaat. Cheers guys!
right-click on the title and save as to download
Mixed in Edinburgh, March 2011
(76:53, 134.56 MB, V0 VBR MP3)
Zip pack (cut into individual tracks)
Large cover
Cue file
Style: Classic ’95-’97 jump-up jungle
One of the things that is unusual about this site compared to most other mix blogs is that whenever I post a new mix I always post both a zip pack of the mix split into individual tracks as well as the standard single mp3. This is because I personally prefer to have mixes split into individual tracks, as it is a much easier way of finding exactly what I want to listen to than scrolling through a massive mp3 file.
Sadly, this is unusual, which is why over the last couple of years I have become very proficient at chopping up mixes – whenever I download something I enjoy I tend to cut it up into individual tracks so that I can more easily flip through it on my iPod.
I’m not quite sure why so few people tend to put up split mixes – laziness? lack of knowledge? – but obviously some people appreciate that I always provide a split version, since from time to time I get asked how to do it.
Having answered a few of these queries informally, I thought that it might be useful to provide a full, comprehensive guide to splitting a single mp3 mix into individual tracks.
Therefore, without further ado, I present to you …
Pearsall’s Guide to Splitting an MP3 Mix into Individual Tracks
notes before starting:
– All of the programs used are free to download
– This guide applies only to Windows … sorry Mac fans!
– I make no claims that this is the definitive way to split an mp3 mix … but it does work
– Click on any of the images below to be taken to a larger version
In order to demonstrate how to split a single mp3 file into individual tracks, I’ll be using XLR8R Podcast 148, an old skool rave mix by electronic music legend Moby. If you want to follow along with the process outlined below, you can grab the file directly from here, or you can get it from the XLR8R podcast page.
These are the main steps in the process, each of which I will explain in further detail below:
Usefully, all of these programs are free. 🙂
Once you’ve got those programs, you’re ready to start splitting!
