This is an archive of mailings to the MUXList, an opt-in mailing list run from my old server. The links in the emails may not work, due to the complete site redesign, but the news is here anyway, for reference purposes.
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Wednesday, 16 March 2005 |
Subject: (mux): Announcements, Gigs, Demo
From: "Drew Smith (mux)" <drew@mux.ca>
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 11:56:57 -0800
MUXLIST ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1.) Where is MUX?
2.) UPCOMING SHOWS
3.) New Live Recording (full set!)
4.) 2005 Demo CD Completed!
5.) Promoter Callout
6.) Gear Changes
Holas,
This is the eleventh email to this newsletter since the inception of the
list in September 2003. News time!
*******************************************************************
1.) Where is MUX?
For those new to the list, MUX is an all-hardware live-pa acid/rave
techno musician in Vancouver, BC, Canada. MUX music is pounding and
energetic, and is best enjoyed at a loud volume very late at night.
As for where I've been - well, for the last few months, I've been trying
to balance a fulltime day job with a few little side projects - like
buying a house with my girlfriend, getting ready to move, etc. :) The
house we're buying doesn't have a room for a studio, so we'll be digging
out the floor of the basement (6.5' ceilings just aren't high enough!)
and refinishing it custom, with sound-treated walls and ceilings,
hardwood floors, etc. Lots of work, but it should make for a very
pleasant place to work on music.
Currently, I'm in the studio, holed up and working on a new set of rave
techno for the 2005 party season. I'm looking greatly forward to
playing at many parties this Summer! If you liked last years music,
just wait until you hear the music this year...
*******************************************************************
2.) UPCOMING SHOWS!
Well, ok, currently it's just "upcoming show" - I have a second booking
in June, but no info about that show yet. I'm confident that that'll
change soon enough, as I've been giving out demo CDs like mad. :) I've
had to turn down a few shows since Christmas, as I've decided to build a
new set of tunes from scratch rather than keep playing last years music.
I'm booked for a performance on April 28th at "Kcuf Uoy", the techno
clubnight held at Lick ever second Thursday. This will be the third
time I'll have played at Lick, this time with my good friends Ross "DJ
Granolaboy" Kakushke and Jody "GI Jody" Marshall both spinning records,
making up a night of Pod6 debauchery. Cheap drinks and good techno
people abound!
I've told the guys at Kcuf Uoy that I will probably not have a full hour
set of music ready in time for April 28th - like I said above, we're
busy buying a house and moving into it, which is taking up WAY more of
my free time that I'd like - I'm aiming for 30-45 minutes, and I'm
considering this show a trial run of a bunch of new ideas I've been
working on.
Lick is at 455 Abbott Street in Vancouver, BC - doors open around 9pm,
with techno starting around then and continuing until 1am or whenever
they kick us off the (excellent) soundsystem, whichever is later.
*******************************************************************
3.) New Live Recording!
Not so new anymore, but new as of the last mailout (way back in
November; I told you this list was low-traffic!). I got a decent
stereo-mic recording of my set at the "Just What The Doctor Ordered"
rave on November 27th 2004. Sharing the bill that night were Aya, Dr.
Doom, Crazy Dave, Goa Pete, AkHentek, Ninjaboy and Logik.
The recording is available on my website, in the 'Live Recordings'
section:
http://mux.ca/livetunes.html
I consider this recording to be an excellent example of my 2004 live
sets - my set was from 2am-3am, and you can hear from the recording how
much the crowd enjoyed it. :) I've received some excellent feedback
from folks on the net who've downloaded it and had a listen.
(I'm always interested in hearing what you think of my music, good or
bad - any feedback helps!)
*******************************************************************
4.) 2005 Demo CD Completed!
This is the really big news for this announcement email - after many
months in the studio learning to use Ableton Live and struggling to
learn how to be a recording engineer, I finally finished. My "MUX 2005
Live-PA Demo CD" is four tracks of audio, recorded and mixed together in
Live in "Stu-Stu-Studios", my home studio here in the heart of East
Vancouver, then mastered by Steve Venter at Dirty Bass Studios in
London, UK.
The four tracks are:
1. Collaborate (7m15s, 138bpm) - Collaborate, and LISTEN!
2. Complex (6m08s, 138bpm) - YOU ARE INCONSISTENT
3. Seamripper (6m15s, 138bpm) - That's just the drugs talking...
4. Channel 58 (6m39s, 138bpm) - 57 Channels and nothin' on
I would have liked to have included more songs (my 2004 liveset was
approximately 14 songs), but I just didn't have time!
If you'd like to download the demo tunes, they're available on my
website, of course!
http://mux.ca/studiotunes.html
If you would like an official CD copy of the demo, write me back at
drew@mux.ca with your full snailmail address, and I'll get you a copy in
the mail - I only have about 30 custom-painted "CD mailer" envelopes
left, though, and would like to get them into the hands of folks in
other cities, so if you're in Vancouver I'd much prefer to get you a
copy in person rather than mailing it. :)
If you're like me, and just want to download a single file and be done
with it, I recommend you grab the following MP3, which is exactly that;
a single file with all four songs, mixed together:
http://lfo.fsck.org/~drew/2005_demo/mux_-_2005_Demo_-
_All_Four_Tracks.mp3
Thanks muchly to Chris Thomas (aka XFive) for hosting these files on his
very fast server!
*******************************************************************
5.) Promoter Callout
Given that the 2005 season is beginning, and booking for the Summer
parties is already started (or is already completed, as is the case with
the biggest of the events, like Shambhala and Motion Notion, d'oh!), I'm
now looking to get my demo CDs into the hands of every promoter I can
find. I'll have my live set ready for full shows after the end of May,
and will be available from about June 1st onwards.
I'm not just looking around Vancouver and surrounding areas, either!
Later on this year or early next year, I'm interested in looking at a
tour of a few major cities in western Canada, and would like to build
contacts in other cities. Promoters don't necessarily have to be bigger
crews with the financial ability to fly me in, I'm just as interested in
playing for smaller parties and free parties, if I happen to be in town.
For instance, we visit Toronto at least once a year, and I'd be happy to
bring my gear along if there's a party waiting for me.
So, if you are a promoter or know of any party promoters, big or small,
who'd be interested in hearing a demo from an awesome live-pa rave
techno guy, please forward me a mailing address to drew@mux.ca and I'll
get a demo CD out ASAP!
*******************************************************************
6.) Gear Changes
I've made some more changes to the rig, in preparation for the 2005
party season - major changes include a bunch of rewiring, the removal of
the Korg ER-1 drum machine, and the addition of a Future Retro FR-777
analogue synthesizer and a Shure Beta57a microphone.
For the gear geeks: I've changed the routing to my DBX 166XL compressor,
which now has my kickdrum on one channel and my bassline (from the
Waldorf Pulse Plus analogue monosynth) on the other channel, with the
kick sidechained into the bass channel. This lets me duck the bassline
out of the way so the kick punches through, giving me a lot more control
over the low end of my mix. I've also changed a lot of the routing of
the two lead monosynths, including the SH-101 - I'm still trying to sort
out a problem with major noise from the 101 and 777, but I think I have
a line on a fix, so I'll have some new studio pics on my website when
that's finished. :)
Expect my sound for the 2005 party season to be much updated as a result
of these gear changes!
*******************************************************************
Anyhow, that's it for this edition of the MUX announce list. Stay
tuned, check out the free downloads on my website (http://mux.ca), and
if you're in Vancouver hit me up for a copy of my new demo CD if you see
me out at a club or on the street. :) I hope to see lots of you out at
Kcuf Uoy on April 28th!
Cheers,
- Drew. |
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Tuesday, 09 November 2004 |
Date: Tue, 09 Nov 2004 19:34:39 -0800
From: Drew Smith <drew@mux.ca>
Subject: (mux): Announcements and Gigs
MUXLIST ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1.) UPCOMING SHOWS
2.) Photos from Reflections and Halloween
3.) New Live Recording
4.) Gear Changes
5.) Demo CD Callout
Holas,
This is the tenth email to this newsletter list. News time!
*******************************************************************
1.) UPCOMING SHOWS!
Yet another couple of shows coming up on the horizon - next one is this
Thursday, November 11th (yep, Remembrance Day). I'll be performing a
one-hour(ish) set of my typical live-pa rave techno stuff at "Kcuf Ouy",
the bi-weekly(*) techno clubnight at "Lick", at 455 Abbott Street (at
Pender), in Vancouver, BC. I'm told they're renting some extra sound
equipment specifically for this night, and I expect there'll be a bunch
of people out for several reasons:
For one, sharing the bill that night is a live-pa from local techhouse
producer Ricardo Almeida - some of you may know him from his duo live-PA
act with John Tennant, as the two of them rocked the "Deepen" clubnight
at the Lotus a few times earlier this year. I'm greatly looking forward
to hearing Ricardo's solo work.
And if two live-pa acts weren't enough, resident techno rockstars MAX
POWER (appearing at this weekends SoundProof party) will be bringing
along a subset of their live gear and jamming gear-vs.-turntables with
DJ's SonOfJacob and Little Jon.
But most importantly, Trevor "SonOfJacob" Jacobson is the reason for
all this hoo-ha - Trevor is celebrating his birthday this Thursday. End
your day off right; come down, enjoy the techno, and buy Trevor a drink.
After all, tomorrow is Friday!
**
Coming up quickly (November 27th) is another event in Vancouver, BC that
I'm really looking forward to - a full-on, all-night techno party in a
downtown location. I've been asked to do a set of live-pa rave techno,
and it looks like I'll have a pretty choice timeslot - also appearing on
the bill are:
- Aya (aka Chris Schmidt of Organix fame) (live-pa)
- Dr.Doom (the scourge of many a Vancouver message forum) (live-pa)
- Mirka Cerny (from 'Driven' at the Drink)
- Crazy Dave (staple of the scene)
- Goa Pete (whom I shared a stage with at 'Noor')
- AkHentek
- Ninjaboy
- Logik
...and my good friend Fish (from Inject, who rocked the Listening Room
this year) doing a set of live-PA trance under his "Transgress"
pseudonym. That makes for FOUR live-pa acts!
The party is called "Just What The Doctor Ordered", and is a costume
event - come wearing your best medical-themed duds, there are prizes for
best costume!
The flyer is here: http://www.sciencequeen.com/flier.png
Important: this party has a maximum capacity of 140 people, so tickets
pretty much guaranteed to sell out - with the crews involved, it is
bound to be a tight party though. Tix are only $10 - I only have a few,
but more can be found by emailing the address on the flyer.
*******************************************************************
2.) Photos from Reflections and Halloween
My personal PR photographer (and hot sexy girlfriend) Erin is always out
at my shows taking pictures - well, mostly she's always out *everywhere*
taking pictures.
I did a set at "Reflections Cabaret", a nightclub in Halifax, Nova
Scotia. I knew in advance that they had a wicked dancefloor and
lighting and sound setup, but what they didn't tell me was that the club
holds a very special liquor license. Apparently, every other club in
the city has to stop selling alcohol at 2am, except for the three clubs
that hold "Cabaret" licenses, stating that they can sell alcohol until
3:45am... and neither of the other two clubs play dance music! There
were about 250 people at about 1am, but at about 2:15am folks started to
pour in from other clubs, and at 2:30am when I went on, there was almost
400 people!
Erin's pics of that night are up at:
http://reelgeek.com/images/photos/2004-Oct-15-mux_reflections/
One of my faves:
http://reelgeek.com/images/photos/2004-Oct-15-mux_reflections/49.html
**
For halloween, our crew partnered up with Intimate Productions to do a
club party that won't soon be forgotten! Three rooms; Farshad and the
crew from Team Trainwreck in the front, a staffed BDSM dungeon upstairs,
and our team from Pod6.ca staffing (and packing) the back dancefloor at
Vibes nightclub. The party was called "A Nightmare On Davie Street",
and it went off all night.
Most of the Pod6 and EastVan crews dressed up as the cast from the
Trailer Park Boys - some of them actually got quite into their
characters that evening. I declined, having already been working on my
costume before the theme was decided upon... I shaved half my head and
went as a Klingon.
Erin's pics:
http://reelgeek.com/images/photos/2004-Oct-30-halloween/
Crash Dave's pics are up, but are like, over a meg a piece and hosted on
my not-so-much-bandwidth ADSL line.
My scaaaary costume:
http://reelgeek.com/images/photos/2004-Oct-30-halloween/30.html
*******************************************************************
3.) New Live Recording
Unfortunately, the Halloween set didn't get recorded, but hey, that's
just how things go. Actually, I've discovered that someone has
*finally* made a box that does everything I need for a proper
live-techno recording:
http://www.edirol.com/products/info/r4.html
Anyhow, I did get a half-decent recording of the Halifax set... one of
the minidiscs had some errors tho, so I was only able to cut one track
out of the recordings. The song is called "Function 12f"; it's a newer
one, this was the first time it was played at a crowd, but they seemed
to like it.
Function 12f - Live in Halifax:
http://mux.benow.ca/mux_-_function_0x12f_-_live_in_Halifax.mp3
I'd love to hear critique and feedback!
*******************************************************************
4.) Gear Changes
Just 'cause I know some of you folks are as geeky about hardware as I
am, I figured I'd update you on some recent changes in the studio. If
you haven't seen it before, check out http://mux.ca/gearpr0n.html -
actually, I really should update that. I'll try to take some pics
tonight or tomorrow.
Anyway - two new additions this week; one cheap, one expensive. I
snagged a Digitech Studio Quad off eBay for nice and cheap - $120 USD.
Not bad, for a four-channel effects unit.
But the big addition was more about planning for the future than simple
Gear Acquisition Syndrome(tm)... I carefully researched, decided upon,
and purchased a MOTU 828mkII firewire audio interface!
http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/828/body.html/en
With 2005 fast approaching, it's time to start recording my 2005 Live-PA
Demo CD. This interface, combined with my newfound love for recording
with Ableton Live 4 (http://www.ableton.com), should help me to finally
get some of this music out of my sequencers and into MP3's - and
hopefully, onto vinyl.
First impression of the 828mkII: easiest. install. ever.
*******************************************************************
5. Demo CD Callout
As I said above, I'm about to start recording my 2005 Live-PA Demo CD.
There's still a lot up in the air - should it be four tracks, or six, or
eight or more? All the music is written and has been performed all
Summer, it's just a matter of recording it all! I need to get this
music recorded and out of the way so I can make room on the sequencer
for the live-pa tracks for next Summer. :)
There's really only one reason to record a demo CD though - and that's
to get more gigs. I'm expecting to have the CD done around January, and
I'm now starting to collect the addresses of out-of-town promoters,
reviewers and fans who'd like a copy mailed to them. I'm making a
spreadsheet of folks to send copies to - if you'd like to receive a copy
of my CD in the mail in January, it's not too early to email me with
your mailing address.
I'm especially interested in sending copies to out-of-town promoters
(Erin and I love to travel) and record labels, so if you're listening to
my MP3's and know a promoter who'd like my stuff, by all means send me
their mailing address and I'll get them a promo packet when they are ready.
*******************************************************************
Anyhow, that's it for this edition of the MUX announce list. Stay
tuned, check out the free MP3's on my site, and if you're in Vancouver I
hope to see you at Kcuf Ouy at Lick this Thursday!
Cheers,
- Drew.
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Monday, 27 September 2004 |
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 14:56:45 -0700
From: Drew Smith <drew@mux.ca>
Subject: (mux): Announcements and gigs
MUXLIST ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1.) UPCOMING SHOWS
2.) Listening Room 2004 pics
2.) Short Video Downloads
Holas,
This is the ninth email to this newsletter list. News time!
*******************************************************************
1.) UPCOMING SHOWS!
Another batch of shows coming up - next one is this Thursday, September
30th, at the new techno clubnight "Traffic" held at Club23. The setting
is nice, there's cheap beer ($7.50 pitchers or something like that,
iirc), a nice big dancefloor and an excellent soundsystem. Also
spinning that night will be DJ NuMix spinning hard techno, and my
personal fave techno DJ, G.I.Jody, spinning acid techno. I'll be
playing an hour-ish set starting at around 11:00pm-11:30pm. Club23 is
at 23 West Cordova - walkable from either Waterfront or Stadium SkyTrain
stops, with the Waterfront walk being a bit less sketchy... ;)
Cover is $5, unless you manage to hook up with me sometime between now
and then, in which case I can score you a couple of free passes. ;)
Next booked show after that is actually in Halifax, Nova Scotia, so I
doubt very many folks on this list will be able to make it out! On
October 15th, I'll be playing a 1.5h set from 1:30am - 2:30am at
Reflections Cabaret, alongside DJ Tommyknuckles and probably another DJ
or live-pa to be announced.
Saturday, October 30th, mark your calendars - well, ok, don't bother,
you'll remember this one anyway. ;) HALLOWEEN PARTY NIGHT - we all wish
that it was the 31st, but that's a Sunday, so the big parties are all on
the 30th. We, otoh, are throwing a smaller party with a maximum
capacity of 250 people - our Pod6 crew is taking one room, while the
crew from Intimate Productions (the guys behind Cheeky, etc) are taking
the other room. The lineups:
Cheeky room: (electro/breaks/progressive)
- NUDLZ vs. Mack Hardy
- Tantra vs. Johnny Fever
- Team Trainwreck (aka Abasi + Dr. Jones + Glyn)
Pod 6 room: (tech-house/techno/live PA)
- Stormchild vs. Granolaboy
- Anisotropic (aka Jeff Griffiths)
- MUX (Live PA)
- GI Jody
If last year's Halloween party is any indication, this is *the* party to
be at - our decoration crews are meeting up later this week to discuss
how they're going to transform the venue. Tickets are a measly $10, and
should definitely be purchased in advance.
I've been asked to perform a set of live-pa acid techno at a small rave
techno party on November 27th - I don't have too many details (or
rather, I'm kinda fuzzy on which details I'm allowed to release), so
here's the bits I think I can talk about: the party is called "Just
What The Doctor Ordered", it'll have a capacity of about 150 people
(read: intimate and underground), the soundsystem is *very* capable, and
there'll be at least three live-pa acts, with probably at least one
more. Sounds like a blast!
Oh, and I've also been talking with the crew behind the wicked "Kcuf
Ouy" techno night, every second Thursday at Lick - they're interested in
having me back sometime between now and Christmas, so I'll drop
another note to this list when I know more.
*******************************************************************
2.) Listening Room 2004 pics
Well, unfortunately, my set at the Listening Room 2004 didn't get
recorded - well, technically, it did, but the levels were way too hot,
and ended up with really nasty distortion on pretty much every kick.
Suck! Oh well, there's always next year - and Erin has some footage on
her camcorder that might possibly be able to be layered over top of the
distorted recording to make for a half-decent mix... or something.
We'll see. Aaaaanyway, a bunch of different photographers took pictures
of the event - there's a bunch of links to photo collections at:
http://www.listeningroom.ca
WELL worth a look! If you missed the Listening Room, you missed out on
a *fantastic* party - make sure you get tickets early next year, we were
sold out by 5pm this year and didn't even open the doors until 9pm...
*******************************************************************
3.) Short Video Downloads
Courtesy of Dave "Crash" Collins, I've got two short (~15 megs each)
video clips that are well worth the glance. Dave took these using his
digital camera:
http://lfo.fsck.org/~drew/mux_seamripper_breakdown.mpg
http://lfo.fsck.org/~drew/mux_collaborate_lrc2k4.mpg
Quick and dirty, but they give a good idea of what the Listening Room
was like. :)
*******************************************************************
Anyhow, that's it for this edition of the MUX announce list. Stay
tuned, check out the free MP3's on my site, and if you're in Vancouver I
hope to see you at Traffic at Club23 this Thursday!
Cheers,
- Drew. |
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Friday, 06 August 2004 |
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 2004 13:33:19 -0700
From: Drew Smith <drew@mux.ca>
Subject: (mux): Gig announce - this weekend, "Noor"
Holas,
Just a short note to remind everyone - if you're looking for something
to do this weekend, why not throw some minor camping equipment in the
car and head out to "Noor", a Summer outdoor party thrown by the
Beheshto.ca and Ducky.ca guys! One night, two stages, two dancefloors,
and two fine rosters of DJs spinning house, techno, eastern beats and
more. I'll be doing an hour-long set of live rave techno from 2:30am
'till 3:30am on the main stage.
Here's the flyer:
http://www.beheshto.ca/noorfront.jpg
http://www.beheshto.ca/noorback.jpg
Should be tons of fun - I'm told they'll have ample equipment should the
weather choose to go towards the wet side, but according to this weather
site, it should be fine:
http://www.weather.ca/weather/cities/can/pages/CABC0279.htm
The party is in a SUPER SECRET LOCATION THAT YOU'LL NEVER EVER GUESS,
about two hours drive from Vancouver, near beautiful Squamish, BC. See
http://www.beheshto.ca on Saturday for directions... there's also a
forum on http://www.beheshto.ca with a message topic dedicated to
ride-seekers, if you would like to come but have no way to get there.
First DJ goes on at 10pm Saturday night, and the last set finishes at
10am Sunday morning - hope to see you there!
Cheers,
- Drew. |
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Monday, 26 July 2004 |
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 13:08:18 -0700
From: Drew Smith <drew@mux.ca>
Subject: (mux): Gig tonight!
Holas,
Just a short note to remind you all that I'll be performing my live act
tonight at "uoY kcuF", the Monday night techno clubnight at "Lick"
nightclub. I go on at about 11pm, and will be playing for an hour. I
will be playing a similar (tho different, it's live after all) set to my
performance at Trancemission 7 two weeks ago, with a couple of new bits
for good measure.
Also appearing tonight will be "DJ Sappho" from Portland (and
apparently, she seriously throws down the techno) and Soundproofer "The
Trucker".
"Lick" is at 455 Abbott Street (at Pender), right upstairs of the Lotus
Sound Lounge, about a block away from the "Stadium" skytrain stop.
Cover is $4. Come support local live talent - hope to see you there!
Cheers,
- Drew. |
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