After 15 years of DJing I can’t fend off the remix bug any longer. I still have a huge learning curve ahead of me but this week’s set features “first drafts” of two bootleg remixes. After a few listens, I’ve already got a few improvements in mind, but I’m pretty keen to hear feedback and constructive criticism too. As soon as I’ve tuned them up I’ll post links so you can find them on SoundCloud.

The first remix is really just a mashup of Activa’s Transmission with an old white label vinyl that I’ve had in the collection for a long while: Spoken Words by eGYPT.

The second remix is of Progress by Phil Reynolds and Ben Bennett – a killer track to begin with. It’s a bootleg remix so it’s a little choppy in a couple places, but overall it seems okay for one of my first endeavors into remixing. It uses parts from the original mix, parts from the Adrenalin Department remix and there’s a little sample in there from an Ephedrix track, along with a few sounds of my own.

The second half of the show features a guest mix by Simon Qudos – one of my current fave hard trance producers. Currently based out of the UK, he’s looking to debut in Canada next year. If you like this guest mix, check out Simon Qudos on sound cloud.

dj Smiley Mike Hard Trance Bootleg Remix Set

Electro Sun – On Air
Disco Hooligans – It’s Good to be Alive
Disco Hooligans – Steady Now
Disco Hooligans – How It’s Gonna Go Down
Ben Nicky – Catapult (Fabio Stein’s Uprise Mix)
Ram – Godspeed (Fabio Stein’s Uprise Mix)
Organ Donors – In Power (Fabio Stein’s Under the Knife Remix)
Nick Sentience – Electrify (Uplifting Mix)
Activa vs. EGYPT – Transmission of Spoken Words (dj Smiley Mike Mashup)
Nick Sentience feat. Nick Rowland – Meridian
Phil Reynolds & Ben Bennett – Progress (dj Smiley Mike’s Extended Bootleg Remix)
Nick Sentience – Electrify (Tech Mix)

Simon Qudos Guest Mix:

(Note: this week’s guest mix did not include the complete set. Watch for part 2 coming soon!)

01. Intro: Syphon – Iridium vs Simon Qudos & Luke S [High Drive Recordings] [2009]
02. Reverse Psychology – Simon Qudos [Riot!] [2009]
03. Let’s Get Higher – Simon Qudos [Vision Control] [2010]
04. Adrenochrome – Simon Qudos [Presence Recordings] [2008]
05. My World – Simon Qudos [Riot!] [2009]
06. System Shock – Technikal pres Carl Nicholson (MDA & Spherical vs Identikal & Simon Qudos) [Vision Control] [2010]
07. Ascension Protocol – Simon Qudos [Ignite Digital] [2009]
08. Impakt – Simon Qudos & Lady G [Riot!] [2009]
09. Velocity – Simon Qudos [Presence Recordings] [2008]
10. Plaything – SQ vs Simon Qudos & April [Impact] [2009]
11. Time To Burn 2009 – Simon Qudos & Greg Brookman [Masif] [2009]
12. Next Generation – Simon Qudos [Vision Control] [2010]
13. Surrender Your Freedom – SQ vs Simon Qudos & April [Impact] [2009]
14. What is the Future – Simon Qudos [Electrik Shandy] [2009]
15. Acquisition – Iridium vs Simon Qudos & Luke S [High Drive Recordings] [2009]
16. Theme from HTML – Steve Hill & Technikal (Simon Qudos & Greg Brookman Remix)[Masif] [2010]
17. E.V.P. – Simon Qudos & Kye Shand [Ignite Digital] [2010]
18. Glitch – Simon Qudos [Ignite Digital][2010]

This is supposedly the last Nukleuz Records set for awhile. I don’t know if I can stick to my promise or not. I don’t want to subject you guys to the same tracks week after week, but after giving the first hour a second listen this morning I was pleasantly surprised. There’s a lot of decent mixing in the first hour (I’m a perfectionist so you won’t often hear me praise my own mixing) but I was pretty disheartened after the first colossal trainwreck. It wasn’t so much a trainwreck of a mix as the golden mistake of cuing the record with the level all the way up. Argh!

I find at the radio station I’ve been mixing more with the gain knobs than usual. I like it – but you really have to watch that the level slider isn’t left up when you start to cue the next record. 

All in all it was a good listen.

The second hour is a bunch of B-Sides thrown together. The radio show has always been about having fun for me and the second hour is just me playing around with a bunch of records that I have rarely if ever played.

After many weeks of PsyTrance and a few weeks of talking about a new deep trance mix, Smiley Mike finally delivers with a mix of new and old tracks including deep trance, uplifting trance (or epic trance as I like to call it) and even a few vocal trance trax.

Caddyshack follows up with some uplifting vocal trance of his own, but his set, and the entire show – is cut about 10 minutes short after security guards walk into the studio and inform us that we have to leave the UBC Student Union Building immediately due to a bomb threat. (I’m not sure who makes a threat on a nearly empty building at close to midnight on a Sunday – but that’s how it went down!)

dj Smiley Mike New Deep Trance Mix

Disco Hooligans – Steady Now
Michael Lee – Everblue (Adam Foley Remix)
Nick Rowland – Galactica
John Askew & Matt Hardwick – Slaves to the Machine (Liam Melly Remix)
Disco Hooligans – Steady Now
John Askew – How Can I Put This (Fabio Stein Remix)
Nick Larson – Push (Fabio Stein back2basics Remix)
Chac feat. Chilli Gold – 7 Years (Grinder Vox for the Box Remix)
First State – Off the Radar (First State’s 808 Clash Remix)
Claudia Cazacu – Quatrain 3
Maloraca Lee – Medication Vacation (Fabio Stein’s Uprise Remix)
Activa – Transmission
eGYPT – Spoken Words

dj Caddshack Vocal Trance Mix

Re-locate – Rogue (Caddyshack Edit)
Cirez D vs. Armin Van Buuren – On Off Love (Armin Van Buuren Mashup)
DJ Tomcraft – Overdose
Reflekt feat. Deline Bass – Need to Feel Loved (Seb Fontaine Remix)
Andy Moor vs Orkidea – Yearzero
Orkidea & Gareth Emery vs. Nadia Ali & Andy Moor – Metaversal Love Story (Theta Mashup)
Super 8 & Tab – Irufushi
Lens Flare – Shutter (DNS Project Original Mix)
Tiesto – Sparkles (Transa Remix)

After two weeks off I’m back, throwing down more psytrance. But it’s Caddyshack that really hammers it this week with a killer uplifting trance mix featuring mashups by Armin Van Buuren and Theta. My favourite track this week – Trancemission by Activa!

dj Smiley Mike PsyTrance Mix

Mad Maxx – At the End of the Rainbow (Smiley Mike Live Remix)
XSI feat. Lucid – Dominion
XSI – Alchemik Machines (Mad Maxx)
Aquila – Alice (Ephedrix Remix)
Save the Robot – Feel Like a Star
Alien Project – NRG
Ephedrix & Aquila – 10 Miles Out (Lamat Remix)
Quadra – Cyberfunk
Quadra – Back Again
Refuge Cru – Terminator II
Dance 2 Trance – Power of American Natives
Mellow Mellow - I Can’t Stop

dj Caddyshack Uplifting Trance Mix

Deadmau5 – Jaded (Caddyshack Edit)
DJ Tom Stevens vs Fridge – Outface 2000
DJ Tiesto – Sparkles (Transa Remix)
Andy Moor vs. Orkidea – Yearzero
Cirez D vs Armin Van Buuren feat Sharon Den Adel – On Off Love (Armin Van Buuren Mashup)
Sia – Buttons (Marcus Schulz Coldharbour Dub Mix)
Orkidea & Gareth Emery vs Nadia Ali & Andy Moor – Metaversal Love Story (Theta Mashup)
Super 8 & Tab – Irufushi
Activa – Trancemission
Christopher Lawrence & Nicholas Bennison – Continuation
Fabio Stein – Agent of Chaos (Asoteric Orchestral Mix)
Joshua Ryan – Cherry Whip (Track name might not be exact)

It was tough to follow the intensity of Friday’s Rainbow Groove Invasion set so I started off with a bit of dark psy, which is a little unusual for me. I usually keep from getting too ‘demonic’ but I guess if the track is good enough I don’t mind dipping over to the dark side for a bit.

The second half of the show starts to get a little deeper with some of my less played tracks, and is it often turns out, it’s those less played tracks that had captured my interest by the end of the show. I’ve always struggled to deliver flawless sets as I constantly want to hear music that I haven’t heard in awhile. In fact, many of my sets include a substantial number of tracks that I’ve never played before. So I’ve had to get really good at playing ‘on the fly’.

Speaking of my DJ style, I haven’t covered what equipment I use in a bit. I come from an all vinyl background but now use control vinyl with Serato to play mostly MP3s while maintaining the feel of vinyl. I’ve started to experiment with Seratos SP-6 sampler, but didn’t use it all during this set. I’m also looking at Traktor’s Kontrol X1 to control the new effects rack that’s built into Serato 2.0 but, again, didn’t use any effects in this mix. I use a Vestax PMC-17A at home, however this mix uses the Denon 300X mixer from the studio (which I quite like – except that it’s not a 3 channel mixer).

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dj Smiley Mike Dark & Dirty mix

XSI – Dominion
XSI – Alchemik Machines (Mad Maxx Remix)
Mad Maxx – At the End of the Rainbow
Mad Maxx with XSI – The Shamen
Electro Sun – Secret Sequence
Silicon Sound – Pure Reality (Ephedrix Remix)
Ephedrix – Far Away (DNA Remix)
Ephedrix – Evolving Moods (Chronos Mix)
Peace Maker vs. Mad Maxx – Everyone Equal
Peace Maker – Japanese Tours
Mad Maxx vs. XSI – Creeping
Talamasca – The Awakening feat. Nomad (Ephedrix Remix)

dj Smiley Mike Down Deep mix

Save the Robot – Robotz
Quadra – L.S.D. Came Falling Down
Quadra – Bless the Robot
SubConciousMind – Essenz
Disco Hooligans – Running Out of Time (Smiley Mike Live Remix)
Disco Hooligans – String Theory (Smiley Mike Live Remix)
Disco Hooligans – Steady Now
Electro Sun – On Air
Jikkenteki vs. Katapult (PAR-2) – Swamp Monster
Disco Hooligans – This is How it’s Gonna Go