Psytrance and the Ultimate DJ Test

I’ve been slow getting this posted, but here it is. Caddyshack forgot his power cable this week and his laptop died right before his set. Hence the ultimate DJ test, which is playing on someone else’s gear, with someone else’s record collection. In my opinion a real DJ worth his beans can find stuff and make it work in just about any situation ;)

dj Smiley Mike Psytrance Mix

Fatali – Soul Control
Ace Ventura – Exposed
Ovnimoon & Protonica – 8 K Miles
Chakra & Liquid Metal – Resurrection
Clufe – Time & Light (Hanzo Remix)
Point – Access
Disco Hooligans – It’s Good to be Alive
Earthling – Lost in Trance
X-Noise – No Mishaps
Earthling – Mystical
Lucas & Dickster – Brainstorm
Protoculture – 1998
Deadmau5 – Ghosts & Stuff (SynSUN Remix)
California Sunshine – Rain

dj Caddyshack Ultimate DJ Test Set

Dominion – Ultraviolet (Winter Mix)
Rank 1 – Awakening
Transa – Supernova
Southside Spinners – Lovestruck
Energy 52 – Cafe del Mar (Three N One Remix)
DJ Tomcraft – Overdose
Cygnus X – Superstring
DJ Eyal – Everlasting Flow of Energy
Da Hool – Meet Her at the Love Parade (TV Rock Remix)
Dawnseekers – Gothic Dream (John Johnson Remix)

Inner Space
Thumpin Deep Trance Mix

I wasn’t sure what I was going to play this week until I was on my way to the studio – and then it all started to come together. This mix is still a work in progress, but I think it’s getting closer and closer to a polished deep trance set. I would love to hear some feedback on parts I should keep and parts I should rework.

dj SMiley Mike – Inner Space (Part 1) – Deep Trance DJ Mix

Leigh Brooks & Fabio Stein – Razor Edge
Jonathan Allyn – Taking Sides
Mike Nichol – Set in Motion
Mark Pledger & Mike Koglin – All the Way (Nick Larson Mix)
Union Jack – Triclops (Club Mix)
John ’00′ Fleming & The Digital Blonde – Solomate
Disco Hooligans – Hands Off
Fabio Stein & Claudia Cazacau – Cazakstein (Fabio Stein’s Simpler Mix)
Virtual Vault – Experience

dj Smiley Mike – Inner Space (Part 2) – Deep Trance DJ Mix


Cosmic Gate – Exploration of Space
Nicholas Bennison – Spirit Chamber
Nicholas Bennison – Exocet (Bennison Rework)
Eddie Sender – Big Mistake
Mallorca Lee – Medication Vacation (Fabio Stein’s Uprise Re-interpretation)
Michael Lee – Everblue (Adam Foley Remix)
John Askew & Matt Hardwick – Slaves to the Machine (Liam Melly Remix)
Mike Nichol – Tweak
Roody Wittendoerfer – Anywhere But Here (DJ Space Raven Remix)
Christopher Lawrence & John ’00′ Fleming – Beyond the Limit (Deep Mix)
CRW – I Feel Love (P.H.A.T.T. Remix)
Kaylab – Here We Go (Jam-X Remix)

Mixed live using Serato 2.0 (SL-3) with vinyl control records on Technics 1200s.

Watch for the new Trancendance website coming soon!

The Bootleg Remix Sessions
with Simon Qudos

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]

The Bomb Session
Deep Uplifting Trance Mix

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)

Down Deep Dark & Dirty
Psychedelic Trance Mix

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