Here you have a mix I recorded at home for Deb named InDaHouse Sessions. It’s a mix of Progressive and good Trance with a touch of House. Must thank Deb for her tracklist suggestions, Thank Youuuu!!!

Feedback is always welcome! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed mixing it!

Virtual Dj

This mix was done using a mixing software called Virtual Dj and it turned out to be quite a lot of fun. There are both a Windows and a Mac version available for you to purchase.

It connects to your mp3 library and provides a wide range of mixing tools to create your own sets, pretty much everything you would need to Dj at home or at a small party.

You have your two decks, gains, equalizers, BPM adjuster, pitch lock, loop controls, effects, multiple cue points, samplers, visual wave preview and a many more functions that will keep you busy for quite a while. I don’t claim to be anexpert, but I will share with you a few things I’ve learnt in this process.

Virtual DJ Intro

Basic Settings

When you think of a Dj, the first thing that might come to your mind is a guy with a headphone over one ear right? There must be a reason for that! It’s really important that you are able to listen to a track before you drop it in the mix. To do that you need to separate your Master output (the mix itself) to the headhphones output. How do you do this?

First you must: Go to Config->Sound Setup. In Outputs, set “Headphones” and then you have to configure your soundcard to make it work. If you don’t have a 4.1 sound card (surround system) or 2 sound cards installed, you will need a mono splitter, although this is not really advisable. Then you can tell Virtual Dj to send your Master to the Front Output (where you plug your speakers) and the headphones to the Rear Output.

Skins

There are plenty of skins to choose from, in the end you will be much better off choosing one you feel comfortable with. I recommend using Mix Lab 3.1, because it comes with a crossfader for treble, mids and bass, in/out loop controls, 5 cue sets and easy access to samplers and effects per deck.

Effects

Virtual Dj comes with a wide range of effects, and you can download even more packs to play with. In your first mixes, I wouldn’t use too many effects; Remember that the excitement you get out of using effects might not be shared by the people listening to the result.

There are a few effects that can give you a very pro-like result, for example: Echo, Reverse, Flangers, Filters, Phaser or Flipping Doubles. Many of the effects have parameters to blend it better with your mix, try to soften the results until you feel confident on when to use them.

Experiment, listen, think and then experiment again with them…

The Road to Perfection

Ok, now you are all setup. You have your software, your skins and your effects ready. That will be your hardware and you should know exactly how it works, what options you have and how to achieve the desired effect you are thinking of at any point of time.

Now you need to focus on your software: The music. Even tough Virtual DJ comes with a set of tools to help you organize your music, in my experience is better to use a separate software to do the job (iTunes works best for me). You can later connect to your iTunes library seamlessly and use all your music from there (id3tags, playlists, etc).

Last year in Singapore, I learnt the basics from Dj Sky (Dino), who had both the patience to teach me and the kindness to let me use his console (Pioneer DJM 800, Pioneer CDJ-100MK3) many many times

Know your hardware, know your software, listen carefully to the best Djs and practice as much as you can.

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Today I will be enjoying a round table in iCities [MESA REDONDA: Made In Canarias, Tecnólogos Canarios en centros mundiales de referencia] @ 5pm GMT. The conference will be about how different Tech guys from Canary Islands have exposed themselves to technology in different parts of the world.

I’m honored to share the roundtable with Rodrigo Trujillo (Universidad de La Laguna), David Horat (CERN Suiza) and Esteban Manchado (Opera Software).

There is a live streaming video for the conferences! You can also follow & ask questions in twitter with the hashtag #icities

My talk will be focused on my experience in Japan and Singapore during the last 3 years, including NTT Research Center, Citibank and Telefonica I+D. I will try and post the slides on slideshare before the talk

Also, Kirai (Hector Garcia) will be presenting another conference (BEST PRACTICE: Ejemplo de uso de tecnología en Japón) at 12:30pm GMT.

Thanks everyone and Enjoy iCities!
Fer

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“You can take a group of idiots that maybe even didn’t go to school, don’t understand computer science, don’t understand software development engineering techniques, hate each other, don’t understand the business domains, have lousy engineering tools and uniformly, they will produce CRAP every increment.“

Ken Schwaber – “Scrum et al.“@ Google Tech Talks
Talking about Waterfall Vs SCRUM Software Development Process

Recommended Video: SCRUM in 10 Minutes
Recommended Text: Principles of Agile Manifesto

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Just a quick post to update everyone. After a short stay in Madrid with some interviews, I came to Canary Islands for some time off before I start my new adventure back in Europe. Eventhough the weather is the coldest ever, Carnival warms your body with the sound of drums and good friends all around.

I’m also enjoying the time here catching up with family and old friends, almost 3 years away seems like a tea break in a place like canary islands. Everything remains still, only altered by my transformed perception of being away for such a long time.

In a few weeks I should be able to give you more insights about my new projects… seems that there will be a lot to talk about in the upcoming months… meanwhile, I recommend you to read some interesting articles that I have selected for you

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Console: Pioneer DJM 800 with Pioneer CDJ MK3 1000

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Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square hole.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

To all the Crazy Ones out there.

Welcome back to Fer-Martin.com

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