Midnight Tales – Nostalgia [ HMWL Presents]

1/15/2016 is a special moment about my Music Journey. Having producing music and DJing not for too long, it’s like a miracle that my track could be signed by an international record label and put it into the Market.

HMWL (House Music With Love) is a raising Swedish House Music Record Label which recently being nominated as one of the best label in 2015. Some of their tracks has been placed top 10 on beatport under the genre of Deep, Tech House and supported by some big names such as Joris Voorn, La Fleur, Nick Warren, Âme.

I’m truly thankful for the Label owner Alex who is also a passionated DJ producer to give me an opportunity to achieve what I want to do. It’s rare to see people who would give opportunity to new artist nowadays. There are many obstacles in the mastering processes, but he was nice enough to help me overcome all of them with the professional label audio engineers.

There are always discouragement, obstacle, depression and disappointment while achieving your dream and goals. Whenever I face them, I always remind myself why I started it. Sometimes we have to let go how other people to see us. If this means a lot to you, there is nothing can stop you to move forward.

Preview my track on soundcloud by HMWL

 

You can also listen to/ purchase my track through iTunes, Beatport, Spotify , Apple Music.https://lnk.to/MidnightTales

Latest Original Production – Nostalgia ( Original Mix)

Haven’t updated my blog for awhile since I was busy to prepare the things for moving back to LA. This empty place does allow me to concentrate to make music since there are nothing surrounding my living place lol. The track was completely mixed in headphone so I’m not quite sure how does it sounds in the club system. I do mix my decent studio monitor and club monitor in Hong Kong.

This time, I tried to take advantages of my N.I. Komplete 10 as much as possible since I paid 400$ for it! The synths do suck up CPU a lot. The preset of the synths are nice. However it could take you 10years to learn every synth in Komplete. I hope I could master it so I can create my signature sound.

Aki Bergen & Richter feat. Spiritual Front – My Love Won’t Fade (Original Mix)

My Latest Mix Set – Melodic Tech/Deep House 2015 7/13

Squeezed some times to record a new mix! Included some of my latest favourite Melodic Tech and Deep house Tracks. Its probably my best job done so far. Free to Listen and download on my soundcloud page.

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Tracklist:

1.Mercury Bells (Dub) by Robert Babicz
2.Peaks by Whitesquare
3.One Of These Days (LCAW Remix) by Fritz Kalkbrenner
4.Shameless (Chaim Remix) by Groove Armada, Chaim
5.Metope (Original Mix) by Chris Robin, Jonas Saalbach
6.For an Endless Night (Jel Ford Remix) by Alan Fitzpatrick, Jel Ford
7.Memories by Sebb Junior
8.7th Heaven (Dahu Remix) by Soul Button
9.Volver by Dave Pad
10.Skin & Bones Featuring Lydmoor & Bon HommebyTerranova
11.Nightfall (Kevin McKay Remix) byS olaris Heights
12.Ordinary (Lake People’s Circle Motive Remix) by Kollektiv Turmstrasse
13.Frame 2 by Soukie & Windish
14.In A Dreamworld by Matthias Vogt
15.Berlin (Original Mix) by Underset

Mike- Northern Lights ( Original Mix)

Hi Folks, Haven’t updated the blog for awhile since I’m busy with traveling and also my own music production. I’m finally done with my track. I feel bored of it so I rather finished it instead of complicating it. Here are some of my thoughts regarding making dance music:

My work flow of this track is basically starting off with core melody. My recent favourite synth is Round by Native Instrument. Picked with some sounds that I liked, the second step was tuning the kick sound. Kick is important for dance music, I used polyplex to layer and create the kicks I like. After adding the some effects to create highs and lows, eventually I have to do some mastering to make it sound properly. Compressor, EQ, Reverbs..

My opinions towards producing electronic and dance music are

1) Do not over complicating the track. Basically the grooves and rhythms are the backbone of the track, fancy melodies are not really necessary. Focus more on what makes people dance.

2) Limited the sounds selection. Try to think about what sounds you want to use before starting. Sometimes I keep adding new sounds to the track but this doesn’t really mean the track will sound better. Besides, your computer may get exhausted of putting too many plugins.

3) Follow your ears. Music theory is good but sometimes what people hear is more important. Sometimes accidents can become miracles.

4) Set a deadline, procrastinating always happen.

Music Production is a really long learning journey but it is definitely joyful to show people your own creatures.

Mister Saturday Night – Brother and Sisters

This Compilation was purchased in Tokyo backed in 2013. I didn’t even have time to listen to the whole compilation after purchasing it. After 2 years, a sudden emotion drives me to play it on my CD player. Mister Saturday Night is a  label which ran by two DJs from the States, it mainly supports underground music maker. It was rated as 4/5 on RA review. In Discunion ( a Tokyo famous chained record store) they label this compilation as raw house.

At that time I was digging for house music, so whatever house it is, I just put it in my chart. Some tracks in the compilation do sound “raw”, very organic percussion plus some jazz feelings. I personally don’t really like the sounds of jazz because I couldn’t feel the vibe from it. However I do find some nice tracks in this compilation, some of them are produced by Dark Sky. His music with a deep tone is the most attractive things to me (but his unpredictable break beats make me feel difficult to DJ with his track).

2015 Randomly Selected Mix Tech House/ Deep House/ Techno

Haven’t made any mix for awhile and its time to pick up. This imix contains some music that I heard and liked recently. There much more but the music genre may not match what I did in this mix. The transition is imperfect and I did make some mistakes (mostly tricked by the track). Tried to train my ears with my bedroom DJ booth. Anyway, hope the mistakes won’t bother you and you still enjoy the mix!

Tracklist:

• One (Lake People Remix) By Lee Burton
• Neverending Stories (North Lake Remix)By Ripperton, Headless Ghost
• The Melting Sun (Original Mix)By Rashid Ajami
• Funk That (Niro Lassano Remix)By Houseboy, Xperimental, DJ Marika
• El Refugio (Original Mix)By Chase
• Analog Way (Original Mix)By Fer Ferrari
• The Bumps (Original Mix)By Pete Tong, John Monkman
• Keep This (Tale Of Us Remix)By The/Das
• I’m Leaving HomeBy Kaito
• Distance (Original Mix)By Woo York
• EXhale (Dixon’s Just A Different Mixdown Version)By Plastikman
• Before The Feast (Ariose Remix)By Nick Dow
• Held (Dauwd Remix)By Kiasmos
• RoadBy Distant Echoes
• Late Nights (Original Mix)By Zaki

Recent Purchases – Andy Stott – Faith In Strangers

Surprisingly HMV in Central imported one copy of Andy Stott’s latest Album. Andy Stott is a techno producer and remixer but this album is highly beyond that. The deep and unusual tone combined with the groove takes audience to his dark and psychic world. This album requires a pair of good monitor in order to experience the full range sonic enjoyment. I was once try to listen through my iPhone speaker and it’s totally different story.

Listen to it at night and like the comment on youtube ” it’s better than sex”.

His Previous Album- Luxury Problems

Hokkaido 4 Days

As always, Osaka and Tokyo are fully occupied with travellers since JPY has dropped so low. Given a short period of time we are only allowed to choose Hokkaido to travel. April is not a very good timing if you are a big fan of sakura or snow. However it is always a great place to fill up your appetite.

My first impression to Hokkaido is, more chilled and polite and also equipped with better english comparing to Tokyo. We decided to live in Sapporo for the entire 3 days.

Day One

Our first stop is Lawson as always.

This is a famous shopping street in Sapporo, it crosses 8 districts.

First meal, Ramen, dumpling and Sapporo Beer no doubt (Look at how tired she was, 6 hours flight after a 13 hours LA to HK flight)

Besides Music, one thing I used to take a look is coffee beans. Hokkaido got freshly roasted beans too, I feel like Japanese are more into Single origin rather than Blend since they like to do hand drip coffee.

Time for Music, being urged by her but who cares! Kinda disappointed since the choices are so limited. Still better than Hong Kong though.

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Day Two

Finally See some melting snow

Hidden Gem, market next to the station lol

The river was beautiful in Feb.

We found some stunning Glass creation

Finally, Crab and Sushi Rice

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Day 3

We kicked started Day 3 with Sushi! They opened at 11:00 a.m but you will notice a long quote 30 mins before. They announced the number with Japanese so non of the Chinese would like to eat there. They provide English menu but you still have to write your order in Japanese.

Ater an 2 hours ride we finally arrive this empty place. We prepared to hike.

After the 地獄谷 the journey had;t ended, we decided to climb up the mountain to see another lake. The mountain is full of wet dirt and sand, quite a lot of people gave up.

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Hokkaido is a chilled place with delicious food, sight seeing. The nightlife there is not so even so prepare to return to hotel after 9pm. Benchmarks in Hokkaido are separated so you can only visit one place per day. Your travel schedule won’t be packed like visiting Tokyo but you will be able to enjoy many stunning view in Hokkaido.

My Mixtape Collection Showcase

Mixtape has long existed in my world since maybe 10 years ago. I remember I didn’t really appreciate it because I loved to listen to individual tracks more. The mixtape I managed to listen to were mostly Hip Hop and pop music and they are just like a non stop album with some popular tracks.

After being introduced to DJing I found mixing is certainly an art. I don’t know from when I started listening to DJ set/ mixtape. To prepare a good set doesn’t mean to include every popular track in the mix. Instead, its like bringing a long journey to the audiences, at the same time making them enjoy with your own style of music.

With a limiting supply in Hong Kong, this is the best I could get. Some of them were bought overseas such as Taiwan, Japan and the US. I love them all.

From Top Left to Right:

• DJ kicks – Nina Kraviz
• DJ Kicks – Maceo Plex
• DJ Kicks – Apparat
• Fabric 42 – Ame
• Kompakt – Total 14
• Anjunadeep 04
• Anjunadeep 05
• Anjunadeep 06
• Anjunabeats 11
• Eric Kupper Remix Works
• Bedrocks- John Digweed Live in Miami
• Phonica – 10 Years of Phonica
• Crosstownrebels – 10 Years of Crosstownrebels
• Bedrocks – Underground Sound of Miami Series 2
• Get Physical – M.A.N.D.Y