adi.🍕

100 days of mixing & sound collage

For my 100 days project, I want to create musical experiences using existing sounds objects. I want to practice the craft of mixing audio elements together, taking the core task of a DJ as a starting point for my creative exploration. I'm taking 100 days in order to quickly deepen my experience with the art of juxtaposing interesting music and mixing it in pleasing ways. I want my mixes to have more meaning and purpose behind them. When I DJ, I don’t want to do it just to fill an available sonic space, rather I want the performance to exist because it is expressive and has some kind of story to tell.

I don't want to limit myself one genre, but it's likely that I'll mostly stick to electronic music. Some of the mixes I make may be long, like a traditional DJ slot format, and some might be short, like deconstructions & remixes of tracks. Some might be dance floor ready while others might be meditative and contemplative.

This project will require:

• collecting and cataloging a large amount of interesting music which I personally enjoy (I want to avoid repeating sounds)
• analyzing the techniques of other DJs and sound artists to learn what makes their work successful
• creating daily mixes or sample-based compositions (the primary shareable artifact)

Some possible sound sources could be:

• full-formed song compositions from other artists (the most immediately available source)
• track stems from existing compositions
• simple rhythmic or melodic loops
• drones
• field recordings
• speeches and spoken word recordings

Some tools I plan to use include:

• Pioneer DJ controller / CDJs + mixer
• Ableton Live + Push 2 controller

I'm starting off with a relatively straightforward dance mix of some music I've been listening to recently. Check it out on SoundCloud:

Related, but not part of the 100 days, is this playlist of other mixes I made in January.