Jeff Mills interview - I make mixing mistakes almost every n

[Frank Dogshit]

its not about the mixing with all the detroit djs ive come to find....its all in the tunes,building it up,taking it down. theres so much energy in mills you just dont know whats coming next.

i noticed with mills that if the mix is out,its corrected within a split second so much so that you barely notice. dj bone was like this aswell at voodoo the other week...quite a quirky style of mixing but it works well. you cant expect a 3 deck mix with say 40+ records an hour to be perfectly mixed,impossible....its like they are constantly thinking 3 or 4 mixes ahead to throw in that next track to take the dancefloor in that different direction.

[tioneb]

Jeff Mills - "I make mixing mistakes almost every night"

there's news to anyone who's ever heard him play :lol:

hmmm...

funny...that was SO not news to me. in fact, i think more appropriately worded it would have said: i make mixing mistakes almost every MIX.

every time i have heard mills it has been a mess of trainwrecks and chap mixes. sorry to the idol worshippers, but i think he's shit.

if what u want is tightness and not the dj performance, then stop going to see djs and only listen to ableton live sets.

[miss bass]

Exactly, i think ppl focus too much on the technicalities rather than the musicalities.
I mean its not that i dont love to hear smoothe and long mixes but musicality for me will always over-ride errors mixing-wise.
Jeff on 3 decks at the jam was good, didnt quite float my boat but aside some of the sloppy beat matching his tuneage at times was wonderful. Round sounding beats, soft melodies ...
Also he was on 3 decks, and i take my invisable hat off to that for the effort.

[fitipaldi]

I've seen the guy dj twice and was only really impressed on one night. His back catalogue speaks for itself tho, probably done more for techno than most ever will.

[davethedrummer]

jeff mills+long discussions about mixing= time for bed

[SlavikSvensk]

for f***s sake...no offense everyone, but just how many jeff mills is god/crap conversations can we have?

[fitipaldi]

for f***s sake...no offense everyone, but just how many jeff mills is god/crap conversations can we have?

7

[gunjack]

he will play here in madrid tomorrow night.

[conflict]

just for the record i think he's wicked and i'll never miss an oppotunity to see him play,he rocked the jam last time

i have his dvd he did,intersting to hear him on how it all began

[djshiva]

:dontevengothere:

he's not good no..

theres a bit more to mills than that though...some respect is needed IMO
i was going to say the same as you about it should read 'every mix' and its true..

BUT

hes a legend and very influential..done a lot for techno

show some respect

i have always said i give respect for his contributions to techno, but even the legends have the tendency to rest on their laurels sometimes and
forget the hunger that made them good in the first place.

when yer an upcoming dj, you have that hunger and that drive to be good every time you play. i think sometimes people who get into a comfortable position tend to forget that drive when that's really what made them so damn good.

plus, if everyone around you is a damn yes man telling you that you rocked it when you sounded like shoes in a dryer, i think it tends to make one lose the plot.

all i'm saying is that i would never in a million years pay money to see mills spin. ever. and i have played mixes of his to people WITHOUT telling them who he is, and asked them if they would go see this dj, and the response was usually "that guy would be lucky to play for gas money". these same people would spooge all over themselves if they saw mills on a flyer.

i think that's funny. sue me.

[gumpy green]

:dontevengothere:

he's not good no..

theres a bit more to mills than that though...some respect is needed IMO
i was going to say the same as you about it should read 'every mix' and its true..

BUT

hes a legend and very influential..done a lot for techno

show some respect

i have always said i give respect for his contributions to techno, but even the legends have the tendency to rest on their laurels sometimes and
forget the hunger that made them good in the first place.

when yer an upcoming dj, you have that hunger and that drive to be good every time you play. i think sometimes people who get into a comfortable position tend to forget that drive when that's really what made them so damn good.

plus, if everyone around you is a damn yes man telling you that you rocked it when you sounded like shoes in a dryer, i think it tends to make one lose the plot.

all i'm saying is that i would never in a million years pay money to see mills spin. ever. and i have played mixes of his to people WITHOUT telling them who he is, and asked them if they would go see this dj, and the response was usually "that guy would be lucky to play for gas money". these same people would spooge all over themselves if they saw mills on a flyer.

i think that's funny. sue me.

thats my thought on not just mills, so many djs nowadays....the scne needs a good kick up the arse in that repect....

its like football(or anythig most likly)...sure pele, maradonna were fukin amazing in there day but cmon they couldnt play against the new up and comin folks now.......

i cant belive somefolk need to be told he makes mistakes....i know this....and it aint just him.....ive heard many a shoddy set form folk that are classed as "the best".....its laughable but at the same time very bad i think for the scene.

[drift9]

ive heard many a shoddy set form folk that are classed as "the best".....its laughable but at the same time very bad i think for the scene.

Sorry Grumpy, can’t disagree with you more here. I think these guys are GREAT for the scene. Sure, you can argue that the “Big Names” like mills, hawtin, etc. are not as fantastically talented as people pump them up to be. But, at the end of the day these guys sell out shows and bring in a more mainstream crowd while still playing quality music. People go to see the “Big Names’” play who really aren’t that into techno in the first place. And this, ultimately, will expose new people to techno, which I can’t see as a bad thing at all—especially with record sales down as well as event attendance.

And let’s be honest with ourselves, when these guys drop a bad mix the only people who really notice are us jaded techno folk. Everyone else on the floor is still having fun and a goodtime while hopefully gaining interest in the music they’re being exposed to. i can't see that as being bad for techno as a scene.

[gumpy green]

that great that i have to pay over 15quid to see them mix no wher near an accebtable level fo the fee.....haha no way..

i would rather get down with 300 proper techno headz all going for it big time than go to any of these super club with all yer shirted up, boot wearing, no nuthing about techno folks..

ive had better nights with local folks around my part than any time ive saw hawtin etc...

saw him in a huge areana maybe 15-20K folk and they most didnt know how to party.......ther only ther cos of the hype etc......i think thats a bad thing....

me- id rather techno was half the crowd but totally understood the shit than have twice as many no knowedge folks.

[gumpy green]

the amount of folk into a certain scen doesnt make it better....IMO

just look at boy/girl bands etc......sure ther sellin more records...but its totally watered down wak as fuk pish........

but bands like say placebo can produce well good music but arent giving the proper recognition they deserve.....same with techno these days.....well the maistream piss......about edinburgh its pretty good i must say, not much commercial shite kicking about now....altho one new night is starting up..

[drift9]

saw him in a huge areana maybe 15-20K folk and they most didnt know how to party.......ther only ther cos of the hype etc......i think thats a bad thing....

...and if only 100 of those 15-20K in attendence got turned on to techno i think that's a good thing.

anyhow, this has lived up to it's name of being a mills post and gotten mad off topic. sorry...

[SlavikSvensk]

that great that i have to pay over 15quid to see them mix no wher near an accebtable level fo the fee.....haha no way..

i would rather get down with 300 proper techno headz all going for it big time than go to any of these super club with all yer shirted up, boot wearing, no nuthing about techno folks..

ive had better nights with local folks around my part than any time ive saw hawtin etc...

saw him in a huge areana maybe 15-20K folk and they most didnt know how to party.......ther only ther cos of the hype etc......i think thats a bad thing....

me- id rather techno was half the crowd but totally understood the shit than have twice as many no knowedge folks.

fine. i have a simple solution for you. don't go. stay at home, or go see your local boys, and let others enjoy the classics played by someone who has had an immeasurable influence on the music we love.

[Traxx]

its like football(or anythig most likly)...sure pele, maradonna were fukin amazing in there day but cmon they couldnt play against the new up and comin folks now.......

You having a laugh?

[gumpy green]

its like football(or anythig most likly)...sure pele, maradonna were fukin amazing in there day but cmon they couldnt play against the new up and comin folks now.......

You having a laugh?

yup just on a wee wind up...we stir up to get the debate going..... but i think its true to some extent...

i honstly would rather see someone like say chris finke than mills......choose him as an example cos ther both mixing 3dekz(similar mixin styles)

[Traxx]

yup just on a wee wind up...we stir up to get the debate going..... but i think its true to some extent...

Good lad :lol:

[djshiva]

Sorry Grumpy, can’t disagree with you more here. I think these guys are GREAT for the scene. Sure, you can argue that the “Big Names” like mills, hawtin, etc. are not as fantastically talented as people pump them up to be. But, at the end of the day these guys sell out shows and bring in a more mainstream crowd while still playing quality music. People go to see the “Big Names’” play who really aren’t that into techno in the first place. And this, ultimately, will expose new people to techno, which I can’t see as a bad thing at all—especially with record sales down as well as event attendance.

And let’s be honest with ourselves, when these guys drop a bad mix the only people who really notice are us jaded techno folk. Everyone else on the floor is still having fun and a goodtime while hopefully gaining interest in the music they’re being exposed to. i can't see that as being bad for techno as a scene.

i would actually disagree. i have met many folks who heard some big techno headliner (i will be more general rather than keep harping on mills) suck, and now they think they don't like techno. let's face it: techno mixed badly is prolly one of the more boring things i can think of, and many people who hear a shit set keep that in their head. i think that damages techno as a whole. i can't tell you how many people i have talked to who thought they didn't like techno until they actually heard a good set (usually by some local hotshot dj and not a big name).

and anyone who thinks people who go out dancing can't figure out when a dj is trainwrecking...sorry...anyone who has some semblance of rhythm can tell when the horses start galloping. you don't have to be a dj to know shit when u hear it. anything that throws a dancer off their groove, they can tell...believe me.