Nisus remix of Miike Snow’s Animal
Animal (Nisus Remix) by djnisus
So I woke up inspired, the morning of my show at Mighty with Boys Noize. I felt like i had to finish this track. I had ripped and eq’d the vocals a while ago along with sending audio to score in logic and creating the midi notes for the main loop. That morning I sat at my synth and pulled out the wobble line. I spent the rest of the day editing and getting as much done on it as I could. I ran it through a quick mastering and burned it to cd. I put it in the cd player in my car and drove to pick up Alex (Boys Noize) for dinner before the show. While we were driving Alex mentioned that the clap was a little thin and suggested that I should add a rimshot to fill it in. After dinner I went home and adjusted a few settings on the multipressor added the rimshot and re bounced the track.
I got to Mighty at about 9:30 cause I wanted to hang out with everyone that showed up early and to catch Sleazemore’s awesome set. At 11pm I went on to a completely sold out room. There was still a line of people outside the building waiting to get in. From there I just went into music performance mode. Time pretty much accelerates and stops at the same time. I get so lost in the sound and the movement I forget everything and just flow. I really love Djing for just that reason. There were moments when tracks would break down and then build and build and build and I could feel the intensity in the room rising and peoples hands would be in the air flickering in the strobe light like a sea of grass reaching for the surface of a sweaty ocean. In the moments before the bass would drop It felt like there might be a riot coming. Swell after swell, breaks that I usually pass over in the set became like life preservers that would let every one catch their breath before the next wave of bass. The explosions on the system at Mighty are intense. That sound system is literally 15 ft high on four corners of the room. Its massive but so friendly. The floor was so packed that everyone could only bounce. Carmen was dong a beautiful job with the visuals that we had been working on together for the last few days.
Before I knew it Boys Noize was on stage and getting ready for his incredible set. I had one more track to drop. Miike Snow’s animal. The one I had just finished that evening. The two tracks before were meant to start bringing the whole show out of orbit so Boys Noize would have a good place to start. The intro to this track is pretty unique and filled a lot of sound space in the mix. It felt like things were building back up. When the first rolling synth sound came in it was just a whole nother beast. The bass was enormous and the pause after the glitchy vocal intro worked. As soon as the vocals dropped and everyone recognized the song hundreds of people starting singing along. I looked down and saw this girl look like she was gonna start crying. I think I just fucked up her favorite song. I looped the outro and Boys Noize mixed right out of it. One of the most epic nights I’ve ever had. That’s the story of this track. Here are the photos that Al took of the night up on stage with us.
Noob & Brodinski “Peanuts” (Nisus remix) for Turbo Recordings
Peanuts (Nisus Remix) by djnisus
This is my newest work. Its a track for a Turbo Recordings remix contest. Check it out, you can leave comments right on the track. Love it.
Nisus: Last Night A DJ Saved My Life Interview
For the second local feature this month, theProjects and Blasthaus resident DJ Nisus has been featured in SF Station’s Last Night a DJ Saved My Life. In the interview, Nisus elaborates on topics such as the meaning behind the name Nisus, the development of his sound, and his local inspirations. Check out the article on SF Station and be sure to download Nisus‘ new podcast Bass Grenade (guaranteed to cause a rave in your office and/or home).
Thoughts on the architecture of the nightclub (pt1)
A nightclub is made out of sound. Music can contain within it the bricks of a metaphysical architecture.
Deep in the heart of Brooklyn I found myself at a Haitian church. I walked through the door with the summer heat on my back into a florescent lit room filled with the smell of home fried chicken. Immediately my two friends and I were welcomed and found our place next to the girl that had invited us to church with her. Folding chairs were placed in rows and the reverends sat up front on an elevated stage. The lights flickered as they would do in the DMV. The pale florescents added no character to the room. I had nt been to church in a long time mostly due to rooms like this one. Ive always had trouble understanding how holyness could be beheld in such a not uplifting space. The Haitians taught me a valuable lesson.
One voice lifted softly. Another joined it and another and another. The songs found a natural harmony. Within a few minutes the singing put me in a trance and I watched the beautiful crystaline walls rise up and replace the pale yellow.The flickering of the lights seemed to be in time with the frequency of the song. I imagined that we could be anywhere. I suddenly understood how spirituality could survive under the darkest oppression. In the caves of the world became the cathedrals raised by the voices of the believers where traditions are passed on. Music can contain within it the bricks of a metaphysical architecture. People can use these bricks to build a space that shapes them and sets them free. This experience has become one of the reasons why I have chosen Djing as my career path. Good architecture sets people free.
I came back into the heat of day with an understanding of how to evaluate sound and architecture. I found a spot in NYC where when the traffic stands still you can hear the voices from blocks away. I found subway benches that if I hummed just right I could resonate the whole subway tunnel. My chosen profession has put me in many spaces in relation to the sound that I bring to fill the space and the people who come to them and I have thought about what makes one club better than another. One night of experiences more memorable than another. I have come to believe that there are three basic elements to a memorable night out. Its a synergistic trinity between the people, the DJ and the architecture of the club or venue. I have played some very unique spaces from forests to hay bale mazes to the modern architecture of international hotels. At this point I have learned that there is a resonance between all of these that have made some memorable and others not so much.
Just like a Haitian church, a night club is made out of sound. Just as a single note forms a point in a song, songs can form points in time that are either memorable or not. A DJ builds a set of these songs in the same way that a craftsman builds a foundation. This means that the more resolved the sound system the more accurate the designs and intentions of the DJ can be heard and understood. A Dj makes meaning through the soundscape he weaves. The audience can be shaped by the architecture of the sound and transformed into an unified whole. This unification becomes an experience that the audience can bring with them into daily life and can use it to evaluate the environment around them. Does the environment promote the harmony that was experienced or does it detract from the sense of wholeness. A good DJ attempts to impart this.
Nisus Featured on SF Weekly’s AllShookDown
In light of his recent triumphant return to San Francisco after a 1300 mile ride through Europe (CD’s in tow and DJing along the way) theProjects resident DJ Nisus has been featured in the SF Weekly blog AllShookDown. Nisus discusses his cross-continental DJing adventure, SF’s unnecceasry crackdown on parties, as well as his ultimate club night entailing “monster truck spitting flames…Mr. Oizo…and a helicopter engine sound system.”
Click here to read the full story. You can also check out Nisus’ new Portable Sunsets remix BDSM With Me here.
Everything you ever needed to know about magik in one sentence.
“Resonant energy transfer is when a force does work simultaneously with natural resonance, which can transfer a large amount of energy to that resonance.”
I found this while researching the tuning of bass drums.
I am soo fucking honored to be a DJ!!! Thank you for your support. This last year has been amazing. The next should be even better. D
Making Dance Music is Both the Coolest and Hardest Thing to Do
I think I have avoided making music for so long because it’s the kind of challenge that lives in my DNA and takes over my life, just like snowboarding, skating, biking etc. It was nice to have a break from obsession for a while, but now my room is littered with sound and music magazines. Just like some crazed Google employee, I spend 18 hours a day researching, learning and testing what I am hearing in dance music.
I think what makes dance music production so hard- hard to do well that is- is that it is super elegant. It should be like good design where every part could stand on its own, but together the parts release a ton of light, like photography for your ears. You have to communicate incredibly complex thoughts in very simple emotional ways. I think that is why it is an amazing art form, becuase It’s resonating on two poles at the same time. It is super intellectual in its construction, but super primal in its execution. Hence why some people go to dance and others stand and listen.
Dance music is like an example of what the human brain does best; synthesize. Creativity is a synthesis of memory, experience, intention and knowing what tools are available. That’s probably why the synth as a tool has stuck to dance music. We love sysnthisizing patterns and organization, its inherently one of the highest forms of cognition we have daily access to, and also the reason drugs work so well in that sound environment. Creativity is really a drug. Martin Atkins in his book Tour Smart has a chapter on drugs and says basicly “…do drugs while you are creating not performing.” He is saying that creating is difficult and you need to enhance your synthisis.
I am learning what tools are available and developing the ability to use them. My monitors are like a microscope, i’ve been disecting peoples’ tracks and then attempting to put the concepts to work in my own. Its has taken me 8 months to get the bass wave that I want. Now I have a template built that I can apply to all of my tracks and I understand what makes a bass wave everything that it is. Twelve elements make it sound amazing on its own even! There is a lot of learning in there. Which means that it will get sidechained in the composition because it needs it’s room and space. When it does, it will be there sitting like a diamond and just as valuable.
Now to place it…….yup 
Traktor Scratch Update
The Audio 8 Interface just died. All lights on, no signal. NI was quick to get a support ticket but now we will see how long it takes for them to get me a new box. Oh well, back to vinyl. That was fun for a minute!
A Nisus style, review of Native Instruments Traktor Scratch
There are plenty of reviews of Traktor Scratch on the web, so I thought I would approach it from the point of transitioning from vinyl to digital. I’ll also explain my desision to go with Traktor over Serato. I have finally gone to the dark side. Digital. WTF huh? My excuse is that I needed an external sound card for production and Native Instruments provided a nice one with the ability to Dj along with it. I bought it, six months ago and just this week installed the djing software. Impressed? Sort of…
Truthfully the NI box is a really nice piece of hardware. I chose it over Serato mostly for the production features, like midi in/out and the extra line ins and effect loops and sound quality…..ect. If you do your homework you see pretty quickly that technically speaking NI has a solid edge over Serato. Sound-wise here is why I went with Traktor. In the field I have a few beefs with Serato. First, vinyl sounds like crap through the serato box. Period. I play on a lot of different systems and in mixed media situations and this was apparent. The truth is in the phono pre amp that takes the stylus voltage up to line level, amplifying the signal over 1000 times. A cheap phono pre amp circuit is around $.05 to spec. Audiophiles spend up to $3000 on a good preamp. There is a difference. Traktor adressed this with a phono switch, (covered later). Traktor also is USB powered. Lastly the Traktor box, called the Audio 8 doesnt stop working ie no sound when you close the lid of your laptop. Insert moment of terror from actual experience here. Gnar Gnar. So from my experience with Serato I went with Traktor.
I’ve been using the Audio 8 interface with Logic Pro 8 for about 6 months. Its great. The sound is good, its stable and it looks nice in the studio. In the field I really love the color coded rca’s for drunktime setup in dark environments. Can I recommend glow in the dark inputs though? The hardware itself is well built. The multicore cables are effective and keep my box less cluttered. So far everything is great. Now the bad part. My first gig out with Traktor fucking sucked. It refused to work. The control vinyl needs to calibrate everytime you fire the system up. Kinda lame when it refuses to find the signal even though its coming through the phono setting. WTF I downloaded the updated drivers and went to my next gig. This time it worked flawlessly. Next gig, Traktor Scratch refused to work again. I am kinda a tech nerdus and I know Im not retarded when it comes to trouble shooting. Also I have worked with computers my whole life and I know their sneaky tricks. This was a serious NI fuck up. Re installed the drivers and Next gig it worked flawlessly. 2 for 2, Except now I’m carrying too much gear!
This Sat I’m playing for 30000 people at Lovefest in SF and I have to leave Traktor at home because its too risky to rely on it. Here is where Serato has the edge. Serato is reliable. We will see if Traktor holds on but its looking kinda sketchy. Im gonna keep using it for instore gigs where its not life threatening if it goes down. Im gonna have to stick with vinyl for anything bigger. Which brings me to the sound.
I have written about the sound of Mp3s and had many discussions with my peers about it but now its conclusive. Vinyl sounds better that any Mp3 ever!!!! No debate really needed. When I drop the needle on a piece of wax the whole room warms up. The bass gets fatter and it feels better. Yes this is technically because there is distortion. But it feels better. Which is the point really of going to a club with a soundsystem that is not a home stereo. Or sitting infront of your monitors at home or listening through your headphones. I don’t play headphone music. I play dance music. When I switch from Timecode Vinyl to Phono on the Audio 8 there is a further difference in sound. Thank you NI for still caring about vinyl enough. Now can you please make the software “listen” for the vinyl control signal and switch the setting automatically? Thats what the scopes tell us, make the software recognize this too.
Lastly, what has changed in my Djing by going to digital? In the last 4 sets Ive played out, my sound has changed. Traktor has allowed me to play a bunch of music that was made by friends of mine and has allowed me to participate in a whole new genre of music that is region specific to the SF bay area and I’m really proud to be playing. The next phase is to apply my own remixes and productions to my live set. Its awesome to feel like I can contribute to a scene in this way. The next step is to move away from the turntables completely and into controllerism. Weening myself off of vinyl only until I can afford to press my own tracks. For now Im looking for wav files. Send me anything you think I’d like. D
We are coming for your integrity!!!
Meanwhile in ohio.
OMGLOL!!! on the 10th of may was really one of the most fun sets ever. I have never heard anyone scream so loud at the end of the set before. That basement is ready to go off. People just need to get in there. Its super hard to explain how dope it is because everyone says that their shit is the awesomest, but really LASERBASS!!! Its like we have a helicopter in there.
That leads me to the thought I had about comparing DJing to other arts like writing. Just because I know how to write doesn’t make me a writer. Just because you have the software to mix tracks together does not make you a DJ. Nor does having Illustrator on your computer make you a graphic designer. True with paints and cameras and instruments. Well then, what is it that makes us what we are? The answer is in how the act of creation shapes us. The tools are not what’s important. If you take the brush away from the painter he is still a painter and will continue to be, because he thinks in paint. The world that he perceives is through the lens of painting. His clothes are covered in paint and his style is a functional response to his working environment. True for every artist. This is what separates artists from hipsters(another conversation). Its like a level of truth closer to selfhood that came from the expression of an individual’s art. But in truthfully creating art you put a part of your self aside in order to give that art somewhere to live within you. You become your expression of yourself through creation.
Djing is more than just playing other peoples music. I am not a keyboardist or a drummer, Although I could hack my way through those things its better to leave them to people who use them as their expressions of self. I am a purveyor of sonic culture. My goal is create a space using sound that moves you into another headspace. Its kinda like an amusement park. The illusion there is that its dangerous and therefore thrilling. The perception I would like to create is that this is a place to get out of your mind through the experience of music. Have you ever been in a mosh pit? I like to play music that feels like a rollercoaster, or like a rocket being launched into space , or a monster truck rally. I love to use music as the invisible walls of a bounce house. This is in contrast to many other “DJs” I see in the process of going out.
In many cases the DJ has become a warm bodied jukebox. Lame! A human Ipod? Fuck that. But this is how so many DJs act and how so many spaces treat the DJ. Like background music for something else going on. Im sure people leave the night not realizing how much the music affected them. Because it s an invisible creation its hard to quantify how important a good DJ is. When you wake up the next morning and feel great its not usually the music you first think of. Often its the people you were with and that you had fun in spite of the shitty DJ. I know, I feel the same way a lot.
Being a great DJ has nothing to do with genre. A great DJ can find the gems in the crate because its how they perceive the world. Its how they see everything around them. The question moves from third circuit logic, past fourth circuit social connection to the fifth circuit hedonistic feel good space. How does this track make me and my peers on the dance floor feel? Does it move us? If not, fucking stop playing it. You are not a payola record/radio cocksucker are you. Or are you? Why are you doing what you are doing? Why are you calling yourself a “DJ” Answering honestly is what leads you towards becoming an artist rather than a douchebag hipster. It makes for a better scene when things are correctly and honestly represented (im not talking about your haircut). Hiding behind the postmodern shield of “its art” will not defend your shittyness forever. We are coming for your integrity, be ready.
The photo above is the first image that comes up when you type “shitty dj” into google. Sorry Dude. Its a classic photo though. And I had to look closely to make sure it wasn’t a venue I’m intimately familiar with. Ohhh Awesome how do I miss the Villa? Not at all! I do miss the joke, “put your stab vest on” before going out to play though. Im so glad its funny now.
OMGLOL!!! FEB 29th
This one was epic! Thanks to everyone that came out. Huge shout out to MR Projectile who rocked it hard with a solid set early on. OMGLOL!!! is really for you guys. This was amazing. I can’t wait for the next one. We got the photos up Click Here<—-
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Why would I still play vinyl records?
Records are heavy, they scratch, they take maintenance, they wear out, they hate sun, they’re hard to find, expensive and take up space but these are not bad things. In fact these reasons are what makes them valuable. They have a character unique to themselves. This is a good thing in these days of increasing homogeneity and bland consumption culture. The fact that I have to be aware of their needs puts them in a category usually reserved for friends. The interface for playing them live for people, turntables, are beautiful. The interaction of beatmatching and mixing is a performance in itself and way more interesting than watching some dude fuck with his laptop (sorry dude I still love you but buy a monome). Its true that there is more to Djing than pressing that fucking autosync button in serato while pretending to use the turntables. It takes a fair amount of skill and practice to craft a great set using vinyl. You owe a performance to the audience for being there to see you especially if they paid to get in. One of the DJs I look up to, DJ Magitope plays all vinyl and his theory is that the audience participates in the performance by way of the needle which picks up external vibrations like screaming and dancing. There is a huge backlog of music that might only exist on wax. Whole lives are spent digging for lost audio relics. No Digital Rights Management. This is where I throw a fit.
Dear iTunes buyer. You are a sucker. All one billion of you, you’re not alone don’t feel bad. Your ipod is only an island and the songs you buy are RENTED from itunes. You think you own them but you are wrong. You payed to rent them from itunes and store them on your island and you have been duped. The French government knows this. Also if you are DJing with these MP3s please stop. It hurts my ears. I would rather you punch me in the face than make my ears bleed with your shittly compressed snares and “soundsystem” that has to be turned up too loud ALWAYS to get any bass out. Beatport.com will sell you .wav files. Yes they are a dollar more. Its worth it. Here is why in one word, Psychoacoustics. There is research that says people perceive a higher quality environment if the audio is less compressed. Translated, you will be perceived to be a better DJ by playing .wav files or even better by playing records.
Of course records sound great. Really, I play with a lot of people who are all digital and its cool but not because digital sounds great. Its sounds digital/clean and in some cases this is awesome. The precision of digital is rad. The sound quality isn’t an issue with things that have been produced well and played as a .wav file. But for dance music I like records because they provide a layer of humanity to any digital production. Dance music is usually a bit sterile because its made on computers and the format of vinyl softens the harshness.
Mozaic at the Nexus Hay Maze Party
Here is Robert absolutely crushing it at the hay maze. Mozaic has been around the musical block for a long time and I’m stoked to know him and to have the opportunity to perform with him.
Burning Man, Its all true
I came back with my mind hanging by a thread and the real world bouncing off of me like a grade school taunt. Its all true. Everything you have heard is true. The stereotypes are spot on. The art is amazing and people are insane. But really none of this explains anything that goes on. Its really more of this big inside joke. No fuck it there is no explanation. I really didnt want to go but Im glad I did. It was fun. Thats all. I brought my records but couldn’t make myself pull them out with the threat of dust storms set to ruin all of the effort I have put into collecting my sound. I did play two mixes from my cell phone plugged into the sound system. When the Lose Your Shoe mix came on people flipped out. Banwell, who was driving the Nexus Mobile Refinery had to stop driving and come back and make me turn it off completely because people were bouncing so hard that the trailer was on the verge of collapse. Success! Bounce till shit falls down. That is the sound. I will be there next year with Cds ready to bounce that desert into space. D
Burning man
Okay so I have been avoiding a Burning Man trip for a while and now thanks to my friend Chris’s goading and my lust for adventure, I am on my way. See you in a week when I can talk all the shit I want and avoid hypocrisy. Cause Ive been there maaaaan!!!
Nisus Featured on TheWhole9.com
Hey you guys I just wanted to throw a quick post up to let you know that I got featured at TheWhole9.com
To celebrate I finally posted the LaserDragon mix. I did it through zshare so let me know how it works for you. D
If you want to know when new mixes are posted, click the subscribe button above.
The calm before the storm
Tonight is the night before the show at The Cafe for the Ultimate Dj contest. I stopped by there to check it out and its smaller than I thought. Its gonna be packed. The club was rollin the new EAW tops all over the place so I assume there is some bottom end in there as well. It should sound wicked. They had Rane Rotary mixer set up, which Ive never used before. If thats the mixer then slow and smooth will be the rule. If they put something more current in watch out for the Bass drops and pray I don’t blow it out. I feel really good about where I am in the Djing world. I feel really confident about my record selection and just need to be patient while I mix. I get too excited sometimes. Im really stoked to be competing. I freaking love where competition puts my head. Hope to see you all there tomorrow. BLOW THE SPOT UP!!!!!!!!
Welcome to Nisus (themovement)
This page exists to showcase DJ Nisus and themovement. I will be posting mixes, remixes and reviews. Shirts will be available soon. Thanks Dustin
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