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LITTLE WHITE EARBUDS

The struggle between man and machine defined how my Process mix came into being. When I first got the "assignment" I thought I would be able to crank something out straight away. That is, until I realized how complicated mixing with a laptop can be. Most notebook soundcards are not built with more than two channels for sound, and Traktor doesn't work with additional soundcards. So I bought a Presonus Firebox, which has six channels which can be assigned any number of ways. Of course, it helps knowing how to get a device like the Firebox to play nicely with Traktor, which took many moons to figure out. To say that I'm not great with technology would be an understatement.

The actual recording was done in my bedroom, facing my new old stereo, with my laptop, Firebox and mouse on an old tray table I took from my parents' house. Even though I had spent a few hours (over the course of a few days) learning the ins and outs of all the tracks, the movements I needed to make, I still found myself hindered by having to mix with a mouse instead of a proper mixer. You just can't get both hands working at once, so EQing (or EQing while mixing) is a real pain. Add another item on the wishlist, I suppose. While the longer tracks played out I read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, which is a horrifically depressing historical document (and a great book).

Because I didn't get to work on this mix until somewhat recently, the tracklisting has changed significantly since the first mental draft. And yet, many of the tunes that ended up on the final mix are generally ones that I've returned to often throughout the course of the year. In a way, this mix chronicles my year in music -- both new releases and releases that were new to me -- and technology; and what a year it was.

little white earbuds - process part 051 by modyfier

01. Round Two, "New Day" (Club Vocal Mix) [Main Street Records]
02. Julien Jabre, "Swimming Places" (Jerome Sydenham Remix) [Defected]
03. Sleeper Thief, "Freefall" [Sixty Four Records]
04. Ripperton, "Tainted Words" [Connaisseur Recordings]
05. Paul Kalkbrenner, "Altes Kamuffel" [BPitch Control]
06. Rodamaal, "Insomnia" (Âme Remix) [Buzzin' Fly Records]
07. Harri & The Revenge, "Lunar Tune" [Five20East]
08. Tiger Stripes, "Hooked" [Liebe*detail]
09. Argy, "Love Dose" (Luciano Remix) [Poker Flat Recordings]
10. Thomas Brinkmann, "128 Rua Villalobos" [Cmyk Musik]
11. Fabrice Lig, "X-Slaves Who Changed the World" [Versatile Records]