💵 The Invasion @ Cedarwood Venue (Trumansburg, NY)

Background

MVSTRNTE (“Mister Nate”) is a local DJ and event producer whom I met in 2022 when he was running these fun bi-weekly events above a mexican restaurant nearby. His sound systems are top-notch and his lighting rigs are unparalleled in this region, especially for DIY event producers.

Most importantly, though, he’s just a really good guy. I will play any opportunity he throws at me, if I’m available. He’s one of those people that does these events, and plays music, because he really just loves the music and the scene. I can get down with people like that.

Plus, he loves bass-heavy music. 😅

Leading up to this event, I recorded 4 practice sessions over 5 days. Each day I listened to the mixes over and over to study the tracks. Playing vinyl requires being able to know what the songs sound like before you even take the record out of the sleeve. The practice mixes also helped me identify some technical errors I was making and which songs worked well together and which ones didn’t.

This particular event is a venue I had heard about but hadn’t yet played at. It’s a former grillhouse / brunch place, I think. It’s being repurposed into an event space. Nate has been holding a few events there and is doing more coming up. The other DJs were all people I already knew (save for 1, but he ended up being the boyfriend of someone I knew).

I recorded my set using a new recording gadget I picked up, a Reloop TAPE Recording Interface, running the mixer “Record” line out directly into the recording interface, recording at 320kbps.

This was a paid gig, but like I said, I will always play for Nate.

Photos by Koil Kreative

Setlist

• Teebee - Warfear
• Teebee presents Black Science Labs - Unknown Approach
• Teebee - All I Need
• Lemon D - Ghost Stories
• Future Prophecies - Black Dragon
• N-Phect + Phace - Cavity
• Kosheen - Empty Skies (Floor Mix)
• Ram Trilogy - Mind Overload (Original Mix)
• Shere Khan - One Day
• Dieselboy - Invid (Original Mix)
• Ram Trilogy - Mindscan (Ed Rush & Optical Mix)
• Hive - Ultrasonic Sound (Dilinja Remix)
• NC-17 - Attitude Era
• Moving Fusion & Andy C - Foul Mouth
• Noisia & Phace - Outsource
• Trace - Sniper
• Trace - Sonar (Optical & Trace Remix)
• J Magik - Solarize (Optical Remix)
• Future Prophecies - Magnetic
• Nero - Act Like You Know (Original Mix)
• Pendulum - Hold Your Color

(Final track, unmixed, played while tearing down my gear)

Reflection

It was a really great night, with some fantastic music and great conversations.

In terms of technical execution, this went over very well. There were only two mixes that were a bit wibbly: One because the booth monitor I was using was a bit further away than I normally keep them, and the track I was bringing in was a bit muddy in the mid-range (One Day -> Invid (Original Mix)) and the other (Solarize -> Magnetic) because it was a technically challenging mix (no beats in the intro for Magnetic, and it’s consistent tone so the pitch adjustments are more noticeable)

The crowd seemed to enjoy it, and my fellow DJ friends who were present said that it went well. Having listened to the mix several times afterwards, I’m happy with it.