DF Pirate Radio – Cliffnotes (2009 Season)

Cliff Notes – 2009 Season

* The latest edition to the digitalflood Pirate Radio arsenal for 2009 is a new M-Audio XSession Pro MIDI controller, which when coupled with Atomix Virtual DJ allows DJ digitalflood to mix music in real time seamlessly during live mix recorded sessions. Take a listen and see if you can hear the difference?

* Literally an hour before recording “Oi Vai, This Ainā€™t Kosher (Vol. 5 Episode 2)” of DF Pirate Radio, DJ digitalflood dislocated his left shoulder. DJ digitalflood had been recovering from shoulder surgery on his right shoulder and this left his collar bone imbalanced. The result is his other shoulder popped out and left DJ digitalflood in some major discomfort all of an hour before recording was to begin. Nevertheless, DJ digitalflood and Reverend Damian Baker recorded the show (albeit at a slower pace). You cannot even tell what happened and indeed this only proves the dedication the cast has to the show.

* Reverend Damian Baker is really converting to Judaism. The good Reverend has previously grown up Roman Catholic, became Methodist as a young adult, and had family who was Presbyterian. He’d spent the last few years as a Unitarian Christian before deciding to seek a Rabbi and proceed down the path of Judaism. Reverend Baker spent his early college career studying Christianity and was actively looking into becoming a Protestant Minister. That was about the time he met DJ digitalflood at SUNY Orange (circa 1996) where they were both members of the WOCC Radio Club and deejayed on the station.

* M’Weezy is really studying to become a Registered Nurse and in her second year at college. This makes her availability spotty during the course of this Pirate Radio season (Volume 5) as classes continue to intensify and take up more of her free time.

* Groucho really did get MC Mary @ The Disco! with a static shock on her butt during the recording of “The Groucho That Stole Christmas” and no– DJ digitalflood didn’t teach him how to do it.

* DJ digitalflood’s house is pretty small. It has two floors comprised of approximately 500 square feet. The first floor is where Pirate Radio is recorded during seasons four and five. The floor plan is fairly open allowing audience guests to sit in the living room and watch the radio show be recorded in the computer area. Other times guests sit over by the dining room table, which is on the other side of the recording area. The kitchen is just beyond the dining room and as pointed out by MC Mary @ The Disco! has a rather slippery waxed surface.

* Just prior to recording this season, Sheeva passed away of terminal lung cancer in the Spring of 2009. DJ digitalflood dedicated “The Beat Feast 2009 Redux (Vol. 5 Episode 3)” to her memory.

* 2009 marked ten years of digitalflood.com and 2010 marks five years of Pirate Radio (there have been six seasons, but one was only an episode long– in 2007 DJ digitalflood went on hiatus to get married and have a kid hence the one episode season). This season DJ digitalflood did a lot of reflection on his DJ and audio production experiences that lead up to this milestone. “The Slighty Unpleasant Dream After Hanukkah (Vol. 5 Episode 4)ā€ is a nod to DJ digitalflood’s exposure to the underground goth and industrial club scene, which molded much of his remix sensibilities early on. Meanwhile the “flAnneljAm: After Dark (Vol. 5 Episode 5)ā€ is a nod to his early deejay and radio production education during his college years. Each was important in shaping DJ digitalflood’s Pirate Radio show and arguably without those influences the show would not exist today.

* digitalflood Pirate Radio is still produced on the same computer used when the show started in 2004. Last year additional memory was added. This year the main hard drive failed and had to be replaced. Otherwise, the computer system is nearly the same as it was in 2004. Regardless of this, overall audio production quality has noticeably improved thanks to updated software production applications and additional new recording equipment, as well as, an overall improvement in production techniques used by DJ digitalflood himself.

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Running On Schedule

Railway station Cacica in Romania

Railway station Cacica in Romania

Last night Reverend Baker and I recorded “Vol. 5 Episode 2” of digitalflood Pirate Radio. I’ll now be taking those audio sessions into post-production and mixing the final show over the course of the next 72 hours. We’re 100% right on schedule for the 11/28/09 release of this episode of Pirate Radio. I’m pretty stoked. Things went exceptionally well despite me dislocating my left shoulder just before recording was to begin. That’s a long story and one I’ll get to later in the week during my normal shoulder update, but it looks like my other shoulder (the one that wasn’t operated on) is wearing away quickly under the added burden of being my primary arm. It’s back in the socket albeit sore. I’m hoping (and it seems to hold true thus far) that my right arm will continue to improve and be able to slowly, but surely alleviate the burden being placed on my non-dominate hand and arm. Back to Pirate Radio though, like I said things went swimmingly and I cannot wait until you hear how this one sounds. It’s absolutely hilarious and I’m sure if you’ve enjoyed our past work you’ll love this one as well.

I have to admit it was strange not having M’Weezy around during the session (as you’ll hear, she’s rather busy in college right now); but all things said if I had to start the season one man down there’s no one who could better handle that added pressure than Reverend Baker. Again, it’s absolutely hilarious and the music selection is going to completely blow you mind.

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Locked & Loaded

Green light means go!

Green light means go!

The multimedia audio production applications are all updated and confirmed functional. The workstation is prepped. We are a go for recording to begin this evening on the first new digitalflood Pirate Radio in the last ten months. Reverend Baker will be here at my house in less than seven hours. It all happens from there. I plan on following up on Vol. 5 Episode 2 with at least two mix sessions, which judging from the very frequent plays we get on them are extremely popular with you the viewer. Since October 5, 2009 (the launch of df.com version 11) the following Pirate Radio shows form our top five by listens/downloads:

  1. “The Milwaukee’s Best Session (Vol. 4 Ep. 1)”
  2. “Fight Piracy With Piracy (Vol. 1 Ep. 5)”
  3. “The Palindrome Mix (Vol. 1 Ep. 4)”
  4. The Seance Sessions (Vol. 4 Ep. 3)”
  5. “Fitty Brap @ The Disco! (Vol. 2 Ep. 7)”

Feel free to familiarize yourself with those gems if you have not already and if you have– give them a listen again. You never know what you’ll find hidden in the background of a conversation or a sample that you say “Hey, I know where that’s from”.

My plan for this year is to up the ante on both our production value and overall presentation. You’ll notice improvements on audio quality and overall content. As always, we’ll be hitting you with the hardest beats and the most off the wall humor possible. All in the name of entertainment for you the viewer/listener.

Thank you as always for taking the ride with us. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do making it.

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Firming Things Up

Mapquest - Losing people since 1996!

Mapquest - Losing people since 1996!

I spoke with Reverend Baker this evening via phone and we drew out the high level plans for his upcoming Pirate Radio session (Vol. 5 Episode 2), which is now due to drop some eight days and counting. The good Reverend has some pretty nifty plans for the show and I cannot wait until you hear what he’s thinking about. As with his past appearances, this one also promises to be a sure fire classic. Unfortunately I cannot let the cat out of the bag and reveal any of the details just quite yet. The wait will be worth it. Trust me.

I also had the chance to hang out with D.J. A.D.D. this evening. He’s up to some pretty neat things and about to go into public beta with a new web based project he is working on. I have to say I’m absolutely stoked about what I saw this evening. We went over some web site optimization strategies and I have to say even in pre-beta his web site absolutely rocks. I cannot wait to let you in on what he’s up to, but alas I will have to. Surprises are a lot better that way. I can promise you this much– the site is unique and at once also very promising as a catchy concept many will use. Stay tuned for more about that.

I also was sure to egg Mr. D.J. A.D.D. on about coming back to do a Pirate Radio show this season. With the web site development going on though that may not be an option, but he is sure that once things do calm down he’s going to be back and is even promising to deliver a new DJ mix set for the show. Again, I cannot wait.

There’s many things going on in the background right now at df.com and even more going on with our many collaborators. I hope you can make it out to the Armed Suspect’s 11/21/09 show I posted about this morning. I certainly wish I could, but it’s not exactly a great idea to go to a rock show with a recently repaired shoulder. They actually played a show in Warwick, NY about a week ago and I’m still kicking myself about not being able to go. I heard it absolutely rocked and I’m sure this one will as well.

You’ll notice starting with this post I’m adding what’s called “tags” to each post. This will, down the road, make it easier to find what you want on df.com using our in house search or another outside web search provider (such as Google or Bing) to find what you’re looking for. Eventually you’ll see a “tag cloud” appear on the left side menu (in a day or two). This will let you know what is a hot topic on the site right now and and again maybe help you find what you’re looking for quicker. Like many of the improvements at df.com, this is seemingly a baby step; but in the long term will deliver an even better df.com experience.

Finally, I leave you with my picture of the day. I dedicate this one to something I’m sure we’ve all had happen if you’ve ever used Mapquest.com for directions and ended up quite not whereĀ  you suspected. As always, thanks for checking and being patient.

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DF Pirate Radio – “Parlez Vous”

Title: Vol. 2 Episode 12 (Click Link to Play) Rel: 03/27/06
Description: Reverend Baker returns for another round of strange music and even stranger stories. MC Mary discovers she has named herself when translated from Spanish to English as “MC Mary at the CD”. Four years of High School Spanish down the drain. The theme of the show is old school hip hop and features tons of throwbacks. DJ Digitalflood digs in and drops the best breakdance beats ever. Excellent mix.
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