As we pass April’s half way point I’m pleased to report that BeatsBase.com is edging resiliently towards launch. Whilst it may seem like I’ve been saying that for some time now, I can assure you that it’s true. Launch day functionality is all but complete and the next couple of weeks are set for a major step up in the level of testing and tweaking of the site.

Losing patience? Believe me no-one is more eager than me to see BeatsBase.com available to the world but the perfectionist in me won’t let that happen until the site really is right and up to the high standards required by the DJ community. Don’t get me wrong, there will always be bits and pieces that need tweaking, but Chris and I are working hard to keep them to a minimum.

Ok so you’ve read through two paragraphs and still see no launch date! Sorry, but if I commit to a date now I risk letting you down before we’ve even started! Na… best to stay safe and say it will be live when its ready which rest assured will be weeks, not months!

Apologies once again for not following up my last post as quickly as I might have liked, but rest assured my time has been well spent driving BeatsBase.com ever closer to completion! When I hear you say? em… um… Soon! Sorry I can’t be more exact but hey, it’s only ‘cos we want BeatsBase.com to be the best DJ community/tool/meeting place on the internet and as they say ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’.

Ok, so what exactly has been happening recently? Well, Chris has managed to compute the voting system for the site enabling users to vote and comment on uploaded tracks, play lists, events and even mixes! Mixes?! I hear you say!

Well, Yes! Developments are in an early stage but it’s looking positive that BeatsBase.com users will be able to upload their own mp3 mixes to the site for other users to listen to, comment and vote on, providing DJs with a global audience for their latest works. Watch this space!!

Nearly 4 weeks (sorry) after posting a few screen shots of what BeatsBase.com might look like, I think it’s about time for me to update you all on the progress of the site.

As you are well aware, one of the key features and indeed the original rationale behind BeatsBase.com is that of the BPM and song info database! I am therefore delighted to begin this post with the announcement that the first entries into the database have now been uploaded. Unfortunately, users will have to wait a little longer for the site to go live to be able to search, interact and add to the database, but with over 30,000 songs already in there it should be worth the wait!

Another exciting feature development worth mentioning is that of BeatBase.com’s events calendar. Through our determination to become a vital tool for DJs around the world, we have developed an events calendar that works very much like a personal organiser or diary.

Essentially it enables registered users to promote themselves by entering dates and venues etc… for their upcoming gigs into their own personal diary cleverly titled ‘My Events’. Viewers of the site can then search the entire BeatsBase.com global events calendar by area, city, DJ etc… to find out exactly what’s going on in their area. Cool eh!?

Hey there, I hope the screenshots I posted as part of my last blog have moistened your appetite for what I’m trying to achieve here with beatsbase.com, they certainly give me renewed motivation!

Anyways as development moves into a fairly technical phase, which I don’t pretend to fully understand, I thought discuss a question I’m often asked. What’s best? Vinyl, CD or Digital DJing?

Let me start this short discussion by declaring that I remain happily outside the debate of which of these three methods is ‘the best’. There are a number of advantages and disadvantages to each of these forms of DJing – to suggest one is superior in every way (as some DJs like to argue) is, in my opinion, ludicrous.

If you are new to DJing it’s perhaps best to focus on one format to begin with to keep things simple. An increasing number of people seem to be opting to begin DJing with CDs, as buying a lot of vinyl can become a costly exercise, but again, personal preference is all that really matters. Once you develop some experience I suggest you have a go with some other formats to broaden your skills a little. I’m not saying you must go out and buy yet more equipment (unless you want to of course) but if you can get access to something different give it a try.

Most clubs now offer an integration of these three formats and, in my opinion, DJs with higher ambitions would be wise to familiarise themselves with all formats. The music and DJing industry has a high degree of technological innovation and evolves very, very quickly. Keeping up to date with new formats, without neglecting older ones, should ensure your longevity as a DJ.

Take it easy!

So here’s the third post of my beatsbase.com blog and finally I’m in a position to give you a sneak peak of what the site may look like. Chris has been slaving away to develop the user side of the site which allows DJs to manage their own profile including, amongst other features, track details uploaded, set lists/mixes of their own creation, and upcoming gigs where they will be playing.

This community aspect to beatsbase.com, I hope, will enable DJs to do much more than share track information (which of course is central to the site). Through features such as beatsbase blogs (much like this one) as well as the ability to vote and comment on tracks, sets, mixes and gigs, users should be able to connect with like minded music lovers from around the globe.

Does that sound like a marketing speech? I hope not! I guess what I’m trying to say is that beatsbase.com is designed to help you develop your DJing by helping you to come up with new and unique ideas, not only through a flexible database of track info, but also by connecting you to a wealth of different viewpoints, opinions and ideas – namely, each other!

Later!

Hi folks, sorry it has taken so long to post a follow up to my rather lengthy blog debut ‘2manydjs’ but here it is! Firstly, I’m pleased to announce the BeatsBase.com site is making great progress and I hope to have some screenshots and feature info posted up here for you in the next couple of days! In the meantime, I thought I’d take the opportunity to discuss arguably the most important aspect of DJing – the set list!

Plain and simple, whatever kind of DJ you consider yourself to be, no amount of talent will make up for a weak set. Disappointing as it is to the purest, there are plenty of “DJs” (I use the term loosely) out there, filling dance floors with no more effort than throwing the cross fader across every 3 or 4 minutes. Why? Because they play what people want to hear! Let me then put this question to you, when is a DJ, a DJ? Is it down to good song choice? Or is it a matter of technical skill?

My personal opinion, for what its worth, leans towards technical skill but even I can’t deny that, without great tracks, even the most skilful DJs around will struggle to muster anything more than a few nodding heads at the back of the club. The answer? Don’t sacrifice one for the other. Without great tracks a DJ is nothing, without technical ability he’s a glorified jukebox. Play what they want to hear and play it well!

Cheers for readin’

Robbie

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first entry in the beatsbase.com blog, come to think of it is my first blog entry anywhere, but that’s beside the point. Hopefully by now you’ve had a look at the BeatsBase holding page and have some idea what were all about. As Chris (the computing brains behind this little venture) has already said, if you have any questions please feel free to post a comment.

Chris being elbow deep in web code trying to squeeze my ideas into hyperspace, I thought I’d take a moment to give you a little background to me and my idea. My name is Robbie, I’m 23, I’m Scottish and I have always had a love of music. I play a couple of instruments with varying levels of success, have been in bands (as a drummer) and have an extremely wide taste in music (the more embarrassing parts of which I’ll take to my grave). Too cut a long story short throughout my university years I developed a keen appreciation for DJing and more specifically for any DJ who had truly mastered the art of beatmatching. Almost instantly following my discovery of Radio Soulwax and Stephen and David Dewaele, this appreciation became an obsession.

For a year or so I toyed with the idea of buying my own decks to create a wealth of unique and unlikely mixes, and finally, following my graduation (and some much needed steady income) I took the leap… Around 20 minutes later I realised DJing was a little tougher than the Dewaele Brothers made it look but through perseverance and practice (weeks!) it started to get easier. Only one problem remained… what song do I mix in next?

I soon realised that if I wanted to avoid obvious and predictable mixes I needed to find a way of figuring out which songs in my music collection were compatible allowing me to easily choose two tracks to work on… Eureka you might say! Now all I needed was a database of all my music complete with the beats-per-minute count, Key, genre etc…

Lacking the tools, time and patience to collect this data manually I turned to the internet where I would surely find it!?! (You’re probably ahead of me now so I’ll try skip ahead to where this journey has finally taken me). Having failed to find what I was looking for I set out to do it myself - I would design and build a website for DJs offering just this kind of database which they could build on and share for the good of the entire DJ community!

Once again this proved more difficult than I first thought, but undeterred, I have invested in this idea for over a year now and as we move into 2007 you can see its starting to take shape! Strangely enough the fact that fate would choose January as the month in which I finally see beatsbase.com on the web may be more fitting than you know. I took in this New Year in Edinburgh at City nightclub watching none other than the Dewaele brothers aka 2manydjs - they were excellent by the way.

Happy New Year

Robbie.