SJTYLR DJ Mixes

Turning 40 and crashing into a midlife crisis, Hesty got me a set of turntables for my birthday. Back in the day, as a teen and student, I’d been really into mixing on vinyl and I’d sold it all to buy a ticket to go to the US to be a lifeguard. That collection is probably worth a fortune now…

During the long summer of 2022, stuck in Beijing, I really got back into it, and it has become a fun creative outlet. Relearning the skills in the digital age is great, and I think we are in a new golden era of EDM. Mixes are often inspired by nature, water, life stages and the 24 solar terms of the Chinese calendar. They cover progressive and melodic house & techno, drum & bass, nudisco and old-school trance bangers.

My Setup:

Pioneer DDJ FLX-4 mixer. A great set of turntables at the budget end, with impressive features and a professional feel. I upgraded to these in summer 2023, from the Hercules Inpulse 200 basic mixer.
Pioneer HDJ Cue Headphones. These are great, with bluetooth and cables.
Algoriddim DJ ProAI software for Mac. This is great, with loads of options and easy integration with streaming services and a decent iOS app for playing. I also have Rekordbox DJ.
BeatPort subscription for music.
BlackHole virtual cable & Audacity for recording (post on how to make it work).
MixCloud Pro & YouTube for hosting and sharing mixes. They take care of DRM (digital rights). In Mixcloud, original artists can be linked and paid, and in YouTube, it links to original tracks. I also share on WeChat Channels (ID SJTYLR), which tends to get more views.