Recently Matt Pelling and his team at Loopmasters have come up with their new ‘Mix Tools‘ concept, which allows you to DJ with set parts of a track (known as stems) and splice all sorts of bits together to make live re-edits on the fly. DontStayIn got the in for a chat on this new idea, and beat 500MB of free Mix Tool samples out of them to give to our budding DSI DJs! Cool eh?
Below is the interview Dontstayin had with Matt Pelling, but here is a demo video first to show you what you could do with the DJ Mixtools packs.
Matt, thanks very much for talking to us about this project and giving our DJs a free sample of what it’s all about. Can you tell us in a nutshell what a ‘Mix Tool’ is please?
DJ Mixtools from Loopmasters are a series of downloadable tracks in cutting edge styles and genres which are broken down into long evolving royalty free stems, which progressive djs and producers can use to make creative edits, Dj sets and tracks.
Who came up with the Mix Tool concept? When and why?
We came up with the concept at Loopmasters HQ earlier this year, we recognized that there is a lot of great technology for DJs being released including hard and software which has meant that there are many new options for modern DJs to be more creative, for example using sample decks and so forth… we are very interested in this new sector and believe that the Mixtools concept is something fresh and creative.
What sort of DJs will these suit?
I think the words ‘creative’ and ‘progressive’ are probably synonymous with whom we see as the key DJ and Producer types that will be most interested in using these tools. DJs who want to create their own edits or mashups, and to introduce original transitions throughout their sets and utilize the technology that they have to its best abilities. Genre wise its immediately suitable for all forms of dance music, including Tech, Minimal, Trance and of course in time Hip Hop and Drum and Bass, Dubstep.
Are any of the ‘big gun’ DJs using these in their sets?
So far its still a new concept but we have already had great feedback from Deadmau5, Luke Porter, Chris Lum, Jason Nevins, Meat Katie, Paul Mendez and DJ Exacta.
How much are you charging for a Mix Tool pack, and what does it come with?
We sell these packs at £14.95 and you get 4 full tracks, each complete with around 10 stems, plus some bonus files to help “in the mix”. So overall a pack is around 1GB and usually has around 50 long evolving loops. Beatport and Traxsource are now selling the stems individually.
So each track is a split into a number of stems. Let’s just clear up the jargon and explain what a stem is to someone who may not know?
A stem is essentially a component part from the track which is presented as a 32 or more often 64 bar loop. Stems in the Mixtools range include Locked Groove (Bass and Drums), Drums only, Tops (Percussion, no kick), Breakdown section, Chords, Bass and Percussion.
Is this ideal for people using CDs and CDJs?
Yes this concept also works well for CDjs. you can burn the stems onto a regular audio CD using any CD burning software. If you are using one of the newer CDJs that can read MP3 data disks then you can burn them as MP3 data disks. Alternately – if your CDJ has a USB memory stick or hard drive input, just copy the audio files onto the storage medium and play them directly from it.
How are producers in the scene warming to this idea. Are big artists going to start releasing their tracks in such a way in future?
That remains to be seen but we certainly hope so.
We’ve managed to lock down an exclusive free download for our DSI friends, so if you care to let them know what’s in this pack that would be great?
We have created an exclusive free pack for DSI members which includes 2 free tracks and all associated stems for all you DJS out there to test out our concept in your DJ Software or CDJs, and get a feel for what you get in our packs. We have chosen 1 track from our Minimal Underground Techno Pack, and another from our Tech House & Deep Minimal. We hope you guys enjoy it. If you do – we also supplied a discount code so you can grab some more content cheaply.
What does the short-term future have in store for DJs that like using Mix Tools?
We are working hard with some of the top producers in many genres to bring more Mixtools out – usually a full 4 track product every 2 weeks. Coming up we also have Mix FX, Builds and Breakdowns and new genres including Dubstep and Trance coming very soon!
If you like these for a taster, then you can also get 20% off your purchase by entering our exclusive discount code which is DSI20 when you’re shopping for Mix tools at Loopmasters.com