Pulser and other nonsense

Trance Top 1000 and my Top 10

The Trance Top 1000 just got released and makes for some interesting reading. It’s just about what I expected but got me thinking of a definitve list of my own so here’s my top 10 all-time favorite Trance tracks:-

1. Push - Strange World (A record that never gets old for me)
2. Fictivision Vs C-Quence - Symbols (Energy!)
3. Rapid Eye - Circa Forever (Perfect Trance)
4. Andain - Beautiful Things (ok, so it’s not exactly banging trance but I used to play this to death)
5. Cass n Slide - Perception (amazing track with Naimee Coleman’s delectable voice)
6. Veracocha - Carte Blanch (Set the benchmark a decade ago. Epic breakdown)
7. Reflekt Feat. Delline Bass - Need To Feel Loved (Thrillseekers Remix) - First track I ever played at Godskitchen. Goosebumps!
8. Underworld - 2 Months Off (King unique remix) - Amazing, long building monster. A bit housey but rocked many floors for me.
9. Firewall - Sincere (Pulser remix) Ok, am I allowed to include one of my own remixes? I think I nailed this one
10. Sasha - Expander (Legendary!)

Of course, there are a ton of tracks I could also include! - Grace - Not Over Yet, System F - Out Of The Blue, Josh Wink - Higher State Of Conciousness, Motorcyle - As The Rush Comes… the list goes on and on….

So what does this say about me as these are all ‘old’ tracks? I’m not saying nothing great hasn’t come out recently. There has been a huge amount of amazing tracks in the last few years but the acid test for me is how a track stands the test of time.

Current fashion/trends in the type of sounds we producers use and the tempos we write in play a big part in how music sounds but it’s the strength of the tune that (for me) has to be timeless regardless of all the added glitter.

I’m sure this list will change again in the future but for me, these 10 are probably the broadest definition of Trance, a genre I have loved for nearly 15 years.

What’s yours?

Andy

MASSIVE TUMBLR FAIL!

Sorry for the reposts but Tumblr seems to have gone crazy.

Elements - Jan 8th 2010 **Thrillseekers Rescheduled Appearance**

After the unfortunate weather and flight related problems of last weekend I’ve just had some great news regarding Elements at Club Essential in January.

We have managed to re-schedule the Thrillseekers appearance for January 8th 2011 so now you only have a few short weeks to wait and I promise it will be even better than what we had planned for December!

Steve (Thrillseekers) did eventually get back home to the UK after a grueling 24 hrs spent stuck in Antwerp and we wish him (and us) better luck with the weather in January. We’re looking forward to seeing you here Steve!!

Big thankyou to Propeller and Connected DJ’s for your help in rearranging everything.

Andy (Pulser)

P.S. and don’t forget…… I’m back at Essential on NYE alongside Kaspar Kondrat, Roland Privert and Electricano to bring in the new year with you lovely people! See you there!!

Elements - About last night

As you’ll be aware if you came to last night’s Elements at Club Essential our special guest Steve Helstrip aka ‘The Thrillseekers’ couldn’t make it to Riga.

The extreme weather conditions across Europe left many planes grounded including Steve’s and he unfortunately had to spend the night marooned in Antwerp. Between Steve, his agents, my agents and the club we tried everything possible to get him here but there were no flights available. We just hope Steve got home ok today!

Elements went ahead anyway and I want to thank each and everyone of you for turning out in good numbers to support us! Riga can be rightly proud of it’s #Trancefamily… I know I am!

I also want to say a big thankyou to Roland Privert for stepping in at the last moment and to DJ Goldberg for both delivering fantastic sets on the night.

We are currently trying to re-schedule The Thrillseekers date for early 2011 and I will let you know details as soon as I have any.

Anyway, for you trainspotters out there here’s my set list from last night (courtesy of Pioneer Rekordbox) :-


1     Sander Van Doorn - Intro (XX Booty Mix)
2     Filipe Boiler - Give It Life (Original Mix)
3     Kikker - It’s Just Grooving (Original Mix)
4     Dan Baseley - ID
5     Digital Victims - New Born (George Frais Remix)
6     EDU - Heat Wave (Alan Nimmo Remix)
7     Dan Baseley - ID
8     La Roux - In For The Kill (Michael Woods Remix)
9     Nadia Ali - Rapture (Tristan Gartner Remix)
10    Michael Woods - Midnight Run (Original Club Mix)
11    Marco V - Godd (Booty mix)
12    Filipe Boiler - Rare Fascination (Original Mix)
13    Dan Baseley - ID
14    Dan Baseley - ID
15    Arnej - For The People (Original Mix)
16    Daniel Portman & Jerome Isma-Ae - Flashing Lights (Original Mix)
17    Mem - Forza
18    Michael Woods - Nitro (Original Club Mix)
19    Cirez D Vs. Axwell - Feel The On Off (Axwell Bootleg Edit)   
20    Dinka - Hive (Original Mix)   
21    Michael Woods - No Access
22    PULSER - ID
23    Martin Solveig, Dragonette - Hello (Michael Woods Dub Remix)
24    Ferry Corsten pres. Pulse - Festival (Original Mix)
25    Ronski Speed - B Sign (Original Mix)
26    M.I.K.E. - The Art Of Love (Protoculture Remix)   
27    PULSER - ID
28    Mike Danis - Redtooth (Original_Mix)
29    The Flyers & Mike Sonar - Stonehenge (Steve Brian Remix)
30    LTN - Dim Sum 24 (Alexander Popov Remix)   
31    Julian Vincent feat. Jessie Morgan - Shadows The Sun (Nifra Remix)   
32    Gaia - Aisha (Ashley Wallbridge Remix)
33    PULSER pres Luminal - Sunstorm (Original Mix) Flashover Recordings
34    Ashley Wallbridge ft. Elleah - Walk On Water (Extended Vocal Mix)   
35    PULSER - ID
36    PULSER - In My World (Garuda Records) **out on December 21st**
37    Mike Foyle & DNS Project - Cayo Norte (Original Mix)
38    Skytech - Planet (Original Mix)
39    Scot Project - G(Ghost) (Moody Ghost Remix)
40    tyDi feat. Tania Zygar - Half Light (Max Graham Remix)
41    PULSER - ID
42    PULSER - ID


See you on Jan 8th for the next installment of Elements and I wish you all a VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A FANTASTIC NEW YEAR!

Andy (Pulser)

Stereobyte - Madison

Stereobyte - Madison by Pulser

Stereobyte - Madison Written & Produced by Andy Perring. Published by Proof Songs Ltd 2010

Madison is the first track I wrote for my upcoming Stereobyte album project and I’ve decided to release this for you to freely download and share under a Creative Commons license.

Please be sure to read the license conditions.

Enjoy!

Andy P.

Madison by Andy Perring is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at soundcloud.com.

Elements #6 at Club Essential (Riga, Latvia) November tracklists

What and amazing party we had at Club Essential last night!

Thanks to everyone who came to Elements. You we’re all on top form! Elements is getting bigger and better every month thanks to you guys!!

Also want to say a big thankyou to my guest @Andzhan for a superb and intelligent set. Hope to see you back at Elements very soon mate!

Pics and (some) audio to follow but for now here’s the tracklists from my 2 sets:-

Pulser Elements at Club Essential (Riga, Latvia) 13.11.2010 (First set) 22:00 - 01:00

1    Parker & Hanson - Alquimia (Andrew Bayer Remix)   
2    Deelay - Infatuation (Miles Dyson Dub)   
3    Pulser Featuring Molly Bancroft - In Deep (Extended Mix)
4    Pulser - Jaywalker
5    Dan Baseley - Come Again
6    Dan Baseley ID
7    Haylon - Starfighter (DJ Observer & Daniel Heatcliff Remix)
8    Snip Jest    Snip Jest - Behind Duck (Original Mix)
9    Pamuya - Lucid State (Original Mix) 
10    Blacktzar - How Does It Feel (Pulser remix)
11    Mango - Here We Go (Jaytech Remix) 
12    Kris Menace feat. Emil - Walkin’ On The Moon - Adam Shaw Remix
13    Michael Woods - Midnight Run (Original Club Mix)
14    Mem - Forza   - D-flat Minor
15    Pulser - ID (Album title track so can’t playlist it yet)   
16    Michael Woods - Nitro (Original Club Mix)
17    Cirez D Vs. Axwell - Feel The On Off (Axwell Booteg Edit)   
18    Susana & Josh Gabriel - Frozen (Nic Chagall Remix)
19    Solid Sky feat. Jama - Going Around (Dub Mix)
20    Simon Gain & Kris O’Neil - Mount (Original Mix)   
21    Pamuya - Against Gravity (Original Mix)
22    Pamuya - Drops of Emptiness (Original Mix)
23    Dinka - Hive (Original Mix)
24    Pulser - Things You Say (Damion Powel Remix) 
25    Dave Seman & Josh Gabriel - Vorahnung (Egostereo Remix)   
26    Bobina vs PPK - Resurrection 2011 
27    Ronski Speed - B Sign (Original Mix)   
28    Filipe Boiler - Give It Life (Original Mix)
29    EDU - Heat Wave (Alan Nimmo Remix)
30    Faithless Feat Dido - Feeling Good (Kyau & Albert Remix)
31    Marco V - Godd (Booty mix)

Pulser Elements at Club Essential (Riga, Latvia) 13.11.2010 (Second set) 03:30 - 06:00

1    Pulser - Don’t Look Down (Extended Mix)
2    Ronski Speed Feat.Ana Criado - A Sign
3    Hybrid - Disappear Here (Andy Moor Ecomix)
4    Karanda - Tonight (Tom Fall Remix)
5    Colonial One Feat. Isa Bell - Always On My Mind (Cordonnier Remix) 
6    Dogzilla - Without You - Rafael Frost Remix
7    Fadios - Speechless (Max Graham Remix)
8    Rank 1 And Jochen Miller - The Great Escape (Extended)
9    A.r.d.i - Rays Of Life (Solar Energy Remix)
10    Mike Danis - Nothing Fades (Original Mix) 
11    Sasha & Emerson - Scorchio (Pulser’s Naughty Remix)
12    Sied Van Riel & Ummet Ozcan - Serendipity (Phase II)
13    Roland Privert - track5 ID   
14    Pulser - In My World (Activa Club Mix)
15    Phillip Alpha & Daniel Kandi    Sticks & Stones (Beat Service Remix)   
16    Gaia - Aisha (Ashley Wallbridge Remix)
17    Peter Lesko - Driven (Original Mix)
18    Mike Oceanic - Horizon(Karybde & Scylla Remix)
19    Anton Firtich feat. Betsie Larkin - Out Of The Storm (Dub Mix)
20    M.I.K.E. Presents Plastic Boy - Pacific Dreams (Original Mix)
21    Taylor, Close - Into Ontario (Original Mix)
22    Loverush UK!, Shelley Harland - Different World 2010 (Mandy Reid Remix)
23    Marc Simz - Forbidden City
24    Indecent Noise - Tri Stars
25    Pulser feat. Josie - Undo The Silence (Breakfast at Alberts Mix)
26    Above & Beyond & Gareth Emery Pres. OceanLab - On A Good Day Metropolis (Extended Mix)

On a lighter note…

While the computers are tied-up uploading mixstems and doing backups I thought I would share  with you some of the tracks and albums that have rocked it for me personally and at my residency night ‘Elements at Club Essential in Riga’ in 2010….so far (numbered but only for separation).

1. Aeonism - The Phoenix (Myth Records) (video - Youtube)

As soon as I heard this I was hooked. Aeonism seem to have sprung from nowhere but I suspect they’re not nobodys. Deep, dark and the very essence of progressive. I couldn’t wait to give this a spin on the big system at Club Essential. The atmosphere created in this track is amazing!

2. Marc Simz - Forbidden City (In Trance We Trust / Blackhole) (video - Youtube)

Only heard this a few days ago. Tuned into Markus Shulz’s show for a bit and heard this thing belting my ear drums. This is proper, full-on, hard-edged club trance. It has an old-skool feel and I LOVE IT!

3. Michael Woods - ANYTHING HE DOES (various labels) Can’t really single out a track from Michael Woods because everything I’ve heard this year has hit the mark and gone straight in the bag. He’s managed to nail that difficult cross-over sound between house and trance effortlessly. I remember him from his ‘Warrior’ days… actually think I met him once or twice many years ago when I did some remixes for a label he was signed to. Those were the days when labels had offices and staff LOL

4. Lange - Harmonic Motion (Maelstrom Records / Lange Recordings)  The whole album! (video - Youtube)

Might be a little biased here because Lange is an old mate but he excelled himself with the release of Harmonic Motion (his second studio album). Lange has always been a producer I’ve both admired and been inspired by for as long as I can remember. His musical, technical and studio talents are amazing and his attention to detail shows in everything he touches. The title track ‘Harmonic Motion’ is a stand out track for me because of it’s ‘uniqueness’ in todays trance sound. The album crosses a lot of boundaries yet still manages to retain that magic Lange is known for. The whole album is a journey.

5. Stoneface & Terminal - Moment (Euphonic Records) (Video - Youtube)

The pay-off when this kicks back in from the break is unbelievable. I’ve played this out a few times  and it’s guaranteed to get people bouncing…even me! Sounds hard as hell in the club but still musical. All the right elements come together. It switched me on from first listen and I think it’s one of the best ‘Trance’ tracks this year!

6. Blacktzar - How Does It Feel (to be released) (Video - Youtube)

I first heard this 2 weeks ago after getting to the page via a rather cryptic spam message on Twitter. This blew me away! Everything I love in music is right there. The song is deep, raw and emotive and the video is equally dark and beautiful. I loved this so much that I got in touch with the band. A few days later I had done this with it:- Blacktzar - How Does It Feel (Pulser remix) (watch in HD for best audio). I truly believe these guys will be massive. This is just the beginning.

7. Deadmau5 - Strobe (Ultra) (OK technically this isn’t from 2010 but it was for me) (Video - Youtube)

Strobe is a beautiful track that leans heavily towards trance. I played this once at Essential and the reaction was massive… I got it! I’m not a big Deaudmau5 fan TBH but I do respect him though for sticking to his guns when a lot of people turned on him.



There are many more of these to come. It’s been a great year for music so far.

Backups and uploads are finished so I’m going to get back to mastering.

Andy.

And another thing…..Bizarre Record Label Practices…

OK, so you sign your track to a label which then gets licensed to another label’s ‘MIX’ compilation. Ok, so far so good. That’s pretty normal.

Then the label which releases the ‘MIX’ compilation releases all of those licensed tracks ‘unmixed’! BEFORE your single is properly released…

What the fuck is all that about?

Labels, are you really that fucking stupid?

You lose exclusivity of the track. You become reliant on the strength of the remix(es) and subsequently you screw up nearly all chances of that track doing anything when it’s released….because people have already bought it (or downloaded it illegally). You’re original signing thus becomes irrelevant and you do YOUR label and artists no favours whatsoever!

Of course, if the artist who’s single release you just ruined has his own publishing deal in place he will still benefit in some ways from the track wherever and however it is sold (unless the licensee ‘forgets or otherwise neglects their duty to inform and register the release with the copyright societies’) but what does the label get from it? Kudos? Some big advance that is never disclosed? What exactly? I’m baffled TBH!

Reached a milestone in the studio today

After over a year of heads-down studio work I’ve finally finished writing all the tracks for the album but that’s not the end of it. The next 2-3 weeks will be spent balancing, fine tuning and in some cases re-engineering the tracks so they have a uniform sound… cant say that’ll be my favorite job but I want this to be as good as I can make it.

I have a benchmark track called ‘Nothing Is Real’ (there you go, an exclusive bit of news lol) which is by far the best engineered (pre-mastering) track I’ve ever done. I’ve stuck rigidly to -14db RMS (using Bob Katz K-System) to give a big dynamic range to play with… in simple terms it means the unmastered tracks have a big range between the quietest parts and the loudest. I used to smash the hell out my tracks and over compress everything but ever since I adopted K-System mixing my mixes have become so much more transparent and detailed and I can finally hear every part clearly.

Of course, the mastering stage could (and probably will) destroy a lot of the dynamic range which is why I’m going to master it first myself so I have an alternative to the commercially mastered end product which will probably be done at Abbey Roads Studios in London. I’ve spent ages learning and experimenting with M/S processing and multi-band compressors and know exactly how I want it to sound.

Anyway, time to have a rest before I start post production tomorrow… actually excited I got this far. Still a month or so from final mastering but I’m sure that will fly by and I’ll finally have FINISHED my first album.

Youtube, Tiesto and Cloudwalking… a little moan

ust been doing a bit of Youtube-ing after someone sent me a message looking for a copy of the ‘Tiesto’ remix of Cloudwalking (seriously) so I thought I should once and for all put the record straight on that and a few other things.

Tiesto NEVER remixed Cloudwalking. He did however include it on his now legendary Magik 6 compilation and I guess I have him to thank for that but beyond playing my records that’s as far as our connection goes. The mix that is so frequently attributed to Tiesto on Youtube and other sites/playlists is the ‘Astral mix’ which was also produced by yours truly. Astral was an alias I used back in 1998/99 when I needed to do a solo remix but still be part of the Olmec Heads. I remixed ‘Olmec Heads - Spiritualised’ under that name also.

The actual vinyl copy of Cloudwalking that Tiesto mixed from was my own. ATCR, Amato (distributors) and every shop had sold out when the request came through so I had to give up my one and only copy to Tiesto. I remember it was couriered from ATCR HQ in Oxford to Holland just in time to make the cut… maybe one day Tijs will give me it back ;-)