Steven Slater's Podcast

A slightly more bar-orientated/backroom sound, its a mix knocked up to promote the music policy of a popular local venue with a past history of classic soul, disco and soulful house nights.

'Knocked up'said as if it was nothing... Id probably go as far as saying that as far as things go on the technical side of things, its probably about the best mix Ive ever made cos it took me AGES to put together!

Having to deal with pleasing a cross-section to different age groups is never an easy task and being suited as much to day time listening as it is to night, it mixes up CD and old vinyl, moving through different genres, tempos and eras, while contending with the ball-ache of trying to cater for a few crowd favourites along the way.

Initially a demo intended to skim across the various styles of house that I was playing at the time, the mix ended up being aired on the radio within the Cleveland area.

A tracklist that crams together deeper vocals, trackier Chicago and West Coast material, with a few more accessible bits thrown into the middle section, I had also bought a CDJ1000 and stand-alone EFX500 effects unit earlier that year and so this was one of their first outings for me as far as recordings go.

I remember spending ages putting it together and had only given it out to a handful of close friends, so when I was asked to provide a guest mix for a friend who had his own show, I gave him this. Only an hour or so was aired, but here it is in its entirety.

A recording from the 2002 Sugarshack DJ Competition.

This time around, I was beaten by the guy I thought deserved to win when I came out on top in the previous competition two years earlier. A little rough around the edges (before the days of CDJ1000s being in every DJ booth!), I think I had my head down throughout the whole thing trying to keep everything tight across three turntables-one of which was the shittiest old Pioneer CD player thing-I think it came inside a Kinder Egg! I wasnt too bothered about losing. I was just happy that I had played better than I did when I actually won!

Having already won the competition in the previous month, I made this in January 2002 & entered the competition again for a bit of a laugh, if anything. To my surprise, it was featured months later in the April issue!

At the time, I wasnt DJing anywhere & was on the hunt for gigs. I used to play at a local bar from time to time & a girl who worked there kept asking me to copy her a record that she always requested. Thats pretty much how this mix came about; as copying one record, which became a few, which ended up being a laughable anthem-bashing mix of big obvious records to give out to local venues!

My winning entry to International DJ Magazine's old 'Readers Mixes' monthly DJ Competition (later renamed 'Raw Talent').

Recorded during the summer, I sent this off to IDJ in August 2001. By the time it appeared in the following December issue I had forgotten all about it! I remember skipping class in college to go grab a copy ASAP when someone told me about it and my prize was a little Citronic scratch mixer that I sold to a mate in my tutor group!

Its an old mix that went missing for years. Luckily, I managed to salvage it from an unlabeled, scratched CD found last year. Beside one or two skips here and there, its pretty much intact.

An old mixtape made when I was 19. I remember sending it to the promoters of local club night, Sugarshack, then at The Empire in Middlesbrough-coupled with an accompanying note full of bullshit & drenched in naivety!

I didn't get much of a reply, just a note saying that I'd been entered into their upcoming DJ competition. Surprisingly, I somehow ended up coming out on top & with it won the chance to warm up for Roger Sanchez down at the club a few weeks later, a bonus as he was one of my favourite DJs at the time.

An old mixtape made when I was 19. I remember sending it to the promoters of local club night, Sugarshack, then at The Empire in Middlesbrough-coupled with an accompanying note full of bullshit & drenched in naivety!

I didn't get much of a reply, just a note saying that I'd been entered into their upcoming DJ competition. Surprisingly, I somehow ended up coming out on top & with it won the chance to warm up for Roger Sanchez down at the club a few weeks later, a bonus as he was one of my favourite DJs at the time.