The name for “The Gaffa Tapes” was lent to me via my good friend and Studio Manager, Allan Smyth. Allan spends a considerable amount of time rigging Audio Visual (AV) gear and I asked a shared Whatsapp chat for suggestions for a series of Cassette-only DJ Mixes. “The Gaffa Tapes” won. Allan owns Creao Studio where I made the mix.
The Gaffa Tapes will appear as a series of cassette-only DJ mixes for the sponsors on my Patron Page.
The Patron Page has been set up to keep me in music for The Parish News.
Am I happy with the mix? Yes & no. I am happy that I could transfer my dub DJing skills to a new format but I quickly realised that Dub DJing skills are not necessarily needed for this format.
I recorded my first ever cassette-only DJ mix as a marker – things can only get better from here. I should really be creating a wall of sound – bypassing the musicality of the pieces featured. Instead, I went for singling out the textures of the tracks. Bad move. Some of the tracks work really well, some of them are awful. There is a good use of “Flutter & Wow” but all in all I am happy with it – if I was playing Dub tunes and recorded this set (from a medium other than cassette) I would be happy with it.
But, I need to teach myself how to DJ cassettes – so, I will make my learning process public – I will keep on keeping on with my cassette DJ mixing and make the practice sessions available to listen to HERE. It should prove a lot of fun.