Thanks for taking the time to talk to us.  Many professional DJs have started experimenting with adding an iPod and a laptop to their gear, where others solely stand by their trusted vinyl.  What's your method of choice?

I don't DJ with an iPod, though a bartender friend of mine uses his NaviPod to run his club from the bar in the other room. MP3J-ing is very cool but it's for the hobbyist DJ, not the pros.  Don't get me wrong; I respect the feel of vinyl.  I support having the turntable classified as a musical instrument.  Scratching is an art.  I have even more respect for vinyl encoded with time code for remote control of a file (though 30 codes/second seems a bit slow for editing sound). But with all that said, I like to use a laptop for some low-key shows.

What advantages are there for a DJ using laptop?

There are distinct advantages. For smaller shows I suggest using iTunes Party Shuffle on a laptop with an Airport Express wired to a house system (or JBL EON 10 speakers). The wireless setup can a bit risky but most people respect expensive hardware and the effort. They're blown away by music without wires. For my real shows I'll use Native Instruments Final Scratch and/or Traktor. And don't forget, plain old vinyl works too. But all that's a little too complicated for the hobbyist MP3j.

What kind of setup time is involved with this fancy hi-tech MP3j rig?

Prior to starting a "low-key" gig, it takes about five minutes to make a new, one-hour playlist in iTunes and to get started. In Party Shuffle I select the new playlist as a Source. This serves as the default to keep the music flowing while I'm distracted. Otherwise I'm adding to Party Shuffle, and the more upcoming songs I display, the more I can improvise the queue. For my real shows, there's no Party Shuffle involved.

How has iTunes helped you do your job better?

iTunes makes it easy to interact while taking song requests from customers. If I don't have it, its usually a download away, and then it's always in my iTunes Library. If doing that or getting a beer takes five or ten minutes, Party Shuffle still does its job for me. People will buy you beers if you play their song, especially when you're already sitting at the bar. If I'm doing a "low-key" DJ gig that doesn't require being on stage, I prefer to sit behind the bar and hang out.

No heavy boxes of vinyl. No big turntables. That must be nice. How does it feel to a show once in awhile with a very trimmed down rig? You probably just show up for some gigs with only a backpack.

An empty stage confuses people at first.  They're used to seeing someone with a table covered with gear and bling bling.  By changing desk psychology to bar geek, some people find me more approachable, others less.  I don't pretend to be an entertainer, but I have to concentrate on what I'm doing.

Do you have any tricks of the trade to share with our readers?

Anything specific?

I imagine screen and window management can be tricky with a relatively small laptop screen.

Yeah. When I DJ with my PowerBook, I plug it into a Tascam mixer shrink the main iTunes window to half height and place it at the bottom of the screen. Double-clicking on Party Shuffle opens it into its own window, which I shrink and place at the top, displaying only 10 upcoming songs. In both views, I show only a few critical columns of song info. In this way, I can use the Library for searches on my drive and the iTunes Music Store, while keeping an eye on Party Shuffle song countdowns, in case I want to delete a song from the queue to preserve the mood. Control-clicking on a song in the iTunes Library pops up Party Shuffle commands Add and Play Next, so I can improvise from outside the Party Shuffle view.

Is it difficult dragging songs between windows and not accidentally interrupting the music?

Yes, dragging and dropping between the iTunes Library and Party Shuffle can be a bit tricky and takes practice.  You have to be quick with manual control or you can interrupt the stream.  Fortunately, when using Airport Express, the countdown changes to the next song when it starts to encode the cross fade - about 8 seconds before the end of the current track.  In this way, I can avoid butchering by deciding to let the next track play or fade it.

What about hardware add-ons? Do you have any cool gadgets in your MP3j rig?

When I don't have a Tascam DJ mixer handy, in one hand I use a Griffin PowerMate to fade out, pause, fade in, while the other hand selects the next track.  It starts when I hit the 'return' key.  I've also custom programmed my PowerMate to be a democratic 'veto' button.  If anyone hates my selection, they pound the PowerMate and it skips to the next.

What's your favorite feature in iTunes?

iTunes / Preferences / Audio has the cross fade setting - I leave it set to max 12 seconds, for about six seconds overlap per track, though it is audibly less than that.  I love this.

What are the pros and cons of an MP3j-ing with an iPod versus that with a laptop?

All in all, this method [laptop] has most advantages, plus cross fades and wireless audio. No external mixer or extra iPod needed. 

The downside? It may not fit in your pocket, but fits in your backpack. And it's a lot of exposed hardware. An iPod may disappear in someone else's pocket, but it's not going to fry if you spill a beer on it.

Do you let bar patrons participate in the mix like at NoWax in London? They let people plug their iPods into a mixer and play songs until the crowd boos them off stage.

If someone offers a song from his or her iPod, I'll play it.  I encourage bars and clubs to give their customers a set for their own music.  All an establishment needs is a cable that adapts their sound system input to the standard 1/8" mini headphone jack on the MP3 player or laptop, $5.00 from Radio Shack.  Establishments should consider supporting WI-FI laptop users with iTunes by also getting an Airport Express (and the same cable).  This is an easy and very affordable opportunity to become a WI-FI freespot.  For example, not everyone with a laptop will want to DJ at first, but they'll appreciate your web access.  They'll download some music and think about a playlist for you.  And pay a dime for using your wireless printer.

Got any hardware or software features you'd like to see Apple implement in the future?

I'd like to see Apple allow other apps to access Airport Express. Unfortunately it is not compatible with products using RogueAmoeba technology like Detour, Audio Hijack, and VolumeLogic because Apple AirTunes bypasses Apple Core Audio. Perhaps there will be some way of mixing more tracks from within iTunes.

Another gripe I have for Apple is Party Shuffle's refusal to draw from the 'bottom' of the otherwise unshuffled 'Source' list. Specifically when deleting from the Party Shuffle queue. If anyone at Apple is reading this, please note: Party Shuffle constantly insists upon replacing deleted tracks with others just played or just deleted as opposed to other tracks in the 'Source' list that haven't been played recently.  iTunes does log recently played tracks in a Smart' Playlist, this shouldn't be that hard.  The Party Shuffle algorithm is just bad!  It should rely more on user input rather than some poor attempt at a random number generation. You can work around this problem with a Smart Playlist (see image below).

One last thing, I'd also like to see WI-FI added to a future iPod.  Among other things, it should be able to broadcast to Airport Express. Either way, I still see iPod as little more than a synchronization of iTunes Playlists. iTunes itself is much more versatile, and, you're already using it for your iPod anyway.

Your name, 'DJ Creepy', is a little unusual.  What makes you "Creepy"?

To mix the underlying flavor of my show, I'll open an hour-long ambient effects track into QuickTime Player, and set it to loop. This requires being wired to the sound system.  I can play as many simultaneous QT loops as I like. With Detour software and a Griffin iMic, I create a second port for sending separate audio to different speakers (or to a second input on the same speakers, such as a house mixer, or JBL EON 10s). I set Detour to send QuickTime Player's audio to the iMic. I also use Detour to reduce the volume for everything I open into QT Player, while iTunes is still streaming wirelessly to Airport Express. In this way, I can move to the stage, plug in the iMic, and add a second source to the entire mix, controlled from the same laptop, all without interrupting Party Shuffle.

For kicks, I thought about being DJ Creamy, but I heard it was already taken.  My friend said I'm "creepy" because of my ambient mix. The name just stuck after that.

DJ CREEPY's MP3j EQUIPMENT RIG NaviPod http://www.tentechnology.com/ Airport Express http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/ JBL EON 10 Speakers http://www.jblpro.com/eong2/EON10G2.htm Detour http://www.RogueAmoeba.com Griffin iMic USB http://www.griffintechnology.com/ PowerMate http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate/ VolumeLogic Software http://www.octiv.com/index.asp?content=iTunes

For more information about DJ Creepy, check out his web site at:

http://homepage.mac.com/rockhaus/blogwavestudio/