It was 3am and I decided to do a vid. Don’t ask.
Damn camera only films in 3.00 minute bursts, I could’ve gone on for longer, honest! ;)
Thanks to ellaskins/ John at www.djtutor.com for the tips. I’ll do better next time.

Tracks:
Kenny Larkin - ‘Fake French’
DJ Pierre - ‘Fall’

Gear:
Powerbook 15″ 1.67Ghz, 1.5Gb
Focusrite Saffire LE audio interface
Traktor DJ Studio 3.2
EKS XP10 MIDI controller/ soundcard

gemini PS-626i mixer
Sennheiser HD200 headphones

Denon DN-S5000 CD deck

other:
Camera - Canon Powershot G5 (old!)
Recording software - Audiorecorder (a very simple app)
Edited on iMovie HD

They are fairly basic, but it makes a great difference to have more immediate control over things as opposed to the occasionally ‘fragile’ laptop setup.

My audio interface is playing up!
I’ll get back to the Voyager remix in a bit!

So, I’m having a go at remixing. I don’t have any experience at it, but have heard enought remixes to know that sometimes there is very little resemblance between the original and the remix, let’s see what comes out! ;)
I hope that Oli, my friend, won’t be offended by what I have done to the song (which you can hear on Cassette’s myspace page or on YouTube).

The page has comprehensive information about how surveillance cameras work, laser pointing devices and sights and their use in military and public situations.
The authour made thorough tests.

Apparently there were no reported cases of permanent eye damage from eye pointers being mis-used!

The weather is getting nicer and I have been using the money I have made by selling certain possessions (which is always good news).

First of all, I bought a pair of Seba FR1 skates. They are professional quality skates - the boots and cuffs are made of hard plastic with 6000 aluminium frames (tough), the 85a 80mm wheels came with ILQ9 bearings although I’m using my regular wheels so that I have a familiar rocker.

The skates are designed to the specifications of Sebastian Laffargue - a top notch freestyle skater and founder of the Universkate company.

Next up in my list of acquisitions is an XP10 MIDI controller. It is (I believe the only product) made by a Finnish company called EKS.
The device is made of plastic and has an aluminium platter with a 4 1/2″ plastic jogwheel similar to that on a CDJ. There are 22 buttons and a fader (which I use for deck pitch).

I’m learning to beatmatch with the XP10 as opposed to having to rely on the beatgrids created in Traktor (although they will still be handy). I bought the XP10 from Thomann.de, the delivery was prompt and the price was great, thanks Thomann.

Unfortunately, I had to sell my pocket trumpet and alfaia ;(

Next I had to unscrew the front panels. After I had cut the glue that was holding three ribbon cables in to their sockets, they came off without too much difficulty.

The final ‘explosion’ of the unit revealed that with some accurate sawing and filing, I could probably take at least 6mm off the height of the device and reduce the upward slope towards the top which would reduce it even more.

Report:
The weather was looking ominous as we left from the square in front of Westminster Cathedral and worsened as we went along. The rain became almost torrential at a couple of points, the gola was dampened and it can’t have been too good for the lantejoulas, plus the fita on the hat has become a little tangled as it has dried together. The tip of the guiada has been damaged where it was hit against the floor; I intend to find some kind of metal cap for it to prevent further damage.
I had a great time and really felt the spirit of the costume, although I didn’t go mad for the risk of slipping on wet tarmac. I think the Caboclo Perdido was generally well received and plans to make further forays onto the streets of London.

some photos on Flickr.com

a .wmv video showing the various banners and ending with Sam’s Maracatu Estrela do Norte (but no Caboclo :’(