Marc Reck

Copied over from our Mr Elephant Website – Hope you all have a superb and prosperous new decade

Yes another year is almost passed and as we enter a new decade we would like to whole heartedly wish you all a very happy 2010 on behalf of the Mr Elephant crew.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who bought their vibes to any of our 25 events this year, lent their ears to any of the 16 radio shows, or took part in our community workshops back in May.

And of course a big shout to the 50+ artists who delivered their magic at the various Mr Elephant events, and the 100 + people who came together behind to make it all happen, and platform and share their unique skills, with us (and each other.)

You may have noticed that this year we wanted to focus more on showcasing as many Birmingham artists as we could (hence the 3 very different monthly residencies at 3 great Birmingham venues) but we haven’t forgotten why we started Mr Elephant, and in 2010 we will be looking to hopefully bring a balance to both with slightly less regular events and slightly more of the larger events.

Because they require so much time we have had to look at how best to move forward so we will be playing the next quarter by elephant ear, but suffice to say there are plans already in action for another festival style event with the return of the mr elephant midnight parade and featuring all the trimmings of the 1st 2 at Epic from 2007, the 12 hour celebrate underground from 2008, our 1st birthday also from 2008 and our 12 hour 2nd birthday from 2009. We are also aiming to grow our regular monthly events and showcase some great live artists,underground djs, and forward thinking vjs at two of our favourite Birmingham venues.

Our Party Rockin Mammal Sessions will be the first to return with a new home @ the Hare & Hounds room 2 on Saturday Jan 9th (http://www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/party-rockin-mammal-sessions-free-party/) with a huge free party featuring around 10 of our favourite underground djs in brum, and will of course be on rotation 2nd Sat of every month thereafter with our Cinephonic A/V cinematic dancefloor sessions both bringing you a host of great djs, vjs, and live electronic artists.

Along with his unique visual talents, Vj Blendstate has taken over the promoting reigns of both of these events since mid October, along with our super skilled elephant residents the beat suite (aka skeleton & dolhasz) rocking the decks, and Liam has some big plans afoot, so if you like underground dance music and quality visuals, keep it locked.

I’ll be continuing with our live and free residency at the Adam & Eve which will feature more great live bands, eclectic djs and solo artists on the last saturday of February and each month thereafter, and will of course remain free entry til 4am, and will be returning with our eclectic radio show each monday to its home on rhubarb radio from 6pm – 8pm – (Check out/hear all our past shows and artists here) . – On a personal note i’ll be returning to the decks in around April/May with something i been working on since having a break in October.

Along with Jack and friends we will continue to capture and post footage of all artists as best we can on this website and make a loud elephant noises about the wealth of talent that exists in the city we live in. BIRMINGHAM! and our resident journalist Emily P will be continuing her cool column on the news and reviews front, and is rumoured to be bringing her interviewing prowess to the site in the new year.

The website (like the events, workshops, and of course radio) is totally unfunded, and features over 140 posts, many of which with video, photos, and of course links to all artists, so please have an explore round the various posts, check the videos and support any of the artists you enjoy by following their links and making a noise about whatever you’re into.

We would like to work the site better, so if you know about websites or have any ideas, feel free to let us know on how we can improve the community side of the website, or by dropping a comment. (We’ve had major issues with the mailing list plugin which has now been discontinued, hence no mailouts for almost a year now, but we are migrating to another option in jan)

And finally we would like raise the collective trunk and make a huge elephant noise to everyone who is, and has been, involved with Mr Elephant thus far, (which deserves a post in itself!) Whethers it’s bringing music and events this great city, using the platform to showcase and develop a creative passion, or trying a creative interest with experienced artists in hands on situations, the shared grass roots ethos that seem to run through all people who get involved with the phat mammal, is a testament to the abundance of opportunities that it continues to create.

Whatever you are interested in and however you celebrate, may 2010 bring you all you wish for, and the decade be an evolution of all that interests you.

One Love

Marc (on behalf of Mr Elephant as a whole)

With all the xmas madness i still havent blogged about what a great experience this was. (New Year’s resolution is to get a lot more active on this site!)

For now here’s a little footage that Pyn caught of the great dancing from the huge cast. Ages from 15 – 65 so it was a seriously mixed bag of genres all thankfully went down really well.

There’s also some more pics here

Hope you all had a great xmas and here’s to a big 2010 for one and all.

About 12 months ago i purchased a pair of Er-15’s from Audio Relief. Now i have been recommended a new alternative for anyone that can’t afford the £160 price tag, and i’m pleased to say they seem great.

These earplugs above have been recommended to me by 3 people that are heavily involved with djing, making music, and are all very talented producers. Suffice to say i value their opinions highly, and all 3 recommended these earplugs, so idecided to invest in a pair. Partly curiosity and partly because the other’s are very expensive to lose.

The ones pictured above are made by surefire who are a u.s based company who make illumination tools and tactical products, but i bought a pair for £15 from here. Not aimed in anyway at the music market, but very well suited to loud environments where clarity is needed. One of the 3 producers that recommended these had tried pretty much each cheap alternative to the er-15’s after he lost his set, and he claims that these are by far the best that he has found.

I got my pair yesterday within 2 days and on first 3 listens i’m really pleased with them. They have a great clarity, reduce the level by 16db, which helps us keep levels down to below the safe 85 db levels .They are also very comfortable and come in 3 sizes, with medium fitting most. They also have a feature where by you can plug up the hole if you want to reduce the low level noise further, which I found doesn’t completely shut out noise, but i guess thats maybe not the purpose, (as it does say low level noise).

What plugging up the hole does do though is give you a very good flat attenuation (as much as you can get for an earplug of this price), which is great for monitoring, etc. Opening the plug makes talking easier, and i found you can move them inside the ear to get different varying results of sound.

One of the differences for me between the custom made’s and these, are that with these, you can kinda squeeze the inside of the part of the earplugs which fit in the ear canal, and change the attenuation. This is great for when you want to hear something better, but not take out the earplug entirely. Being able to control the level of your incoming audio is obviously a very useful feature in dj situations, and for me were initially one of the downsides to the custom made ones, in that they are either in or out.

To explain a bit more about that, when i first got the custom made er-15s, i had a 5 hour set, with a really loud monitor. I’d just got the plugs in time, but found in practice for the gig (which was a biggy) hearing the mix out the speakers was not clear (and with any earplugs is something which does take getting used to). Suffice to say i had to leave the plugs out for the whole gig, and was put off from taking them out to the bigger gigs, which ironically gave me mild tinnitus from there on in.

Obviously this was my own fault and no reflection on the product itself, and many high profile djs and local people i highly respect, have taken to them like ducks to water. I wonder if it has to do with how you mix, and how you monitor, but either way for me, taking a solution out with me that i have some control over, makes me a lot more confident to be able to be hearing what im doing, and obviously the price tag is a lot more flexible if you lose them, which are the two main reasons why i recommend that if you havent got a pair you really should buy some as soon as you can.

I should also say that Audio relief do a cheap version earplugs for about a tenner  called the er-20s. I havent tried these, but i did read a positive review from someone who said they were great for clubbing.

Either way, whichever side of the p.a you are on, and whichever pair you decide to go for, i feel it is imperative to get ear protection if you visit loud environments. You can talk in them easily (though you will sound like you do to yourself with your fingers in your ears obviously, so be prepared for that one), you can hear the music just as well (sometimes better!), and they are pretty much un-noticeable to the eye. Sometimes its advertised as just like turning the volume down, which, with the more expensive ones or the ep-3’s is true in loud volumes, but with low volumes/practice sessions you have to experiment with that statement.

On that note and the subject of mixing and practicing at home, another thing i found is not to be disheartened by the fact that practice is difficult, and hearing the mix isnt as clear as you might have expected. Obviously when we practice at home we generally replicate the levels of the the club, so take some time to practice with different levels, and adapt your way of working with the mixer in order to get the best monitoring scenario for you. Its much better to be wearing them, than not, and you will get used to them.

I might write a tutorial on how i use the mixer differently in my forthcoming dj tutorials, as even though it was simple, it proved really effective, so is good  for me at least to remember. Until then, i hope you have a great festive season and i hope this has been in someway useful in going to get some and try an option out for yourself. The older you grow the more you’ll be glad you did.

Peace, goodwill and good hearing to you and yours

This copied from our Mr Elephant Website

Mr Elephant favourites Munchbreak, (this time with multi genre skills of Home Cooking djs) & the mighty Jam Jah once again showed us why Birmingham is packed full of flavour with 2 inspiring live performances and 4 dj sets which kept our last live and free event of 2009 nice and toasty all the way until the 4am close.

Here’s a little video of part one of Munchbreak where they took us back to their seminal jam session days.

Despite being probably the wettest, coldest night we’ve had thus far, nothing seem to hinder a whole pub full of revellers. Robin from Jam Jah kicked things off with their unique blend of roots, reggae, and dancehall.

Followed by some choice genre hopping funk style crowd pleasing cuts from Maxwell from Home Cooking

Then it was time for the headline live act of the night in the first of two sets. First the Jam session you can see above, and then their full live set. Here’s a little more footage this time from their 2nd set.

and if you want more, do go check out their album. It’s well recommended

P.s there are more photos here and our mr elephant facebook group is here.