
Show HN: I love Essential Mixes. So I made this.  - kreutz
http://mixture.fm
======
AmericanOP
For people who are new to the genre, Essential Mixes are one of the best ways
to get to really know EDM artists. While artists typically get popular through
hit singles, in full sets artists make a lot of experimental tweaks and
changes to make it a unique experience. In the same way that CD's killed the
full-album experience, live sets are bringing that "full" artist experience
back.

I've compiled a short list of well respected DJs in case you want to use this
site to explore other big names in this type of music beyond the usual
suspects (Deadmau5.) There are many, many more and this is just a sampling of
different sounds from the most recent mixes only.

Above & Beyond, Kaskade, Nero, Cosmic Gate, Flux Pavilion (dubstep), Jamie XX

~~~
bcrescimanno
Those are definitely some good names today; but if you want a bit of a history
lesson I'd check out Sasha in the late 90's and early 00's.

Also Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, John Digweed, and Carl Cox were all in their
prime during those days.

~~~
adriand
If you dig that stuff, you should definitely check out what John 'OO' Fleming
is putting out these days. His Essential Mixes are absolute quality, and he's
also got a monthly podcast that you can get on iTunes that is very addictive.

~~~
bcrescimanno
Thanks for the tip; I'll give it a listen. OO has been at it a LONG time as
well--definitely listened to him back in the day as well.

Sasha, Oakenfold, and Ferry Corsten around the 1999 - 2002 timeframe were my
soundtrack. Some really great anthems from those days!

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suhailpatel
This looks and functions really well and you have a good selection of mixes.

For those like me who want to listen to a particular Essential Mix from 1993
till mid 2011, someone has uploaded 910 Essential Mix episodes into a
Soundcloud Folder which can be found at <http://soundcloud.com/das-
boy/sets/essential-mix/>. There are some real gems in here and it's pretty
much a permanent tab for me.

Enjoy!

~~~
Inversechi
That is some impressive upload! Cheers for this!

~~~
joshka
Also, if you prefer to download them all as a torrent, check out
<http://themixingbowl.org/>

------
lyime
This is awesome! You should add track lists and scrubbing without having to
download the entire set.

Remind me of the days when I used to work on Mugasha. My main problem was that
it was a pain for me to find good stuff to listen to while listening.

Check out bunch of old essential mixes on there.
<http://mugasha.com/essential-mix>

So I built Mugasha and solved that problem. You can listen to a ton of
essential mixes on there and other sets. Including track lists and scrubbing
ahead.

What's really sad is that I don't work on Mugasha anymore and I have the exact
same problem again.

\- I cant easily listen to new DJ sets like I used to.

\- I have to resort to listening to Itunes podcasts again and have NO idea
what I am listening (track list problem)

\- Maybe I can find a new owner for Mugasha so I don't have these problems
anymore.

~~~
coda_
That's well done, hope you find a way to keep it alive.

------
jskopek
For those who aren't aware, getting offered to play an essential mix is a huge
honor in the electronic music world. Most of the mixes on this site are from
artists giving it their very best.

Cracking good work! This looks incredibly polished for a side project; are you
planning on building it up?

~~~
kreutz
Thanks for the kind words! Yes, we are planning on building it up. Just wanted
to get it out and get some feedback.

~~~
anon808
I hope you're going with this where i think you're going with this.

This is way beyond essential mixes . . . I haven't come across one good dj mix
sharing website out there.

Linking to already hosted content is 100% the way to go.

Please keep it going.

~~~
dcpdx
Yep, right now I'm using Soundcloud and following a user on there who
frequently posts new sets from popular artists. But it's just one user; I'd
love to see that concept expanded upon and taken to a new site entirely. This
site has been bookmarked; I'll be tracking to see where this goes!

------
prmr
Love it. Netsky's Essential Mix is amazing to listen to while programming:
<http://mixture.fm/search/netsky> :)

~~~
peterwwillis
Pandora plays the crap out of Netsky if you make a station of Ed Rush (and
that's a good thing!). I actually like the occasional break in play from
Pandora as it reminds me to get up and walk around a bit.

------
rogerjin
Hey Eric, your site is awesome. I love how easy it is to play music. I had
some thoughts from a UX perspective of things I didn't like about it.

Dislike: There’s no sign up, only a Login with Facebook button (which is
annoying personally because I don’t like logging in with Facebook
<http://screencast.com/t/hsKqMkyuR.>)

There’s a bunch of white space to the right hand side of the page
(<http://screencast.com/t/2swhK5EPb2i>), which makes the page unsymmetrical
and doesn’t feel right.

I don’t like how most of the things on the page don’t have any description
beyond an icon. I know most frequent internet users can probably figure it
out, but it still requires me to think for a second to make the associations
(<http://screencast.com/t/6E2ydk3kh>) and some older users and perhaps not as
savvy internet users may not understand it at all (albeit the site might not
be aimed towards them.)

I know this site is for people who like Essential Mixes, but I have no idea
what a collection, Essential Mix collection or FACT collection is. Adding a
description could add an unnecessary element while removing a confusing
aspect, so its up to you to make the choice. I think a description can be made
(without hurting user experience) by adding a disposable box next to the
collections briefly explaining what they are.

Some specific aspects of the design I don't like (misalignment, pixels off
center, etc.): <http://screencast.com/t/1Tg9Fo75xo3>

Hope you don't take my thoughts negatively, just trying to help. Overall I
like the site, its is simple and has no truly unnecessary elements, that’s
good. Also, I like this touch <http://screencast.com/t/oWFv5kkU2>), adds to
the user experience. And I like how easy it is to play songs (just click and
it starts playing <http://screencast.com/t/MwkkU8musZ>).

------
noinput
You sir, are my new hero. Fantastic work. One added bonus here would be to
include the track-list for each one. A simple contribution feature here I
think would be a big hit so others can do the work to find them.

For example, a few results down on: <http://track-list.com/page/2/?s=deadmau5>
will give the track-list for item #3 in your list.

~~~
joshka
Or checkout <http://www.mixesdb.com/db/index.php/Category:Essential_Mix> for a
bunch of CC licensed set list info

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kevinrpope
Looks like I'll be spending a lot of time on here...

First impression feedback: while quickly looking at a bunch of the Essential
Mixes, many of them don't have the location where it took place. Personally,
I've mentally sorted a lot of these by location && artist, so might find it
hard to find something specific I'm looking for.

~~~
kreutz
Thanks for the feedback man! We are trying to keep it as complete and
organized as possible. We tried to get the location of the majority of the
ones that are live or recorded at clubs. If you find anything that is off
please don't hesitate to let us know.

~~~
kevinrpope
No problem. Now that I've played around with it a little, a couple more
points: \- on the search results page the term 'essential mix' is set as a
link, but when I click on it I'm taken to the entire collection of essential
mixes - I'd expect the chosen essential mix to start playing. I see why you've
done this, but I found it confusing as a first-time user. \- I really like how
clicking nearly anywhere on the search result starts playing the chosen mix

~~~
coda_
Agreed, I had the same issue when I first hit the site.

Also: ability to seek would be nice, these are single tracks that are an hour
or two long... not like you can just skip to the next song :)

------
Inversechi
Thanks for putting this together... Looks good:) reminds me of console.fm.

Is there any way to skip through the selected mix?

------
waffle_ss
Very nice work! Essential Mixes are what really got me into trance music way
back around Y2K (particularly Paul Oakenfold's... don't much care for his work
nowadays though). So thanks for the trip down memory lane, and thanks to the
BBC for creating the program.

~~~
giles
Oakies Essential Mix world tour? Absolutely incredible! Although I do agree
his work nowadays is crap.

~~~
waffle_ss
Yes, the world tour! My favorite one is Home @ Space in Ibiza[1].

[1]: [http://soundcloud.com/djmixes/paul-
oakenfold-1999-07-25-esse...](http://soundcloud.com/djmixes/paul-
oakenfold-1999-07-25-essential-mix-world-tour-live-at-home-space-ibiza)

~~~
giles
This. Absolutely transcending!

------
Fluxx
There was a Soundcloud account with a like every essential mix ever on it the
other week, but shortly after it disappeared - I think due to licensing issues
with BBC content outside of the UK. Did you look into that for your player?

~~~
aidos
I'm still seeing it:

<http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix>

~~~
Fluxx
Oh weird. Less than 24 hours after I first saw it from Twitter, the account
was no longer active. Nice to see it's back!

------
stevengg
edit: this site is awesome here are some my favorite essential mixes you may
have missed

mr scruff <http://mxtr.fm/KBmUTW>

Essential Mix with Audio Bullys <http://mxtr.fm/IDmIIU>

the goa mix ( <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_Mix> ) <http://mxtr.fm/K4Yian>

some other good sites to download dj mixes are <http://www.livesets.us/> and
<http://themixingbowl.org/> both great.

~~~
Robot_Overlord
love mr scruff thanks for the link

------
labaraka
This is fantastic. I love the EM's but I hate the BBC player so I am always
trying to find the mixes on SoundCloud or the other shady download sites. Now
they are all neatly packaged in one place.

Well done, dude!

~~~
skeletonjelly
<http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/essential-mix>

has a massive collection going back many years available in FLAC too.

------
zmj
Maybe I'm missing something obvious - is there a volume control?

~~~
slyn
Love the site, just wish I could have this at a different volume than
Mumble/Skype.

------
rdeshpande
Really like the UI and am already a big fan. Well done.

Any chance you could integrate track listings (perhaps with the start/end
times within the mix so you can identify the active song?)

~~~
kreutz
That's our vision! Turns out to be a pretty giant task though. Stay tuned:)

------
omarish
Wow. Was about to go find the Nero Essential Mix and write a new feature, but
this site takes care of the first part for me :). Great work!

~~~
AmericanOP
Nero's Essential Mix really impressed me when it first came out. The long
instrumental around 1h:16m was really unique for one of these mixes, probably
a more artistic flair than they would even inject in a live set. The dramatic
bpm flux around 1h:28m is also a really experimental, unique climax which
could only work near the end of a long two hour set like this one.

/ChristianBale

------
bernatfp
A huge thumbs up for this! May I suggest the Resident Advisor and XLR8R
podcasts to be added too? Again: Thanks for creating this site.

~~~
kreutz
Thanks man! Those two are definitely in the works.

------
earwolf
Blow me down - you have the best EM ever, props

<http://mixture.fm/search/psychonauts>

~~~
jordanbrown
We have them all! Thanks for the props.

------
coda_
Great work! Good use of soundmanager2
(<http://www.schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/>) would love to see if it
works on an iPad/iPhone and takes advantage of HTML5 audio capabilities.
Please post of you've tried it with either.

------
LeandroLovisolo
I absolutely love this.

Couple of things:

\- It would be nice to be able to skip to an arbitrary part of the mix.

\- Sound didn't work for me until I reloaded the page.

~~~
kreutz
| It would be nice to be able to skip to an arbitrary part of the mix. This is
in the works. Just wanted to get the bare minimum out the door.

| Sound didn't work for me until I reloaded the page. Looking into this right
now.

Thanks for the feedback:)

~~~
dguaraglia
Yep, skipping the - sometimes longish - intro talks would be a plus.

That said... awesome! Already sharing stuff on my Facebook :)

------
gravitronic
Love it, and loving your selection I'm seeing in there.

You might like the "mix youtube music videos" website I made. You can load any
youtube user's video playlists as "crates" and then mix from track to track:

<http://burnsmod.com/fun/mixtube/mixtube.html>

~~~
delackner
That looks fun. Would be really useful if each list had a field to "cue" a
youtube url that was not in the crate already. That way you can browse youtube
in a separate tab to find a video, then cue it up and start the crossfade.

~~~
gravitronic
Good idea, thanks!

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there
Does this use Flash? I don't have it and clicking play does not play, but it
also does not show any error.

~~~
kreutz
Yes, unfortunately it does use flash:( SoundManger should fallback to HTML5
though... I'll look into it.

------
dgallagher
Knife Party (formed by two Pendulum guys) released an amazing mix two weeks
ago: <http://knifeparty.com/news/ukf-live-stream>

You'll like if you're into Skrillex, Kill the Noise, Nero, Zedd, Swedish House
Mafia, etc...

------
ryankirkman
This is the greatest revolution in music listening for me in my entire life. I
love electronic music and when I'm coding I want my music to flow non-stop.
You can't get that with individual tracks.

I can't thank you enough! Props to helping people discover Essential Mixes.

------
AmericanOP
Can't believe I'm seeing this here. Well done!

I highly recommend <http://core.thomaslaupstad.com/>

The owner has been diligently putting out downloads of Essential Mixes and
other top UK radio shows of the genre as soon as they come out.

Cheers!

------
kreek
Wow, looks (and sounds) great, listening to the Four Tet one as we speak :) It
looks like all the sounds are hosted on SoundCloud, is this in your own pro+
account? I'm guessing this was the most economical way to host the files?

------
radley
_sigh_ Essential mix sites pop up every year or so and get shut down pretty
quickly.

The best one (~2010) used really simple code to store the files and my bud
managed to auto-download the whole library, even after the site was "shut
down".

------
bcrescimanno
Right around the turn of the millenium, I downloaded a couple dozen Essential
Mixes while I was on the GT campus. This just made my day--I really hope any
legal issues can be avoided and this can stay online. :)

~~~
bcrescimanno
I really can't describe how much I'm enjoying going back and finding mixes
from that era. Not only is the music great; but I feel like I just stepped
into a time machine!

~~~
coda_
love that you posted here when you first saw it, then posted again after
listening to a bunch that brought back memories... i did the exact same thing.

------
ReedR95
This is awesome.

One thing I'd like to request would be the ability to skip around the mixes. I
was 45 minutes into the Above and Beyond Mix and I accidentally clicked on
another mix, losing my place.

Otherwise, everything seems to work great!

------
pinchyfingers
I just got home from seeing Steve Lawler and I saw this. Lawler's got mixes in
the mixture.fm results: <http://mixture.fm/search/lawler>

~~~
jordanbrown
Looks like you have a long night ahead of you. ;)

------
guywithabike
Doesn't seem to work for me. I just get the following error in the console:

    
    
        soundManager.createSound(): Audio support is not available.
    

;_;

Edit: Reloaded and it seems to be working now. YES.

~~~
decklin
I'm still getting this error. OP, if it helps, I have click-to-play on for
Flash.

------
fumar
Not bad. I wish someone would create the same, but instead use Fabric mixes. A
more well rounded mix series. Nothing against Essential. I just prefer Fabric
and Fabriclive stuff.

~~~
kreutz
Don't you worry. They're coming;)

~~~
fumar
Keep us posted. Keep up the good work.

------
nerdyworm
Wow I've been looking for some of the older sets for a while. Thanks!

p.s. shameless self promotion of my music site: <http://trance-mixes.com>

------
joshka
For those wanting a torrent download instead, checkout
<http://themixingbowl.org/>

------
mvkel
So you made... a splash screen?

I've been listening to EMs since 1999 - Oakey's world tour. Looking forward to
whatever you're building.

~~~
jordanbrown
Splash screen? You might of hit it on mobile. Check it out on your desktop
computer.

------
brandonkm
This is great! Immensely useful for browsing essential mixes.

Would be awesome to see more BBC radio shows added in the future.

------
fagatini
Pretty awesome. I love essential mixes too, so I suspect that I will be using
this while I work.

------
nicholassmith
Bookmarked, about to start furiously tweeting, this is excellent and kudos to
you for doing it!

------
cjstewart88
From someone that runs a music streaming app, I love this, good job keeping it
simple man.

------
deepkut
What hover effect is going on here? Might someone point to the pertinent CSS?

Is it just a glow effect?

------
joejohnson
Ah, I wish you could scroll through them. I really want to hear the end of
Nero's.

~~~
coda_
Yes, after starting a few that bring back some major memories, I really want
to skip ahead and hear stuff from later. It's definitely possible with
soundmanager2, which he's using
(<http://www.schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/>). Hope he adds that.
Don't get me wrong, I love the site!

------
fiznool
Brilliant site. One suggestion - can you add a 'Random' or 'Shuffle' button?

------
djkz
Any chance of adding some Solid Steel mixes to the collections?

------
zennit
love the site design, can I ask what you are using to build the front/backend?
Love the colours and the gradient used in the background, how is this
generated? Thanks

~~~
kreutz
Sure thing man! Frontend is all Backbone.js hooked up to a Rails API for the
backend. We use MongoDB with Mongoid and LESS for CSS with the old
bootstrap.less (which later became Twitter Bootstrap). As for the background I
could of used a gradient but its just an image made with photoshop.

------
coda_
dude, this is effing awesome, there's some classic mixes here that I thought
I'd never hear again... thank you!

------
joshka
Is the login with facebook button broken?

~~~
Robot_Overlord
worked on chrome for me

------
orftz
I'd like to see an About page on this.

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Eduard
How can I upload my own mixes?

~~~
nikatwork
This appears to only contain mixes from BBC's radio 1 essential mix, and FACT
magazine guest mixes. So you'll need to become a world-famous DJ/producer to
get your own mix uploaded.

~~~
Eduard
Wow. This is very elite Web 1.0

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GoofyGewber
I love the design and layout!

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mchristoff
Rad! This is great.

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executive
it's 2012.. can we get some seek controls?

------
dsl
I. Love. You.

------
ironsuturtle
Love this!!

