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GRANDMIX OF THE MILLENNIUM

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Ben Liebrand - Intro Grandmix
1999



TECHNICAL INFO

The GRANDMIX of the MILLENNIUM was digitally edited from the original digital 12" masters, on the AKAI DD1500 Digital Audio Workstation.

This DD1500 has 28 hours of recording time at 44.1 KHz 16 bit stereo. And can record up to 16 tracks simultaneously. The DD1500 does not use any audio mp3 or other destructive data compression. The DD1000's used for the previous mixes where limited to 1,5 hours.

First off all, all tracks were gathered on CD where much attention was paid to selecting the original long dance mixes where possible. All tracks were then digitally recorded form a Philips 850 CD player into the Akai DD1500. After this task was completed the CD versions were no longer needed, as every track was ready for use in the DD1500 library. Some rare masters were transferred from the analog master tapes,using the
Studer A80 master recorder, or from Sony F1 digital recordings. If nothing else was available, vinyl copies were used which were recorded into the DD1500 from a technics SL1200mkII turntable fitted with a new Stanton 681EEE stylus, running through a Studer turntable preamplifier.

All tracks were then checked for there exact BPM using a Roland SBX80 sync-box as reference. The tracks were entered in a database and sorted by tempo and key.

The first of december 1999 the playlist was finalized and editing could begin. The DD1500 proved to be an excellent choice as the system did not crash once during the 4 weeks of editing that followed. The mix was completed on the 24th of december, after which the Intro and outro was made on the 26th and 27th.

The intro was inspired by Ben being absent from the music scene for many years. It has the atmosphere of the spaceship in Alien 1 where the boardcomputers
restart themselves and the crew aboard after a long period of hibernation.
The ships systems include 4 processor Irix servers, PC's and Macs (boing)
The intro was also made with the DD1500 and naturally, the famous
vocoder

The 28th was used for mastering the CD versions incorporating a countdown at the end of CD 1 and 2, and a count-in at the beginning of CD 2 and 3, enabling a seamless transition from CD1 to CD2 to CD3 in a Club/Disco situation.

The CD was mastered and P&Q coded at Sony by Paul Adema. This is the process of actually adding all the track ID's on the CD master to make it possible to locate each song individually.

On the 30th of december the broadcast version was mastered. As the mix runs for 3 hours nonstop, a way had to be found to broadcast it in one piece, without using any datacompression or unreliable playback devices. The solution was broadcasting the full 3 hours from an Akai DR8 digital multitrack recorder, kindly supplied by Okke van Bergen of Helios (Professional Recording Equipment) in Haarlem. After connecting the Akai DR8 in the Radio 538 studio, the system was checked, and the playback level was set. Two minutes past 18:00 hours, I pressed play on the DR8, 10 minutes later I was in my car driving home to a new millennium's eve with friends and family, listening to my mix on the car radio.

Feeling relaxed, not a worry on my mind, confident that the Akai DR8 would do it's job, and so it did........

Here are some pics taken during the mix


DD1500 setup, with SBX80 as BPM counter


Stretching CeCe's Acappella


Welcome to digital mixing....


Use the artwork as wallpaper on your
desktop

Special thanks to Rob Lunenburg, Jack v't Westeinde, Arie den Ouden en Rob Weijers, for sending those ancient 1MB simms within 80 nanoseconds. And Okke van Bergen for supplying the Akai DR8 which was used to broadcast the entire mix

GRANDMIX is a registered trademark of Ben Liebrand

Milli Vanilli - Girl You Now I'ts True
1988
Wee Papa Girl Rappers - Wee Rule
1988
Stock, Aitken & Waterman - Roadblock
1987
Bill Withers - Lovely Day
1988
Lisa Stansfield - All Around The World
1989
Jocelyn Brown - Somebody Else's Guy
1984
Imagination - Just An Illusion
1982
Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait
1986
Pasadenas - Tribute
1988
Odyssey - Going Back To My Roots
1981
Miquel Brown - Close To Perfection
1986
People's Choice - Do It Any Way You Wanna
1975
Herbie Hancock - Rock It
1983
Stephanie Mills - Medicine Song
1984
Bar Kays - Sex-O-Matic
1984
King Bee - Back By Dope Demand
1990
Linda Lewis - Class Style
1984
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
1987
London Beat - I've Been Thinking About You
1990
Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
1979
Marrs - Pump Up The Volume
1987
Dazz Band - Let It All Blow
1984
Alisha - Babytalk
1986
Five Star - All Fall Down
1985
Jacksons - Shake Your Body Down Slow
1979
Sueno Latino - Sueno Latino
1989
Loleatta Holloway - Love Sensation
1983
Santa Esmeralda - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
1977
First Choice - Let No Man Put Us Under
1984
Weeks & Company - Rock Your World
1982
Robin S - Love 4 Love
1993
Pointer Sisters - Fire
1979
Hithouse - Jack To The Sound Of The Underground
1988
Raze - Brake For Love
1994
Mc Star & The Real Mc Coy - I'ts On You
1990
CD 2
 
2 In A Room - Do What You Want
1990
Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman
1991
Ce Ce Peniston - Finally
1992
Jenny Bee - Wanna Get Your Love
1993
Fun Fun - Happy Station
1983
Peter Brown - They Only Come Out At Night
1984
Carol Jiani - Hit & Run Lover
1981
Dan Hartman - Relight My Fire
1979
Herbie Hancock - Tell Everybody
1979
Michael Zager Band - Let's All Chant
1978
Poussez - Come On And Do It
1985
Viola Wills - If You Could Read My Mind
1981
Lipps Inc - Funkytown
1979
Moloko - Sing It Back
1999
Twenty 4 Seven - I Can't Stand It
1990
Mousse T - Horny '98
1998
Black & White Brothers - Put Your Hands Up
1995
The Limit - Say Yeah
1984
Haddaway - What Is Love
1992
Snap - Rythym Is A Dancer
1992
Technotronic - Get Up Before The Night Is Over
1990
Course - Ready Or Not
1995
M People - Moving On Up
1993
Goodmen - Give It Up
1992
Wamdue Project - King Of My Castle
1998
Jacksons - Can You Feel It
1981
Anita Ward - Ring My Bell
1979
Alisha Bridges - I Love The Nightlife
1978
Moby - Go
1991
Powerhouse Ft Duane Harden - What You Need
1999
Dominica - Gotta Let You Go
1995
Kristine W Feel - What You Want
1994
Faithless - Insomnia
1995
T99 - Anastasia
1991
Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Around
1985
Ultra Nate - Free
1997
CD3
 
Dr Alban - It's My Life
1992
Gala - Freed From Desire
1996
Run Dmc Vs Jason Nevins - It's Like That
1997
Jaydee - Plastic Dreams
1992
Quadrophonia - Quadrophonia
1991
Earth Wind & Fire - September '99
1999
Phats & Small - Feel Good
1999
Tag Team - Whoomp There It Is
1993
Avantgarde - Get Down
1999
Ann Lee - 2 Times
1999
Tina Cousins - Killing Time
1997
ATB - 9PM
1999
2 Eivissa - Oh Lalala
1997
Earth Wind & Fire - Boogie Wonderland
1979
Sash! - Encore Une Fois
1997
Sunclub - Fiesta
1997
Cappella - Move On Baby
1994
Atlantic - Ocean Waterfall
1994
Mark Van Dale & Enrico - Water Verve
1997
Culture Beat - Mr. Vain
1993
R.O.O.S. - Instant Moments
1997
T-Spoon - No Time To Waste
1993
Dj Jean & Peran - I Give My Life
1996
La Bouche - Be My Lover
1995
De Bos - On The Run
1997
Scatman - John Scatman
1994
Vengaboys - We Like To Party
1998
DJ Jean - The Launch
1999
Jam & Spoon - Right In The Night
1993
Robert Miles - Children
1996
BBE - 7 Days & 1 Week
1996
Gouryella - Gouryella
1999
Kadoc - The Nighttrain
1996
System F - Out Of The Blue
1999
Ben Liebrand - Outro Grandmix
1999