Upgrading hard drive on my Macbook Pro 13′

After selling my Mac G5 Tower, I walked down to the Vancouver Apple store and purchased a 13′ Mac Book Pro. I was really torn between the 13′ and 15′, but finally decided on the 13′ as I wanted something small and portable. I need the laptop for day to day use including djing, coding, and making beats. The 13′ comes with 2 gigs of ram and a 5200 rpm 128 gig hard drive, something I wanted to upgrade right away. I used my student discount and apple upgraded my ram from 2 to 4 gigs (in 10 minutes as i played with the beautiful 30′ apple cinema screens.. *drool*).

I found it really strange apple doesn’t offer a 7200 rpm drive on their 13′ models, I suppose they want everyone to upgrade to the 15′ model. Anyways, i spent a few days researching different 2.5 hard drives and finally decided on the Seagate 500 gig 7200 rpm hard drive. I wanted a 7200 rpm hd for music and video editing, and all of the seagate tests blew everything else out of the water. Big warning for those that are looking to upgrade, DO NOT BUY THE ASG MODEL, this model will cause mega problems and headaches. Tons of people had problems after upgrading, including loud noises, vibrations, and random beeps. If you plan on upgrading to this specific hard drive, make sure you buy the non anti shock drive. New egg offers the best prices, but make sure you read the small print and ensure you purchase the right model.

The actual installation process is super straight forward. Equipment wise, all you need is a small screwdriver set, and a torx 6 screwdriver. After removing the bottom cover, i realized i didn’t have the torx 6 screwdriver. I ended up borrowing the screwdriver from London Drugs (thanks buddy that works in computer department on Robson St). Check out the screenshots below, it should only take 5 minutes to swap out the hard drives.

After swapping out the drive, I booted up, formatted the drive, and installed snow leopard. After 45 minutes, the installation was complete and i was back up and running. It’s been a few weeks and still no beeps, pops, or errors with the new hard drive. There were a few errors, but they were quickly resolved with a pram reset and repairing disk permissions via disk utilities. The process is is very straight forward, save time and money, save some money and upgrade the drive yourself!

edit: now installing firmware update to allow SATA 3Gbps transfer - http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacBook_Pro_EFI_Firmware_Update_1_7_

Some useful mac utilities:
http://osx.iusethis.com/ – Nice little site for finding useful apps
NTFS-3G – read/write ntfs partitions. Should come in handy for bootcamp users. Works great and is stupid easy to install.
AppFresh – Keep your apps up to date
AppCleaner - Completely remove an app including all its settings and other files like those kept in Library
Adium – IM
Grow – notifications
Perian – QT plugin for other media types. This didn’t work that well for me. I still prefer VLC.
iStat Pro – system monitoring widget.
iStat Menus – I really like the network monitor and the hard drive activity. You can set it up to display the little color coded activity arrows to mimic the funciton of a hdd activity led. I really miss my hard drive light and this works just fine. It also displays temps which you can compare to this list of temps.
Onyx – multifunction utility. maintenance
TinkerTool – easy access to hidden settings and preferences.
The Unarchiver – It’s no winrar but then again what is.
ClamXav – antivirus
coconutBattery – all sorts of neat battery info
Handbrake – great transcoding utiltiy though I mostly use it on my quad core PC.
JollysFastVNC – It’s much faster than the built in vnc client and has an interesting zoom mode.
iStumbler – find wifi hot spots.

Nu Disco Mix > Dj Deadbird – Yacht Funk

Looking for a great nu disco mix? My good buddy John (aka DJ Deadbird) has compiled a grooving selection of indie, french, and nu disco. Without slagging him too much about his race or the fact that he used to play nu skool breaks, I’ll let him introduce his own mix.

“Yacht funk is a term some are using now to describe a sub-genre in nu-disco/dreamwave that, basically, sounds like music you’d be listening to on a yacht on a sunny day. This is my tribute to summer, friends, and sailing on the ocean. I hope you enjoy the smooth basslines and fun lyrics!”

Also, it’s true. Deadbird kills birds, keep your daughters locked up – throw your hands up!

Tracklisting:

1. yacht – psychic city
2. the virgins – rich girls
3. pelifics – forever
4. supermal – bigger than big
5. miami horror – make you mine
6. luther vandross – never too much
7. bag raiders – shooting stars
8. the bpa – hes frank feat. iggy pop
9. classixx – ill get you
10. antoine r – brunch
11. cut copy – far away
12. frankmusic – confusion girl
13. boss in drama – favorite song
14. pnau ft. ladyhawke – embrace
15. miami horror – dont be on with her
16. empire of the sun – walking on a dream
17. delorean – deli

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Top 10 House Music Chart – October 2009

As Halloween approaches, its starting to get dark and gloomy. With that in mind, I’ve been playing a lot of warmer funky beats. Sonny Fodera has been on fire, and could literally fill my entire chart.. but instead, i’ll post my top 10 house music chart for October (minus Sonny):

• Organized Crime – Crime Hurts
  just ridiculous. Taking me back to 2000.. sweet spot

• Ricky L – Born Again
  purple music delivers pure fire

• Aly-Us – Follow Me (Fred Everything & Oliver Desmet)
  the old classic gets a revisit, simple grooving melodies. Fantastic.

• Michel Cleis – La Mazcla (copyright remix)
  great building track, watch the heads turn and churn any dancefloor

• Keri chandler – Heal My Heart (Fanatix DJ Tool)
  It was tough to choose a favourite mix, but this simple groover sets the stage for bigger and better. Very effective

• Oliver Desmet – Just like heaven
  great production, great remix. Hard to pick a favorite remix

• Organized Crime – Feel Me Up
  my feelings for you have always been real

• Bart Simpson – Easy Come Easy Go
  simple and just works. Great bouncy bassline to get the bins and floor moving

• John Hawley – Electric Lush
  feel good house, sitting on top of the world. The ladies love this.

• Crazy P – The Hit
  don’t even know what to say, but one of my fav tracks of the year… by a mile

• Chris Harris – this is it
  bouncy whoop whoop music.. amazing

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Previous House Music Charts:
August- Top 10 Chart
July – Top 10 Chart
June – Top 10 Chart

Latest House Mixes:
All Bombs – Volume 1
My House My Rules – Episode 08

Selling My Apple G5 Mac Tower

It’s a sad sad day. I’m selling my baby, my fully loaded Mac G5 on ebay. I tried to list the apple tower on craigslist, but continued to see a horrendous amounts of spam and heart breaking low ballers. Any serious offers eventually lead to people no call no show or backing out at the last minute. I’m absolutely baffled that people pay 4K for a new mac pro tower with the same processor speed and can’t see how this is an amazing deal. Regardless my computer has served me well and churns out amazing performance for professional audio and video editing.

Here are a few details:

* QUAD 2.5 GHz PowerPC processors – Late 2005 Model
* FASTEST G5 Mac produced by Apple
* UPGRADED 4.5 GB RAM memory
* UPGRADED 500 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
* UPGRADED nVidia 7800 256 MB Video Card with dual DVI ports
* Upgraded Wireless Apple Airport Card
* Firewire 400 + 800

I’ve included a few pictures in the gallery attached.

So why bother selling it?

A few reasons really.. Mostly because my Dell Laptop died a few weeks ago, and I need a laptop for djing purposes. I made the switch from vinyl and cd to serato back in 2006, and its pretty much impossible to dj without your own dedicated laptop. Not to mention, the new laptop will come mighty handy for the road, and work meetings. Once I sell the tower, I’ll have the fun task of researching the various mac book pros, the mother board configurations, and any sound issues associated with all of them. If you have any advice or words of wisdom, i’d love to hear about them. In the mean time, check out the ebay listing and let me know if anyone’s interested!

-edit- pics to come once i get home

One Phunky Friday – The Ocean Club > Oct 23, 2009

Come down to the Ocean Club to see myself and Jesse Jay rock the dancefloor at One Phunky Friday. We’ll play a fine selection of house from deep, disco, jackin, french, and electro. It’s been a while since Jesse and I threw down, so it should be a fun times. Free cover, and some great drink specials. Ping me for more details.

Event: One Phunky Friday
Where: The Ocean Club
Date: Friday, Oct 23, 2009
Directions: Google Map

Additional Links:
One Phunky Friday – Facebook Event
Kenny Grant latest mix – All Bombs Vol 1
Jesse Jay latest mix – Summer 2009 Electro

Top 10 House Music Chart – August 2009

Top 10 house music chart for August 2009, come get em:

• The Revenge – Hotz 4 U
  disco on the dancefloor

• River Ocean feat. India – Love & Happiness
  pure class

• Ned Flanders – Don’t Call Me
  the classic gets a fun remix that warms any floor

• Walterino – Go Bang
  bouncy beats

• Jerome Sydenham – Ecoute
  good driving beats

• DJ Dove Presents…13th Street Classic – Vaya Movimiento
  nice building track

• Lisa Shaw – Like I Want To (Fred Everything Mix)
  what a beautiful voice

• Mishal Moore – Oh Lord
  kenny dope mix is sick

• Klement Bonelli & Brahms – Los Chicanos
  killing dancefloors worldwide

• Danism & Michael Watford – Change (Layabouts Remix)
  the layabouts are sick, and so is this track

• Sonny Fodera – Losing You
  hot, explosive, big fire, and lots of smoke

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Previous House Music Charts:
July – Top 10 Chart
June – Top 10 Chart

Latest House Mixes:
All Bombs – Volume 1
My House My Rules – Episode 08

Download Ibiza House Set – All Bombs Volume 1

All Bombs Volume 1 showcases the biggest house anthems from Ibiza and beyond in one set that’s free for everyone to download. I’ve been playing a lot of jackin beats, but thought it could be fun to throw together a mix of some big tunes that are getting blasted in Ibiza. Here is a complete tracklisting:

1. Jesse Perez – Conversations (South Beach Mix)
2. The Face – Needin U (DJ Wady Ibiza Mix)
3. Hagenaar Albrecht – In and Out (Original Mix)
4. Lee Cabrera Vs Thomas Gold – Shake It
5. Sandy Rivera and Andy Daniell – Whatever (Andy Daniell Remix)
6. Afrojack – Radioman (Original)
7. EDX – Shy Shy (Vocal Mix)
8. Lys – San Francisco Rain (Original Mix)
9. Milk and Sugar – Let The Sun Shine (Global_Mix)
10. Nicola Fasano – 76 Ocean Drive (Apache Vocal Mix)
11. J Nitti – Sunday Morning (Original Mix)
12. Duck Sauce – Anyway (original)
13. Daddys Favourite – Feel Good Things (MHMR mix)

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Running Time – 53 minutes

Mixed – Kenny Grant

Dj Gear Used – 2 CDJ 800mk2, Serato Scratch Live, Pioneer DJM-800

Download Electro House – Summer 2009 Mix

Download the free Electro House Mix that includes the latest electro house tracks from the summer and 2009.

Tracklisting:

the intro – myles dyson
buttons- sia ( chris lake mix)
Come on – javi mula
Paperboy – D-nox & beckers remix
fiesta Elektronika – Paolo Aliberti reprise mix
Amelie – Format B remix
Bleep – original mix
Day ‘ n ‘ Night – crookers remix
Smells like teen spirt – dancefloor mix
monkey business – bam bam remix
Flashblack – original mix – wolfgang Gartner
Tween Me + U – NadaStrom
Minimal My Ass- Miles Dyson ( Flutance remix)
Like to Freak – kelevra
Raver Lovin feat.Rye rye – edu K
wassup wassup – diplo ( crookers remix)
Thermal Motion ( electric soulside remix) – Syncro 69
Forced – cagedbaby (foamo remix)

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This mix was recorded live in the mix by Dj Jessy Jay, check out his facebook group – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=74213002317&ref=mf

Don’t forget to sign up to the free house music podcast to receive the latest house songs automatically and for free. Use the sidebar to enter your email address or subscribe via the itunes icon.

Top 10 House Music Chart – July 2009

My top 10 house chart for July could be a 20 or 30 tracks long. So many hot records for July, feel free to share your top tunes. Some of these tracks are featured in my July Ibiza House Set. Here is the top 10:

• GramophoneDzie – Why Dont You
  charted this last month, it just works

• Worthy & Yankee Zulu – Concumbia (Original)
  tech, horns, samba – nice driving track

• Nego Mozambique – Wake Up For The Music (The Candy Dealers Main Mix)
  Jay West leading the charge with some fun lovin summer music

• Milk & Sugar – Let the Sun Shine (Global Mix)
  the classic gets revisted, not much has changed, but it still brings a smile over any sunrise/sunset. Check out the sax mix too

• Manuel Sahagun – Anxious
  Manuel is on fire at the moment, another bombbbb

• Fred Everything & Olivier Desmet – Think About It
  Great ep, this is my favourite

• Fabio Bacchini – Stuff ‘N’ Junk (original)
  love the horns, great bouncy house

• DJ Gregory – Con Alegria (main mix)
  great building track, dj gregory still delivers the goods

• D-t3ch – Outta Ya Wheelchairs (Bobby & Klein Remix)
  Gotta get up, gotta get up – get on down

• Andy Daniell – Whatever (andy daniell remix)
  this is hugeee

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Activision Dj hero video game

Activision releases Dj Hero video game with hopes to tap directly into the guitar hero and rock band fan base. Rockstar dj’s and aspiring bedroom djs agree, the product stinks. Here are two videos that demonstrate the latest game from Activision. Rumors continue to circulate that Numark are trying to sue Activision, more details to follow. Enjoy the video clips:

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