Derek Sanders

So today was my birthday, thank you for all the wishes. I had a bunch of songs in my 2010 folder I hadn’t used anywhere, since they don’t really fit into my Elysium style, and so I threw together a little birthday mix: http://derek-sanders.net/?p=930.

Also, voting has begun for A State Of Trance 500. While I won’t hold my breath, I thought I would ask any of you if you might consider listing me. If you recall I had won the bedroom DJ contest for 450, so it would be neat to be there live for 500. You can vote here: http://www.astateoftrance.com/news/a-state-of-trance-500-vote-for-favorite-djs/

Vocal Elysium 03 airs tomorrow (Wed. August 11, 2010) at www.di.fm on the Vocal Trance channel at 2pm ET, and Elysium 039 will be airing this Sunday on www.totaalfm.com at 6pm ET. Both shows will be available immediately following the airing.

On July 2nd there was a widespread WordPress exploit, I noticed as much that day when I had more than just me listed as administrator for the blog. In order to rid the site of any possible malicious content I wiped the user database and all wordpress files. I will be restoring the user accounts for the people I know, but everyone else will have re-register in order to post comments, or be updated on new releases through e-mail. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the RSS feed and see all the updates that way. I apologize for the inconvenience.

The next episode of Vocal Elysium airs Wednesday, July 14th at 2PM ET on www.di.fm Vocal Trance channel. Having just come off mixing Grilled Sessions 02 I have a very progressive mood in this mix. Don’t miss it!

I have completed the proper follow up to what at first started out as an experiment in Grilled Sessions Volume 1. The mix is a slight departure from the first volume which was mainly progressive house, and is not anything close to my radio shows. It is comprised mainly of progressive house, progressive trance, and some tech trance. In all it makes for a very fun mix. I had a great time organizing and mixing it, and I think it will be a refreshing departure from my normal style. I learned in the process that I enjoy quality tracks of this nature more than I do quality uplifting trance. However, this will likely be a once a year (if that) release since I don’t come across a large enough quantity of this style that I think is worthy of mixing. I hope you all enjoy it: Grilled Sessions Volume 2

P.S. -
Elysium 036 will be airing on www.totaalfm.com Sunday, July 4th @ 6PM ET, and my new vocal radio show Vocal Elysium 02 airs on the Vocal Trance Channel at www.di.fm Wednesday, July 14th @ 2PM ET

Vocal Elysium 01 is uploaded on the site. Show went over well, I suppose, not a huge listener count, but I’m sure it will get some replay time.

Vocal Elysium 01

Starting June 9th I will have a new radio show at the popular dance internet radio station: http://di.fm It will be a monthly one hour show on the Vocal Trance channel from 2-3pm ET. http://www.di.fm/calendar/event.php?event=20908

My Elysium radio show on www.totaalfm.com is still going every other Sunday. However, as I am in the middle of moving I don’t have my DJ equipment, so I probably will not be having a new show this Sunday.

They officially announced the winner of the bedroom DJ contest on the A State of Trance website:

http://www.astateoftrance.com/news/winner-of-the-a-state-of-trance-bedroom-dj-contest-announced/

Looks like they discovered the site here too. Cool stuff!

I got some pretty cool news that I thought I would share with you all. A few weeks back I entered into a bedroom DJ contest for the A State of Trance special episode 450. I didn’t think I had a shot, then just last night I got an e-mail saying I had made the final round of cuts, and to reply with my phone number. Seeing as how today is April 1st I thought for sure I was being pranked, but the reply-to e-mail was legit so I went with it anyways.

Much to my surprise I got a call this morning while at work from none other than Armin Van Buuren! I think I was in too much shock to be excited. I really had no idea what to say. You see the title of this post? Yea, that’s what I said, “Wow, that’s amazing news”. Though, if you listen back to when they played back the phone conversation on the live radio broadcast, I was about to scream “F&*$ Yea”, only to realize I was still at work. So I came across as an emotionless robot, the best comment I saw was comparing me to the Russian in Rocky IV. As soon as the phone hung up I yelled out pretty good, it was a really exciting day. I still thought I was being punk’d up until the point that I heard the phone call being played back on the radio broadcast. They played my winning mix to all the listeners (the streams were reporting more than 10,000 listeners), and I am being sent some free stuff. I have been all smiles since then. The end result will hopefully open up some doors so I can pursue this “hobby”, more like a life passion, to somewhere other than my bedroom.

I have uploaded the winning mix in 320kbps to the site, and you can grab it here: ASOT450 Bedroom DJ Contest Mix

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I am going to be getting back into the swing of things once again. I last left off with the release of Vocals 5, which I have really enjoyed. I took a hiatus from my radio show, but it is going to be starting with fresh tracks Sunday January 17th @ 6PM ET. Once again the station is www.totaalfm.com, and my show is bi-monthly, so every two weeks there is a new show. On a side note, I am considering also doing a live video/audio stream of when I actually mix the show every week. It doesn’t do much other than allow you to see me over a video and hear the tunes, but my testing so far has been enjoyable. Right now I just haven’t gotten into a consistent day or time when I do that, if I ever do I will make a new post about it.

Regards,
Derek