dj Smiley Mike mixing on two turntables under a magenta laser in the home studio

dj Smiley Mike · Trance · Techno · Acid

TrancendanceLive every Sunday. Since 2001.

Trance and techno records, mixed live every Sunday night and streamed on Twitch. No talking, no requests, just a long set that goes somewhere. It started as a radio show on CiTR 101.9 FM in Vancouver and now comes from a garage studio in Alberta.

Weekly live stream

Sundays on Twitch

6:30 – 10:00 pm Mountain TimeMost Sundays. Follow on Twitch to get the go-live notification.

twitch.tv/djsmileymike

Latest full set on YouTube. Live stream appears here on Sundays.

About

I got hooked on electronic music in the very early 90s through two shows on UBC's campus station, CiTR 101.9 FM: Digital Alarm Chronometer and Home Bass. Back then they were about the only places in Vancouver you could hear it. I started hanging around the station as soon as I got to university, made regular trips to Odyssey Imports for records, and before long I was allowed to play a track or two on air. That's where I learned to DJ.

In 2001 Trancendance got its own slot, Sunday nights 10 to midnight, and ran there for nearly twenty years. Along the way I played a run of shows in the late 90s and early 2000s, mostly underground parties in the forests between Squamish and Whistler. I never tried to make a career of it, which is probably why I still love it.

When covid shut the station down, the show took a hiatus. I started tinkering with some streaming gear my kids had given me, discovered I loved running visuals alongside the music, and the Sunday set moved to Twitch. It now comes from a home studio outside Edmonton: two Technics 1200s, a Xone:96, a wall of vinyl, Void speakers, Resolume visuals and a 5W club-grade laser.

The sound rotates through trance, techno and melodic, often with a healthy dose of acid. Viewer counts are small and I'm fine with that. You won't hear me talking over the mixes; I'm here for the music, and I put on a proper show for whoever finds it.

  • Since1994 behind the decks · 2001 on air (CiTR 101.9 FM)
  • NowLive on Twitch, Sundays 6:30–10 pm MT
  • SoundTrance, techno, melodic, acid
  • FormatVinyl and Serato DVS, no talking, no CDJs
  • BaseEdmonton, Alberta (originally Vancouver, Canada)
  • CrewTrance Family North

From the stream

The studio lit cyan, laser fanned across the ceiling
Cyan set
Overhead view of the decks, mixer and record wall in blue light
Overhead cam
Blue laser rig with animated overlay graphics
Resolume visuals

The rig

Everything that runs on a Sunday night. Happy to answer questions about any of it on the stream.

Audio

I spent years on vinyl, moved to Serato and timecode around 2010, and never went to CDJs. The DJ laptop is old and stays on macOS Catalina so it still drives the Rane interface.

  • 2 × Technics SL-1200 Mk2
  • Allen & Heath Xone:96 mixer
  • Allen & Heath Xone:K2 (MIDI)
  • Serato DJ Pro
  • Rane SL-4 (DVS)
  • 2017 MacBook Pro i7
  • Focusrite Scarlett 8i6
  • Tascam DR-40X recorder
  • 2 × Void Acoustics Venu 8 tops
  • Void Acoustics Venu 210i sub, integrated 2400W Powersoft amp
  • Powersoft Armonía Plus DSP
  • AKG K182 headphones
Laser

Started with a small DMX laser and beat-synced visuals; the new studio was bigger than it could fill. The 5W is overkill for a home set-up and that is the point. Quickshow is Windows-only, which forced a Mac/PC split in the rig.

  • Unity Elite Pro 5W laser
  • Pangolin Quickshow
  • Akai APC Mini (MIDI)
Lights and DMX

Started with cheap RGB floods and strobes on separate remotes. Now everything, hazer included, is on a DMX chain driven by Lightkey, so whole scenes change from one controller.

  • Lightkey (software), MacBook Pro M1 Max
  • Enttec DMX USB Pro interface
  • Akai MPK Mini Mk3 and LPD8 (MIDI)
  • 2 × Big Dipper LP120 LED pars
  • Rockville 700 hazer
  • 2 × Govee RGBICW corner lamps, Govee Glide wall light
  • 2 × Chinly LED strobes
  • 3 × RGB LED floods (floor lighting)
Visuals

Resolume is what the festival stages use: it locks to the tempo and lets me make slow adjustments live. Clips run on auto shuffle and change every 8, 16 or 32 beats. Video reaches OBS over NDI.

  • Resolume Avenue
  • Akai APC40 (MIDI)
  • NDI video over IP
Streaming

Three cameras into OBS on a dedicated PC. Since the Twitch DJ category stopped allowing recordings, full sets go up on YouTube.

  • OBS on an Alienware Aurora R11, RTX 4070
  • Nikon D7200 and GoPro Hero 7
  • Razer Kiyo Pro webcam
  • 2 × Elgato Cam Link 4K
  • Elgato Stream Deck XL