| McSmooth History |
The Beginning - First pair of decks
Chris Gordon is McSmooth (not M.C. Smooth).
I originally grew up in the Western Chicago suburb of Naperville.
The music I have learned to love was not commonly available in this area when I was younger.
I took interest in electronic music from songs and mixes I would hear on city radio stations.
I ventured to a lot of clubs and parties in high school to see what it was all about.
Eventually in '95, I scraped up enough money for a cheap pair of used turntables, a Radio Shack mixer and a few Chicago House records.
I was on my own, but this setup gave me the ability to practice and teach myself how to mix records.
This was my first musical experience, so I had a lot to learn.
I proudly passed out mixtapes to friends to display my progress.
College - Exposure
The next year I moved to Northern Illinois University to continue my education.
This is where I was able to get my first exposures playing live at parties and continued making recordings.
There was not much free time or money, but enough to keep practicing and pick up a few records every now and then.
I was playing a lot of Chicago house, hard house, and Booty by choice.
At a lot of the parties I played at, I had to play radio DJ and popular stuff I hated.
I ended up getting into eurodance, which seemed to be a compromise between the two.
Around '99, a lot of people on campus got into the new progressive house/trance style that was exploding.
Although this was also not my favorite style, I noticed many more dance parties on campus, and more DJ time.
I also spent a lot of time with the break dancing crew Sub Elements that practiced in the dorms.
This increased my awareness in hip-hop roots and really got me into break beats.
Boston - New City, New Music
After 4 years at NIU, I moved to Boston in 2000 to fulfill a career goal in web development during the .com boom.
It was slow regaining connections in a new place, but managed to find a nice community of fellow partiers and DJ's.
We managed to throw a few parties at homes, apartments, bars, and warehouses.
The record store I was shopping at had a good techno collection and I got heavily into this more repetetive but banging style.
There was also a great deal of break beats and drum'n'bass on the East coast that I got into as well.
I continued break dancing at a weekly drum'n'bass night at a local club in the city.
Production - I Can Make My Own Beats
It was also in Boston where I began my music production venture.
I reached a point where I felt there was only so much a DJ could do.
I will always respect mixing and turntablism as an art, but there are limitations when you are playing with someone else's work.
It seemed that a lot of the bigger name DJs were getting a lot of credit with practically no skills.
So I spent weeks looking at different gear and eventually got my first piece of gear, the Akai MPC2000XL.
With my newfound friend, I was able to teach myself the basics and learn about sampling and MIDI sequencing.
It was also in Boston where I bought my first synthesizer, the Roland JP-8080.
This really filled in the gaps, but both did take me a considerable amount of time to learn considering how much I had to learn on my own.
After about a year of life on the East Coast, I made the decision to move back to my real home, Chicago.
Live PA - Performing My Own Music
Back home in the burbs, I decided to finish up my Bachelor degree and look for a new job.
In my free time, I put a lot of effort into making new music and learning my gear.
While at a chill outdoor party, I saw someone doing a live set with a groovebox.
The music itself was not too impressive, but had me realize that his set was interesting solely because he was doing something different than all the DJs.
He was using unique gear, and playing his own music, which is pretty much the oposite of the DJs and why I grew tired of spinning out.
At that point I already had more gear and several tracks, but had not considered playing live.
So I set out to work on a live set that would help compliment my production work.
After a lot of work and practice, I got a chance to play several parties and found it very rewarding.
This is very much the case when you are applauded for your own work rather than playing a recording of someone else's.
Today - Still hanging in there
Today, I would consider myself a Gear nut with a bad case of GAS (Gear acquisition syndrome).
I actually still have my decks set up for sampling and the occasional old school mixing session.
The rest of my setup revolves around production.
Most would say I have too many synths, but I would say I know my gear better than 95% of the owners (most I know in and out before I even buy them).
I often spend more time with the gear and creating my own synth patches than I do on tracks.
I do not get much free time lately, but when I do, I find myself just jamming solo or with friends.
I hope to someday have more or all of my time dedicated to fun stuff like this!
Right now I am keeping my eye out for a house to buy...
More Information
More info on Chris.
About the McSmooth.com website.
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