The site is back! I had to take it offline for a few days to give it a new facelift and to deal with some issues with the files downloads. It's all good now. I also trimmed some of the fat of the site (such as the galleries) and left what people really come here for. Might add some new content in the future and bring back some the really old mixes. Thanks for your patience!

The site is absolutely the same and if you go to ricardotorres.net it will still re-direct you here for a while. I'll be using the ricardotorres.net domain name for other things not related to DJing. So update your bookmarks:

http://djricardotorres.com

Also don't forget to update the RSS Feed if you are subscribe to it. Please let me know through the contact page if anything is not working right as you browse the site. Thank you.

Defected has won my respect back. We've been in discussion with them about this whole unauthorized use of their tracks for the last few days. Let me be clear that they are not changing their position and policies. Both parties have now a much better understanding of each other's opinions. I think we both agree that the whole "seeking compensation" might have been premature and I believe it's not going in that direction. We've also agreed to open a dialogue with them if in the future I/we use their tracks for online mixes. Something that would benefit all of us.

They won back my respect because this exchange would have never happened with any of the big commercial labels. They are basically saying that they are also and still part of our small community and they are willing to talk even to us smaller guys to resolve these issues. All of this would have not happened with out your help, the people and headz who visit my site and listen to my mixes. Thank you all for your support.

In other news WCC RADIO EP004 will be up this Sunday. Maybe with a Defected track. Maybe.... ;)

Tags: Defected, Pesto Music

I guess some of those messages that people have been sending to Defected due of this incident and what people are discussing across the different house forums must have gotten to them. Pesto received an email from the Head of Promotions and Music exploitation of Defected to address the situation. The tone is very different than the first email. He makes a case for their side of the argument. You can read it here and make up your own mind about this debate.

Thank you to those who email me in support and to those who took the time to write respectfully to Defected about this matter. Long live our community.

Tags: Defected, Pesto Music

Some of you are wondering what happened to the DJ Mix I did for Pesto Music. Well within minutes after Pesto posted the FREE podcast they got this email from Defected:

"I have received a newsletter with a Pesto mix that includes 2 of Defected tracks that are unreleased. Defected has not granted you any authorisation to use them and we control the copyright. Please remove them from this mix immediately. You are giving our music away for free when you do not have the rights. We will seek compensation for this illegal usage."

First of all I purchased those "unreleased tracks" on Traxsource directly from Simon Dunmore (Defected's boss) Top 10. They don't even seem to know what tracks they are releasing or selling. Second, a big "respected" label like Defected coming after a small independent one man label like Pesto and threatening to sue them for giving them free promotion just floors me. Defected is in their legal right to do this but is it morally right? I've been a big supporter of Defected for years I have PURCHASED every single release I have from them vinyl or digital. No more. This is a slap in the face to our community. If this is their attitude then they will go down just like all the other main stream dinosaur labels that are crying that their profit margins are shrinking and are coming after the end users. I will re-do the PestoMix with out any tracks from Defected. Only tracks from labels that support and understand DJ culture. If you care to voice your opinion to them you can do to the label manager at their contact page here. The email above came from "Business Affairs and Licensing Manager". If you do contact them please be respectful. Like I said they are within their legal rights, I just feel they don't know how to pick their battles.

Tags: Mixes, Defected, Pesto Music

Wow. February was one of the craziest month that I've ever had. Because of this, the site and the mixes have suffered. I've had a few people emailing me wondering if I had disappeared and quit the DJ biz :) I think a lot of the newer people don't know that I'm not a "professional" DJ and that I do this as a hobby. By "professional" I mean I don't make my living out of it (I've been DJ'ing for over 20 years). What I really do for a living is Visual Effects for feature films and mainly TV commercials. I own my own VFX company and I am the main artist. This past month was completely out of control. One job after another non stop. I am not exaggerating when I am saying that I was working 12 to 14 hour days every single day in February (including the week ends). I even had to find somebody to replace me for my residencies because I just could not take myself away for a few hours to go DJ. I was mainly working on a feature film that's coming out this fall called City Of Ember and a Fiat commercial that will run in the European Union. If you live in Europe and see a TV commercial with a bunch of Fiats driving in the Moroccan desert that's my work. Most of the cars are CG (created in the computer) but they look photo real.

On top of that my best friend in the whole wide world, Geronimo my Great Dane, got really sick and ended up in emergency care for a few days. We found out that he has a genetic heart condition that is common in big dogs. I knew this would happen one day (I've had Great Danes all my life) but not this soon. He is only 4 years old. My goal right now is to make his quality of life as good as possible for what ever time he has left. I'm optimistic that he will get better so I'm not writing him out already. My last Great Dane lived until he was 10 1/2 years old (their average life span is 7 to 9 years).

Again, thank you all for your patience. I do this site and my DJ'ing for the love and passion I have for House Music and because I like to share it with the world but sometimes life gets in the way.

Friends of our in Québec City are looking for a missing person that is part of their family. If you live anywhere in the Province of Québec, or Canada for that matter, please take a look at this link for the French info and this link for the English info. You never know, you might have seen Marilyn in your area. I hope you have.

Those of you who know me know that I love animals. Sometimes more than people. I just wanted to introduce you to our new baby that showed up at our house during the holidays. Her name is Zoé and she is a French Bulldog puppy who is 12 weeks old. The big guy is my best friend Geronimo. He is a 175lbs Harlequin Great Dane who is 4 years old. I've had Geronimo since he was 7 weeks old. As far as I know, and according to Guiness World Record, Geronimo is the second tallest dog alive. The tallest one is another Dane called Gibson. Gibson is 42.2 in tall and Geronimo is 41.5 in. Just to get a perspective here is Geronimo standing next to Jay-J and I wouldn't call Jay-J short.

Anyway, I degress. Geronimo is seeing here bonding with his new adoptive sister and he is very patient but he does show her who is boss at the end. She is the size of his head. Enjoy.

Tags: Zoe, Geronimo

In the last few months I have received quite a few emails from people wondering what had happened to my old mailing list or why I wasn't sending any updates.  They were wondering if they had been dropped from it. I would send an email once or twice a month to let them know about new mixes or gigs. When I re-did the new site and I included a blog I didn't think I would need the list anymore since people can subscribe to it and get the updates right here. Well, the list is back!  New and improved. When you join now you can chose your interest so I can send you an email that is relevant to what you want to be informed about. For example most people want to know when I have a new mix up but not necessarily when I have a gig in Los Angeles if they live in Barcelona. The emails are also in HTML format now so they look much better than the old ones. You can join on any of the site's pages by entering your email and clicking join on the sidebar to your left.

Tags: Mailing List, Mixes, Gigs

Almost a month with out any updates.... I feel bad. It's the same for the West Coast Collective site. I've been stupid busy since I got back from Ibiza. Some of you know that I own a Visual Effects company that I founded almost 4 years ago. I don't just work there, I run the company with my partner and I am the lead artist. When I started Below the Radar I figured I would work less and have more time for my favorite hobby (DJing of course) since I would make my own hours. Boy was I wrong... Being successful means that you are working non stop with lots of returning clients. That's where we are right now. In a business where a lot of our competitors are down sizing or closing we are expanding. This year we've double in size and are well off to make more than our numbers from last year. When I got back from Spain I had to jump right away and finish a big television campaign that I had started before I left for Suzuki Cars. If you live in the US and you watch TV you've seen some of the new ads that are running. As soon as that was over I was on two BMW commercials for the Chinese market that had tons of visual effects and CG. I was working 12 to 14 hours a day for three weeks straight (including week ends). The only break I had was when I was playing at my residency Glow. After that it was back to more Suzuki and right now I'm finishing a job for Bridgestone that is a real funny commercial. We are also bidding for three really good commercials for the Italian market that involves people who turn paper thin but live in a 3D world.

October is also a big month because all of my close friends have birthday in that month including me. Sandra, my wife, is in October and so are 9 other of my friends. Two of them on the same day as me, October 23rd. For my birthday we celebrated at Glow since I was playing there and since it was close to Halloween everybody dressed up in real great costumes. Every girl was dressed as a "sexy (insert what ever you can think of here)". I loved that my wife Sandra came as a "Crazy Ho". She had a real sexy asylum straight jacket costume. The biggest surprise was that my good friend Jay-J came all the way from NY with his girlfriend to attend the party. I love Jay-J. He has become a close friend. One of the perks of that is that I get to hear and have a chance to get my hands on a lot of his new productions and remixes that he is working on for the launch of Shifted Music. Unfortunately I can't play these on any of my radio shows or online mixes until they are officially release or come out as promos. I do play them at live gigs and I can tell you that the reaction I always get is "OMG what was that?!" Be on the look out for a real sexy track with Michelle Shaparow that will remind you of the good old days of Naked Music, a peak time dance floor destroyer with Jay-J's partner in crime Latrice Barnett, a track with Random Soul that just oozes soul when you play it and of course Jay-J's artist album. Anyway the party was a blast and I will put up some pics as soon as I can gather them from all the people who were there.

Finally I would like to apologize to all the people who have email or contacted me and whom I haven't reply to yet. My goal this week is to catch up with all of that and if you wrote to me I will reply even if it's late. Thank you all for your understanding and support!

Sorry for the lack of activity on the site lately. I got slam at work with a huge campaign from one of our biggest client and I was trying to get everything done before my trip to Spain. I was working 12 to 16 hours days but I got everything done and now I'm here in Spain with my wife Sandra and my mate Jay-J and his girlfriend. We are in Barcelona till Wed the 5th and then we are off to Ibiza. If you live in Barcelona and know of any good parties with good soulful house please let me know through the contact page.

Tags: Gigs, Europe, Spain, Jay-J, Ibiza

Track #3 was finally solved by Alexandre from France. It is "I Heart Bougie" from Ken EBC (East Coast Boogiemen). The track is not out yet but will be release on Amenti Music (as track 1 that I was also looking for) in September. The mix you hear on the sample is the Toka Project Coast To Coast Mix.

To recap here all 3 tracks with their respective IDs. Thank you to all who helped.

- "As Darkness Falls" (Glom Remix) by Vernon & Dacosta feat Apple Rochez available on Amenti Music (thank you Mourad from France):



- "See Yo Face" by The Inland Knights available on Flavor Records (thank you Joe M from San-Francisco):



-"I Heart Bougie" (Toka Project Coast To Coast Mix) from Ken EBC available on Amenti Music (thank you Alexandre from France):

Tags: Tracks

Alright we are on a roll. Mystery track # 2 was ID by Joe M. It is "See Yo Face" by The Inland Knights on Flavor Records. You guys are a wealth of knowledge. Thanks Joe! Just one more to go... what is track #3? To me it sounds like something Mark Farina used to play back in the days but with an updated sound.

Track 3:

Tags: Tracks

Mourad from Paris contacted me to give me the ID of track #1 from the post below. It is "As Darkness Falls" (Glom Remix) by Vernon & Dacosta feat Apple Rochez. You can find the track on the Amenti Music label. Thank you Mourad! One down two more to go. Anyone?

Tags: Tracks

My friend Torin Rea from the West Coast Collective turn me on to a great DJ set called Inspiration from Oriental Funk Stew. Great funky set but I can't find a tracklist anywhere for it. There are three tracks that I really in this mix and I'm hoping that some of you might ID them for me since I never heard them until now. They might be old, they might be new and that's the beauty of house music, it always sounds fresh not matter how long it's being around. Here are some snippets of the unknown tracks that I'm looking for. If you have any info on them please let me know through the contact page or leave a comment right here with the link below. Thanks for any help!

Track 1:


Track 2:


Track 3:

Tags: Tracks

A big thank you to all who supported Sandra's release on Traxsource last week. We made it all the way to number 11 in the top 100. Not bad at all. Of course the track is still available there so if you want to get your own copy got o Traxsource to get it.

Tags: Sandra Lima, Traxsource, Tracks

I am so happy and proud on my beautiful wife Sandra. Her first single on Barcoda Recordings was just released today for purchase as a promo on Traxsource. I am stoke also because Barcoda is one of my favorites labels with an amazing catalogue of hits in the short period that it's being around. The head of the label is Andy Lee, aka Central Avenue, who is also one of my favorite producers from the UK.

"Divine Love" is an uplifting tune perfect for those warm summer nights. The track was produce by Russian duo White Caviare composed of DJ Asya and Denis Teremski. Sandra performs and wrote the lyrics for the song. There is a total of 7 mixes. The original mix is very melodic and smooth. For the dance floor duties two big hitters, Central Avenue and M.o.D., come really strong with their remixes. My personal favorites are the Central Avenue vocal remix and the Deep Headz Dub Remix. I will be rocking these tonight in San-Diego. You can hear previews of all the mixes and purchase them on Traxsource. Go support Sandra (and House Music) cause she rocks!

Tags: Sandra Lima, Traxsource, Tracks

My beautiful wife Sandra has a new single coming out on Barcoda Recordings from the UK. "Divine Love", produced by the Russian duo White Caviare drops in a few weeks with dope remixes by Central Avenue and M.O.D. You can get a preview of the original mix on Sandra's MySpace page. You will be able to purchase it on Traxsource and other legal digital download sites.

Tags: Sandra Lima, Traxsource

You're all probably wondering why I changed the look of the website again in less than 3 months? First of all it is to have a common look with the West Coast Collective site. I'm working on that site right now and the layout will be the same but with a different color scheme. Check out the new mixes section, a la iTunes, that now has artwork for the mixes (eventually the art will be imbedded in the MP3 file). Some mixes still have artwork missing but I'm working on those. Secondly, it's because it's real easy thanks to CSS. Basically I change a couple of common files in the site and voila. The back end stay the same, I basically just change the "skin". I know nothing about web development but I've been able to achieve this by using an amazing piece of software on Mac OS called RapidWeaver. If you want to quickly build a professional looking site check out RW.

I started including new photo galleries to the site. They are mainly of events that I played at or that I have attended. More will be coming up as soon as I sort more of the photos. Check them out in the galleries page.

I just fixed some issues with the RSS feed that would send you to a "Page Not Found" error when you click on a link from the feed itself (thank you Peter). I also added the availability to add comments on the specific entries that I post on the blog so go ahead and leave me your feedback. Just click on the Comments link under an entry to speak your mind.

I'm completely redoing my site from A to Z. New look and new functionality. I am also changing to a new web host provider that is offering me more bandwidth. That means that I will be able to offer you more mixes at a better quality. With more bandwidth I will also be able to keep online all of my Shameless Session mixes for the year with out removing them from month to month.

You are looking at the home page which also is a blog that you can subscribe to through an RSS feed. If your browser supports RSS or if you have an RSS reader you will know immediately when new mixes are online, when I have new gig dates or anything else that I post in here. Just click on the RSS link to the right of this page.

As more pages for the site come online I will inform people through the blog. For now it's only this home page and the contact page. Keep watching this space.