DJ Diary: Misstress Barbara
Canadian techno spinner Misstress Barbara is one of the scene's biggest DJs. We asked her to track her bank holiday weekend's movements for DJmag.com.
Techno spinner Misstress Barbara is one of the scene's biggest DJs, and plays in exotic and far-flung destinations every weekend.
DJmag.com asked the Canadian spinner to track her weekend's movements for us, as she played three countries in four days.
Friday 26th May
 Misstress Barbara is one of the world's biggest techno spinners
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Today is the first SEEME (South Eastern European Music Exhibition) in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Nowadays there's a new dance music conference almost every year!
After WMC, there's DEMF, then SAMC, now SEEME!
I even heard they want to do a music conference in Dubai.
I play a gig at SEEME alongside Marco Carola.
Since all the techno DJs music has changed most of the techno fans don't quite understand this change yet, and I think that most of the 1500 people here don't quite get the night at all.
I think they are waiting for something to happen, which probably never really does in their opinion.
The sound is bad, the room too big with too much echo, so anything groovy sounds harsh.
I almost get in a fight with a prick who comes up to me during my set, with his eyes almost out of his face because he's high on speed, yelling at me to play harder.
I almost tell him to quit speed but by the way he looks at me it was better to shut up otherwise he may beat me up.
Of course there are no security around as they are all partying in the VIP area!
Bottom line, the night was a bit of a mess.
Saturday 27th May
 Misstress Barbara told DJmag recently that she now prefers minimal techno and electro over hard techno
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Today I'm at Shine, in Belfast.
Oddly enough it's the first time I have played here - I'm probably the only techno DJ who hasn't been here yet!
I have heard so many good things about Shine that I'm very excited.
What a surprise I had when I got here and saw that the place was in a school.
I didn't expect that at all.
It's funny how the imagination tricks us and convinces us that things are just like we imagine them to be, until we see the real thing which is often totally different from what we thought.
The night is so much fun. I haven't heard a soundsystem as good as this in a while - everything I play sounds so clear and punchy!
It's pure satisfaction.
I even play three of my new tracks which sounded like complete shit in Bulgaria (which made me depressed), but now they sound beautiful.
The crowd are lovely, and enjoy pretty much all of what I play - they scream and jump around.
I love them, I love the place and I really love Guinness!
Monday 29th May
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I'm playing at 4 Sans in Bordeaux, France today.
I know a lot of people say that the club is their favourite in the whole world - they take good care of you, the crowd are fun, and the soundsystem is incredible.
I know I mentioned that the Shine soundsystem is great but the one in 4 Sans is in its own league.
It's out of this world!
It's only my second time here and the first time was fun but the club wasn't very full.
I don't play that much in France but after releasing my 'Come With Me...' mix CD on the French label UWe things are moving a bit more for me here.
I wasn't expecting a packed dance floor, just more people than before, but the night is a complete success!
The dancefloor is full, I play all the music I really like and they all love it.
It's fun for me to play in France since I don't have a past here, so I don't get angry fans screaming at me because I'm not playing hard techno!
At the end of the night, after an encore of 15 minutes, the entire club screams so much and hits their hands on the stage that I play one more tune otherwise I think they might invade the booth and God knows what then...