Hi I'm Huw and I'm the Executive Producer for Radio 1's Essential Mix.

A few hours to go until the live show tonight at Privilege! It's the biggest show of the year for the Essential Mix team and the one that gets the butterflies going as soon as you wake up on show day.

The plan of action today is to head down to the club in the afternoon for a soundcheck. Underworld are playing live tonight so it's vital that we hear their run through so that we can make sure it sounds suitably amazing on air. I'll check that the BBC OB engineers are happy and plugged in and that the all important ISDN lines are working! Then it's a case of grabbing a bite to eat and going back to Privilege before the doors open around 10pm.

When we get to the club, the first thing we do is get the all important AAA passes. Joe, one of the Essential Mix producers, will go and interview clubbers in the queue and edit together a package to play out in the show (have you ever been 'vox popped' in Ibiza?). I'll check with the promoters (Cream) that all the DJs are on the island or en route. Above & Beyond are flying in from Barcelona tonight, so for peace of mind we'll want to make sure that they took off on time. A few years ago, our opening DJ got delayed flying into Ibiza, so I had to play the first record!

Pete is on first tonight, so he'll arrive about an hour before we go on air. I'll meet him backstage and we'll go over the start of the show. Then we'll head onstage with about 15 minutes to go. I usually set up just to the side of the DJ booth with a small mixer and CD players to play out our jingles ('essential, essential essential...'). I'll also have a pair of headphones with Radio 1 on them, so I can hear the end of Judge Jules' show and know when to go on air!

And then second hand ticks round... 57,58,59. I press the button. And off we go...

Listen to the show tonight from midnight