TLDR: Bee tells us what it’s like to come out as a DJ in the office world.
It’s quite incredible how stories move around at the office. It all starts on that Monday morning coffee break where everyone lists his and her weekend whereabouts and activities. Yet another bullet pointed list in that huge list realm. While some were busy shopping, cooking, fixing a thing or two at home or painting, my main weekend activity was around music and preparing my show for FRISKY. This awoke a sudden curiosity among the group, probably amateur musicians or electronic music enthusiasts which ended up in me sharing my DJ activity with the group.
There it was, my coming out as a DJ.
Do you remember this awkward scene in movies after an important revelation line? All cameras pointing at the main subject, silence filling the room, eyes locked on the target? Yes it did feel like this after this coming out. Like the whole world stopped spinning for a second before resuming it’s cycle.
The few following seconds were very interesting. I remember the confused looks on some of my colleagues faces, not sure if they should feel surprised or not. Their imagination took the lead though as they started fantasizing on the clubs, and all the fames and fortunes I’d be gathering in my spare time. I’ll spare you the comparisons with the Guetta clichés and the hands up in the air or the one ear and scratching moves. We’ve all been there right? They were very far from imagining what a DJ life could be and it surely didn’t look like this at least from my point of view.
DJing is wide to explain, it’d take pages and an entire book to wrap up the subject, I think. From my perspective, DJing is as much listening, discovering and researching of sound, as it is to record your set for others to discover and inspire. Disc jockeys are ambassadors of the music, the ones who help expose artists to new audiences and form a bridge between the audience and new releases or the latest hot tune out there, no matter what the genre is. Today’s shortcut is identifying any DJ as an electronic music one (house, techno, mininal, progressive, trance, psychadelic, you name it). The others are “not legit”. I beg to differ.
DJs are special species, they can spend hours listening and sorting out tracks, new albums, LPs, EPs, reviewing, searching for more until they find THE gem that they want to put forward. It is again their choice and taste that goes into the equation as what to showcase to their audience. This R&D phase is continuous, it never stops, we sometime do it unconsciously. All in the name of music. Then comes the phase where the whole puzzle has to be put together, another exciting journey where the rough idea takes shape through a recorded set and becomes alive. It’s like a painting or a lego construction or cooking. We build layers, we sublime the work of others by marrying sounds and shaping it into a whole journey. Upon this record we’re happy, we’re critical, never satisfied of our work. The due date is however near and we hit send.
It’s D-Day, broadcast day! The set will finally be out there to be heard, discovered and judged. We’re always nervous, it’s like going to an exam on every single show (too much drama right?). But we’re happy to share our work and await your comments. DJs can’t progress without an audience and their feedback, we can only set the bar higher upon each broadcast to push the experience higher and stronger. DJs are not isolated, just like the audience isn’t neither. We’re all part of a whole balance where every party needs the other to work.
And the cycle goes on.
We are DJs, our product life cycles are measured by sets and are quite fast compared to other “products”. We’re here to bring you amazing music that we hope will please you and we’re here to entertain you on your club nights, bike rides, trail adventures or long flights. Being a DJ is complex, it’s what we signed up for, for the love of music and sharing it with you. Finally there’s FRISKY, the bridge that binds us with you.
