My definition of a DJ
Lesson time: (6min 3sec)
Course preview
This lesson is part of the course Find Your Own Path in House & Techno with DJ Deep
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
The DJ's Secret Garden
To me, a DJ is someone who shares with you his world.
If I want to push things, the DJs that really blow me away, that really interest me, are the ones who open the door to their secret gardens. This is where I want to go, I want to go in the secret garden.
I'm not super interested in hearing all the hits or the very obvious. And I'm not saying this in a pretentious, elitist way. This is just my passion and what I'm interested in.
The Emotional Connection of Music
When you hear old mixes from Larry Levin at the Paradise Garage or stories of what he was doing, you find that what he presented was very personal and emotional.
- The lyrics of the songs had meaning.
- They were speaking to each other.
Some lyrics can have a first-level meaning, but depending on your mindset or the mood of the night, they can mean something else. So, lyrics are important in different layers, as well as the mood and the groove of the tracks.
Charisma in DJing
I'm always interested in DJs that have a strong charisma.
Joe Claussel
When Joe Claussel plays records, if you listen, it's serious business.
Kerry Chandler
Listening to Kerry Chandler play music is intense, he's really into it and giving you everything.
Louis Vega
Louis Vega conducts his sets like a maestro directing an orchestra. The records are the musicians, and he organizes and plays with them.
Derek May
Watching Derrick May perform was such a shock and influence for me. I never got to hear Ron Hardy personally, but I could feel through him the electricity and energy of it all.
Discovering Chicago House
For me, the DJ that truly captivates is Lewis.
- If I had to show my 11-year-old kid what a Chicago house DJ is, I would take him to see Lewis.
Lewis embodies two incredible aspects:
- Timelessness: At times, you feel like you're in 1986 with him in a DJ booth in Chicago, same sound, same groove, same energy.
- Versatility: He can seamlessly weave in the hardest tracks and the softest ballads; it all makes sense.
His sets take you on a journey where there's no chance of getting out at any bus stop, the doors of the bus are locked, and you stay on this ride till the end.
Personal Reflections
To me, I admire so much about those DJs.
Having said this, I don't have much charisma as a DJ. I'm quiet and very focused on what I do because my obsession is to share with people this immense love of music.
- I'm always worried about forgetting something.
As a DJ, I feel like a transmitter, trying to throw as many entrance tickets to people as I can.
"That's what house music sounds like."
"That's what Kerry Chandler does."
Hopefully, I can transmit this passion to them.
The Journey of Transmission
What I'm trying to say is you can love things a certain way and do them another way. I will never be Lil Wiz; he is Lil Wiz. I will never be any of the DJs I admire so much, they all have such personality, charisma, and intensity.
It doesn't matter because I'm feeding off them, trying to give it back in a different way.
I want to share that for the longest time, I was quite hard about my passion. If you didn't know all the Armando records, you couldn't talk to me about Chicago because I was intense about knowing everything.
What I've learned is that when you transmit, you translate. You can never transmit something exactly the way you receive it, just like the influence felt from Derrick and Ron.
Even in the most honest attempts to transmit, there's always a difference, and that's the beauty of it all.
Inspiring the Next Generation
This is how you connect with the younger generation and hopefully inspire them to carry on things in their own way.
You can have many influences and be passionate about them, be it DJs or musicians. You can learn about the technique, the equipment, and really understand what each machine does.
What truly matters, in the end, is how you're going to cook your own meal; all those little ingredients will make your meal super special. It will be uniquely yours, arranged in a way that no one else can do.
About the instructor
DJ Deep is a French house and techno producer and DJ, and the man behind the Deeply Rooted label (formerly Deeply Rooted House). Across more than 20 years he has been one of dance music's great curators - and that ear for what makes a record really work is exactly what makes him a guide worth learning from. 'I see my job as being a big filter,' he says, rather underplaying the role the Frenchman has had in the development of house music. 'As a vinyl junkie, I am in the record stores chasing jams almost every day. Sharing what I think are the greatest records of the moment or the most timeless personal classics is something that has motivated me throughout the years.' Cyril Etienne emerged from the Paris scene to make a real impact on the world stage. He started out playing for Laurent Garnier at parties such as Oz and Zoo at club Palace, then became a regular at the Rex Club and established his unique sense of taste with his 'A Deep Groove' shows on pirate station Radio FG and later Radio Nova. He quickly graduated to playing worldwide, always taking with him a sense of history informed by a love of Chicago, New York and Detroit. Blurring the lines between house and techno, he also joins the dots between classic and contemporary cuts with his own sense of storytelling - not only as a DJ and producer, but also a label boss and party curator. Since 2003 he has headed up his own forward-looking Deeply Rooted label, synonymous with classy, true-to-its-roots house and techno from new and established greats like Kerri Chandler, Ben Klock, Francois X, Ben Sims and Roman Poncet, as well as rising French star and Concrete Paris regular Marina Trench. His own Raw Cuts series bridges the heartfelt emotion of house and the direct impact of techno. Beyond his own label he has released on Rekids, Kaoz Theory and Tresor, and as a remixer has reworked the likes of Carl Craig, St Germain, DJ Honesty, Scan 7, Borderland (Juan Atkins) and Point G, always bringing his uniquely warm atmospheres to whatever he turns out. He also makes music under various other aliases: Rebeval, with rawer-sounding material on L.I.E.S.; Sergie Rezza, a collaborative project and label of the same name alongside Roman Poncet that explores more experimental, ambient-laced house and techno in both EP and LP format; Fang, for contemporary house; and Adventice, for driving, classically-rooted techno, with outings on Tresor and live shows at the likes of Berlin Atonal. His more eclectic side comes out in his Open Library radio shows on Worldwide FM - two-hour windows of jazz, soul, dub, funk and ambient that make for very special, immersive soundtracks. Whatever he is playing or producing, DJ Deep always has something worth hearing. In Find Your Own Path in House & Techno, he shares how he selects, arranges and shapes tracks so that, instead of chasing trends, you can build a sound and a taste that are unmistakably your own. read more