as printed in EQ magazine, April 99 (Vol. 10, Issue 4)

A Different Kind of Engineer

There’s more than one style of DJing, and what I do is a little different compared to most other DJs. Their primary focus is working a dancefloor, while I usually play for a more chilled-out room. Their goal is a seamless mix with slow builds and powerful, even peaks, while I’m after weirdness and disorientation. I’m always looking for a new way to turn the experience on its ear and reveal something unexpected. One example is playing a nice recording of swamp noises, which is initially very sweet and pastoral, but I very slowly turn it up to full volume - at which point you just want to die. I also like to mix in hard experimental ambient glazes over beat records; I think it’s a bit of a no-brainer as it’s an easy way to make a good record twice as dark, but hardly anyone else seems to do it much.

Lots of dance DJs have their whole set pretty well worked out, but I select my records on the way out the door, and couldn’t tell you much about most of them. For me, it’s all about the combinations, and just listening hard for that remote possibility of joining disparate elements and forcing them to work. If I’m flipping through a bag and feel a record say, “No way, this would be a really bad idea,” then that’s often the one I go with.

My model is the daydream, half-in/half-out reverie. I always think back to something like taking a nap while someone was mowing a lawn nearby, and the sound of a passing plane modulates in and out, where you just float, dumbfounded by the sound. It sounds a bit corny, but I think provoking reveries in others is a bit of a political act; the only right nature grants us anywhere is the right to our own illusions, but so few ever explore this. When possible, I get really lost in the sound myself - sometimes, when you’ve got the right combination going, you can just feel it sweep the room like a chill. It’s a strange goal, as your ego desperately craves knowing that it can create access to the place where ego is obliterated; even when it’s completely dumb luck creating the current rush, you get a neat little boost.

With luck, soon I’ll be doing my own material, and I’m currently investigating software synthesizers. Spinning is fun, but I have such an urge to constantly mess with things that I’m gonna need to go live before too much longer.

Techniques
With a DJ mixer, you basically tend to mess with anything that’s available...flicking the Line/Phono input switch lets you cut the signal in and out, flashing the faders up and down can give a nice tremolo, and the more EQ the better. In rare instances, you get an effects send, which is a riot.

Though playing on two turntables is common, it’s also a bit challenging. I much prefer to have three sources (or more, three decks and two CDs is perfect), so I can have two elements playing together while I work on a third. CDs are fine for lots of things, but the bottom line is that they’re nowhere near as sexy as vinyl. For me, it’s not so much about craft and technique (though I’m certainly floored by it in others, no disrespect), as about quick and bizarre creativity, and, especially, serendipity, very much the main tool in my box. Needless to say, my sets often have rough edges showing here and there, but that’s the price of spontaneity.

One basic thing I do, for anybody who wants to learn (and I was 35 when I started, so find a better excuse!), is to move my hand in the direction of the record and grab it at the beat, at the end of the hand motion; that way you’re in a good position to pull it back, and the release position will be at the forward end of your stroke. If you grab it at the beat, then screw with it, and release it at that position on the beat, you’re good to go. There are so many things to do - I’ll thump the label for a deep kick or for a shaky modulation, flutter my hand against the vinyl to warble the pitch, drag the needle across the record, push it, pull it; generally just violate whatever expectations I can. If you want to hear a real virtuoso, check out DJ Olive (of WE™, on Asphodel, buy it); he plays vinyl like a damn violin.

My main trick is to only buy what I think are really great records; that way, even if my mixing is off, I’ll still only fall so far. If I can’t listen to it before I buy it, it stays in the store.

Don’t Quit Your Day Job
As far as the economics of DJing goes, I can’t stomach hustling, though I do try to send cassettes to anybody I dare, and I always try to have a few extra in my pocket to give to friends and acquaintances. I really love mixtapes; for a buck and some change you can make a copy that gives someone hours of weird dreams. I don’t support myself DJing; I have a regular job for that (video graphics). Most people really don’t want to be challenged by sounds at all, so I’m a bit of a niche specialist, even here in NYC. I’d generally, however, rather be playing, so if somebody offers me beer, I’ll bring the vinyl.