Sebastian Arroyo

Mr. Newman
English: Rhetoric 101
27 August 2014
#RealDJing

You hear it all the the time. Whether it be on your drive to work in the morning, or that cook out
you went to the other day; its constantly just there. It teaches you life lessons and shapes you
to the type of person you see yourself to be; without the need of a classroom or having to be
your mother. You feel its energy and emotion, even though it consumes no physical mass. It
forces you to toughen up and push harder better than any coach could, but as well serves as
your chance to let go and dance your problems away.It gathers people and packs stadiums and
arenas worldwide just to be heard. Its the life of every party, and I wanted to be the reason why
you left that party feeling good, and enjoyed with your life at that moment.
As a kid I was always open to music, no matter the genre. From the influences of my
mother playing salsa every Saturday morning from the sounds of Frankie Ruiz and Victor
Manuelle, when cleaning the house; to my brother introducing me into hip-hop and rap from the
likes of Digital Underground and Nasty Nas as it was being played off the boombox when we
were getting ready for school in the morning, and finally to my dad mixing that old school
freestyle records of Stevie Bs Spring Love to Debbie Debs Lookout Weekend shook over
with Chicago house tracks of The Jungle Brothers and Reality on the decks cutting back and
forth,. Within my own household, I was surrounded by all these different genres, that kept me
from having a close minded taste in music.
My first experience with DJin was with turntables, as I think it should go with every DJ As
a 9 year old on the decks, I was just happy that if I moved the record back and forth Id be
scratching, and Id always see on tv. So in my mind; bam. Im a DJ already.
Isnt that simple. Us as humans, our internal sense of rhythm is broken down into
multiples of 4s. A basic beat clap beat clap, is what leads a song off. How many times a
song does that in a minute is what helps us figure out what songs would mix well with each
other due to its speed, or beats per minute (bpm). So in basic beat matching mixing, your aim is
to lay the record in which youre mixing in, right on top of the one already playing in unison with
its beat clap rhythm while keeping that 4, 16, 32, or 64 beat pace.
Ever listen to a regular dance track single, and wondered why it dragged to get to the
core of the song, just because there was a really long bass line going on in the beginning with
some hi hats; well that parts for setting the tone of the song, but its main intention is for the DJs
so they can mix in that track when theyre spinning.
But as you get deeper into actual techniques of the art, you sometimes dont even
realize how sensible of music youve become, being able to break down a track on the fly,
thinking ok I can lay this tracks bass over this part of the vocals of the song already playing, itll
give it a whole different vibe or if I cut it here laid over with this track, the crowd will go crazy .

And just trying to keep the overall energy high with the audience by coming up with those wow
mixes right on the fly; Im constantly thinking 2 songs ahead so I dont lose that pace.
Jumping back to when I was 9 years old and I finally made that trip to Guitar Center with
my dad to pick out my own basic set up, it was like christmas in the summer. I picked up a
Vestax 3 channel mixer and a dual rackmount American Audio cd player. About as compact as
you can get, but that set-up came to be my homework after my homework every night, and early
as school mornings, just to get some tracks mixed in right before I left for the bus. Its all I think
about doing everyday.
Reason being is because I simply care for getting better and better, and wanting to
create my own technique and approach to how I mix every song, its like building up my music
muscle memory; and as far as it goes with even actual musicians, theres never gonna come a
time where youve learned and done it all, and thats it your jobs done. With music in general,
its constantly changing. Technology every day grows and grows,and in the long run forces you
to become adaptable. The crowd isnt feeling the last 3 tracks I just spinned? Cool, Ill switch it
up to what I know for sure will get them going. The DJ that just went on before me had all these
crazy effects and samples, how am I gonna top that? Doesnt matter to me, I got something else
in store and have trust in my craft.
Originality is key, its what's gonna make you stand out from the rest. Yeah those little
tricks were pretty, but did it rock the crowd, did they already hear something like that just the
other night? Its that same thought process as so, that changes how I perceive any track I hear
nowadays, whats the best way I can manipulate that song. Whether it be by scratching on
these decks, twisting these knobs, or cutting back and forth, its all done in order to get you to
say damn, Im glad I came out tonight to hear and see this.
Now after my sets done; Im that person packing up my gear leaving the party feeling
good, because of some stuff I just did with two turntables and a microphone.