Creating Community: Foundations

As a DJ, it’s more important than ever to make sure you’re doing what you can to cultivate a great community. It’s what brings people together and it’s how you can grow your profile, help to get more gigs, more people to your gigs and be in control. Traditionally, this would be IRL - flyer drops in record stores, street posters, passing around physical mixtapes, word of mouth etc. While this is still important, it’s hard to ignore the time people spend online in 2015. Facebook alone has over 1.4 billion worldwide users who spend on average 40 mins per day on the platform. Almost 1 in 5 people on earth has a Facebook profile :)

While it continues to grow as a space to engage with potential fans, it’s important to understand the amount of content and noise generated… For example, every 20 minutes on Facebook there are 1 million links shared, 2 million friend requests and 3 million messages sent. How can you cut through this and develop an engaged community and fanbase? Here’s a few key principles to remember when thinking about how you use social media to build your DJ profile.

You could think of social media like sync… :D It’s not going to make you a better DJ or gain more fans by itself. You still have to be a good DJ. Time spent on the internet still isn’t as important as time spent practicing :) If you use it well though, it’s a great help!

Have a purpose other than building likes / follows

Would you prefer a slightly smaller crowd going nuts on the dancefloor or a packed bar with no-one dancing or listening to you?

You need to have a purpose in social media. This is the backbone of any successful social media strategy and needs to be quite specific. You may want to get more likes on your page but how does this relate to real life goals? Building page likes or follows should be a sign of success rather than the outcome you are trying to drive.

Do your fans come to the club to see you play? Do they listen to your radio show? Do they buy your tracks? Do you get bookings for parties? You should define what your goals are so you can spend your time (and money) wisely. If you’re a mobile DJ and your goal is to get more bookings for weddings / birthdays your activity will be very different to a DJ trying to get booked in the club. If you are serious about your DJ business, then defining your purpose will let you measure how successful you are and give you something to aim for.

Create value

After defining your purpose you should think about why someone should follow your page. Would you follow someone just to get invited to events and see gig flyers each week? Creating value for your fans is how you build real support. Try a 50 / 50 split between posting promotional and inspirational content so you're not bombarding people with self promo.

Content doesn’t have to be expensive or hard either! Here are some examples of what you could be creating:

• Mixtapes! These should be your bread and butter.
• Sharing mixes from other DJs you like / respect. People love commentary and curation and you want to be an opinion leader!
• Articles and insights (top 10 bangers, opinion pieces on music/tech/DJ culture, production tips etc.)
• photos! (past events, studio shots, old flyers for #TBT etc.)
• Videos (video wrap ups from past events, short performances, studio selfies etc.)
• DJ Edits, remixes or your own productions.

Quality is more important than quantity, but at the same time regular activity is also important in maintaining an online presence. An easy way to manage the need for regular content while keeping the quality is to bring the same content to life in a few different ways. For example, if you make a new mixtape, you could also have a short video of you making it, you could have a blog post about the mix with an embedded player and you could have the mix itself - that’s three pieces of content for the price of one and will also let you target fans who engage with different media formats (articles, videos, music).

Make sure to keep an eye on what works and what doesn’t so you’re relevant. If you’re a radio DJ and no-one is into your photo of the studio before you play each week, maybe think about changing your tactics. Keep doing what works and adjust what doesn’t until you get it right.

Cross-promote

Make sure that social media isn’t your only promotional activity. You should be using every tool you can to build your brand as a DJ. Social media exists to amplify this and help, but it’s not the replacement.

Make sure your social profiles are easy to find. This means choosing a name that people will find (facebook.com/djmickstape rather than facebook.com/djmickstapeworldsgreatestdj), filling out your “about section” on your page and making sure you have clear links and “follow me at…” calls to action from your gig flyers, any online/physical posters and other websites.

You will also want to try and work with any other partners you have to increase your visibility. If you play at a club each week, ask them to share your mixes if you are posting these if they manage their own pages. Ask to do guest mixes for local businesses also and ask other local DJs if they want to make videos with you. Bring your team up with you, it’s way easier!

You might want to start building an email database as well, which will give you another avenue to drive actions such as RSVP for parties, buy tickets, buy new tracks, download mixes etc. with leads acquired on Facebook. You can use services such as Mailchimp to do this which have both free and paid for levels of service.

Talk with your fans not at them.

The best thing about social media for brands and businesses is that it lets you be human. As a DJ you have the advantage of being slightly cooler than corporate enterprises, but you still have to make sure you’re talking with your audience and participating rather than just shouting at them.

Be nice. No-one likes a dickhead. Be respectful of negative opinions (as long as they aren’t offensive) and healthy criticism. Don’t feed trolls, they have a huge appetite. Also be careful about your own opinions...

You should also respond to everyone. Social media is a conversation and making yourself available is a great way to connect with your fans.

Don’t overthink it.

Lastly and maybe ironically after reading this whole article, the best advice is to not overthink it. Usually when you think something is a good idea it is a good idea. If your gut tells you it’s probably not the best idea, it’s probably not. There are a million experts in social media and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the “best practice” and rules. While there are some principles to understand it’s all about just being there and being interesting / entertaining.

Try not to “do social media”, try to be a DJ first and foremost. If you get that right, the rest should fall into place a lot easier.

Sam Stokes

WHAT MAKES A GREAT DJ? PART 3

SERGE

The Clone boss might be the shyest and most polite DJ you know, but he is also one of the most versatile and uncompromising selectors working today.

If you are a DJ and you want to educate people, you should have become a teacher. I always find that such nonsense. What makes a great DJ is to share your enthusiasm for tracks that you love, play tunes that you love, to share them with your friends… but not to educate a crowd.

“IF YOU ARE A DJ AND YOU WANT TO EDUCATE PEOPLE, YOU SHOULD HAVE BECOME A TEACHER.”

A DJ for me is someone who plays great music and who sets the atmosphere of a night, who is a slave to the location and the event and most of all to the crowd. However, it’s not a submissive role – probably the opposite. I see it as a strange conflicting role. You need to please and entertain the crowd in some way, to make them listen and dance to your music, but in your own way without losing your own style, taste and aesthetics, and do it with creativity, fantasy, a certain character that comes unique with each person.

Each DJ is different, has a different character, so I would never say, like DJ Harvey said, that a DJ must be an entertainer, because that is simply not correct. Each DJ makes his own role fit to his character, his taste and feel for aesthetics and the crowd that he or she wants to play for. And even though, often, the most extrovert and outgoing characters are the most popular DJs, I don’t think they are automatically the best DJs. That stardom and pop star thing became more important in the recent decade, however we shouldn’t mix up popularity with DJ quality or skills. And neither should we do it the other way around. You can play the coolest records all the time, but how much worth are you as a DJ if you clean out the dancefloor gig after gig? It can happen, it does happen, but I don’t see this as skills or an accomplishment, even while playing the best tunes on the planet. However, you also should have the balls to just clean the dancefloor and say fuck it… and try to prove you’re right and stick to your own aesthetics and taste, and sometimes just accept you’re at the wrong location at the wrong moment!

DJing has changed, of course. It has become a business, with business rules. More and more agents and managers know how things work and how they can launch a career. Many DJs are true social media heroes and spend more time on Facebook and Twitter than digging for tunes or recording tracks. However there is also a growing educated and smart crowd, thanks to that same internet, that is open to the new and the different, and who don’t need instant entertainment.

I think reading the room is probably the most difficult and most important thing, unless you just play the same floor fillers every set and just don’t care. But even then, you somehow need to know when to play what tune, and not to ruin certain tunes by playing them at the wrong moment when they have hardly any effectiveness. Certain tunes are so popular they always work, but maybe even more important are the goosebump tracks or the special ones that otherwise would clean out the dance floor when you play them at the wrong moment.

Sorry to sound like an old fart, but I think DJing is easier these days. I wouldn’t say the standard is higher now or back then, but you can easily become a working DJ when you know how to produce some popular tunes and let your manager sort you out with some gigs and just play tunes for one or two hours with the sync button or from your computer with Ableton. That’s something different then playing a full night by yourself – vinyl only, of course – for a mixed crowd, going from disco to pop to house to whatever, pleasing the dancefloor and the club owner.

“THE CLUB OWNER CAME UP TO ME QUITE OFTEN WHEN I PLAYED TOO MUCH HOUSE... TOO MUCH HOUSE WASN'T GOOD FOR THE BAR TURNOVER, SO HE GAVE ME THAT LOOK”

An all-nighter was a standard thing 20 to 30 years ago – there was usually no line-up announced. Back then I remember the club owner came up to me quite often when I played too much house… too much house wasn’t good for the bar turnover, so he gave me that look that I had to make sure they’d sell some beer. Actually, that stopped at some point around ’91 or ’92 when he found out he could make money by selling pills too [laughs]. From there on, it was house music all night long!

I’d say it’s easier to be considered a good DJ nowadays. Maybe my view is a bit biased, but here’s an example: I’m playing a decent set and building towards the headliner who’s on after me, so I play a last couple of tunes that slow down a bit as I don’t think it’s always nice to end with peak time bangers when the headliner is about to begin. All of a sudden, when I mix in that last tune, the crowd goes wild. I look up, all surprised. That tune wasn’t a hands-in-the-air tune, but it turned out the headliner stepped on the stage, and by just seeing him they all started cheering and shouting. Other problems come along with being famous, I guess.

I never really thought about my own approach to DJing, but I’m a music lover and record collector with a rather introvert character, so I didn’t start DJing to entertain or be in the spotlight, but just because I really loved the music and because I wanted to hear specific tunes and share that. So that’s basically what I still do.

I think I always have a certain goal I want to achieve, like playing certain tracks and making them work, but I guess that’s more or less it. It is actually very intuitive: it’s not that I try to manipulate the crowd, but I just try to make some kind of connection by playing tunes I like and hopefully the room likes them as well. I don’t know. It probably sounds a bit pretentious, but I don’t like to randomly just drop some tunes as I need some direction and something to work towards. I guess that’s also the reason why I often start slowly and feel the vibe and then slowly go towards where I want to go. Sometimes I don’t succeed and there is very little connection and I simply don’t reach my goal. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad night – sometimes the crowd leads me somewhere unexpected, and maybe that’s even nicer.

KRYSKO

The definitive, career-long resident DJ who has more skills than many superstars and consistently proves his worth at The Warehouse Project as well as many other clubs and festivals around Europe. Now also a radio jock on KMAH.

In the traditional sense, the resident has a completely different relationship with the crowd than a headliner. Once a good resident has established themselves with a crowd at a particular night, it’s like ordering a favourite dish from a takeaway: you’re happy with it, you know it’ll never let you down, you’re comfortable knowing it’s always there, but the headliner is when you try something different. Sometimes it works, sometimes you’re let down.

“AS A RESIDENT, YOU’RE THERE TO INITIALLY EASE THE CROWD IN AND TO LEAVE THE HEADLINER AT A POINT WHERE THEY CAN DO WHAT THEY WANT, WITH A CROWD THAT'S PRIMED FOR IT”

If a resident is warming up, it goes without saying that you’re there to initially ease the crowd in and to leave the headliner at a point where they can do what they want, with a crowd that’s primed for it. Then it’s up to them. That’s a more traditional view of a resident and headliner, though – nowadays many nights have residents and guests who are equally matched in terms of reputation and following, and that gives a much more dynamic feel to a night. When nobody is the ‘superstar’ there’s no differential.

For me, the smaller the room, the more reward you get from reading it and then in turn getting it right. It’s the thing of ‘looking into the whites of the eyes’: you can really lock into smaller rooms then gauge from them where you can take it. I think larger crowds are happy to be dictated to, whereas if the environment is more cosy you’re able to take in the general feeling of where they want to be led.

The guiding principles of a DJ should be that of willingness to adapt, by having a wide enough knowledge of their music to be able to do this but still remaining within the music they love. The huge spectrum of new music available within genres nowadays, alongside the back catalogues, means there’s no reason this can’t be done. I mean, how do you even know ‘what crowds want to hear’? they don’t fill in a questionnaire at the door. I think you have to be confident enough to give them credit that they will be open to what you do.

What makes a great DJ is the ability to make it look easy, and I mean truly easy. I completely understand the fact it’s not brain surgery, but in this age where countless tools are at the disposal of people who want to go out and DJ, the medium is often made a focus over the art. A truly great DJ exudes effortlessness when they play, whether that be crossing different genres, properly managing the system they are playing on, knowing its limits or generally understanding the room very quickly. The technical thing for me comes way down the list.

I couldn’t give a shit if a DJ drops a mix every now and again or hardly mixes at all. It’s about creating your own environment for the time you’re on and doing it in a way that works for that time and place.

Kristan Caryl

WHAT MAKES A GREAT DJ? PART 2

DAVE CLARKE

One of the most enduring techno and electro specialists on the planet, Dave Clarke pulls zero punches here, much like when he’s in the club.

A great DJ is someone who only cares about the music, not the ego, not the entourage, not the drugs, simple. To have your own sound and follow that, to not change for fashion but to create anti-fashion in a way, to have a heart and follow that. Aiming to please is the worst thing that has happened to DJs as much as politicians – by doing that you only represent your desire to have power and discard all integrity. The middle ground is a bullshit place, a place of emptiness and only self-interest, a place for reptilian chameleons that change colour to suit the environment so they don’t stand out and look non-threatening.

“GOOD DJS DO NOT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ANYTHING EXCEPT PRINCIPLES – THEY ARE THE ONES I RESPECT. WHETHER I LIKE THEIR MUSIC OR NOT IS IMMATERIAL IN THIS REGARD.”

The art hasn’t changed but the perception of it has. Those that can do it have adapted with new skill sets made available by technology, but the democratisation has lowered the entry tariff. Then add the fact that real reportage of fakery is almost non existent – it means the ‘art’ is perceived to be easy, as throwaway.

I never really read the room. I just come in and play music I like, but then I ride on the mood of the room.

Both technique and selection are paramount. A lot of DJs have got lazy and are more interested in showcasing their entourage and waving their hands in the air like egocentric, psychologically damaged teenagers.

You use what you will, you create with what you want and you are an artist –the moment you worry about others in this regard you are a shadow, an empty vessel. Some DJs copy the exact setup of others, when not using decks, and create a pastiche, a weak version of a photocopy. Good DJs do not give a shit about anything except principles – they are the ones I respect. Whether I like their music or not is immaterial in this regard.

The EDM guys present themselves as clowns, argue who is spending the most on pyro displays and the crowds sing along with Celine Dion. Utter shite. Complete denigration of dance music as we know it – no disrespect to Celine. Fame these days buys you more hype than your ability, even when skill is little or non existent. There are only a few really famous DJs that still can pump it, bring balls of energy and challenge music, otherwise it is just a puff of fart inflated by a PR machine fed by money.

Residents, the unsung hero of the whole scene, are completely put aside by the ever-expanding festival scene. They used to be the tape ops of their day, low paid and a few lucky enough to start headlining. Now very few of them have the same roads available to them. The art of the resident is to understand the club and the DJ after them and build, not suck the air out of the room before the headliner comes along. A good resident should be celebrated – it is the salad before the main course that makes you hungry, it isn’t an 800 gram steak cooked until cremated then along comes some delicate sea bass, if you catch my drift?

Some coke addicted managers, they try to do the Napoleonic divide and conquer, and when certain DJs hide behind this I lose all respect for them as an artist. To me they become a weak piss stain devoid of backbone. Also, if a DJ tries to dictate how you should play your last ten minutes then that is a big disrespect. When a DJ asks me how they should finish before me I say “as you please”. This is their time. Respect others’ art.

For me, John Peel is the best DJ as he played from his heart all the time. Jeff Mills was a big inspiration for me in the techno club scene. For house that would be Derrick Carter or DJ Heather. For hip-hop that would be Red Alert or Kool DJ Herc. For recent radio I would say Jarvis Cocker. For absolute do-not-give-a-shit and follow your own beliefs I would say Andrew Weatherall. I love the sound of lots of DJs. Did I mention Laurent Garnier? I could go on and on.

MOSCA

He’s done it on Radio 1, he’s done it on main stages at festivals around the world, he’s done it in dark, dank basements…

“THE 'TRUE ART' OF THE DJ IS A MEANINGLESS CONSTRUCT INVENTED BY THE MEDIA AND THE LIMITS OF OUR LANGUAGE, IF YOU DON'T MIND ME SAYING. BUT IT'S STILL FUN TO TALK ABOUT.”

Nobody really knows the answer to what makes a great DJ. Aim to please? Of course. But that doesn’t mean the pleasure has to happen right there and then. It’s a subjective thing and there are always complications. The answer comes down to your mood at the time, and of course you have different moods, different levels of tiredness or energy or drunkenness, whether you’re with a group of people, whether they’re your friends or not, whether you’re on your ones.

Some sets are great to hear and watch by yourself in the crowd – you can really get lost in them. Other sets or types of music are more social. Watching dancehall by yourself is shit, although generally the crowd might be a bit more open to talking to a stranger. Sometimes I’ve just been in the mood for, I dunno, some real straight 4×4 house and techno, blended long and fluid and seamless – other times I think that’s boring as hell. The ‘true art’ of the DJ is a meaningless construct invented by the media and the limits of our language, if you don’t mind me saying. But it’s still fun to talk about.

I’m not sure the technical aspect has changed that much. Scratch DJs are out of fashion for the moment I guess, but that’ll come around again. In fact that’s one thing that’s surprised me with the whole ‘vinyl is cool again’ thing. I guess because it takes fuckloads of practice and talent rather than just buying records that are recommended to you. End of the day, DJing is patching sounds together in a way that’s personal to you, so it’s massively limited. If you were conducting the London Philharmonic at the same time as sculpting some Greek urns or something on two Technics pottery wheels, it wouldn’t be DJing.

But the selection has massively changed. The selection of records open to a DJ in 2015 is mind-bending. And that’s completely for better and for worse. For a raver or podcast fan or whatever, the DJ is still important because they are the filter for all the shit that’s out there, there’s a certain level of trust, blah blah blah… But on the other hand there are so many DJs, it’s almost the same situation again. So there are other filters, like certain nights or certain clubs or certain stations, that do that filtering of DJs for you.

“THE POWER OF A TRACK THAT PEOPLE LITERALLY CAN'T STAY STILL TO SHOULDN'T BE DENIED. IT'S A THING.”

In my eyes, reading the room can be something as little as playing a record that’s going down really well for a little longer, or vice versa. I think looking like you’re enjoying yourself, or at least like you want to be at the club, comes into it to an extent. Making eye contact with people.

I’m kinda jealous of the cunts that obviously love their music, but that music is always what the crowds want to hear, you know? But tastes change, and sometimes after liking a track but then seeing the damage it does on the floor, you then love it. The power of a track that people literally can’t stay still to shouldn’t be denied. It’s a thing. But with the amount of music out there ready to be played, if you can’t find a massive selection of sounds that you love that would suit different types of crowds, you’re in the wrong job.

Kristan Caryl

WHAT MAKES A GREAT DJ? PART 1

MR G

One of the most selective DJs out there when it comes to the gigs he plays, it all stems from Colin McBean’s huge passion for what he does and how he does it.

For me, DJs have gotten worse. I think there’s way too much attention on tech and fucking around with others’ beats instead of focusing on the crowd and system. Let the music play!

I long to hear the DJ take a left turn because he believes in a track and wants to share it with you and struggles to get it into the mix. Then, when they finally gets there, what will it be? Will the crowd get it, was it worth the effort? It’s not about perfect, seamless, soulless mixing for me. If you can’t feel it, it may as well be a computer.

“EVEN IF YOUR MIXING AIN’T TIGHT, I'M STILL GETTING DOWN AND LOVING IT IF THE TUNE’S BAD. A BAD TUNE’S ABAAAD TUNE, NO?”

Hey, if a set works, why not play it often? Work the records that need attention: how else do we get familiar and grow to love tunes? For me, music selection is king all day long. Even if your mixing ain’t tight, I’m still getting down and loving it if the tune’s bad. A bad tune’s a baaad tune, no?

For me, Jeff Mills is my master. Simply sublime. Although Lil Louis is a dangerous DJ when on point – trus mi, he takes risks.

Great technique means nothing if your selection ain’t on point, or at least personal. I see this a lot. I only wanna hear great music. For me it’s best when DJs play personal. Only ever play music you love or feel, or it will be a tough, short journey. If you love it they will feel that love in the mix. You should be booked on what you play, not on what the crowd want to hear. It’s like being given chicken cause you love it and never tasting lobster to compare.

DJing is harder on loadsa levels these days. Way too much music competition and choice. Are the decks set properly, rotary or not? Are the monitors placed right? Valve or digi system? Is it tuned to your sound? Bass or no bass? Enough plug sockets? Has the person before maximised their digital sound so your wax now sounds poor? Have you got the right agent, who gets you and is maybe a fan? Are you just a cash cow? How can we talk about standards and sync in the same breath?

As for me, I love the music what I play. It touches me each time I play. I want to show you that so you understand or feel where I’m at and where I want to take you. What makes me me is I love to find the tunes folk missed, be open minded and not waste time hating on others.

There will always be those who do their thing a little way different and be ahead of the pack, always beavering away at their art, as there will be those who come and go. I see a good few famous folk who get away with a lot more than someone learning their art. There should be a noticeable difference between the ‘famous’ and ‘other’ DJs, otherwise why would you be famous?

SPENCER PARKER

A DJ first and foremost, Work Them Records boss Spencer Parker’s skills in the booth speak for themselves.

Put very simply, great records make a great DJ. The passion to find them, the knowledge to know how to program them and showcase them in the best way possible, and the technical skills to put them together imaginatively, for the greatest end result.

There are myriad different ways to do it. Personally, speaking for myself and the DJs I like to listen to, the true art of the DJ should be a combination of education and amazement. These two combine to please people. If you can’t educate and amaze, while at the same time pleasing people, you’re doing it wrong. All the best DJs do this, from Larry Levan to Joe Claussell to Mr Ties to Harvey to Anthony Parasole to Ryan Elliott. They amaze me and educate me, and that combination is what pleases me, personally, the most.

“THE COST OF BEING ABLE TO BECOME A DJ - AND AMOUNT OF SKILLS NEEDED - ARE NOW SO LOW THAT PRETTY MUCH ANYONE CAN DO IT”

If you want to just hear the hits knocked out by some guy with a laptop, who you’d never heard of last year but has been booked because he had a big record on a hype label, there are a plethora of them you can choose from, but that’s not my personal preference.

I don’t think things were better in the old days and I don’t think things are perfect now. There are upsides and downsides to both. I do think that there is one huge factor that has affected DJing and that is the cost of being able to become a DJ. That cost – and amount of skills needed – are now so low that pretty much anyone can do it. Which is a good and a bad thing. And when I say the cost, I mean in terms of time invested as well as money. A few years back, to DJ, you would have to save your money and buy two decks, an amp, speakers, a mixer and so on. This alone could maybe cost you €1,500 or so, often more. You had to have these things at home – or have access to them at least – because you had to practise your mixing so you wouldn’t get laughed out of the club, if someone ever let you play. You also had to invest time and money into travelling to wherever you local record shop was and buying records (€10 per record!) – no free downloads in the pre-internet age, so that could be a huge expense as well. You also had to invest time into learning how to mix two records together – no sync, no laptop, just endless trial and error and eventually, after a lot of practice, hopefully getting the hang of it.

What this pretty damn large expense of time and money would do was weed out a lot of the people who weren’t truly committed or didn’t have a real passion for it. The kids who just wanted to do it to seem cool would soon bow out when they realised the time they’d have to invest or understand that instead of buying a new car, they’d be taking the bus because they spent all their money on their decks and weekly record bill.

“DJS SHOULD PLAY WHAT THE FUCK THEY LOVE, OR GIVE THE FUCK UP!”

I think what we have now is a lot of people approaching DJing, but maybe not so many with the same amount of passion and drive. Or rather, the ones with passion and drive are harder to hear above the noise of the pretenders, and I think this is a shame because there are definitely new, younger DJs out there that have taste and style and passion, and it’s very hard for them to be heard, precisely because there is so much ‘noise’ made by the thousands that just buy a laptop, torrent some tracks, pop on some Beats By Dre headphones and want to be ‘a DJ’ for a couple of summers…

Within reason, the only people that really care about technique are other DJs. I would much rather hear two hours of amazing music and some slightly off beat0matching than two hours of generic tech-house perfectly blended. And I think most people that go out to dance in clubs feel the same. I can remember going to see people like the Body and Soul guys DJ in NYC and I would have no idea if they were playing a record, an acetate, a CD or a reel-to-reel, because you couldn’t even see the booth, and I don’t think myself or anyone else on the dancefloor really cared either.

DJs should play what the fuck they love, or give the fuck up! I know for a solid gold fact that there are records out there, at this very time, which I hate, that are the biggest hype tracks of the moment and that would definitely get a big reaction if I were to play them. But I never play them. The next DJ can play those records and he or she can get all the glory. And thats’s fine by me. I’m there to play the records I adore, otherwise what’s the point?

I believe the technical standard of DJing is lower and that this has happened due to advances in technology. It’s always gonna be more difficult to mix two records on a rotary mixer and floating turntables than it is to guide the mouse across two synced tracks in Traktor. That’s not a judgement, that’s just a fact. I’m not sure if it’s easier or harder to be a good DJ now, but I think that a lot of people who go to hear DJs maybe have less knowledge of what makes a good DJ than people 20 years ago did, so maybe it’s easier to impress now than it was in the past?

What turns me off DJs is a lack of passion (which I find unforgivable) and a lack of awareness of what a fortunate position they’re in. Personally, I just try to make sure I’m totally prepared to do everything I can to give people a great night out. Whether that’s obsessively record shopping all week or doing special edits of certain records or producing my own records especially for my sets or making sure I have two USBs in case one fails, the list goes on. It’s an all-consuming passion to play the very best I can, on any given night. I basically do give a fuck!

Kristan Caryl 

Ell-Er - Digital Liquid (Sin Sin Remix)

Gene Karz - Fasciante (Sin Sin Remix)

Sin Sin

The new Sin Sin project returns to techno-roots by bringing back the atmosphere, density of sound and variety to techno music, combined own specific trademark-elements to form his definition of a genre, which claims to be nothing less than the future - techno in its purest shape.

Sinclair aka Sin Sin began his career in music by DJing in several well-known national nightclubs in Germany back in 1999. For several years he held a residency at the Fusion Club, one of Germany's most prestigeous underground techno-locations, where he had countless opportunities to play along the sides of most major international techno-acts of the time. Along with another Fusion Club resident, Sinclair founded the vinyl-label "Statiq Records" in 2002 on which he brought out numerous techno-releases, before he entered the hardtechno-scene with his own second imprint "Plug & Play Records", subsequently leading to various hardtechno-gigs abroad during the following years, including touring three times to Colombia and Venezuela and appearing on important labels of the hardtechno-genre. With his new Sin Sin project, Sinclair returns to his techno-roots by bringing back the atmosphere, density of sound and variety to techno music, combined with his own specific trademark-elements to form his definition of a genre, which claims to be nothing less than the future - techno in its purest shape.

Sin Sin - Outperforming (Original Mix)

Sin Sin - Cold Trace (Original Mix)