This week's DJ Spotlight goes back to Poland!
Don't forget to play Michał's pick for this week's song!
1. Welcome to DJ Spotlight! How did you first discover West Coast Swing, and what drew you to become a West Coast Swing DJ?
I started dancing about 6 years ago, but not with WCS - my first attempt was a little bit of ballroom dance and, let’s call it “dancing 101” classes - I had literally “two left legs” ;) It happened that our dance instructor was also a WCS dancer, and he told us about upcoming workshops - so I went to try something new, and I stayed in WCS until now.
About DJing - during our local party, our dance teachers asked if someone can prepare a playlist for the party - I’ve volunteered and prepared a playlist, but it looked like I was the only one - so I’ve decided to continue creating it on the fly, and discovered that preparing music live is a lot of fun… At my next party, I tried to play some music from the beginning - and I fell in love with that.
2. Give us a glimpse into your musical library! Which styles influence your taste the most?
Well, I’m secretly a metalhead, but… also a big fan of the blues, rock, and other guitar-based music. It’s not very WCS-ish, but from time to time I’m trying to include such songs in my sets (original, or acoustic covers as they are more WCS-friendly). I’m always trying to fit at least one, less-known blues song per set, trying to avoid over-played competition blues (we all know what songs I'm talking about).
Besides that, I’m trying to have a more broad library - I want to be prepared for any circumstances, as slots and audience may vary. Even with the music I don’t like much.
3. Can you share a particularly memorable or interesting experience you've had as a West Coast Swing DJ, and how did you handle it?
I think that the most memorable experience for me was my first event as a part of the DJ team - Baltic Swing.
I was prepared to play the first slot at the pre-party, but I’ve actually played two - unplanned - more. The first one was during the spontaneous outdoor party after the open-air workshops, and the second one was the closing slot of the Sunday party.
During the outdoor party I felt comfortable playing, but I was asked to play the last slot of the party just a few hours before - and I was really scared about that ;) I was a beginner DJ, and still a beginner dancer - so my music library was addressed to an audience more like me.
I struggled if I can do this, but after a conversation with the head DJ and ED (thanks, Wayne!) I started preparing music for this slot. And, it looks like I’ve done good, as it was not my last event as a DJ :)
4. What advice would you give to someone who's just starting out as a West Coast Swing DJ?
Remember, that you are there for the audience. They want to dance, not just to listen to the music that you like.
People will show you if they love your music or not - songs queue is not built like a wall, you can always do some adjustments, even drastic ones.
If people are leaving the dance floor, ask yourself what could be the reason - maybe music is too fast or too slow? Wrong style? Too complicated or too easy songs? Too many unknown songs? Too experimental? Or maybe they are just tired?
You have to adapt, and try to keep the dance floor as crowded as possible.
5. Outside of West Coast Swing DJing, what are some of your other interests or hobbies that help inspire your music selection or style?
As I've mentioned before, I’m really into guitar-based music - from blues to progressive metal.
And I love, from time to time, to actually listen to the music. What does it mean? - I’m not talking about playing Spotify, and for example, cleaning the house.
I’m getting my headphones (or speakers, depending on the day), closing my eyes, and listening to the whole album - song by song, as the artist created it.
If you start to listen to music carefully, you will discover a lot of surprises even in the songs that you know - a new instrument that is playing in the background, some hidden melodies, chord progression, and even musical quotes from other songs. That process may open your mind more than you think about what music is and how it’s built.
Besides that - I’m playing guitar, but my first one was the bass guitar - as a result, the bass line is one of the first things that I’m trying to hear in the songs.
And, a less-known fact about me - I started learning calligraphy a few years ago. It REALLY teaches you what patience is ;)
6. Is there anything else you'd like to share with our audience about yourself or your journey as a West Coast Swing DJ?
Well, for a lot of time, I was very uncomfortable with playing late-night slots as it wasn’t “my” music - and I was always surprised when I got really good reviews about them ;)
Now it’s easier - I’ve expanded my library and got more experience, and started to feel good with such music.
But I think the most surprising slot that I’ve ever played was the one that was supposed to be “blues” - it was a really good experience trying to play a slot that does not sound like a random blues playlist played with shuffle, and I’ve finished with nice, jazzy and swingy playlist, instead of “hard competition blues”.
7. Thanks to knowledgeable people like you, many DJs are able to connect/disconnect seamlessly and get help when something doesn't "sound right". How did you learn to work the audio equipment? And for those who would like to improve their skills and gain confidence when approaching a mixer, how would you recommend they should get started?
Well, I learned it the hard way - by trials and errors ;) Basically - for us, DJs, the most important things are “Where is my cable and where is my volume” - but we don’t care what is between and after the mixing table (as the mixer is one of the first devices on the sound path).
I think a good simulation of what we have live is to try any DAW software (Digital Audio Workstation) - it’s a software used in recording studios (including home ones) and it’s almost a 1:1 copy of analog (mostly, I’ve also worked with full digital one) mixer that we have in our DJ booth.
You can import any sound file into it and start experiments - you may learn the difference between output level and gain level, some basics of equalization, how a compressor works, what is delay/reverb, how the stereo signal is handled, manipulating signal path, muting/soloing, etc.
There are numerous software to try, the most popular are probably Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools. I’m using Waveform Free (as it’s free, but not the easiest one) for my personal purposes, but you can try any trial or free versions (free versions usually have some limits) of the software mentioned before. And - it’s my personal opinion - don’t try Audacity at this point, as it’s powerful but completely not user-friendly ;)
About “what happens after the mixer” - when you’re at an event, you can always ask the volunteer who is responsible for sound to explain the rest of the sound path (after the mixer there could be another mixer that we don’t see, different power amplifiers, etc) - they should know ;) But that part is more straightforward, and usually we don't touch it during the event.
8. Lastly, share with us any upcoming events or projects that you're excited about!
For this year, the only event that is left for me is Warsaw Halloween Swing - that was one of my first events, and I’m always happy to get back there. For the next year - will see, my calendar is not filled yet ;)