With massive headphones on and many dials and buttons in front of me, I feel lost, almost like I’m manning a spaceship. Except, I am at a bar trying my hand at DJ-ing. Now that I found my cue point…what does this knob do? The beats intensify and I can almost imagine a bunch of revellers facing the console dancing to my music. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen. It’s 11 a.m., the bar is empty and I am in the company of Matty Wainwright and Paul T., DJs and trainers from the U.K., currently based out of Bali. Matty is the founder of The DJ Dispensary, and the duo is currently touring India teaching enthusiasts the nitty-gritty of DJ-ing as part of Vivanta by Taj’s new initiative Sound Lab.
The two have been DJs since the late 1990s and have played at various venues. How did the idea of starting The DJ Dispensary come about? “I was working in Abu Dhabi two years ago. I was getting ridiculous requests...For example if I was playing house music, people would come up to me and say could you play Britney Spears,” says Matty looking exasperated. The DJs there have quite a following but their music wasn’t up to the mark. That’s when Matty felt it was time to improve the quality; and teach people the mechanics behind DJ-ing. “They need to know what to play when...like if I play this particular music now, will I ruin the mood,” he adds.
According to Paul, “The DJs might be technically sound and capable of mixing sounds, but if he’s playing at a cocktail lounge where people have gathered after dinner and are sipping wine, and he’s hammering out 125 bpm techno music, it’s not really going to go down well.” He emphasises the need to be more versatile, read the venue and relate to the crowd rather than just playing your favourite tracks.
The three day-DJ retreat in Chennai begins today. Each day will have a group session in the morning, a one-on-one session in the afternoon and third session in the evening. On the third day participants will even get to play their bit to a real audience at Distil.
Well that’s quick! So, are the two tough taskmasters? “Matty is!” laughs Paul. “People are scared when they start out because they don’t know how it works. We prefer having people who know nothing at all than have ones that say ‘Oh we've tried this before’. Those are the ones that are tough to teach,” says Matty.
Though the trainers focus primarily on EDM, while tutoring they usually ask what the guests’ preference is and teach them that as well. And which is the toughest genre to play? “Disco, because its beats are all over the place and are not synchronised,” they say.
After having taught numerous participants, are there any interesting incidents that they can think of? “There was this girl who was working the console for the first time. Matty was teaching her and I was in the middle of an interview when I suddenly heard her play.” In 15 minutes the girl did a fairly good job and Paul was so impressed that he actually had to excuse himself from the interview for a bit just to hear her play! As for Matty, he recalls an episode from Maldives. “This guy came up to us and said he had been dumped couple of times because of his bad taste in music. We shaped him up...We don’t know if he’s got a girl now though,” he laughs.
