The Dj Essay Essay Example

The Dj Essay Paper The Dj Essay, Research Paper The DJ About fifteen years ago a culture was born. In Europe a new type of music was being created. Something new, something fresh. A music fueled by throbbing beats over rattling bass. This is electronic music. The mastermind behind this whole up and coming culture was and is the DJ. In the past five years have become more and more popular everyday. Some people who are not aware of this music or this culture might argue that being a DJ is not a serious profession for various reasons. Throughout this paper I will prove these notions false. As support I will provide the history of the DJ, what exactly it is, insight from various DJ’s and much more. It all began about fifteen years ago. In towns in Europe people started throwing secret parties, small parties more of a social event to party and have fun. At these parties there would DJ’s spinning early electronic sounds and dancing. Not too long after that word started to spread and more and more people wanted to â€Å"party†. So the people throwing these parties sought out bigger places to have these parties that could accommodate more people. We will write a custom essay sample on The Dj Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Dj Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Dj Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It grew so fast that secret information phone lines were created to prevent problems with the authorities. Over the next few years more and more people grew to love these parties for the music and the overall atmosphere. Also more and more electronic artists started to surface. As popular as these events were the truth is without the DJ none of it would have been possible. In the early nineties this growing underground movement started to form slowly in the United States and other countries. These parties soon took on the name of â€Å"raves†. In Europe these raves grew constantly. Soon there were raves being thrown with five to ten thousand people in attendance. Soon thereafter we started to see not only the growth of a music and culture but also a new industry. There started to be more and more electronic artists surfacing everyday. The technology increased very fast every year more new equipment allowed new creative boundaries to be broken. Soon the DJ slowly started to become more of the focal point of these â€Å"raves†. DJ’s started to be the attractions of these raves instead of just a place to have fun. The DJ’s started to make names for themselves along with this came different styles of DJing. One of the first styles of electronic music created was house music. This music quickly moved into nightclubs and raves. Soon thereafter many different styles of electronic music were born. Such as, break beat, drum and bass, hard house, trance, progressive trance, big beat, and happy hardcore(www. clubdance. com). DJ’s started to specialize in certain types of electronic music. Some started to consider themselves not just as DJ’s but also artists. The music became more about expression and unity. In a recent documentary drum and bass artist Roni Size says(Better Living Through Circuitry) â€Å" When I step behind the tables at a party it’s more than just playing tracks for a group of people. It’s like my goal to take these people to a place they have not been before. To create a mix that is so unique and intense that takes the audience and puts them all into a new place together. It’s an art form! † As you can see by this statement these DJ’s take their jobs seriously. Soon DJ’s started to not only put out many mix cd’s but also they started producing their own tracks. I think that this was a great breakthrough in this type of music. Over the past few years some of the best electronic albums put out have been by DJ’s. DJ’s soon started to go on their own tours, playing venues that rock bands play at. They were not only playing at these venues but also selling them out at the same time. Perfect evidence of this comes from a book The Ambient Century, â€Å" Dance music exploded into a phenomenon that seemed to have no end. As the music mutated, new forms were thrown up by the year. Ambient House and Ambient Techno were mind balming responses to the intensity of the club culture. Trip-hop and Drum and Bass were UK black variations of what was originally an innovation by black Americans. Rock music absorbed House and Techno, and DJ’s and electronicists began to tour and act like rock stars. As one century tipped into another, dance music was still a primary source of interest and creativity as Trance, a futuristic blend of technology and House and Techno, became a chart-topping, globe girdling sensation†( Prendergast pg 367). Another great more specific example of this is Paul Oakenfold as written in Last night a DJ saved my life, â€Å" When Paul Oakenfold plays records in a club, every person on the dance floor will be facing him. Just like they’d face a rock band on a stage. There’s not much to see: a baseball cap maybe, a studious face leaning into a pair of headphones, some minimal arm movements as he slides in another flawless mix. Occasionally he might throw his hands up in excitement, smile out in response to a particularly grand track, or share a wink with some energetic fan, and when he does, there’ll be a sea of hands aloft, a breakout of waving and grinning, an ocean of smiling dancers mirroring his every gesture. For he is a superstar†( Brewster pg 384). Along with these tours came annual festivals. Huge festivals every year with sometimes over a hundred thousand people in attendance. Some of these are Love Parade and Gatecrasher( www. loveparade. com)( www. gatecrasher. com). Just like any music industry this one soon started having conventions. The biggest one is the Winter Music Conference( www. wmcon. com). This usually includes anybody and everybody in electronic music. A three day long festival including a showcase of the new gear and equipment and the best talent in the music performing. In Europe now DJ’s are becoming bigger than rock stars. They walk down the street and people flock. DJ’s like this are Fatboy Slim, Paul Oakenfold, Carl Cox and John Digweed( www. yahoo. com). So now that you have a brief background on the history of DJ’s you might wonder what different types of jobs are available out there for DJ’s. Well first of all there is the kind of DJing I have been mainly focusing on that is the rave DJ. There are also many opportunities for work these days in night clubs all over the world. The night club industry now is becoming a very large industry. Some are saying even more so that the days of Studio Fifty-Four. Also there are a lot of jobs as mobile DJ’s. These DJ’s usually work for a company. These companies do parties, weddings, and all sorts of special events. On a cruise I went on last summer I met a mobile DJ that works out of Houston. He said, â€Å"Even though I have a degree in Communications I cant beat the amount of available work and the money of being a DJ. I can pull in 60,000 to 70,000 a year if I work hard. † This alone shows how in need the world is of DJ’s. So now that you have a good idea of the history of DJ’s and what jobs are available you might be wondering what it takes to be a good DJ. Well this question all depends on whom you ask. So I have collaborated different idea of what a good DJ is. First of all a good DJ has to know the music he is spinning. Not only does he have to know it like the back of his hand but also they have to have a love for the music. Without the love and passion for this job then it changes from an art form to just playing music. A good DJ has to have knowledge of the crowd and how to work them into frenzy. Many different little skills are all combined together to make a great DJ. DJ Tony Humphries who has worked professionally since 1977 and has been a major influence on his peers in New York City, speaks from an underground perspective on a good DJ: â€Å" DJ’s have to understand the concept of programming. How to break a record. How to play with records, repeat intros, lengthen breaks, endings†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦There is an art to programming your set†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. The DJ who plays all his hottest records in a row is not doing his job right. You can’t play all your best material all at once because you want to save some of it for later in the evening. The DJ does not into that power record the same way the crowd does. You are supposed to be separate from the crowd. You’re supposed to be into exposing them to new material. So, what you do is play a track, followed by something new and then you back it up with something they know and like. It’s like a train ride. The crowd becomes trustworthy that you will come back with something they like. It’s the fifteen-minute game. About every third song, you give them a well known song. After one hour, the crowd has been exposed to ten new records. That way, you please yourself and the crowd. Larry Levan was great at this. The most important thing to remember is that musical content, how you program, is more important than actual mixing skills sometimes†( Fikentscher p38). As you can see there are many different things that a DJ has to know. Another view of a good DJ was taken from a book called Last night a DJ saved my life, â€Å" At its most basic DJing is the act of presenting a series of records for an audience’s enjoyment. So at the simplest level a DJ is a presenter. This is what radio DJ’s do, they introduce music. However the club DJ has largely abandoned this role for something more musically creative. To become a good DJ you have to develop the hunger. You have to search for new records with the insane zeal of a gold rush prospector digging in a blizzard. The essence of the DJ’s craft is selecting which records to play and in what order. A great DJ should be able to move a crowd on the most primitive equipment. More than anything else, it’s how sensitively a DJ can interact with a crowd. A good DJ isn’t just stringing records together, he’s controlling the relationship between some music and hundreds of people. A good DJ is always looking at the crowd, seeing what they like, seeing whether it’s working or not; communicating with them, smiling at them. And a bad DJ is always looking down at the decks and just doing whatever they practiced in their bedroom†( Brewster pg 9). As you can see it’s not as easy as it might first appear a lot of time and dedication to gain the knowledge.

Business Thank You Letter How To

Business Thank You Letter How To Updated November, 2014 - Thanks to Leslie Harpold for this 6-step process, published in TMN, Oct.1, 2003. Leslie passed away in 2006. I’ve long admired her writing, and am sad to see it disappearing from the Internet, as her sites have not been renewed after her death. Leslie’s directions on writing the perfect thank you letter are flawless, and I want to help keep her work published, so here is her essay. I made tiny tweaks to match her instructions to business use. There is a six-point formula to the proper thank-you: Learn it, know it, memorize it – and it will never fail you. Having trouble finding the right words to thank your client for the contract or your colleague for the assistance? Should you even bother? Oh, yes, you should. Somewhere in between mom making us sit down with our Disney Stationary and shooting off an email, we’ve lost touch with the concept of simple thank you notes. Now that we’re business professionals, sometimes an email just won’t do, and more is expected than scratching out â€Å"Thanks for the help, you rock!† Grandma might not say anything to you, but trust me: She and her friends are probably at this very moment sighing over how business people today just don’t have manners. As extra motivation, thank you notes improve the frequency and quality of the help and good will you receive. People like being appreciated, and if they feel you actually notice the nice things they do for you, they’re more likely to give an encore performance. Writing a thank you is easier than you remember. Buy good quality plain note cards or plain postcards (yes, postcards are perfectly acceptable), and correct postage. Avoid the pre-inscribed ‘Thank you!’ cards in loopy script, as there are times you’ll want to write notes where that aesthetic feels wrong. Tip: Stay away from full-size sheets- note cards are best, as your message will be brief, and would look lost swimming around on a page that large. Use your printer to customize your plain paper with your name and address, for a more formal look, if you don’t want to invest in personalized business stationary. 1. Greet the Giver Dear David: That’s the easy part, but you’d be surprised how many people forget it. Dale Carnegie taught us people love to hear their own names and Direct Marketing is sure we also love to read them in ink. That’s right, ink. Blue-black is always the number-one choice, but black will suffice in a pinch. Don’t let a whimsical marker color be the most stunning part of your note: instead let the words sing without the amplification of rainbow hues. Even if your handwriting is poor, you should still hand-write your notes. 2. Express Your Gratitude Thank you for your help with our corporate community service project. Thank you for your invaluable advice with my department’s annual goals. Thank you for your business. This first paragraph seems like it would be the easiest, but it is actually the most complicated. Beware the just writing trap. You are not â€Å"just writing to say† as in I am just writing to say; that’s stating the obvious.If the giver is reading, clearly you have already written. Therefore use the present-perfect tense. Also, never directly mention money if you are thankful for a donation. â€Å"Thank you for the one hundred dollar donation† could instead be â€Å"Thank you for your generosity.† All cash denominations become â€Å"your generosity† or â€Å"your kindness.† Don’t worry if it sounds too simple; the point of writing the note is to create a simple expression of a heartfelt sentiment. 3. Discuss Use Your donation will add to ABC’s ability to support 1500 meals at the community shelter. Your advice enabled me to see through the obstacles, and clearly outline my expectations for our productivity this year to my team. We will contact everyone in your team and present the health programs available to them. 4. Mention the Past, Allude to the Future It was great to work with you at the fundraiser, and I hope to see you at the community service dinner in May. Your leadership has long guided me, and I continue to learn from your skill mentoring and supporting your team. I’m grateful for our long working relationship, and eager to support this new project for ABC Corporation. 5. Grace Thanks again for your donation. Thanks again for your advice. Thanks again for the opportunity to work with you. It’s not overkill to say thanks again. So, yes, say it. 6. Regards Best regards, Karen Simply wrap it up. Use whatever closing works for you and your business relationship: Kind regards, Yours truly, Sincerely. Then sign your name and you’re done. What’s Not There Any news about your personal or business life. This isn’t the time to boast about your new project, promotion, or bonus. The thank you is exclusively about thanking somebody for their kindness or assistance. While you may want more than anything to show them you amounted to something, this is not the forum. Save that for your annual holiday letter. Now mail it promptly. Even if your business colleagues aren’t of the note-writing variety, be the one who sets the precedent. Thank you note writing is one of the loveliest traditions to have been compromised by the information age, and sending well written thanks is a great opportunity for you to stand out.