When you know what you like and what you want and you're able to nudge things in the right direction, that's more profitable than ever, because there's so much information out there. Everything's saturated. Tastemaker is probably the most overused word, but I still think it's important.

A-Trak

Categorized in : Thinking Want Important

That's what a DJ is at the end of the day - someone who leads where the music goes. The only thing that's changed is that in America, people have woken up in the last few years and realized it.

america people years

I love disco and we sample it a lot for Duck Sauce. For me, that sound is kind of a new manifestation.

sauce ducks sound

I was a bit of an outsider in the hip-hop world because I was a scratch kid and people weren't necessarily trying to hear that all the time.

hip-hop kids people

It's a good feeling to have something to stand for in any part of your life. It's like personal integrity.

feelings integrity

A few guys will get up there with turntables as purists, to play... by A-Trak

A few guys will get up there with turntables as purists, to play vinyl or whatever.

vinyl guy play

What's amazing about a DJ set is when you're able to re-appropriate a song or give purpose to a song that people didn't really think it was supposed to have. Give it this sort of hidden power by playing it before this song and after that one. That it fits into this logic and it goes farther than you thought it could go.

song people thinking

There's a ton of amazing music that's not getting heard. by A-Trak

There's a ton of amazing music that's not getting heard.

amazing-music heard

One thing that I learned in recent years from working more with other people is this idea that part of a producer's job is to make people comfortable and confident.

people

I like getting feedback from people who show a lot of potential, and it's exciting to witness to new talents developing and bourgeoning. I always try to stay around the newest stuff, I don't like to stay with something that's kind of old or approaching it.

talent trying people

I'm one of the few DJs who uses turntables. I'm the only DJ that'... by A-Trak

I'm one of the few DJs who uses turntables. I'm the only DJ that's scratching.

djs turntables use

It's always important to me to play something other DJs aren't pl... by A-Trak

It's always important to me to play something other DJs aren't playing.

djs important play

I've talked to people who say that their music and their creative work is a much needed and appreciated escape, where they don't have to think about the state of the world; they're not even thinking about themselves so much. They're not trying to express their own experiences of that day or relationship strife or anything.

creative people thinking

When I get up I still check the rap blogs before I check any kind... by A-Trak

When I get up I still check the rap blogs before I check any kind of dance stuff.

rap kind stuff

There's a lot of producers that are much more technical or gear-skilled than I am. But I have a pure idea of what I like and where I want to go and I follow that.

gears want ideas

I think that's becoming the key to where the whole idea of art and culture are going nowadays anyway, is the idea of curation. Knowing what you like. That's sort of the future right now. Molding something, whether it be a roster on a label, or your blog, or a song, or your DJ set.

song art thinking

The essential component of being a DJ is setting the mood; it's playing to the context. So that if you're not able to adapt from one context to another, then you're not a DJ.

mood

At the end of the day, Fool's Gold is a label that, when I hear something I like, I try to grab it for the label. There's a ton of great music coming out.

the-end-of-the-day gold trying

There are producers that have been my friends for many years that I'm still a big fan of, from Boyz Noize to solo acts. Justice. It really varies. All the way to like...sometimes I'll just find some dude out of Chicago that makes a great house song. I'm feeling a lot of the deep house stuff, Jamie Jones.

justice song years

My ears are open to all sorts of stuff. I appreciate some of the big electro house guys.I love their music but I also like a lot of the stuff coming out of the U.K. Future garage stuff. A lot of stuff like that.

appreciate guy house

Traditionally, with a DJ set, you just go hear DJ that has a good reputation and let the DJ take you somewhere. It was up to the DJ what he wanted to play. Typically in dance music, people didn't know most of the songs a DJ played.

play song people