I’ve been DJing for 15 years and I take pride in the fact that I can rock a room, get people to move their ass and cheer for their favorite songs, or big moments. I can work a crowd over a mic if I feel the need and if I ever get into trouble during a set I’ve practiced enough in my life that I know how to get out of it. These are skills that I’ve built up over dozens of gigs from more than a dozen years of DJing. There’s also the whole thing of having my own sound, having a reputation, and having people understand who I am as a DJ. These too are things that you achieve over time. Some people, it seems, just get what they want immediately.
Paris Hilton has decided to become a DJ and what better way to debut than to a packed crowd in Brazil, where dancing is a part of life. Forget starting at some clubs in NY, SF, LA, or anywhere else. Move straight to a giant festival, get all the expensive equipment you can and then find songs you like, play them poorly and try to get people to respect your new career choice.So what did we see from Paris? Well she wore an insane costume, put on sequined headphones, played some songs she didn’t mix or master herself and poorly transitioned from one to the other… and then the fun started. In a perfect example of why you don’t debut to a giant crowd and instead practice at home for hours every day until you’re ready for that small club gig, Paris needed help… WITH THE MIXER. A technician came out and had to redial her in. Why? Not sure yet.
The fact that a technician came out at all in the middle of the set and worked on the mixer at all is bad. Sometimes you get a short, sometimes it’s a loose connection in the back, and sometimes it’s just… well it’s that you don’t know what you’re doing.I’m guessing it’s the latter in Paris’ case. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Paris Hilton to be a shitty DJ. I’d have loved to find out that this girl has a natural talent behind the decks, can rock a crowd and get people to dance because of her song choice, skill level or ability. That’s just not what happened here. Instead the audience got an attractive girl in a ridiculous out fit who at times is fist pumping off beat, messing around with the flanger (like I did 15 years ago when I started) and poorly mixing songs.
I hate to admit this but yeah I’m jealous of this. Paris is getting a ton of attention and a lot of it is negative but really it was a missed opportunity for another DJ to shine. I hope she realizes that she needs a lot of practice and despite what her tweet says, her set was not “loved by everyone”.
(Source: djkento)
