Josh Wink
Don Diablo
Chinois Ibiza
SEO Refresher
QSC KC12 Column PA
Howler Recorder/Streamer
DJ Larry D
SESSION 2
THE EDIT is where DJs and Producers of all ages connect, discover, and forge future opportunities. Whether you are an emerging DJ, intrigued by trends in music production, or a seasoned professional, THE EDIT is not just what’s next—it’s what’s now.
Just as the legendary K Series quickly became the New Standard for powered loudspeakers, the K Column is destined to forever elevate customer expectations from a column loudspeaker. It’s the perfect combination of sleek and stylish design, coupled with the acoustic performance of a high output, high fidelity loudspeaker system.
· 3000-watt Power Amplifier
· QSC LEAF™ Waveguide (first introduced in the L Class line array)
· Wide 145-degree Horizontal Coverage (35-degree vertical)
· Advanced DSP Presets and Processing
· Bluetooth® True Wireless Stereo Capable
· 6-Year Warranty (with product registration)
This year’s addition to the DJX ‘25 showfoor will offer a variety of vital branding resources.
In The Brand Box @ DJX ‘25, Attendees Can:
Capture Video Clips In Real-Time
Enhance Social Content
Understand How Visual Storytelling
Add Immersive Experiences To Your Events
Create Electronic Press Kits
Redesign / Create Logos & Websites
Onsite Performance Opportunities
Customize Branded Merch & Pop Culture Collectibles
August 11-14, 2025
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, N.J. – The time has come again, DJs –DJX’25 is ready to hit the Jersey Shore
Set for August 11-14 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., DJX will gather all sectors of the DJ industry – mobile, club and studio – with its winning combo of new technologies, education, and sponsored After Dark events. And this year, the show is celebrating its 35th anniversary.
Produced by DJ LIFE magazine and Hazan Media Group, DJX will present an exhibit hall full of the latest DJrelated products (audio, lighting, studio, content-creation, accessories, etc.), a slate of 35 seminars, panels, and keynotes tackling the most-pressing topics, and After Dark events featuring top DJ talent. Operating since 1990, DJX is the longest-running and most-impactful trade show/event in the North American DJ industry.
Keynoters: Three DJs, three very different stories in our “Keynote Q&A” series… On Aug. 11, DJ White Shadow, the Grammy-winning DJ/producer will discuss his songwriting and production experiences with Lady Gaga and his own success story. On Aug. 12, hip-hop legend Kool DJ Red Alert will recall the early days of the genre, plus his ongoing career in New York City radio. On Aug. 13, DJ/producer Skratch Bastid will discuss the state of turntablism and explain how he’s turned Bastid’s BBQ into one of our more successful DJ-led events.
After Dark: On Aug. 11, from 8 to 10 p.m., BASSBOSS will present SelectHER, a new event showcasing female DJ talent. Set to take place in the BASSBOSS show demo room, the lineup includes Carnival DJs Saxy and Margarita.
After his “Keynote Q&A” on Aug. 11, DJ White Shadow will spin the offcial DJX’25 opening-night party at the spectacular HQ2 Nightclub at the nearby Ocean Casino Resort (with gear provided by AlphaTheta/Pioneer DJ).
On Aug. 12, DAS Audio and JetPack Bags present their “Twisted Tuesday” party at The Pavilion in the Hard Rock. The Beat Junkies’ DJ Babu and Shortkut will headline the event, whose lineup will include DJ Immortal, DJ Buck Rodgers, Cleveland Terry, DJ Dynamix and LoveSlap.
On Aug. 13 from 8 to 11 p.m. in The Balcony Bar in the Hard Rock, DJX will present its “Sonic Evolution: 35 Years of DJX” party. Hosted by Jake Jacobsen and Mike Alevras and sponsored by AlphaTheta, RCF, and JetPack Bags, the mobile-centric event will feature popular tunes that have rocked dancefoors since the show’s 1990 inception. Other
talent will include Matt “Matthadder” Radicelli (Cleveland’s Rock the House Entertainment Group), DJ Larry D (Virginia Beach’s Astro Event Company), and house DJ Kid Kasper (Virginia’s B101.5 FM).
Later that night from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. in the same venue, DJX will present “Mell Starr & Friends: Special Black & White Party.” Sponsored by Pioneer DJ by AlphaTheta and RCF, the event will present an evening of modern and retro sounds featuring host Mell Starr and turntable masters Skratch Bastid, Shortkut, and DJ Buck Rodgers.
Sunset Sessions: DJX’s Sunset Sessions will offer attendees early-evening gatherings with the industry’s top brands featuring music, food/drink, and giveaways. QSC (Aug. 11), AlphaTheta (Aug. 12), Mackie (Aug. 13) are scheduled with sessions in the Hard Rock that will run each day from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Ultimate DJ Giveaway: As always, at the end of the show, one lucky DJX attendee will have his or her name pulled from the hopper and walk away with a treasure trove of gear from the following companies: Pioneer DJ by AlphaTheta; Rockville; ProX; Odyssey; Walkabout Carriers; Ultimate Ears; Other World Computing; and EPK/Greenfeld Productions. For the latest on DJX, please visit www.djxshow.com. (For more on DJX Sponsored Seminars, please see Pg. 12.)
Rothbury, Mich. – Parties ignite deep in the Michigan woods for the Electric Forest festival. Held this past June 19-22, the event drew nearly 50,000 fans to see top talents like Tiësto, Justice, Cloonee, Zeds Dead, and Wreckno. For more, please see Pg. 34.
ALIVE Coverage
By Jim Tremayne
Hapa
Products from AlphaTheta, KRK & More 70 Tracks Phat Tracks from Dennis Ferrer, Dombresky & More 72 Club Play Chart
Hottest Records, As Reported by Our Top U.S. Record Pools
For a quarter of a century, Above & Beyond has been making some of the world’s most-loved electronic music. With classic tracks like “ Sun & Moon,” engaging albums like We Are All We Need, its popular Group Therapy radio show, immersive live performances, and its litany of remixes for a range of artists from Madonna to Motorcycle, the trancey trio of Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness, and Paavo Siljamäki has fully made its mark and cultivated a fanbase like no other.
And now, after seven years, A&B is back with Bigger Than All of Us, another album full of emotional, melodic gems. Lucky for us, our Mark Mancino caught up with Tony and Paavo to discuss the new project, the group’s artistic process and even a look back at how A&B became one of electronic music’s most admired acts.
For years, Grammy winner Tracy Young has also enjoyed a career that most DJ/ producers would envy. But the Covid era was rough on the Miami-based talent with personal issues and family tragedies temporarily sidelining her career. Then, she connected with an old friend, Cyndi Lauper, who was preparing her farewell tour. Would Tracy want to DJ the 2025 tour in Europe and North America? Indeed she would… so we caught up with a very grateful and enthusiastic Tracy to get her story from the road.
In our Sound Bites section, Mr. Mancino connects with Dutch multi-talent Don Diablo, who explains his pair of musical alter-egos and his creative process. And for the In the Studio section of Sound Bites, electronic-music legend Josh Wink explains the release of “Realize,” a banging underground track that he thought had been lost a generation ago – plus, he runs down the set of analog instruments he used to create it.
Looking at venues big and small, this issue takes us to a trio of spots where some of the biggest global DJs spin. First we go deep into the Michigan woods to check out the long-running Electric Forest festival. Additionally, we hop across the pond to Germany, to see the 22nd annual Airbeat One Festival. Then, it’s to the Balearic Islands of Spain for Chinois Ibiza in our Club Spotlight
This issue also offers some good advice for working DJs. In his feature, Cali’s DJ Hapa (aka The DJ Coach) explores the hidden cost of hoarding digital-music fles and offers solutions to “crate-overload.” Sometimes, he says, less is more. In Business Line, Canada’s Jordan St. Jacques offers an SEO refresher course for DJs looking to market themselves online.
In our Mobile DJ Profle, we visit with DJ Larry D from the Virginia Beach, Va.-based Astro Event Company. In our gear-review columns, NYC-based DJ Mike Márquez checks out the Howler Recorder + Streamer in Studio Session. Also, Twin Cities-based DJ Deets tests out QSC’s KC12 column PA system.
Of course, a large part of this issue is dedicated to DJX ’25. Set for Aug. 11-14 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J., the show – presented by DJ LIFE and Hazan Media Group – will be celebrating its 35th anniversary. Accordingly, we expect it to be one of our most-impactful shows ever with its unique lineup of seminars, parties and exhibits. We hope to see you on The Boardwalk that week. For the very latest on the show, please visit www.djxshow.com
Cheers,
editor-in-chief
Jim Tremayne jtremayne@hazanmediagroup.com
editor-at-large Brian O’Connor boconnor@@hazanmediagroup.com
web editor and social media manager Mark Mancino mmancino@@hazanmediagroup.com
contributors
Wesley King, Chris Caruso, Amanda Chavez, Shawn Christopher, Paul Dailey, Reed Dailey, Chris Davis, DJ Deets, Tony Fernandez, Tommy D Funk, Lexi Ferguson. Greg Hollmann, Danielle Johnson, Erik Miller, Lily Moayeri, Jordan St Jacques, Jeff Stiles, Ashley Teffer, Danny Turner, Phil Turnipseed, Joshua Volpe, Travis Wackerly, Curtis Zack
chart coordinator Dan Miller dmiller@hazanmediagroup.com
creative director Janice Pupelis jpupelis@hazanmediagroup.com
director of technologies and project management Steve Thorakos sthorakos@hazanmediagroup.com
Chairperson & COO/Co-Publisher Robin Hazan rhazan@hazanmediagroup.com
President & CEO/Co-Publisher Shawn Hazan shazan@hazanmediagroup.com
Jim Tremayne Editor, DJ LIFE
visit our website: www.djlifemag.com 516.767.2505
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Atlantic City, N.J. – Set for Aug. 11-14 at AC’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, DJX’24 will present seven sponsored seminars from companies exhibiting at the 35th anniversary show. They include:
Aug. 11: “New Tools for DJs with AlphaTheta/Pioneer DJ.” Pioneer DJ’s Jay Brannan will present an in-depth and interactive demonstration of the brand’s latest products. Giveaway Alert: Three lucky attendees will win brand-new AlphaTheta gear.
Aug. 12: “Twitch DJ Program 101: Learn How to Build Your Business With Twitch.” On this special session, Twitch staffers Jordan Williams and Sydney Golombek will walk everyone through the particulars of the Twitch DJ Program, the frstof-its-kind offering from the popular streaming platform.
Aug. 12: “The Art of Mixing Latin Music with AlphaTheta/ Pioneer DJ.” International Latin DJ/producer DJ Creme will demonstrate how to master the art of mixing Latin music –from salsa and reggaeton to merengue and dembow – for any type of event.
Aug 13: “Max Design Photo Booths for DJs: A Panel Discussion.” Danny and Iris Max, plus DJs Rachel Lynch, Art Ar-
Small, Medium, Large, XL and XXL
mani, Jared Rosen and James Trivlis will discuss the benefts of photo booths for mobile DJs.
Aug. 13: “Carnival Cruise Line – Your Pathway to Becoming an International DJ.” This special DJX seminar will unlock the secrets to landing a dream gig of being a DJ at sea. Discover thrilling career paths and incredible perks.
Aug. 13: “Planning from the Palm of Your Hand with Vibo.” Rick Webb, Rachel Lynch, Jay Murch, and Maxwell Reed will offer an insider’s of how top DJs in the industry are achieving success with Vibo event-planning software. The session will also explain how to utilize customizable event-planning templates and a branded business profle to enhance client engagement and promote your brand effectively.
Aug. 13: “The SMPL Path To Success: Why A Good CRM System Is Crucial.” SMPL, the all-in-one event-planning and management software, will unravel a CRM system’s pivotal role in optimizing client interactions, bookings, and business growth. From managing events to staying in sync with inquiries, SMPL will discuss how a tailored CRM system for DJs can simplify workloads and amplify success.
For over a decade, Don Diablo has been one of dance music’s most forward-thinking artists, producing scene-defning tracks like 2015’s “ On My Mind” and 2016’s “Cutting Shapes,” while collaborating with superstars like Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Rihanna, and Justin Bieber.
But for the 45-year-old Dutch DJ/producer – aka Don Pepijn Schipper – success was never really about the fame. He says it all began with cracked software, a $5 mic, and a second-hand PC – he was just a kid chasing a dream, wanting to make something out of nothing to then share it with the world. Nonetheless, these days, he’s headlining shows, selling out massive venues, and performing on music festival mainstages, where he delivers multisensory spectacles that blend sound, storytelling, and technology.
When it comes to his studio time, Diablo builds tracks from inspiration more than he does formula. A typical session could begin from a vocal chop, a weird synth, or even a splash of color. He’s embraced a vibe-frst philosophy – and this mindset has birthed not only his signature sound, but also experimental side projects like his drum-n-bass alter ego, CONTROL ALT DELETE, and his lo-f moniker, Lunar Lo-Fi
Whether he’s directing his own music videos, tending to his HEXAGON label or releasing chart-topping singles (and NFTs), Don Diablo operates on a frequency uniquely his own. His digital concert flm NFT, DESTINATION HEXAGONIA, sold for $1.2 million in four minutes, cementing his place as one of crypto art’s biggest names. His artwork has broken records on SuperRare and landed in globally renowned galleries like Art Basel and the Venice Biennale – even auctioning pieces through Sotheby’s. In the fashion world, his HEXAGON imprint has released limited capsule collections with Disney, Netfix, and Lucasflm, which included viral drops themed around “Star Wars” and “Stranger Things.”
So far, 2025 has been fruitful – and it expects to get even busier. He started the summer off with the anthemic “Doing Nothin’,” featuring Nelly Furtado, and then followed up with his Sweat It Out debut, “The Devil Works Hard,” which explores a darker, groovier territory more suited for underground clubbers.
After wrapping a notable stretch of July shows in Chicago, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Toronto, and New York City (Rooftop at Pier 17) – as well as massive international stops in Saudi Arabia, France, and Spain – Don Diablo continues his global run throughout the month of August and beyond. Upcoming appearances include mainstage sets at Sunrise Festival (Poland), Sziget (Hungary), Untold Festival (Romania), and Amnesia Ibiza, before culminating with a special hometown performance at Paradiso in Amsterdam in September.
We recently caught up with the Future House pioneer to discuss it all.
DJ LIFE: How did you get your start as a DJ/producer, and what came frst?
Don Diablo: Producing came frst. I was just a kid with a second-hand PC and a fascination for sound. DJing fol-
lowed naturally, as I wanted to test my own music on real crowds. It wasn’t about fame or money back then, just the raw love for creating something out of nothing and sharing that energy.
DJ LIFE: Can you recall your frst DJ set? What was the set-up like when you learned how to DJ?
Don Diablo: My frst real DJ gig was at a youth center in my hometown [Coevorden]. Two belt-drive turntables, no sync button, and a mixer that crackled every time you touched it. It was all about vinyl, timing, and heart. You had to feel the blend. There was no safety net.
DJ LIFE: How about your current DJ set-up?
Don Diablo: My set-up is basic, but solid: four Pioneer CDJ-3000s and a Pioneer DJM-A9 mixer, We work with show control to time certain SFX, but nothing is time coded at the moment. I still mix live and try to react to the room in real-time as much as possible.
DJ LIFE: You recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of your HEXAGON label. Tell us about that and how you and the team commemorated the milestone.
Don Diablo: It’s been an emotional ride. HEXAGON was never just a label, it’s a movement, a family. For the 10-year anniversary, we focused on quality over quantity: special releases, limited merch, curated vinyl drops, and a renewed vision. I also threw a few intimate sets for die-hard fans, bringing it back to the essence. I honestly feel like the best is yet to come.
DJ LIFE: What was the vision for you when you started the label and how is it the same and different than it is today? Any specifc plans for the future of HEXAGON?
Don Diablo: The original vision was simple: create a home for futuristic sounds that didn’t quite ft in anywhere else. Over the years, it evolved into a global brand, on a musical level but also on a fashion level, which resulted into global collabs with “Star Wars” and “Stranger Things,” amongst others. I’m currently scaling back to that original rawness. Expect more curation, fewer releases, and deeper artist development. The future is boutique.
DJ LIFE: “Doing Nothin’,” your collab with Nelly Furtado, kicked off the summer. How did this track and pairing come together and what can you share with us about the record?
Don Diablo: I’ve always admired Nelly’s voice and authenticity. We linked up after Nelly asked me to remix one of her singles and the energy just fowed. She is simply an amazing human being on all levels. “Doing Nothin’” is a carefree anthem, a playful response to the pressure of constant productivity. It’s about presence, vibes, summer breeze, and subtle rebellion.
DJ LIFE: You’ve made your debut on Sweat It Out with “The Devil Works Hard.” How did this project come to be and what made Sweat It Out the proper home for this record?
Don Diablo: That track was born out of a darker, more groove-driven space I’ve been exploring lately. Tseba is a highly creative and talented producer and Sweat It Out
is a label that champions individuality and raw rhythm. This one’s for the club warriors… a little cheeky, a little devilish, but deeply rooted in house music.
DJ LIFE: When it comes to your time in the studio, do you get to work inperson with your collaborators, or does it consist of mostly virtual sessions? Do you prefer one over the other?
Don Diablo: I love the magic of being in a room with someone, but logistically, most sessions are remote these days. That said, tech has evolved, and energy translates, even digitally. I don’t mind either way, as long as we’re both vibing and chasing the same spark.
DJ LIFE: On the production front, when did you frst begin producing and what was your initial studio set-up like?
Don Diablo: I started producing when I was 13. My “studio” was an old PC with cracked software, a $5 mic, and zero acoustic treatment. But I had a vivid imagination and a hunger to learn. That’s all you really need to start.
DJ LIFE: What can you tell us about your current studio setup and DAW? Fill us in on what a typical studio session is like for you…
Don Diablo: My current setup is Ableton Live as my main DAW, a heapload of plug-ins, and a bunch of analog synths, plus a stack of weird little gadgets for texture. To be honest, I usually end up doing most of the work in the box. A typical session starts with a concept, a melody, a vocal chop, or even a color or image, and it builds from there. I don’t chase perfection. I chase feeling, a vibe. I like it when things feel a bit off… a bit weird and wonky.
DJ LIFE: Can you dive into your CONTROL ALT DELETE alter-ego for us and what it means to you? What do you hope for it to mean to your fans?
Don Diablo: CONTROL ALT DELETE is me breaking free from expectations. It’s a mix of raw and emotional drum-n-bass, a genre I’ve always loved, but never publicly embraced in a big way until recently. It’s my way of reconnecting with my inner rebel. For fans, I hope it becomes a space for emotional release and sonic adventure.
DJ LIFE: Now that we’re more than halfway through 2025, what does the rest of the year have in store for you?
Don Diablo: The rest of 2025 is stacked. More CONTROL ALT DELETE releases, more Lunar Lo-Fi – my Lo-Fi alter ego –releases and new Don Diablo collabs with some unexpected names and… my return to the Paradiso in Amsterdam… a very special full-circle moment. I’m also experimenting with new live visuals and planning something immersive that blurs the line between a concert and a cinematic experience. Let’s just say… the future is under construction!
– Mark Mancino
We’ve been writing about Josh Wink since the mid-1990s, when the Philly-based DJ/producer enjoyed a succession of American club/rave hits, which curiously were also pop hits in Europe. Indeed, with their mélange of electronic stylings – acid, house, techno, breaks – mad tracks like “ Higher State of Consciousness,” “Don’t Laugh,” “I Am Ready,” and “Are You There?” are now considered classics and Wink continues to tour the world, playing clubs and festivals alike.
Recently, Wink’s Ovum Recordings has released “607 Sessions,” a new archival series whose the initial output is two versions of “Realize,” an raveera fave that never found its proper release. A manic, late-night track of swirling intensity – with a tingly remix even more deftly disorienting – “Realize” takes you back to the early ’90s warehouse scene, where underground DJ/producers were left to follow their muses – and the dancefoor denizens weren’t on their phones. We caught up with Wink, 55, to discuss his latest musical moves and lot more.
DJ LIFE: Tell us about the “607 Series” of releases – what’s the vision?
And what can we expect from the series?
Josh Wink: The “607 Series” began when I discovered a collection of DAT tapes with unreleased music. I had been searching for certain tracks for years, which were either lost, stolen during a studio theft, or damaged in a food. Surprisingly, I found most of them. Matt [Brookman], Ovum’s label manager, kept pushing me to release them, even though I was hesitant because the music is over 30 years old. He’s been the driving force behind the series. The series is named after the street number of the house where I used to live. My small bedroom studio was there too, where I created much of my early music, like “Meditation Will Manifest,” most of my work on Nervous Records – “How’s the Music,” “Don’t Laugh,” Left Above the Clouds LP – “Higher States,” and Size 9’s “I Am Ready.” You can expect music that sounds strangely similar to what other producers are releasing now, but it was originally made between 1993 and 1996.
DJ LIFE: And what’s the story of resuscitating “Realize,” a track that was thought to be long-lost?
Wink: Yes, I thought it was lost, stolen, or damaged in a house food. Then I found a bunch of DAT tapes from my early years that were stored in a “safe place,” yet a location I had forgotten to check. And it seems as though I moved them before the theft and food. Lucky me! I freaked out when I found them!
DJ LIFE: Do you remember how you originally made that track? What was the process?
Wink: I know I didn’t use VST or plug-ins, as they weren’t available at the time. I used an Apple Mac computer running “Master Tracks” as my sequencer, and utilized my Roland 909, Akai S950 sampler, TB-303, Roland MKS-80, Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synthesizer, and a hand-built flter box by Fred Giannelli. I sampled my voice, a couple of things from the MKS, and did a live jam, while recording to DAT.
DJ LIFE: For the young DJ/producers out there, can you explain how you were making your tracks back in the pre-digital, pre-plugin world?
Wink: Live jamming, with my hardware outboard gear, tweaking and mixing live on the fy. That’s what it was about… not a lot of computer animation… all done live. Push play, record… mistakes and all. That’s how it was, and the beauty of the fnal outcome.
DJ LIFE: What analog pieces did you have at the ready back then?
Wink: I had a lot of gear at that time, as I started collecting in 1991-92. As for Roland units, I had a Juno-106, Jupiter-6, SH-101, two TB-303s, JD-800, SH-09, TR-909, TR-808, TR-505, R-5, MKS80, and a JD-990. I also used a Moog Source, Casio RZ1, Akai S-950, Mackie CR1604 Mixer, Sequential Circuits Pro One, and a Yamaha TX 81Z.
DJ LIFE: With that gear, how long did it take to make a track you were satisfed with?
Wink: Tracks never had “times” or “rules” on how they were fnished. It just happened organically. Like production today, it sometimes takes a couple of hours or a couple of weeks to complete a track, many years later. It depends on where my head is and how my creativity is fowing. For example, “Don’t Laugh” took me one night, whereas “Higher State Of Consciousness” took me a little more than two weeks. Often, I would come up with ideas quickly, only to get stuck later. So, I saved them to a foppy disk, wrote
down the settings and parameters in a studio journal, and returned to them at a later time, when I felt better.
DJ LIFE: For younger folks who love techno, acid, house sounds, etc., what would you tell them about the differences of the electronic music scenes now and then?
Wink: The main difference is that you don’t need a lot of money or expensive hardware gear to produce music nowadays. You don’t need to have a studio to record in, either. Back then, if you didn’t have access to hardware gear, outboard gear, or a studio, you couldn’t record everything. It was not possible to make this kind of music. Additionally, there was no internet, making it more challenging to get music heard.
DJ LIFE: What was your original attraction to electronic-dance music?
Wink: I was a mobile DJ at 13 and then went on to explore more. So, I started going to specialty record shops and got immersed in music of all sorts from different record stores. That’s how I “got the bug” by jumping into the music and living solely for this fantastic scene.
DJ LIFE: Looking back at the time of your frst releases, the DJing you did then and the places you played, what does it all look like now to you?
Wink: It was a special and naive time – new, fresh, exciting. Nobody ever heard sounds and genres that were sprouting up like wild daisies. And the places this music was played were unique, but on a much smaller scale than today. It was something new, and it’s tough to put into words. But I have fond memories of playing in small rooms, warehouses, and raw clubs, with a sound system, a fog machine, and really no lights. It was raw.
DJ LIFE: What’s one thing that young DJs wouldn’t believe about the gigs you played back in the day?
Wink: DJs were often not seen. They were placed in corners or at the back of venues. There weren’t elaborate lights or sound systems – just crowds of people dancing, sweating, jacking with no phones or any other distractions. It was pure musical therapy!
DJ LIFE: There was a time when the music that was playing at underground clubs/events wasn’t so easily divided into slots… if you wanted to go to an underground party,
you might hear breaks, 4/4, trancey elements, hard house, soulful sounds, pre-hardstyle tracks, d-n-b, kinda everything… and people pretty much went for it. What do you remember about those parties?
Wink: It was all the parties. The scene, the music was fresh and changing so quickly. New forms and styles of music were being introduced at such a fast pace. Creativity was paramount. I used to play the whole night – from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. The raves created the multi-DJ guest spot, where before the DJs would play the entire night by themselves. So, you had to be diverse and know your music, playing for and to diverse groups of people who went out to the clubs –white, black, gay, straight, brown, old, young. It was a truly mixed scene back in the 1980s. Amazing.
DJ LIFE: As a DJ today, how are you connecting with the modern audiences and what connects with them to your music?
Wink: It’s becoming more diffcult for me, as I believe that attention spans and genre-specifc crowds are becoming more prevalent and less open-minded. Using all my years of knowledge and experience, I try to entertain and educate crowds with diverse music. What’s diffcult is that people tend to prefer one style of music, and events and clubs often only play that one style. DJs are fnding it harder to be diverse and creative, which frustrates me. But I focus only on what I can control and create – my unique sound of Josh Wink-inspired production and DJing style. I love taking chances, even if it’s challenging, because that’s what it’s all about for me: creativity, open-mindedness, and taking risks.
DJ LIFE: Your three all-time favorite DJs and why?
Wink: Ron Hardy was a signifcant infuence on me and countless others, showcasing the diversity of house and techno from Chicago. John Peel, a U.K. radio DJ, introduced me to many unique musical gems through his BBC radio show. It wasn’t only electronic music that I was into, and he was great for opening my mind to everything. Richie Hawtin… contemporary techno/house DJ and producer who opened not only my eyes, but the whole scene of DJs worldwide on how you can combine outboard gear, computers, and other tools to present music in fresh and uniquely creative ways… not only relying on vinyl… opening up my DJing mind to think outside the box, and create new music out of existing music, in whatever form.
DJ LIFE: What are three favorite places to play?
Wink: Anything in Portugal. Most anything in Japan. Playing in my hometown of Philly.
DJ LIFE: What keeps you going these days and what can look forward to from you in the near future?
Wink: A continued passion for the music and scene, even though it’s completely different than it used to be, including the fact that I’m an older man now!
DJ LIFE: What are three tunes that are always “in the box” for you at all gigs – something that you might play at any time.
Wink: The three tracks are mine. “Higher State of Consciousness,” “Don’t Laugh,” and “I Am Ready.” These three tracks bring happiness and enjoyment to both old-school heads and new-school clubgoers. They have stood the test of time and continue to create memories after being released 30 years ago. And it’s a truly blessed feeling to say this.
DJ LIFE: How have you managed to keep the Ovum Recordings label going?
Wink: Yes, 31 years! Crazy. It’s a labor of love. Very challenging and diffcult – but important to me. We tend to release music that we feel in our “hearts” rather than sign music based on trends. Our music from 30 years ago still sounds relevant and contemporary today! That’s something.
– Jim Tremayne
By Mark Mancino
What began over 25 years ago has become a genuine musical phenomenon. Above & Beyond, the trancey trio of Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness, and Paavo Siljamäki, still stands tall as one of the biggest acts in dance music, and now they’re back with their frst album in more than seven years.
Over the course of their career, the guys have created a signature melodic sound – sometimes uplifting, sometimes melancholy – that’s captured on their deep discography of singles, EPs, remixes, and LPs. Additionally, they’re founders of globally acclaimed labels Anjunabeats, Anjunadeep, and the newly launched Anjunachill, which kicked off with an inaugural single from A&B, aptly titled “ Shall We Begin.”
Going back to the albums, Tri-State (2006) was A&B’s frst effort, and it featured a pair of tracks, “Air for Life” and “Good for Me,” that each earned “Tune of the Year” honors on Armin van Buuren’s genre-defning radio show, A State of Trance. Off to a great start, A&B followed with other noteworthy long-players: Group Therapy (2011), featuring the classic “Sun & Moon”; We Are All We Need (2015), with the euphoric “Blue Sky Action”; Common Ground (2018), with fan-fave “Northern Soul”; and the not-to-be-forgotten OceanLab effort, Sirens Of The Sea (2008), with diamonds like “On a Good Day.”
Additionally, the twice-Grammy-nominated group has released two acoustic albums, titled Acoustic I (2014) and Acoustic II (2016). Since the pandemic, the guys also had the opportunity to explore their solo projects: Paavo’s P.O.S; Jono’s JODA with Darren Tate; and Tony’s Salt.
A&B has also built and maintained its profle with its infuential global radio shows. Following 450 episodes of their Trance Around the World radio show (2004-2012), the guys became known for broadcasting their weekly Group Therapy Radio show (ABGT), which has celebrated milestone editions at worldfamous locations such as Madison Square Garden in New York (ABGT 100), AllPhones Arena in Sydney (ABGT 150), Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam (ABGT 200), AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong (ABGT 300), the O2 Arena in Prague (ABGT 350), and Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles (ABGT 500), among others.
Famously, the group has managed to form and sustain one of the most dedicated fanbases in the electronic-music circuit. Their legions proudly unite both in person and online, often referring to themselves as the “Anjunafamily” or “#AnjunaFam.”
The connection is fortifed on a regular basis. For live gigs, a fan is chosen from the audience to “Push the Button” (i.e., make the drop) on a big tune – always quite a moment. Accordingly, for the radio show, in each episode, fans vote for their favorite tune to denote the “Push the Button” track, and the fan with the best comment on the selection is given a shout-out.
And that brings us all to Bigger Than All Of Us, A&B’s latest full-length. The 16-track gem tells a story using powerful vocals, intricate productions, and, as usual, uplifting melodies. Fitting of many moods, Bigger Than All Of Us reunites A&B with frequent collaborators – each of whom are practically members of the group by now – Zoë Johnston, Richard Bedford, and Justine Suissa (of their OceanLab moniker), as well as collabs with Victoria Horn, Malou, Opposite the Other, and Oliver Smith. Together with Dave Dresden (of electronic duo Gabriel & Dresden), who served as album A&R this go-round, the guys crafted a euphorically charged, genre-bending album that serves as an homage to their roots, a testament to the sound they’ve fawlessly crafted, and an ode to where the road has led.
In our interview, Above & Beyond’s Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamäki flled us in on a variety of topics. From the
album-creation process to their forthcoming tour, from their favorite career remixes to must-include songs in their DJ sets, from Anjunabeats to solo projects, we explore their past, present, and future.
DJ LIFE: Is it true you got the name Above & Beyond from a poster hanging up on the wall?
Tony McGuinness: It wasn’t a poster, but a sheet of paper that was printed
“Is it going to be Above & Beyond? Maybe it just should be Above & Beyond.” After sitting with it for a couple of weeks, it started to feel good. And I think once a name starts becoming more established and connected with things, it then starts making even more sense. A lucky accident [laughs].
DJ LIFE: Did you guys start as producers or DJs?
McGuinness: Producers, absolutely. Well, we actually started as remixers. Personally, I had no great desire to be a DJ – and I had been clubbing at this point for about four, fve years and really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed all the parts of club culture, really enjoyed dancing, and enjoyed meeting people. The idea of DJing, at the same time, didn’t really appeal to me. I was in a band; I was a musician. So, I saw the two things as sort of rather different. It wasn’t until we were asked to DJ, we had remixed Madonna, and that got us to remix Ayumi Hamasaki, out of Japan. This Japanese record company rang me up on one August day and said, “Tony, can you DJ?” and I was like, “Yeah!” [laughs]. They asked if I wanted come DJ in front of 8,000 people with Tiësto and Ferry Corsten, so, I was like, “Yeah perfect!” So, I went out and bought decks, a mixer, headphones, and some records – and then I learned to DJ. The other guys have a bit of a different story…
out from a website, from a motivational speaker called Jono Grant. And Jono –who wasn’t famous at the time – found this famous guy on the internet. He printed out his webpage because it was funny, but this guy’s slogan for motivational speaking was Above & Beyond. So, when we fnished the Chakra remix, which was the frst thing we did together, we knew we needed a name. As soon as I saw Above & Beyond, I knew – that’s it!
DJ LIFE: Were there any other names you had considered before that?
McGuinness: No, we literally had to send the mix in, so we thought, “If we’re sending this in, we have to have a name.” It was actually more like the mix needs a name. I think it was one of the luckiest things we ever did because the frst letter is A and the second letter is B, so when it comes to alphabetical lists of artists on posters, in polls, billing, all sorts of things, we’re really high up [laughs]. Thank God that ended up working out!
Paavo Siljamäki: I’ve always felt like so many of the best things along our 25year journey have been kind of happy accidents, almost – like the name, for instance. When you really think about it, it has some really cool benefts, like A and B, and everything. I remember when we frst had the name, we were kind of like:
Siljamäki: Mine was that, before Above & Beyond, I was actually producing music for other artists, pop bands and things like that. I saw the pressure that famous people had to go through and what success does to people. When I started working with Jono and Tony, I was quite literally in a camp, but my place is in the studio. The studio is where I’m good and it’s kind of nice to have other people take the pressures of fame and everything that comes along with it, but it didn’t go like that [laughs].
DJ LIFE: You brought up a few early remixes already. Looking back over the last 25 years, do any of the Above & Beyond remixes you’ve done stand out to you most today?
McGuinness: I think the Madonna remix [“What It Feels Like For A Girl”] was the best one that we did – and the one that we spent the most time on. I think in terms of the success of it and the fact that she used a piece of it to make her music video makes it one of the most successful ones as well. In terms of sound design, the idea, what we used from the original song, and the lengths we went to in order to make Madonna’s vocals sound good when it was sped up so much – I think it’s my favorite.
Siljamäki: One thing that I really remember, which was a really fun thing for us to make, was when we remixed Aurora’s “Ordinary World.” Obviously, I had always been a fan of the original by Duran Duran, so it just felt so perfect for a euphoric, melodic dance, trance track. I remember doing that – and I haven’t actually listened to it in a while – but when I think back on my old favorites, that’s really the one that comes to mind.
DJ LIFE: Do you remember the frst time all three of you did a DJ set together?
McGuinness: Yes! And we even have video evidence of that [laughs]. It was in front of 8,000 people. I think I did the frst mix – and it was not good. I think the crowd – if it was anywhere else but Japan – the crowd probably would have booed, but we got it together. By the second mix, everything was actually working perfectly. It was just slightly overwhelming as I had never DJed at a party – or publicly for that matter – I had only DJed in my bedroom. The other guys were great, right from the start, actually. Paavo, I remember, was a really good DJ with vinyl.
Siljamäki: I had been DJing at house parties in Finland in years previous, and I still think to DJ with vinyl is a little bit of a harder job than what we can do now with the decks and everything.
DJ LIFE: What was the equipment you learned to DJ on? What’s the set-up look like today?
McGuinness: We started out with Technics record decks, I want to say
they were Technics 1210s? Wow, now I can’t even really remember, but I think those were the Technics. And I think I had a crappy little mixer at home, just to get by [laughs]. But now we use CDJ3000s and whichever Pioneer mixer –that’s the standard – usually, the Pioneer DJM-A9.
Siljamäki: The thing is, when you’re playing vinyl, it’s a lot harder to play your visions of a track. Also, back then,
gonna make some noise inside of the arena or venue. I mean, it’s terrifying [laughs]. When it was records or CDs, you could see the music, so you could at least have that sense of feeling like you were gonna do a good job that night. That’s why, I think for the tour, we should have a pair of decks backstage, so that we can test [our USBs] just to make sure, just for peace of mind [laughs]… considering 20,000 people’s happiness all lies within those tiny things – our life’s work [laughs].
Siljamäki: It’s also that when the three of us end up playing back-toback, we have that feeling of 10-12 minutes of each hanging around onstage, while the other two guys get to play their records. So, it might be a little bit harder to remain as engaged in the DJing itself. But I don’t know, sometimes I rather enjoy that – getting those moments to sort of just hang out onstage [laughs], you know?
with the way we work, we had to fnish stuff because we had an analog mixing console. It was actually, in a way, really good and helpful for us to have all these limitations whereas right now, for every show, we could do a new bounce of something with incremental little tweaks. I don’t even know which of those [scenarios] are better, to be honest [laughs].
DJ LIFE: Even though you don’t often play a DJ set together as a threesome, what are some of the pros and cons to playing as a three-piece rather than when it’s two out of three?
McGuinness: For the audience, they get to see the three of us, and that’s great. The diffculty is, when you’re playing back-to-back with someone, you know which deck is yours, so you never stop the wrong deck. When there’s three people, that can sort of go amiss, so you’ve got to be more aware of that. I don’t practice DJing, actually. I don’t even have decks at home anymore – I haven’t for quite some time. We’ve got decks in the studio, but I very rarely use them. What happens is… you get onstage, and you just start to DJ. It is still quite nerve-wracking, and I still have this real sense of paranoia that this really tiny piece of little plastic and metal – that has the records stored on it from my laptop earlier that day – is actually
Like, playing Coachella [with the three of us] was great!
DJ LIFE: When it comes to the studio, what gear did you guys frst start out with?
McGuinness: Well, you’d remember Paav, because wasn’t it your computer that we were using at the time?
Siljamäki: Yeah, we were running Logic when it was running on PC – Emagic was the German company before it was sold to Apple [in 2002]. Eventually, we ended up having a lot of synths. We had an analog Mackie mixing desk and the whole studio. All of our music was me triggering live synths. This was nice because there’s actually a jamming kind of aspect to it – you can go and grab a flter, a synth or whatever. What we have now, we’re pretty much doing most of our work in the box. Sometimes we’ll use some live synths and things like that, but it’s really incredible how much you can do on a laptop these days. I’ve been making my set-up, so that I can work out of a hotel room and work on a track just like I could if I was in the studio – just to be able to keep working all the time. There’s still something really nice about being in a bigger studio, especially for mixing.
DJ LIFE: What are you using in the studio now?
Siljamäki: I left Logic when Apple was abandoning it for a while, and I ended up with [PreSonus] Studio One. Now, I think they’re putting more effort into Logic again, but there was a little lull, and I was getting a bit impatient [laughs].
McGuinness: So, we do use Studio One if we’re working on one of Paavo’s sessions. We also work with PROFF [aka Vladimir Ershov] in the studio, and he uses Studio One, too. I prefer Logic because I like the way it looks, I like the way it renders audio, and I like the way it organizes. When you’ve been using something this long, it becomes second nature. I’ve tried to make a track in Ableton – I think I’ve made one track in Ableton, and I’ve done stuff in Studio One – but I still prefer Logic, personally.
DJ LIFE: How often do the three of you guys physically get into the studio to work together?
Siljamäki: Very rarely. We’ve been working more in these little units. For example, me, Tony, and Ricardo [aka Richard Bedford] were in London a couple of weeks ago, working on a few things. And I know that Jono’s been working with Zoë, for example. So, I’d say we’ve been working more so in duo [units] than all together at the same time. In a way, it’s been way easier to be productive.
McGuinness: Yeah, it’s actually very rare for the three of us to be involved in a track. I think even from the very beginning, Jono, Paavo, and me would very occasionally start a track and then run it through quite a degree of fnishing before getting other people involved in it. So, that’s no different now than it was prior to Paavo not being in London anymore.
DJ LIFE: With each of your albums, the messaging, cohesiveness, and attention to detail, play such a big part in the projects as a whole. What was the thought process that went into Bigger Than All Of Us, in terms of how the theme initially came together and what it means to you?
Siljamäki: When we were making the album, we didn’t have the title,
at least for quite some time. Personally, I felt like the idea of making an album after so many years of not having an electronic album that we’d done together, was frankly quite terrifying [laughs]. No, seriously, I was thinking: What’s going to happen here?
I’ve been going to a lot of parties and have become highly aware of the communities that we’ve been able to be part of for all these years. For me, it felt
James [Grant], I think, and we thought about it for quite some time until we all agreed it was a very Above & Beyond-sounding thing.
DJ LIFE: How long did it take from start-to-fnish? How many total tracks did you create during the process?
Siljamäki: About two years.
McGuinness: We did something different this time. We asked Dave Dresden [of Gabriel & Dresden] to be our A&R man. He was directly involved in helping us because the most stressful part of making an album is deciding what goes on. It’s because everyone’s got their favorites, other people might not share that view, so you get arguments and stress – it gets really, really hard. This time, we kind of sideswiped that by outsourcing some of that decision-making process to Dave. So, when we ended up looking at this pool of tracks – which was still more than we ended up putting on the album – it wasn’t 40 tracks, which is where we usually would be at, come the start of the process. This time, it was a lot easier. I don’t think we were ever really over 24 tracks, and we ended up with 16, so it was relatively painless this time.
like this thing we do really is bigger than us. We [might] do it for selfsh reasons, or whatever, but we’ve resonated with so many people, and they deserve – the community deserves – a new Above & Beyond album… even if it’s hard for us. It’s bigger than us, so we’ve gotta at least give it a try! [laughs]
McGuinness: The song “Bigger Than All Of Us” came early on, as it was a song that Jono and Justine [Suissa] wrote together. I think we had thought about it being an album contender, but it was existing in the form that it does on the album… for years. We didn’t do a club version of it until Coachella, so it was always sort of this piano piece. I think one of things we really thought of on this album was to have the freedom that we felt we had on Tri-State. There are quite a few tracks on Tri-State that aren’t [as typical Above & Beyond] – they have no beat, they have no drums, there are very different examples of tempos. I think there’s only one track on Tri-State that was like something we were playing in clubs at that time. We felt that we really had that sense of freedom, so it was actually really nice to put “Bigger Than All Of Us” on the album in the way that it was written – and it’s also got a middle eight, which is always nice. I think the album title was originally suggested by
Siljamäki: I think there was a moment about a year ago when I looked at the songs and thought maybe at that point the production wasn’t really there, but it started to sound like an album – and the songs were really good. So, I started to relax a bit at least because that is the main thing, really. And I think all of the songs are good, so that was a really important place for me to get to, very much before the album was fnished. Because from there, it becomes about how we can make each of the songs as good as they can be.
DJ LIFE: Let’s talk a bit about the extended Above & Beyond family – vocalists Zoë Johnston, Justine Suissa, and Richard Bedford, specifcally. What are those sessions like and how often are they in person?
Siljamäki: I’ve been getting together with Zoë and Justine once a year. We’ve been having writing sessions. Then, we’ve often written more than one song. Over the last few years, even for the last album, I’ve been asking people to come to my forest hideout here in Finland. “Heartland” [with Suissa] was written here on this piano that I have. It’s been a really inspiring place to come and create because when you really detach from the crazy busy world and you’re in the quiet forest for a few days, you start having really deep feelings. So, it’s been amazing getting to work with Justine and Zoë here. There’s been a lot of good conversations, a lot of crying [laughs], and a lot of music being written. It’s a very therapeutic thing, you know?
McGuinness: With those three, I think Richard gets involved once I’ve written a song for him to sing. And I think all of the songs on this album he recorded at home initially before we got him down to London to record. There was a time when we were using Alex Vargas, but there was this feeling from both sides that we felt like it just wasn’t right, so it was really nice to go back to using Richard Bedford. It was like this sort of homecoming. I think there are other singers that we work with and there were other singers that were considered for some of these songs. We ended up with four [Richard Bedford] songs on this record, which I think if you look at the Venn diagram of DJs and bands, I think we exist in the middle. What keeps us there is the fact that we’ve had the same singers for nearly 25 years. Like with any band, it becomes this recognizable soundtrack to your life, so you look forward to hearing the next installment.
Siljamäki: It’s also really cool looking back. Because we’ve worked with the same people over the years, a lot of songs get written about real-life experiences. I was just thinking today about how in 25 years – a quarter of a century – a lot of life happens. A lot of these songs were written about specifc moments in time, and now that we look back at them, I can still remember what was happening when “Peace of Mind” was being written – it’s really nice. It’s really like time capsules of life events, almost.
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DJ LIFE: Let’s touch on the album tracks, like “Blood From A Stone” and how some of the songs might be different than what your fans have come to expect.
McGuinness: “Blood From A Stone” started at Paavo’s house. We were writing songs, and I think we got to the end of one of the days. We wrote “Blood From A Stone” not really thinking about what tempo it
Siljamäki: And now we’ll still have a challenge of trying to incorporate it into the tour [laughs].
McGuinness: I was thinking about that yesterday, actually. Maybe we can stick it in at the end, maybe we will never end up playing it at all… who knows what we’re gonna decide to do with it? I think it’s generating a lot of chat, which is great, because it stands out because of how it’s produced. I think it stands up to scrutiny, and given the breath of what Above & Beyond music can be – from yoga to soundtrack to acoustic to trance to progressive – I think it’s just another feather in our bow [laughs].
DJ LIFE: Does this often happen with album tracks?
Siljamäki: This is actually a good example, with “Blood From A Stone,” of the power of teamwork. It was always a piano ballad, and I couldn’t see it any other way. When Tony and PROFF did their initial drum-n-bass thing, I was like… really? [laughs] But then, as it got better and better and better, I was like… I get it. I would’ve been totally unable to do this myself, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. So, I’m really grateful, and that’s the power of a team!
was. So, we ended up with this song that we thought at the time was going to ft into the canon perfectly – until we realized it was 147 BPM [laughs]. It was instantly shelved –and that was a long time ago – but we kept returning to it because I think in its subject matter and its delivery, it is very much an Above & Beyond song. When we started working on this record, it was on the list, and I said to Dave Dresden: “Maybe we sneak it onto the album as sort of a secret track?” And he said, “The last thing this track needs to be is a secret – I want everybody to hear it.” Which I think might be one of the nicest things anybody’s ever said to me about one of my songs. I thought about it for a while until I thought: “Fuck it, let’s just do a drum-n-bass version. We don’t need to slow it down. It’s still electronic, it’s still true to the song.” So, we did it. PROFF helped with the beats, the guys helped with the music, and I think it ended up being something very Above & Beyond – bizarrely –even though it is drum-n-bass. We had breaks on Tri-State, but I think “Blood From A Stone” is a song that deserves to be heard… says Dave Dresden [laughs].
DJ LIFE: You guys played back-to-back weekends at Coachella’s Outdoor Theater with a massive new stage design that you’ll be taking on tour. Tell us some more about that experience…
Siljamäki: Coachella was obviously a very high press thing for us. We were thinking, frst of all, we only have an hour, then we want to play new stuff, and the old stuff, plus we want the DJ mixes to be good, we want the new club mixes to be good enough to play. There was this pressure to deliver, but at the same time, on the other end there was the [stage] production side. We were really keen to elevate and refresh our show, so it was something to see how this could all put together in just a 30-minute changeover. Is it gonna work? What’s not gonna work? But I think all around, I was very happy with the music, the production was fantastic, and it’s only gonna get better now, once we start the tour and get to really play around with the rig. We’re waiting for the happy accidents to happen, but we haven’t had the time for those things to happen with the new production yet, so things are only gonna get better.
DJ LIFE: On this upcoming tour, you’ll be playing amphitheaters and nightclubs – like two separate tours in one…
McGuinness: Yes, we’ll be playing amphitheaters with some nightclub and some more intimate shows mixed in. We’re doing something grand for the album; something that stands out. It always feels really exciting to do a big outdoor show; there’s something wonderful about being outdoors on a late summer’s eve. Looking up at the stars, entertaining people, hearing them sing along, the sound is always awesome and I’m really looking forward to it.
Siljamäki: This year we played Ultra in Miami, and we played the amphitheater [Ultra Live Stage] there, and it got me so excited for the tour. One amazing thing about an amphitheater is that everybody can see each other, so they’ve got a really unique collective, community vibe, so I think it’s perfect for the Bigger Than All Of Us tour. We haven’t done this kind of big tour in a long while – with trucks and buses, bringing our own production. So, it’s really exciting for us, and I’m sure it’s exciting for others, too!
DJ LIFE: Speaking of tour, where did the “push the button” moment, where you bring a fan onstage, originate?
McGuinness: We put a gap in there so that we could freeze it and tease people with the drop. The very frst time we did it, I pushed pause, and there was a video cameraman on stage. So, I took him by the arm, and I made him push the button. And the very next show, there were people with signs saying, “Let me push the button!” So, it kind of just happened… [laughs]
Siljamäki: See, another happy accident! [laughs]
DJ LIFE: A&B has also become known for the messaging and positive affrmations on the screen during DJ sets. Where’d that stem from?
Siljamäki: I was always into the theatrical side of the show. I worked in the
theater world since I was a teenager and I’ve always loved the idea of helping people connect with the music better through the show. So, I was bringing my laptop to the shows and writing some phrases like “dreams come true,” and I’d show them to people. That was all really fun, but then I think around 2010, when we were playing EDC in Los Angeles, I was trying to show this laptop screen to the camera – because I could see it was on the screens behind us – and that gave us the idea. So, after EDC, me and a friend of mine coded a little system that allowed us to write to literally write messages in real-time to appear on the screen behind us. Now, I get to misspell words and our album titles in real time [laughs]. I try to comfort myself, like when I [accidentally] misspell our album titles or something, that it just makes it more real.
DJ LIFE: Quickly touching on the pandemic time, when all the live events were cancelled… you had an Acoustic III tour lined up, along with an album. Do you see yourselves ever going back to that in the future or is that all in the past?
McGuinness: I would love to do it again. Unfortunately, things have gotten a lot more expensive. Hotels and fights have gone up by such a signifcant amount that it’s not something that’s on the front burner, at this point, but we are still thinking about it. We still have an album that’s nearly fnished – well, we’d probably want to change it now that we’ve got new songs, but I’m forcing the other two guys to do it against their will at times [laughs].
Siljamäki: Change is actually good. Right now, we’re focusing on doing the world tour, giving people an amazing show, making all the club mixes, and stuff like that. But maybe by the time we’ve done too much of it, we’ll be thinking about it again. Let’s see… maybe then.
DJ LIFE: During that timeframe and lockdown, were you guys working together more or less?
DJ LIFE: Given your extensive discography, chock full of classic tunes, if you could only play three classic Above & Beyond songs in your sets for the rest of your career, which would you choose?
McGuinness: I think for me it would be “Sun & Moon,” “Satellite” in some form, and then maybe… “Northern Soul.”
Siljamäki: For me, it’s defnitely
McGuinness: Well, we weren’t allowed to be together, that was the law. Siljamäki: We were in different countries. It was really diffcult for so many people in so many ways… us included.
DJ LIFE: Did that give you more time to work on your solo projects or were those projects something you always had been dabbling in?
Siljamäki: From the very beginning, at the label, we were doing our own things, too. For example, I was doing some P.O.S tracks for Anjunabeats, Jono was working with Mike Koglin at the time, and Tony had a project with his brother. But I think the Above & Beyond thing took our whole focus for a very long time. I think in 2020 when we had the break, it was almost like a real refresher. I’m still returning from my burnout. We were all in different spaces and headspaces, so it was almost like somebody pressed the reset button. But it was kind of good, in a way, because now we’re coming back into it from a slightly different angle. We’ve had a lot more chances to experiment and re-understand things. I think it’s really good that we’ve had a chance to do the solo things because it’s given a really clear idea of our own identity. It’s really easy to lose yourself in the collective band thing, and I can at least say for me, it’s given me a better understanding of what I’m good at and what I’m not so good at. It’s also nice to hear what Tony and Jono have done because then I can really understand their thinking better, too.
DJ LIFE: Do you have a favorite track from the new album, or one that you hold closest to you or stands out?
McGuinness: I think for me, the one that I enjoy listening to the most is “Lullaby.” I had something to do with some parts of it, but largely speaking it’s a Jono and Zoë thing – and PROFF did a lot of work on the beats. I just think it’s a classic Above & Beyond closer. It’s a beautiful song in the way that it’s been imagined; it’s really clever. I obviously love all of the tracks and this is a really strong album, but I think that’s probably my favorite, at this point. What about you, Paav?
Siljamäki: For me, it’s “Blood From A Stone.” Like I said, it was this stuck track that was fnished in a way that I’d never even imagined – and I think it’s the best version of the song that we’ve ever had.
“We’re All We Need” because it’s one of my favorites, probably “Sun & Moon” because we probably should play it [laughs], and then “Sun In Your Eyes” because it represents something that works in clubs, oddly.
DJ LIFE: You guys have built quite the legacy with 25 years of your Anjunabeats label, Anjunadeep imprint, and newly launched Anjunachill. Let’s talk a bit about the label evolution, future plans, and what it all means to you…
McGuinness: Paavo started the label with Jono. When we decided we were just three people putting records in envelopes, using the money from one to cover another – it was very hand-to-mouth. I think the frst 15 years of the label’s life, it didn’t make much money, but we were able to support it with Above & Beyond and everything else. When you look at the label today, it’s a very thriving business with a lot of staff. It’s operating in a way that’s very true to the early days of Anjunabeats. We’ve always been community focused, we’ve always been music focused, we’ve always been artist focused – and I think we still are all of those things today. We never really got on the hit single train, and we don’t really worry about radio play, necessarily.
We’re looking for artists that can create their own audience – within the Anjuna family, initially, but beyond that, if possible. I think we’ve signed and released music from some extraordinary artists, and I’m really proud of every release we’ve put out. I think we manage to break even on most releases, which is not something that most record companies can claim. It’s hard these days and it’s getting harder.
ent now [laughs].
DJ LIFE: What are your thoughts on the industry today and where it’s headed?
Siljamäki: It seems like a really challenging time. I really understand – and as Tony just mentioned, the cost of living around the world – that it’s making it very, very diffcult for people to afford to go to shows… and to put on the shows. You’ve got a lot of artists now who are struggling to get started, and that’s also a real issue. Yeah, you can get signed, but can you make enough money to actually have this as a job? Then the next thing is, can you afford to go and play DJ gigs? You need a big enough fee to pay for the fights and hotels – and that’s not easy. It’s just a really challenging juncture in the world and hopefully something gets better for the youthful and younger people coming in. I think we’re in a slightly different situation because we’ve been doing it for such a long time, but that’s a different level, in a way. Obviously, us running our label, we see it too, and for everybody it’s a struggle right now.
Anjunafamily: A&B fans stretch out at MSG. rukes.com
Changes on Spotify [and DSPs] have made things a lot harder for us, but we are excited by all parts of what the label is doing – the events from Deep to Chill. We’re doing our own sync stuff now, some of which has been quite successful, which is great.
Siljamäki: I remember when we few from London to Singapore, during the early days of the internet. When we got there, people were singing the song that we had just played on the radio – and that was like a penny-drop moment for me. About how the internet is going to become this really big thing for community building. When I think about our Anjunabeats – and now Anjunadeep and Anjunachill – it’s almost like this community that we’ve been building now for 25 years. Some of these people are not young anymore, but there’s also a lot of young people coming in. So, it’s really nice to see how it’s broadened and become a multitude of things, all serving the same community of people. Like Tony was saying, there’s a lot of stuff happening, and I’ve become more aware of how interested people are about these things around the world. It’s an amazing thing to see, thinking about how we started playing to crowds of 200-500 people, and it’s a little differ-
DJ LIFE: Who inspires Above & Beyond these days?
McGuinness: Obviously, Jono and Paavo [laughs]. Riccardo Derio [of Alex Sonata & TheRio] from Italy and PROFF from Russia – they’re both very inspiring people. I tend to look for songwriters, when I listen to music and I’m not at work. So, I tend to listen to people like Billie Eilish who’s such an amazing singer/songwriter.
Siljamäki: Obviously, I have a studio set-up, so I’ve been able to work from wherever I am. For example, I was in the Caribbean during Mardi Gras, and I was able to hear local live dance music. It was actually one of those amazing moments for me where I really realized how similar what these people are dancing to are to electronic-dance music. Electronic-dance music obviously has its roots in a lot of African beats and how these different connections are there – from trance to classical, and club themes to African beats. That’s been a really cool thing for me because I’ve even be recreating some of the grooves and things with synths. I’ve been trying to experiment with lots of different kinds of things, and that’s been really inspiring to me because I get to sort of expand my brain outside of the electronic world.
DJ LIFE: Can you recall your biggest “pinch-me moment” as Above & Beyond?
McGuinness: I can remember when people started singing along to “Alone Tonight.” We were at Global Gathering in a tent with about 6,000 people, and “Alone Tonight” was the frst male vocal trance record that any of us had ever really heard. It was really sad, and consequently it was more of an experiment because we didn’t really know if it was gonna be accepted by people, who were so used to hearing people like Kate Cameron and beautiful singers like that. When I heard people singing along to “Alone Tonight” like their lives depended on it, I fgured we were onto something. At that time, our audience was largely male, so I think having a song that was in the right key for them, with very simple lyrics, made them feel like they really weren’t alone. It was a really lovely moment for me because that meant that the songs that I found very easy to write could be part of Above & Beyond, which was not a given when we started… at all. I actually didn’t really have a clear idea that I would be writing songs for Above & Beyond because I was remixing other people’s songs in the beginning, so I think that “Alone Tonight” at Global Gathering was a very important moment for me.
Siljamäki: For me, it didn’t really feel real when we had a guy sleeping outside of my studio fat when we were trying to fnish our remix for “What It Feels Like For A Girl” for Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s music video. That to me – still to this day – was the most bizarre thing. We were literally like music students. I think the studio was good , but where it was at, it isn’t necessarily what you’d imagine when you’re working on a Madonna record. I remember people thinking how we had such an amazing studio there [laughs]. And we’d just say: “Yeah, we do!”
By Jim Tremayne
Rothbury, Mich. –Nearly 50,000 fans flled the Michigan woods for Electric Forest this past June 19-22, as the 13th annual festival presented some of EDM’s top performers – DJs, bands and more.
Produced at the Double JJ Resort by Madison House Presents and Insomniac, Electric Forest ’25 presented Tiësto, Sara Landry, Lilly Palmer, Vintage Culture, Dombresky, Louis the Child, Barry Can’t Swim, Disclosure, Zeds Dead, Gordo, Loco Dice, Fisher and many more. It all looked like this:
Ready to Fly: Sub Focus drops breaks.
By DJ Hapa
Ever walked into a Cheesecake Factory, starving, only to freeze up at a 20-page menu packed with 250 items you might like?
That’s what DJing feels like today for many of us – only we’ve replaced menus with music libraries and swapped decisive action for endless scrolling.
As DJs, especially intermediate-level to advanced jocks, we’ve become digital hoarders. Our hard drives are overfowing with tens of thousands of MP3s, collected from record pools, promos, fle shares, and late-night download binges. We convince ourselves we need it all, “just in case.” But here’s the truth: having too much music is hurting your sets – and your ability to perform freely in the moment.
Most DJs don’t hoard because they’re disorganized; we hoard because of fear. Fear of not having that one request. Fear of being unprepared. Record-pool subscriptions give us “unlimited” downloads, which only fuels the fre. Why not download the clean, dirty, introclean, instrumental, and 12 remixes of the same track?
Add in cheap storage – 1TB internal drives or $60 externals – and suddenly you’re bringing 50,000 tracks to every gig... but only using 2-percent.
I’ve been guilty of it. I used to download everything. But when it came time to prep for a gig, I’d end up reusing the same 10GB of music. I’d lean on my Serato “History” or a recent crate, defaulting to songs already marked “blue” – meaning they’d been played before.
This kind of overload doesn’t just clutter your laptop – it clogs your creativity.
In the middle of a set, I’ve found myself scrolling endlessly through my “All” crate, sorted by BPM and key, hoping for inspiration. But all that choice made me indecisive. I picked safe songs. The energy dipped. I skipped over hidden gems I forgot I even had – often because they weren’t tagged or didn’t have hot cues.
Back in the vinyl days, I rolled into gigs with six to eight crates. That’s maybe 1,000 songs total. And still, I rarely played more than 200 in a night. Limitations forced decisiveness. Digital DJing removed those limits, but we never rewired the habit.
Another side effect of hoarding? Files you don’t need and don’t want!
I had dozens of duplicates or low-bitrate MP3s thanks to Napster days and friend’s libraries… I started deleting anything under 192 kbps. I also stopped downloading every version of a track and focused on what I actually need – usually the clean version, since most of my gigs today are weddings, corporate events, or family-friendly environments.
Tools like Lexicon, Mixo, Crate Hackers or CleanMyMac can help audit and clean your collection. But the bigger shift is mental, not technical. Curation > collection.
Right now, I’m in the middle of a full music detox. My performance laptop peaked at over 15,000 songs. My goal is to get that down to 10,000. To start, I built Smart Crates in Serato based on number of plays. One crate shows tracks played less than twice. Another: Tracks played two to 10 times.
This simple move gave me huge insight. I rediscovered incredible songs – like a Green Lantern remix of “Mary Jane” or a gem by my buddy Mike Taylor – that I’d completely forgotten. I started tagging these as “forgot” in the Grouping column and added them to a crate called exactly that.
I also offoaded hundreds of tracks to Dropbox. They’re archived, but no longer taking up space on my machine or in my brain. It’s like putting records in storage: They’re still yours – you just don’t need to carry them to every gig.
When prepping for gigs now, I return to the fundamentals. I ask myself:
- What’s the peak moment of this night?
- What are two or three songs I know I want to play?
- What’s the emotional journey of the night?
From there, I use what I call my Anchor Theory: I choose a few core tracks (my “anchors”) and build crates around them. I might name a crate “Levels 128,” if I’m centering around Avicii’s “Levels,” or “Kendrick 102” for “Not Like Us.” These anchor crates are purpose-built and tuned to the event, not just generic folders.
“When you limit yourself, you’re forced to focus. That’s where great sets are born.”
I also use custom tags like “vibe” for loungey, non-dancefoor tracks, or “UMG” for “Uptempo Multi-Generational” (think Pitbull, Whitney remixes, Calvin Harris). The goal: Create intentionally, not endlessly.
3 Habits Every DJ Should Build Now
If you’re ready to clear the clutter and elevate your sets, here are three habits to start:
1. Run a “Plays” Audit Use Smart Crates to reveal what you actually use. How many total tracks do you have? What percentage do you play regularly? Set a goal to trim and give yourself a deadline.
2. Prep for Each Gig Like It’s Unique Don’t recycle crates mindlessly. Take 30 minutes to build custom anchors. Push yourself beyond your usual 40 tracks. Fresh prep = fresh sets.
3. Buy a Smaller Hard Drive on Purpose
Yes, seriously. Use Dropbox as your “attic” and keep your laptop lean. When you limit yourself, you’re forced to focus. That’s where great sets are born.
You became a DJ because you love music – and because you love sharing it. Hoarding gets in the way of both. Let’s get back to curating. Let’s sharpen our instincts. Let’s trade the Cheesecake Factory menu for a chef’s tasting menu.
Because the best DJs don’t just have the music. They know when to play it.
DJ Hapa is a veteran DJ, educator, and founder of The DJ Coach. With over 25 years of experience behind the decks and more than two decades teaching DJs around the world, he’s on a mission to teach the world to DJ –smarter, cleaner, and more creatively.
By Jim Tremayne
Neustadt-Glewe, Germany
– The 22 nd annual Airbeat One Dance Festival – Germany’s largest EDM event – drew more than 200,000 fans to the local airfeld this past July 9-13 to see more than 250 DJ/artists perform on six stages. They included Armin van Buuren, Alok, Afrojack, Paul van Dyk, Hardwell, Oliver Heldens, Timmy Trumpet, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Steve Aoki. Under the 2025 theme of “Viva Españ a,” Airbeat One looked like this:
After a Hiatus from Music, Tracy Young Found Herself Again – Thanks to Cyndi Lauper
By Jim Tremayne
After enjoying a musical career that saw many highlights, some unprecedented in the dance-music community, Tracy Young had hit a bad rut.
Not only had she stepped away from music, but the Grammy-winning DJ/producer suffered several personal setbacks, including the deaths of her mother and stepfather. Additionally, she’d developed health and addiction issues. Life, both personal and professional, had gotten away from her.
But then, she says, she got an opportunity that changed her life, and possibly saved it: She was offered the DJ slot on Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour.” She accepted.
As Young told The Advocate this summer, “Being asked to be part of Cyndi’s farewell tour felt like a sign from the universe. I was in a deep emotional place after losing my mom, and this opportunity reignited my spirit. It reminded me why I fell in love with music in the frst place – connection, community, and joy.”
Additionally, it meant that, with such a high-profle tour looming, Young had to get her act together – and that meant a healthier approach to life and a rededication to music. It also put her back into the studio to create new tunes, like “ Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” and “I Know You, I Live You,” a pair of cover collabs with Niki Haris and Donna De Lory on her FEROSH imprint. There’s more to come.
After having played Lauper’s European leg of the tour earlier this year, Young’s back for the entire North American leg that will run until the end of August when it closes
with two L.A. shows at the legendary Hollywood Bowl. Life has defnitely gotten better.
It wasn’t that long ago – in early 2020, just before COVID changed everything – that Young received a Grammy in the “Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical” category for her mix of Madonna’s “I Rise .” It was the frst time a woman had ever won that category. Young also earned a nomination the following year with her remix of k.d. lang’s “Constant Craving.”
Aside from her busy career in the clubs, on the radio, and in the studio, Young had become a musical star in the LGBT+ community – for example, she’s been a regular spinner at Pride parties and other community events. And as she readily admits, her friendships with Madonna and her coterie opened plenty of doors for her. In fact, she DJed Madonna’s wedding in late 2000.
And now working such an extensive tour with Lauper –like Madonna, herself a community icon – Young is enjoying a musical rebirth and a bit of a reintroduction to an audience that’s always loved her. We caught up with Tracy Young, just as the Cyndi Lauper tour kicked off.
DJ LIFE: How did you get the gig for this Cyndi Lauper tour?
Tracy Young: I have had a relationship with Cyndi since 2002 or 2003 when I remixed her song “Shine.” She performed at Level nightclub [in Miami] that year for a party with 93.9 – and it was my birthday – and we have been in touch ever since. We worked on a lot of music. I remixed “Walk On By,” which was released on my Danceculture CD. I also remixed a song called “Hope” more recently
and I performed with her during New Years Eve with Ryan Seacrest in Times Square.
DJ LIFE: What are your responsibilities on the tour? When do you play each night and for how long?
Young: I was the opener for the European leg of the tour in February and my responsibilities were to uplift the crowd, so they are ready for her when she comes onstage! The fnal leg of the tour, which ends in Los Angeles, August 31st, is the same. I have the pleasure to open this leg for both Jake Wesley Rogers and Cyndi Lauper.
DJ LIFE: What kind of mood are you setting?
Young: The mood I’m setting is uplifting, defant, and celebratory. It’s about freedom, self-expression, and honoring the legacy of artists like Cyndi who’ve paved the way for so many of us. I want the crowd to feel empowered the moment they walk in – like they’re entering a space where they can be exactly who they are. My goal is to create a sonic journey that connects everyone in the room – before the frst lyric is even sung. By the time Cyndi hits the stage, the crowd is alive and emotionally wideopen. That’s the magic.
DJ LIFE: What kind of music are you playing and for what kind of crowd? What has the audience been like so far on the tour?
Young: I’m playing a high-energy set that fuses dance classics, remixed pop anthems, and deep tribal house with a few unexpected gems – even some nods to ’80s New Wave… all with that signature Tracy Young twist. I want the crowd to feel uplifted, ferce, free and excited for Cyndi because this is all about her! The audience
on this tour has been next level – a beautiful mix of generations, from fans who’ve loved Cyndi since day one to younger fans discovering her legacy for the frst time. They come dressed up, turned out, and ready to celebrate.
DJ LIFE: How are you varying your set? Are there some tunes that you’re playing every night? If so, what are they?
Young: Cyndi wants me to “do my thing.” She has given me full artistic freedom. That said, I’m defnitely varying my set from night to night depending on the vibe of the city and the energy of the crowd. Each audience brings its own favor, and I love tuning into that. Some nights feel more soulful and deep, others lean into high-energy house and classic throwbacks with a modern twist. That said, there are a few staples I’ve been playing every night – tracks that just hit and set the right tone, such as a Cyndi Lauper remix. After all, that’s who they have come to see.
DJ LIFE: How many of “your tunes” – tracks, edits, remixes –are you playing? Which ones?
Young: I defnitely like to weave my own productions into every set – it’s part of telling my story and connecting with the crowd on a deeper level. How many depends on the vibe and the energy in the room, but you can always count on hearing a few of my tunes in there. I have been playing a lot of Niki Haris and Donna De Lory productions we have done together. “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life,” “I Know You, I Live You,” and an even newer track called “WATR” and working on a song called “I’m Alive” with Kipper Jones. I collaborated with Jose Cortes, who has become a good friend over the years, and we did some exclusive fresh mixes of “Shine” and other tracks I am dropping. He also did a mix
of “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” and “I Know You, I Live You” I have been playing.
DJ LIFE: What’s your DJ-booth setup on stage every night?
Young: I am using two Pioneer DJ CDJ-3000 players and the Pioneer DJ DJM-900NXS2. That’s what most clubs use and what I have at home.
DJ LIFE: What should fans expect from this show?
Young: Fans should expect a night they’ll never forget This isn’t just a concert – it’s a full-on celebration of music, freedom, and legacy. I’m opening the night with a highenergy DJ set designed to lift you up, move you, and get you ready for what’s to come. Expect remixed classics, deep house grooves, and a few surprises that honor Cyndi’s iconic spirit while setting the tone for something fresh and electric. Then you’ve got Jake Wesley Rogers bringing his magic – emotional, theatrical, and completely captivating. And of course, Cyndi Lauper… what can I say? She’s a force . Watching her perform on this farewell tour is emotional, powerful, and historic. She’s giving it everything – the hits, the stories, the heart. Come dressed to express, come ready to dance, and come prepared to feel everything. This tour is a love letter to individuality, strength, and the power of music.
DJ LIFE: Let’s talk about your 2025 releases. I’m still hearing “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” everywhere. What went into that one with Niki Haris and Donna De Lory? What was the process in re-interpreting that classic?
Young: This was a track I had as an instrumental. It was an idea I had for another artist; however, when I sent it to Niki and Donna they immediately felt that was the track
they wanted to work on. There have been a lot of versions released of this timeless classic; however, I wanted to bring it to the LGBTQ+ community and create something that they may not have known. Niki and Donna were the missing ingredients of that recipe.
DJ LIFE: Same question for “Bye Girl Bye,” which is a more tribally track.
Young: When I produced “Bye Girl Bye,” I knew I wanted it to be bold, unapologetic, and tribal to the core. I approached it as a gay record – not just in sound, but in spirit. It’s an anthem for the dancefoor, for the girls, the gays, the rebels – anyone who’s ever had to walk away from something or someone and own their power in the process. Sonically, it’s heavy on drums and rhythm – I wanted it to feel primal, ferce, and driving. The tribal elements represent community and strength, something deeply rooted in queer dance culture. The vocals have attitude, and the energy is built to ignite a crowd. It’s a track that says, “I’m done with the drama, I’m reclaiming my space, and I’m dancing through it.” That’s the energy I wanted to capture. It’s not just a song – it’s a moment, one that lives loud and proud on the dancefoor.
DJ LIFE: Moving to the studio, do you have a regular music-making process? How do you usually work?
Young: My studio is my sanctuary – I call it my “man cave.” It’s where the magic happens. I’ve built it to be both creative and effcient, with everything I need to go from inspiration to fnal mix without leaving the space. I usually begin the idea in Ableton Live at my house, and then I move to my engineers studio. We make a good team.
DJ LIFE: Musically, what were your frst infuences? What made you want to pursue music?
Young: What really made me want to pursue music was how it made people feel . I saw early on that music could bring people together, break down barriers, and heal – especially on the dancefoor. I started out in radio, but once I touched turntables and saw the impact I could have on a room full of people, I knew this was what I was meant to do. It wasn’t about fame – it was about connection, storytelling, and creating spaces where people could feel free. That’s still what drives me today.
DJ LIFE: Aside from this tour, are you playing clubs these days? Any residencies or guest spots happening?
Young: I blocked a lot of my time for Cyndi Lauper and her tour, but when I come off the road in September I have some dates booked such as X Midtown in Atlanta for Atlanta Pride, Dante’s HiFi [in Miami], which is all-vinyl – I’ll be doing an exclusive vinyl set there. I have residencies in Fort Lauderdale at The Eagle at the moment and in my home town Washington, D.C., at a new space called Crush.
DJ LIFE: Which producer/remixers do you most admire and why?
Young: There are too many to mention, but some of them include CamelPhat, Black Coffee, Samm, and Hot Since 82 because they are doing something different. I still go to the innovators such as David Morales, Louie Vega, Harry Romero, Danny Tenaglia, etc. They will always be my favorites!
DJ LIFE: Which DJs do you admire and why?
Young: Danny Tenaglia, Louie Vega and David Morales.
They are masters of sound, production, and live it, breathe it, feel it!
DJ LIFE: How much did it mean to win the Grammy Award? What was that experience like for you?
Young: The moment they called my name, it felt like time stopped. I thought about all the years I spent behind the decks, in the studio, believing in the music even when the industry wasn’t always believing in me. I thought about the late nights, the risks, the sacrifces… and the people who supported me every step of the way. And, of course, I thought about Madonna – for trusting me with “I Rise,” a track with such a powerful message of resilience and strength.
DJ LIFE: What’s next for you?
Young: I’m always evolving, always creating. Right now, I’m focused on fnishing some exciting new music – original tracks and collaborations that I can’t wait to share. My latest release, “I Know You, I Live You” with Niki Haris and Donna De Lory on FEROSH Records, is just the beginning of a new chapter for me as both a producer and artist. I’m also continuing on this incredible journey with Cyndi Lauper’s farewell tour, which has been beyond inspiring – and I’m working on bringing more of that energy to dancefoors around the world. There are a few remix projects in the works, some international dates coming up, and plans to expand Ferosh as a platform for emerging talent, especially women and LGBTQ+ voices. For me, it’s always about pushing the boundaries, staying true to the music, and using my platform to lift others. The best is still to come – I’m just getting started.
“Honestly, I never play the same set twice – everything I do is tailored to the energy of the crowd, the city, the moment. But there are a few tracks I always keep close, just in case the vibe calls for them:”
Madonna: “ I Rise ” (Tracy Young Pride Remix)
This track changed my life. It’s powerful, emotional, and always connects, especially in rooms that need a reminder of resilience and unity.
Niki Haris & Donna Delory: “I Know You, I Live You”
It’s soulful, uplifting, and full of movement. My version with Niki Haris and Donna De Lory is a celebration of timeless music with a modern heartbeat.
Idina Menzel: “Defying Gravity” (Tracy Young Flying Monkeys Remix)
A classic that never fails. The message, the vocals, the joy – it’s a foor-fller and a feel-good anthem that brings everyone together.
J.T.
Ibiza, Spain – Believe it or not, not every Ibiza visitor is seeking a superclub for their vacation. Sure, there are plenty of all-night mega-venues on the Spanish party isle, all presenting the globe’s top jocks, but only a few modestly sized clubs are keeping up in the talent game. But that’s where Chinois Ibiza excels.
Situated on the White Island’s upmarket Marina Botafoc, Chinois Ibiza offers top-fight production, including a sharp Meyer Sound system and vibrant visuals. Housing only 1,000 revelers, the intimate club delivers world-class DJs and their branded parties. Resident events for the 2025 season include: Claptone presents The Masquerade; Bedouin presents SAGA; Kerri Chandler presents KAOZ Theory; Honey F#cking Dijon; Francis Mercier presents Sòley, and more. Here’s what the frst month of the season looked like at Chinois Ibiza:
By Jim Tremayne
It
By DJ Deets
First, a little history… in the 1960s, as the space race was in full swing and The Beatles were dominating the airwaves, a young engineering student named Patrick Quilter with a fascination for audio equipment set himself a bold challenge.
A family friend needed an amplifer for his bass guitar, but he could not fnd an amp that matched his desired specifcations within his budget of $250. Quilter came to the rescue and actually built his friend an amp from the ground up. This Quilter fellow was quite obviously a wiz.
Now, almost 60 years later, QSC is one of the most-trusted names in the proaudio space and has earned the respect of DJs, musicians, and sound engineers around the globe. As an example for our side of the market, the K Series powered loudspeakers are favorites in the world of mobile DJing.
New Systems: However, past glory can only travel so far. The loudspeaker landscape is changing, and the era of column-style speakers is here. These units have a subwoofer, but, instead of a single top box, they have several smaller speakers arranged in a column. This set-up has a couple of advantages when compared with the traditional “subs-and-tops” model.
Light & Compact: AlphaTheta’s DDJ-FLX2.
For instance, columns have superior sound dispersion, especially in the horizontal direction. Second, as the column usually shares control with the subwoofer, the system requires just a single input to provide signal to both the top and the sub. There’s also no need to adjust the crossover point or calibrate the top separately to account for the sub.
Third, they’re easier to set up and people like the way they look. Column-style systems have a sleek, low-profle appearance and take up less stage or foor space, with no need for speaker stands.
KC12: Borrowing DNA from the existing K Series, QSC makes a confdent entry into the column array market with the KC12 (“K Column”). This may be QSC’s frst foray into the column market, but it lands with the precision and power expected from the brand. Inside, there’s a 3,000-watt Class D amplifer, which pushes out a peak SPL of 132 dB. There’s a 12-inch subwoofer, two 4-inch midrange drivers, and a 1-inch high-frequency driver. A trademarked system called QSC LEAF (length-equalized acoustic fare) helps deliver even coverage across wide listening areas.
The system consists of three modular components: a subwoofer base, the mid/ high section, and a spacer column that slots between them. (In my estimation, the spacer is like a 21st century speaker pole.) In my testing, the assembly was easy, and each component clicked with satisfying solidity – no tools required.
The engineers at QSC tell me they specifcally designed the components to be able to withstand the punishment of frequent gigging – welcome to our world. With the system, there’s even an included bag for the top section and the spacer. As mentioned, I had the speaker set up single-handed in a matter of minutes.
There are two color choices: a traditional black fnish and a striking all-white option (mostly, for the precious wedding market). I’ll let you decide which color makes the most sense for you.
In Action: The KC12 also impressed me with its sound quality and performance. In my testing, I found the speakers had a good punch and crystal-clear vocals. Good sound, all the way.
There’s an integrated three-channel mixer on the subwoofer. Two of the three channels accept signal via combo XLR/ TRS inputs, and the third channel accepts either a headphone jack or a Bluetooth input. The Bluetooth feature can also be used to link up to four KC12s together.
There are also two XLR outputs – one is a simple loop-thru, while the other is post-mixer. There’s even a USB-C port for charging mobile devices. Further control can be achieved using a small text-only screen. The controls for the screen (a scroll wheel and two buttons) took some getting used to, but navigating the screen became easy once I got the hang of the layout.
Conclusions: The QSC KC12 raises the bar in the column-system game. At $2,199 street price for a single unit, this is certainly no impulse buy, but the KC12 offers premium sound quality in an attractive compact form factor. This would be a good choice for mobile DJs and live-sound companies who value the column-style aesthetic.
At around 60 pounds, it would also be a good choice for solo performers who need a loudspeaker that can be truly plug-and-play. Nice work, QSC.
By Mike Márquez
Back in 2020 while the world was locked in quarantine, I, like most DJs, frst decided to DJ on Instagram, and then settled on Twitch as my platform. However, living in NYC – the greatest city in the world – I decided to do it differently: I would stream outdoors and take advantage of Gotham’s unique surroundings.
I live-streamed outdoor DJ sets for over a year. And as amazing as that was, and even though I have video of me doing that, the one thing I do not have is my audio from those sets. Yes, I could record the audio from the DJ software, but my mic wasn’t piped into the fnal recording. And although there were some devices that could help with getting the audio to the stream, being outdoors, I did not need a mess of cables to do it.
Back in 2020, I was tired of complicated set-ups when I just wanted to record my DJ sets. And unless I was using a bigger soundcard, I knew I couldn’t stream live with pro-level audio. Those were just the breaks.
Fast forward to 2025 and streaming is still a thing, as are real DJ gigs – thank God! That said, now there’s a device that could record my club sets, work as a soundcard when I stream, and do both in pristine audio – no, I didn’t scream to get my hands on it for a review, I howled!
Designed with DJs in mind, the Howler Recorder + Streamer combines the functionality of a recorder and an audio interface inside a well-built housing that fts in your palm, making it easier than ever to capture your performances and broadcast them live with the minimum amount of fuss.
The Howler is a small, super-sturdy box that truly packs serious functionality into its portable form factor. With its all-metal casing, it feels like a professional piece of kit –think of a small version of the old Serato boxes – built to withstand the demands of a DJ’s life on the go. On the top, it features a large record button, a battery meter and a level meter. The device is built to be simple and intuitive, perfect for use in the often-crazy environment of the DJ booth or at home.
On one side, you’ll fnd a USB-C port, RCA inputs, and a mode switch that toggles between recording and streaming – we will get to that switch in a minute. The other side houses the power button, a micro SD slot with a preinstalled 64GB microSD card, and a pair of through RCA
outputs to run it through to a pair of speakers if you are at home. This thoughtful layout ensures you have all the connections you need at your fngertips, no matter the situation.
The USB-C port serves several key purposes:
Charging. The Howler charges fully in a few hours and offers an impressive 30 hours of battery life. That is beyond enough to last through multiple DJ sets.
Audio Interface. When plugged into a laptop, tablet, or phone, the Howler acts as a 2-in audio interface. This means you can stream live with clean, high-quality audio directly into your streaming software, such as OBS, Streamlabs, etc., delivering 24bit 48kHz lossless audio for pristine sound.
File Transfer. After recording on the included microSD card, simply connect the Howler to your computer via USB-C. It appears as an external drive, allowing you to drag and drop your recordings without removing the microSD card. Everything about transferring fles is designed to be easy.
For all Android and newer iPhone models (iPhone 15 and later), the Howler works seamlessly with a standard USB-C cable. However, for iPhone users with models prior to the iPhone 15 (or basically those with the lightning ports), the Howler requires a camera connection kit to ensure proper signal fow. The company offers an affordable version of this adapter, which acts like Apple’s Camera Connection Kit, but at a lower price.
If you plan to use the Howler with a phone or tablet and want to keep your devices charged during long sessions, there is a special 2-in-1 USB-C cable available. This cable simultaneously powers your mobile device and trickle charges the Howler, so you never run out of juice mid-set. But in my testing, there has been no need. The battery life is superb.
Getting started with the Howler is straightforward – literally taking seconds to set up. To power on, press the but-
ton on the side. The battery meter will indicate the current charge, and the level meter shows your audio input levels.
To record your set, select either WAV or MP3 format using the switch, then press the large record button on top. The button fashes to indicate recording is in progress. Press it again to stop recording, and your audio is saved to the microSD card in 24bit 48kHz lossless quality, if WAV is selected.
On-the-Go: Howler travels easy for many apps.
(Although the Howler comes included with a 64GB microSD card, I highly recommend going higher to a 256GB card, especially since WAV fles take up a lot of space. According to Howler, there is no reason why cards larger than 256GB won’t work. They do suggest to reformat your SD card to FAT32 for 64GB and larger cards.)
When streaming, simply toggle the mode switch to “stream.” This disables recording and sends live audio directly through the USB-C connection to your streaming device. Your streaming software will recognize the Howler as an audio input, delivering clean, professional sound without fuss.
One bonus here is for those DJs that love making routine videos. You can use the Howler with your native camera/ video app on your phone. This allows for uploading DJ videos to YouTube and skipping the painstaking process of syncing music to video. You can edit your videos as normal without a sync. To do this, just set the Howler to livestream mode and connect to your phone, launch your camera app and make a video. The audio in the video comes from Howler similar to a wireless microphone would.
Why Every DJ Will Love the Howler:
Superior 2-In Audio Interface for DJs. Many DJs appreciate the convenience of a 2-in audio interface to get high-quality audio into their computers or mobile devices. The Howler excels here, offering a rugged, portable solution that fts neatly alongside your DJ gear. Unlike larger, production-focused audio interfaces that are bulky and over-featured, the Howler is designed specifcally for the DJ’s lifestyle — compact, durable, and exceptionally easy to use.
Two popular alternatives in this space have been the Evermix box and the iRig Stream. While both served similar purposes, the Howler stands out with its better all-metallic build quality and unique features tailored to DJs who want to both record high quality, and stream easily.
Recording from Single-Output DJ Gear. A common challenge DJs face is recording sets when their equipment only has a single audio output. The Howler solves this by providing through RCA outputs, allowing you to plug it into the record output of your DJ gear and simultaneously send audio to the venue’s sound system. This means you can capture your entire set without interrupting the party. Think of it as a modern upgrade from the old days when
DJs would use cassette decks to tape their parties. Now, you can record hours of your performance in high quality, 24bit 48kHz lossless audio, then edit and share the recordings later.
Seamless DJ Livestreaming Set-Up. If you livestream your DJ sets, the Howler is a game-changer. Many DJs use one laptop for DJing software (like rekordbox) and another for streaming software (like OBS). The Howler connects to the streaming laptop via USB-C and appears as a clean audio input source. This set-up simplifes routing your DJ audio and microphone chat directly into your livestream without complicated audio routing or additional hardware.
While the Howler offers excellent functionality, there are a couple of minor limitations to be aware of:
No simultaneous recording and streaming. Remember when I mentioned that Mode switch earlier? You have to choose either record (WAV, MP3) or stream mode. Yes, if you’re streaming through a laptop, you can still record your set in your streaming software as a workaround. The company suggests chaining two Howlers after each other by its THRU output, one for recording, and one for live streaming. But, currently, Howler’s tech is unable to live-stream and record at the same time.
Extra cables for certain iPhones. If you use a Lightning iPhone, you’ll need the camera connection kit adapter, which is an additional purchase. This is a minor inconvenience, but more of Apple’s fault than anyone else since it is standard for most older Apple audio devices.
Price point: At $219, the Howler is certainly not the cheapest option on the market. However, this price includes a valuable package: the Howler itself, a free 64GB microSD card, free shipping, and a two-year product warranty. Considering it’s a boutique product made in small runs with quality components and a very specifc, powerful DJ-focused feature set, the overall value proposition is very strong and the price is justifed given the comprehensive offering.
The Howler Recorder + Streamer solves one of the biggest issues DJs face: clean, high-quality audio without a messy setup. Its rugged, all-metallic build, long battery life, and versatile connectivity make it a standout choice for DJs who want a simple yet powerful audio interface and recorder for both home use and on-the-go.
As a radio DJ, club DJ, and a former streaming DJ, I can wholeheartedly say, whether you’re recording from singleoutput DJ gear, streaming live to your fans, or simply want a hassle-free way to capture your performances anywhere, this “little box” howls to get your attention.
By Jim Tremayne
Virginia Beach, Va. – After catching the DJ bug as a teen, Larry Dotterer has parlayed that initial interest into a career that’s taken him from clubland to the upper-tier of the mobile world. Additionally, he’s become a part of the industry’s top gear brand.
Working with the ultra-busy Astro Event Company and spinning gigs all over Virginia’s Hampton Roads area, DJ Larry D has settled into a work routine that makes both he and his clients very happy – 90-percent of his gigs are weddings. It’s a great niche, considering Astro worked over 3,500 events in 2024.
We caught up with Dotterer, 54, to discuss his DJ career and his rather major affliations.
DJ LIFE: Where did you grow up and what got you frst interested in music?
Dotterer: I was born in Bristol, Pa., and lived there until I was 12. As a kid, I spent countless weekends camped out next to my giant boombox, recording local radio-DJ mix shows. That’s where I frst discovered what DJs really do. Their talent for mixing, blending, and scratching songs completely amazed me. Recognizing my growing passion, my grandparents gifted me two turntables and a mixer for my 15th birthday and I was instantly hooked. That birthday gift put me on a path that would shape the rest of my life, and I’m forever grateful for it.
DJ LIFE: How did your DJing start?
Dotterer: After years of practicing with my frst set of gear, I decided to take the leap and apply for a job with a professional DJ company. That company was called AMC Disc Jockeys in Virginia Beach. I was hired right away and became the resident DJ at an after-hours nightclub called Oasis. I was only 16, spinning in a 21-plus club from 2 to 6 a.m. The hours were intense, but for me, it was a dream come true. Oasis had the best sound and lighting systems in town. It was there that I really began to polish my mixing skills and learn how to read and move a crowd.
DJ LIFE: Astro Event Company has a unique history. Can you give us a quick rundown on how the company was founded?
Dotterer: In 1985, Greg Chappell launched the business under the name Greg Jay Productions. Greg also worked as a radio personality on the local top-40 station, Z104, and had a lot of support from the station to promote the business. Within a year or so, the company rebranded as Astro Disc Jockeys after Greg teamed up with me and the rest of our partners, who each had additional talents that helped manage and build the company. Over nearly four decades, Astro DJs, now known as Astro Event Company, has transformed from not only a local DJ service, but also a rental and full-scale event production company. On some busy dates, we have over 150 employees out in the feld,
On Mic: Zerambo has become a frequent public speaker.
including DJs, coordinators, AV techs, 360/photo booth attendants, rental delivery teams, casino dealers, game show hosts, warehouse staff and more.
DJ LIFE: How many events do you do each year?
Dotterer: Currently, I personally DJ around 70 events each year. In 2024, Astro Event Company provided services for over 3,500 events. It’s a true team effort, and I’m proud to be part of such a hardworking and passionate group of event professionals.
DJ LIFE: What’s your percentage breakdown of events?
Dotterer: For the frst 15 years of my career, I focused entirely on DJing in nightclubs. It was my sole source of income, and I did very well with it. Over time, I began to take on mobile events like school dances, birthdays, and mitzvahs. Over the past decade, my focus has shifted to weddings, and they now make up about 90-percent of my events, with the remaining 10-percent being corporate functions.
DJ LIFE: What’s the gig breakdown for Astro Event Company
Dotterer: For Astro, 2024 was a busy year! Our DJs rocked over 500 bar events, over 100 college events, over 845 corporate events, over 100 military events, over 700 weddings, over 700 private parties, and we donated services to over 300 charity events. It’s awesome to see how many different types of events we get to be a part of and we’re extremely grateful for every single one.
DJ LIFE: What makes your company unique within the market? What is its range of services?
Dotterer: What really makes our company stand out in our area is our longevity, innovation, and versatility. With nearly 40 years of experience, we’ve built strong relationships and earned the trust of thousands of clients and fellow industry professionals by consistently delivering highquality entertainment.
What sets us apart is our full-service approach. We offer
a wide range of services from professional DJs and photo booths to casino nights, uplighting, silent discos, interactive game shows, and full event rentals. This means our clients can plan their entire event with one reliable team that knows how to bring everything together seamlessly.
One thing I personally love about Astro is that we take care of our people. We offer stable salaries, benefts, and full-time perks, like paid vacations, health care, and retirement plans. I’m incredibly proud of the name Astro and everything it stands for and our entire team feels the same way. Everyone here works hard to keep this company thriving, and it shows in every event we’re part of.
DJ LIFE: What’s unique about your market area?
Dotterer: With fve military branches based in our area, military families make up a signifcant part of our clientele. Since relocations happen often, there’s a constant fow of new residents with something to celebrate. That’s a big part of why our services are in high demand year-round.
DJ LIFE: How does your company market itself?
Dotterer: We participate in many bridal shows and proudly host “Uniquely Yours,” which is the largest and longest-running bridal show in the area. However, our most effective marketing comes from the strong relationships we’ve built with local venues, coordinators, and fellow event professionals who consistently recommend our services. In fact, some venues and planners even include us directly in their packages. It’s a win-win: they trust us to deliver reliable, professional service, and we get to work with partners who uphold the same high standards.
DJ LIFE: How has the business changed in the past few years? What have been its challenges?
Dotterer: During the 2007 recession, Astro recognized the need to adapt in order to remain strong and fexible in a changing market. That’s when we expanded our offerings to include photo booths, uplighting, casino tables with professional dealers, and interactive game show systems with live hosts — and we never looked back. Even during the challenges of COVID, we stayed committed to our team, proudly retaining our staff throughout. We used that time strategically to restructure and reinvest in the business, ultimately expanding into event rentals and evolving Astro into a full-service event company.
DJ LIFE: What DJ gear set-up do you usually use?
Dotterer: These days, I DJ using either a Pioneer DJ DDJFLX10 or a Pioneer DJ DDJ-REV7, depending on the vibe of the event. For a special touch, I personally designed and built a custom DJ booth that’s truly one of a kind. It’s built to transport all my gear, including speakers and lighting safely and effciently, plus it looks sleek and elegant for weddings. It also features a built-in TV, perfect for clients who want to showcase slideshows, monograms, or logos during their event.
DJ LIFE: What events do you most enjoy and why?
Dotterer: I absolutely love playing weddings more than any other events. To me, weddings feel like a real-life fairytale. They are kind of like being at Disneyland, where everyone is super-polite and genuinely excited to be there. The guests and staff all share that same energy,
coming together to make sure the bride and groom have the most amazing celebration possible. The whole atmosphere is flled with positivity and fun. Compared to other events, weddings are especially rewarding because the clients genuinely recognize and appreciate all the hard work and care that goes into making their day truly perfect.
DJ LIFE: What have been the three hottest songs for you so far in 2025?
Dotterer: In 2025? That’s a tough one. When it comes to weddings, classic throwbacks still dominate the playlists. Newer songs don’t often make the cut. I can only think of a few recent songs that have crossed over and become wedding favorites, like Chappell Roan’s “Hot To Go” and “Pink Pony Club,” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
DJ LIFE: You also do work for AlphaTheta/Pioneer DJ – how long have you been doing that and what is the range of your responsibilities?
Dotterer: I started working for AlphaTheta/Pioneer DJ in 2013 as just a demonstrator explaining gear to attendees at various trade shows. Now, in addition to working their booth at trade shows, I also work as a consultant for future product development. Of all the accomplishments in my very long career, the one I am most proud of is to be on this team! This company is so passionate about their products, the DJ culture and the DJ community. What blows me away is that every year, at our post-NAMM roundtable meeting, even after all this time, I still get chills when the meeting kicks off. It’s a very powerful reminder of how honored and lucky I am to be part of a brand I admire so much.
DJ LIFE: Where do you see yourself and your company in fve years?
Dotterer: Honestly, in about fve years, I hope to sell my shares in the company, so I can partially retire while still playing a few select events. I would also like to continue building my relationship with AlphaTheta/Pioneer DJ and possibly one day play a bigger role in the company. My biggest dream is to buy and manage my own event venue here in Virginia. I look forward to seeing what opportunities the future will bring.
By Jordan St. Jacques
In this day and age, it still astounds me that so many DJs don’t give SEO the attention that it deserves. Even in this new age of AI, your website and how it ranks is still the quickest path forward to booking more business… period.
Of course, it’s not cheap; it costs money if you’re going to hire a professional. If you’re a single-system operator, that expense might not be worth the spend.
Fortunately, there’s nothing stopping you from doing it yourself, especially for those of you who know how to work a computer.
Should you be one of those people, here’s a refresher checklist on some important aspects. Here’s the beginners SEO checklist from Jordan St Jacques:
Google Analytics – The beginning of it all, GA allows you to measure the visitor activity on your website. Tip: Use the Google Site Kit plug-in if you’re using a WordPress site… it makes for setting this up extremely easy.
Google Search Console – Going hand-in-hand with GA is the Google Search Console. Simply allow the Google Site Kit WP plug-in to set up your GSC profle, and wait for the emails to come right into your inbox when something needs to be fxed. GSC ensures that Google sees all your website content, and that nothing is getting skipped over due to any website errors that you might have.
SEO Metrics Tools (Various) – GA and GSC are great (and free!) tools, but occasionally they don’t go far enough for those of you who take your website seriously. Some other tools I use are as follows;
Auditzy – Extended per-page measurements of Core Web Vitals
Nozzle – Insanely robust ranking measurement tool
Google Business Profle. GBP is crucial for SEO because it signifcantly enhances local search visibility.
By providing a comprehensive and verifed business listing directly within Google Search and Maps, GBP allows businesses to appear prominently in the “local pack” – the top three business listings displayed for location-based queries. This direct presence offers a critical advantage, as it includes essential information like address, hours, phone number, website, and customer reviews, all of which are key ranking factors for local SEO. An optimized GBP not only improves organic search rankings by signaling relevance and proximity to Google, but also drives direct customer engagement through calls, website visits, and directions, making it an indispensable tool for attracting local customers and increasing foot traffc or service inquiries.
Meta Values – These values, particularly meta titles and meta descriptions, are critical for SEO despite not being direct ranking factors in the same way content quality or backlinks are. While search engines like Google may sometimes rewrite meta descriptions, these values serve as your website’s “organic ad copy” in search results. A well-crafted meta title provides a concise, keyword-rich summary that infuences whether a user clicks on your link. Similarly, an engaging meta
description entices users to choose your result over competitors by accurately previewing the page’s content and sometimes including a call to action. Optimizing these meta values directly impacts click-through rate (CTR), which is a crucial indirect ranking signal. A higher CTR signals to search engines that your page is highly relevant and valuable to users, potentially leading to improved rankings. Beyond SERP snippets, other meta tags like the robots meta tag (controlling crawling and indexing) and social media meta tags (infuencing how content appears when shared) also play a vital role in overall SEO performance and online visibility.
Backlinks – They’re a foundational element of SEO, acting as “votes of confdence” from one website to another. When a reputable and relevant website links to your content, it signals to search engines like Google that your page is trustworthy, authoritative, and valuable. This is rooted in Google’s original PageRank algorithm, which weighted the number and quality of links pointing to a page. While the algorithm has evolved, high-quality backlinks remain a critical ranking factor, contributing signifcantly to a website’s overall authority and credibility. They not only help search engines discover and index your content more effciently, but also drive referral traffc, enhance brand visibility, and ultimately lead to improved search engine rankings and organic traffc.
“Google Business Profle is crucial for SEO because it signifcantly enhances local search visibility.”
and even spot technical weaknesses on competitor sites that you can leverage. Ultimately, competitor analysis helps you refne your own SEO strategy, prioritize efforts, and allocate resources effectively to gain a competitive edge in search rankings, attract more qualifed traffc, and achieve your business goals.
Structured Data – Often referred to as Schema Markup, it’s vital for SEO because it provides explicit clues to search engines about the meaning and context of your website’s content. While it’s not a direct-ranking factor, it signifcantly enhances how your content is displayed in search results, making it eligible for “rich results” like star ratings, product prices, FAQs, or event details directly within the SERP. These visually appealing and informative snippets stand out, leading to a higher click-through rate (CTR). By helping search engines understand your content more deeply and categorize it accurately, structured data also improves the overall relevance of your pages for specifc user queries, contributing to better visibility and a more compelling user experience, especially as search evolves towards entity-based and AI-powered results.
Keywords – Fundamental to SEO because they represent the bridge between what users are searching for and the content you provide. By conducting thorough keyword research, businesses can identify the specifc words and phrases their target audience uses when looking for products, services, or information online. Integrating these relevant keywords naturally into website content, meta titles, descriptions, and headings signals to search engines the topic and relevance of your pages. This helps search algorithms match your content with user queries, increasing the likelihood of ranking higher in search results and attracting qualifed organic traffc. In essence, keywords enable search engines to understand what your content is about and connect it to the right audience, making them indispensable for online visibility and attracting potential customers.
Competitors – Competitor analysis is paramount for SEO because it provides actionable insights into what’s working (and not working) for others in your industry. By meticulously examining the SEO strategies of top-ranking competitors – including their target keywords, content themes, backlink profles, technical SEO, and user experience – you can identify opportunities to outperform them. This intelligence allows you to uncover untapped keyword niches, discover content gaps, identify high-quality link-building prospects,
Internal Linking – Crucial, yet often overlooked aspect of SEO, playing a vital role in both user experience and search-engine optimization. Strategically placed internal links connect related pages within your own website, helping search engines discover new content, understand the architecture of your site, and gauge the relative importance of different pages. By passing “link equity” (or “PageRank”) from strong, authoritative pages to weaker or newer ones, internal links help distribute ranking power throughout your site, boosting the SEO performance of less visible content. Furthermore, a well-structured internal linking strategy improves user navigation, encouraging visitors to explore more of your website, which can reduce bounce rates and increase time on site – both positive signals for search engine rankings. In essence, internal links create a logical fow for both users and crawlers, ultimately contributing to better indexing, improved rankings, and enhanced user engagement.
LLM/AI
Google Overviews – AI Overviews (formerly SGE) are increasingly important for SEO because they fundamentally change how users interact with search results by providing AI-generated summaries directly at the top of the SERP, often above traditional organic listings. While this can lead to “zero-click” searches where users fnd their answer within the overview, it also presents a new opportunity for increased brand visibility. If your content is cited as a source within an AI Overview, even without a direct click, it establishes your brand as an authority and trusted resource, potentially lead(continued on page 60)
ing to future direct searches or increased brand recognition. Therefore, optimizing for AI Overviews requires a strategic shift towards creating comprehensive, authoritative, well-structured, and easily digestible content that directly answers user queries, making it more likely for Google’s AI to select and feature your information.
Google Knowledge Panel – This is vital for SEO because it offers a prominent, consolidated display of information about an entity (like a business, person, or organization) directly within the search engine results page (SERP). Appearing typically on the right side of desktop searches or near the top on mobile, these panels instantly provide users with key details, including descriptions, images, contact information, social profles, and reviews. This prime real estate signifcantly boosts visibility and brand credibility, acting as a “Google endorsement” that instills trust in potential customers. By offering quick answers and rich information at a glance, Knowledge Panels can infuence click-through rates, enhance user experience, and reinforce a brand’s authority, even if a user doesn’t directly click through to your website. Optimizing for a Knowledge Panel involves ensuring consistent and accurate information across the web, utilizing structured data (Schema Markup), and building a strong overall online presence.
“When a reputable and relevant website links to your content, it signals to search engines, like Google, that your page is trustworthy, authoritative, and valuable.”
to as “implied links,” suggesting that if people are talking about your brand, it’s likely a trusted entity. This organic buzz enhances your brand’s overall digital footprint, helps Google connect your brand to specifc entities in its Knowledge Graph, and ultimately infuences rankings by showing that your brand is respected and talked about, which are key indicators of expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).
SEO AI Error Tools (Various) – Both of the following tools help you identify errors on your website, and provide recommendations on fxes:
Screpy
Alli AI
Authority – In the context of SEO, signifes a website’s perceived trustworthiness, credibility, and expertise by search engines like Google. While there isn’t one single “authority score” Google uses, various signals contribute to it, most notably the quality and quantity of backlinks from other reputable websites. A highauthority website is more likely to rank well for competitive keywords because search engines view it as a reliable source of information. This trust is built over time through consistently producing high-quality, valuable content that earns natural endorsements (backlinks) from other authoritative sites. Ultimately, establishing strong authority helps a website stand out in a crowded digital landscape, leading to higher rankings, increased organic traffc, and a stronger brand presence.
Mentions – Even when unlinked, these are increasingly vital for SEO because they act as strong signals of a brand’s authority, credibility, and relevance to search engines. Google’s algorithms are sophisticated enough to understand that when a brand is frequently discussed across various online platforms – including social media, news sites, blogs, and forums – it signifes genuine recognition and infuence within its industry. These mentions contribute to what’s often referred
Named Entity Recognition – NER is increasingly important for SEO because it enables search engines to move beyond simple keyword matching and truly understand the meaning, context, and relationships between concepts on a webpage. By identifying and categorizing “named entities” such as people, organizations, locations, dates, and products, NER allows search engines to build a richer, more accurate representation of your content. This deep understanding helps Google to better match your content to complex user queries, even those that don’t contain exact keywords, and to display more relevant rich results or AI Overviews. Optimizing for NER means creating comprehensive, well-structured content that clearly defnes these entities and their connections, ultimately leading to improved topical authority, better visibility in semantic search, and a stronger alignment with user intent.
Prompt Reverse Engineering – In the context of SEO, this is becoming increasingly important with the rise of AI-powered search results and generative AI content creation. While not a traditional SEO tactic like link building or keyword research, it involves analyzing successful AI-generated content (like Google’s AI Overviews) or high-performing AI-written articles to deduce the underlying prompts that produced them. This “reverse engineering” helps SEOs understand the specifc instructions, tones, and structures that lead to optimal AI output that aligns with search engine preferences. By identifying the characteristics of prompts that yield authoritative, comprehensive, and semantically rich content, marketers can then craft more effective prompts for their own AI-assisted content creation, ensuring their output is better optimized for search visibility and user intent, especially in a landscape heavily infuenced by large language models.
In Closing: Of course, these aspects are just a starting point, and real SEO goes even further than the above. Still, every DJ needs to have a baseline, and getting into these topics will serve you well. There are no shortcuts to great SEO, but if you take the time (or hire the right people), you’ll build a solid foundation to book more business.
Jordan St. Jacques is the President/Lead Digital Marketer at Digitera.Interactive in Ottawa, Ont., Canada.
Greenfeld Productions, LLC has been in business since 2012 and is a Washington DC based events and entertainment business ofering a variety of services to include DJ’s, lighting and sound, events planning, comedians, entertainment consulting, and so much more There is no event too large or too small for Greenfeld Productions to handle
Our latest ofering includes a whole branding side of the entertainment business. We will be a featured exhibitor at the DJX Show 2025 in Atlantic City where we will provide an opportunity for DJ’s of all skills and experience levels an opportunity to perform at the show, record their sets (audio and video), create EPKs, etc… This will be a true takeaway service for show attendees to help grow their brand.
AlphaTheta has released Chordcat, a new type of portable groovebox that helps producers instantly fnd new inspiration for chord progressions and enables them to quickly capture and develop their ideas. Chordcat includes an 8-track sequencer for recording and playing back multiple performances, and there are 145 instrument sounds, 16 drum sounds, and advanced music arrangement tools to experiment with. All of these features give the user the freedom to craft not only chord progressions, but also melodies and rhythms, exactly the way they envision them. Wherever inspiration strikes – at home, in the studio, or on the go – Chordcat helps users transform their ideas into music. From its intuitive chord creation to versatile sound design, this groovebox is their ultimate tool for unlocking creative potential and fueling their musical imagination.
AlphaTheta Corp. 2050 W 190th St #109 Torrance, CA 90504 (424) 488-0480 www.alphatheta.com
KRK has introduced the Kreate Series Studio Monitors, a versatile solution for producers, podcasters and content-creators. The Kreate monitors have a variety of key features that stand out among other monitors in their class. This includes wireless audio streaming capabilities with a pairable Bluetooth audio input alongside balanced and unbalanced analog inputs for fexible connectivity. The monitors also have a universal voltage, switchmode power supply for seamless global operations. Available in three sizes – 3- 5-, 8-inch – these entry-level active, two-way studio reference monitors feature a wide bandwidth, boundary and tuning EQs, new transducer designs, and Class D amplifcation. The Kreate Series also features useful acoustic boundary correction and tuning EQ combinations to help minimize and correct acoustic environment problems and dial in the voicing to meet specifc application needs.
KRK/Gibson Pro Audio 309 Plus Park Blvd Nashville, TN 37217 (800) 444-2766 www. krkmusic.com
Serato has opened the public beta for Serato DJ Pro 4.0 and Serato DJ Lite 4.0, marking the biggest update yet to the software’s library interface. Developed with direct input from Serato’s global community of DJs, Serato DJ 4.0’s all-new features streamline crate management, while unlocking a more intuitive and customizable library experience. New features include: advanced crate searching and fltering tools that let you search for and sort crates, as well as show what crates a particular track is in; users can create a shortcut to favorite or most-used crates at the top of your crate list for easy access; assigning colors to crates in the library for increased visual organization; essential crate information now conveniently located at the bottom of the library interface; assigning a customizable rating scale of emojis for a fun, personalized touch; and integration of right-click features that allows quick and easy access to crate actions and options.
Serato 80 Greys Ave. Auckland, 1010 New Zealand (800) 515-8268 www.serato.com
Image-Line has released FL Studio 2025, the latest update to the DAW. The update introduces Loop Starter, a new tool for generating instant musical ideas directly in the Channel Rack; Gopher, an AI assistant for quick in-DAW guidance; and Dynamic Mixer Tracks, a long-requested feature from the FL Studio community. Other features and updates include: a new multi-stage compression mastering plug-in for loud yet transparent results; seven instruments and 29 effects from FL Studio Mobile, now in desktop – can be used stacked or solo; VFX Script plug-in for turning Patcher setups into complex audio applications; FL Studio Remote Support seamlessly integrates with your workfow, replacing IL Remote with enhanced remote control capabilities; FLEX Enhancements includes a free 150 preset FLEX Pack – Melodic Techno.
Image-Line NV Franklin Rooseveltlaan 348 D B-9000 Gent Belgium 32 9 281 15 33 www.image-line.com
Avid has released Pro Tools 2025.6, a pivotal update that includes new Splice integration, MIDI improvements, AI-driven speech-to-text, an expanded ARA ecosystem to streamline vocal production, more tightly integrated ADR and reconform workfows, and a new in-app dashboard.
Splice, the world’s largest royalty-free sample library, expands Pro Tools’ ability to tap into virtually any sound a musician or production team needs. Splice is now built directly into Pro Tools, putting millions of loops, FX, and one-shots at the fngertips of music creators – enabling users to discover, audition, and drop in high-quality sounds, without ever having to leave Pro Tools. Creators can drag audio clips from the Pro Tools timeline directly into Splice’s AI-powered “Search with Sound” panel to match samples by rhythm, key and tempo – eliminating app switching and guesswork. Users can preview the samples and then seamlessly drag them back into their session. Pro Tools users can access over 2,500 free samples, with the option to unlock the full library via a monthly paid subscription.
Avid 75 Network Dr. Burlington, MA 01803 (978) 640-3000 www.avid.com
V-MODA has released the M-100 PRO headphones for DJs. The new fagship in the long-running M-100 series for professional DJs, the M-100 PRO features ceramic-coated drivers and bass ducts for crystal-clear reproduction of kick drums, hi-hats, and other sounds that defne the groove. The closed-back design and comfortable memory foam ear pads provide a wide, punchy soundstage and excellent sound isolation while performing in loud clubs and on booming festival stages. Swivel ear cups extend the comfort, enabling seamless switching between stereo monitoring and one-ear listening for monitoring other sources and engaging with audiences. Detachable coil and straight cables are included to suit different workfows and gear setups. The foldable design and included carrying pouch take up minimal space while traveling, and the ear cups are now detachable, allowing users to purchase replacements as needed.
V-Moda/Roland 5100 S. Eastern Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90040 (323) 890-3700 www.roland.com
With the WildBar 16, GLP presents a powerful and versatile LED tilt bar designed for use in demanding environments and outdoor events. Equipped with 16 powerful 40-watt RGBL LEDs, the WildBar 16 delivers an output of 10,300 lumens. Its motorized 200-degree tilt and variable zoom from 4-degrees to 44-degrees allow for an exceptional range of lighting effects – from sharp beams to broad washes. Thanks to its IP65 certifcation, the WildBar 16 withstands rain, dust, and dirt, making it perfect for festivals, open-air concerts, and other demanding environments. Despite its robust construction, it remains surprisingly lightweight at just 50.5 pounds, ensuring easy handling. For maximum control fexibility, the WildBar 16 supports DMX, RDM, ArtNet, sACN, and the GLP iQ.Mesh system, offering multi-patch functionality for precise media server pixel control.
GLP German Light Products Inc. 16170 Stagg St. Van Nuys, CA 91406 (818) 767-8899 www.glp.de
Adding to its Pro-Fit series of cases, Mixware brand Headliner has released four new hard-shell EVA cases for popular DJ and and music production equipment. These products are designed to meet the needs of DJs, musicians, and creators who demand functionality, durability, and style. Each case offers lightweight durability, snug-ft foam interiors, and additional features for protection and portability. Key features include: lightweight molded EVA shell with a water-resistant polyester exterior; molded interior with compartments for power supplies; egg-crate foam under the lid for added knob protection; and comfortable carrying handle, with some models including a removable shoulder strap. New models include cases for the Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX4, AlphaTheta DDJGRV6, Headliner R4, and Ableton Move. Headliner/Mixware 11070 Fleetwood St., Unit F Sun Valley, CA 91352 (818) 578-4030 www.mixware.net
Canada’s Yorkville Sound is excited to announce the next generation of its ac claimed Paraline series with four new powered enclosures. Designed for ground stack and fown confgurations, these new speakers offer essential features and high output in compact cabinets. The full-range PSA26 and PSA28 combine Tom Danley’s patented Paraline Lens and Synergy Horn technologies to minimize comb fltering while maximizing effciency and directivity. They also feature lightweight neodymium drivers, tone shaping controls, onboard limiting, and integrated rigging hardware. The PSA15S and PSA18S subwoofers are designed to pair perfectly with the top box es, and offer 3,000 watts of peak power with your choice of 15- or 18-inch woofers. All four new models are IP54 rated so they are ideal for outdoor use and can provide powerful sound reinforcement that is easy to transport and set up in any venue. Yorkville Sound USA 4625 Witmer Industrial Estates Niagara Falls, NY 14305 (716) 297-2920 www.yorkville.com
From Immersive Projection Mapping To Live Vjing and LED Screen Visuals — We Transform Events Into Unforgettable Visual Experiences.
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ADJ Lighting has introduced the EVS3 FLEX45 LED Video Panel, a display solution engineered for adaptability, vibrant image quality, and seamless integration into dynamic visual applications. With the ability to fex up to a 45-degree concave or convex shape, the EVS3 FLEX45 offers new creative three-dimensional possibilities for event producers to project hi-res video for immersive environments and more. Eight panels can seamlessly form a cylindrical shape, while multiple panels may be arranged into a fowing, wave-like structure. This adaptability enables seamless, uninterrupted visuals without noticeable panel edges. Equipped with a 3.91mm pixel pitch using Kinglight Copper 3-in-1 SMD 2121 LEDs , the 15.6-pound system ensures remarkable clarity and brightness, with a pixel density of 65,536 per square meter ADJ 6122 S. Eastern Ave Los Angeles, CA 90040 (323) 316-9722 www.adj.com
PreSonus has launched a new special edition line of StudioLive Digital Mixers featuring powerful DSP, scalable I/O with Milancertifed networking and fexible routing, and a complete software suite for recording and mixing. The all-new StudioLive Series III SE Digital Mixers offer a solution for anyone looking for fexible live sound and recording solutions. The mixers are available in three models: SE 16, 24, and 32 and include powerful new features. FlexMixes and Buses offer a nearly infnite mix confguration equipped with an arsenal of studio quality audio processors and effects. The mixers’ Integrated Recording offers 64x64 bidirectional audio interface that makes recording individual channels and routing to plug-in racks effortless. Flexible Routing offers any of four available sources to be patched to any channel and switched at the press of a button. With Customized Confgurations and User Settings, users can create a custom fader layout with the user layer for fast access to critical channels.
PreSonus 18011 Grand Bay Court Baton Rouge, LA 70809 (800) 856-9801 www.presonus.com
Waves Audio has released ILLUGEN, an AI-powered text-to-sound engine desktop app that enables users to turn text prompts into original, never-before-heard custom-generated audio. ILLUGEN transforms a creative idea into one-of-a-kind one-shots, loops and special FX, ready for your musical creation – no presets, no recycled samples, just pure sound innovation. ILLUGEN is not a sample library or a collection of pre-made sounds; instead, it enables users to generate original audio through imaginative text prompts. By simply typing in a scene, mood or sonic concept, ILLUGEN creates entirely original, unprecedented sonic creations. Unlike traditional sample packs and services that provide pre-made instruments and sounds, ILLUGEN generates fresh, original audio from your own descriptions, offering a new frontier in creative sound design. ILLUGEN is available in three convenient subscription tiers: Basic, Extended and PRO.
Waves Audio 2800 Merchant Dr Knoxville, TN 37912 (865) 909-9200 www.waves.com
“Check On Me”
Grant Nelson
Swing City
The Swing City head honcho is back with another superb garage/house crossover that only Nelson seems to be able to pull off. Skippy beats, an ultra-groovy synth line and vocal snippets all combine for one of the better tracks of the summer.
– Curtis Zack
“Release Me” (Booker T Remix)
Pauline Henry
Diamond In Venus
On her latest release, 1990s star Henry shows that class is permanent. Her wicked vocal is matched by Booker T, who dons his soulful hat once again, providing a great synth- and pianodriven interpretation.
– Curtis Zack
“Outer Level”
Aaron Smith feat. Alicia Howard Gods Of Madness Recordings
Oooh-wee! The pump, the groove, the vocals, the hook, the remixes – they all serve pure house. Graced by Howard’s impressive ever-shifting vocal range, the soulful original shines bright, while the “Ezel Extended Mix” drips with soul, keeping it smooth and sweet. Tony Arzadon’s mix injects a dose of higher-energy bump ‘n grind. Vocal House lovers, this one’s an A-plus-plus.
– Joe Berinato
“Another Holiday”
Michael Gray feat. Sian-Lee
Sultra
This frst single to be taken from Gray’s next solo album – due in 2026 – is exactly as you would expect… uplifting modern disco, with divine strings and an awesome vocal from Sian-Lee. Another frstrate outing from one of house music’s hottest producers.
– Curtis Zack
“We Can Do It”
Nermin & Pete Simpson
Bassline Records
Quality house is the order of the day on this latest release on Victor Simonelli’s Bassline imprint. U.K. talent Pete Simpson teams up with Austrian producer Nermin for a strong tune with a great message.
– Curtis Zack
“Don’t Let Go”
Robin S & TheFREEZproject Quantize Recordings
Joining forces with Atlanta’s TheFREEZproject, house legend Robin S shows her love for disco-house by adding her signature vocal to this peak-hour classic. With its twangy bassline, shuffing rhythm, and big brass, it’s got enough strut to make Studio 54 jealous. On the “Super Disco Mix,” DJ Spen collabs with Chicago wiz DJ Emmaculate to keep the ’70s vibe jumpin’. Em even does a solo “Synthesized House Mix” that hits like Captain Sky met Giorgio Moroder at a Cerrone afterparty. It’s slick, it’s shiny, and it slaps.
– Joe Berinato
“Esta Loca” Rasmus Faber Farplane
The Swedish producer Faber is back for the summer and delivering a feel-good Latin number that’ll get some hips swinging. With its Brazilian percussion and Latino piano hooks, this cries out for the sun and a carnival atmosphere.
– Curtis Zack
“Affrmations” (Dennis Ferrer Extended Remix)
Girls of the Internet feat. Anelisa Lamola Classic Music Company/Defected Already fexin’ at No. 1 on Traxsource… house heavyweight Ferrer joins the GOTI collective and South African soul queen Lamola with a mix on a track that’s drenched in funky soul and deep, dope goodness. With its chunky, fowing rhythm, the tune’s horn stabs hit just right and the synths pop like champagne at a rooftop party. Just one mix – one and done for dancefoor perfection.
– Joe Berinato
“Running”
Dombresky & Chaney feat. KLP Insomniac
Breezy and bouncy with a rubbery bassline, this bright, poppy effort brings plenty of sunshine, but delivers enough disco-y punch for the dancefoor. Hooky with FX, this one offers a satisfying breakdown to boot.
– Jim Tremayne
“Trust Issues” Risk Assessment
Househead London
DJs get a defnite boogie wonderland on this latest Risk Assessment release. Once again delving into the archives, this is a funky and stompin’ record already making a stir on the cooler U.K. dancefoors.
– Curtis Zack
Lobo/Bass
