DJ Dens plays in the digitec offices
28.6.2017
Translation: machine translated
We have a DJ in the house. He not only shows us the latest tools for disc jockeys, but also explains how a mix is created. An insight into the life of a DJ and a report from a Friday of which we can say: Nice.
"You have to come right now if you want to see the set-up," video blogger Stephanie Tresch tells me. Why? Dominic Kaelin, representative of the DJ equipment brand Reloop, and DJ Dens, artist at the brand in question, have only just arrived. You don't need a stressed journalist for the welcome interview. I want to see the set-up of the mixing desk and all the stuff for the purpose of photography.
Because the main problem with writing about sound is that I can produce pages and pages of text and still not do the music justice. That's why this is primarily a video project. But what I don't realise yet is that the video blogger, the DJ, the agent, the product manager and the journalist are in for a really good time.
"They'll be ready for the camera in about two minutes," Stephanie tells me.
Good, battery into the camera and off to the meeting room, which internally goes by the name "Piratesque". DJ Dens is busy making the final preparations for his in-house DJ set. He is currently on tour with Reloop to show off their products. From a marketing point of view, this makes perfect sense. After all, the likelihood of meeting someone at a shop like digitec who also happens to be a DJ and knows what can be done with the devices and then also produces good mixes is quite small. Therefore: DJ Dens goes on tour, we get a DJ in the house. Nice.
Small setup, big noise
The setup is manageable and much smaller than expected. The centrepiece is the 2013 MacBook Pro customised by Dens - real name Dennis Eckermann - whose shiny apple is covered with the DJ's logo. But the man from Bielefeld is currently busy carrying out functional tests. Turning turntables, pushing knobs, pressing midi controllers. Fits. Everything works. The first sounds are coming out of the speakers. At the moment, however, we are still a long way from a DJ set. But the sound check already sounds solid.
Here we go. DJ Dens is mixing.
The music comes from a PA system that Dominic and Dens have brought with them in a Ford Mondeo. "It's a bit cramped in the car, but we can fit a whole DJ setup plus speakers in the estate," says Dominic.
"If I'm going to show you the son of a bitch mix, I'm going to do it properly"
After the DJ set, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask DJ Dens a few questions. Because when we have a DJ in the house, we want to make the most of the opportunity. You can see the result in the video above. Dens explains how he assembles his DJ equipment, what matters to him and, because he is an artist at Reloop, why he chose the brand.
After that, the official part of the presentation is over. But we still have time. Smoke break? Smoke break! Outside, Product Manager Fabio Endrich talks about a mix he heard the day before. Dens immediately talks about his favourite stylistic elements: "I like to mix songs where the cue points are words that appear in both songs". A mix could be based on the word "coffee", for example. The word appears in both tracks and when the singer from song 1 pronounces the word "coffee", DJ Dens cuts into the other track at the point where the word "coffee" also appears.
A DJ has to know a lot of music. Really a lot. DJ Dens has obviously spent hours, if not days, poring over his music collection and music in general, headphones on, looking for tracks with a certain word. However, the word is not quite PG, which gives the whole thing a humorous flavour.
Fabio Endrich mentions the mix, which is informally called "Hurensohn-Mix". In it, DJ Dens mixes tracks in which the eponymous word appears.
This is what we want to hear
Back to the piratesque.
I don't know what we were expecting, but the title delivers exactly what it promises. What also happens, however, is that DJ Dens no longer seems focussed from one moment to the next. Where he always looked seriously at his turntables and mixer during the DJ set - he tries to look at his laptop as little as possible as he thinks it distracts him from his audience - he now grins broadly.
DJ Dens is playing. This is no longer a DJ session, but a man who is having a great time. We laugh along with him. The mix is so exaggeratedly vulgar that there is no other option. The decision is made to make a video of the mix.
Good times.
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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