For as long as I can remember I have always had a thing for music. My earliest memories of my venture into music was when I was about four or five years old. I had somehow managed to figure out that my cassette player would actually record if I made a noise loud enough. It didn’t take long for me to get the idea in my head that I needed to start a band. Given that this band only consisted of myself and the only instrument I knew how to play, a bowl upside down and some pencils banging on it. It would be this thing for music that would later develop into a passion.
After I had grown up some, actually going to school and all, I again decided to give the music route another shot. I must be quite honest, I didn’t try to get into my elementary school band for my love of music. I got into the band because you got out of class earlier than the rest of the kids. I decided to give a go at the clarinet. Thank god I dropped it. I don’t know what I’d do to myself if I had to look up to Kenny G as a role model and musical inspiration.
Fast forward again and this time I started trying to do remixes of songs in Junior High. Now, the only musical equipment I had was a dual cassette and CD player. Not really what you would call high tech, but then again I didn’t care. It was more about taking two seperate songs and in some form and way, turning them into something different. This had faded pretty fast as I soon realized that I would need much more to do what my creativity wanted to do.
It wouldn’t be until I was out of High School that I would give another try at music making. A friend of mine had introduced me to a music program called Acid. I messed around with it here and there, but never really put much thought into what I was doing and what I wanted to accomplish. Then one day I was watching one of my favorite Animes of all time (Dragonball Z) and saw an advertisement for a program that was being shown on cartoon network called Toonami. At the time Dragonball Z was the biggest draw for the program, but soon they added more and more anime to the mix. This music video mix was very electronic centric and featured sound clips and video clips from all the shows. I remember the title of this song was called “Space is the Place”. That is when inspiration hit me and I then fired up Acid and grabbed some DBZ voice samples and began plugging away.
That was the first step into many more original endeavors. After awhile I completely forgot about my DBZ mix and the other small tracks I made for fun until one day when I was hanging out with a good friend of mine. He deffinetely was digging the songs I made and encouraged me to continue creating new music. Having a full time job and going to college at the time did not leave much room for sitting down thinking musically. It wouldn’t be until after college and his failed attempt at a live trace/rock band that we would collaborate together under our project name Trancendance.
Trancendance was a grueling week of editing old songs and finishing up one song that I was just starting. Most nights had no end or beginning, but merely a continuation of what we were doing the night before. Many nights did I pass out next to the monitors while my other two friends were working on their music as well. At the end of the week it all paid off. We created several demo CDs and passed them out to clubs in the downtown Portland area. Several places were very interested, but ultimately we were able to land a solid gig at one club. Unfortunately during this time I had some personal issues and had to leave the group. We were all still good friends, but I just wasn’t in the show with them. At the end we all went our separate ways and Trancendance was no more.
I still had a burning desire to start DJing and I did get some pointers from my friend Tom (who at the time was the only DJ of the three of us), but I was pretty much starting from scratch. After Aram moved out of the country to be with his family, I was left equipment less. I wanted so badly to pick up some turntables, but just wasn’t able to throw down the cash for them. I finally decided that I needed something and hoped on ebay to find some used equipment that I could learn on. From the start I recorded everything I mixed so I could go back and critique myself on everything I did. For a long time it just didn’t seem like I was getting any better and I was becoming increasingly discouraged.
It finally hit me that I was trying too hard and not having enough fun, so I told myself to just have fun and that I needed to “control the music”. I was focusing mostly on House for constant beats that weren’t so heavy on harmonies. I finally ditched the genre and decided to full bore start mixing my favorite Trance songs. Not only was I having a blast, but I was also noticing after a while that I was getting better. Beat matching faster than I was before and ultimately getting the songs to flow better.
I constantly strive for perfection and mesaure myself against my favorite professional DJs even to this day. I have the mind that I am always going to learn and ultimately would like to compare to some of the greats like Paul Oakenfold and DJ Shadow. In my eyes these guys are top notch as they are not limited to one genre and their styles are their own. My idea is that music is a great love that will never die within myself and I will continue to pursue creative projects involving music. I will never ever stop having fun.