In the DJ culture, a resident DJ or local DJ is a DJ who is employed by a dance club, unlike a guest artist, who works as freelancer and therefore play at several clubs. Obtaining a residency implies being part of the salaried staff of a company.
In the early ages of clubbing, when the first "underground" nightclubs were formed in the 70s and 80s fixed hiring was the most common practice of signing DJs, so they were all residents. [1] The culture of electronic music and DJing emerged in the large industrialized cities of the Anglo-Saxon countries, the United Kingdom and the United States. Later, the DJ profession became popular and diversified, and changed the paradigm to a form of freelance employment; [1]
"By the early 1990s the network of commercial raves and rave-style clubs of macropists had already created a closed circuit of guest DJs".[ by whom? ] [2] who traveled all over the country, and therefore the number of resident DJs was reduced.
At the end of the 90s, the figure of the resident DJ re-emerged, and has remained that way to this day. However, the current role of the resident varies slightly from the traditional role, [3] as a new concept emerged: the "guest resident", [2] meaning several "guest" residents who take turns regularly at a club for a while. One example was Paul Oakenfold, who got a temporary contract and moved to Liverpool for a few months in 1997 to play on Saturdays at Cream.[ citation needed ]
A resident DJ, also known as a local DJ, is a DJ who is an employee of a club, unlike a guest artist, who works as freelancer and therefore plays at several clubs.[ citation needed ] Obtaining a residency implies being part of the salaried staff of a company. Unlike a guest, the resident almost inevitably has to conform to certain musical styles dictated by the hiring company. [4] Instead, the resident's sponsorship rests with the club itself, which will probably means greater investment in marketing than if it worked independently.[ citation needed ]
The residency is considered the best way of pragmatic learning for a novice DJ: [3] everything they learned at home is now put into practice with an audience in front of them, forcing them to engage in a "conversation" with the audience. [5]
Generally, a resident DJ tends to obtain less fame and income than a guest, although there are notable exceptions to this; examples of successful residents are Sandrien from Trouw (Amsterdam), or Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann from Berghain (Berlin). [1]
By blurring the line that separates residence from invitation, greater work flexibility is allowed for both DJs and clubs. This is how it has been maintained throughout the 21st century.[ citation needed ]
The roles of a resident DJ include the following:
According to reporter A. Arango of Vice magazine:[ better source needed ]
Residences not only benefit DJs, but help clubs to forge their sound and give them an identity. That's why when we listen to "Resident of Amnesia Ibiza" or "Resident of Concrete Paris" completely different sounds come to mind. Some residences become so legendary that they end up defining the future of the clubs. For example, it is impossible to talk about Paradise Garage without mentioning the role that Larry Levan played, or to talk about Fabric without mentioning the curatorial work of Craig Richards.
— Alejandro Arango, Vice (2017)
In a broader sense, local DJs are also somewhat responsible for the local music scene in their city, region or country. A more local approach to electronic music leads to the creation of new sounds and trends. M. Barnes describes it for DJ Broadcast:
With a greater focus on touring, there is less chance for local influences to permeate the global electronic music culture. It seems that we are moving towards a homogenized and generic "sound" that avoids any cultural influences from specific localities. As a pillar of a club, the DJ can help cultivate local sounds, from subtle nuances of style to complete reinvention of genres such as Tuki music of Venezuela. Developed by local DJs and producers, who fused hard house and techno with local influences, it emerged as its own subgenre in the early 2000s.
— Marcus Barnes, DJ Broadcast (2013)
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs, club DJs, mobile DJs, and turntablists. Originally, the "disc" in "disc jockey" referred to shellac and later vinyl records, but nowadays DJ is used as an all-encompassing term to also describe persons who mix music from other recording media such as cassettes, CDs or digital audio files on a CDJ, controller, or even a laptop. DJs may adopt the title "DJ" in front of their real names, adopted pseudonyms, or stage names.
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's Black gay underground club culture and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, House became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat.
Jungle is a genre of electronic music that developed out of the UK rave scene and Jamaican sound system culture in the 1990s. Emerging from breakbeat hardcore, the style is characterised by rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples, and synthesised effects, combined with the deep basslines, melodies, and vocal samples found in dub, reggae and dancehall, as well as hip hop and funk. Many producers frequently sampled the "Amen break" or other breakbeats from funk and jazz recordings. Jungle was a direct precursor to the drum and bass genre which emerged in the mid-1990s.
Lawrence Philpot, known as Larry Levan, was an American DJ best known for his decade-long residency at the New York City night club Paradise Garage, which has been described as the prototype of the modern dance club. He developed a cult following who referred to his sets as "Saturday Mass". Influential post-disco DJ François Kevorkian credits Levan with introducing the dub aesthetic into dance music. Along with Kevorkian, Levan experimented with drum machines and synthesizers in his productions and live sets, ushering in an electronic, post-disco sound that presaged the ascendence of house music. He DJ'd at Club Zanzibar in the 1980s as well, home to the Jersey Sound brand of deep house or garage house.
Cream was a music promotion trio that originally began hosting a weekly house music club night (1992–2002) at the now-demolished Nation nightclub in Wolstenholme Square in Liverpool. It ran in this format from October 1992 to June 2002.
Carl Cox is a British house and techno club DJ, radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Frankston, Victoria, Australia.
Balearic beat, also known as Balearic house, Balearic, Ibiza house or Ibizan chillout, is an eclectic blend of DJ-led dance music that emerged in the mid-1980s. It later became the name of a more specific style of electronic dance/house music that was popular into the mid-1990s. Balearic beat was named for its popularity among European nightclub and beach rave patrons on the Balearic island of Ibiza, a popular tourist destination. Some dance music compilations referred to it as "the sound of Ibiza", even though many other, more aggressive and upbeat forms of dance music could be heard on the island, such as Balearic trance.
Sven Väth is a German DJ and electronic music producer. He is a three-time DJ Awards winner, and his career in electronic music spans over 30 years. The single "Electrica Salsa" with OFF launched his career in 1986. Referred to as "Papa Sven" by his fans, Sven Väth has made his mark in the music community by being one of Germany's pop stars in the nineties, running two night clubs in Germany, and starting his own company Cocoon, which encompasses a booking agency, record label, and a branch for events. He is recognized for cultivating the underground electronic music scene not just in Germany but in Ibiza as well, with his own night at Amnesia for eighteen years and after-parties at creative locations around the island. Sven Väth is a major proponent of vinyl, using only two decks and a mixer for his extensive DJ sets, his longest set having been 30 hours.
Robert Ferguson, known professionally as Fergie, is a Northern Irish DJ and electronic music artist from Larne. He has been an internationally touring DJ and a music producer for over 20 years. He presented a radio show on BBC Radio 1 for over four years while recording 13 Essential Mixes for the station. He was featured in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll seven consecutive years and currently holds the record for the highest new entry since the poll began, achieved when he was voted 8th in 2000.
Renaissance is a British electronic dance music club brand and record label. Renaissance was started by Geoff Oakes at Venue 44 in Mansfield, England in March 1992. Renaissance was Geoff Oakes' antidote to the sci-fi imagery and dressed down clubbers of the 'rave' scene. Early resident DJs at Renaissance were Ian Ossia, Sasha, John Digweed and Nigel Dawson; other DJs with long-time attachments include Dave Seaman, Nick Warren, David Morales, Anthony Pappa and Hernán Cattáneo.
Harvey William Bassett, known by his stage name, DJ Harvey is an English DJ. He was an early exponent of the US disco/garage/house sound in the UK.
Monika Kruse is a German techno DJ/producer and record label owner, with a career in electronic music spanning more than 25 years. She played an influential role in the early Munich rave scene during the early 1990s and was among the first wave of German techno artists to tour internationally, before moving to Berlin at the end of the decade where she founded her Terminal M record label.
Steven Howlett, aka DJ Froggy, was an English DJ who worked as a 'beatmixer DJ' on the British club music scene in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He was a member of the Soul Mafia group of DJs which included Robbie Vincent, Greg Edwards, Jeff Young and Chris Hill.
Defected Records, or simply Defected, is a British independent record label specialising in house music recordings, compilation albums, events, publishing, artist bookings and management.
Morten Breum, better known by his artist name Morten, is a Danish DJ and producer, together with David Guetta he developed and created the sound known as “future rave”.
Alfredo Fiorito is an Argentinian DJ. He has been credited as the "Father of the Balearic beat".
Mladen Solomun, better known under his stage name Solomun, is a Bosnian-German DJ. He is a four-time DJ Awards winner for Best Producer, Best DJ and Best Melodic House DJ.
The Martinez Brothers are a duo of disc jockeys, music producers, and remixers from The Bronx, New York known for their long-term residencies at clubs in Ibiza. In 2014, they were named as DJs of the year by Mixmag, who wrote that "no other DJ or DJ duo encapsulates house music in 2014 like the crown princes of DC10."
Hannah Alicia Smith is a British house music DJ and producer better known by her stage name Hannah Wants, and a former professional footballer.
DJing is the act of playing existing recorded music for a live audience.
«Para principios de los años 90 la red de raves comerciales y clubs estilo rave de macropistas ya había creado un circuito cerrado de DJs invitados»