Word: music
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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...gigs when he is on campus, he too has moved away from house socials and towards Harvard’s periphery. “I think in general parties are forced to cater to the lowest common denominator—meaning that DJs are playing typical music that’s on anyone’s iPod. People get used to this, and expect this, and it creates a vicious cycle pretty fast,” he wrote. “I’ve definitely refused many gigs ’cause it simply wasn?...
When asked about his beginnings as a DJ, Van Middlesworth said, “...it started out as a technical thing; I tolerated the music as a result.” In terms of the DJing techniques he uses, VanMiddlesworth said, “I like beatmatching, creating my own beats by taking loops from one song and vocals from another, layering them over each other... You can use the looping and extracting chunks of a file to make smoother transitions between songs...
Harvard DJs, however, can easily get away with doing the bare minimum. “The trick is that people already like the music,” said Kane Hsieh ’12. “Don’t touch the music. As long as you transition well, keep the beat smooth and play the right songs, people will love it.” In the same vein, Hsieh insists that being a DJ in a college setting does not require the complicated set of skills that artists like VanMiddlesworth treasure. “Anyone that puts...
Beyond his lack of interest in technical flourishes, Hsieh also differs from many DJs in his lack of interest in broad musical knowledge. “I feel like the Top 40 is the Top 40 because it’s fun to listen to. I don’t consider myself a musical connoisseur,” he said. For most DJs, however, negotiating the divide between the Top 40 songs that most partiers want to hear and the music that they themselves most enjoy presents a challenging and ultimately defining conundrum...
...obligation to pander a good reason to avoid Harvard’s conventional party scene. “I DJed at a bunch of places around campus at the end of sophomore year and just realized that to do that you have to stay on top of what music people are listening to. I wasn’t very good at that and didn’t want to spend so much time listening to T-Pain,” said VanMiddlesworth. Now, though, “I basically have retreated to the [Harvard] Advocate and my bedroom...