17 July 6-12, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Getting a Sound Education The DJ School champi- ons Dallas’ next genera- tion of turntablists. BY DESIREE GUTIERREZ J ulio Rivera was 19 years old when he first felt the electricity. It was 1999, and he was in the Camuy River caves in Puerto Rico. Drum and bass music vibrated off the walls. Las Cuevas De Camuy, a rave held inside the national park, was underway. Lady Miss Kier, former member of the disbanded dance music group Deee-Lite, was behind the deck. She entranced Rivera. Then, British jungle and drum and bass DJ Jumpin Jack Frost took the stage. With each electrifying beat Jumpin Jack Frost spun, Rivera’s heart rate rose. The fast breaks and heavy bass sped his racing heart up to 180 beats per minute. As his heart rate soared, visions of himself behind the deck flashed before his eyes. Jumpin Jack Frost unknowingly inspired Rivera’s journey to becoming Dallas’ Shaman of Universal Lan- guage, aka DJ S.O.U.L.Jah. “The combination of those two perfor- mances and the amazing backdrop of rain- forests and a cave, I really couldn’t have wished for a better beginning of this jour- ney,” Rivera says. After relocating to Dallas in 2001, Rivera walked into Brook Mays Music Co. and came face to face with salesman and scratch master DJ Ivan G. That day, DJ Ivan G sold Rivera $3,000 worth of DJ equipment in- cluding a Pioneer DJ DJM-600 Pro DJ Mixer. That night, Ivan G spent eight hours teaching Rivera how to use it all. Eighteen years later, Rivera visited Pro Rehearsal Studios. Gilbert Najera, known artistically as DJ Titan, had built a DJ studio intended for streaming. The studio was equipped with 10 DJ setups, including five Technics turntables and five Pioneer turnta- bles. As the two beheld the room, a light bulb came on. “Why don’t we start a DJ school?” Rivera asked Najera. By Feb. 15, 2019, Rivera and Najera began teaching the inaugural class of The DJ School. (The school recently learned that Pro Rehearsal Studios will be closing at the end of July and is looking to relocate “ASAP.”) “It’s kind of a full circle of 23 years of hard work and tears and everything in between,” Rivera says. The DJ School is a one-stop shop for DJ knowledge and equipment. It offers an in- troductory six-week DJ course titled DJ School 101. A secondary course, DJ School 102, builds on the primary course’s founda- tion. Private lessons are available, and the school functions as a retailer for all the equipment necessary to practice the art- form. “The DJ School is my life’s work summed up into a room,” Najera says. In a span of two decades, Rivera and Na- jera have each accumulated accolades. Rivera has performed alongside artists Erykah Badu, Too $hort, Rita Ora, The Temptations and more. On June 10, he opened for Duran Duran at American Air- lines Center. He has been recognized by the Observer, D Magazine and Modern Luxury Dallas for his artistry. His footprint is all over Dallas. “You name a club, and I’ve either held a residency there, thrown a party there or just DJed there,” he says. Najera’s career has taken him from Dallas to Los Angeles, New York, Denver, Miami and Cancun. The internationally known DJ’s story is rooted in Dallas history. Najera held a 15-year residency at the now defunct Lizard Lounge. The former nightclub was lauded by the Observer in 2020 as a “rite of passage for anyone in DFW who could claim to have some form of edge,” and became a tastemaker for goth and elec- tronic and dance music. Najera was a cor- nerstone for more than half of the DJ-driven nightclub’s life span. “Titan is one of the best DJs in the United States, and 100% the best drum and bass DJ in the United States, hands down,” Rivera says. “There’s a reason why he still gets booked to open for every drum and bass party here in Dallas.” Rivera, who transitioned from a drum and bass DJ to an open-format DJ, says many students at The DJ School aspire to be house, techno and electronic music DJs. “Dallas is a huge house music city in the world, not in Texas, not in the United States, but in the world, and it’s simply because of the club It’ll Do,” he says. The 21-and-up club is a Dallas anchor that prides itself on selectivity and hosting the best of the best electronic dance music DJs. The club has become an epicenter for aspiring house DJs. Rivera and Najera are turning those aspirations into reality. The school’s curriculum is founded on the DJs’ experiences working in Dallas. It’s 20-plus years of gigs and hard work com- pressed into a six-week course. The DJs pour from their wells of wisdom and experi- ence to create a well-rounded academy. T he DJ School, in Room 15 of Pro Re- hearsal Studios, has velvet black walls. Three decks valued at well over $10,000 sit on a center island. The com- ponents’ names and descriptions read like something found in the cockpit of a modern jet fighter: two Technics Quartz SL- 1200MK2 vinyl turntables with a Pioneer DJM250MK2 two-channel mixer, a Pioneer DJ XDJ-RX3 two-channel all-in-one DJ controller performance system, two Pioneer DJ CDJ-3000 professional media players and a Pioneer DJ DJM-A9 DJ Mixer. “To learn from The DJ School, you have to get through the fundamentals,” Najera says. Within five minutes of the first class, stu- dents are placing vinyl on the Technics turn- tables. The instructors teach the fundamentals of precision, including hand placement. Najera lights up with enthusiasm as stu- dents learn the definitions of a bar, four beats and phrase. They eagerly listen for the rhythm as they tap their fingers and bob their heads. A quarter of the way into the first class, stu- dents are using Chris Karns’ “Visual Vinyl Vol- ume 2” for beat juggling, switching between two decks. The goal is to cue the song using baby scratches on the first deck, then switch- ing the crossfader to transition to the second deck and letting the song play at the same time. The audience shouldn’t hear the switch. By the end of the first class, students can cue a song, make a baby scratch, beat juggle and participate in a call and response, where one student performs a series of baby scratches and another student mimics it. Tokens of wisdom such as how to prop- erly wear headphones, the purpose of the headphones, how to listen to a room, what different song edits mean and their purpose and different DJ subcultures are sprinkled throughout the lesson. In the following sessions, students learn about RekordBox DJ software, where to find music and how to properly obtain it. As the course advances, students learn how to blend music “on the one,” fade and mix music. Joel Salazar, Dallas DJ Leo J, says a rise in technology has pushed aspiring DJs to forgo formal training. In the 10 years he has been a DJ, technology has advanced greatly. Now, Rekordbox and DJ software brand Serato have mobile DJ apps on the market. Users can learn the basics of DJing through these apps, but he says an app is no replacement for the mentorship and opportunity a sea- soned professional provides. “There is no replication for 20 years on the job,” Salazar says. ▼ Music Nathan Hunsinger >> p18 (From top) DJ School alumnus and staffer Raleigh Ward at work at one of the school’s setups; co-founder Julio Rivera (DJ S.O.U.L.Jah.); student Dera Eneh-Ortiz.
