DJ Deep

I think it all came together when Laurent Garnier gave me my first opportunity to DJ, first by opening for him at La Luna, then at the Boy in Paris for the Oz parties, and eventually at Le Palace for the Zoo nights. I had already started getting really obsessed with music, at a time when the house and techno scenes were blowing up: you’d go to the record shop one day and “Phuture – Acid Tracks” is in the new release bins, and then the next week, it’s Derrick May’s “Beyond The Dance” and then Marshall Jefferson, and so on. I was lucky to be part of something truly unique.

Of course learning to DJ was a thrill, but it was a little intimidating to do so next to Laurent: he was so skilled and it seemed to come so naturally for him. The technical aspect was so daunting to me.

My philosophy is “music first,” no matter the format. Then comes the sound: how does your music sound, and how do you make it sound its best? I’ll sometimes have discussions about this with vinyl-loving DJs, and then I get to their parties and I find out they use not-so-great needles, turntables, etc. Sometimes they don’t even know how to EQ their system – or they just don’t care.

I mostly digitize all the music I play out. I found a way to record it so that I can be pretty sure that it will sound exactly as if I was playing from the original vinyl, but through my CDJs using any of the mixing tables that are popular nowadays.

Too many! I’d say around 50,000.

I used to, and continue to do so occasionally those days, because, well, vinyl records are delicate and fragile, aren’t they?

I go to record stores every day, that’s pretty much it! Some of those shops specialize more in techno, others in house, or even used records, so I try to cover it all.

There is amazing enthusiasm for house and techno nowadays, and I think that’s great! So many records come out every day, getting to hear young talented artists release fresh ideas is very inspiring.

On the other hand, I find that what’s missing from the current flurry of record reissues is the context of the music when it was actually released, if you know what I mean. The culture goes a little further than the object itself.

Speaking of objects, there is a fascination (again) for vinyl, and that’s nice, but honestly a vinyl record does not sound great by itself. You have to know what cartridges, what turntables, what mixers to use, how to work with the room’s acoustics etc. It’s actually a lot of work!

I think the “amateur” aspect of today’s industry, in which anybody can release a record anytime they want, will eventually fade a bit, as it should: the pressing plants are flooded with demands for pressing runs of 300 copies of a given record – which sometimes won’t even sell at all. There’s so much hype around having a record out these days.

I simply hope that pressing delays will get back to more realistic lead times, so professional labels can get back to this more spontaneous dynamic of releasing a record within one or two months, instead of having to wait six months for a release to get manufactured.

I never intended to make a living out of my label, but it breaks even and we have satisfying sales. We always sell around 500 or 700 copies of a first pressing, and, depending on the release, we’ll often repress.

Warmth. That’s the first thing that comes to mind!