WANNA BE A DJ?

If you want to learn to spin and scratch vinyl, find out how to get started as a DJ and get tips for working parties and clubs, then DJ Tom Slick (otherwise known as senior Lane Jones) is the man to see this Friday in the Willkie Auditorium.\nJones is no stranger to hip-hop, having scoped out the club scene in 1995 hoping to enter it by learning how to break dance. He had no idea that once he met DJ Topspeed, an event that effectively changed the course of his life, he would be spinning records rather than spinning on his head. \nAs Jones says simply of Topspeed, "He's phenomenal."\nOnce Jones realized break dancing involved too much aerobic exercise and broken bones for his taste, Topspeed encouraged him to try his hand at the turntable.\n"One day he had a pair of turn tables and a mixer that he said he'd give me for $20, just to start out," Jones says. "So I said, 'Why not?' He also gave me a lot of records -- the newest and hottest stuff."\nJones never planned to take his spinning skills beyond closed doors, but Topspeed pushed him into the party scene and he's been a disc jockey in the Bloomington area since 2002. In 2003, he co-founded GrooveTech Productions, a Bloomington-based group of DJs.\nGTP, along with the Hip Hop Congress, the CUE Project and the Asian Culture Center, will be hosting a DJ workshop Friday at 8 p.m. in Willkie in hopes of bringing a few new hopefuls into the biz. Following the workshop will be a concert by the Himalayan Project, a group of two hip-hop artists. \nNo prior experience is needed to attend the workshop. Jones will be teaching all the basics of DJ'ing such as basic scratching and mixing techniques, timing records and keeping the crowd moving.\nWhy would one want to delve into the illustrious world of the DJ? Will Chu, also known as DJ Will C, co-founder of GTP says, "(DJ'ing) is like playing a musical instrument, but you're always playing for a crowd. You can play what you want. It's fun and performance at the same time, but it's not as involved as playing a violin."\nChu became interested in the craft when he first heard the melodic beats of trance music, a subgenre of electronic dance.\n"Trip-trance really interested me, but it's only played by DJs," Chu says. "Basically, I heard some music I liked and found out you have to DJ it."\nChu decided to take his love for electronic music to the turntables and share it with the world. He was a "bedroom DJ," practicing on his own for two years before he took his spinning public. Because of the lack of a trance scene in Bloomington, he switched over to hip-hop.\nWith the DJ scene in Bloomington, one has to wonder, how much dough can one rake in by rotating vinyl?\n"It really depends on how good you are and where you play," Chu says. "You start out at house parties making about $50-$100 and it keeps going up."\nAccording to Chu, the average DJ will start out playing friends' parties and then move on to clubs and bars, playing for next to nothing. The trick is making your name well-known. \n"There's really no limit to where you can go once you get known," Chu says. "The big names can get $25,000-$40,000 for one night." \nThe jackpot comes from making your way into the rap music industry.\n"Doing beats for famous rappers can make you really rich," Chu says.\nKen Chen, also known as DJ Sleeper, is a student who recently picked up the skills of the DJ trade, learning under the wing of DJ Will C. Ken Chen also works as a advertising designer at the Indiana Daily Student Chen started learning the ways of the DJ in November. His first party was this past January, but his biggest challenge so far has been money.\n"It's so expensive to get started," Chen says.\nChen started saving money to buy equipment a year in advance. He added on to his set with the money he received from playing parties. \n"I added on one piece of new equipment with every party," he says.\nDespite the high entry fee to start down the path of spinning vinyl, being a DJ has its benefits. The person behind the turntables sets the musical blueprint of the dance floor, providing the musical force that commands people to rise from their seats and essentially bust a move. With so many different techniques and styles of music, the mission of a DJ is one that is well rounded, just like the records they spin.