Picture this: You're in a basement on Professors Row with a hundred other sweaty Tufts students, dancing your hearts out. Everyone's hands go up, up, up — and then down with the huge drop. In that moment, the person behind the music might be the last thing on your mind, but for four Tufts students who are manning the DJ booths, your reaction is exactly what they're looking for.
Senior Adam Weisman, who now works as a headliner for the DJ provider GrooveBoston, got his start in the DJ business on the Hill.
"I started freshman year at frat parties and friends' get−togethers at Latin Way ... or at any random small get−together of friends with some free software and a half−broken computer," he said.
Weisman now plays shows in the area of up to 6,000 college students, as well as at several bars and clubs in Boston. He still makes time to play at Tufts, though, both at frat parties and at slightly bigger venues.
"The trippiest gig that I've done was when I DJed Fall Ball," Weisman said. "Freshman year, I never would've envisioned myself there."
Weisman prides himself on a diverse repertoire. "I play jazz, Bebop, indie folk, [alternative] progressive rock and the occasional Skrillex track," he said. Depending on the crowd, he tailors his set list make it appealing as possible to his audience.
"Tufts students really love to get down to '90s music," he said. "It's great because I love music from the '90s." Increasingly sophisticated audiences, meanwhile, have pushed his creative abilities.
"It's … tough sometimes because over the past couple of years, listeners have become so much more educated in new music, and people really know what they like and what they want to hear in a party environment. It's hard to stay current, but at the same time I love opening people up to new music that I've discovered or created with friends," he said.
Sophomore Andrew Berman got into DJing six months ago through his passion for producing music.
"I started producing music at the end of senior year [of high school], doing a lot of guitar stuff, and it just got more and more electronic," Berman said. "I guess that DJing was the next step."
Berman, who works with senior Nicolas Russo−Larsson to produce songs under the group name of Shapes of Light, prefers electro, house, dubstep, drum and bass — essentially anything electronic — but primarily dance music with a quick tempo.
Berman said that he is most inspired by the group Dirtyloud, which bills itself as an electro−house music project.
"The whole idea of taking elements from multiple genres is so great," he said. "It's like making a new sound instead of just rehashing everything else," Berman said.
He added that Tufts students at frat parties respond well to music that goes beyond the Top 40 tracks that used to be expected at frat parties.
"At first, I didn't really think that they would like it, because people were so used to hearing the frat music stuff, but at Homecoming at ATO, people … appreciated hearing some pretty heavy stuff," Berman said.
"I think that people at Tufts are more open to hearing cool new music than they're given credit for, as long as they're prepared," he said.
"It's easy to have no faith in people and assume that they just want to hear Katy Perry, but people are more down than one would think to hear something new, which is really encouraging."
Shapes of Light produces music from across the spectrum of electronic music, but its most popular songs to date are drawn from the dubstep and electro−house genres.
Russo−Larsson, who has been DJing for two years, currently interns at Buffalo Entertainment, a talent management agency and studio for DJs and producers. He has done opening sets for groups such as Designer Drugs and Mustard Pimp, and he also plays ATO parties and other on−campus events.
When he begins to work on a playlist, Russo−Larsson takes several factors into consideration.
"First I consider the gig, and I think about what kind of mood you want to set," Russo−Larsson said. "Then I think about, you know, songs that go together, both energy−wise and harmonically."
"My favorite place to DJ is the Crafts House," Lipman said, "because I can usually play whatever I want."
Russo−Larsson, Berman and sophomore DJ Kevin Lipman held an event at the Crafts House three weeks ago called "Sub Studies." He, Berman and Russo−Larsson will do another show at the Crafts House on Nov. 5.
At the end of the day, where do these DJs see themselves going after they've played their last frat party?
"I think that to establish yourself as a name in the music industry right now is very tough without the right connections, not to mention the drive to do it," Weisman said.
"I see myself continuing to DJ as a hobby. It's something I love to do. It's a passion and I get paid to do it. If you get paid to do what you love, then you stay a happy man," he said.
