This time we had the opportunity to interview local DJ Ettore Lentini who has been around in the dance music scene for approximately 4 and a half years as a DJ and 2 years as a producer.
Macrosound: To start off could you tell us why you wanted to become a DJ?
ETTS: It was when I started to listen to dj mixes, particularly to a Tiesto mixed album called Magik 6. Those synthesizers, purely electronic beats and sounds that seem out of this world… All these stuff called my attention and I grew curious to search how to produce them and how to play them live. When I knew that Djs are the ones who do it, and that they use this kind of music to make parties and to control people’s emotions, I instantly fell in love with the idea to mix.
Macrosound: How were your first experiences with electronic music… your first emotional contact with a crowd or first impressions of your performance?
ETTS: At first it was difficult to transmit the feeling to the people. I would always go “man, are they really going to dance to this new Gabriel & Dresden track?” or “will I be able to at least make them nod their heads with this new genre, electro?” “I hope I don’t scare them away!” haha. Back then, nobody new much about this type of music and since I was a beginner, I always had to play for more little crowds. But I always gave all of myself and with a little effort, I always managed to transmit that feeling. Slowly they started to nod their heads until they got up of their seats and dance.
Macrosound: From your point of view, how has the scene changed from the time you started Djing?
ETTS: I’m being witness on how electronic music is getting into people’s heads rapidly and spreading through like a virus. Since the first beats traveling to the air, thanks to pioneer Djs such as Ofo Nuñez, DJ Negro, Ferk, DJ Oz, Deep Rics, Walter DJ and many others, electronic music always gave a positive effect on crowds because this type of music is very susceptible to evolution and will always renew itself from here to human race’s eternal existence! Haha. And we always need to hear fresh sounds otherwise it gets boring. At the beginning electronic music parties were small and there where a maximum of 100 or 200 people assisting. Now we have massive events with 3,000 to 4,000 people assisting because of this susceptibleness to evolution that electronic music has and because it’s so ahead and contagious.
Macrosound: How has your musical taste evolved?
ETTS: Like the majority of DJ’s here, I started listening to and playing Trance music which for me is the most complete genre, musically speaking, because its melodies are so adaptable to every beat, no matter what genre it is (a techno beat, house beat, breakbeat) you can just mix them all and create a sub genre for it. It is infinite and will always be my favorite genre. Although I can’t exclude from my sets, other genres like progressive house, tech house, techno and breakbeat. This last one I’ve been implementing it quite a lot in my sets because it gives a new fresh feeling to the night, since its not always the same 4 to 4 kind of beat. I just can’t ignore these genres because there is always a bomb that comes out of the blue, and I love the reaction of the crowd when I drop them “BOOM!”. Although I confess that I’ve been hardly criticized because of this variety of genres that I mix in my sets. Some say that I have to focus on one genre only and develop my style from there, but I feel that I already have my style. I think of it as a union of my favorite genres to create a single song of 1 or 3 hours long without going to extremes. I love to do that because it’s a big challenge for me to mix all these genres and make my transitions sound clean and acceptable. Instead, its very easy for me to mix just one genre, with just one kind of sound and make the sound to sound clean, I mean, all the sound sounds… sound sound sound sound!!! Haha! I feel that I have evolved this way and I’m still trying to take it to the next level.
Macrosound: Why did you decide to use Ableton for your live sets?
ETTS: Turntables and CDJs are still great tools for mixing, but they present so many boundaries to my imagination. Ableton, in the other hand, is intuitive and never interrupts my inspiration. It keeps me busy when I’m playing live, it makes everything so easy for my creativity to flow smoothly and I have more power to improvise. Yet again I am hardly criticized haha. Some friends will usually come and say “hey man but you don’t need to do beat matching anymore, where is the effort on that? And without beat matching you loose the feeling”. Of course, beat matching is an achievement when you do it well, and it feels cool when you do it but I really think it’s a greater feeling when you get a positive reaction from the crowd when they accept your creativity. Its true that many things that you do on Ableton you can also do them on CDJs, but you need much more expensive equipment to accomplish one little detail at a time, whereas with Ableton you only need a laptop to accomplish much more details which will satisfy your mind’s demands. And to be honest I don’t have that much Benjamin Franklins to spend for more dj equipment haha!
Macrosound: About your producer side, how much have you progressed thus far?
ETTS: Well I have like 4 finished tracks so far which honestly I finished them for pleasure and for musical education. And in the past 8 months I dedicated myself mostly on learning to use more software. Until now I’ve learned many tricks on Fruity Loops, Ableton, Reason and Logic Pro. Sometimes I like to fuse these 4 monsters (not all of them at the same time of course) and experiment with sounds. I really don’t have any plans to sign with a label yet. I just think I have to polish my production skills a little bit more. Still, if I polish myself to the point where I can say, “ok I finally reached pro level” I don’t think I will have plans to sign then, since I only do it for pleasure. Although if somebody comes with a nice deal, I won’t think it twice! Haha!
Macrosound: We really hope to see you soon on a label! Tell us about this set you just recorded for Macrosound podcast.
ETTS: This time I took the risk to give people something more experimental which you can notice that at the beginning of the set. I even made an original special intro track for this podcast and a track with influences of breakbeat, dubstep and trance. Like in all of my sets, whether they are live or simple demos, I always try to tell a story with music in a way that people can interpret, as they like. But if someone by coincidence interprets the same thing that I have in my head, then I would be accomplishing my objective to touch people’s minds.
Macrosound: What future plans do you have for music in general?
ETTS: I really don’t have any plans at all. I just like to make music spontaneously, I mean, if I wake up at 2am in the morning with an original melody in my head, I would open my laptop and try to exteriorize it. I don’t like to apply pressure on myself when making a track, since I don’t like to make music by commitment but by inspiration.
Macrosound: Any words for those who want to get inside our local scene of electronic music?
ETTS: Never give up! Our scene is growing rapidly and this music is a type of art, which gives opportunities for all type of minds. Always accept all kind of feedback, good or bad, and don’t take it personal. But most important, keep yourself humble.
Macrosound: Any closing words Etts?
ETTS: Keep yourself close with your music and with your good friends because they are the ones that will support you no matter what, and which, at the same time, they help our scene to grow even more. Avoid selfish people, and keep yourself closer to your heart than to your mind. Stay tuned to Macrosound cause great talents are coming!
Download Ettore's podcast and the English and Spanish transcripts of the interview here: https://www.yousendit.com/download/WnBUYkJxU1A5eFZMWEE9PQ
