We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shawn DJ Mixstyles Burnett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shawn DJ Mixstyles below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Shawn DJ Mixstyles with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
As a DJ you want to move the crowd the best way possible. I would got to parties and watch other Djs and would get inspired to rock the crowd the same way or in my own way, so if I didn’t have a party myself I would lock myself in my room and imagine me being in front of a big crowd and go ham on my practice party sets for hours!
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m professional DJ from Cincinnati Ohio! I caught the bug of wanting to be a DJ be accident! My friend older brother were throwing a small get together at there house, this was around 1995 I was in 10th grade. I was just helping setup moving furniture, sweeping helping with food, etc. I go over to the home stereo system that they had, and was just looking around to see what tapes that they had. My friend’s older brother walked in the room and said Shawn you are going to control the music! My eyes lit up lol! At that time we used to buy $.99 singles on tape at the music store and I was recording music from the radio so I had lots of music. I thought I was the man lol. I also knew a couple guys that were coming to the party that had a great collection of music also so I told them to take the best songs and put them in a shoebox and write their name on it. That whole night I kept all the girls dancing and the vibe was going good. I got a standing ovation at the end of the night and it was on! After that all the parties I went to after dancing with the girls I would just stand by the DJ table and just watch will be intrigued on how they were control the crowd and what they were doing. Fast forward to 1999 I bought some turntables and didn’t look back!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1 Hours and hours of practice! It sucks for people to hear this but you have to put your 10,000 hours of practice in to anything that you want to do.
2 knowledge of the music is key and you have to know what’s hot or what the client wants to hear and their guest.
3 knowing how to read a crowd! Early in my career I used to never look up that was because I was nervous but now I will sit and look around the whole night just to see the people that are sitting down if they’re bobbing their head to what I am playing I’m good even though they are not dancing. I know I’m going to get them soon.
How would you describe your ideal client?
My ideal client would be an artist to go out on tour with as a DJ
Contact Info:
- Website: Mixhandmusicent.com
- Instagram: @djmixstyles
- Facebook: Djmixstyles
- Linkedin: Shawn Burnett
- Twitter: @djmixstyles
- Youtube: DJ Mixstyles
- SoundCloud: DJ Mixstyles
Image Credits
Shawn Burnett
