DJ Martini

Music is an obsession of mine. Finding new music, collecting old music, and spreading good music to everyone around me has always been my passion. I found that DJ is the best way for me to do this on a grand scale. I started DJing while in high school for fun. I would play for friends' parties and school events for little to no money. Not even a year into my new adventure I performed at a small under 21 dance club/pool hall and as a 15 year old I made over $500 in one night I decided that maybe there was more to this hobby of mine. From that point on through high school I played anywhere I could for whatever money I could. At this time I was playing mostly hip hop/dance music, whatever was popular and on MTV. I had a great time and met some great people. I continued to play mostly private parties and school events, however my at the end of my junior year I was part of a group of my friends who decided to try our hand at party planning. We produced an end of the year party and had Rich Hardesty, who at the time was one of the biggest party acts in Indiana. Meeting Rich opened some doors to me and I was able to DJ as an opening act for him a handful of times over the next few years. While in school in Bloomington my hobby took a hiatus. My equipment was stolen and I was tired of playing popular radio hits. I took a few years removed from DJing to get more involved in listening to music for myself and not with an audience in mind and was able to spread my knowledge and understand of what good music could be. With a much greater musical repertoire accomplished and and better idea of the art of DJing I decided to give it another try. I bought new equipement and within a year I had a resident gig at a bar in Broad Ripple, The Monkey's Tale. This is where I was able to get back into reading an audience and determining what the audience will enjoy. Luckily for me the audience there was not looking for Top 40 hits or just whatever song they heard on the radio. A typical night of DJ Martini at the Monkey's Tale turned into a free for all of what I would play next. I usually liked to start with some Motown or Stax and work in some newer lesser known soulful grooves and work my way into some popular hip hop but once it started to get crowded and I had peoples attention it could go anywhere. I may follow up an old LL Cool J song with "The Best Around" from the Karate Kid soundtrack then work back into some Marvin Gaye followed by some Too $hort into AC/DC to Kanye West. I have found the worst thing I can do is to go into a night with a setlist preplanned. I believe this is what can set me apart from other DJs in town. I am not pinned down to one genre or style of music. If one is not working then Ill switch up and try another and by 3 or 4 songs Ill have the crowd figured out and be able to continue the rest of the evening with out a flaw. I also enjoy doing themed sets. These are sometimes preplanned. I have enjoyed doing Mardi Gras parties, Holiday themed parties, Halloween parties. I like to find obscure songs that fit perfectly for the parties. I also enjoy playing that one song that makes at least one person say "I love this, I forgot all about this song." Or if I can get a at least 4 people a night to come up and ask what song I just played and where can they pick up a cd I feel I have done my job. My influences for DJ do not come from other DJs, however if there is any DJ influence it would be the rotation of mixers I have heard on 96.3 here in Indianapolis since I started listening to hip hop. But my influnces come mostly from the music I listen to. I can be listening to anything and im constantly thinking of ways to incorporate that song into a mix. I grew up with my mom listening to disco, old soul, R&B, and singer songwriter. Then in the other room my Dad was listening to CCR, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Dr. Hook. And I had an older brother who was into hair metal, hip hop, and Buffett. I had a wide selection of music and of course I tried to find my own to listen to. So today I am just trying to spread the good music that is out there to an accepting audience that loves to have a good time. I have some audio samples on both www.djmartini.net and myspace.com/indydjmartini