Paul - Denon DJ, saying 'Hi'!

Hi everyone, Paul D. here - I’m Denon DJ’s Brand Manager. I’ve DJ’d professionally through the late 80s and into the 90s and 00’s too. I have a background in music production too, having remixed many (many!) records and had a decent stab at the pop/dance charts too in the 90s! My DJ roots are a combination of classic Disco and Jazz/Funk with a quirky blend of Electronica - Into the 90s and through the 00’s, “House music all night long” (as the Jungle Bros. said) was the order of the day (well, the ‘night’ actually).

I’ve DJ’d around the globe (around 16 countries at last count) when I was once a Ministry of Sound International Tour resident, made some TV theme music along the way, A&R’d at a major record label and found myself eventually getting into Education, lecturing in Music Technology and the DJ Industry too. My knowledge of creative Marketing helped me be in the fortunate position I am now, as Brand Manager for Denon DJ, especially at this point in the Brand’s history, where we have without doubt the most exciting and innovative DJ technology about to be unleashed on the world - and a portfolio of incredible products for DJ’s at all stages in their professional DJ journey. Nice to meet you guys

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Hi Paul. My name is Chino. I’m the owner/operator of ‘DJ Chino Events’-a full service event planning/mobile DJ business. I have DJed professionally for the last 20 years starting with bars & night clubs in the late 90s - early 2000s. I now specialize in high-end mobile events.

I want to personally commend you (& the entire Denon DJ team) on all the hard work done so far. It’s no small task to bring forth a new product line. The ‘MC’ product line is innovative but there are still areas of opportunity for improvement. It is my hope that Denon DJ will apply all the direct user feedback to make the MCx8000 an even better product. In order to achieve Denon DJ’s ultimate goal of #changeyourrider- overall product stability & reliability is paramount! Thank you for listening and I look forward to continued product development.

Sincerely -DJ Chino

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Hey Paul and Chino - my name is Mark, I am the Brand Manager for Denon DJ in Australia. I also look after Numark, Akai Pro, Alesis, UDG, Marq, Ortofon DJ, EVE Audio and Auralex.

I was in bands in high school (drummer and singer) before moving into MC’ing, playing out and around the Melbourne club scene (breakbeat and drum’n’bass) throughout most clubs and venues within Melbourne from about 2000-2010. I also started DJ’ing back in the early 2000’s, playing predominantly drum’n’bass and hip-hop. I hung up the mic and headphones early in the 2010’s and focussed more on producing hip-hop.

A year ago I started DJ’ing out again (funk, hip-hop, boogie and breaks), and it’s been a lot of fun! The gear has certainly changed a lot since I first started, and I’m super excited about the new products coming from Denon DJ this year and beyond!

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Hello all. I’m Steve.

I’m a Mobile and Club DJ for almost 30 years embracing an eclectic mix of music styles throughout the years leading to my “kitchen sink” beatmixing of genres, decades and styles.

I started out on vinyl… moved to dual deck CD (dnd2000mkii, 2100, 2600, 9000), dabbled with DAT and MD (2300r)…, worked with tabletops (including early Pioneer models, 3000, 5000, has 5500) and embraced controllers (hd2500, hs5500 hc4500, hc5000, mc6000)…

I also demoed, taught etc on all of these models and more as a Denon Certified DJ. I regularly represented The Denon DJ brand in local CT/MA Sam Ash, Guitar Center and Independent DJ Stores… as well as at Local & Regional Association meetings, Conventions like DJ Times, Mobile Beat and Mid America… National retailer NLFX Professional and many DJ Idea Sharing live events throughout New England & the Northeast, US. I also organized several focus groups in the NY, NJ, CT tristate area for Denon DJ, working closely with then brand manager, Silvio. Because of this involvement, for years I was identified with the Denon DJ brand by many colleagues in the industry and am still contacted to this day with questions about Denon DJ products.

I’m also the cocreator/showrunner of the DJ Idea Sharing Live events (2001-2011), former Producer of Podcast For DJs/DJIS Podcast Network (2008-2011).

I DJed in CT for Music In Motion until 2012 when I moved to Florida and retired. In 2016, I felt the pull back to the industry and started DJing again in Central Florida, regularly DJing in the Orlando area, Lake County, Ocala and just outside the Tampa area. While I started out on Tech 1200s and dabbled with some Pioneer gear, I’ve pretty much exclusively performed on and endorsed Denon DJ CD Players and Controllers throughout my entire career.

Hi All I started djing 25 years ago especially house music, progressive and techno, trance, disco and some funky grooves sometimes. In 1998 i decided to move on digital and burnt all my vinyl collection on CD (not so much choice at this time !) I owned by order

  • DN2000 MK3
  • DN2600F
  • DND9000 (Alpha Track !!!)
  • DNS3500 In 2009 i add a traktor digital setup to the existing with a pair of SC2000 I owned a DNX1500 mixer and moved a few years ago on a DNX1700 I stopped using CDs in 2012 Jerome aka DinkyToy

Hello Mr Dakeyne. No mention of your work with DMC? You were one of the early remix / megamix team, when DMC was in it’s infancy! One thing I will always remember & relate with your good self is the demo you did at a DMC convention of the Technics SL-P1200 CD player. It’s laughable now to think how limited that was as a DJ player - not really designed for it.

I just found on discogs that your Herb Alpert CD megamix is credited as “The World’s first CD mix created on the Technics SLP 1200” in 1987.

I remember that Technics demo that Paul did at The London Hippodrome all those years ago… the worlds first CD DJing demo - to an audience of … DJs

Wow! Tough audience … great demo … featuring Janet Jackson, as I recall.

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Hi HS5500 - good shout, yep, great years at DMC… but if I wrote ‘too’ much in my introduction… :slight_smile:

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I see you’re actually a year younger than me, Paul. Lots of the things you recall from those days, I was doing too.

Editing 1/4" tape, buying digital delays, an Akai S900 - mine was actually used by Chad Jackson on his remix of “Turn It Out” (Rob Base). Chad rang me to borrow the S900 as the studio booked for the remix job didn’t have one, so I ended up going with him. These days I use Ableton Live and a Push 2. So much easier!

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Hi Paul, guess I made it here finally. Good to see you!

And since we are doing ancient pictures …

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Hi guys,

Cool forum, happy to be here. I’m actually a pioneer user but love learning about new products. Been dj’ing since 96’ when I fell in love with house music. New York native. -Marc

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Hi all,

I’m based in Birmingham, UK and fell into DJing about 8 years ago, not quite sure how it happened… The regular guy at a Salsa night I’d attended was going to DJ in Malta for a couple of weeks and they needed someone to cover… not me of couse as I was still learning to dance and didn’t really know the music. The guy who was covering had to come straight from work and couldn’t get there early enough to setup so, being a techie, I got volunteered to setup all the gear. Between agreeing to that and the DJ going to Malta is a blur, which ended with me playing music the whole night! When the DJ returned from Malta he decided to give up playing that gig and the rest is history…

I’ve used whatever kit the venue has from CDJ 2000s to a Numark CDMix 1 I think it’s called. Normally I DJ with a Numark NV controller which replaced my Denon MC6000 after it returned from a loan with a broken USB port.

I still occasionally play salsa but mostly now do African music at Kizomba nights so play Kizomba, Semba, Zouk, Afro-beats and Kuduro.

Bonjour à tous,

I am Stefan Rousseau (Dj Stefunk) and I am originally from Avignon (South East of France) where I bought a pair of decks after doing my first rave in 1992. For 6 years it was some kind of Woodstock era paradise and I spent almost all my weekends outside partying and Djing under the stars in Provence often doing my House/Techno/Drum’n Bass /Trance sets and then roaming around checking the best Djs in the world in the stunning surroundings of Provence, the meditteranean see and the French riviera. Though life wasn’t it ?

I stupidly sold my decks in 99 when I met my wife for money reasons and also because the deputy who made the law against Rave parties in May 98 was from Avignon (which was the epicentre of the rave scene in the south) and outdor partying came to a halt and went into clubs which I didn’t like but didn’t get connections either. I kept on playing a few times a year in rave, birthdays and two yearly club events for the following 12 years.

In 2005 I moved to the Island of Jersey in the Channel Islands and when I reached 40 in 2012, I asked for a pair of SC3900 and mixer as present. DJ Matsa who was a friend from the rave era convinced me that these decks were the dog’s and I went for them. This is when Dj Stefunk was born and since then I have been Djing every weekend in the clubs, festivals, private parties, birthdays and weddings of the small island of Jersey (100.000 people). I do MY thing as a mobile Dj. I play Jazz, Funk, Soul, Afro, Latin, Brazilian, Cuban, Reggae, Ryhtm’n’Blues, Rock, Hip-Hop, Brass Bands, Breaks, Tribal House and Techno, Electro-Swing, Drum and Bass, Psybreaks and Psytrance (Old and Nu Skool). I love doing 4 to 6h sets starting from 85bpm to 190, taking the dancers on a trip, staying on one genre for 30 to 40 mins max (and 2 tunes minimum if it doesn’t work).

I NEVER do a gig if a special type of music is imposed of if open requests are, life is too short. I also created a hybrid band called The Jersey Funk All-Stars with whom we have a classic funk and soul set on the decks and an awesome Jersey lady on the flute, a super energetic Frenchman on the percussions and a top Jersey Jazz Keybord player. Then we do a Jam once the set is over and often Mc B-Eazy is joing us :slight_smile:

This year, I am ironically becoming an “international” Dj by going to DJ at the Jazz sous les pommiers festival in France (Normandy nearby) and also to Rennes and Nantes in Bretagne. I am building a musical bridge between France and Jersey which despite their close proximity does not exist.

Next step is learning production to do my own edits and remixes in the Nu-Funk style to start with.

There we are.

Stefan

Hi All! I’m James from Party Pioneers. I have been DJing since 15 and I’m now 29. I specialise in UK chart, 60’s to 00s, rock and classic Rnb. Currently use ddj sz but upgrading to mcx8000 when I get chance to visit bpm in Birmingham this year. I own the mc6000 and the denon hp1100 and have owned various denon equipment in the past.

Hi Paul –

I started DJing in 1999 and perform as Milk in clubs & underground events, playing breaks, techno and house. I’m basedin Denver and use a variety of gear, turntables, CDJs and an EKS Otus as a controller (which I like for it’s minimal footprint). While I like some Pioneer gear, I have not succumber to rekordbox and favor Denon’s interface. I have owned a DN-X1500 mixer since it was released, have coveted a X1700 over the years, but will probably upgrade to a X1800 soon. I wish any manufacturer would release a controller that was designed to sit on top of other gear, that’s my main attachment to the EKS Otus (has four feet to sit on top of CDJs and turntables). I have zero interest in controllers that are three feet wide with an integrated mixer, as I prefer the feel of any heavy duty mixer.

Cheers, Milk

Howdy. Been DJing since 2000. Started in the UK on Denon 19inch twin cd players and a plethora of terrible mixers. Moved onto laptop with PCDJ and a keyboard with external mixers for years. Got a reloop controller and moved onto Traktor about 5 years ago. Incorporated Rekordbox preparation so I could learn on the Pioneer NXS and NXS2 setups. This year I will be looking to add Serato video to my setup and I’m very excited about the new Denon media players. I look forward to playing around when they arrive into Washington DC.

Apologies for the late reply from me Dwelly - it’s been a crazy few ‘Prime’ flavoured weeks - a warm welcome anyway!

Apologies for the late reply from me Chino - a warm welcome anyway, enjoy the official Denon DJ Forum