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In this Edition... 
Feature: Connecting the dots... DJ Brian Buonassissi oversees three highly successful multi-ops in three major markets in three states. Amazing Fact #2: He sees nothing amazing about Amazing Fact # 1. For Brian Buonassissi success is nothing more than simply recognizing opportunity when it presents itself and working hard to make the most of it - a habit Brian can trace back to his club days in California. "The club thing was going well, but when patrons began asking me to DJ their weddings, I saw an opportunity and a challenge," says Brian."So I gave it a shot, learned the wedding ropes and eventually hooked up with Disneyland, which led to corporate gigs and celebrity events and more work than I could handle." Like a lot of mobile-ops, Brian had hit the costly "can't be in two places at once" wall. His solution? "I had some extra gear so I thought I'd go multi-op and quickly learned that good employees are hard to find. That first year I brought on a couple of experienced DJs. That was a mistake. It's rare to find a DJ who is willing to learn your style - the style that has you in demand. So I began training from the ground up, working with essentially non-DJs to create a good product that was reproducible." Brian's novel staffing approach is to look for people who like music and have a service industry background. "They understand customer service. You can always teach skill-sets, but it's hard to teach a customer-comes-first attitude. Fortunately, there are lots of personable service industry people out there with weekends off looking to increase their income. I've found it to be a great match." With his California operation booming, Brian turned his sights to the destination-wedding market and to Destin, Florida, a mere 3000 miles away. "Obviously, California is a different market. A few successful parties, the right word of mouth, and I was pulling 30-40 events a year, with little to no marketing," says Brian. "A destination wedding seldom happens by referral, the wedding party is just there for the weekend, really, so instead of passing out 20-30 cards at an event, as I would do in California, I began passing out just one or two cards to the wedding professionals." It was the relationships forged with wedding pros that spurred Brian to embrace the boutique approach he now considers so essential to his success. "We found that once a wedding professional found us, they became comfortable with us and wanted us for the whole process, not just DJing but anything else we could offer them. We began to offer officiants. A destination client isn't going to bring their local minister with them, so we began building relationships with some of the churches in the area. Some of my guys have become ordained and now earn a second income from that. Then we got into the live musician thing - jazz and classical guitarists mostly. This year we began offering ceremony rentals - wedding chairs on the beach, arches, and arbors. People were asking for all that stuff. We've recently added a photo booth. All have been extremely useful. We're now expanding into a concierge service where we help execute events from start to finish." Brian's next move was inspired as much by his lifelong dream to call the Big Apple home as by competitive curiosity. "I thought I have the California experience, I've got Florida under my belt, so when a former client landed a job as an event planner for a major New York restaurant, and was kind enough to throw some bookings my way, I thought the time right to see if I could make it there, as the old saying goes. So I flew in and flew out, day of gig, to conserve cash and quickly saw that in contrast to Florida, where we did everything for our clients, and California where we oversaw all facets of production, New York was very segmented. My job was to come in and spin great music. I didn't do any emceeing at all and was making twice what I'd ever earned before working high-end bar mitzvahs and weddings. I loved it. And saw an opportunity to live there full time." Today Brian is still building his New York business, his other two divisions are flourishing, and his 10-year plan has him eyeing locations in the Midwest and even Hawaii. "There's obviously a need for what we do. And what we do is offer a high-end reproducible product that provides a quality experience consistently. I don't know of any other company that's doing what we do on a national scale - and doing it at a high price point. It's been crazy. It's been a learning process. And it's been good." Info and booking information available at www.bboyproductions.com 
Spotlight: Transitions... Karl's new role has him helming the company's marketing strategy, increasing uptake of products in key markets, and refining the company's communication strategy, product marketing, and customer messaging initiatives. "I've long admired inMusic Brand's ability to consistently deliver innovative products and technologies to their customers. I'm excited to now be in a position to spread the word about that innovation to the DJ community at large." Congrats to Karl! 
Digital DJ Tips Presents... 1. Most music is rubbish God, I've spent a lot of money on music over the years. From those early days sliding out of the school gates to spend pocket money in the local record store to filling my download cart with a few hours' worth of music I've compulsively whipped out my wallet more times than I'd care to admit. But the truth is most of that music is rubbish. It's formulaic. It's second-rate. It's derivative. Sorry, but the law of numbers says most of that stuff ain't worth your time. Learning to only pick out the real gems, the real groundbreaking tunes, the music you'll still want to hear in 25 years, is a true skill. What's more, it's a fast track to your own sound, your own musical identity. "Don't be scared to add tunes to your collection one or two, not 10 or 20 at a time!" would have been great advice for me at many points in my career, not just at 18. Because now, looking back 25 years, precious little of what I've bought has ever really been worth keeping for life. 2. Making music your self is important Before I was a DJ, I was in a band. I was the songwriter and one of the guitarists, and we recorded a demo and played a handful of gigs before disbanding when I went to college. And that was it - and I wish someone had told me to carry on with it. Of course, nowadays "DJ/producer" is one of those things everyone aspires to be, but I kind of ditched the "producer" bit and ended up just DJing. But if I'd have carried on making music... who knows? Now more than ever, it's important to dabble in music making if you can. Not only will the musical theory you gain enrich your DJing, but it may help you to get more DJing opportunities, too. And it's fun! 3. You HAVE to play what you love I think it's a young person's thing, wanting to be cool, to play the cool music, to wear the right clothes, be seen with the right people. Hell, I remember trying not to smile as a teenager as I thought it made me look immature and uncool! Considering I was a bespectacled, spotty geek, that's crazy in its self! And while I did have a huge, all-encompassing love for music, and I certainly did play what I wanted to a lot of the time, at the same time I was sometimes guilty of playing for other DJs, for people in the room I wanted to impress, rather than for myself and - just as importantly - for the crowd. When I let my guard down and just went for it, playing what I felt was right and not what I double-guessed might impress the cool folk, I invariably played my best sets - the ones the real people - the ones dancing, the ones having fun - complimented me on. It took me probably five years as a pro DJ to find my voice this way - and I wish I'd had the confidence to do it earlier. [continue reading] About Digital DJ Tips: Featuring news, reviews, show reports, and tutorials, Digital DJ Tips is one of the most-read DJ tech websites in the world, with over 60,000 students on its paid and free DJ courses. 
Review: Serato Flip Available for purchase in-app and as a paid expansion pack, Flip allows you to fast track your way to peak creativity by providing real-time recording of cue point and censor actions that can be saved, looped, and triggered on a dime -- without the lengthy time and preparation third-party DAW software requires. Trouble viewing this video? Watch it on YouTube. Features Include Record Cue Point & Censor Automation Click record once to arm recording. Once you hit the first cue or censor, recording begins. Hit record again to set the end point of your Flip. Prepare & Edit Tracks In Offline Mode Use Serato Flip without your hardware connected. Flip Saving Save 6 different Flips per track. Serato Flip information is saved to your tracks metadata and doesn't edit the audio of the track. You can delete cue points and your Flip will still be remembered. Looping / Loop Snap Choose whether your recorded Flip plays through once or loops. Select whether your looped Flip will snap to an end-point that's on beat with your track. Make Perfect Edits Platter movements aren't recorded so you can move the platter to an exact point and trigger a cue point to make the perfect Flip. Name Your Flips Just like Serato DJs nameable Cue Points you can also name your Flips. The name of your Flip will appear in the deck info area when the track is loaded. For more information on the Serato Flip, visit serato.com 
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