A nightclub is made out of sound. Music can contain within it the bricks of a metaphysical architecture.
Deep in the heart of Brooklyn I found myself at a Haitian church. I walked through the door with the summer heat on my back into a florescent lit room filled with the smell of home fried chicken. Immediately my two friends and I were welcomed and found our place next to the girl that had invited us to church with her. Folding chairs were placed in rows and the reverends sat up front on an elevated stage. The lights flickered as they would do in the DMV. The pale florescents added no character to the room. I had nt been to church in a long time mostly due to rooms like this one. Ive always had trouble understanding how holyness could be beheld in such a not uplifting space. The Haitians taught me a valuable lesson.
One voice lifted softly. Another joined it and another and another. The songs found a natural harmony. Within a few minutes the singing put me in a trance and I watched the beautiful crystaline walls rise up and replace the pale yellow.The flickering of the lights seemed to be in time with the frequency of the song. I imagined that we could be anywhere. I suddenly understood how spirituality could survive under the darkest oppression. In the caves of the world became the cathedrals raised by the voices of the believers where traditions are passed on. Music can contain within it the bricks of a metaphysical architecture. People can use these bricks to build a space that shapes them and sets them free. This experience has become one of the reasons why I have chosen Djing as my career path. Good architecture sets people free.
I came back into the heat of day with an understanding of how to evaluate sound and architecture. I found a spot in NYC where when the traffic stands still you can hear the voices from blocks away. I found subway benches that if I hummed just right I could resonate the whole subway tunnel. My chosen profession has put me in many spaces in relation to the sound that I bring to fill the space and the people who come to them and I have thought about what makes one club better than another. One night of experiences more memorable than another. I have come to believe that there are three basic elements to a memorable night out. Its a synergistic trinity between the people, the DJ and the architecture of the club or venue. I have played some very unique spaces from forests to hay bale mazes to the modern architecture of international hotels. At this point I have learned that there is a resonance between all of these that have made some memorable and others not so much.
Just like a Haitian church, a night club is made out of sound. Just as a single note forms a point in a song, songs can form points in time that are either memorable or not. A DJ builds a set of these songs in the same way that a craftsman builds a foundation. This means that the more resolved the sound system the more accurate the designs and intentions of the DJ can be heard and understood. A Dj makes meaning through the soundscape he weaves. The audience can be shaped by the architecture of the sound and transformed into an unified whole. This unification becomes an experience that the audience can bring with them into daily life and can use it to evaluate the environment around them. Does the environment promote the harmony that was experienced or does it detract from the sense of wholeness. A good DJ attempts to impart this.
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