Woman Crush Wednesday - DJ Debora V
Our #womancrushwednesday is @djdeboravinyl 💖Heres her fabulous #djstory So far - “I’ve always had a small vinyl collection. In 2019 I got a small turntable to play all my old rave tunes. I didn’t really have much of an interest to learn to DJ - assuming it would be to hard, that I’d never be able to do it but I wanted 2 turntables so the music would be continuous. I bought some Stantons and a Mixer in May 2020. By chance I saw an ex DJ selling 500 house, rave, dance 12 inches so I bought them (my best purchase ever!). I was too lazy to learn to mix, and it was bloody hard, but I loved playing tunes and created an Instagram page @djdeboravinyl - uploading my vinyl tracks. Come December 2020, I thought I’d give vinyl mixing a proper go, and to motivate me I did some live TikTok streams in January 2021. I was contacted on Instagram by DJ Spinique who was forming a female DJ online streaming station. She asked me to join and play at their virtual launch event in February 2021. This prompted me to start taking mixing seriously and most nights I’d practice for hours. I had a virtual lesson from DJ Larney P and post lockdown a face to face session with Christina Rosetti - she really did teach me loads.
It was hard, it was frustrating, I never looked up BPMs, my kit was old but I persevered and started to love the buzz of pulling off a decent mix. I recorded my mixes, listened back - always a hard self critic. I started to live stream on The Secret Lounge Radio and I got my own Mixcloud live account and did a few streams. I saw an old Football friend- Joel Martin doing some Facebook streaming for a local group of guy DJs - The Vinyl Countdown. I asked if I could join them. Apparently the head honcho Michael Stacey did some research on me and I passed the entry test 😊 I gave them some streaming advice - what I learned from The Secret Lounge. We set up a WhatsApp group and a Vinyl Countdown Mixcloud page was created. I did their promos, set up their Instagram page and organised who was playing when. I was streaming weekly so thought it was time to invest in some 1210s. Wow, so much better than my Stanton’s. Vinyl mixing was getting easier, I still practiced my sets I was hitting a 70-75% mixing success rate and happy.
In August 2021 I did my first vinyl DJ set in a venue - The Duke. I was so nervous but it was good and I loved it. I was talked into buying a controller (by Stacey!). Most of the Vinyl Countdown guys could play digital and Vinyl - most venues only have digital. So I learned another new skill with my Pioneer SX2. Some more gigs came up, Decktronix and Bristol - all giving me experience of playing to crowds. In November 2021 UK Bass Radio asked me to join their team. I play for The Vinyl Countdown, The Secret Lounge and UK Bass Radio with more gigs planned in 2022. I love the new friends I’ve made from DJing. It’s special to have something you love so much in common with others - it creates a magic bond. A year ago I started learning to DJ. I love my new hobby, I love my new friends”💖