You might remember a few months back when we featured manufacturer employees who are still performing live gigs. This time, for our DJ issue, we feature a few employees at DJ/lighting companies who still spin at night during DJ gigs or help with those beautiful arrays of lights. Let’s start with Doug Suiter, who serves as production/installation market manager at Irradiant.
 “I specialize in design and installations of the nightclub dance/live venues, houses of worship, corporate, indoor and outdoor architectural lighting, production, laser systems, and DMX systems and programming,” said Suiter. “I have been a DJ since my first gig in 1975. My current gig is a fun bar-type of venue called Sneaky Pete’s on 5th Street in downtown Minneapolis.Sneaky Pete’s is a venue which I designed and installed about a year and a half ago. It is a multi-use venue. There is a main dance system up in the front of the venue and a live system in the rear of the venue. I was only going to design and build it, but after about six months of pressure I was convinced by ownership to be the main DJ and work the weekends in that capacity. Once the party starts, people dance on stages, both dance floors, the subwoofers, and the bar tops. They pour shots off of the bar, body shots on the bar staff, and throw Sneaky Pete’s T-shirts off of the bar. It’s quite the party. On a good weekend, the door count will be over 1,800 with another 300 to 400 in line.”
Neva Defibaugh, lighting sales associate at Musicorp/MBT Lighting & Sound, provides lighting for everything from house parties to large clubs. She also does the same for several bands in the Charleston, S.C., area. “I have provided additional lighting at the Music Farm in Charleston,” she said. “Many national acts and great local bands like Solkiss have played there. They still use our TI201A controller and dimmer packs that have been there for over 12 years. I used our lighting for a group called the Blue Dogs and that night Mark Bryan from Hootie and the Blowfish was the guest singer! After the show we all got together, shared some great stories, and signed the Wall of Fame backstage.”
Performing lighting gigs has helped Defibaugh a great deal during her 13 years at MBT. “…I can tell someone on a ladder doing a lighting installation how to set the dimmer packs and help with larger installations from churches to bowling alleys and nightclubs,” she said. “All of this experience enables me to help the dealer make the sale. There have been times I even [literally] drew out the proper way to do the install to make the job easier.”
Stanton Product Specialist and Resident DJ Darrin Young is well known at the company’s Florida headquarters. So well known he is not referred to as Darrin Young. Instead, everyone in the office calls him “B-Side.” Young is a DJ at The Lounge and Shine at the Shelburne Hotel on Collins Avenue in the heart of South Beach. “Shine holds monthly events of large proportions, whereas The Lounge is more of a week-to-week upscale lounge,” said Young. “Generally, for The Lounge I play ‘open format’ (down tempo/Lounge, R&B/hip-hop, rock/retro, house/techno all mixed together). Considering the way I organize my music and how long I’ve been a DJ (20+ years) it’s easy for me to cross genres, tempos, and mix harmonically. I keep the old-school approach to DJing by doing my mixes and blends for as long as possible and doing most of my ‘mashups’ live (on the fly). For Shine, I play mostly house (progressive, electro or deep, funky, or classics).”
Having the DJ gigs keeps Young “in the scene and in touch with most of the end users. In my opinion, it’s a priority to have a soldier in the trenches in order to keep your brands’ direction and support above par,” he said. “Also, being able to travel brings a global perspective when doing product development and marketing. My position allows me to do a variety of jobs for The Stanton Group (Stanton, Cerwin-Vega!, and KRK). I do some product development and beta testing, a little marketing, and a good bit of sales support. Having worked as every type of DJ in the industry also helped.”
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