Second Review: Bearfoot

   Like I stated in my first review, I love music of all genres. My last post talked about my rock band, The Summer Floods, but for this post, I will change musical styles. I wanted to look into electronic music so I am going to talk about a local DJ artist who calls himself Bearfoot. His name is Ramy Zabarah. Yes, he is the lead singer in the Summer Floods, but he devotes much of his time developing another side of his musical endeavors.

   If you are not aware, being a disc-jockey is completely different that being a musician. Musicians have to play music in real time. They create the music in the moment. It usually involves multiple people coming together to play a full song.

   When you are a DJ, you are using pre-recorded tracks and songs. You are also the only one who is manipulating the sound. Disc-jockeys find parts of songs and mix them with other songs to create an entirely new piece. They use techniques like sampling, which involve taking small segments taken from songs and cleverly incorporating them into your DJ mix. When I asked Zabarah about what you have to think about when you DJ, he said:

   "When I'm DJing, there are a number things I have to pay attention to. Firstly, and most importantly, I have to think about beatmatching, a method that's essential to mixing. It's the altering of pitches and tempos to match the two songs in the mix rhythmically so that they play in unison. Other things I have to pay attention to are the EQ's (that is, the lows, mids, and highs of the songs that are playing) so that there is no interference or 'clipping' in the mix. I also have to make sure that I'm utilizing the method of harmonic mixing, which is mixing songs that are either in the same key or in keys that correspond to each other on the major or minor scale. On top of all of this, I always have to think about what I'm playing next and when to drop it into the mix."

   Bearfoot is playing at many house parties and is looking to start playing more professional venues soon. If you would like to know more information about Bearfoot, you can find him on Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/bearfootmusic. If you use Tumblr, you can follow him at thebearfoottimes.tumblr.com.