Vinyl exams

>> T.O.’s DJ Shine on teaching the tricks of the trade

by KRISTA
nAs if constant DJing and producing, leaping the lines between techno, house and drum & bass, weren’t enough for Tornoto’s Jason Spanu—that is, DJ Shine, he’s also got a DJ school on the go. In anticipation of the launch party for his new CD Thinque, the Mirror rang him up for an introductory course.

Mirror: So what’s this message you left on my machine about being a porn star?

Shine: Oh, that was just me kidding around. I was explaining to this other person who interviewed me that DJing is kind of like being a porn star—that you have to believe that you can do it in front 1,000 people.

M: Okay. So what’s this DJ School you’ve been talking about?

S: It’s called Studio Hideaway. We’ve been doing it for about a year and a half now and we teach kids how to DJ. Scratching and the standard stuff.

M: Don’t you think that DJing is an inherent talent? Something you’re either good at or not?

S: No, not really. I mean, it took me a while to learn. And we’re not teaching people how to pick sets and program or anything like that, just the basic logistic skills. That’s what people have the hardest time with.

M: How much do you charge them?

S: It’s $360 for a 12-hour course, so six two-hour classes broken up. It’s really just to show people that there’s no end to the learning. The problems of DJing don’t ever get solved. There’s a formula to follow, but there is also always something to learn.

M: How did you decide to get into the DJ school business?

S: Actually, these guys just called me out of the blue. I was doing it freelance on my own, like, just trying to break into the scene and stuff, and someone called me and asked me if I would be interested in setting up a school.

M: How long have you been DJing and producing?

S: I started hanging out in the scene when I was about 15, just volunteering to work at parties so I could get into them for free. Like with Patrick Dream and Nav and those guys when they were still here. Then I met (former Toronto DJ/producer) Chameleon. I actually knew the guy who sold him his first 909. That’s how I started get into production. From then on it was just trial and error. I started a band with the guy who played Johnny on that YTV show Catwalk called Automated Gardens. We’re actually still working on stuff.

M: I have to ask this question because it’s begging to be asked. Why did you spell the album title Thinque, with a Q-U-E? I mean, it’s very, uh, cute.

S: Because it makes you think. It’s my way of communicating something in another context that still means the same thing. I’m the kind of guy who names a track “XTODF” because that’s the way my hands fell on the keyboard. It’s nothing, or whatever you want it to be.

nCD launch at Jingxi on Friday, Dec. 21, 11pm