Schools
Student DJ is the Life of the Party
Each week Patch will highlight an individual kid, youth group, teen, or sports team that's wowed us with their accomplishments. Meet Danny Rosenberg, this week's pick.
Danny Rosenberg
Age: 18
School: Deerfield High School
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Accomplishments: Since his early teens, Danny Rosenberg has been making iTunes playlists for special occasions. Realizing that he loved selecting and playing music for audiences, Rosenberg wanted the opportunity to scratch on turntables, mix songs, and create the soundtracks to great parties.
He made his first step towards DJing by doing small gigs with Libertyville's Music Now DJ Group. After purchasing speakers, a mixer, a controller with turntables, and amp, and DJ software, Rosenberg was finally ready to pursue his passion seriously.
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In addition to the standard Top 40's songs, Rosenberg blends genres such as hip-hop, rap, house, and dubstep into his sets. Rosenberg has DJed for birthdays-- last weekend, he provided the entertainment for his friend Todd Zimmerman's 18th b-day celebration-- as well as the DHS Turnabout and a party planning showcase event.
Next year Rosenberg will attend the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusets, where he does not plan on DJing. "I really want to go into event and entertainment marketing, which of course is related to my love of big events," he said. "For now I want to focus on finishing senior year strong by DJing plenty of events. If you're having a party and need a DJ, I'm only a Facebook message or phone call away!"
Key to Awesomeness: Perhaps it was fate; Danny's middle name is Joseph, which incidentally makes his initials DJ. He decided on the stage name DJ-DJ for this reason. Rosenberg practices mixing as much as he can. For a DJ, practicing means mixing for long periods of time with very few breaks. Rosenberg also spends time improving his scratching, a turntablist technique in which the crossfader is manipulated to produce scratching noises.
"I have to listen to about 300 new songs a day," Rosenberg says. "I get my music from DJ subscription sites that only pro DJs can buy. It's expensive, but a DJ is only as good as his music."
