Daily Inspiration: Meet DJ Kevanator

Today we’d like to introduce you to DJ Kevanator

Hi DJ Kevanator, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I actually started djing when I was about 13. I remember watching DJ Bl3nd’s mixes on YouTube and becoming curious as to how he managed to mix the songs together so nicely. After seeing some of his mixes, I decided to download VirtualDJ and mess around with the program and some songs, and I eventually got the hang of it! I was just making mixes for fun and didn’t really think anything more of it. Fast-Foward a few years, I remember one day I was scrolling through YouTube and saw Skrillex’s Ultra Music Festival 2015’s set as a suggested video, so I watched it. I remember being completely blown away at how he mixed his music and how he included multiple genres and that made me want to actually take djing a bit more serious. Eventually, I landed my first gig at Avalon Hollywood on the Pioneer Stage. I remember being extremely nervous, but thanks to the support of my family and friends, I went up and did my first ever live set which consisted of mainly House music. Ever since then, I was like “Yeah, this is definitely for me!” and decided to pursue it more! I did a few shows with We Love Kandy and Avalon Hollywood mixing EDM music until the pandemic happened. After that, it wasn’t until 2021 that I started to DJ again, but this time at bars mixing Hip Hop, Latin Music, some EDM and Top 40s. Ever since then, my DJ career snowballed into djing for multiple private events like weddings, quinces and graduations, to djing for awesome big events such as Foodieland, djing at bars and clubs and being able to start and grow my DJ Youtube Channel as well!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I want to say it’s in the middle honestly! One of the bigger struggles that I faced when I first started to DJ live is finding places to DJ for. When a DJ starts out, it’s really difficult for them to be able to get a show or a booking because they don’t really have any experience of DJing for anyone else. One of the things that has helped me is to make a really good mix and have that as a reference for people to be able to listen and see if you’re a good fit. Another thing that helped me so much is having support from family or friends. I cannot tell you how grateful I am that I’ve had friends and family that came and supported me at my first few shows and have still supported me until now. It’s super important to surround yourself with great people who have good intentions and who want to see you grow. I starts to get smooth once you get that momentum of being able to DJ comfortably and of course, having lots of fun doing it!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Certainly! Right now I’m focused on both DJing and Music Production. For DJing, I mainly specialize in a more Latin Club-like sound, so I usually include Hip Hop, Reggaeton, Cumbias & House for example. For Music Production, I’m leaning into EDM since I always have huge love for EDM music. It’s mostly House & Jersey Club music but I’ve been also producing some UK Dubstep-like sounds that I really enjoy, so I hope I can implement that into my sets somehow!
At the moment, I’m more known for my DJ page on YouTube! For each mix, I try to set a theme for the mix and mix within that theme only like for example, only using Cumbia music or doing a Latin Beach-like mix. Whenever I play live though, I’m known to throw in some EDM in my sets and for always doing a different set each time, which means not playing the exact same song order every single time and throwing in different songs. I find it more fun that way, and I also think it’s really fun to challenge myself into coming up with new transitions or new combinations of songs and that it sets me apart from others. All of these things make me proud of how far I came and it motivates me to try and be better than the last time!

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Definitely being open minded and to look at the positive side to things and to not be afraid of messing up! There’s been moments where things don’t go as planned or where a dj set doesn’t go well because of self made errors or technical difficulties, but it happens! And I’m sure it’ll happen again. But that just means that I need to not let it affect me for long and to take it up a notch and come back even harder. In fact, most of those situations helped me prepare for what to do if it ever happened again and how to handle it with ease. As the quote goes, “Failure is a part of the process. You just learn to pick yourself back up.”

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djkevanator/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@djkevanator
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/djkevanator
• Other: https://linktr.ee/djkevanator

Image Credits
We Love Kandy.