In order to be considered successful and internationally known in today’s club scene you have to be a DJ who is driven, passionate about music, and determined to make club-goers dance.
Guy Scheiman, a DJ/Producer based in Tel Aviv, a region known for its elaborate nightlife, is one of those DJs. He is well-known for his high-energy sound that combines house, progressive, tribal and tech house with strong melodies and memorable vocals. His live sets feature strong grooves and powerful bass-lines that ignite dance floors around the world; some call it an euphoric dance floor experience.
His resume speaks for itself. Guy’s remixes have been commissioned by some of the world’s biggest and most reputable record labels – Universal, Interscope, Sony, Capitol, Atlantic, and TommyBoy, among them – for artists like Cher, Kylie Minogue, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Flo Rida and six-time Grammy Award Winner Amy Grant.
He’s had twenty Top 10 Billboard hits and ten #1s, including his official remix of Lady Gaga’s “Applause”, a track he collaborated on with Danny Verde and Steven Redant of Bent Collective. The trio also landed at #1 in the US and UK with their official remix of Avicii’s “I Could Be The One”.
DJs are a rare breed who have fascinated me for decades. If they are talented enough to make their craft a money-making business and career, I’m inspired to feature and interview them. Undeniably DJs are the heartbeat of the music industry but are oftentimes not recognized like they should be. Music is more than an universal language, it’s the key to our souls. I can appreciate a DJ who can embody that through his sets and remixes.
“Music is food for the soul; it’s a wonderful getaway from our daily life. It has a key role in making our life brighter. For me, what is the most important is to make people happy with my music. It’s an art form and when I see my work being appreciated by a crowd it means the world to me. I hope I can keep people happy through my music for many years to come,” Scheiman says.
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing this amazing and charming DJ. We chatted about music, his new endeavors and life as an internationally renowned DJ and producer.
Many of our readers have never been to Tel Aviv. What’s the music and club scene like and what about gay life?
It’s amazing here, we have so many parties on a weekly basis with lots of different musical styles from Circuit to R&B from House to Rock. Amazing night life with many options.
Where do your interests in music come from and what are some of your musical influences?
Since I was a kid I was always into music, I played the piano, sang, listened to most of the genres from pop, rock, trance, classical music, 60-90’s, and so on. I think people who end up working and giving everything to this field are probably born with it otherwise they just wouldn’t last. I can get inspiration from anything, from an 80’s song in a taxi, from a commercial…or mostly it just pops into my head without any trigger and I run and write or record it down.
What songs would we be surprised to know are on your iPod?
I usually listen to promos or music I buy but to be honest since most of the week I produce my own music either mixes/remixes or mashup, I usually listen to them over and over to make sure they are flawless. That’s why even though a production can take a few days to finalize, the project may take longer as I need to be completely happy with what I’ve done.
Your latest remix “Power (Gonna Get U Boy)” reminds us of some old school classics. Did you sample any music from the 90s for this remix and what was your inspiration behind this?
Actually the vocals I’ve used were by another great producer I follow Massivedrum from Portugal. I loved the vocals he used so asked his permission to use them in a different edit and tone. He agreed so I was good to go.
What makes for a good DJ? Are there technical skills you need (eg. the ability to mix and blend songs together) or can you be successful just playing music from your digital collection?
No DJ can be successful from playing track after track without mixing them, besides the technical side that takes a few years to master fully, you have to know how to read a crowd and adapt to situations that happens in the club itself, tech issues, the general vibe of the crowd and night.
What does it take to be a world renowned DJ?
It used to be making fierce productions, hitting promoters up and basically issuing quality. Today it’s really all about Social Media, who you know, and how good you look to some extant.
I hate to ask about favorites, but do you have a favorite city and/or venue where you like to DJ?
Probably Brazil because of the magnitude of the parties.
What’s your style when DJing? Do you have a specific set in mind? How do you read the crowd and adjust if they don’t appear in the zone?
I have my style and the type of music I usually spin but I always adjust myself to the crowd, party, city, country, etc.
You’ve DJ’d in a variety of venues and for different crowds. Have you seen any differences among gay and straight crowds?
Most definitely the music is very different to these crowds.
How does club music translate across the globe, for example can you play Beyonce in the Chicago and get a similar reaction in Shanghai? Are there some artists you can play in any country or do you tend to tailor music to the specific scene and the cultural context?
Some places love it harder, faster and less vocals, some like it top 40, you have to know where you are going to in order to do a good job.
What made you want to start your own record label, Guy Scheiman Music?
I wanted to create buzz to my own craft as a brand.
In what areas are you focusing your label’s efforts right now?
My label is issuing my music and the remixes being done for me by my amazing colleagues. I’m blessed since there are so many artists who appreciate what I do and are willing to remix my music as they understand the value of remixing “Guy Scheiman.”
What stories or messages (if any) are you telling through the music you produce?
Each track has a story, whether it’s related to the vocals, or the general vibe. All of them are mine and are related like children but each has its own personality.
How has the industry’s interest in doing official remixes of major artists changed over time? And what about consumer interest, has that changed?
The value of official remixes has gone really down the past years. Most of the vocals are online either in good or bad quality but it doesn’t really matter as it used too. Labels pay less money for a remix and remixers are doing free or charge jobs just to be heard and to be associated to big names. I think with the amount of input that there is online, the life time of a song or a remix is really short as the crowd is being bombarded with song after song, hit after hit. They spend little time on each track. It’s not like in the past were I bought CDs and listened to them for days and days and to the same one. Today you buy a song on iTunes and in the next day, there’s a new thing to buy… so the ability to appreciate and focus on a single is low. You can also see how things are much simpler these days. No complex melodies and harmonies. Catchy songs have few lyrics as opposed to the 80’s, for example.
With all the various cloud and web technology out there and free downloads everywhere, how do you balance giving the right amount of free stuff and how do you protect your creative works?
You have to be careful not to devalue yourself with free music, today we can sell our unofficial stuff what we couldn’t in the past, so if I’m promoting a track even officially I can give away a sample or an edit but the crowd would have to buy the full length of the song official and unofficial. This all comes from the fewer amount of sales we see in recent years. It’s affecting the majors and also the small labels. It’s also connected to your status, new producers that wanna be heard will give away lots of their music for free for hype, more established ones will probably sell them more.
People need to understand as sales went down these past years, samples, mastering tools or any other soft or hardware didn’t make a good quality track. Besides your time and knowledge cost lots of money, when the people that follow an artist buy his tune they are basically saying “thank you for your hard work, we appreciate what you are doing for us.” This is how I see it.
You travel the globe and are always on the go. When do you take time to yourself and how do you unwind?
I’m always busy 24/7 when I’m here I hardly have time for myself, when I travel I try to have one more day to myself past the day of my show just to relax and have fun abroad.
Our magazine is geared to gay men with an edge, “What is something you have done that would be considered edgy, unconventional, or tight-lipped?”
If I said it, it won’t be tight lipped. I’ve done the things every clubber has done. I try to do everything; I do it the best way I can and… let’s leave it like that 🙂
