Episode 11 with Kane: Balancing Sales and DJ

Today's episode is filled with some MUSIC, deep discussion on the Malaysian music scene, and Sales as a career.

Kane and I met at a house party where he was performing and I was sooo excited that I literally just stood next to him most of the time to watch how he did his thing. Luckily he liked me LOL and we kicked it off ever since, and we realised we had mutual friends which was CRAZY!! 

Kane is living an interesting where he's balancing a Sales career at a FinTech while with DJ.  

We talked a lot in this episode. From his dedication to ensuring everyone has a good time, to his journey on how he got to where he is today, professionally and creatively, we got to learn a lot about how Kane views the world and how he approaches life. 

We also unearthed on the importance of finding a community of like-minded people who are starting or are already on the same journey as you, as that accountability factor can set you on an exponential growth when you're getting feedback on your creative output, vs doing it alone. The key is to put yourself out there, and eventually you'll start meeting your people who fuck with what you're doing too. 

Here's one interesting thing Kane mentioned: “Sales and DJ is all about how you present yourself, and ensuring you provide the customer/audience with a good experience. In Sales you want to make sure your product is delivering value for the customer's specific use case. In DJ it's all about manipulating the pitch and rhythm to alter your audience's emotions and ensuring they have a good time, while also taking the time to thank the audience for coming along on the journey with you. 

🎧 This episode is for you if you’re interested in Sales, DJ, if you're interested in the progression of the Malaysian music scene, and how to start DJ'ing as well!! 🔥

Enjoy the episode, learn the blueprint from my guests, hope this inspires you to just start, and do let me know what you think!!

Kane links: 

1. Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kanelit_7/ 

2. Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/kane-tong-lit-vern/aristo-mix?ref=clipboard&p=a&c=1&si=75cf5ff37de240e8ac50e39f73bf6061&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPOTM2NjE5NzQzMzkyNDU5AAGnCgJrANesFM8_Wmwfchohl3ZB9JlHFY7mxzOMYWlP6OD8-RrhCM8WQ3FpxL4_aem_PvpieoBTHrtUbdBjGoKq0g&utm_id=97760_v0_s00_e0_tv3 

My links: 

1. Idris Creative Instagram
2. Idris Personal
3. Youtube
4. TikTok 

Interested in being a guest? Hit me up at - idris@idrisdinproductions.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What is up everyone? Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, wherever the heck you guys are tuning in from. We got Kane in the house. Let's fucking go. I'm super excited for this. Uh quick context of how I met Kane. I think we we met at like a I don't know if you'll call it a house party. Like house party?

SPEAKER_03 0:14

Well it it's stylized as a house party, isn't it? But I I think it was a I think it was a quick uh get together um organized by our mutual friend uh Bing.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Yes, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

But yeah, it was well it was stylized as a house party, but it really wasn't, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

That's how I usually like to like describe it anyway. But uh also quick shout out to yeah, after show homebar, the guys like Bing, Chi Fong, Brian for like just organizing that space and also the team behind it. If it wasn't for that, then we wouldn't have met.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

So yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Shout out to them, but yeah, obviously met Kane. Kane was the f of like one of their house parties, and uh I was like, holy shit, like DJ's here. So I went, I was literally like just like over there, yeah, walkie walkie walking down. I was like, dude, like can I just stand next to you? This is so cool.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

It was it was it was not too awkward, yeah. I think the best part was like uh it was it it was awkward for like a minute, that was it. Uh right, yeah, and then the energy shifted, right? And when the music started, we were all vibing, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:13

So yeah, it was a great opportunity for me because I I haven't had uh many DJing opportunities outside of like my my my circle, right? So this was my first and and meeting you as well, and from there we've known many more mutual friends. That's crazy. Alright, that's crazy. So yeah, I mean it was awkward at first, but when the conversation got flowing and while I was DJing, I mean I was busy, you were like socializing as well, but it was it was kind of funny as well, because it was like, bro, yeah, you can hang out here, no worries.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't want to be like so imposing because like I was worried that I'll I'll make it awkward, but then I was like, dude, I I want to learn, I want to see you spinning the decks and all that. But yeah, I also was like cautious about wanting to give it your space as well. So glad you like me. Like you alluded to, you DJ on the side, but you also work in the sales role, right? So how about you give a quick intro to yourself?

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Yeah, so yeah, as Idris uh alluded. I my name is Kane. I'm 29 years here, younger than Idris, but yeah, I I'm actually younger than you, but Yeah, I know, right? Yeah, yeah. So uh before I stepped into the world of DJing, I I just graduated and I was still on the lookout for a job. And I had recently met up with an old friend from Tuition and she was like, you know, what are you doing now? And you know, everybody else had their careers uh started earlier than me because I was a bit late. But uh I had uh I mean I had a shoe-in chance for an interview with uh with a local bank here, and they had a graduate trainee program. They had some you know apprehensions of but of my degree because it's not directly related to finance, you know, so that's why they offered me the job, and at the same time they were kind of desperate for people. Right, not gonna say much on that, but yeah, you know, at the time the uh the turnover rate was pretty high, but anyways, it was a good it was a great shoe-in chance. I I was very lucky, yeah. Four years in the banking industry, and I also worked in in a in a sales capacity as well. I was uh account relationship executive, so it was all business development, relationship management, you know, upselling and stuff. So we were dealing a lot with loans and insurance, right? And that was my exposure to the greater business world in Malaysia, in the corporate world as well. And I think two years into my role, I had met up again with an old high school friend, right? And his name is Nabil, amazing guy, amazing guy, he's a really nice guy, and I'm very grateful for him, very, very grateful for him. He's also a DJ, he's also a DJ. Uh I've known him from high school, and he's an amazingly talented individual, he's very artistic. But uh, yeah, because of him, so on New Year's Eve in 2024, he had uh organized a party at his place, and I you know, I came over, I came over and you know he had his decks in his room, and I was like, whoa, what's this? You know, and I immediately knew it was a DJ deck, right? I knew what was going down, I've seen the equipment before, I just never touched it or tried out the software. And he gave me a shot, right? Just try it out, just fuck around with it, it's completely fine. And you know, he was just showing me his techniques and what does he do because at that time he had also just started, right? Okay, and the way that he learned and he started off was at the time he was doing graphics design, graphics design and uh multimedia. I'm not sure how to describe it properly. I could be describing it in the wrong way, but the way that I see it, he was doing 3D design for a DJ acquaintance of his because they had wanted to have visuals on on the on the display while they were DJing, right? So he has experience in that, and for payment in return, he had asked him, you know, hey, you don't need to pay me, but just teach me how to DJ. And Bob's your uncle, right? So, in turn, technically, from there, Nabil became my coach as well. So cool, yeah, exactly, right? And if not for that, if not for that back and forth between me and him, I wouldn't have been in my shoes today. And uh, you know, from there, from day one, then from the very next day, I think no, from the week after he invited me back to his place to try it out again because I had downloaded music on my USB and I didn't know what was happening. I thought I could just play music and play it from end to end, but that's not the beauty of DJing, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

Sometimes you gel things together. So after that one session where I was playing music from end to end, I was just listening to how he was DJing. I went back home and I downloaded music from my one of my favorite uh producers. Uh shout out to Tisoki, he's based in Los Angeles, but he's from the UK.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

He has a Discord whereby he puts out his unreleased stuff and it's and it's for free. It's just not allowed to be released commercially. Yeah. I downloaded those, I downloaded Record Box, and I just DJ'd on the on my PC on Record Box with a mouse and keyboard, trying it out, and it felt so good. Because I had just figured out when and where to mix, which portion of the which portion of the song to mix. And it was very it was a no-brainer because he structured his music in a way that it was very easy to DJ, where to start, where to stop. Right?

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

And I recorded a five-minute mix. I recorded five-minute mix just to test it out. I it felt good for me, right? But I had wanted to know whether it felt good for other people. So I sent it to I sent it to a lot of my friends, my close friends basically. I sent it to about maybe four or five of my friends, and I asked them for their opinion, and they were like, Whoa, what the fuck's this? You know, this is this is something, you know. I mean, I have I have receipts, so I have receipts, you know. So yeah, they were they were they were really questioning, you know, what's this, you know, what what sound is this? And I was like, yeah, this is my first foray, you know, just trying things out. And it started from there, and every almost every consecutive week, whenever Nabil had time, or whether he was open to coaching me or on Mondays, I'll just go to his house and it's like, Do you want to jam? Do you want to jam? Do you want the jam? Yeah, he's like, Yeah, just bring USB. Do you have any tracks that you want to play and try it out? Let's do it on that on those days. I'll just film us bouncing off each other's energy, doing a B2B, impromptu, you know, just practice it. Nice. And we'll film it and then I'll just post it on IG stories and we'll just see how it goes. Because it was just a passion project at that time. It's just a pure hobby. It slowly snowballed from there, and to be honest, it kind of ate into work as well. Because I was having late nights. Yes, I was focusing a little bit more on the music, not too much on work, and work was also getting a little a little bit more monotonous, and dare I say, not lining up with my values, to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:18

It wasn't really genuine, it wasn't really genuine, it was more of like just bumping the numbers up. It wasn't really reflective of uh truths out there in the in the wider economy, but I felt differently about the music, you know. You you definitely have been there before, you know, when you have the passion, right? This is the right thing for me, yada yada yada. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you're just aligned, yes, you know, versus you know, I need to put food on the table, I need this money, blah blah blah. Yeah, it just wasn't really genuine, you know. And and it came to a point, I think last year, maybe in I forgot whether September or maybe July, I really forgot. There was a DJ conference.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

And this DJ conference was organized by basically old-time folks, legends in the Malaysian circle, that have already started DJing and put out their own content, and they have also had contacts in the local scene. On the other hand, their day job was in media, right? So, shout out to uh DJ Adrian G and shout out to Ash as well from Flow State. Yeah. So DJ Adrian G, he's had plenty of experience in the media sector with Media Prima, right? The people handling New Straits Times, the people handling maybe sometimes, I think TV3, if I'm not mistaken, you know, and I did not realize that they've been DJing for that long, for like 15 years, 15, 20 overall years. And he's now, okay, I don't really know his age. He just looks, you know, senior. Yeah, yeah. Terribly sorry, DJ. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

We love you, we respect you.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

We love you, yeah. I mean he's the ty, not to say tai colour, but he's he's a respected uh member in the in the DJ Circle here in Malaysia. And they organized the DJ conference, right? And we had to pay for admission, and you know what? I decided, you know what, it seems fun. They had talks. Not only did they have talks, but they also had equipment for you to mess around with the decks and everything.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

That immediately put me on game because I wanted to mess with the equipment. Yeah, I had all that drive and that inkling and that want and that need to mess around with equipment. Besides, I already had the USB prepared.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:30

I paid for admission, I was late during that day. I didn't manage to attend all the talks, but and also because I had a late night the the night uh previously, because I was attending uh Stowe Flap, of which you and I both uh know. Yeah, so yeah, I I attended Echo Chamber, and then the next day it was the conference, right? Came over to that particular cafe at 2 p.m., you know, it was bustling, and I met a bunch of other DJs there as well, of which we have gotten closer. Shout out to DJ Mia Muda, who you met last night as well. And I just messed around with the equipment and they had open decks, right? So you just had to write your name on a board and just pick a time slot, half an hour, just do your thing. It all started from there. It all started from there. And the more people I met, the more opportunities I had. And I think the most interesting one was having open decks with YSL with the makeup, with the makeup uh particular circle.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:31

Even though it wasn't big or like there wasn't many people coming, it was great for the brand, it was great for me as well, lining up with the vision of YSL as well. To be edgy, to be different, and most of all to align with music. To align with music. I think you and I will be surprised. Malaysia has a really diverse and wide music scene. Even though we are, even though, dare I say we are Western facing, you know, we have a lot of people here that listen to Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, everything American or everything European.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

We still have a healthy local scene as well. Our local scene, we have very talented rappers, guitarists, drummers, vocalists as well, right? And they all want to incorporate a local sound, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Yes, I agree.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

In fact, uh, I think even musicians in Klang, Klang is famous for being a mostly Mandarin or Hawkeian speaking region, right? Really? And check out their sound right now. It's all hip-hop, it's all trap, and it's all in Mandarin. And they connect on a very wide audience, exactly. Especially on the on the more Chinese-speaking diaspora over here in Malaysia, and they are all bangers, all of them. I think the most famous one is 3P with their clang anthem. I forgot the the song, the name of the song already. But there are a lot of up-and-coming artists recently, and it's a very healthy scene, yeah. Nice, but that's my foray into DJing, you know, and the more people I meet, the more uh connections I make, the more events we organize, yeah. And it's all from our passion and it's coming out from our pocket as well, you know.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

It's literally blood, sweat, and tears. That's why I'm a firm believer in having a day job as opposed to just going all in, you know. I I'm I'm personally not there yet. I'm personally not there yet. But uh yeah, I think as an introduction, that's yeah, that's pretty good for me.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Dude, that's a strong introduction, man. There's loads of things that you mentioned that I want to pick up on. Let's focus a little bit more on the day jobs uh aspect right now. So you mentioned you were working in a bank and then you left that bank and then now you're working in a startup. Is that correct? Uh in sales, or what would you say?

SPEAKER_03 13:38

Well, I wouldn't say it's a startup. It's it is a startup environment, but they've been operating for the past uh I mean operating fully for like the past five to six years, I think. They were established in 2015 actually. But uh the more they rolled over and rolled with the punches, now they've started to to develop as a proper fintech platform. Okay. Should I name names and call them not right now? I don't think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll just leave it at that. But yeah, they've uh they've been operating quite strongly for the past three, four years, and uh they've expanded since to markets such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines. But their three core markets are uh Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Yeah, I think from there people can start searching really.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Okay, okay. And how would you describe your role? Is it like a 360 plus sales role? Are you mainly focused on like just prospecting, outbounding, or are you like closing, or are you handling at the partnership side of things given that that was sort of sort of like what you were doing in a bank?

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Yeah, so when I when I was in a bank, I was doing mainly customer-facing stuff and also writing credit papers. I was analyzing and basically arguing business cases of why we should avail loans to this particular customer.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:53

But for now, it's very different. I've since left that kind of role and it's more uh doing things online, you know, and basically catering the customer's requests or any questions they have, and basically onboarding them as as fast as possible and also ensuring that they transact to this. The company's uh business model is that we let we basically avail them tools to accept payment from their customers, right? More of a payment gateway, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

More of a payment gateway. So if they want to enable their customers to pay via card, we can do that. QR methods, QR payment methods, we can do that as well. So my job function is mainly just to communicate to the customer how things work here, what are the rules, how do you get on board it, you know, and also to help in any capacity that uh that I can give to them in terms of support. So a lot of times, yeah, I I guess the three main pillars customer service, yeah, tech support, yeah, and giving them peace of mind, basically.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Okay, okay. That's interesting. What we threw a normal weekday start to finish for you and your job, like how does that look like?

SPEAKER_03 16:00

Wow, yeah. If I could circle back to the banking side, I would always wake up very late, to be honest. I'll always be late to the office because well, it didn't really start out that way. I was still pretty early, but it got really monotonous because uh my office was located really far away. I had to drive like 40 minutes always on the highway, and I started waking up pretty late. But now, since I've pivoted to this industry, it's a work from home position. So that's the appeal, and that's what allows me to also venture into this uh DJing thing, right? Since I'm fully work from home now, it's just it's just as easy as like waking up, washing up, drinking a cup of water, jumping on, settling some emails first, and then having a bit of a bite of a breakfast before big meetings.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Meetings, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:44

So I definitely think it's more flexible as opposed to like being in the office. And don't get me wrong, being in the office is great as well. Yes, but having that flexibility these days, I feel it's very, very much better. It's better and it's more beneficial for like mental health. Not gonna lie. It is really, really a plus point for me these days.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Really, really something I find interesting is when I've been speaking to like since I've been back in Malaysia, when I speak to like my friends here, they are used to like going to the office like every day. Whereas like it contrasts a lot with like when I used to work in London, it was like, oh, you know, three days a week in office, but two days remote. And I never really sat down and think about like oh the repulsive fact of that, like or how it enables me to have like you know mental clarity, etc. with the balancing of oh, I can still go in and like you know, socialize or like just like make decision making much more quicker. But then over here it's just like office, day in, day out, done, and then traffic jam, you know.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

And that's the thing, you know. A lot of people, I don't think a lot of people can relate to that because they either just stick with it and they just uh withstand the pressure, or it you know, a lot of the times, like if I talk to the older generation, my seniors, or even my parents, they will be like, No, it'll be fine, it'll be okay. They grew up in a different time, we are growing up in a different time as well. And let me bring up a statistic. We put up back in 2025 with the advent of like the EV uh cars coming in, you know. Yeah, we put more than a hundred thousand new vehicles on the road. That's more space taken up on our highways, right? Correct. And that's what contributes to a lot of the traffic jams that we see now, like yesterday. Yeah, you know, like yesterday. And uh and and and we really live in a different time. I mean compared it to our parents, you know. Yes, we built all the roads and all the highways, but there were so much less cars back then. And a lot of the people that were driving cars were mainly in the city, not out station. Think of it this way a lot of the cars last time were concentrated in KL, now they're spread out all the way. Malacca, Joho, Kedah, yeah, Suriban, everywhere. Penang. Think Penang. Penang is one of the most densely populated states right now, and they have so many cars there. And you put on even more cars.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

That's crazy. I mean, I it's it's it's great that everyone has attained that lifestyle and that life milestone. Yeah, but the fact of the matter is this it's contributing to traffic problems, plain and simple. And that's why I think that moving to a work-from-home model is definitely needed because we can't we can't deal with it this way anymore. It's not conducive to anybody. And anybody that's complaining about productivity and everything, productivity is always linked back to the mental well-being of people, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

I agree, I agree. And do you think it is gonna be a challenge for like employers here? And while while whilst we're on this topic, like do you think it's gonna be a challenge for employers here to like rewire their uh their sort of like RPOV towards uh work from home just because they might they're so wired and probably because they're like the older generations, they're all used to the uh coming in every single day. And so they equate that to like okay, everyone's in for productivity, whereas they might and because of that they might not be flexible to actually uh enable employees to uh for work from home opportunities. So I at least for me when I think about it, it's like, oh like I'm not sure if Malaysia, like a lot of companies there, like can get out of it unless it's like MNCs or GL2s or whatever, but at the same time, I feel like it's just too embedded culturally.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Yeah, I mean I love to hear your your opinion on that. I'm I'm gonna ask you that later. But I honestly think these days it really depends whether you're a legacy business or whether you're new and you're lean. To me, a lean business is a fast business. Yes, right, and legacy businesses aren't lean and they aren't fast either because they have to comply with so many, many call like uh you know, rules and regulations, especially in the banking industry. You have to ask this person, and then that person has to ask this person, and that that person has to ask another person for their yes just because you need so many inputs and opinions, you know. But if it's lean, you can roll with the punches quickly. So I think a good example is doodoo dots. Doodoo dots is a husband and wife team, and they hire a very small marketing logistics team, you know, and they even they hire retirees as interns and stuff like that, and eventually they do get permanent jobs as well. And the way that I see it, the way they roll with the punches is they do have offices when they need to, and they they impose work from home when they need to. They don't micromanage, they just expect results, right? And the way I see it is that a lot of the legacy players out there, it's hard for them to pivot to a work-from-home model because they are so used to monitoring. They're so used to like, hey, are they doing work at these sitting there and stuff like that? But that's the thing. In sales, it's either you're there or you're not there. It's either you're present or you're not present. If you're not present, it's either you're out and about doing marketing, meeting customers and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's bringing in sales. That or you're like taking advantage of you know going out and just having lunches everywhere. Yeah, you know, yeah, but that's my take on it. I wanted to know from your side because you worked in the UK, and I believe in the UK, the UK is pretty if if I think about it, the UK is pretty similar. It's just that they've recently pivoted to a sort of model that allows this flexibility because even in the UK with the tube, yeah, it is still so many people, right?

SPEAKER_02 22:33

Correct, correct.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

So many people. I I I get the fact that we when we look at our Malaysian public transport, we all we sort of think like, ah, this sucks, this sucks. But it's getting there, it's getting there. But with the tube, the tube is a hundred-year-old system as well, yeah. It still supports so many people. I know that people there are not too happy either, but they just still get with it. They still roll with the punches as well.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:55

So I wanted to know what was your experience, you know. When was the time where you felt that you know what, this isn't really for me, or like, you know, I can really do this, this is my thing, you know. I'm just gonna roll the punches, like, I'm gonna continue doing this, this is a great job, you know.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

Yeah, I I think for me it was interesting because the role that I was doing previously was like more operations uh within like a tech marketplace, and because of that role, it's like we're sort of like the beating heart of the business, like we have to function in order to keep the business alive.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

You're like the backbone of the company, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Pretty much, pretty much, like the engine. And at first before the company got like series A, like uh what I joined when they were on stage, and uh it was still okay in terms of like uh coming into office but also remote as well. But then even then, it's like I have to take like what the central line. I don't know if you've used the central line before, the the red line, 820, it'll be sort of like packed sardines, bro. Especially when it's summer, oh my gosh, like sort of like hot, BO, everyone's packed together at sweaty. I was like, oh my gosh, this is so disgusting, man. And trust me, I've I've heard many horror stories.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

I was only in London in the winter period, so thank god for that. Even then, for some odd reason, heaters were on, and I'm like, wait, what the f I'm wearing my jacket in the tube, bro.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

It was sort of like okay, this is just how it is, but I did during that time I was like, okay, uh, I will take advantage of like my work from home opportunities. But then once the company reached series A, they wanted to be more aggressive with growth. So that meant that a lot of more people start coming to the office more. And in a way, like I thought of doing that as well, only because I think number one, I was more productive there, but also number two, like I can actually like decisions get made quicker.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

Yeah, and socialize there as well, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Exactly. So so that's why I think I'm I'm leaning more to like actually going having the opportunity to like go into the office every day, but at the same time, if there's work-form flexibility, great. At least it's not you have to, but like you can if you want. So that's that's my take on that.

SPEAKER_03 24:57

Yeah, yeah. And I feel like it's it's better. I'm it this this is gonna lean a bit into politics as well, but I feel it's it's always great for both sides to mesh and melt together. You might have a certain view on the left, you might have a certain view on the right, but when you come together and you find a commonality, and sometimes maybe a compromise, the things that you do when you're factoring greater society definitely will benefit not only you, but but the bigger circle as well, like the like the big picture at the same time. I mean, it could be the collectivist in me, it could be the collectivist in me, not the individual not the individual in me. But I feel as if the the angle that I'm coming from is that people either prefer working in the office and people either prefer working from home, but there has to be a balance. I feel there has to be a balance. The best thing that happened for me, especially when joining this new company, is that they they did arrange an office environment for us, but it wasn't a must always to come into the office. And if you did want, if you did want to come into the office, it's a great choice. It's a great choice because it was a co-working space, you either hot desk or you stay in the office, completely fine, right? Yeah, we needed a we needed a great environment to to have a quiet meetings, that's one.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

We needed a productive environment where we could just get coffee whenever you wanted. Yes, and then just wake up on uh during the next day and just get things going right from the get-go.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 26:32

Instead of waiting instead of using time, not wasting time, using time to travel. Using time to travel. So that was my main gripe. That was my main gripe, and I think it was a great chance, and I I'm and I'm honestly blessed. I really, I really am grateful and blessed for all the experiences that I've had. That I I know and and I learned this about myself that you know what spending time on the road, great and all, but these days the freedom that a car allows you isn't what you used to experience 15 years ago. It's completely different, you know. Sorry to say, sorry to say, we've made we've made we've made cars accessible. I wouldn't say we've made cars too accessible, but we really need to get a jump on things in terms of the public transport side. It's great that we started and and rolled it off, but we have to monitor and see with the next few years. Because it's honestly, I feel like it's gonna be a shit show when everything starts to go back to the office.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

I agree. You went from sales and then now you're doing more, like would you say it's more customer service support and onboarding if government would describe it, yeah. Sales. Okay, still sales. What part of the job genuinely enriches you but also takes the most out of you? Because I know for sales there's targets, there's numbers, and it it's always like you have to hit tangible results and it'll live in your mind.

SPEAKER_03 27:53

That's a great question. Yeah, that's a great question. I grew up being a people pleaser, not gonna lie. Okay, yeah, it's it's kind of a red flag of mine. But every time I get asked this question, I always say the same thing. I I want to make people happy, I want to put a smile on that face. Genuinely. Generally, I just want to put a smile on it on that face. The same way I did to you last night, playing all that music and making sure people have a good time. People, yeah, people just listen to bangers, you know. And that's why I studied uh culinary management. I had wanted to go into the culinary industry, you know, in terms of cooking, because I had a passion for food as well.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:30

But after my degree, I had also realized that you know what, I enjoy dining more than serving diners, right? I could work as a waiter and whatnot, but it isn't the most ideal situation over here. Notwithstanding that, I still wanted to put a smile on people's faces and to hear their gratefulness over the phone. Yeah, the narcissism inside me is coming out. Hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

We'll allow it.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

You know, but hearing that always always puts me in a great mood. Yeah, and I wanted to build on that. I wanted to build on that and let it snow more from there. And that's why I I joined in a in a more sales capacity because that's that's how I felt like I was contributing to society. Because everybody has problems. It felt great for me to solve theirs, it felt great for me to answer their questions and to provide value. It felt great for me to provide some certainty in a world filled with uncertainty, you know.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 29:28

Yeah, that was my main motivator because the way I see it, even in my immediate circle, everyone is always uncertain. They are always like, Where do you want to go? What do you want to eat? What do you want to do tonight? You know, should we watch this movie? Yeah, I was often placed in the position of like, hey, let's just do this, do this, do this at this time, let's meet now, meet now, meet now.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Done.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

Right? It felt like I had put my strong sense of leadership in practice. And whenever I had um the response was like, hey, thank you so much for for the help and thank you so much for that feedback, it always puts me in the in the in the best mood, you know. And I and I and I roll with the punches and I move on from there. And what takes what takes the most out of me is when I give them that level of service and they come back to me again, and they come back to me and it's like, hey, you know, this is what happened. Yeah, I thought that you know it worked this way, but it didn't, you know, and you sold it to me wrong and stuff like that. Like, yeah, there seems to be some misunderstanding here. Yeah, you know, did I align the pieces wrongly for you? You know, I thought I tried to because in man in many times you're trying to piece together a puzzle for them and you get the payment back, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

That's the expectation.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

But when they receive their puzzle and they feel like something's off, you have to you have to circle back again. That takes the energy out of me as well. But that's the nature of the job, and and I feel like that oftentimes that's the nature of how life is. You have to circle back, and you you know, people just want certainty. That's it. People just want certainty. That's all. And yeah, I feel like uh yeah, I feel like God put me in on on earth for for this particular purpose, you know. So that's how that's how I I that's how I got started. That's how I got started.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Yeah, I I love that man. I mean, my takeaway from what you just said is that actual service or even specific yeah, hosp hospitality, acts of service is something that drives you in life. Would you say that's correct?

SPEAKER_03 31:33

Yeah, I would say so. I would say so. I I was I mean my love of of cooking came from being in a scouts, you know, and I love playing with fire and barbecuing, you know. Yeah, uh Mr. Powell, Sir Powell, you know, yeah, you know. I mean how about I mean how about yourself, you know? What what would you say? I mean we went into love languages technically.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Yeah, yeah, we did, we did, we did it.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

Yeah, what would you what would what what are your love languages actually?

SPEAKER_00 31:59

What would be your first thing? I think I'm the same, actually. Because if I am hosting a gathering or if I'm meeting someone uh for dinner, for example, I would want them to walk out of it feeling good, feeling like, oh okay, that was like one of the best times I've ever had this week, for example. And they try to be very intentional about like the type of experience that they go through. Yeah, that's the first thing that comes to mind.

SPEAKER_03 32:23

Yeah, right. And I think it's also part of being Malaysian, you know? Yeah, exactly. Whether we're from West Malaysia or East Malaysia, it's providing that level of hospitality, yeah. That empathy that we can connect with anybody, that kindness. That kindness, that that that show of a companionship, right? You're part of the world, yes. Yeah, yeah. You could say, you know, it is because we are a collectivist society, yada, yada, yada. But no, it is it is Malaysian hospitality, really.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

True, true. So now that now that we've touched on about how your day job looks like and you've referenced this at the start in terms of like how you got into DJing after your friend Nabil, and then how the first few steps that you guys just start riffing off each other from there, let's take it back in terms of like a year ago, like or yeah, a year ago-ish, like since uh uh end of 2024, uh or maybe two years ago. How did you even start balancing that out with your day job?

SPEAKER_03 33:17

Well, yeah, not gonna lie, I really did start neglecting work. Yeah. So the the when when my passion kick started, it I was really leaning towards you know the nightlife, and I really loved going to events, raving, and yeah, I just wanted to have a good time with my friends. And at the same time, I was enjoying so much of the music that was coming to my Spotify on my release radar.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:40

Banger after banger every two weeks, you know. Yeah, for for new music Friday. And uh it it I wouldn't say it was strictly a balance because of the neglect, but I would say I always carved out time, you know. People can never be too busy, you know. In fact, people can never be too busy, you know, to reply you as well, you know.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:01

To everybody out there listening, no one is busy enough not to reply you, they're ghosting you on purpose.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

That's true, that's true, that's true. I'm guilty of that, so I've done it before.

SPEAKER_03 34:10

Yeah, everybody, everybody is, you know, as long as we acknowledge it and we just you know just take uh accountability, you know, it's all good, you know. Yeah, but for myself, I think uh I had started my my fitness journey as well at the time because Nabil also started working out, and uh from time to time I would either gym with him or gym with another bunch of my friends. But whenever I start whenever I gymed with him, I would always ask, like, hey, do you want to jam tonight? It's like yep, let's do it after let's do it after we have food. And gym started usually around 7 p.m., rolled around all the way up to maybe 10 p.m. after we had food, and then we went back to his place, and we just DJ'd for about two more hours, and then it would hit the stroke of midnight. Then only I went back home, and that was the start of like my sleep schedule getting screwed up as well. Yeah, it's all my fault. I admit it, you know. Yeah, and I would say, yes, that's how how that's I would I would say how I balanced everything out because I also started to try and record my own sets at home and and do it on the computer. I'll be on you know, mouse and keyboard, queuing up songs, just pressing record, yada yada yada. And I'll be at times it depends on the length of the set I'm trying to record, but I'll be either recording for I'll be practicing for like one, two hours and then record for half an hour, upload the set, and then that's it, you know. And sometimes it could take almost a week or so because sometimes you feel so drained from having so many activities lumped into such a tight time frame.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:44

And uh but it's all about carving out time. And it's all about and I'm I'm honestly, I mean as Malaysians as well, I think we're pretty spontaneous. You know, we we have an idea, we start to think of something like, oh yeah, I'm going home later and I'm gonna try this out. But sometimes you're like, man, I have to close this, I have to close this, I have to close this. It's all about closing loops. It's about closing loops. We always think about it in the shower, you think about it during work, right? We have to close things, you know, one by one by one. And that's how that's how I started to manage things. It wasn't always consistent. Yeah, you know, it wasn't always consistent. I think I think my my setback for myself is having that discipline because some days I want to do it, but some days I've already had made plans for it. And then some days when I made plans for it, I either cancel those plans and I go back home and do my mixing and stuff. So it really is a matter of choice as well. It really is a matter of choice.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

Prioritization.

SPEAKER_03 36:41

And prioritization, exactly. Yeah, it's it's very basic. It's it's it's it's similar in a way to how you manage yourself in a business practically. Yeah, carving out time, prioritization, done.

unknown 36:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Do you time block your week?

SPEAKER_03 36:55

No, but I honestly think these days it's been picking up. It's been picking up. Like these days I try and block off things on the calendar. I used to not do that, but these days I always plan in advance. You know, I'm not as spontaneous as I as I was last time. Whereby, you know, you have two hours uh empty on the calendar, and you're just like, oh, let's just do something, you know.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:17

I always carve out time, especially around Thursday late at night, because that's where new music Friday comes out on Spotify. Yes, true. Always on the lookout for the new music. And when the new music gets released, I'm like, okay, finally this track is out, and I just listen to it. And yes, I try and download them, you know, I'm I'm guilty of that. But if not, where can you get your music? You know, so that's true. Yeah. So I always look, I think these days, because I'm so much more consistent, I always look forward to to me new music Friday. That's where I block it off. That's where I block it off.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

Okay. So it sounds like when you were starting out balancing, it was a bit more like spontaneous. You were just going like vibes, yeah, just going through it. But then now, from the from the experience of you going through that, you kind of have an in-built system in a way, and then you're starting to like time block a little bit more. Then that's how you would you say you balance.

SPEAKER_03 38:10

Yeah, exactly. So it used to be very impulsive, really. Because it you you might agree with me, as a DJ, sometimes you get that impulse like, oh, this might work, or this might work, let's try something out. And that's that creative spark that I think a lot of people have that sometimes they don't leverage, and sometimes that it's not being enabled in in business as well. That's why it's better sometimes for people like like me and you to operate in such a capacity to be lean and to make decisions quickly. Yes. And at least when the decision goes wrong, we we can have the opportunity to take ownership of it, either to apologize, yeah, and iterate, or we get you know punished, you know, normally. Yeah, yeah. But oftentimes, sometimes when we have a quick idea in a in a big place, it just takes so much more time to get that decision rolling, and it takes so long to get back to the Cosmos as well because the Cosmic expects so much.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:05

When you get back to me on Monday, and it's like we can try, but I wouldn't say yeah. And then when it comes to Monday, they're like, Have you done this already? It's like, no, we we haven't come to a conclusion yet because we have to pass through so many layers. You know, how can I give you such a concrete decision when I myself am not sure?

unknown 39:23

Right?

SPEAKER_03 39:23

Yeah, it's a great idea from the customer, don't get me wrong, it's a great idea. It's not dumb at all. In fact, if we get a customer working for us, that'll be great.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:33

You approve I'm I'm your guy, you know. You know, but but when it's slow, it is what it is. It is what it is. It's bureaucracy, it's plain bureaucracy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

So, like after a full day of sales for you, where do you get your energy to go and mix and try something new? And it sounds like you have Thursdays blocked, but like, do would you leave some days out of impulse to just say, okay, I have free free time, I'll just try and you know, spin something and test it out?

SPEAKER_03 40:02

You know, for these days, definitely, because these days my circle definitely wants to organize more and more events. They're so they're so ons, right? They're so on the ball, they're so on the point. For myself, last time definitely it was more spontaneous and impulsive. Because I'll be hearing, I'll be hearing sets from different DJs that I like or producers that I like, right? And I just want to hear the new music. Yeah, and when I get inspired, that's where I was like, yeah, I need this track, and when that track comes out, I'm gonna try and start mixing, you know.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_03 40:32

And these days, I definitely take at least maybe you know 30 minutes a day just to try out mixing this track to this track, this track to this track, because there's so much music being put out every week, correct, correct. And I have so many favorite music that comes out every so often that I just have to like, you know, when I have the chance to spin this, I'm gonna spin this. Nice. People need to hear this, you know, and it's such a banger.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:56

So these days it's a little bit more structured, but when I get into the zone, and especially when I have to prepare for a set, like last night, yeah, I'll prepare it a week in advance, two weeks in advance, you know. I'll piece together four songs first, then build out from there, build out from there. And using Record Box is a great tool as well because they suggest to you songs that might sound similar or they mesh well together. Oh, that's cool. Beats per minute, and they split it by key as well. Some songs sound like they don't mesh together at all. Yes, it is the DJ's job to like you know use the effects of us. You know, shout out Amandazer and Smooth Bingley. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 41:38

But sometimes it really wouldn't work that way, especially when when the crowd does song requests. Because you you you you're playing a certain genre, but the the people listening to you want a genre that totally sounds left-field, you know. You're playing on the left wing, and all of a sudden you want to you know cross the ball to the right wing. Crossing the ball from the left to the right wing, very easy, not in a DJ sense, you know. Yeah. So it really, really depends. And that's where the practice comes in. That's where the practice practice comes in. So yeah, that's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_00 42:12

There's there's so many moving parts to DJing, like you know, uh the mixing, the preparation, the performing, even actually organizing the events, arguably. Like, where would you say is your first love?

SPEAKER_03 42:24

Definitely my first love was when I managed to mix music on my own course. Organizing events is uh is definitely a bit of a painful process, not gonna lie. Because we have the anxiety of putting ourselves out there and having that you know, that annoying question always, you know, what if we do not reach our audience? Yeah, what if people don't come? What if this is being put out and like people don't see it, stuff like that? What if we don't manage to get the equipment or get the location? We have all these problems and it's not the fault of the public, it's not the fault of like the industry these days. It's just how it's just how the world works, plain and simple. It used to be we could just get a location, play music, done and done. Done.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:11

But these days, monetization of everything is so anal, yeah. So freaking anal to the point where every single location that even plays music on a freaking radio needs to have a license. And that license, you know, we have to pay Universal Music Malaysia, Warner Music Malaysia. It's it's I I get it, it's business, but you spoil the fun for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

Yeah, and the creativity that comes with it, right?

SPEAKER_03 43:37

Exactly, you know, and it it's to the point where you know, it's to the point where like, oh, if people want to enjoy themselves and like DJ to people, yeah, just DJ to the friend to your friends. I'm like, wait, what? Like I get DJing to my friends, but like people are asking us to like actually DJ to a wider audience, and they we have a demand for that. And that is a blockage. It's very easy to just say, just pay it. It's very, very easy. Very, very easy.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:06

But a lot of the times talented individuals do not have the money. So that's why it plays into the part of having a day job. The day job pays for and puts food on the table to fund the hobby. It's a shame because a lot of talented individuals out there in Malaysia, they either don't get noticed, they get uh pushed down, they get bullied, and they don't get the due recognition that they that they deserve to be honest. They deserve to be honest. I'm not talking about myself. I'm not the I'm not the best out there. There are definitely more talented visuals out there, individuals out there, but there are methods whereby they overcome this social media, people noticing them, managers that want to bring them on board on their management, the agency, and stuff like that. So many methods out there in Malaysia right now. But there are so many other people out there that just get pushed down, even though they deserve the merit, they deserve the recognition. So oftentimes, me and my group, we just think to ourselves, like, hey, I think these people definitely need a chance and an opportunity the way that we did as well. The way that we did through the through the open decks, through through all these opportunities, meeting up with different DJs, you know. It's as simple as do you want to come on? And it's as simple as can I play at this location with your permission. It's just as simple. Yeah. I don't know what's your take on it.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

Yeah. I would say, wait, what do you mean? In terms of like specifically the sort of like the Malaysian music scene?

SPEAKER_03 45:37

Or I would say yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

I don't know, because like I feel like I've only just started getting more embedded into the Malaysian music scene from going to events like yours last night, from like our networking events as well. So like it's a bit of a learning process. But I definitely agree with you that like there are so many talented individuals as well. And I think the the blocker to them is just the funding and uh you know the opportunities that funding get to enable them. But at the same time, I do see as well that uh there may not there may be some people who may be less good compared to some of these talented individuals, but if they know how to hack social media from organic reach, then that's gonna set them apart and help them with more visible. Yeah, basically they hack social media, better visibility, more opportunities. So I think it's like sort of like there's different games that people can play. It's just it it's just a matter of like how they play it.

SPEAKER_03 46:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the thing. I feel like there's a lot of intelligent people out there. And we've we've we've come a long way, you know. Promoters promoting events back in the days, you know, just promoting them, releasing music online, releasing music in in freaking CD form, everything, right? Throwback, you know, and then SoundCloud came and that changed the game, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Shout out to Posty, you know. Yeah, shout out to Posty, shout out to Gunner, you know. Bro, I love Gunner.

SPEAKER_00 47:00

Gunner is sick, bro.

SPEAKER_03 47:01

Yeah, Gunner is sick, you know. And you know, it's it's the pioneers, it's the risk takers. It really, it really is. These are the people that eventually gain success. And and circling back to Tizoki, right? He started when he was very young as well. And he's been in the game for the past 11 years. You know, look at Skrillax. He was in music for the longest time, and he went into production after he left his band. And he was only what 19, 20 years old? And he's almost 40 this year. Yeah, he's almost 40 this year. They were all risk takers, and they were just they were so dedicated, you know. Yes, these are the exceptions to the rules. Not gonna lie, these are the exceptions to the rules, but take inspiration from that, right? You know, you like it, you love it, you do it. Yeah, do it for the love, don't do it for the expectation and the monetization, you know. Yeah, I feel like a lot of people definitely have a vision as of when they can get the returns, but no fault to them, it's completely valid, right? But God has a plan. God has a plan.

SPEAKER_00 48:11

True, true. This is a question that I've been thinking of throughout this whole time that we've been speaking, and it's more about people's perception. In a way, I think when they see a DJ, people just see someone pressing play, pressing, twist twisting the knobs, and and just like you know, aligning aligning two songs to match the BPM, but like what's actually going on up there when you're on the deck? Like, what are you thinking through?

SPEAKER_03 48:33

Music, music, and making sure it sounds good, you know. Yeah it's very hard to explain to the layman that that also did not study music or learned music. There's a very stark difference. So I've met people that never never learnt or study music. They they do listen to music, but surprisingly, their sense of rhythm completely off. They have no sense of a constant beat, even though they have a constant uh rhythm in the heartbeat.

SPEAKER_01 49:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:03

They don't have that mental, they don't have that mental note of of a constant rhythm.

unknown 49:09

Right?

SPEAKER_03 49:09

They don't have a sense of rhythm. And the way I see it is that I'm trying to keep a constant rhythm and I'm trying to manipulate your emotions with pitch, with pitch and and and a sense of beat, you know.

SPEAKER_01 49:22

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:23

I want to make you I wanna make you dance, I wanna make you jump, I wanna make you vibe, I want to make you feel something. Yeah I wanna make you I wanna make you reminisce of something. That's how I feel and I think when I'm up there. It definitely looks like I'm pressing buttons because think of it this way DJing started from record mixing, from putting two record players together, plugging them to different speakers, and just letting the music just try and mix together as best as it can.

unknown 49:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:57

In different key or not. Yeah, F major, G, whatever, freaking minor, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 50:03

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 50:04

I would like to highlight a particular example that I have personal experiences. Shout out to DJ Newta. DJ Newta has been a prominent DJ in Malaysia for the past one year. I've met her since last year. And before that, she she was actually studying and working in Singapore. She's she studied psychology. She was teaching she was teaching kids, right? I think if I'm not mistaken, her special needs kids. So that was her niche and that was her specialty. Earning that SGD, she came back to Malaysia and she decided, you know what? I want to learn DJing. And she wanted to become a full-fledged Afro, Afro DJ, whether it's Afro House or Afro Beats. So cool. Her brain is wired in a way that she admits it herself. She has that ADHD, right? And it's great because in the current scene, a lot of people and a lot of DJs are putting their content in TikTok, and TikTok is very fast moving. The transitions are either like from one song to another, and then you scroll. One song or another and you scroll.

SPEAKER_01 51:06

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:07

It's boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, right?

SPEAKER_01 51:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:09

And a lot of the times, some and a lot of times the transitions either land or they don't land. They either stick or they don't stick. Or they sound weird or they sound weird and it's just like that. And people just accept it. You can either consider it slot or complete genius because a lot of the times when I hear it in a messy, loud, club environment, it just works. Because it it activates people's feelings, it activates people's neurons. It's like, oh wow, this is this is this is my jam.

SPEAKER_01 51:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:40

It doesn't matter or not whether it works with that particular song or like melodically. That's the way she does it. But a lot of the times where she does it, she does wordplay as well. Okay. Something to do with about love, and then all of a sudden it would be going to a song talking about a situationship. It's a meaning. That's the amount of dedication that she puts into her craft. Actually, it's not the musical notes, it's the lyrics.

SPEAKER_02 52:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 52:07

It's the lyrics. And sometimes it's the rhythm as well. It's the same bit for this one, and it's the same bit for this one. You know, that's I find beauty in that, in her craft. I've seen it up close and personal as well. And she does it very, very quickly. Messes with the knobs every if I could if I could describe her DJ mixing style in terms of like keyboard presses per minute, fastest is like what 120 keyboard presses or something. I don't know. She does at least like 80 actions a minute or something. It's always bop bop bop. It's like it's like shift being shifty, pressing all this, da da da. And then she always messes with the effects, echoes it out, reverbs it out, boom, next song, boom, next song. Every transition, 10 20 seconds, 20-20 seconds. She goes through a hundred songs a day. I mean a session, probably every two hours. If I inference it correctly, you know, and that is her craft. And that's what a lot of the DJs are out there doing. And for me, for me, when I'm up there, I've already planned a preset set of songs that I think would be a great fit for taking the audience on a journey, you know, different genres, different types of beats, different types of bass lines, right? And I would shift shift bass lines slowly in order to make sure that it doesn't sound too harsh in terms of a change. Because people notice things and people are very attentive. Their ears are very sharp, even though they're not, even though they're untrained.

SPEAKER_01 53:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:32

I think the most trained ears in the world are basically musical coaches, right? They can catch a single note off just like that. A change in beats per minute. You know, I'll be changing from 150 to 145, and people can immediately notice it. Immediately, because they're already used to having a set rhythm already.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:51

Humans are creatures of habit, right? You agree with me. True, true. We want things, you know, at a set beat. But that's the beauty of music. You can have swings, you can be in tune with your emotions. And when you have, you have downshifts and up shifts, you work with it, you flow with it. That's where I'm coming from up there. I increase it and I slow it down, increase it and I slow it down. I increase it at a very fast beat and I'll cut it to half time. And when it's half time and it's a trap beat, everybody's like, whoa, and then everybody has that beat.

SPEAKER_01 54:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:21

You know, DJ Niotta does wordplay and then she shifts from this word to this word, you know. I got the beat and then beats beats by Dre. I got the beat, beats by Dre somewhere in that. She does, she does wordplay and then she does DJ call-out, the DJ taglines from her favorite artists, you know. Yeah, yeah. That's her craft. And that's my and that's the version of my craft as well in terms of taking people on a journey, you know. That and that's her job as well. She wants people to have a good time, buy drinks, support the bar. It's her job, and keeping the nightlife alive, right? And in and it's her, and it's somewhat of a multicultural background as well. She's fully Portuguese, heritage, because her parents are Portuguese, but she's lived in Malaysia her whole life. And she's the most Malaysian person I've ever met. It's crazy. It's crazy, you know, and she's the nicest person I ever met, amazing, beautiful person, you know, and her and her craft, she's just amazingly talented, amazingly talented. She really invested in herself in the best way, paying for that DJ course and being and DJing at such a high level, and at this and this period of time. She only learned for seven months, and I learned over a course of a of a year just to be at where I am today. And I can tell you I am not as talented as her at this juncture. Really not as talented. I just vibe with the music. She controls the crowd. That's the difference.

SPEAKER_00 55:53

What do you think is a difference in her method of learning? Because you said she she learned in seven months, she got to where this where she's at. You you learned for like a year, you got to where you're at, but then you mentioned there's still a gap between you guys. What do you think is the key differentiator?

SPEAKER_03 56:07

I think it was her pure and adulterated, unfiltered dedication to the craft. Because she had quit her job, she came back to Malaysia, she obviously made her parents very disappointed. Yeah, and she just told me every day she'll be in Starbucks curating sets, messing around with the programming, and then going to the studio and practicing. And every Wednesday or Thursday night, going for going to places, DJing for ladies' nights, getting paid 50, and then getting paid 100 ringgit, and then it snowballed from there. It was her fully unfiltered and adulterated dedication to her craft. And maybe notwithstanding the fact that she also broke up with her boyfriend. Okay. You know, and she's yeah, she's a self-made woman. She's a self-made woman. I cannot believe I made a connection with her, you know, and I really do appreciate her for her, you know. So I'm very, very proud to call her my acquaintance and a and a friend, personal friend. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:08

Nice, dude. Shout out DJ Niotta. No, that's awesome. That's awesome. You there there's some things that you mentioned that I want to pick up on. So, like when DJs go and perform in clubs, like what is the going rate? Like, you know, you said 50, 100, is that like per hour? Is that even is that low? Is that high? I I don't know. Like, I don't I have no bearing about here.

SPEAKER_03 57:30

Even I'm not too clear, you know, ever since ever since the big EDM boom.

SPEAKER_01 57:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:36

Back in uh I mean back 15 15 10 years ago, I think rates have uh rates have gone haywire as well. The biggest producers out there, they can garner they can garner a lot, million, two million, I don't know, just per event, or maybe 500k, let's say, for their rider. In the Malaysian scene, I've heard uh these days because there's a lot of DJs, because everyone has access to the craft now. Yeah, right? And it used to be that uh there were just maybe 20 overall DJs spread around Malaysia so they can get good rates, and the nightlife then was pretty cheap and very accessible before the government started taxing alcohol.

SPEAKER_02 58:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:17

You know, these days, these days people can be pretty cheap. So the way I heard from Niota was that she had started to DJ in bars that people didn't know and recognize her, they just wanted to pay her really, really low, you know, 50 and then it will go it would go from 100 to 200. And these days she's told me that she can earn five figures a night. Sick! Yeah, five figures a night. And she works two hours a night, she works two hours a night, and her work-life balance is beautiful, yeah, absolutely beautiful. Her diet, her timing, everything. She has recovery plans from a late night, she hardly drinks these days just to keep up her longevity and her sharp thinking in a bar. She plays badminton, she goes to the gym, you know, and it's Wednesday, Thursday, weekends. Wednesday, Thursdays. I think she mainly does uh ladies' nights and also weekends. And the rest of the week, just purely staying at home, recovering, you know, and then and then being with her partner and her family, you know, quality time and stuff like that. That's how she recovers. But these days she can definitely earn five figures a night. And it goes to show you the dedication to her craft and knowing her market. She knows her market very well. And uh her market pace is results, that's the right. Yeah, but for a DJ like me, I wouldn't say that I'm there yet, and the market for me is still quite small, and Malaysia, the music scene, is really, really, really super diverse. And I think that for us, and as for me as well, I think the younger crowd is starting to pick up on the genres as well. Because they have like a had a like a similar upbringing to us DJs as well. You know, we either play video games or we get inspired by a certain kind of music. Yes, and that's why we have that craving for this kind of type of music, you know, as opposed to people that grew up listening to the radio, listening to pop music, Taylor Swift, yada yada yada. You know, yeah. Sometimes we can convert these people, you know. It's not about convincing convincing them, it's it's about getting them like this actually sounds very, very nice, and I actually love the sound. I'd like to step into this, into this world if you could so allow me to, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:38

And uh we very much would love to include have all these people, of course. You know, just come in, experience it for yourself. We we go hard, we go hard, we sometimes go too hard, but we do apologize for that. Yeah, but we we find ways to make it palatable for you. Palatable definitely.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:58

It won't be we it's not it's not about letting you listen to angry noises all the time. No, that's not the that's not the point. It's about giving you a good experience. You want to relieve stress, you relieve stress. You like the music, you like the music, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:11

Yeah, you mentioned earlier that when you first started, obviously your friend now Bill was like sort of the catalyst, I guess, that got you into DJing, and then even then, um you're also now part, you know, you're you're with Base Capital that's not part of your gang as well. Uh and by the by the way, Cain was performing uh last night, uh him with him with Base Capital for those just for context for you guys, and uh Cain put in such a topic show and it was like crazy, it was like fucking speakers, it was so cool, honestly. And like I just love seeing how you were just so uh on and you were really just like enjoying yourself as well. I could feel that from you, but you were also like you know wanting to let people enjoy themselves as well. So but the point of what I'm trying to say is how important is it to you to have like someone or at least a group of other people that are doing the same things as you, as you start and actually maintain this journey of like DJing, for example.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:09

Yeah, I think that's a very big motivating factor as well. You know, if you're doing it all alone, it's definitely much harder. You you wouldn't have the guidance and you wouldn't have the feedback that you require, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:23

If I hadn't had that input from Nabil telling me that, hey, you could have just you know trigger this song at this point and then just let it play, it was matching well just now, just let it flow, it would have been fine instead of just like you know starting it at this point because it looks like you're hitting start and stop all the time. It's great, really amazing advice for me. And letting people know and showing people that I'm also on this journey and sharing it on social media, regardless of whether they care or not, it was great as well because from there I got exposed to the greater circle of the DJing community at large in KL as well. And without them and without seeing what's out there, I wouldn't know my place in this wider circle as well. And having my friends come along and support me, having a commonality that shared that shared love for this, for for music, not only a certain kind of genre, but for for music, is it's it's such an important and big, big sense of life. Because if I if I hadn't asked for that, if I haven't, if I hadn't asked for that, I wouldn't have made waves along the way. I wouldn't have had managed to pull and convince people to like, hey, I just need you to do this for me. I just need your help, I just need your input, and hey, what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:42

Circling back to that acts of service and that like people-pleasing thing, it's a balance, right? I also want to play something that you like and that is palatable, palatable to you. And what do you think of my mixing? If you think that's great, I'm gonna keep it. If you think that isn't great, I'm gonna rework it and then try and make it work for you. Without that feedback, I wouldn't have been where I am today. Yeah, it's so much needed. A lot of people out there, I know they are going in, they are going through it alone, definitely. And luckily, even though they are alone, at least in the future, they would be able to find a circle and even online through Discord. Without circles like that online, I don't think they would have that motivation or passion to just keep going and striving, you know. Yeah, and and kudos to everyone out there that's actually going through it out if you if you think that you are alone, trust me, you're not alone.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:38

I've been there before. And it's not about like I don't have the opportunities or you don't have the opportunities to meet new people. It will come, it will come, have faith, just wait it out. It will come.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:48

You just have to put yourself out there first, though.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:50

Yes. Putting yourself out there, it might seem scary, it might seem scary, but if if I had not attended that particular talk that DJ Niota was having as well, I wouldn't have met DJ Niota. If I didn't pay for that particular ticket to attend that DJ conference, I wouldn't have attended the DJ conference. But if that algorithm if the algorithm gods didn't put that content on my side, you know, I wouldn't have attended it at all as well. True, true. So it's a balance, it's a delicate balance. It's whether you want it as well. Yeah, it's whether you want it. If you're not sure, if you're if you're feeling a bit uncertain, just let it just sit with it for a bit, right? I think it's the same for you too. When you're starting out uh doing rap, yeah. How does this sound like, you know? Am I plagiarizing anybody? How's the beat like, you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. What you mentioned about feedback is so important because it in a way you're compounding your growth from having feedback with like not even just one person, but like at le at least for your case, at least you have like a solid base of like people that you can share with that you know that you can fight with, they fight with, they know how you think, they know how you make, etc. And I think. For me, I think your advice was really helpful actually because I definitely feel like I'm alone because I've been I'm on this journey alone in a way until but I don't really feel that anymore because I met my producer, uh a friend who's a friend now basically. But like I met his producer and we vibe uh at like a boat party. I don't know, it's like a pub on a boat, I don't know, something like that. But then but then he was being in high places, no no no no no, but like, yeah, so then and then I don't know, just something about it that we hit we hit off and then went over to his house. He has a studio there, and then yeah, he he produced two of my two of my previous songs, and then at least I'm glad that I went to that event with number one because I would have met him, but also number two, that like we invested in their relationship, and then now it's like I feel like he understands where I'm coming from and I understand his workflow as well. So it's just like yeah, I I I like where I'm at now, but I definitely would want to find a group to uh to bounce off as well eventually. So it's great to hear that you said that like it's out there, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:04

And and I and I and and for a long time it felt like I was alone as well, right? Because notwithstanding the pioneers in the bass music scene in Malaysia, uh even in the old days. I mean, in the old days I don't know any names, but after COVID, one name to note would be Waptopia, right? And uh shout out to Maui, you know. He's uh I mean he luckily he set up Waptopia. If not for Waptopia, I don't think we would have dubstep events in Malaysia. And sadly, it's just that dubstep isn't trending in Malaysia. Maybe Malaysia's outgrown dubstep a bit. I don't give a shit, right? Without him, I wouldn't have been in a position whereby like, hey, I want to perpetuate this movement, I want to perpetuate keeping bass music and dubstep and like and like hybrid trap music alive in Malaysia, even though it sounds hard or like very in a minor key all the time, not a major key. It doesn't uplift, it's more like you know, more like harder, angry sounds. Without without that entrepreneurial spirit from him, without that pioneering spirit of him, we wouldn't have, we wouldn't have had base capital if you think about it. Yeah, and I wouldn't have had met my other friends, DJ Mia Milder, yeah, Seth, and other base DJs out there, you know, if not for if not for Waptopia. And if not for Waptopia, and if not for Stoflap, if not for Desu Music, if not for Siren, you know, if not for Fires from Indonesia, all amazing talented individuals. And and and good to God that they made a name for them in Malaysia. They wanted to perpetuate this, you know. So they thought they were alone, but with the internet and everything else, they're not, you know, they're not they I'm glad they found each other and I'm glad they're collabbing, right? And if not for me going out there and putting myself out there, I wouldn't have met DJ Mia Moruda.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:05

Plain and simple. There's this saying that like it it doesn't matter what you put out as long as you think it's good, and eventually you will find your audience who who fuck with it as well. What do you think?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:16

That can be argued. Okay, okay, okay. Not gonna lie, that reminded me of how our parents. I mean, every generation has this problem, you know. Every generation, oh, music used to sound better in my generation. And when I when I just when I grew up and I hit adulthood, I was like, no wonder adults in my generation kept saying that because they grew up in that moment in time where like they felt that type of music was great to them, you know. Yes, and I slowly started to accept that fact like you know what, it's just we just grew up in different times. You like this type of music, you like this type of music. It's not that it's not that it sucks. Yeah, it's just that it just appeals more to them, it's fine, you know. You you listen to what you like. It doesn't have to be, you know, everyone has to listen to this shit, you know. We have we've outgrown that sort of like that sort of mindset, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:08

And even even kids these days, it doesn't matter whether they listen to Olija Olivia Rodrigo or not, they listen to the fucking Beatles, right? True, true, yeah. So we we we come we've come full circle. It's not that we've produced all the music in the world that we we we need to listen to anymore, and it's like there's no shortage of creativity, creativity, everyone's blending genres and stuff like that. That's the matter these days. But kids these days they're learning, they're listening to the old shit again, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're we're circling back again, you know. So the it kind of defeats the point of being clicky and stuff like that, right? And to that I say it's also a direct reflection of the world at large today because slop is being generated on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:52

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:53

You have to make a choice. If you think it's good genuinely, just put it out there and the market will test, will test you. Correct. And you're testing yourself as well. Bravery upon you, good, but don't be disappointed when you do not get the returns that you expect.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:10

People have a way, the market has a way, and the audience has a way to just put you in check. You if you have the humility, if you have the humility to just say it's like this is where I am, this is where I'm gonna be, you know what? I'm gonna make some changes and try, put new things out there and then see how it goes. Because that's how everyone starts. Every single freaking one. Look at Ed Shirien. Ed Shiren's the prime example.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:34

Wasn't he like uh doing drill before or something, no?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:36

Or like before he started the ukulele? Yeah, yeah. Right? And he struggled, right? Everyone struggled. He he did the ukulele in the tube, you know, out on the streets, and then Jamie Foxx, and then he went to the US and then tried to collab with all other artists over there. Jamie Foxx gave him a great shot to perform in just a black bar. Everyone is black there, you know, and all the all the black people and all his black friends were like, Are you serious? You know, you're giving this guy a shot to perform with his small less ukulele. But he stole the show. He got a standing ovation within 12 minutes, right? It's the dedication. It's the dedication, and it's always a rework. When you really when you have the humility and when you have the reflection to say, like, yep, this is not what works, this is this is not what's working out. When you don't have the narcissism to say that, hey, I like what I like, and if you don't like it, you can piss off. Yeah, you can only say that a certain amount a number of times until you have to accept the fact that hey, yeah, this isn't working out. I have to rewrite things. I really have to rewrite things. Yes, you might change the music scene in the next 10 years. Are you willing to stay that long and just keep like keep saying to yourself, this is gonna work out, this is gonna work out, this is gonna work out, you have to shift your, you have to be open-minded in that sense, you know. I I I definitely learned it the hard way as well, right? People are not listening to the type of music that I like too much, and I can't go hard too much all the time. I have to slow it down a bit, I have to take it back, right? And I'll I'll play something that I don't usually listen to just to get you know some butt shaking. You know, who who doesn't like some bully? You know, right? So it's it's a give and take. It's a give and take. It's really how it's it's the sit it's the same with business, it's the same with banking. It's a give and take.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:24

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:25

Yeah, it's a risk, it's a risk. Yeah, you either don't benefit fully from it or like you benefit somewhat, you know, it's 50-50. Or it is somewhat sometimes 100-100. Sometimes you get lucky, you grow together.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:38

Yeah. What genre would you describe yourself when you're with your sets? Because when I first met you at that event, you were you were you weren't playing hard trap, you weren't playing like bass, you were playing like a mix of pop, rap, trap as well. But then it was very interesting going to the event last night because it felt like that was would you say that was more you with like your the type of music you like to listen to, hard-based. I don't even know if it was like truly heart-based or not, but that was that trap as well to it. So I'm quite curious, how would you describe yourself as a DJ and also that what's your like main genre?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:12

Yeah, so last night what you heard was definitely my a reflection of myself and what I would usually listen to and and enjoy when we had met in after show and it was more of a chill environment, and this comes with a sense of knowing your market as well. So that's why I was playing more chill music, uh pop, poppy songs, yeah, American hip hop track, yeah, you know, and then only shifting and moving the crowd into a much more harder style, you know, yes, songs that usually don't have vocals, just melodies or like hard bass lines. But last night definitely is more of a pure reflection of the identity that I would like to show to the world, you know, bass house, hybrid trap, dub step, bro step, UKG. You know, these are the things that I I like to listen to these days. Yeah, and uh it's a really far cry from the from the scene that we have locally, and especially at the world at large. Locally, what I realize that's trending is house music, and specifically tech house, melodic house, maybe, and also trance. For some odd reason, a lot of the a lot of the people that like trance actually, or hard style even or techno, these are people that actually went that actually went to Australia to study. And in Australia, there's a big heart style movement over there. Okay, that's where they picked up their their their first raving experiences, that's why they fell in love with the scene. So that's why when they came back here, they wanted to bring that scene here. But because Malaysia is so like multicultural and multifaceted, there's so many genres for you to play. So many, right? And that's why I feel like the scene here is very fragmented. There's a large market share of popular genres, and there's a smaller market share of like less popular genres. Notwithstanding that the scene is very healthy, yeah, it just depends on perspective.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:12

Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:13

How many people attend this event or like how aggressive this this event is being marketed, yada yada yada, how many sponsors, blah blah blah. We are small, we have smaller, more intimate events, and we have the large scale, you know. Yeah, the market is healthy. But uh, I mean, sorry for straying off topic.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:30

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's good, it's good.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:32

But uh yeah, for myself, for myself, I would say I'll be I I play more of the less popular genres that we hear in Malaysia. And although I although I do see the popularity of like all these like tech house or like trans events, it's more I would say it's more of the working class crowd. The people that are much more senior to me. Maybe maybe the 40-olds or the 50-olds.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:57

I don't fault them for not listening to to harder music. It's just a lifestyle. They wouldn't want to go, you know, so like, you know. But that's the thing, right? In the past, they probably loved rock music. And rock music was, you know, maybe 60 BPM, stuff like that. But we've progressed. Every generation we've progressed. We've them we're the most progressive uh generation in history, isn't it? Yeah, you know, yeah. And sometimes these people they just want to hearken back to an older time, and it's fine, you know. And for us, we like the music, just play the music, listen to the music, it's fine. Yeah, and uh, I feel as if it's because there's a market for these people to invest and and and to buy, to buy into the experience for the music. Kudos to them, you know, and and and for us, we we are just about to get started. And I feel like we from here we can build. From here we can build, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:51

Hopefully, no, no, no, you'll get there, you'll get there. Trust, trust. Say someone what I don't know how if if you've experienced this already, but say someone goes up to you and says, Hey Kane, like I want to start DJing. What what would you say is like the most lo-fi way for them to actually start? Like, would you recommend them watching some YouTube channels? I don't know if there exists some. Would you recommend them getting like a course similar to like what uh DJ Newton, like you mentioned, did friends, etc. Like, yeah, how how would you guide someone?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:19

Honestly, I think I can I can describe it two ways. I think a lot of people fell in fall in love with DJing because of the lifestyle that they see online.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:28

True.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:29

The second step they take is that they use their funds and their money to invest in DJ courses. So we have DJ Playground, DJ's Playground over here, we have other DJ Bionic, we have DJ, we have Bionic Academy Studio over here as well. Okay, just to find out online. But the big one these days uh is uh DJ's playground and their fees can cost from maybe two or three thousand up to maybe nine thousand. All in, it could cost maybe what five, six K just to start, yeah, or even fifteen, who knows, at the most expensive range.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:03

That's like the the the the money way. That's like the money way.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:08

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:10

The interesting way, not gonna lie, is YouTube.

unknown 1:19:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:14

Get me started here. Yeah. When you I I feel like there's a lot of people that have stroke of genius when whereby they use the keyboard on their on their on their computer, and you can skip timestamps, basically using the keys on the computer from one to zero, right? Whether from the start of the video or the end of the video. And they can correspond to notes, right? You can play the song according to your liking by tapping, tapping, tapping. One, one or four, or nine, or eight, or seven. I've seen people play two songs at the same time on different computers and they let them mesh together and then they switch it up with another key press. That is DJing as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:51

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:51

And that's free. I mean, not free, you have to invest in the computer and you also pay for internet connection, but that's another way as well, right? And if you start from there and you have friends that say, like, hey, if you're interested, just maybe you know download music off the internet and use Record Box. Recordbox is a free program. You can pay for certain tools on it. But it's a free program for you to learn how to DJ. There's also other programs out there, Serato, yes, online DJ or something, and then uh virtual DJ or DJ Pro, these programs. But the most common one that I see being used is Record Box. Because Record Box and Alpha Theta at large, they provide the software and they provide the hardware for all major clubs around the world and major venues.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:42

So starting from there, people can definitely learn how to DJ. Because to me, you can DJ your way because it's the way you feel about the music. It's really the way you feel about the music. If you feel that it should transition this way, just do it first. If you ask your friend if it sounds wrong, they'll tell you it's wrong. Fine.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:03

Work it around. Everyone has their own take. Everyone has their own take. Just be sure to ask people that. Just be sure to have a mix of people that you ask. Have an opinion from both sides.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:15

From a person that doesn't listen to music to just, you know, like they just want to vibe, versus a person that actually knows music, the structure of music, four bars, eight bars, to build up the intro, the chorus. Right? Because it's all this terminology that will help you in the future. So I think there's three ways: the YouTube way, the money way, and then also the record box way, right? Where you already know the type of music that you want to play. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:41

Nice. That's strong. That's super strong, dude. You know, hopefully, hopefully uh viewers and listeners who are tuning into this particular episode, like, yeah, they they can get a sense of like, okay, like, you know, the very various avenues that they can go into. So hopefully, yeah, one day start. Because, you know, creativity, like, we can never run out of creativity. And that, you know, I feel like that's also why I started this podcast, just because I feel like it's driven from the fact that I think coming from an Asian culture, we growing up, especially, like the creative route was never seen as like a secure pathway. We were always like, oh, like study, engineering, doctor, blah, blah, blah. But then I feel like over the years I've seen people who not only balance both sides, but they're like they eventually managed to like go full-fledged into their creative field. And I think, wow, like, you know, you can actually make a living out of creativity. Of course, you have to like fully come into it and you know, be in the right rooms, etc. But like it's still possible. And I feel like we there's so many avenues and signs out there, but like people may hold themselves back from starting because they're like, oh, I don't know, I don't think I have time, I don't think I'm that good enough, blah blah blah. So that's why I think your advice, for example, with particularly with like DJing, it's also applicable anywhere else as well. But like I say that in other facets of life as well. But I think the way that you broke it down is it's kind of like a yeah, really nice guide into how people can start. So yeah, really appreciate you just sharing that, dude.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:01

I resonate with that a lot because it's not about people, it's not about a lack of investment in creative in the creative industry on the arts. There are people that appreciate arts and there are people that don't appreciate arts. We've been in a society whereby we've so tied ourselves to numbers and production. I totally get that. We are a developing economy. We just want people to we just want to ensure people have livelihoods, right? But what if what if people's livelihoods are tied directly to their creativity? Right?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:32

Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:33

We we have so much societal problems these days that maybe the only avenue for people to distress and whatnot is actually to seek out these creative avenues or to seek out art as a method not only for self-expression but for reflection. You could see a piece of art that you resonate so much with that you decide to invest and buy it. That's great for the artist as well because they've poured blood, sweat, and tears and time into creating that piece of art. And what's so different about music, music is an art as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:03

Yeah, people might think that yeah, we shouldn't be paying you this much because I you're just pressing buttons on a on like a deck or like a computer. They don't understand that we've spent hours and hours curating those specific sets of music to mesh well together in order to ensure you have a great time. So technically, I'm trying to work for you. How dare you, how dare you say that it's not an artistic form?

SPEAKER_01 1:24:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:32

We've we've tied we've tied DJing. I feel like we've tied DJing a lot to too many negative elements of the nightlife or like or like uh or like having a hobby or stuff like that. Because we do appreciate music, but sometimes music is also tied to certain circles or places that not that don't necessarily that don't necessarily that isn't necessarily healthy for a greater society. Like Yes, these places, you know, they mostly serve alcohol, stuff like that. But we serve we don't only serve alcohol to people that want to have a good time to meet new people. It has to be a pairing that it it is a synergy. It is a synergy between having a conducive environment for partying as well as the music. Because you'd be dead without music. But it's the DJ's job to keep the place alive, right? It's not just about people having conversation and you know whispering into people's ears. You know, I get that you know it's a great flirting method, you know. It's like, oh man, her perfume smells great, she smells so sweet, or it smells so good, blah blah blah. You know, but without the music, without people like letting down their inhibitions, we wouldn't have places whereby people can congregate and have a good time, you know. And that's where I think we should find worth in. The DJ is actually trying to paint a perfect picture for you and actually trying to make you happy. Is that not worth an investment?

SPEAKER_00 1:25:55

You know? True. That's strong. That's super strong, dude. We are come almost at the end of the episode now, and we're now moving to a segment where I love to do it. My guests basically it's a quick fire round where I ask you some random questions, and I just love to hear a take. So, to start off, favorite city or country to visit?

SPEAKER_03 1:26:14

Well, I would say London because when I was in London, yes, uh, when I was in London, I felt very at home and I loved the museums there. You did mention last time. Absolutely love them. I mean, I get that the UK is kind of like falling down the packing order right now, but when I was there, it was great.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:29

It was great. Yeah. What what was it about it? Did it just feel like it was just so alive or something, or it was packed with creativity or like more accessible, or like I think it was the sense of grandeur.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:39

It was the sense of grandeur, yeah. It was so grand, it was it was big, it was spacious, and it was it was curated. I mean, not gonna lie, we we come from a colonized country, yes, we still went western facing and whatnot, but you you can't help but be impressed and see that you know what the British Empire did plunder all these places, but they do have KF museums, they set the standard.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:01

But what about you? Favorite city, Granada and Spain. Dude, you should check it out when you want uh if you have the opportunity, because like it's like so Granada is the city where it used to be like colonized, but the ultimate empire, ultimate empire was there, and then basically then during the Spanish Inquisition, that's when they they take take over and like sort of like kick um they basically like give two choices either you convert or you get a fuck out. So but there's the alhambra where I don't I don't even know if it's a palazzo, but it's it looks cool, it looks very beautiful. The architecture is amazing, so that's why I love going there.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:35

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:36

I'll send you pictures after this. So but favorite food to eat the cuisine.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:41

Italian. I would say Italian.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:43

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:44

Yeah, I fell in love with Italian food uh since the first time I had my mom's spaghetti. I think when I was like maybe five years old, she made the best uh Bolognese and to this day it's still consistently the same. It was the beef, it was a mixture of it was the beef and and like the the Free go sauce. That's why I learned culinary management and I intend an Italian restaurant. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:09

Love that. Favorite movie?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:13

I think there's too many to choose, but I always gravitate towards Christopher Nolan films as well as the Daniel Creek James Bond films.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:22

Yeah, okay. Nice. Nice. Those go hard. Favorite song that you're listening to right now?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:28

It's called Shoot the Kill by Tizoki and Control 3. So the first time I ever heard that from them was when Tizoki played his uh set in I think Las Vegas or something. I forgot the case. And it was his opening song, Shoot the Kill references, and uh takes a sample from one of the old uh hip-hop songs I forgot from a Miami producer or something. And that song goes hard. I mean it goes it goes hard for me, for me. Because yeah, I think it's the first time I'm exposing you to not only the upset but the upset techno.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:00

Yeah. Okay. I'll do it, I'll check it out after this then. So and then the last one is uh favorite quote.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:06

If you if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:09

Damn, bro.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:10

If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail, yes. My tuition teacher last time, I forgot her name really, but uh she always had that advice for us. When she was still up and coming as a teacher, when she was in high school, she wasn't such a studious person, but when she went to uni, that's where she locked in. And now she's very successful. She yeah, you know, her story is is is the same for like a lot of people, they they find success later in life and they decide that you know what if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail. And if you keep coasting through life without preparing for the future, just prepare to you know accept the accept the the consequences of your actions and and and and the circumstances of your life in the future.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:55

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:56

And it's the same for DJing. If you don't prepare for a good show, you prepare not to get a good show.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:04

So that that resonates with me recently.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:08

Love that. And before we end, I probably have two more questions left. But what does locking in mean to you?

SPEAKER_03 1:30:14

Locking in means concentration, dedication, definitely means affirmation as well. And it means promise for me. Because notwithstanding the fact that you need to focus and you need to pour in all your energy, promising to yourself that things will work out and that things are gonna work out eventually. And that things will turn out fine only you can prepare. In terms of the larger business world, everyone has prepared for major disasters for knowing how to read the market and stuff like that because they locked in. They either locked in or went full on with the decision making. The market says that you shouldn't be investing in this when you shouldn't invest be investing in this at this juncture because it's a dangerous investment. You might think it is dangerous for now. But push comes to the shelf and all of a sudden you realize 10 years down the line, boom, booming industry. Look at TSMC, look at Taiwan, billions of investment over the course of 30 years. Look at where they are now. The only country in the world just to manufacture cutting-edge ships at the forefront of science or whatever. It's the same as DJing, it's the same as DJing when you're performing up there. It's full on focus, getting the timing right, getting the DPM right, making sure that the audience has is having a good time, making sure that the audience is actually hearing the right things, making sure that it doesn't hurt their ears. That's locking in. That's locking in. Cooking as well. Realizing that it's spent enough time in the pan, you know, it's already similar long enough long enough, or maybe adding a little bit more pasta water just to make it more saucy. That's locking in. It's being in tune with all your senses, in tune with nature, in tune with your spirit, in tune with the expectations that you have for the future and what you want locking in. That's it to me.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:05

Yeah. That's amazing, man. And what's the transferable learnings that you've taken from sales and DJing and how have you applied it to one another?

SPEAKER_03 1:32:15

Yeah, guys, so Din actually had a follow-up question for me because he basically didn't think of the question during the podcast, but uh yeah, he had a genuine, genuinely, you know, interesting question, and they and he was curious about whether or not there was any, I mean for me, whether whether there were any transferable lessons and skills from sales um that apply to DJing. So yeah, I think that's not I mean I think it's pretty wild um to to have a linkage between the two, definitely, you know. But skills and DJing are practically the exact same sport, you know, it's just presented differently and with different outfits. It's either really dressed professionally or you have something loose on the tie with some gold chains, stuff like that. But not everybody is flashy. I wouldn't describe myself as flashy, but uh it definitely can be. It definitely can be. So I think I will boil it down to two main phases, you know. And in terms of DJing, um, it's either during the performance or after after the performance. So um first thing would be, I would say it would be reading the room, you know. Um when you're live or when you're pitching in a boardroom or to your clients, or whether you're dropping a beat on stage, you're performing, right? You know, and I think I've learned I think I've at least learned maybe seven things that are transferable between tilt and e-dain. So in tiles, it's in tilt and in djing, it's never really about you, right? You don't pitch what you love, you you stop the client's problem, right? And in Djang, it's roughly a thing. You might love something neat, you know, in terms of using general. But if the data flow is dead, that's a clear sign that people don't want what you have. So you have to you you try to strike a balance with that, you know. You play something that's generic or something that's popular in the mainstream, and then only you play something that would be much more suitable to your staff, or something that you feel that is really great, but yeah, people just don't appreciate the same thing as you do. So you really have to pivot. You you don't only you don't play for the crowd, you have to balance between playing for the crowd and playing for your ego, right? You know, and the best DJs they they balance that, you know. Um and in terms of balancing that, you have to balance wants and needs. A client wants a discount, maybe, but they need a solution, you know. And oftentimes they do get what they pay for, right? And if they don't pay for what you feel is fair, they're not often gonna get that particular solution. So the a crowd might want that overplayed TikTok song, but what they need is you as a DJ for you to guide them. You they need they need you to p they need you to manipulate their emotions through sound and pitch. You're taking them on a journey. You can't just straight off just play something really hard, um, something really noisy when their heart isn't ready for it. You've got to guide them. Same thing as in sales. A client might want a specific product to work for them, but when you when they list down their problem, it really doesn't fit their use case. Same thing, right? You have to balance both. Next thing is energy and execution. So you can plan something really grand for a DJ set, um, and the most creative um you know lighting and and visual thing to happen in the background, right? But if you don't execute them practically or isseratively, you just lose the crowd, you you lose everything. You know, you have to bring the energy, you know, you have to you have to con you have to make considerations, you have to make strong considerations for both parties, you know, you have to manage all the stakeholders accordingly, you know. Um and you know, you have to be professional. You have to be professional. You have to remember you're a team player, right? It's not only you. It's not only you, it's not only the crowd, it's also the other DJs. You don't want to step on their toes, you also don't want to play a song that they would play later, you know, stuff like that. And if even if you do play a song that they would be using later, let them know, right? Let try and let them know. Maybe they have another song that that would work in their favor. Um, or let's say um they would really love to play that song and they would try and negotiate with you, you know, in terms of playing another piece of music that would fit better in your use case. It's always a back and forth, and it's always a very good point to have to make considerations, you know. And and it applies both the sales and both the DJing. Now on the second section would be um in terms of DJing after the performance. So I would consider this um in terms of after after the performance and um in terms of like the after-sale support, yeah. Let's call it that, right? The real magic happens when the music stops or when you know the the customer already has the solutions uh um already on their side and they're starting to use their functions and whatnot. You know, you always have to follow up, right? You always thank a client for their continued support to the business, or you know, their first hand considerations for the business. It's the same thing with DJing, you have to thank the crowd. You give back the same consideration, you give back the same appreciation that they had for you during the performance, and you you you have to give back the same energy. You don't just wave your hand like a rock star and just leave, you know. You always thank a client for the opportunity to do business, you know. And I do the same after a gig. I always go down and I shake everybody's hands, you know, I just I hug my friends, I hug strangers that really enjoy the performance. And they will obviously come up and say, like, hey, great set, you know. It's the same thing with sales, you know, they will be highly appreciative of the help that you've given them, you know, and your professionalism. You give back the exact same appreciation to the crowd and the venue for giving for giving their time to you, you know. And you don't just pack up your gear, you don't just take back your USB and you sprint off to another place. When you're busy and you have a certain schedule, that's completely fine, right? But you stick around, you know, you socialize, you network, you know, you treat you treat everybody else, you treat even your fellow DJs the same way you treat your sales colleagues, right? There might be some competition, but you know, in all fairness, you guys are still co-workers. There should be some professionalism there, you know. There's way more value in being supportive and building a community. Same thing in DJing, and it's it's the same thing, and I would say it's a very pressing point in the local Malaysian scene. I get that everyone wants to get a step up on everybody else, but if we don't approach it in the sense of community, we won't be getting anywhere as a collective, right? And finally, I think you know, when you whenever you approach someone or whenever they have something that's say, obviously have an ear and listen, they always have good feedback to tell you, right? You absorb the love, yeah, you know, but obviously some people have some constructive criticism for you. They might not enjoy certain parts of your set, you know, or some of the song choices that you've made. You might have the excuse or the gull to say, like, you know, to each their own, you know, or beauty is the eye of the beholder, you know, art is different to everybody. That's great, but you won't build an audience without listening. The same way that they've listened to you, you should listen to them. If you got any branding or you know, merchandise, that's the perfect time to also pass it around when you're on the floor, you know, when they're giving you the appreciation. And you know, it's the same thing in Malaysian business. Some clients they obviously want something free in return. So not only do you want to give back to the community with your time, maybe give back in a form of a token of appreciation, stickers, fucking soft toys, whatever. Whatever idea you have, that'd be great. And um, yeah, whether I'm closing a deal or whether I'm closing a set, the playbook is identical, right? You read the room, deliver the value, deliver your points, deliver the show, deliver the energy, and never forget to thank the people who showed up. That's all I have to say.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:31

Before we wrap up, what's next for you, Kane? Like, what should people look out for? Any exciting things that you're looking forward to, etc.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:38

Definitely holding more events. Definitely holding more events, not only with base capital, but with other people. Working together more with my friend DJ Mia Budder. I wouldn't think that I would be DJing in clubs anytime soon because club environments are definitely very different to what I I would want to bring to a show. I'm probably curating more shows instead of DJing for clubs. Totally different expectations and totally different circles. People want to get drunk in clubs. People want to have a good time in an event with a totally different set of expectations. I want to have Yeah, that's a separation. I think you would agree with me, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:20

I agree. Because I feel like yeah, it's just like I think I think where there's there's a fine line if it's uh event in a club. It's like muddied in a bit, but I think the way that you make that distinction is it was just like okay, yeah, that makes a kind of sense.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:35

Yeah, that's the thing, right? So that's the only issue we've been facing in the Malaysian scene because we can't simply hold raves anywhere. We can't just get an abandoned building and then boom, you know, rave. No. The police and and society at large, we we we don't want to cause a nuisance to the community. That's why we have the DJ in places such as the bars and clubs. It's it's not ideal, but it is safe. And it's safe for everybody involved. The police, the event organizers, every stakeholder out there, you know. We don't want to cause community trouble. We we don't want to be a nuisance. We don't we want to be conducive and we want to be inclusive.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:19

That's crazy that you have to think about so many different things just to host something. And once you once you're able to lock in on something, then you can actually perform and get people to join your experience, but be you can only get to that if you take all this into account. I'm like, wow, okay. I I never really thought about it from that end.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:38

Exactly. So for a lot of the event organizers out there, like you know, future Sound Asia, they've had 15 years organizing all this, they've been in a game too too long. I mean, like very, very long. They have experience in this, and I can definitely tell you that even though they do make some money, a lot of it also still goes down the drain, and it takes so much effort for them and so many moving parts just to get the show off the ground. Just to get it off the ground, or even keep it moving, just to get it off the ground. And when they do get even getting off the ground, sometimes it just falls. It doesn't it's not about falling short, it falls completely flat. Events get cancelled, whatever happens, so many moving parts over here.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:44:17

I'm not trying to blame bureaucracy, but it is a hassle and a problem when when there's so many people involved and we just only want to put on a good show for people.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:31

Damn. Well, having said that, Kane, just to wrap up, I really appreciate you just like coming on to this and just uh sharing your journey with me, uh taking us on throughout you know how you see things, you know, how you're balancing your time, but also like you know, where your perspective like the DJing scene scene as well, and how you yourself as a DJ maneuver through life basically. And uh very interesting that like yeah, you how you went from uh studying culinary management to banking and then sales and and then DJ found you. So I just want to say I really appreciate you taking your time, man. And uh yeah, much love, I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:05

No, thank you, Idris. I don't think if not for meeting you that night at the at the after show event, I don't think this would have been possible because I'm just as normal as you, I'm just as normal as everybody, everybody, everyone else out there. We're all going through life, we all have challenges. Yeah, it just either looks better online or it doesn't. We are all in the same shoes here. I'm trying to make money, I'm trying to make people happy. Just the same as everyone else. Yeah, and you're not alone. Anyone else out there that thinks they are alone, you're not alone.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:35

Yeah, we're all figuring it out.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:37

We're all figuring it out, we're all going through your shoes, we all have uh unresolved childhood trauma as well. But thank you so much, man. This was very, very nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:46

Appreciate it, dude. Honestly, thank you so much again. And guys, yeah, appreciate you staying in this long if you reached this far. Like, comment, subscribe, all that YouTuber stuff, and I'll see you guys next time. Bye.