Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Valenzuela.
Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My love for music began in childhood. I would sit at pianos and play for hours trying to learn how to make melodies and chords. As life progressed I learned guitar, cello, and drums, and any time I was at a friend’s house that had instruments we would always spend hours jamming, playing our favorite songs. I enlisted in the Marines and left two weeks after I graduated high-school in 2015 and spent five years serving. During my time in service I was invited to play electric guitar for the church on base and it was an incredible experience, it was my first time playing music for people publicly. I began producing at home during my time in service and got serious with it when COVID hit. When I got out I began using my GI Bill benefits to pursue education in the field I was truly passionate about, music. My first school was The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Phoenix where I was taught how to properly record audio, and how to record in studios. I spent my free time working with a Producer I met recording artists and creating instrumentals for them. I spent my whole summer pretty much locked in a studio recording/songwriting and producing and it was amazing. The school was great but it wasn’t really a music school more of a technical school so I still wanted to go further. I then enrolled in a legendary music production program based in Los Angeles called Icon Collective which I spent another year and half writing Electronic Dance Music, and learning the artistry side of things. Icon Collective changed my life and I am really saddened about its recent closure. I met so many DJs, producers and artists and got mentorship from professionals and legends in the music industry. Next I enrolled at a program in Dallas called Mediatech and was completely surprised by the amount of education I received. Mediatech was truly a one of a kind experience, teaching both the fundamentals of audio, as well as the musician side of things, the best of both worlds. I completed an associate program at Mediatech and was the valedictorian and left the program feeling like I gained so much knowledge that aided me in my pursuit.
After my first school in Phoenix, I came home to prepare to move to LA to go to Icon Collective. I was living with my parents at 24 and it felt like even though I spent time in the Marines, and had become a Sergeant, and completed my first higher education, I still felt like I wasn’t where I needed to be. Most of the people my age were married with children, and beginning to buy homes and I felt like I wasn’t where right where I left at 18. I reminded my self that everything was okay, and that I wasn’t where where I needed to be. While at home I was working at a country club as a server/bar back. That was when I met DJ Jared, he was rocking a party as he always does and I was excited to be able to watch a DJ perform while working. I brought him a drink, and asked if I could shadow him, I told him I had just completed an audio school in Phoenix and that my stepdad was a DJ who learned from some DJs at KNON.
Jared showed me how he was mixing the music and I was having a great time learning and being a hype man for him. At the end of the night he told me the company he was with was hiring. I said that I didn’t have any equipment. He told me they provide it, all I needed was a laptop. It sounded to good to be true. He told me to send a resume over and he would forward it. The next week I received a phone call from DJ Adam Morgan and got interviewed, by the end of the call he told me I was hired.
I spent the next year learning the ropes, by shadowing all the CoHost DJs and learning how to provide sound for ceremony and rock the dance floor. I learned different mixing styles, different MC styles, and different customer service techniques by assisting all the DJs who had been in their positions for a while. I took bits and pieces of the things I liked about each DJ and began to apply it to myself so that when the time came I would be able to confidently walk into a wedding a provide a great experience for my clients. After assisting 25 weddings DJ Adam called and asked if I felt ready, I said yes and was assigned my first wedding and the rest was history.
I have now been with CoHost/Walters Wedding Estates for three years and have almost hit my 200 wedding mark. I am truly fulfilled by my profession and have worked with so many amazing couples to create an incredible experience for their guests. I have learned so much from the company I am with and through the various schools I have attended and I still feel like I am just getting started when I compare my self to the veteran wedding DJs who have been perfecting their craft over 10-20 years.
I still have a deep love and appreciation for music, songwriting/music production and my career has allowed me to pursue music in my free time without the burden of feeling like I need to make a living off of my passion. DJing weddings is perfect for me because I get to provide a service of playing music for others on a very special occasion. When I am not at weddings I am usually working on writing music at home or in the studio with friends.
When I was in Phoenix interned at a media company called Valley Vision, and was a recording engineer for a show called “The Grind Culture” interviewing a lot of talent in the hip hop world of Phoenix. I think I was inspired by that experience, we also would bring people in to record live performances of their songs in the booth which was another surreal experience. Hearing their stories of what it took to get to where they were, I noticed a recurring message, never give up, keep going, and things will fall into place. I believe I really applied this mindset and continue to apply it knowing that it will take me to where I want to be.
While a student at Mediatech I worked with a Producer named XELA as an assistant recording engineer on a records
that won the Dallas Entertainment Award for best group/duo song with 1WILlAYE and Lonersclub, and also did a remix for one of her records with Lexaay titled NEWKNEECAPS, this record was really special and when I heard it it felt like this whole journey was finally taking me somewhere I wanted to be.
I MC’d a wedding for a couple that booked 9.79 the beat’s DJ Wire, and got to watch him rock the wedding, which was another cool experience. Another time I got to play the bongos with a Kochuveettilbeats, a drumming group that recently played Coachella.
Another time I walked into a wedding the day after Jerry Jone’s granddaughter was married at The Olana, and saw a ton of flowers, the Mother of the Bride told me “you like the flowers? They were a gift from Bon Jovi to Jerry Jone’s family!” They had left them there for the wedding the following day.
All in all I’ve experienced some amazing things and I know this is just the beginning.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
For starters, I enlisted in the Marines because, I grew up in the South Side of Fort Worth. I thought that if I didn’t go to college or the military probably wouldn’t have very many options. I lacked a lot of discipline as a kid and was pretty rebellious and didn’t take much seriously, I felt that the Marines could screw my head on straight and that’s exactly what happened. I was waking up everyday at four to five AM, working out, and going to work in a chaotic environment where things constantly changed at a moments noticed, you had to be really flexible and be able to adjust to the constant stress of you wanted to be a good Marine. When I got out the transition from Sergeant of Marines to civilian was a shock. It was hard to respect my first audio instructors who I felt didn’t have life experience, when I compared them against the leadership I had in the Marines. I struggled with my perception of others and myself, I felt that everyone had it so much easier if they hadn’t gone to the military without knowing what struggles others had faced in the real world. While interning at my first studio I left my bag outside that had a brand new MacBook, Microphones, headphones and a hard drive with all the music I had been working on at the time, and it was stolen. I was so upset that I decided it wasn’t a good time to move to LA to pursue Icon Collective and postponed my internship that the school would have given me in Los Angeles and decided to stay in Phoenix. Fortunately I spent my second internship helping build a studio with the Producer who was mentoring me throughout my first college. It was exciting, we painted the walls, putting new flooring in and moved all the equipment from the home studio we were working out of to a commercial space. We decorated the place and made it feel like a home so artists could come in and feel at ease. I wasn’t making any money at the time, so I still had to work a job. I worked as a host at a restaurant. I also worked for the school that I had graduated from, but was forced to resign by my manager because “I wasn’t a good fit” even though I was doing my best. Working for the school was a nightmare, it lacked structure and there was not really much mentorship, it was figure it out or your fired. This really disturbed me because I had just spent five years in the Marines and was even a section head of a Satellite Communications technician team. I didn’t understand what I had done that was so wrong in my managers eyes, but I honestly think he just didn’t like me or the coworkers I had didn’t like me and were telling him bad things about me to get me let go. It was a pretty toxic environment. It really affected me negatively though so I was a glad he made it look like I quit. If it wasn’t for that I would’ve probably not became a successful wedding DJ. I stayed in Phoenix and continued working at the studio I helped build and as a host at a restaurant. I wasn’t making enough money to survive though so I decided it would be best to go home and save for school.
After I moved back home from Phoenix, I began trying to save up money to eventually go to LA to attend Icon Collective. I finally had enough saved and left in January of 2022. Upon arriving to the school myself and 10 other students who were using their GI Bill or their parents GI bill were told that the school may be loosing their eligibility to receive GI Bill funding from the government due to a lack of enrollment from COVID. Myself and the others were told we were basically in limbo status until the issue was resolved. They told us we were welcome to attend the classes at no cost until they worked out the issue. A month in LA goes by and they finally told us they got the final say so from the VA that they would no longer be eligible to receive the funding so were no longer “approved” to attend the school. Some students had gotten leases out there, I was lucky that I had an Air BnB that stayed in for the month until the housing allowance would kick in and I would receive income to afford a place out there but others not so much. The school then decided that it would grant us scholarships to attend, which was a very kind gesture given the circumstance, however this would not grant us the housing allowance that the GI Bill provides. I was in LA for a month and couldn’t figure out wether to get a job and stay and try to make it work. Parking was expensive gas was expensive, it felt like I was burning through all of the money saved to go to school out there. Upon consideration I realized the school had an online program, so when we were finally told we were going to be given scholarships to attend I asked if I could transfer mine to the online program so I could move back home and continue my job as a wedding DJ. They approved the request and I had an excellent experience in my online program. When I got back to Texas it was time to start trying to save again so that my wife and I could find a place to stay. We had both been with our parents since graduating college and knew that it was time to find a place of our own. We have been in Dallas for almost three years now.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Wedding DJ/ Music Producer/Music Student.
I am most proud of my time with CoHosf Entertainment, being a part of so many special days with my couples has been a humbling experience that makes me grateful for my opportunity. I am also proud of the fact that I have continued to pursue creating music throughout this journey since leaving the Marines in 2020.
What are your plans for the future?
Professionally I am beginning to seek more opportunities as a DJ. Whether it be private events/grad parties/ weddings of course under my own name. I continue to strive to create a professional brand/experience for my clients. I am currently enrolled in a Beatmaking program online at Mediatech because I was so impressed by their Recording Program. I am continuing to strive to work with others creating music that I hope will leave a positive impact.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.djmichaelanthony.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sleepymic_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1888awRZ88/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-valenzuela-916914181
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@sleepymic_
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/QXH4VpyIujGTcpNEc8
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5qlgCJkAQMOzYYXhkIBoL7
Image Credits
Hannah Way
