Today we’d like to introduce you to DJ Edwards.
DJ, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Sometimes I tell people my first musical instrument was beatboxing. When I was around 5 or 6 years old, I started imitating the sounds from songs I would hear on the radio. When we would visit family in Dallas, I had a cousin that would freestyle while I provided the beat. When listening to songs, certain portions of the instrumental has always been the easiest for me to remember. To this day, there are some obscure songs I can only recall from memory by imitating a melody, drum phrase, or bassline.
When I was eight years old my parents wanted me to try piano lessons after attending my sister’s for a year and seeing her breeze through the lesson books. I followed in her path, but the difference is that I was heavily introverted. There was a recital in the near future showcasing the students’ last six months of progress, and the fear of messing up in front of a bunch of strangers lingered in the back of my mind while practicing. Halfway through book number two I decided I did not want to continue lessons because I was “bored.” Shortly after that my dad, a bass player, bought me an acoustic guitar to see if I maybe wanted to play a stringed instrument. For a while, I was not too interested in learning a new instrument until heading to middle school.
By the time I started middle school, I already knew I wanted to learn everything drums. This was due to a culmination of beatboxing, beating on desks with pens and knuckles in the classroom, and of course, the movie Drumline. In my freshmen year of high school, I received my first drum set and started playing for my home church a year later. It was in high school that I spent countless hours building a foundation of discipline and patience that shows an amazing return on investment in my life today.
I college went through a few changes of my major, but the first major was Music Education and the last was Audio Engineering. In 2013, after freestyling almost everyday for about six months, I decided to start writing and recording myself rapping. I started on a $20 Turtle Beach headset, a beat I ripped from YouTube, and Adobe Audition. Over the next two and a half years, I put the majority of my musical energy into writing lyrics. I had a notepad app on my phone with punchlines and song concepts. I kept various notebooks for either punchlines that came randomly or full songs with hooks and verses. I also had a collection of receipt papers with verse ideas that would come to me while working as a cashier at HEB Plus. After finishing the mixing and mastering on my first mixtape, I realized I enjoyed the engineering processes and the ability to manipulate virtually everything once I gained the proper knowledge. Shortly after that project’s release, I was still in writing mode and started my second project. After I upgraded to the classic condenser microphone and audio interface setup, I gradually recorded and mixed the project. I had already shown progress from techniques I learned, mixing the previous mixtape. The mixtapes are still on my SoundCloud: “Transitions” and “The Explicits: About Face.”
In January 2016, I transferred to the Audio Engineering program at Lamar State College Port-Arthur and started learning to mix in Pro Tools and produce beats in FL Studio. The production side originally stemmed from spending too much time searching for “the right beat” that fit the mood of the song I wanted to write. I grew tired of that so I wanted to learn how to recreate the music I heard in my head. Further immersion into the world of audio engineering changed the way I listen to music forever and for the better. The amount of time it took to finally be confident in my mixes and beat production was longer than I anticipated. Everyone’s journey is different. Now, having started my beat store through BeatStars in June 2020, I’m interested in gaining more hands-on knowledge of the online business. I have kept the writing chops up over the last few years without anything being released. So I think it’s time I exercise the pen alike I used to as well.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has been fairly smooth. I believe I have had the normal challenges of a musician, such as: building a healthy ego, learning from a loss, working with difficult people, putting in the work on days you’re not inspired, and the recurring depression I used to avoid.
There are more challenges that qualify but that is life in general. As I get older, I put more focus on how I can solve problems and manage risks to ensure the road ahead is smoother than it might have been without me putting forth the effort.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I am a hip hop producer by the moniker Vitumin Deej. Vitumin Deej Music is my website (beat store), where I upload my instrumentals for people to purchase. I am most proud of the variety of content I can create within the hip hop genre. This versatility is what sets me apart.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
As far as online business goes, any city with internet access would be a good place. Even if a person’s city doesn’t have a music store, then they can order equipment online. Beaumont is known for its limitations in entertainment and lack of local support. That’s all the more reason to start now and put in the work. I’m not saying stay forever, but if you never start then, you’ll just bring that same procrastination wherever you move.
Pricing:
- Untagged MP3 – $30
- Untagged WAV – $50
- Exclusive (WAV Stems) – $300
Contact Info:
- Website: www.VituminDeejMusic.com
- Email: musicbydeej@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vitumin_deej/?hl=en
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZx_xb9ua0bjiAVB0SAR8SQ?sub_confirmation=1
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