DJ Tutor
Rolling Sound

Hiten Thakrar

0:00:02 My name is Hiten Thakrar. I’m a DJ Tutor here at Rolling Sound. In terms of DJing, I’ve DJd alongside like people that I respect highly like De La Soul, Mos Def. I mean in terms of share numbers of people, playing in clubs like Ministry of Sound and, you know, those sorts of things like you just think will you ever get there and then you find yourself playing at these places then, you know, I guess that’s at the top of the list.

00:00:28 You get to go all over the country or the world if you’re lucky and you get to meet all sorts of people. You get to play in all sorts of venues to all types of crowds and obviously you get to do what you love doing which is playing music to crowds of people who hopefully love what you’re doing and enjoy it.

00:00:48 I got into DJing with a group of friends. We all chipped in and bought a set of turntables together which then rotated round each person’s house every two weeks. But as soon as we got the set of turntables, we realised it was very, very difficult to actually DJ. So four out of the five of us all dropped out and the turntable stayed at my house and then we decided to make use of them and actually learn how to do it. Ever since then, it’s just been about the music, collecting records, learning it, learning the trade inside and out.

00:01:18 And from the early stages where I used to practice like six, seven, eight hours a day and that’s after going to college, after going to work and then going home and then DJing all night in headphones. I took it to that level because I felt tutoring, if you were given the privilege or the right to teach someone else, you should know what you’re talking about.

00:01:41 I didn’t go to school that often. I used to skive quite a bit. All my reports said very bright, you know, switched on when he was there. I didn’t do too badly in my A levels. I did quite well in my A levels. I did graphics, art and psychology.

00:02:00 I was trying to get onto my degree and the degree is quite a difficult degree to get onto. It’s quite renowned university course so I got denied the first time and that was a big rejection, that was very disheartening at the time.

00:02:14 But then I applied the following year and I got in and then a couple of years later, I went back to actually lecture at the university and take on like actual interviews for new graduates.

00:02:28 The friends that I bought the decks with right at the very start, they’ve gone on to do all sorts of types of careers like one’s a school teacher, one’s an investment banker, one’s in IT, the other one’s optometrist. But we all still share a passion for music. We all see each other very regularly and a couple of them still want to buy a pair of turntables, actually get going on them again and still don’t know how to mix properly so even after 16 years, 15-16 years.

00:02:57 The props that I have brought with me is the single off the album Midnight Moradas. Everything about this album, the tracks, the production, the lyrics, the artwork, the whole nine years was inspirational for me and everyone that was around me at the time. And the single is just one of the greatest tracks of all times, a party anthem.

00:03:23 In the future, I would be then able to start up my own business that actually deals with putting longer courses, sustainable courses that I feel are credible and that work in a way that I would want them to be delivered and do them over a longer period of time when you can actually mentor certain young people to take that passion and that kind of little kind of pocket of knowledge. Like oh I like film making or I like photography or I like DJing and then really turning it into something. That’s what I envisage for the next…I’ve got a sneaky feeling, it might just come true.

ENDS