We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful David Seal aka Mr. Seal. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with David Seal aka below.
David Seal aka, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Mastering a craft can be really dependent on the opportunity to do so and the resources available to you. In the era that I first learned to DJ, there were no online tutorials, and the only way to learn was hands-on involvement in the scene. Most of what I learned for over half my career was done by either getting tips from other DJs and taking what I learned to practice or completely self-taught by ear—listening to my favorite mixtapes from prominent DJs and replicating that the best I could by guesswork..
As things have evolved over the years, I am still always learning…and I love that! The resources available now and the availability of gear makes it so that pretty much anyone has a chance to pursue deejaying.
What separates a good DJ from a bad one or mediocre one is what has always stood true—having the innate ability to read a room, connect with your audience, and play the right music at the exact right time in a skillful way. Those of us who care about the artform know that it is much more than just hitting “play” or curating a playlist. We are presenters of culture, and we master essential skills like beatmatching, scratching, and sampling in order to take our audiences on a journey—we value the valleys as much as the peaks. We create the “vibe.”
Availability of gear, popularity of being a DJ, the perceived notion that it’s easy, and the ease of use that modern technology has created to fill the gap for learning certain skills manually by automating them certainly has created a risk of losing certain qualities or standards that passionate DJs hold dear. But art-focused creatives find ways to use these tools in new ways, and that always excites me! I have always embraced new technology and pushing DJ culture forward. It’s a great time to be a DJ.
What stood in my way most when I was first trying to learn to DJ was simply not having the opportunities. I love how we are now able to embrace what is great, and what we love because of availability rather than being held back by “gatekeepers” in the industry.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I have always been obsessed with music. It seemed to always be around me for as far back as I can remember. I grew up in the Detroit era when everyone took boomboxes to the park to play ball. My earliest experience of seeing a DJ that was very influential in my early childhood was Jam Master Jay in Run DMC’s “Rock Box” video. After that, what made me want to be a DJ was Omar Epps’s character “DJ Q” in the movie Juice. Mannn…between the intro where he makes a mixtape and then the party/battle scene, I thought that was the coolest thing in the world! I legit wanted to be DJ Q. From then on, I’ve always tried to find away to get involved with music.
When I first started making mixtapes, looped beats, and songs through the “pause tape” method where I recorded overdubs through a double cassette deck with my friends in the neighborhood, I lived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I would go to the Jamaican shop around the way and buy mixtapes that were coming down south from NY. That’s the only way we could keep up with what was current and hear stuff that didn’t even hit BET’s Rap City for another 6 months. My favorite was DJ Juice from Jersey. I studied those tapes and tried to mimic everything I could. His blends and mashup style were way ahead of their time. And it completely molded what would later become my style of mixing.
Wanting to be a DJ and actually getting the opportunity, however, were two different things: my parents couldn’t see the value and didn’t support me AT ALL. They insisted I focus on what I would want to do for a “real job” when I got older. So, I saved up money for two years working fast food and bought my first DJ setup—a “starter pack” which consisted of a couple terrible Gemini beltdrive turntables and a GLi mixer from an ad out of the back of a Source magazine—and my obsession just continued to grow from there.
The first places I played out were when I went to art college for 3D animation in North Carolina. A friend of mine who was a DJ and classmate of mine got us opportunities to play at some huge on-campus parties at NC State through his roommate. We weren’t students there, but his roommate was…So we’d go out there and setup in frat houses or on the balconies of dorm rooms and go in for 3-4 hours, splitting the time. That’s where I found out that I had a knack for reading a room and curating the energy. And that became the reason I fell in love with deejaying the most: the call-and-response with the audience.
After that, I started getting some opportunities playing various clubs—admittedly, mostly for free at the time, carrying crates for the headliner to get some time, stuff like that—just trying to get experience in the places I wanted to be. I also came across and fell in love with jungle music at that time. My favorite style to play out quickly became a blend of DnB beats and hip-hop acappellas. It’s still my favorite to this day!
I would later open a recording studio—producing and recording, mixing, and mastering for local talent while developing quite a reputation for quality. I was promoting my studio through co-hosting and deejaying live events with a partner of mine as well. We opened for T-Pain and Flo Rida along the way. And I also had the good fortune of co-producing and engineering a mixtape track with Gucci Mane while he was in town for a show. I got a call from a competing studio who felt inadequate in providing a professional enough environment for the session. When I got the call, I jumped at the chance! I was so excited. And he was a true professional. He wrote his verse in about 10 minutes, did one take and the laid adlibs with zero redos. With my process, he was able to run through it—punch-ins and all—with zero lag. He told the people who connected us that he liked working with me and took my card, stating he’d come back whenever he came to town. But then I had some unfortunate looming financial problems during the recession which put us out of business like a month later. I went from that to promoting shows more heavily and then moved to ATL in hopes of a boost to my career. But Atlanta, as much as I loved the culture, just didn’t work out for me and my dreams. My hopes were dashed, and I thought it was all over. I sold my equipment to pay my debts and got a “real job.”
After 8 years of working my way up to Ops Management, I needed a change. I took some much needed time off to evaluate my life choices post-COVID and decided to give deejaying another shot—this time, primarily in the private event sector. I founded Victory Music Group (a nod to my faith and belief in the beauty of second chances) and have been subcontracting for various notable DJ companies in the Denver area. Being here in Denver for about 4 1/2 years, I’ve been deejaying for 3. I couldn’t feel more blessed! I don’t see me going anywhere else to live any time soon.
I recently played the Blackbox and also put out my first independent release—“SoUND BOi!”. My hope is to continue growing my business by showcasing my talents while offering something unique in each space that I operate. Denver is like the bass music capital of the States, and the people I’ve met have been very inviting. I have found that in Denver’s bass music scene, my style is very unique. My goal is to expose more and more of the local club goers to what I do and continue to release music.
In turn, I want to offer my custom mashup, club-style mixing services to wedding couples and private event guests as well. In those spaces, I am able to really test my skills in adapting to playing across multiple genres while still keeping the dance floor packed. And I’ve been very successful at that, thankfully. It’s really rewarding, knowing that I’ve had such an impactful experience with the couples, teams, and brands that I work with while facilitating their vision for an event.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Being a true creative was never about a search for a cool, easy job or some fad for me, like others might portray it. I believe that being a creative is a response to a built-in higher calling: to express the inner world in order to connect with like-minded souls.
Music, specifically, is a very powerful force in itself. To feel the need to express yourself through music takes a want to delve into the depths and expose some part of yourself in order to relate to others, somehow hoping that that connection will solve some ill in the world—no matter how potentially small the impact could end up being. That’s the risk. It’s a brave act to engage in unhindered self-expression. And the most rewarding part of being a creative is the moment where you create something you truly love and release it into the world without trying to control the outcome but, rather, relying on the listener to give their honest response to your heartfelt art. When the response is overwhelmingly positive, there is no better feeling—the connection and energy is electric.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The mission for my creative journey has been pretty simple so far: make things I truly care about and create experiences for others with the skills that I offer in the hope that they have the time of their lives! It’s in recognizing that “Victory Music” is an expression of gratitude for overcoming and celebrating those moments.
Contact Info:
- Website: linktr.ee/mrDOTseal
- Instagram: instagram.com/mrDOTseal
- Facebook: facebook.com/mrDOTseal
- Twitter: twitter.com/mrDOTseal
- Youtube: YouTube.com/@mrDOTseal
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/victory-music-group-denver
- Other: linktr.ee/VictoryMusicGroupLLC
- Booking: info.mrDOTseal@gmail.com
Image Credits
Memorandum Media