We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Johnnie Judah. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Johnnie below.

Johnnie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I learned the majority of what I do via trial and error. Knowing what I know now I believe that investing in professional equipment earlier would have sped up my process a lot. A couple of skills come to mind as being essential, those being beat matching and understanding the “vibe” of songs. Some obstacles that stood in the way of me learning more are the “crab in a barrel” mentality in my region and my reluctance to networking with like-minded individuals.

Johnnie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into the industry through my love for everything media and years of technical experience. I have always been a music lover with a rather large music collection. I was one of those guys with multiple bulky 100 slot CD booklets in my car. When I worked in Corporate America I was the go to in the office for music. It was known that anyone who needed a “mix CD” whether for a road trip, a party, or any event where they wanted music but not necessarily a DJ I was the man to see. My office nick name was “Radio Raheem”, named after the character that didn’t speak much but always carried around a boombox in Spike Lee’s movie “Do The Right Thing”. I was also into graphic design and video editing so I would do visuals and slideshows for co-workers who had events like graduations, Sweet 16’s, retirement parties, etc. After doing CD’s co-workers began asking me to actually come out to events and play music especially since I was coming out setting up their visuals and slideshows on projectors and TV’s anyway. The technical side came from tinkering with electronics since I was young. I was into audio as a teen and I used to make money installing a sound systems for people. Once I learned that I could take a home speaker and rig it up in the trunk of an automobile it was all downhill from there! I was also into computers at an early age, programming BASIC on the Radio Shack TRS-80 and Commodore64 in middle school then learning Pascal, Turbo C and COBOL in high school. I also learned a lot about computer hardware and eventually could take apart and build computers. This was another skill that I used to make side money at my Corporate job as I would fix computers doing everything from replacing/upgrading parts to virus removal. For years many co-workers would tell me I was in the wrong profession and looking back they were absolutely right. Now this all comes together with the onset of piracy and DJ programs in the early 2000’s. Two softwares changed everything for me. Napster and VirtualDJ. Although I am not proud of some of my humble DJ beginnings, mostly because of the piracy, it is how I got started and there’s nothing I can do to change that. Pirated music from Napster and a pirated version of VirtualDJ is what kicked my DJ career off. Napster gave me all the music I could imagine and VirtualDJ gave me the ability to manipulate songs on my computer. With music going into the computer age that meant that hacks and shortcuts come into play which was right up my alley! I started with no turntables or controllers just a hard drive of music and keyboard shortcuts on my laptop. With the push of a button I could start/stop songs, change volume, change speed and pitch, blend songs and even make scratch sounds. While this was a plus for me it was frowned upon by DJ purists and that’s where trial and error for my learning process came into play. No one would help me because I was using technology to make DJing easier and to many veterans that was considered cheating. I would say I lost about 5-7 years out of my 16 years in the business trying to figure out DJing as a whole by myself without mentorship. But in a nutshell this is the foundation of my DJ career. The services I provide are DJ, VJ(Video Jockey), and KJ(Karaoke Jockey)primarily but I also do graphic design(flyers, tickets, banners, etc.) and video editing as a selling point over the average DJ. I can also provide sound services(for bands and choirs) catered to your budget and live video production(via OBS, Wirecast, Restream, Streamyard, etc.). I also use a drone to get aerial shots for promo videos if need be. All of these skills are what sets me apart as a DJ. Something I’ve cultivated and am very proud of over the years is my presentation, my DJ setup. It is elaborate but aesthetically sound in my opinion. I try to hide all wires, I incorporate facades(often 2 or more), I almost always use two TV’s in my rig, generally dual 32″ or 42″ screens which show music videos, advertisements, and/or descriptions of the current event. It’s actually a lot for a mobile setup but you have to do what you have to do to stand out. The main thing I’d want potential clients/followers /fans to know about me is I’m well versed in private events. I am always aware of my surroundings making sure that my music and any other content I provide is appropriate for the event I am working at the time.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

No goal in particular. My mission is to be the best me. I realize and welcome the fact that this will be a never-ending journey but I just want to be better today than I was yesterday. I want to constantly learn about my craft because I believe that if you’re not learning you’re not living. I’d like to look back on my journey and see that with each year I’ve grown by adding something to my services offered and/or learned a new technique.

Have you ever had to pivot?

One big pivot in my life was the transition from Corporate America to entrepreneurism. In Corporate America often you can just show up to work and start making money per hour. That is not the case when you work for yourself. There’s a saying, “if you don’t work, you don’t eat” and it is entirely true in the entrepreneur arena. I’ve found that I have to stay busy to keep revenue coming in. I can’t just clock in and start counting money towards next week’s check. I may not miss it right away but in a week or so I’ll see where I didn’t work in the days/weeks/months prior.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://johnniej.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/johnnie_johnnie
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamJohnnieJ
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxBQSNI12g3jjKM9lQ6TD5w

Image Credits
Kendrick Mays