| Photo by Christine Lew |
While I may know Victor Gutierrez as just Victor, to others, he is DJ Trey.
Victor has been DJing for about nine years now. He tells me how people are sometimes surprised by the amount of experience he has because he looks relatively young. Victor got into DJing because he is a very extroverted person that loves being in different environments, traveling and meeting new people.
Music has always been a part of Victor’s life, and it all started with the oldies his parents listened to. He shared with me that growing up, his parents would make him sit down and listen to music. He said that other people might have gone to the movies or had barbeques, but in his family, it was a tradition to listen to music. Victor’s hometown is Robstown, Texas, a city close to Corpus Christi. Victor describes Robstown as a place with a small town vibe, where “everybody is everybody’s friend.”
What started out as something he did for his family and friends eventually grew into a full-blown business. Over time, the people Victor DJed for began asking him what other services he could provide. This got Victor thinking. He realized that he could throw in things like ambient lighting, projections of the crowd, slideshows etc.
Now Victor runs a production company by the name of AV Productionz. His clientele ranges from the Livestrong Foundation to The Paradise Café on 6th and Trinity, where he has Thursday night residency.
Do you like electronic music? What about dancing wildly among thousands of people under laser lights while listening to artists like Bassnectar and Kid Cudi? If you do, you’ll probably be jealous of Victor. AV Productionz has been asked to do a turnkey event for the VIP tent at the huge electronic music festival Nocturnal, which will be happening on April 29th and 30th.
As DJ Trey of AV Productionz, Victor describes his style of DJing as “top 40s with an electronic twist.” His musical influences include artists like Paper Diamond, Deadmau5 and Sub Focus. Wolfgang Gartner and Pendulum are a few of his favorite artists.
On top of running AV Productionz, Victor is also the executive director of the campus organization Austin Entertainment United and involved with Texas Latin Dance. As executive director of AEU, Victor says his vision is for it to be “an organization where students can meet with club managers/club booking agents as well as getting a hands on feel for what it’s like in the industry.”
After graduation, Victor hopes to pursue running his production company full time. His piece of advice to those who interested in becoming part of the music business is “if you’re open minded towards music, you can find a job that you love in this ever growing music industry.”
Photo by Anita Pruneda