This week’s Campus Celebrity can drop some serious beats. Known by many on campus as DJ TechFall, Joey DiCarlo transformed his once capricious dream of becoming a DJ into a budding passion and a rewarding job.
DiCarlo, a senior political science major, first became involved with DJing after his experience at Homecoming freshman year.
While soaking up the spirited atmosphere and dancing with others, Joey remembers how he saw the DJ performing and said into his roommate’s ear, “I’m gonna learn how to do that.”
Despite an amused and doubt-filled response from his roommate, Joey stuck to his goal and purchased a “new plastic do-hickey to start DJing.” The remainder of the year Joey taught himself the basics and practiced for countless hours.
“By the end of the year people knew who I was, I had done a few formals,” said DiCarlo.
DiCarlo’s notoriety grew through his DJ name, DJ TechFall. DiCarlo coined the name “DJ TechFall” as a reference to his wrestling background. In wrestling, a “technical fall” is an automatic winning condition achieved by outscoring your opponent by 15 points; it is essentially a mercy rule.
The summer after his freshman year DiCarlo continued to sharpen his skills and upgraded his DJ equipment. DiCarlo abandoned his first DJ program, Virtual DJ, and started using Serato, a professional program. He purchased a DDJsx turntable and new speakers.
Over the next year-and-a-half, DiCarlo taught himself the skills of DJing.
“I was dedicating a lot of time to teaching myself how to do it. It wasn’t easy.”
Despite his growth as a DJ over the past three years, DiCarlo remarked that DJing is a continuous learning process. “It’s also nerve-wracking when you’re doing it. DJing is one of those things you continue to learn every day.”
To create the perfect mixes, DiCarlo relies on a method called beatmatching, a technique of pitch shifting and time-stretching tracks to match the tempo of the currently playing track.
When he’s DJing DiCarlo said he often starts with 90s throwbacks and then incorporates house and electronic dance music (EDM) to get the crowd going.
“What I’ve been doing recently is playing a lot more rap and hip hop. I beat-match that back into the house/EDM, and that’s hard to do because the tempos are very different.”
As a seasoned DJ, DiCarlo recalls some of his most memorable moments DJing. One of those moments was working at Rho, TCNJ’s favorite local nightclub.
“I remember the first time I got the call to DJ at Rho-and that’s when I realized I had made an impact on campus. At that point I considered myself a professional because I DJ’ed at a club and got paid by a club to work.”
Another rewarding moment for DiCarlo was DJing the Welcome Event this past Welcome Week.
“Kelly Hennessy, Welcome Week Co-Chair, turned to me and said ‘you need to get a dance party going.’”
DiCarlo revved the crowd and got the Class of 2018 pumped to be TCNJ students.
“I could turn any kind of crowd into a dance party. That was awesome.”
DiCarlo’s DJing experience has truly reached fruition as he will be DJing with DJ Paul Desisto at this year’s Homecoming on October 25.
“I am really excited to work with Paul Desisto. He is a great DJ that brings a lot of experience, talent and necessary equipment for this event. DJing with Paul at Homecoming will truly be a great experience.”
“I said I wanted to be that guy, and now four years later I am that guy. I came full-circle. I said I wanted to be a DJ freshman year and now I’m DJing at Homecoming,” added DiCarlo.
DiCarlo has truly transformed his aspirations into an exciting and prosperous talent. With DJ TechFall at the helm, this year’s Homecoming is guaranteed to be a giant dance party!