This image was captured at a party for Pared Eyewear, 

I landed in Melbourne this week that this photo was taken, needless to say I was grateful that I had a set lined up and ready to go! 

At least that is how would’ve seemed, in reality, I was freaking out about how I was going to set 1 set let alone more. 

I played for Ed Baker as a ‘cover set’ (can you cover my set) for a friend of mine in Sydney, from there I was talking to Ed via Facebook and was always very professional and used language to showcase my gratitude. 

I can do an entire blog post about the importance of gratitude and I most likely will do, but for now.. here is what I mean by the use of language and gratitude. 

“Thank you so much for letting me play for you guys! Just finishing up here now”  

Then when I sent Ed my invoice I tried to imagine him reading it and thinking “I really want to work with Jasmine again, I think she is great” 

Even if an invoice is a little late, don’t lose your cool, there’s is no reason to start thinking the worst of people, in this case I had to request Ed take a look into an invoice for me and I used this as an opportunity to say hello, and check in with him and the Pared Team, why not? 

Look at it like this, if every interaction you had with someone over email or chat was valued as highly as if they were a ‘potential’ new boss or someone who could have the power to dress you in some seriously fleek sunglasses than why not try and make an impression, or just brighten up someone else’s day. 

I’m all about leaving interactions on a high note. 

And Ed Baker decided to let me have a pair of their designer sunglasses after I played for them the first time at David Jones Fashion Show. 

( which i admittedly lost at Burning Seed the following week, but hey, I’m sure they went to a better home, plus the new ones I have are way more “me’) 

I was seriously over the moon when he asked which ones I’d like! And I guess that brings me to my next point, be yourself. 

Asin, I am a happy over the top sorta gal, so it’s easy for me to send ‘hey ya loved playing for you guys!’ after 4hrs of disco at a centre gig, do I always love my audience, this time in question was basically some hot security guards, a waiter and some lovely ladies who were all travelling from Japan and thought I was a total rock star for Dj’ing at a shopping centre for a fashion show. 

So, it depends on how you look at things, before I played the 4hrs for Pared at David Jones, I really hadn’t developed an appreciation for Disco Music..  sound the chaos alams – yes this techno dj now loves disco.

The reason why I hadn’t fallen in love with this genre was due to the fact I thought it was boring, but after an much needed and extended search on Beatport / Spotify I was awakened to the Bluesy, Jazzy- ness that is Disco. 

After playing for Pared I emailed Ed Baker thanking him and saying how much I loved their designer Sunglasses, again all very genuine, he asked if I was able to play for them again and I mention that I was moving to Melbourne. After this email he informed me that Pared HQ was actually based in Melbourne! Once I moved here, I sent him a “Hey, I’m in town just letting you know email’ he asked if  I was available that Wednesday evening to play at their Client Liaison (the band)  Glue Store after party. 

I was again so grateful and super honoured that Ed had entrusted me to play for at his after party and for music minded people. 

The set up at the bar where the party was held wasn’t standard and all of the ‘upbeat’ bandy vocally house music that I had prepped for the party wasn’t the correct vibe, so I needed to switch up my game plan and play some funky house / open set playlists insead. 

At any point in a set you can have curve balls thrown at you, like on this night the decks were serato and there wasn’t a back speaker, no linking cable and I was finding it really hard to keep my tracks in time, non of this took away from what I delivered, it was just a ‘tough set’. 

I was lucky Ed helped me out by lowering the far back noise levels which meant I was able to use the ceiling speaker as an impromptu back speaker.   

After playing my set, I was networking, this stuff is tough, I hadn’t been in front of people that had a clear objective to ‘meet for business’ and only business in ages, my 9 to 5 days were long behind me, so when I jumped off the decks into the crowd it was a whole nother chellenage. 

I was lucky Ed helped me out by lowering the far back noise levels which meant I was able to use the ceiling speaker as an impromptu back speaker.   

Being able to mix and beat match in any circumstance is super important, I have had great sets on 700s and not so great ones on 2000’s, it’s always taught me one thing, learn how to mix on the worst equipment you can find, it’ll only make you a better Dj. 

NETWORKING 101 

Introduce yourself, have a clear objective, who is it you want to meet, for me it was anyone in Melbourne in the music industry. I

Have Business Cards 

I actually remember joking about this to a fellow friend and Dj when he announced “I’m getting cards made up’ I responded in a classic smartass and unhelpful tone that was consistent back then.  Cards? like business cards? Turns out that friend was definitely on to something, well at least his new manager was, it was her idea, not his after all. Anyway, get some in situations like this one they are important. 

Walk up near a group of people listen for a bit then if its something you can add to the conversation like “Oh, I just overheard how amazing Client Liaison (the band) were getting back together, I loved their first album, as a DJ and producer I am always looking for new music. 

Body language, 

Did you know 70 % of what you are saying is with your body? The best way to talk to someone you don’t know is to signal to them that your about to do so with the use of body language, look in their direction, as you are about to leave the current conversation and see if you can get their attention, then head over, 5 seconds is the time you have to complete this maneuver, left anylong and you look like a frightened schoolkid. 

at the very least, try not let your boyfriend get too drunk at the free bar. 

Walk up and say something like “Hiya’s wanted to introduce myself, my name is Jasmine Speers, Ed had me play for the first part of this party, how is everyone’s night going?’ Cool, casual professional . 

With that in mind smile, nod and figure out a way to speak to each and everyone at networking parties, or at the very least, try not let your boyfriend get too drunk at the free bar. 

I ended up getting to play at the Boutique Night Club the following weekend after being at this party, so there you go!

Much Love, 

Jasmine 

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