I've been a DJ at legendary clubs for years. Here's the gear I use to create
While playing music is my favorite part of what I do, you need more than just a soundtrack in today's world to tell an engaging story and build an audience.
Music was my first passion. Growing up on 90’s hip hop, I’d listen to Hot 97 radio and make mixtapes for my friends with tracks by Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., A Tribe Called Quest, Snoop Dogg and others. Shortly after moving to NYC for college, I quickly found myself engulfed in club culture and started DJing, eventually playing at legendary clubs like Bungalow 8, Gold Bar, Lotus, PM, Suede, Hudson Terrace and more.
Little did I know that this love for sharing music would take me around the world. Today I own and operate my own DJ and creative consultancy businesses. Technology allows me to tell my stories in beautiful and inventive ways, which is a crucial part of what I do.
I use a variety of tools to help me create content. For shooting video & photo, I use an iPhone, Canon EOS R5 Mark II and Fuji X100VI mirrorless cameras, a GoPro Hero 7 action camera, an Insta 360 camera, and sometimes a DJI Mavic Pro 2 for some epic b-roll. For clean audio, you gotta have the Rode Wireless Pro. I also find myself using various 35mm film and point-and-shoot digital cameras for fun nostalgia vibes.
For editing, I use editing apps like Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Adobe Premiere Pro interchangeably between my Macbook Pro and my Windows PC. Using apps like Stemverter and Logic Pro to help me quickly make remixes and edits for when I’m DJing live with Serato DJ or Rekordbox. And Adobe Photoshop’s generative fill feature has been an incredible creative tool eliminating boundaries for photo touch ups and canvas expansion.
Familiarity with these tools helps me collaborate with other creators effortlessly and allow me to tell more engaging stories. These tools allow me to not only create engaging content efficiently, but to also collaborate with other creators to help visually communicate the story of what I love most: sharing music with the world.
Better known as DJ Paz, Shaun Vakil is a Mashable Perspectives Contributor, DJ, and creative professional of over 20 years. As a musician, his longstanding partnership with Tao Group has allowed him to DJ at venues like the Electric Room, Little Sister, Marquee, PH-D and Tao. He's also worked with companies like Google, LinkedIn, Genesis Motors, Hublot, Red Bull and others.
