Joman

I was not born with an uncanny ability to play the piano. I didn't have musicians for parents and I think I took about two music classes in school where I displayed no fantastic abilities apart from having a decent singing voice. But I don't remember there ever being a time I didn't love playing around with instruments and love electronic music. I remember listening to Moby, Prodigy and Fatboy Slim on bus rides to school, coming home and stringing together pre-recorded loops on MTV Music Generator. My lifelong love of electronic music is rivaled only by my love of oldies and classic rock. I grew up with my dad playing The Beach Boys and The Doors and my mom playing Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac in the car every day. I've always been passionate about the music I like, regardless of what anybody else was listening to. I remember the first time I heard "Terrible Lie" by Nine Inch Nails and "Enjoy The Silence" by Depeche Mode in my sister's car when I was a kid. The memories are foggy now, but I think if I had to pinpoint when exactly my foray into synthesized music began, it was probably the first time I heard those two songs. I fell madly in love with industrial and new wave synthpop. In hindsight, it's no surprise that the "EDM" blossom that took place in the late '90s/early '00s hit me like an emotional ton of bricks when I heard BT for the first time; all of the things I'd been exposed to were building to this new spiritual sound that fittingly exploded at the turn of the millennium. That's when I knew I wanted to be a part of it all. I'd always been sensitive to music but I'd never broken down before, like that scene in Equilibrium where Christian Bale's character hears music for the first time in his life. That's what it felt like. And there was no turning back. Home Town: Littleton, CO Currently Living: Lakewood, CO Origin Of Name: I first coined the name “Joman” (a combination of my first and last name, Joseph Mancuso) back in intermediate school as an intro to these little animated short films I was making at the time in a program called 3D Movie Maker. The letters “Joman Productions” would fly across the screen in a 3D font at the beginning. The movies were terrible, but I had a lot of fun making them. When I discovered electronic music production a few years later, I decided to keep the name. Weapon of Choice: It’s hard to hone in on one specific thing, but if I had to pick, it would probably be FL Studio. I started using FL around 2001, migrated to Reason in 2008, picked up Logic Pro around 2010 and eventually came full-circle and started using FL again recently. I love how streamlined the layout is, the piano roll is the best there is and most of the plugins I use are VSTs, which integrate seamlessly. You can automate every parameter easily with the push of a button and every update introduces tons of new features. I interned at Colorado Sound Recording Studios for a year and all they used was Pro Tools and I still prefer FL Studio. It seems to have garnered a reputation as being “less professional” than other DAW’s but if you know how to use it, it’s every bit as powerful as anything else out there. Source of Power: All of my power lies within my Converse and aviators. Swag is my only weakness. But more specifically, my cousin gifting me a CD of BT’s Movement In Still Life and a pirated copy of Fruityloops sparked my pursuit of electronic music production as a career. The album, to say the least, inspired me and opened my eyes to the virtually endless possibilities of digital sound design. Now, I get most of my inspiration from electro house artists such as Alex Mind, FTampa, Revolvr and Feed Me. I stay focused and motivated by drinking entire pots of coffee to myself, playing tons of video games, regretting all of the time I spent playing video games instead of making music, drinking some more coffee, playing catch-up, DJing and taking long walks on the beach. What’s the biggest misconception about being a DJ? As cliché as it sounds, it’s not all fun and games. Though I’m sure they would cringe if they knew a DJ was referring to their song, the lyrics from AC/DC’s, “It’s A Long Way To The Top” come to mind. There are a lot of “up-and-comers” who think there is nothing more to being a DJ than walking up to a set of decks and suddenly everyone thinks you’re awesome. If you’re reading this and debating becoming a DJ, be prepared to play lots of empty rooms. Be ready to negotiate for every dime you make because most people aren’t going to give it to you if you don’t ask. You will get underpaid many times. Don’t be a doormat but don’t fly off the handle and get in everybody’s face, either. Have integrity. Don’t play the exact same tracks as everybody else. Better yet, produce because as just about anybody will tell you, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to make an impact as a “DJ” without any original material. But most of all, just be a good person. Realize that you’re nothing without your fans. I think the two biggest misconceptions that have existed about DJs are that we only play other people’s music (a stereotype that is slowly but surely dissolving) and that we’re all drugged out, narcissistic, arrogant, unpleasant people to be around (well, maybe a bit narcissistic at times). The reality is that a lot of us are just nerds who love electronic music. Some of us have families we’re trying to take care of. We’re just trying to pursue our passions, be ourselves and make a decent living just like everybody else. I think some people get this idea in their heads that what they see is what they get and that is just not the case when you decide to pursue an unconventional vocation like this.

From 🇺🇸 United States