DJRobSD.COM
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Music DJ from San Diego, CA |
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DJ Rob Klaproth's Bio
Born in Long Beach,
CA, raised in Seattle and Salt Lake City, and now a San Diego resident
for the past 9 years, Rob has lived in a diverse number of places, but
has always considered the ocean his home. From early childhood
days, he would often dream of living by the ocean and finally relocated
to San Diego in 2000.
His roots in music
go way back to childhood. "When I was a young
kid, I would sit in the living room with my father and listen to music
for hours. We wouldn't talk much, we would just close our eyes and
listen to the music - and enjoy the fine sound that came out from the
"big loud monsters" as I used to call them. Back then, in order to
produce a fine sound, speakers needed to be big, and the ones my father
had were no exception - they stood all the way from the floor to the
ceiling, which is why I called them the monsters.", recalls Rob.
As he grew up, he gained an appreciation for many kinds of music. Some
of his favorite LP's to listen to as a kid were actually ones like Bach's
Brandenburg Concertos, Manheim Steamroller's Fresh Aire, Michael
Jackson's Thriller album, Donald Fagan,
Men At Work, Barbara Streisand, the Beatles, Doobie Brothers, Eagles,
Elvis Presley, and Donna Summer. "Having a diverse musical background is
important for a DJ", says Rob. For his 15th birthday, his dad got
him his 1st CD player. It was then that he
began buying his own music on CD. Some of his first purchases included Depeche Mode's
"Violator", Pet Shop Boys "Discography", and Erasure "Chorus". Rob got into a huge craze for
those 90s industrial bands
like Depeche Mode, The Cure, Erasure, Violent Femmes, R.E.M., and Oingo
Boingo.
Finally, at the age of 22 Rob discovered dance
music for the first time. He recalls his first trip to a night club vividly.
"My friends took me to The Sun in Salt Lake City. It was one of the most
memorable experiences in my life - one that would change my life
forever. I remember going up to the DJ booth and just looking through
the glass, watching the DJ's every move. I was so fascinated and
intrigued watching the DJ work his magic on the 1200's. I began to buy
CD maxi singles and build up a collection. Every time my friends would
have a party, I always directed the music. Of course, not having any DJ
equipment, and knowing nothing about mixing was a bit frustrating, but
as "DJ" for our little parties, I managed to keep the music going by
popping one CD in the DVD player, and the other in the CD player and
flipping over the receiver to the other source as fast as I could to
keep the music going."
2 years after this experience, Rob moved to Las Vegas, and discovered
Gipsy nightclub. Back then, the big songs were Veronica - Someone To
Hold, Amber - Sexual, and Whitney - It's Not Right. The music back then
was definitely some of the best dance music to ever come out, his favorite years for dance music
are 1998-2001. "It was at this
point that I realized that I wanted to be a DJ, and I began to talk to
other DJ's, and follow the charts and started to learn how to mix.
I would spend hours on my computer searching for the latest music on
Napster, and even more time at the record shops and CD stores looking
for the latest dance music. Back then you could buy pretty much
every good dance song on CD or 12 inch record."
Rob got his first residency at Six Degrees (now known as Starlight
Lounge) in San Diego in 2002 and remained the resident DJ on Saturday
nights for over a year. Rob has also been a guest DJ at Bourbon
Street, and has spun at many private pool and house parties. In
addition, Rob has been the DJ and Master of Ceremony for over 100
weddings and commitment ceremonies, including one same sex wedding
shortly before the passage of Proposition 8. Rob has also spent an
extensive amount of time in the DJ booth with Steven Oliveri at Urban
Mo's and hopes to be spinning there soon.
Rob has a passion for music and loves just about every kind of music.
He has a vast wealth of knowledge of various genres of music, but
especially loves High NRG Dance music. "I prefer to play upbeat
dance music with a lot of vocals in them. When people can sing
along to the music, it makes it a lot more fun for them when they are at
a bar or a night club, and keeping the energy up while playing music
that the crowd loves is a top priority for me."
Rob spends an extensive amount of time editing his music using software
on the computer such as Soundforge and Acid. "I prefer to remove
all the drop outs from music to keep the beat going which keeps the
energy level up. Some songs need a lot more work then others, but
I look at every track and ask myself what kind of minor tweaks can be
made to the song before burning it to a CD to play at my gigs."
When Rob is not
spending time with his music he enjoys spending time with his dog, an 8
year old golden retriever named Stoli. He also enjoys spending time at
the beach, traveling, cooking a good meal at home while entertaining
friends, enjoying a nice glass of red wine, and playing tennis.
Rob also works in the Information Technology industry and is passionate
about computers and technology.