Pioneer DJ Battle 2007 @ Maison

By Kevin Yeoh  •  in Reports
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Text David Chin
Images Spiel

It’s not about the size of your tool, it’s how you use it. Pioneer comes up with killer tech, like their sought-after turntables and mixers, but without some deft hands to turn those tables, it’s just pretty machinery. Hence, Pioneer’s constant search for talent to put their tech in good hands.

Their annual DJ Battle is where they dig up DJs waiting to be discovered. 5 finalists each, picked from 50 hopefuls, in 2 categories, the Mega Mix and Long Mix contestants were given 10 minutes and 20 minutes respectively to show off their skills. All they had to do was impress the picky crowd with a penchant for the hard stuff as well as scrutinising judges and Pioneer suits watching from Maison’s rafters. No pressure.

The contestants dropped the usual house-tech or hip hop mixes and pulled enough skills on those turntables to keep the crowd happy. Champions DJ Layzr (Mega Mix) and Mic Ho (Long Mix) deservedly took home a grand in cash, 2 Pioneer Digital Vinyl Turntables (CDJ-800Mk2) and a Pioneer 4 channel Mixers (DJM-700) each. We could fault nothing, but we can only hope that the contest might just unearth the next thing that’ll change the face of KL clubbing. Layzr and Mic Ho go on to represent Malaysia at the Asian Pioneer DJ Battle in Thailand. Meanwhile the scene here goes on, status quo untouched.

The Pioneer DJ Battle 2007 face-off went down on 14 December at Maison. For info, log onto www.pioneermalaysia.com.my. This report was published in the February 2008 issue of JUICE.