The Job-Hunter’s Guide to Ibiza July 9, 2008

Arranging to take off from work to spend a few weeks in Ibiza might be hard but once you get there and fall in lust, leaving is even harder. So you can either fly back home, get back to work, and mope around for a few days, or you can find a job on the White Isle and extend your stay, which seems to be a popular alternative.

Of course, you’re not the only one looking for work on the isle and finding a job in a competitive market can be very challenging. Perhaps most difficult, though, is simply knowing what’s out there. It’s a very personal mission to ask around, make connections, and keep yourself informed but here’s a guide to several Ibiza employment options to help you along the way.

Bartender – Ibiza has a ton of bars. Of course they all need bartenders! But keep in mind that bartending is a popular first stop for other job-hunters, too. Bartending positions can be competitive so don’t be shy when searching for employment – ask for applications everywhere. Once you do get the job, you’ll realize it’s not as easy as it looks, either. As a bartender, you’ll need to work quickly and be confident, outgoing, and enthusiastic (even during those painfully late shifts). At the same time, though, you’ll get to work in friendly environments, meet a lot of people, make around €350 a week, and get great tips – which is where most of your salary will be coming from.

Waitress – If you don’t mind being on your feet all day, waitressing can be a very enjoyable experience – you get free meals and meet a lot of people on the job – but it also requires organization, courteousness, strong smiling muscles, and of course . . . balance! Usual pay is approximately €5.50 per hour and work hours can run up to ten hours, six days a week. Waitressing, like bartending, is a popular target employment so make sure to apply to at least several restaurants and not let rejection get to you.

Public Relations – Another option for people with good interpersonal skills is PR. PR representatives work for a specific club or bar and promote by handing out fliers and talking to customers. Long hours can sometimes be tiring since you’re on your feet but you get free club passes and drinks – when you’re not busy working, that is. Pay is usually around €160-€300 a week and you didn’t hear it from us, but some say it’s better to lie about how inexperienced you are if you’re new to the job.

Driver –DJs always need to be chauffeured to and from hotels, clubs, and airports and you could be the one making a business out of it (usually about €30 per ride). The one attribute vital for employment as a driver is consistent reliability. Drivers are often required to work early mornings or late nights. One former chauffeur reminds, “you don’t finish till the club does”. On the plus side, though, you do get to spend a lot of intimate time with talented DJs and musicians.

Dancer – Dancers are usually hired to promote clubs by dancing at parties and in parades. The job is no doubt a fun one but it takes a lot of physical endurance – sometimes at difficult hours – and pay is usually around €50-€70 a shift. A warning to aspiring dancers: clubbers can often be very sleazy and try to grind and grab at dancers so make sure that’s something you can handle. A positive tip, though: if you get a job at Manumission, take it. Once experienced club dancer calls it “the ultimate prestige job for an Ibiza dancer”.

Record Plugger – Record pluggers deliver new music to bars and clubs and collect and document DJ reactions. You get paid per record (usually around €50) and in commissions so in order to make money, you really have to find a lot of work. But if you do, you get to meet a lot of celebrity DJs and listen to cool, new music. To become a record plugger, you really just need to be in the right place at the right time. You can start by asking around and talking to everyone and anyone, though. That usually gets you half way there.

Photographer – For the more artistically inclined, photography is a great employment – you get free admission to events, usually work two to four-hour shifts, and can make €350-€450 a week. But it’s not the easiest pay to make. You only get paid if your photos sell so hard work and good promotional and entrepreneurial skills are a must.

Podcaster – Writing and producing podcasts can be a good steady job once a bar or club agrees to sponsor your show but pitching your idea can be a tough process and like many other jobs on the island, requires a lot of persistence and confidence. Podcasters need to do a lot of research – which can be as social as sitting in the DJ box or as lonely as surfing the web – and make about €100 per show. If you like researching, work well on your own, and want to manage your own hours, podcasting might be worth looking into.

Freelance Writer – Freelance writers can write for magazines, websites, newspaper, and really any other type of media but like podcasters, have to be persistent in searching for work. Freelance writers should also possess good journalism skills – that means knowing what people are going to want to hear and how to get information about it. As a freelance writer, you make your own schedule, get paid per piece, and can make the job as social or anti-social as you wish. Freelance writing, podcasting, and photography are alike in that they are good options for creative people who can manage their time well and don’t need the security of a steady paycheck.

Not every job is right for everyone but if you’re outgoing, confident, and like to be around a party-heavy culture (and why else would you be in Ibiza) you’re bound to find something. Read more about working on Ibiza at Ibiza-voice.com.

Happy hunting!

Look – No Hands! June 27, 2008

If Wiijaying was a sore subject for fans of good old turntables, I wonder how they will react to this –

Omer Yosha, an Interface Design student at the FH Potsdam has designed a new polyphonic MIDI controlling device, he calls the “AirPiano,” that enables DJs to spin without touching a thing. The new technology uses infrared sensors that can be programmed to link to a variety of music applications.

Here’s how it works: the AirPiano is controlled through a virtual matrix in the air above it. Each key and fader in the virtual matrix is assigned a note or controller, channel, and velocity via the USB-connected AirPiano software. When a key or fader is triggered (by waving one’s hand over the infrared sensors), an LED beneath the AirPiano’s surface illuminates and the note is played.

Not only is the AirPiano impressively practical, though. Its sleek, narrow frame makes us think it may very well become an alternative to rolling around a closet-full of equipment.

And this technology may indeed have a promising future. “The AirPiano is . . . only one example of an application that could adopt this concept,” says Omer. That’s right, think AirOrchestra. Omer describes the AirPiano as “useful for DJ performance, as a music therapy instrument, or as a toy.”

The product definitely seems to be versatile but one thing is for sure – it seems like the most complicated toy we have ever seen.

Read more about the Airpiano at CreateDigitalMusic.com.

Dubspot Take 2 June 26, 2008

It can be a difficult thing to keep your tech skills on par with your creative vision. Without the luxury of a studio engineer to bail you out when the going gets technical, most producers can find themselves at one point or another in a stump.

Dan Giove, founder of music production school Dubspot knows that pain. A DJ himself, Giove sought an institution that could further his passion for electronic music with a comprehensive education in studio production. Left frustrated with the shortcomings of the market, Giove decided to take matters into his own hands and start a school of his own.

“I’ve always wanted to make music,” says Giove, “and I just couldn’t find anywhere to go. I stumbled upon an empty office on Fourteenth Street and thought I would build a studio and learn from just being there. The studio turned into classes and the classes turned into DJing and Production school. Before long, there was really nothing else like it in New York.”

Located in the Meatpacking District on the West Side of Manhattan, Dubspot has a mission of building a community of novices, experts, and everywhere in between who share a common love for music and a desire to further educate themselves in the processes of its production. Giove designs its programs to fit the needs of students with all kinds of musical backgrounds, ranging from experienced disc jockeys to those who have never touched a turntable. Classes offered include DJ tutorials, Electronic Music Production intensives, and weekend workshops that teach students how to get started with Ableton, Reason, Logic and more. In Dubspot’s summer youth programming, kids can also learn to mix and scratch and now, with Dubspot’s corporate team-building event service, you and your coworkers can even play DJ for the day. (Who knows, it may open up some new career paths.)

Despite its popularity with students, Dubspot still manages to provide personalized instruction to each and it’s no secret how. Giove works with his team to establish the ideal blend of hands-on experience and instructional supervision at every level. With its top-caliber facilities and diverse, knowledgeable staff, it has just the tools to do so. Instructors represent musical and educational talent across the board including professional DJs, studio engineers, product specialists, instrumentalists, software experts, and on occasion professional guest speakers, all passionate about the creation of music.

At Dubspot, students are the teachers as well, though. “In the classroom environment, students are constantly interacting,” Giove says, “which means they are constantly sharing ideas. There are students who come to learn hip-hop and then decide to go a completely different direction because of the guy behind them, who is working on techno.”

In addition to receiving expert coaching, students are given the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art music equipment as used today by the industry’s pros. The school boasts an impressive studio and mastering facility, DJ stations and student workstations, in which the latest of hardware and software is made available to all.

Although the school’s facilities are an imposing sight, though, its classes are not. Classes are capped at a maximum of six students to make certain each student receives the personal attention they necessitate.

Sound good? It is – we know because we went to the school to check out one of the classes ourselves. We sat in our the Ableton introductory class where instructor Heinrich Zwalen, a veteran of Live since its early versions, took the class through the software’s basic functionality, through to the more advanced topics, like various ways to go about tackling a remix, and the foundations of any production. The class is structured with 2-30 mins of instruction followed by 10 minutes of hands on, allowing the students to put into practice what they had just learned. Students are encouraged to ask any questions and also interact with each other through out the training. ? The students we spoke with at the end of the two day training class (6pm to 9pm, Saturday and Sunday evening) all spoke highly of the class and the education they had just received.

Dubspot has surely conquered some undiscovered territories, to say the least, but Giove sees the company as ever growing: “There’s still so much for us to do here in New York. People come to Dubspot from all around the world – it’s an international community for music-lovers. We just want to get more artists and keep building the community we started.”

With the varied assortment of classes, teachers, and students at Dubspot, everyone interested in music is sure to find their fit. Go experience Dubspot for yourself during their open house this Sunday from 12pm-2pm located at 348 West 14th Street, New York City.

Read this again.