As one of the most successful wedding DJs in Texas, Jaime has quickly established a reputable and trusted name brand when it comes to professional DJ & Event booking services. We caught up with Jaime to learn more about his DJ career over the last 11 years. How long have you been DJing, and how did you get your start? I’ve been DJing for 11 years — When I was 21 years old, I started working in th
e banking industry, around age 23 I bought a laptop and decided to also buy a controller and DJ Software to go along with it just for fun. The controller(mixer) ended up not being compatible with my laptop so I returned it, but the software stayed programmed on my laptop. One summer day I decided to bring a speaker and play music by the pool at the apartments I live at back then, while I was there I had multiple guest come up to me and request my business card and compliment me on my music selection and taste. At that time I didn't know I was a DJ yet haha. One day I decided to reach out to a local popular Tex-Mex restaurant called Taco Diner in las Colinas and ask if I could play some music, as the business man I have always been I promised the manager I would increase his alcohol sales with a live DJ set during happy hour. He agreed to it and there I am, DJin for a happy hour crowd after working a 9-5 at the bank. I doubled his sales from the previous 3 weeks and landed my first DJin gig, from there the customers became regulars and the regulars became my first clients. They would hire me for birthday parties, Halloween, New Year and more. I quickly started taking on every gig I could until becoming a familiar face in the industry and shortly after DJin in the night life scene. So I guess you can say I’m a wedding/club DJ? How did you choose your DJ name? This goes back to the start of my banking career. Being that I was a banker at the time when I started to DJ, I worked just a few blocks away from the restaurant I first started to DJ at. On several occasions I would have customers recognize me from the bank "Hey its the guy from the bank" one day someone came up to me and said "hey DJ Bank" so right then and there It occurred to me to go with the alias DJ Bank. Being proud of my latin roots I decided to incorporate the Spanish in the name and go by "DJ BANCO." I can proudly say that 15 years later I continue in the financial and banking industry till this day. What are the differences in how a wedding DJ programs and performs as opposed to a club DJ? Weddings have a way more diverse crowd in terms of age compared to clubs. As a result, Wedding DJs have to play a larger variety of music and program it in a way that will keep everyone on the dance floor. Wedding DJs have to have an extremely BIG Bank of music. Every wedding crowd is different, so playing the same club songs each weekend isn’t really an option. What has your experience been like in building your DJ library throughout the years? My love for music started very young and it was definitly influenced by the many cultures in my surroundings. I was born in Chihuahua, Mex. where musica Nortena, Cumbia, Banda, musica regional Mexicana is most popular. I was raised in a small town of Krum, TX through elementary where I was at the time one of the very few hispanic kids, so I got introduced to country, alternative, and rock through my friends. I would Jam such artist as Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, RHCP, Blink 182, U2, Incubus, Third eye Blind and NIN. In junior high and high school I grew up in Sanger and Denton TX, this is where I started to get more into the Hip-Hop/Rap culture with artist such as Juvenile, Snoop Dog, 2 Pac, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Ice Cube, Too Short, Cypress Hill, Dr. Dre, Outkast, Eminem, Kanye West, Luda, 50cent, Yang-Yang Twins, Nelly, Lil Wayne and too many other great ones. My senior year is when I developed the love I will forever have for EDM, House, and Electronic music. Tiesto is at the top of that list of artist who inspired me, ATB, Benny Bennassi, Fatboy Slim, Darude, Kaskade, Deadmau5, Armin van Buuren and so many more legends. I do have to give a special shout out to Porter Robinson as he was using the same Controller as I was and to see him perform live for hundreds really inspired me. Skrillex and Avicii will also be some of my other major influencers that their skills and talent is unmatched. I could really go on with this topic haha. when it comes to mixing and turntables I would put A-Trak on that list. I spent the last 15 years collecting tracks, from many of the DJs I have worked with and even internationally from DJs in multiple countries. I can easily say I have a collection of over 400 days of music without playing the same song twice, the is truly why they call me DJ Banco, my bank of music.. What can we expect to see in the playlists you’ve curated for you customers? Everything. It’s hard to put into words the amount of blood, sweat, and tears I put into these playlists. I spent half my life working on them, and I can assure you they are incredibly valuable to any DJ at any experience level. What advice can you offer to young DJs getting aspiring to become a “working DJ”?
1. It’s cliche, but one day you’re going to get an opportunity to DJ somewhere, and you have to be ready. And when these opportunities start rolling in, prepare your ass off!
2. Invest in professional grade equipment, the sound, look, reliability, and equipment life of buying quality equipment is crucial to being able to deliver and offer true quality level of service to your customers. There’s nothing worse than having cheap equipment fail you during your a night of finally getting on that big stage you have dreamed of or having something not work during your clients big wedding day. Your name, business, reputation and reviews are on the line so don't be cheap and do it bancostyle..
