Escape Fashion Show DJ: Michael Mirabelli

Michael Mirabelli is the man behind the amazing music from last year’s La Moda Processa fashion show. He has been in the DJ scene for the last five years and although he is only 23 years old, has already had the opportunity of being an international DJ. Mirabelli has DJ’ed at various clubs in Spain and has his mixes played in all parts of the world. He majored in International Studies, Politics and Policy in the Global Economy and in Latin American, Carribean, and Iberian Studies here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He just came back from studying his final semester abroad in Madrid and is getting ready to put together this year’s fashion show mix. Check out our interview with him below!

Q&A:

DJ name?

Michael Anthony/Mr. Mirabelli.

What was your experience like DJing at UW? How did you start?

 -Freshman year, my friend Tom threw a party and he asked me to DJ. I was really nervous because for starters, I was a freshman DJing a sophomore party. Before I had my car, I used to pack all my equipment in my hamper.  I’d throw my dirty clothes out and pack up my mixer, CD tables, studio monitors, cords, an extension cord and my CD’s on top. Then I’d carry that to wherever the party was at 10 o’clock at night.  That first night DJing someone offered to pay me $20 but I realized I didn’t want the money. I would do it for free just for the opportunity of people hearing my music. That became my policy for the rest of my time at UW. I’d do it for the attention and experience, not money.

Where do you get most of your music and what do you do once you have that music?

-Mainly blogs. I subscribe to YouTube channels and a lot have the tracks for you to download. Then I go ahead and make notes in the notebook about what songs go well together. You never know how the crowd will react so you have to be fluid and prepared to switch it up.

What are you currently working on?

-Well, I just returned from studying abroad in Madrid. For now I’m trying to get some contacts and build connections in Chicago to start DJing at clubs there since although I’m from Chicago, I’ve become more established in Madison. I just released a new mix, (check it out HERE), and soon I’ll be working on the mix for the fashion show.

How was DJing overseas different than DJing in the US?

-In the US, I focus more on doing production for myself. I play at house parties and do side projects like the fashion show. House parties are in a way a validation for your passion. You see people dancing, their hands go up, people say oohhhh when they hear their favorite song play. In Madrid, I started out playing a 20 minute set at a bar and it ended up turning into an hour set because people liked what I was playing. Later I had the chance to play 4 or 5 hour sets at clubs. That really made me focus on transitioning the music I played. I did more research because the crowd is a much different crowd than the US. I loved DJing in Madrid. Their style and what they like to hear is more in sync with my personal taste. They’re more interested in hearing a good dance track over hearing stuff they know.

You were our DJ last year. How did you pull together an hour-long mix? What was the process?

-Well, for me at least, I have to have some type of obligation in order to do a project like this. It was a huge opportunity and a big honor to be asked to DJ the show and so I therefore had the obligation to come up with something great. I put in a lot of time, watched videos of previous UW fashion shows. I looked over the models, garments and order of the show. Then I did tons of research. I must have looked at hundreds of songs only to pick about 30 songs for the hour long mix. What took so long was figuring out what song fits with what songs and how to transition it well since good transitions are something I really focus on. I also had to keep the idea throughout the whole project from start to finish. The biggest setback was that all the production and recording was live so if you messed up, which I did a few times mess up, you need to start over. Then you think you’re done and later you find out the tracks are too short during the dress rehearsal. Then you need to find more songs, make it longer and re-record. It definitely came down to the wire. It was finals week and I was working on this. But at the end, I honestly believe those were the best 3 tracks I’ve produced because of all that work, time and obligation that went into it.

What are you most excited about for this upcoming show?

I’m really excited to be a part of it again this year.  I’m also really anxious to see if I can surpass last year’s mixes because I really think they were some of my best work.

Make sure to check out Michael’s latest mix, Plus Ultra as well as his other mixes HERE.

*Thank you very much to CF Style Guru and ESCAPE Model Committe Coordinator Lucy Angel for this interview :)