What:
The premier DJ school in the mid-Atlantic region, The Beat Refinery, is expanding to McLean, Virginia! Since the first Beat Refinery opened in 2010, classes have been dedicated to teaching every aspect of DJing, combining traditional methods with the latest technology. Individual classes are taught by local working DJ legends, including veterans of the national DJ club scene DJ Stylus Chris and DJ Geometrix.

“If you love music and technology, this is something you should try.” says Katie F., Beat Refinery student. DJ and former Beat Refinery student Ross A. says “Whether you’ve played for hundreds of people or haven’t dropped a needle for the first time yet… the Beat Refinery can certainly teach you something.”

An Open House Party to celebrate the launch of the McLean school is on Wednesday, February 29, from 6-8 PM. This new location will be headed up by the world-famous DJ Enferno – Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour DJ, DMC World Vice Champion, veteran club DJ, production guru, and creator of the Live Remix Project. “Being in the same DJ crew with DJ Enferno and being good friends with him for the past 15 years, I’ve had the pleasure of learning most of the things I know about DJing from one of the best in the industry,” says DJ Geometrix, co-founder and director of the Beat Refinery. “I credit him as one of my influences in becoming an overall great DJ and if it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have made the jump in becoming a professional DJ. I’m excited that he’s joining the Beat Refinery family and I can’t wait for him to share to our students the same wisdom and knowledge he’s given me throughout my career.”

The Beat Refinery offers a wide range of class levels, from novice to seasoned performer. Classes focus on skill sets including how to beat match, scratch, drop mix, create mash-ups, mix and blend, record multi-track mixes, and produce. The facility is stocked with some of the industry’s top turntables and mixers. Other Beat Refinery schools are located in Bethesda, MD, and Herndon, VA. The new semester of classes starts Monday, March 5, 2012, at all Beat Refinery locations.

Where:
Bach to Rock, 1440 Emerson Avenue, McLean, VA, 22101

When:
Open House Party: Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 6-8 PM

Official School Opening: Monday, March 5, 2012

Your coverage is invited. Please RSVP to Kim Venetz at 877-434-BEAT.
For more information, please visit Beatrefinery.com.

It’s easy to envy DJs, who get paid to work crowds into sweaty, dancing throngs. But breaking into DJing has long required roughly the same process as becoming a kung fu fighter in the movies: To learn the way of the DJ, you’d have to find a learned master of the ones and twos, and hope he or she would teach you something.

Enter the Beat Refinery.

At the DJ school, which opened last year at Bach to Rock (B2R) music school, working club DJs are the teachers — Chris Stiles (a.k.a. DJ Stylus Chris) and Brian Sadiarin (better known as DJ Geometrix) oversee the two schools in Bethesda and Herndon. No need to stalk them in a crowded club for a lesson; you simply sign up.

A few weeks ago, I found myself at the Beat Refinery, in the first session of its four-week Intro to DJing class. With the swiftness of one Speedy Gonzales, Artit Sriboonruang (DJ As-One) efficiently ran through the basics of DJing — and DJing, according to Beat Refinery founders, means learning the much-used DJ software Serato Scratch Live. Thirty minutes later, our teacher had shooed us to the turntables.

Were we ready? Not really, but it was moments before Sriboonruang, a nationally ranked battle DJ, was by my side with suggestions.

Kim Venetz, 24, was a shy newcomer to Washington when she signed up for the Beat Refinery as one of its first students; a year later, you might find her at the Georgetown Madewell, Eden, Science Club or on the roof of Public, spinning as DJ Alkimist. When I caught up with her after class, she tells me it clicked for her because “you can learn by doing.”

As my class wound down, I rummaged through my electronic music “crate,” determined to try out my new skills. I picked two songs with roughly the same mellow beat, and listened as Slick Rick’s “La-Di-Da-Di” flowed into my headphones. When I heard my opening, I let the other record fly — in came the opening drum salvo of a Tribe Called Quest’s “Oh My God.” Somehow, it worked: I had managed to mix 10 seconds of a perfectly decent club jam.

Click here to view the original article.