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| Thursday, February 01, 2007 |
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Knob Twiddlin’: Paradis Now
By Image Mag Staff @ 2:00 AM :: 358 Views ::
2 Comments ::  :: Music: Artist Spotlight
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wordplay by orangepeelmoses.com
image by Mark Sink
Marilyn Manson doesn’t scare Scott Paradis. Nedd Ludd, the folkloric figure whose name was appropriated by an early nineteenth century English textile worker protest movement to brand and trumpet their anti-Industrialist antics and agenda (smashing automated weaving machines and even clashing with the British Army), scares the bejesus out of him, though. Actually, Ludd might never have existed in the flesh, but the Luddites, who hijacked his John Hancock to “ghost write” their workers’ manifesto, were unfortunately all too real. Paradis, Information Architect for Denver-based digital music distribution hub Beatport.com (which recently celebrated its third anniversary--at Vinyl, no less), has encountered his share of modern day Luddites or “neo-Luddites,” especially in his line of work. Vinyl purists are the neo-Luddites of Beatport’s domain. Contrary to purist conspiracy theories, though, Beatport isn’t dying to drive the final nail in vinyl’s coffin. The nail gun trigger finger isn’t getting itchy. They’re not trying to ban turntables from clubs, either. And Beatport’s founders definitely aren’t the four horsemen, or even the harbingers of the acetate apocalypse. However, they’ve certainly had a hand in facilitating the future. And the future is something Scott Paradis, for one, has never been afraid of.
Saying that Paradis is a fast learner is an understatement. As a mere teenager, he was a semi-pro snow boarder and inline skater, competing and ranking nationally a short time after being introduced to both.
“I've taught myself how to build electronics (particularly next-generation DJ interfaces), write computer code, compose & produce music, and design, build & market consumer products, all in spans of mere weeks or months.”
Paradis’ DJ career followed a similar trajectory. Less than a year after his debut gig, he already had a club residency on his resume. Scores of bedroom jocks only fantasize about such overnight success. Those jocks don’t have actual patented inventions to their name, though. Paradis does. Raised in the small Colorado mountain town of Montrose, he just may have been one of the first MP3Js in the entire US and A, discovering his first digital audio files in internet relay chat rooms prior to the existence of Napster. Paradis was barely a teenager at the time (14, to be exact). The year was 1997. MP3s were still fairly scarce then, though, so he supplemented his tiny collection with WAV files ripped from CDs, MiniDiscs imported from Japan and MIDI files (think early mobile phone ringtones).
“MP3s quickly became the format of choice after I discovered Napster in the fall of 1999.”
DJing with any other format than vinyl was practically sacrilegious back then, but Paradis’ unquenchable thirst for cutting-edge technology would eventually qualify him for his current dream job at Beatport, now the web’s leading dance music-dedicated retailer. And the Church residency void left by former Mile High club DJ Little Mike, now employed by Beatport Berlin, would be a perfect fit for Paradis as well. At 24, he would seem to already have the MP3J world by the short and curlies.
As long as angry mobs don’t come smashing through Beatport brandishing pitchforks in the name of Ned Ludd, Paradis will be in paradise.
Thursdays @ The Church
FastForwardThinker.com
Beatport.com
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| Comments |
 By
Music Lover @
Thursday, February 01, 2007 9:57 AM
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Great review on a great DJ and nicley put about the MP3J
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By
Lindsay @
Sunday, February 04, 2007 10:22 AM
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That's ouR boy Scott!!We Love him!!! (sorry, typo, it's still early)
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