Article: Loo Yeo talks about PerfectPitch

When did PerfectPitch start?
The system we now call PerfectPitch began in '98. I began classifying music then and the categories have hardly changed since. At that time it didn't seem like a lot of work, I only had about 70 or so albums.

Why did you did you start doing it? Did you have too much spare time?
I was being asked to do much more DJing because salsa in the UK had suddenly become very trendy and there was a huge jump in interest. I didn't want to carry all my originals around; a friend of mine Marcus had recently had a folder of 200 albums stolen one night. So I used CDRs, with cards of the track listings. While I was designing the labels, I decided to put on extra details that would make DJing easier.

So you did it for yourself really?
Yes. Well, at first anyway. Then the profile of the society and teachers group shot up and everyone wanted a piece of the action, especially at the University. From the stuff we'd organised before, I knew that we'd have to train up our own DJs to support our events, so I looked at my system to see if it could be used to do it.

And did it?
Yes. I was a little surprised and very pleased that it worked straight off without adjustments. You're thinking 'how did I test it', right? Simple. I got some teachers in front of the decks, told them how the system worked, a little theory about DJing, and told them to play with it. We tried it out in my kitchen before going live.

Wow, that's impressive. And they DJ now?
Some of them do, some of them don't. Despite the safety net of PP, some still feel daunted by the prospect. Others prefer to dance instead of staying behind the decks.

And what about you?
I like doing both. I still enjoy my dancing, but I only do simple stuff nowadays. I suppose I've grown out of doing the fancy moves and have gone back to basics. I enjoy DJing as well, especially in Saboroso. It's got a nice easy-going crowd and great atmosphere. I teach a lot on Sundays and sometimes I don't feel like dancing, so I ask to play the music instead.

Getting back to PP, can anyone become a good DJ?
Nothing beats knowing your music and your audience. Nothing. DJing is more than just playing songs, it's understanding how to thread them together to generate energy, atmosphere and a responsive and receptive audience. And that's where PP falls short. It rates individual songs, but can't account for the connectivity of music… yet.

Then how does a person make the leap from PP user to DJ?
How good do you want to be? Nothing beats experience, but there are lots of things you can do to make yourself better. First is being what Paul Austerlitz calls being a "participant observer", being a dancer helps you understand what dancers want. And reading books about the background of artists, the music, stuff like that. If you want to go the whole hog, then play some instruments; a little percussion at least.

That's a bit extreme isn't it?
I suppose so. I was curious about the different rhythm types and wanted to find out why some songs went together better than others. Studying rhythm helped me do that. And cueing the songs became a lot easier.

When did it go online?
It's been going up in drips and drabs for more than a year now. Selecting the samples by hand is laborious. It took several months to do nearly 3000 tracks. Adi's [web programmer] been working on the search engine just as long. Since both of us work full time, it's hard to set aside the time sometimes. It's a real labour of love. It has to be.

Why make it publicly available? Aren't you giving away your advantage?
I'll answer your last question first. Our advantage isn't in having any particular system, it's in our ability to create and develop new systems. And making PerfectPitch public wasn't a difficult decision; the advantages far outweighed the disadvantages. I've always believed that stuff on our site should be timeless and useful. PP is both.

I've been to so many clubs and it doesn't matter whether the club's in Leeds, London, Manchester, where the music's always the same. And if you go to the same place twice, the playlist hardly changes. Many DJs, even successful ones get settled in a comfort zone. I know it's difficult to keep things fresh, especially when you're working unsociable hours, but at least they could try a bit harder. It's pretty damning when you go to a night with a "top" DJ and can predict what he's going to play next. I've also been to places where music was played by people who billed themselves as DJs just because they owned Latin music, not because they understood it.

I thought that by making PP available it would level the playing field a little. You know, encourage more people to try their hand in the industry and make the rest of us professionals work harder for a living. And run the ones who don't try out of business.

Aren't you sticking your neck out a bit?
Yeah, I'm sure if PP works the way I'd like it to, it's going to make a few people unhappy. But on the upside, dancers get a better night. What's wrong with that?

And is PerfectPitch just a DJing tool?
When it started out, I though of it as that. But I've used it for so many other things like teaching, and it has helped so many people that I think of it as more than that now. It's a versatile means of choosing and understanding music.

STC EnClave 20th February 2002