Dennis Ferrer Tech-House DJ Set From The DJ Mag Miami Pool Party

Dennis Ferrer is the New York house maestro who’s made a virtue out of sticking to his principles and following his own path. With his label Objektivity on fire, remixes aplenty on the horizon and regular slots at massive events like Elrow, we talk to Ferrer about protégés, hobbies and bringing back a soulful element to house…
Words: JOE ROBERTSWhen we reach him in his New York studio, Dennis Ferrer is having the cheeriest sounding meltdown we’ve ever heard. “I’m driving myself crazy,” he says on the verge of laughing, his voice constantly hinting at a bubbling energy behind it. Having become a DJ fixture among the streamers and inflatables of Elrow in the last few years, they’ve tasked him with remixing a ’90s classic, Simon Harris’s ‘This Is Serious’. It’s from the era when Ferrer started his ascent, but as he points out, “Classics are hard to remix. Do you do it the new way and do what everyone else is doing? Or do you reach back into your bag of tricks and say, ‘Why don’t I do this house, old Dennis style?’ It’s a battle within myself.” Classic Dennis all the way, we suggest. He is, after all, a man responsible for defining mixes of tracks, like pirate radio staple ‘The Cure And The Cause’ by Fish Go Deep, or his all-guns-blazing take on Blaze & Barbara Tucker’s vocal belter ‘Most Precious Love’. “That’s what everyone’s telling me,” he says, breaking the tension with a chuckle. “Don’t do it like everyone else would do it.”
INDIVIDUAL
Ferrer has made a point of doing it his own way, driving his career to greater heights each time. When he set out in the early ’90s, he was making dreamy techno, ambient and even hard acid under names such as Aurasfere, or as half of Morph alongside Damon Wild. It was in house that he found his groove though, putting out a string of soulful hits from the wandering keys of 2005’s ‘Son Of Raw’ and 2006’s gospel-inspired ‘Church Lady’ to 2010’s ‘Hey Hey’, a global hit that just grew and grew. Since then, he’s moved into techier waters, maintaining his standing amid house music’s most recognisable ambassadors. As this current predicament shows, though, it’s a hot minute since he’s been in the studio - something down to the most prosaic of reasons, a bad back.“You don’t pay me to play your party. You pay me to travel… and hurt myself,” he says, adding his own addendum to the reasoning behind DJ high fees. “It’s a very demanding job,” he goes on, citing damage from years spent in studio and plane seats (“You’re in a tin can smelling everyone’s ass,” he jokes on the flipside to travel’s outward glamorousness). “It puts a demand on you physically,” Ferrer says. “But even more so mentally. You can’t let your mind get defeated. As soon as you start going, ‘Oh woe is me’, that’s the beginning of the end. I’ve been there where I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore’.” The antidote was to remember that he was still doing it out of love. “If I didn’t do this, I wouldn’t know what to do.”It’s not a new issue. When we mention interviewing Ferrer after a spectacular extended set at DJ Mag’s Miami party in 2010, he remembers it for the wrong reasons. The year of Seth Troxler’s ‘Bats’ infamy, filmed at the same party, it was Ferrer instead who appeared funny and engaging, if a little refreshed, in his own interview, and who was accused of being on drugs in KZbin’s comments. It was, he says, because his back pain was so bad he’d had to take three OxyContin painkillers to even perform. “To combat the nerves, I downed two gin and tonics before I started playing,” Ferrer says. “When it all hit, I was flying like a kite, bro. Then we did the interview!”
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[@DJMag]

Thanks for watching! Let us know what you think below and be sure to subscribe 👉bit.ly/1Une01T

[@FRANTRAKA26]

More top

[@russmills1702]

Got to love Dennis “dub echo” Ferrer.... 👏👏👏

[@sukavayne-flores7822]

Yes serving it up like always

[@IanDJcolorado]

Man, Dennis is fun to watch

[@laranelson2673]

He sure is 🔥🔥🔥

[@cocacola50]

Congrats Dennis, best MmW 's best video since !

[@annettenorris412]

Thank you❤✌🏾✊🏾

[@ticiamusic]

This was amazing! I couldn't stop dancing it was so hot too that day! Amazing party. Loved his set! I fan girled so hard and told him he's amazing as he was leaving ....haha

[@Ronnie06spartan]

Nice! Happy MMW/WMC, everyone!

[@MrYuvrajssingh]

Great tracks no doubt nice set

[@jonathanbassett3816]

Yeah man. Bangin' 😎

[@jptimbo5040]

Très très chaleur Dennis!!!!!!!!

[@DANSWERdj]

Tremendo 🙌 🔝 💣

[@laranelson2673]

Props to the two dancers in purple shirt and backpack up front left side facing stage; feeling it proper 😎😎💯

[@laranelson2673]

Damn son 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@nice95gle]

I miss the old Dennis Ferrer. From the days of "How do I Let Go" and "Touched The Sky".

[@OGGOAT23]

Nice jersey 23 GOAT 💪🤠🤳

[@LaszloMag]

Where's the pool? Came here for all da babes! :p In all seriousness - Dennis seems to be having just as much fun behind the decks as 15 years ago - gotta love it!

[@thelasthourgetready]

id like to see him go back and do a soulful house/real house music set

[@kvs1031]

11:20 mix is on fire.

[@HugoFdosSantos]

TECH HOUSE win's! 01 00:00 ⭐02 04:07 Unorthodox ft. Eda Eren - Rock My Body 03 08:49 04 11:19 Phil Weeks - Encore 05 16:27 Flash '89 - Hot Spell 06 21:57 Nathan Barato & Djeuhdjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson - A Sun's Dream 07 25:46 Simon Harris ft Morrison - This Is Serious (Dennis Cruz Remix) 08 32:14 Di Chiara Brothers - We Haven't Time 09 37:44 YINGYANG & REN PHILLIPS - AAA 10 43:04 11 48:32 Gettoblaster & DJ Funk - Get Dat 12 52:43 Nathan Barato, Room 303 - She's A Rockstar 13 58:03 BeBe Winans - Thank You (Masters At Work 12'' Version) ⭐ with help: Moi Mele

[@cocacola50]

RiTe!

[@88layts]

Need that 4 min track holy shit weapon

[@moimele1981]

4.07 Unorthodox ft Eda Eren - rock my body

[@88layts]

@@moimele1981 legend

[@DJMag]

Great job 👏

[@Johno2k96]

A rare DJ that actually looks like he's enjoying himself

[@thelasthourgetready]

Johno2k96 hes also a rare producer that actually looks like he enjoys producing.

[@juliescheencosta6595]

perfect beat Dennis! as always :DDD hay Dj mejor??

[@misskitchen1933]

more lives Dennis :) ... do it from your living room :)

[@michimuzik2301]

i see me :)

[@foreleftyall]

cool to see Jerry Garcia slim, trim and having a great time in the booth

[@siostel]

Di Chiara Brothers - We Haven't Time 33:00 boom track...

[@Moskalus]

yuuup

[@urmasurda132]

Where is the crowd? But good set

[@jafoconnor9667]

First track

[@laranelson2673]

Why Dennis have to bring the fire and be the best dancer to it too? Get moving people , Mr. Ferrer shouldn’t have to do all the werk. But he does own it super fine. 🔥💯👌

[@chrisgatz3048]

I don't know how there's some DJ's out there that don't dance to their own sets. I Know I have to

[@timpoort]

38:36 Fisher gone fishing loool

[@richardmurgan6748]

😮

[@dennisparker7429]

First track ?

[@armandoaguilar5044]

hi somebody knows the name of the song in the minute 40:00 ?

[@theacidhouse123]

33.00 heavy tune 🙌,any one track id 🙏

[@cr98-]

Thought Kerri Chandler shaved his head for a second lol

[@danielking345]

anyone got that tune at 22:00?? absolute groover

[@danielking345]

@@guri69mk2 legend

[@gianniskor6872]

Track that starts at 4:30 OMG !! Does anybody know it ?

[@mixervajbs9074]

Flojd Covic - Shining Crew (Original Mix) will be online in 2-3 days on Yt

[@moimele1981]

Seems to be Unorthodox Ft Eda Eren - Rock my Body

[@carlosamtz2037]

ID Minute 45?

[@tracklist5085]

Tracklist: track-list.com/playlist/dennis-ferrer-miami-music-week-2019-dj-mag-pool-party-27-03-2019/

[@johncouldridge7941]

Opening track ID anyone?

[@mjamusicswitzerland]

👍🇨🇭🎧😉🎶

[@alextmax30]

awsome 34.00 TRACK ID ??

[@b_cr8ive]

4:07 " I forgot my Ferrari" . . .

[@alessandromancinelli8590]

Track 25 minuti?

[@JForJack]

the first track? ANYONE?

[@xristosvagenas2582]

TENNAN-MADRUNK

[@LuizfSchatz]

trackid 45:00 any? booomb

[@fennec7906]

Yeah, I was hoping to find that ID too. Tried 3 different music identifier apps and it doesn't come up with anything.

[@kostas3621]

Nasser Baker - Shake It Shake It Just got out on beatport enjoy !!

[@chrisgatz3048]

10:24 id?

[@chrisdiaz9701]

I neeeed need need track ID 45:00

[@luanschemberg3529]

me 2

[@Johno2k96]

Me 3

[@bryanrohe5292]

shake it shake it nb's flatline mix nasser baker

[@TheHACSA]

06 21:57 DjeuhDjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson - Soleil au réveil

[@sobieski902]

Unfortunately its more "Nathan barato, DjeuhDjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson - A Suns Dream" dropped friday on Hot Creations

[@LeonElRay]

the background people maybe got the wrong pills!

[@boxingmafia1435]

Denis definitely didn't ... 10:55 haha

[@laranelson2673]

lol for real get moving people there’s a fire up in here 🔥🔥🔥

[@carlosamtz2037]

Minute 19:00?

[@luanschemberg3529]

44:10 track id?

[@bryanrohe5292]

shake it shake it nb's flatline mix nasser baker

[@seriousnewsnetwork2707]

A lot of females in this crowd !!

[@NoDDinOuTMeLoDy]

Didn’t like this set one bit

[@mongezixaba7711]

This was not his best day at work. Just noise, house for junkies. He's a legend for heavens sake. He produces better tracks than this garbage set.

[@apunahasapimapetilon1050]

@@mongezixaba7711 i think dennis dissagrees with u. He dances and sings along :)

[@amourfinity]

Look at how he's jammin to it. Real house lovers don't discriminate what type it is. This set is lit.

[@mongezixaba7711]

This is not my type of house. He's own productions are 100 times better than this trash set.

[@seriousnewsnetwork2707]

A lot of females in this crowd !!