On Perfectionism

There is a yearly festival organised by students from our school called Les Briques Rouges. In September of 2024 took place the 4th edition of the event. The festival organises multiple tremplins (launchpad in French) throughout the spring leading up to the festival.

The concept is to offer a chance for any DJ to compete – you can send a set and then potentially get to mix at the tremplin. If the crowd of the event votes for you after the event, you might have a chance to play at the festival in September.

Unfortunately, after all the work I put into the student council elections, I had to put DJing on the back burner. There was simply no other choice. That being said, the elections are done, and we had an event last Thursday with bpm at Bistrot St-So (Saint-Sauveur).

I mixed with my good friend, the president of bpm, as the openers for the evening. The room filled up pretty quickly. By 22 o'clock, we were already at around 100 people.

During the preparation for the aforementioned event, the information came out to apply the tremplin – send a 45 to 60-minute set before Tuesday evening. I had almost no inspiration and no means to record a set. Multiple friends said to cook something together because I would regret it otherwise.

I knew they were right, but I had nothing. Eventually Monday, I went to a friend's and decided to throw myself into the deep end. I had two hours to record a set that I was happy with. I did two tries. The first was deleted on the spot; either way, it was not long enough to be sent.

The second version I was happier with, but there were slight mistakes that scraped my ears. The problem was – I had no more time to record again. Well, I could have taken that time, but it would have been off the back of other responsibilities.

So I sent it. Just like that. I did sit on it for about twelve hours before sending. I was in doubt. I listened to it again and again. Especially the parts with the mistakes. But I had to make a choice – either I send it or I do not.

So I sent it. 10 hours later I received a mail which said "[...] vous avez été sélectionné(e) pour ce tremplin ! Félicitations !". I was completely shocked. Something I had been overthinking for so long did the job.

So that's a call-out to You – just send that application. What is there to lose?

This Week's Suggestions:

🎶 Private link to my recorded set:

Have a listen if you care to!

Till next week with more insight on the festival, potentially!