The ability of a DJ to understand an audience can make or break an event. Whether playing music at a River North night club, the opening of the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue or the United Center arena packed with tens of thousands of cheering fans, a live DJ must know how to command a room and speak to every person in the crowd using music, a “universal language that everyone can understand,” said Jay Ejercito, aka DJ JayFunk. CaSera Heining, who goes by DJ Ca$h Era, says being a disc jockey is essentially an exchange of energy. “As much as I’m providing people energy with the music that I’m giving them, my transitions, etcetera, I’m feeding off the energy that they’re giving back to me,” she said about how she finds the right music for the right moment. “I’m hearing the crowd singing. I’m watching them dance. I’m seeing all of that in real time, and that’s how I’m able to find the pockets.” Heining, who was born in the city and raised in the suburbs, has been a DJ for 11 years. Like many DJs, she has run the gamut, having played music at festivals, nightclubs, lounges, Chicago Park District events and corporate events. Heining said she has also played for Northwestern University’s men’s football and basketball games, at Chicago’s Pride Parade for the past few years, for the Michigan Avenue Apple Store’s opening and even performed at the Nike World Headquarters in Oregon. Every gig is different, Heining said, and the music is dependent on the style and purpose of the event. “Not every gig is meant to have people up and dancing the whole time,” Heining said, “Sometimes you are just there to curate the vibes. Whether people are mingling or sitting down to eat, you need to keep the vibes going.” Something that doesn’t really affect her set, she said, is crowd size because Heining said she will “play like the room is packed with 20,000 people and make sure everybody is having a good time” regardless. The Chicago Bulls’ DJs are used to mashing up the hottest hits for fans full to the brim at the United Center. Vince Garcia, known as DJ Flipside, said he can mix a Motown track with an EDM track to bring together multiple generations of Bulls fans. He said playing Chicago house music, such as Cajmere’s “Percolator,” and incorporating songs from Chicago artists is an opportunity for him to support the city and make the “whole arena erupt.” Garcia has been DJing for the Bulls along with other gigs such as radio and private events, for about 10 years. He works with Ejercito, Mark Erpelo, who is known as DJ Marquee, and Christian Matta, aka DJ Metro. All of those Bulls DJs said they also work with the White Sox and Northwestern mens basketball program. Matta said playing the music for a game is akin to telling a story because every game has a beginning, middle, climax and ending, with songs to go along with each part. DJs have to “be on their toes” the entire game and be ready with the right beats at the right times, he said. “I truly feel DJing is like a misunderstood psychology job,” Matta said. “The experience of having a really good DJ who understands different generations, different trends from different times, all the demographics, and can then bring everybody together with a few songs and do it in a way that’s super fluid, that’s the real fun.” Vince Garcia, known professionally as DJ Flipside, works a set of Chicago Bulls-branded DJ turntables prior to a basketball game between the Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks at the United Center on Dec. 28, 2024. (Talia Sprague/for the Chicago Tribune) He enjoys playing Hispanic music, he said, because it’s a surefire way of getting a crowd hyped. A track such as “Pepas” by Farruko, for example, can get almost anyone going with its recognizable beats, he said. Michelle McComas is executive director of entertainment and events for the Chicago Bulls and oversees the programming of the Bulls games and team events. She said the DJs are the “primary source for driving the energy in the building and creating home court advantage for our basketball team.” “Their job is to read the room and curate the music and then make adjustments to really influence and amplify the energy during a game,” McComas said. Erpelo sees DJs as an extension of the crowd because they are trying to represent how the crowd feels at any given time. “We’re there for all the moments that go our way and even the ones that don’t,” Erpelo said, referring to when the team may be down during a game. “Ultimately, we have to be prepared either way.” Heining never pre-plans a set, she said. For any event she is working, she likes to arrive early and walk through the crowd to get a sense of who is there. Then it comes down to feeling the energy in the room in real time, she said. “It’s almost like trial and error: seeing what songs are sticking and what songs aren’t,” Heining said. Mark Erpelo, known professionally as DJ Marquee, works in the United Center Concert Club prior to a Chicago Bulls basketball game on Dec. 28, 2024. (Talia Sprague/for the Chicago Tribune) Joseph Ejercito, known professionally as DJ JayFunk, works a turntable during a rehearsal prior to a Chicago Bulls basketball game at the United Center on Dec. 28, 2024. (Talia Sprague/for the Chicago Tribune) Martee Williams, who goes by DJ Martee McFly, has been playing in various capacities around Chicago for about five years and is also the full-time DJ for the Green Bay Packers. He said all DJs have their own way of reading a crowd and playing music accordingly, which is one of the “biggest” benefits of having a live DJ at an event as opposed to using a pre-made playlist. “A playlist is a little more stale and might not fit the vibe of what is actually needed in terms of an energy boost or the different moments throughout an event,” Williams said. “DJs are reading the full breadth of the event, bringing the energy that fits and ultimately creating an atmosphere that suits everyone.” For McComas, DJs are far superior to “pressing play on a Spotify playlist” because of their ability to improvise and because the technology they use to play music at a certain timestamp can catch specific beats rather than having every song start from the beginning, she said, which does not have the same impact. Christian Matta, known as DJ Metro, works a turntable during a Chicago Bulls game at the United Center on Dec. 28, 2024. (Talia Sprague/for the Chicago Tribune) Williams said some of his go-to artists for lifting a room are Chappell Roan, GloRilla, Childish Gambino and Tyler, the Creator. Heining looks to social media, such as Tiktok, to see what songs, styles and genres are trending, and incorporates those into her set. She tries not to let her own taste influence her set because “it’s not about me or what I want to hear; I’m there for the crowd.” Her favorite part about DJing is creating moments for people, she said. “Every gig I do, I never know who’s walking in the door and what they’ve gone through before walking in or what their life is like once they leave that event,” Heining said. “But for the amount of time I’m in that space with them, however long that may be, we get to create these memories that can last a lifetime.”