The “Dope-o-meter” – how DJs rate their tracks

The “Dope-o-meter” – how DJs rate their tracks

2 July, 2008 | 9.44AM

• Section: Music News Topics: Beatport Blog, DJ Gossip, Ibiza
• Written by: The Last Real DJ Alive

We noticed top Ibiza DJ Sandy Rivera at Pacha on Tuesday using a special code to rate his tunes.

As you can see on the picture, he uses a “Dope-o-meter” with “tick” variables, where five ticks means outstanding, and one tick means filler.

Every DJ is a creative individual, and I think we can all relate to Sandy’s unique way of rating tunes.

DJs love tagging graffiti on white labels and CDs.

Looking at the colours and styles DJs use when naming tunes gives us a good idea about their personalities.

Sandy’s stuff is all a bit messy, which suggests that he has a hectic lifestyle; barely enough time to scrawl his system down onto paper.

He also uses different colours – black and blue – suggesting that he takes pride in his job, trying to organise things.

As you can see, on tracks one, five and six, Sandy has written the word “dope” followed by varying amounts of ticks.

Sandy obviously loves Steve Lawler tunes, because he gave the King of Space’s song four ticks out of a potential five.

Poor Matt Playferd [sic] only got two-and-a-half out of five!

Track four features the enigmatic words “bassed out voice” - perhaps a DJ acapella?

And finally, number seven is simply described as “COOL”, followed by a funky squiggle.

The last picture shows the pen that Sandy takes around with him everywhere on his musical travels.

Sandy Rivera obviously updates his notes on the fly when he DJs, depending on crowd reactions.

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• Check out Sandy Rivera on Beatport