John Jacobsen - a Catalan of Norwegian descent - is now, after seven years at the helm of the Pacha Sitges turntables, one of the resident DJs at Pacha Ibiza. Having plied his trade in many of the world's most prestigious clubs, taking in NYC, Moscow, Berlin, Milan and Sharm el Sheik along the way, John Jacobsen has more than fifty productions to his name over the last four years on numerous labels including Sony BMG, Warner, Universal Vale Music, and Pacha Recordings. He has also remixed hit records from the likes of Shakira, Bob Marley, Umek, D.O.N.S., and Alejandro Sanz feat. Alicia Keys and his first single on Defected has just hit the stores...

For people who might not know you, please introduce yourself...

I was born in Barcelona in 1981 and I have always been involved in the world of music. Professionally in the last ten years I have worked for various clubs, working in the first Pacha (Pacha SITGES) in the last eight. Right now I work for Pacha in Ibiza, the flagship club which is an honour for me.

As the son of a musician I was given a Casio Tone, and some drums when I was small.  I used to play with the master tapes of my dad in the orchestra.  We also had a Hammond organ in the hall that I played; looking back it was clear to me that these things would lead to a relationship with the musical world.

At an early age I got a friend – who is now my manager – to promote parties. This was when I was 16 and my parents would get up at 5am to take me to the venue, 20 kilometres from my house, incredible! I’ll always remember that season!  Then, little by little the rewards came for what I was doing. I was warming up for known DJs and my early sets were simpler, but 100% made by me!  One day my manager got me a residency at Pacha Sitges, which changed and stabilised my professional life. It was not easy at first, but little by little I began playing better in the club and played for years as the main DJ… After that came my first major national singles and remixes that have paved the way for my career up to this point.

 
You were Pacha resident this year…a lot of people would kill just to play there once, so how does it feel to get to do it all the time?

I am grateful to many people in the company, who have put a lot of faith in me, and I realise that being a resident of the best club in the world is a complete luxury! It’s an honour to be part of the history at this club, and I think Pacha Ibiza has a public following that makes a complete difference to your work as a DJ, you are totally committed. I’m near the booth at Pacha Ibiza so you can see how the great DJs work, you can even see their hands on the CDJs and how they look.  This makes you realise that when you’re in the booth people at the top can see you; this gives you respect and an obligation to do well.

I am very proud to be part of this great team of residents who are all pursuing their own sounds; we are all always ambassadors for Pacha worldwide.  In the Pacha house you cannot sleep, you have to accommodate an increasingly higher level as a DJ in order to gain the maximum possible expansion as an artist. Two years ago I started working for Pacha Ibiza and I never tire of saying thank you to everyone who helped me get into the company, people say that you should depend on yourself and that if you have talent and a vision for the company you want to work for you will get this position, but it wasn’t until last summer and I have the position in the company.  Little by little, working hard is what gets you where you want to be.
 
John Jacobsen

Pacha was the busiest club on the island this year – why do you think it’s been so successful?

I think people are going to Pacha Ibiza because it’s like the Champion’s League of clubs, all the best DJs in the world – and those who will be the best soon – are there. Other clubs have very good artists several days a week, however the line-up this year has been incredible; Swedish House Mafia, Subliminal, David Guetta, Cadenza, Defected… I think these are high-level parties, which blend well with the club and the people; Pacha Ibiza is in very good shape!
 

How long have you been making records and why did you start?

My first job was in 1999, remixes for a local punk band. From then I started to produce, I have done about 60 jobs so far in my career and I am very proud that there is an evolving constant in my jobs, I have so many jobs offered that sometimes I’m stuck finding the time to do them all! The best years have been the past 3 or 4 years, where I have been able to work with music by superstars such as Shakira, Alejandro Sanz, Alicia Keys, and Bob Marley among others. I like that because they are more mature projects and focus on a specific style.  But since I have worked for the label head, Steve at Pacha Recordings he has presented me with many projects, so everything is going well, without Pacha and its platform it would all be more difficult.
 

Tell us about the new track, 'Getting on Down' you’ve made with G-Martinez and Lisa Rudy...

Lisa Rudy is a fantastic and gorgeous English singer who lives in Ibiza that one of my bosses, Danny Whittle recommended to me. The truth is that Danny was right about her voice, it seems born for this song.  She’s a very complete and professional singer, I like her style and I think it’s unlike any other singer, it involves a special energy, and I love Lisa. G-Martinez is a great friend and great producer, he has been one of my engineers for many years and the day we came together to make this project it was clear which way was forward for this song, the version we presented Defected eight months ago was more like a John Dahlback style and has nothing to do with the current version.  I like working with Martinez, he is a peculiar kind of person that comes from many other musical styles such as psych-trance and techno and is completely opposite to me, which makes things come out very differently, for example the Pizzicatto melody.

Lisa Rudy

When we finished the first version we realised that the voice had potential, but we believed that the base didn’t accurately reflect the spirit of Defected, it was more like an underground theme with a house vocal that was 100% Defected.  So I sat with my classmate and good friend from my childhood Anzwer and spoke with him about doing the song in a different way, we gave him a few days before Defected approached us. My boss Danny Whitle sent Simon Dunmore the track, who called us…I was very nervous when I picked up the phone!
 

What hardware/software do you use in your productions?

I’ll describe what we first used for this track, which is more interesting and gives people an insight into how we produced it.  First we did a more tech-house version with Lisa singing, this version will never see the light however, as it is not 100% the Defected sound, it only served as the basis of the vocal after we recorded with Lisa in Ibiza.  We definitely changed the base and did the track differently, as it is now.  For the base we mixed loops from Defected’s back catalogue and a drum kit triggered by Battery3.  The piano melodies are Nexus but the main melody is Predator. The dynamic process for the final sound is a fairly elaborate process; all tracks are compressed and carefully equalized and touched up so that the frequencies do not fight within the spectrum.  Anzwer is addicted to good sound and each day brought something new to improve the sound, he’s a freak! We liked working on this second draft with the help of the company to help us focus and refine.  Mixing and mastering was all done by Defected engineers, who did a great job!
 

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

Through Pacha I have many remixes booked in from top artists and an interesting proposal for a world tour.  Personally I think my work, as an artist both inside and outside Pacha is that I have to offer the public club nights and events.  I think it’s important to be involved in a few singles, remix great tracks and compilations over the year.  Pacha DJ’s are lucky are we do many collections throughout the year, which put our personas out into the world.  I also want to consider putting more time and money into marketing and social networking because it’s a platform that allows you to reach more places. 
 

Anything else you’d like to tell us about?

The greatest satisfaction throughout my life is doing remixes for top artists such as Shakira, Bob Marley, Alexander St. & Alicia Keys; I have enough experience in my country to do productions for pop stars.  When Pacha Recordings gave me the opportunity to make a version of Shakira I realised I could get my version of the song to more media and artists around the world, incredible! And the track come out…the truth is that I feel privileged that in my resume these names come out, which people repeat, which opens many doors!


Getting on Down is out now on Defected Records.