Winning the DJ of the Year award for Magen Boys Entertainment in 2019
Here's the story!
Hi, my name is Andrew Sztein, but you probably know me better as DJ FrankenSztein. I was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario. My entire life has always been drawn towards creative endeavors and over multiple careers, I have found my niche. After attending Carleton University for English with a minor in psychology and film, I discovered the joy of writing for the Carleton U newspaper, The Charlatan. After discovering my new passion for telling stories and the written word, I did an additional two years at Algonquin College in their journalism program, where I honed my craft in story telling, fact checking, and most importantly, photography.
Wait, Journalism? How did you become a DJ then?
In 2012, I realized that journalism as an industry was in dire straights and there likely wasn't a future in it. It was then I decided to change gears. I packed up everything I owned and moved to Toronto, where I hit the reset button. My first year here, I took my trusty Canon SLR to music shows and shot indie shows at venues like The Horseshoe, Rivoli, and Lee's Palace where I met a slew of talented musicians and audio engineers.
It was through these contacts that I met folks in the industry who were able to get me into an intensive Tour Management and Audio Engineering course hosted by Coalition Music, where I learned from leading music industry experts how to manage logistics, industry standards, and more importantly, how to mix bands, maintain instruments and equipment, and developed my ear for large scale audio.
Playing a DJ set at my own wedding in November 2022
Before I even finished the course, I was hired as the in house technician at Cake Nightclub, where I did my first ever technician gig on New Year's Eve 2013, running lights and keeping an eye on the audio system. It was here that I was gifted a front row seat to a rotating cast of Toronto's most talented and experienced DJs. As I watched and listened to them unleash their sets and conduct the crowd like a maestro, the seeds of a new passion were born. It wasn't long, playing with the lights, that I realized that I could predict the DJ's next move, next mix, and could put on a light show in perfect sync with the musical chaos unfolding before me every Friday and Saturday night.
After a year at Cake, I was hired by Sole Power productions to be in their in-house technical director at the York Mills Gallery. Once again, I was granted a front row seat to Toronto's most talented DJs, this time in a wedding and private events setting, all while I kept the audio system humming and put on a light show in perfect sync with the dance floor.
After nearly 3 years with Sole Power and YMG, I decided that it was time to stretch my legs and see what else was out there for me. I bought a small, DDJ-SR console and a decent laptop, and opened myself up for business. A small handful of bookings convinced me to invest in a pair of speakers and offer my services more widely. What started with small sets in little pubs, soon blew up into my full-time career, with over a hundred bookings per year and a full compliment of production equipment for events big and small. That pretty much covers the story until today!