|Bass|
|Phonk|
|Trap|
|Beats|
|DnB|
                           
|prodbydecal@gmail.com|

-Art by Holymind-

There are those individuals who are early adopters, then there are those who are innovators. Mike Henderson aka ENDO falls into the latter category. A ubiquitous figure in electronic dance music for going on two decades, ENDO is a musician, a DJ, a teacher, an inventor, and a visionary.

Beats have been driving ENDO as early as the first year of his life when he began drumming. Entering into his double digits, ENDO joined his school’s marching band and orchestra. As a teen, he stepped into the drummer’s seat in a number of hardcore and punk bands, absorbing the influences of grunge, punk, and hardcore sounds. That is until he decided to travel to Woodstock in 1999. Here, a 17-year-old ENDO experienced DJs for the first time. In an airplane hangar with mental visuals, his life took a sharp turn after hearing Moby, Fatboy Slim, and the Chemical Brothers. Upon his return to his home state of Vermont, ENDO traded his drumsticks for turntables, and locked himself away for the next couple of years, perfecting the art of DJing.

“It was an addiction and an obsession,” says ENDO. “It helped that I was a drummer and that I had a mathematical background. Using both of these and having a knowledge of song structure, I am able to calculate when I should stop and start tracks, using my mappings to navigate mathematically so they come in and out of the mix exactly when I want them to.”

Part of what ENDO calls his DJ “Jedi training,” was a marathon, all vinyl, graveyard shifts on 90.1 WRUV FM in Burlington, Vermont called “Graveyard Breaks.” Here, he learned how to program sets, segueing into a weekly, three-hour daytime show on the station, “Hit The Breaks.” Word of ENDO’s skills started spreading. Soon he was getting booked at raves around New England.

A progression from his drumming background, ENDO’s instinctual gravitation started with breaks. From tear-out breaks to melodic breaks to clubby breaks, he can find a style that will fit the mood of the event. After a decade of breaks, ENDO has shifted into more house-based sounds. Similar to what he was doing with breaks, he seamlessly adjusts his sets: For dark, minimal, and trippy afterhours vibes, he will play techno or bass-driven tech-house on a beach—where you’ll find him more often than not—he’ll bring out happier beats, but he could just as easily drop deep house, bassline house, G-house or funky house.

“My sets are all harmonic progression. I program my iTunes with smart playlists to give me compatible songs. Every song is in key, or intentionally out of key, modulated harmonically,” ENDO says. “You can subliminally play with people’s emotions with harmonic mixing. There’s all this tension, then you give them the harmonic release. You have to tell your story. You have to find the songs that speak to you. That’s the art form, the intuition. A good DJ has good intuition.”

When the world paused due to the pandemic, ENDO did not. He seized the opportunity to remain connected with his audience by having a weekly residency, 'LINK LA,' on Beatport's Twitch, playing 3-hour sets of new music released that month. This period also saw the creation of his first-ever DJ Album, 'KEYS,' a unique exploration of harmonic mixes entirely mixed in a single musical key."

ENDO has unleashed his patented brand of harmonic mixing at events across the globe: Pacha, Marquee, and Cielo in New York, Sound in Los Angeles, Guvernment and Coda in Toronto, Stereo in Montreal, Spybar in Chicago, Heart in Miami, Sands in Ibiza, Club Vertigo in Costa Rica, as well as BPM Festival in Mexico and Electric Festival in Aruba. He has played alongside John Digweed, DJ Craze, Roc Raida, Victor Calderone, Danny Tenaglia, Carl Cox, Chus & Ceballos, and Eric Prydz, to name just a few, and perhaps given them a much-sought-after technical tip or two in the process.

ENDO’s technical know-how is an inherent gift. Once he knew electronic music was his future, he left his University Of Vermont education as a math major and enrolled at the prestigious Berklee College Of Music as an electronic music production and music synthesis major with drum set as his principal instrument. Following his time at Berklee, ENDO hosted a radio show at Massachusetts Institute Of Technology’s college station, 88.9 WMBR FM called 'Algorthythms.' Here, he was breaking ground both musically and technologically with the latest DJ gear. For his final project at Berklee, ENDO put together an exhaustive DVD tutorial for Native Instruments’ Traktor and in the process, created a new harmonic mixing system for DJs working with vinyl.

“When we were playing vinyl, you had to write the key of the record on the sleeves,” ENDO explains. “I was doing that for every record. The problem is, when you speed a record up or down, it’s in a different key. How do I mix harmonically if I’m switching speeds all the time? I keyed every record in the same BPM, so no matter what speed the turntables were, you knew the keys were matching.”

ENDO contributed to Mixed In Key’s algorithm by sending them 200 tracks a month that he played, figured out the key to manually on the piano, and delivering his results. His contributions helped improve the accuracy of the algorithm. 

From here, ENDO went on to work with Native Instruments as a DJ product specialist and artist trainer. He has taught the ropes to everyone: Dubfire, Sasha, Steve Lawler, Nic Fanciulli, DJ Skribble, Josh Wink, Dennis Ferrer, DJ Dan, DJ Craze, LMFAO, Diplo, Lee Burridge, MSTRKRFT, Carl Cox, David Morales, Victor Calderone, Felix Da Housecat, among many others. 

ENDO also has numerous online tutorials on Dubspot, which to date have over five million views, and from which he gets positive feedback from regularly. These include his DJ tutorials on Traktor—including the first ever online DJ course, “Digital DJing With Traktor,” with DJ Shiftee. As the first person to be known for figuring out how to sync Ableton and Traktor as well as Ableton and Maschine, ENDO evolved DJing for both Native Instruments programs, and has detailed tutorial videos—the first of their kind—on these DJing methods. In addition, ENDO developed and continues to teach Berklee's first online DJ course, further solidifying his position as a leading educator in the DJing world.

Recently, ENDO unveiled an extensive masterclass series on the Native Instruments YouTube channel, "How to use everything in TRAKTOR KONTROL S4". The series takes you through how to do everything with the S4 controller start to finish, and is also a full-on masterclass and refresher of the TRAKTOR PRO software.

Drawing from his vast experience in the industry, ENDO co-founded the innovative booking app AGNT, which aimed to simplify the booking process for DJs and promoters. His experience in tour managing for industry titans like Sasha, Nicole Moudaber, Dubfire, Sharam, and Pete Tong gave him the insight to streamline negotiations and bookings through technology.

Furthermore, ENDO created a revolutionary Maschine mapping for Traktor. After having the most downloaded mapping system, he set up MIDI Monsters, where he presents his evolutionary mappings as he creates them.

Making his new home in Ibiza, ENDO is immersing himself into the vibrant dance music culture that the island is famed for. Enter his latest endeavor, theHUB. Ibiza Studios, a project conceived to provide a world-class educational facility for music production, DJing, and the music industry. The project is a testament to his dedication towards nurturing the rich heritage of Ibiza's dance music scene, inspiring creativity and innovation, and shaping the next generation of electronic music culture.

theHUB. Ibiza Studios, beyond being a commercial recording and editing suite, serves as an invigorating hub that welcomes industry leaders, budding artists, and creators to share skills and learn in a collaborative environment. DJ Sasha, an artist recognized as one of the world's most innovative icons in electronic music, serves as the public face of theHUB. Ibiza Studios, along with an immensely talented team that includes ENDO himself. This team carries out their unique roles, contributing towards the collective vision of reshaping the future of electronic music and DJing.

From instructing world-renowned DJs, creating online tutorials viewed by millions, developing innovative mappings to spearheading cutting-edge initiatives in Ibiza, ENDO consistently pushes the boundaries of electronic music and DJing. His influence in the realm of electronic music culture continues to grow as he relentlessly innovates and inspires.

Producer. DJ. Artist? Part-time word putter-together. Contrarian. Spiral surfer. I'm only getting weirder.

email me: mk47funk@gmail.com
professional type stuff: info@baddecisionscollective.com
Twitter and Instagram: KillerKowalski_

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