Engineering may not strike you as a typical DJ’s major. However, the engineering majors and Northwestern DJ duo Practical Tactical won the opportunity to perform at Dillo Day at the Battle of the DJs competition this past Friday at Buffalo Wild Wings.
Material science and engineering major Josh Lau and mechanical engineering and manufacturing and design engineering major Yann Manibog put in about 20 to 30 hours to prepare for the show. Their DJ duo name “Practical Tactical” also came to them about a week before they had to submit their name to Mayfest. A friend had given them a self-defense video called “Practical Tactical” that comically showed how to defend oneself with a pen.
“We only started working a week before the Battle of the DJs,” says Manibog, a senior. “We put a lot of time into it.”
The duo says because it likes similar music, such as the Bloody Beetroots and The Twelves, it decided to collaborate for the competition. This wasn’t the first time working together, though. The two DJs work for WNUR and have shows one after the other. They began working for WNUR at the end of their freshmen years.
“We liked the same music, so we knew it would help our chances of winning,” says Lau, a junior.
However, despite liking the same music, both DJs agree it’s difficult to classify their personal music style.
Manibog describes the music Practical Tactical performs as “music that makes people dance — electro, disco, it’s hard to describe,” while Lau says “it’s all over the place if you listen to it.”
Despite their win, they did not feel their music was presented as well as it could have been.
“The sound system wasn’t working well, so we didn’t actually get to showcase what we were working on,” Manibog says.
Lau felt that “the sound was dumbed down.”
Regardless, both enjoyed performing at Battle of the DJs.
“We put a lot of work into our set so we had that attitude that we did the best we could,” Manibog says. “It was nice to see so many people come out.”
Lau agrees.
“It’s definitely more distracting than when we were in our rooms going over the set, [but] it was fun just seeing all our friends dancing out there to support us,” he says.
They also benefited from working together, since DJing is often a solo activity.
“It’s cool to get someone else’s opinion,” Manibog says. “You get a lot more creative.”
Practical Tactical is tentatively set to perform from 5:15 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. on Saturday.
Listen to Lau and Manibog DJ live at www.wnur.org on Wednesdays from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.