“It’s the top of the hour: good afternoon,” Andre “DJ Dre” Gaymes yelled into a microphone at 3 p.m. on Monday to start his daily radio show, Lime Time. “It’s my turn to turn up this Monday afternoon.”
A few listeners sent in WhatsApp messages while others called in, joining DJ Dre in banter about Beyonce’s latest album, Lemonade.
In between the discussions, which centered on entertainment and music, the father of two played mainly soca and hip-hop music.
Early start
To the untrained eye, it might seem as though Mr. Gaymes’ day starts when he arrives at his studio around 2:40 p.m., shortly before he goes on air, and ends when his show is over at 6 p.m.
But his workday is much longer than that.
The deejay’s day begins promptly at 7 a.m., he explained when he picked up this reporter to join him in his daily routine shortly before 11 a.m. on Monday.
“Sometimes a day starts with collecting money from people,” Mr. Gaymes said. “My alarm goes off sharply at 7 [a.m.], and then my iPad is programmed to start playing some Bob Marley.”
Along with reading a daily text message from his mother, the Vincentian deejay starts his day with positive music, he explained.
“It’s always Bob,” he said. “I tend to start my day as positive as possible, and I think Bob has some of the most positive music ever made.”
A Sizzla Kalonji reggae song played as he drove to Lower Estate to collect some money from a client.
After he collected his payment, Mr. Gaymes drove to a Purcell Estate bar, where he picked up a large turntable he had used during a party on Saturday.
“On Mondays, I drive around collecting equipment from places I played during the weekend,” Mr. Gaymes said as he drove toward his Fat Hogs Bay apartment.
Working at home
After parking his silver sports car, he carefully picked up his turntable and carried it inside his chilly home studio.
“You want to keep the equipment in here as cool as possible,” he said as he turned on his Mac laptop, a large Samsung monitor, and other equipment.
Then he sat down to open e-mails, most of which were from customers demanding music playlists or requesting his services at parties.
A dry-erase board posted on the wall included a list of tasks for the day,as well as several positive affirmations, such as “thoughts become things,” “love yourself first,” and “stop second-guessing.”
That morning, the most time-sensitive request was an e-mail from a pageant chaperone asking for a playlist for a contestant.
“I’ve done work for a lot of pageants,” Mr. Gaymes said. “I take the music ideas of pageant contestants and make them come to life.”
He spent the next hour finding, editing and mixing the music listed in the e-mail request.
Accounting
But being a deejay is not only about music. Several times throughout the day, Mr. Gaymes moves to thecomputer programme QuickBooks, where he writes an invoice for the work he’s just completed.
“Being a deejay is also being an accountant,” he said. “If I don’t keep track, I lose money.”
After creating an invoice, he took a break from the large screen and moved to the corner of the room, where he recorded vocals for a radio advertisement for an upcoming party.
“Mardi Gras, May 28th!” he shouted into the microphone. “Popcaan live in concert at Myett’s beachfront!”
After nearly 10 minutes of recording, he returned to the computer, where he saved the audio.
Radio show
Next, the deejay picked up a smaller turntable and headed out of the apartment for his three-hour-long radio show, which he said is one of the easiest but most energy-consuming tasks of his day.
In about 10 minutes, he made it to Road Town, and in another nine minutes he had set up his equipment and was ready to go on air.
“Well, we have 11 minutes,” he said at 2:46 p.m. “Time for some food.”
He then rushed downstairs to Mellow Moods Café: “It’s right there, and it’s healthy too,” he said.
In less than 10 minutes, he finished his lunch and was ready to kick off the show.
Throughout the programme, which typically tackles light entertainment news and gossip, Mr. Gaymes joked about musicians, parties and other related issues.
After every 20 minutes, he took a break to play advertisements, and then returned with more music and discussion.
“Now, I told you all we have to talk about this Drake album and how Popcaan’s feature with Drake isn’t on the final album,” Mr. Gaymes said shortly before the show ended. “Well, looks like the entire Caribbean is mad about that.”
Minutes later, he answered a couple phone calls from listeners before giving final remarks.
At 6 p.m., he packed up to head home, where more recording work awaited him.
“It takes a lot of discipline to do this,” he said before he left the studio.
But Mr. Gaymes — who worked as an information technology technician at Data Pro before he took up deejaying full time 14 years ago — was quick to add that he doesn’t mind the oftentimes-grueling pace.
“I love what I do,” he said. “So much that even if I’m not being paid enough to do it, I would still do it.”
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