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Meet Joshua “DJ SWAYE” Bautista of Swaye Productions & Entertainment

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua “DJ SWAYE” Bautista.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Joshua. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a young child growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, music was a huge part of my familes life. My mother played music all the time from all genres while cleaning the house or hosting parties at night. I seen as a young child how music made people feel and respond while listening to it and ultimately led me to being a DJ.

I remember being ten years old recording radio songs on my tape player and using and old cassette tape to record music that was a hit or a song that would make me feel good and I would record it on this cassette tape until it was full on both sides. Then I would write on it “Feel good music”. I guess that was my introduction to what we now call a mixtape/CD in the DJ world.

All throughout my school days, I was in band classes and chorus classes because of my love for music. High school I was a drummer in the percussion section changing the beats to the music sheets to fit a better feeling, which wasn’t looked upon s being acceptable. I entered every talent show either as a singer or a dancer in a group.

Living in College Park, GA in the 90s, there was a musical movement that was going on which opened my ears to more of me wanting to be apart of something more that just listening to music, I wanted to be apart of it somehow. A few singing groups I was a member of and then performing in a few locations around ATL at “open mic” venues at Greenbriar Mall really didn’t pan out to anything bigger.

I ultimately in 94, I joined the Marine Corps and left GA to serve my country to only take the love of music to another level once in the military. I ended up buying equipment to create beats and produce music for a few years. This level of music creation is what really pushed me into being a DJ in my later years in the military. I had always made mixed tapes in the military of slow jam themes and party-themed mixtapes just for fun for people who wanted them. Then I finally wanted to get serious about being a DJ.

Deployed to Afghanistan in 2011, I purchased my first DJ set and enjoyed the experience so much that I had asked the local Moral, Welfare and Recreation (MWR), to allow me and chance to have an R&b Night where I would use a huge tent to fit 100 people in it to party and I would provide the music/ Video, dance lights and be the DJ for. It was so successful that MWR wanted me to DJ twice a week for the Troops and special events around the base to provided music and entertainment. Word got around to the Base General who in turned knew me by name and wanted me to host the base Christmas party and New Year’s Eve party. This was an honor.

In 2012 returning to the states after being deployed, I took my DJ’ing experience to the next level buying more equipment and taking this DJ life further. I DJ’d in a few sports bars and night clubs but really wasn’t making the impact that I was hoping to see in a little town in Alabama, which was my last duty station in the military before retiring in 2015. So I moved back to where it all started, College Park, GA.

2016, I started working at NuRadio, owned by Mook B (D4L Hip Hop Group) (Internet Radio) as a guest DJ for a show once a week for about year. Which I was discovered on Social media under a hashtag to be apart of if I wanted to. I said yes. Well, the following year I was offered my own slot/ Show on NuRadio and accepted it for almost a year. Hosting my own show and Dj’ing it as well as interviewing guest artists. I was enjoying this while having three other jobs at the same time. That many jobs became too much so I eventually let some go and ended up leaving NuRadio.

I still Dj’d around Atlanta and clubs, and sports bars and the occasional wedding and birthday parties. Someone then introduced me into the business portion of turning my DJ’ing into a legit business an LLC. This was a huge step for me and I excelled to the business level and branding became the nest move for me DJ’ing and becoming a prominent name in Atlanta.

I Dj’d for Bronner Brothers International Hair shows for the last four years, DJ’d for the mayor for three years, 656 Sports Bar for three years. Once at The Tavern on Camp Creek. Hudson Grilles around Atlanta for private parties. My ultimate experience and honor as a DJ was to be picked up by UrbanSoulDJs here in Atlanta where I had followed on social media for years as a spectator.

Still a learning DJ, but thats when I learned to expand my DJ’ing into Lighting EFxs and Music Videos and Event Sound. I have had the honor to have met DJ Jelly (Whom I grew up listening to in the 90s on the radio) several times. I have DJ’d with DJ Kizzy Rock and June Dog. and Mook B for D4L. My love for music and the journey I can take people on is an amazing experience when I can make people feel a certain way. The musical journey is what makes people remember who you are and what you did for them at that moment. As part of The UrbanSoulDJs we host a New Year’s Eve event every year in Atlanta, GA for the masses approx 650 people get to experience 4-5 DJ’s in multiple ballrooms. This includes Lighting EFxs, event sound, HD videos and live streaming of NYE events from around the world.

I love being a DJ for the experience and the crowd ratification of the musical journey I take them on when they see me perform live.

Has it been a smooth road?
Smooth road? There was a learning curve that had to be experienced. The type of equipment that is needed had to be of high-end quality was expensive and needed to be budgeted in. There were a few instances when my laptop choice wasn’t compatible with the DJ equipment I was using so I had to upgrade to a better laptop in order for all my equipment to work as it should. Some of the struggles along the way are in the form of events not wanting to pay what Djs are worth after services were rendered. Which led me into the world of contracts for events and standard rates for time and equipment. Other struggles are large enough transportation for equipment that is needed for huge events. But rental vehicles have made that more accessible and possible lately.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Swaye Productions & Entertainment is my LLC my company in which I provide event audio and HD video for any occasion. We specialize in sound clarity and professionalism. Our setups are unlike any other, we make sure that presentation is superb from no wires being seen to HD visual projectors and HD TVs for music video or names on the walls. I am proud of my company for achieving what it is now from just a mere idea to presently being highly sought out as the go-to company for any entertainment request.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta is a perfect place for businesses like mine and others like it. Atlanta has become the entertainment mecca of the south now that the movie industry has moved here. I would definitely recommend anyone in the entertainment industry t start here as a way to get introduced into this life and learn how big-city entertainment is done as apposed a smaller city.

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