Meet Diego Valerio | DJ, Producer, & Audio Engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Diego Valerio and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Diego, why did you pursue a creative career?
Since childhood, I’ve always had a deep love for music. I had a giant music collection on my iPod growing up, and by the age of 11, I was learning to DJ as music technology evolved from vinyl to CD DJ-ing. This quickly went from being an after school hobby to my deepest passion – as my interest in DJing expanded into music production and eventually audio engineering. The bottom line is that I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything different – music is my life’s calling.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I just so happened to be in my prime teenage years when the “EDM Boom” happened in the United States. I had already been an open format DJ for a few years playing pop, hip-hop, and latin records for my family’s parties, friend’s birthdays, and the occasional mitzvah when I finally coined a term for this uncommon music that wasn’t very appealing to the masses – yet. I had a friend in high school who showed me Tomorrowland’s 2012 aftermovie, and that set off the idea that one day I could play electronic music to a crowd of that scale. Since then, I’ve spent years developing myself as an artist and exploring the sounds that inspire me most. I finished out high school learning the basics of production and making beats for fun. Eventually I went to audio engineering school, where I kept hearing people say that I should niche down as an artist and try to build a name in one sub-genre of electronic music. The problem was… I couldn’t stand the idea of pigeonholing myself and feeling stuck or uninspired with my music. I’ve always drawn influence from techno, trance, progressive house, and electro / big room house and enjoyed having genre diversity in my DJ sets. I’m glad I stuck to my guns – because today I’m building a brand and a reputation for myself in Denver, and I couldn’t be happier with the success I’ve been finding. In the past year I’ve had my first label release, I’ve opened for several artists I look up to including Danny Avila and Maddix, and I’ve gotten a residency with one of the areas most popular promoters.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When it comes to food, one of the first places I would take that friend is a local food joint in capitol hill called Toro Food Concepts. The place offers a selection of latin american flavors that, as a Puerto Rican/ Dominican mixed kid from South Florida, truly reminded me of home.

There’s no way someone comes to visit you in the Denver metro and you don’t think of taking them to Red Rocks. Whether it’s for a concert at night, or for the yoga in the daytime, the breathtaking views of that place are definitely a must-see.

At some point throughout that week I’d bring my friend to RiNo to check out all the bars and restaurants on Larimer – theres Federales for their Margs and Tacos, theres Barcelona for wine and tapas, and when time comes to dance there’s almost always something fun happening at Larimer Lounge or Beacon.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
If I could only give this shoutout to one person, it would be my mom. Most creatives face discouragement and opposition from their families when trying to build a career out of their art, but I was fortunate enough to have the exact opposite. In fact, my mom has been my biggest cheerleader from day 1 – giving me guidance, feedback, and encouragement in every stage of my career thus far.

Website: https://djehgo.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djehgo/

Twitter: https://x.com/djehgo

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@djehgo

Image Credits
Memorandum Media, Shambo Scott, Nico Bochud