Bárbara Boeing is a Brazilian DJ and selector celebrated for her genre-blending sets that move effortlessly between disco, house, and global grooves. Known for her vibrant energy and deep crate-digging sensibility, she brings warmth and joy to every dance floor she touches. From underground clubs in São Paulo to iconic stages across Europe.
Do you listen to music while you work?
⎯⎯⎯ Yes, but I listen to ambient music because I cannot really focus if I'm listening to something with vocals or even something electronic. Ambient music almost feels like a texture. I cannot say that it's not exactly music because it is music, but it's not something distracting. It’s something where there is not much difference with what's going on inside and outside, it's just happening as a texture.
So your Work Redux mix is very much not a working mix, it's a dancing mix.
⎯⎯⎯ It's definitely a dancing mix. I'm always trying to find music where there's something extra inside of the music. It feels to me that people play lots of copy-and-paste stuff and I don't think they put enough time really searching for something different. I think that in Brazilian music from my country, also African music, there is something extra. It's hard to say exactly what it is – maybe a pain – but there's also lots of happiness. All of the emotions are really outside and I can really feel that. I discovered that gospel music also has the same thing. I'm not a religious person or anything, but I understand that for people that believe, for people that have lots of faith, there is something extra in the way that they sing, in the way that they feel it. So there are some gospel tracks inside of this mix because I was slightly obsessed with it. That's more about what I was thinking when I did the mix.
When you say that this pain exists in Brazilian and African music, which are just two examples, it makes me think of the history of colonialism. But the thing I was thinking while listening to the gospel music was freedom. I wonder if the music is a way to feel liberated?
⎯⎯⎯ For sure, yes. There is a lot of soul inside of it. I think in my type of country, and the continent of Africa, colonialism is just the beginning of it. After that, you have lots of things that are kind of like a consequence to that. And we still live it. In Brazil, we still live it. It's not an easy thing to be a Brazilian. So when I talk about the pain, it comes a bit from that. And for sure, that's a mirror from colonialism, because it started wrong and it's unfortunately going to be wrong for a long time. I'm not a super optimistic person about it, unfortunately. Every time that I go to my country, it feels a bit worse, like it's more dangerous. Anyway, coming back to your question, I think every time that you have some problems, every time that you have pain, you are going to have relief in some of your moments and happiness will come from this relief. And then freedom is inside of it somehow. So yes, there is a connection. I think also lots of religions are connected to music in general. Gospel is just one type of music, but if you think about the religion of Umbanda in Brazil, which also comes from Africa, there's a lot of music involved with that, and the faith and strength that they have inside of it is just over the top when you think about other types of music. It's all connected.
In your day to day, are you still a civil engineer?
⎯⎯⎯ Not anymore, but I will always be a civil engineer. I moved to Europe to do a master's. So now, yes, I'm a master in sustainable buildings, and I worked as an engineer for 10 years, but since I graduated I’ve stopped with the engineering because I cannot have two jobs anymore.
So you are you're you're a full time DJ?
⎯⎯⎯ Yes, I'm a full time DJ. For example, in May I went to Montreal, Toronto, New York, and Baltimore. Then I did two gigs in Europe, Paris and Barcelona, then I went to Asia and did Singapore and Bali. Then I did one more gig in Europe. So in the end, I traveled to three continents in one month. You cannot do anything else.
No time for engineering.
⎯⎯⎯ Which is sad because I really love engineering. But my life as a DJ is better. I cannot complain.
I’m wondering if there are any similarities between mixing and engineering?
⎯⎯⎯ The only thing that I can kind of see is something really personal: I don't mind studying. I almost enjoy it. I mean, of course, I prefer doing other things in my life, but it was never something that I avoided in my life. I have studied all my life. There is something about being this type of person, which is: I don't mind being in my house and just focusing on my stuff. I don't want to always be out and doing lots of stuff. Even though I like my friends and everything, I have these moments in my life that I need to be alone and I need to be doing my stuff. When I'm selecting music now, I stay in my house all day buying records online and listening to them, studying them. So there is this me moment that I enjoy. Maybe it's a bit of the geek part. The research, going deep into a subject or a genre, that's the connection.
Do you get obsessed with a genre, style, label, or sound?
⎯⎯⎯ I have this thing where I focus on one genre and have a story that I tell; like, this came before this. But when I go in of a record shop, it's tricky because people ask what I want and I'm like, I don't know. I want good music. So I listen to so much different stuff, but currently, I'm working on a compilation, so I went to Brazil for 40 days and just met so many people that sell records. I’m creating a timeline from rap, Latin freestyle, a bit of electro, and then early 90s funk, so I'm kind of only buying that, and I’ve bought so many records. Now I'm going to take probably one month to listen to all these genres and try to make something out of it to create something nice.
Are you making notes, or do you just kind of hear it and then start making connections in your own mind?
⎯⎯⎯ It depends, because when I buy records, it's for me to play. It's not exactly to create a project. I listen to them in the record shop, buy it, then I file them up here. Then at one point, I stop and I listen to all of them. I listen to the whole record and make notes on the record, which people tell me not to do, but they’re my records, I can do whatever I want with them. So I put notes on the record, and then I record them, almost like remastering, but in a really homemade way. Then I put it on my USB stick, and train with it, then later bring it to the dance floor. That's usually the way that I do it. But now that I bought so many of these records for this potential compilation, I haven't had the time to stop, but it will be kind of the same process.
It sounds like you get pretty involved with the material of the music. On your mixes, how much are you blending, cleaning things up, and adding stuff? Or how much are you just playing the track straight through?
⎯⎯⎯ I usually play the whole track because my type of music is really hard for you to put one thing on top of the other for a long time. If you play something like techno or minimal, it's easier to layer things because there aren't so many elements. But I play music with so much information, like Latin stuff, and there are so many instruments or vocals that sometimes you only have 10 seconds to mix one with the other. So, there's not much to do.
What I do is take my records as a reference. If I go to the studio and want to create something new, I don't necessarily use what I have in my records, but I use them as a reference. I get some parts and ask, "Why is this really nice?" Then, I try to recreate that somehow. So, yeah, it's more about working with the idea and the inspiration from these records.
And when you say “redo it,” are you making a new track? Are you using instruments? I read that you play a bit of acoustic guitar. Are you creating the music yourself or with other musicians?
⎯⎯⎯ With other musicians always, yes. I think my role is more about understanding what works and what doesn't. After doing this for so long, you develop a more mature ear. I've been doing this for almost 20 years. I think that helps me understand what works on the dancefloor too. When I'm producing, I feel more like an art director. I know how the drums should sound, how the guitar or synth should sound. And with the help of musicians, I can create something based on the idea in my mind.
Do you feel like you're an expert in a specific genre of music, maybe the one you practice the most and produce the most?
⎯⎯⎯ I'm a humble person, so I'm not sure if I can say I'm an expert, even in engineering which I’ve studied a lot. The more I know, I know that I don't know anything. But, yeah, maybe house music is what I've listened to the most, and everything around it.
You just have confidence?
⎯⎯⎯ Yes, I have confidence, but I don't want to brag about it.
When it comes to putting together a mix, it sounds like it's not necessarily data-driven for you—like you’re not making spreadsheets or anything—but is it more intuitive, or do you rely on certain patterns, like labels or sound combinations?
⎯⎯⎯ It's crazy because my mind is really technical. Things need to have logic, and I need to create a plan for what I'm going to do. It's very engineering-like. So before every gig, I train, even though I might not play exactly what I trained. I create a mental path for the night. When I know the venue, I expect something, even if I haven’t been there before. I don't use software, so I can’t see the BPM or the key, I just use my ear. This means I have to train twice as much as others, probably. Sometimes you can't even see the waves of the music without the software. So, by training a lot, I know what's going to come next. When I play, I try to see two tracks ahead. It doesn’t always work, but I like to have that path in mind.
When I get to the venue, sometimes the crowd is completely different than I imagined. Maybe they’re dancing in a different way, or not dancing at all. So, I adapt. That’s where the intuitive part comes in. That’s when I create the best sets because I am not thinking, and I couldn’t predict it, but sometimes it’s a mess. Sometimes I just can’t keep up with the crowd because they don’t like my music. Sometimes it's too commercial. Those things can happen, but when it happens, it's almost like magic. So it can be really nice. And that works with an intuitive part inside of me that as an engineer, I could have never accessed because engineers cannot be really intuitive, we just need to do everything by the book. If it's not by the book, it's not OK. It's another side of me.
Do you get addicted to that? Are you nervous sometimes to see what will happen?
⎯⎯⎯ It’s very hard for me to feel nervous anymore. That comes from all the training. I know the path well, so if I get lost, I just follow my plan B, which is really my backup plan. It’s hard to get lost when you’ve trained that much.
Do you feel that music is a form of escapism?
⎯⎯⎯ Yes. For me, inside of my house, there is some escapism from thoughts, problems that people might have, or that I might have. Music is always there for me. It’s a companion. Of course it depends on the music, but when I see people on the dance floor, it's really easy to see this escapism. You're putting your emotions out and you're dancing so you're exercising and you're not thinking about anything else, or just thinking about the music and the DJ and maybe meeting people around you. So, yes, I would say that it is escapism in so many different ways. It depends on what you need. I think when I was younger I needed the dance floor much more, now the dance floor is my working place so it's not exactly the same thing for me. I think for me it's much more about listening to music in my house and reflecting on life in general.
I want to wrap it up by circling back to something we discussed earlier—the feeling of freedom. Do you feel that, when you see the dance floor and everyone’s moving and dancing, that’s the feeling that made you realize you wanted to do this full-time? Seeing the crowd’s reaction?
⎯⎯⎯ It’s really nice to know that people like my music, and the reaction is cool, but I do this because I love music so much. I can’t live without it. It’s such a huge part of my life. I’ll always listen to music, buy new records, and create new mixes. Whether I share it with others forever, who knows? The business changes, and things evolve, but I do this because I love music and I cannot live without it.
–Work Redux is a collection of mixes made to be listened to while working. We work closely with local and international DJs to assemble thoughtful music that will carry members throughout their day and introduce them to new sounds. –East Room is a shared workspace company providing design-forward office solutions, authentic programming and a diverse community to established companies and enterprising freelancers. We explore art, design, music, and entrepreneurship. Visit our News & Stories page to read more.
