DV One is a DJ who's a bone in the backbone of Seattle hiphop. He's a well-spun man and an integral part of the Yo, Son! mega residency, Massive Monkees, and Rock Steady Crew. He also held down KEXP's Rap Attack show from 1994 to 1999. Through years of studying and digging, DV (born Toby Campbell) has honed his taste and skills. Every other week for the last year and a half, he's made a free themed download (available at www.djdvone.podomatic.com). He's a mixtape-making master. His sequencing sense is innate. He knows what music works in what order. It's almost like he can read your mind. Or see the future. How else would he be able to construct the perfect mix for enjoying cookie-dough ice cream and cherry wine on a trampoline under the half moon? DV One also has gambling tips for you. It's a system.

How do you approach transitions on your mixtapes? How do you find your cut points?

I learned a lot of my mixing from Vitamin D and Top Spin. They do everything in key. You won't have one song going to the next that's out of tune. Also the bpm. Songs can be the same speed and not have the same feel. You might have two songs that are 100 bpms, but one is danceable and one is more head nod than danceable. So in my transitions from song to song, I try to make a transition that maintains your rhythm and that's not out of key. It's a continuous flow. And if I so happen to come upon a cut point, where I can grab a sound or a word, and scratch it out, then so be it. It's getting cut the fuck up. Sometimes I'll echo them out or blend them out.

What separates good mixtapes from mediocre ones?

I think the good ones are ones that you'll revisit and share. That you can listen to time and time again. That's how I try to make mine. If it's dance-hall classics or reggae classics, you can throw that stuff on anytime. But if it's just the mainstream artist of the moment, you might not want to hear that a few months down the line. If you have a theme, like '80s soul, you might want to go back to that for the next 20 years. Staying power, that's what separates the good mixtapes from the average ones. Are you going to want to share it with friends or throw it away? The mixing is a big part of it, too. If you have a DJ that's screaming over the transitions, "THIS IS THE NEW SUCH AND SUCH, LET'S GOOO!!" You're not going to want to hear that over and over.

How do you know how much of a song to mix in? How do you know when to transition out?

Preference. When I put the mixes together, I'll have a group of songs. Normally, I'll put enough of the song so people can hear it and enjoy it, and if they like it, they can go buy it. Say I have 30 songs and I want my mix to be 60 minutes long, I know I need about two minutes of each song. It's a real-estate issue, depending on how long the mix is.

Who inspires you?

Jazzy Jeff is a big one. J Rocc of the Beat Junkies. DJ Scene, his work ethic is inspiring. Crazy Legs, he's always doing something new, working his ass off, putting stuff out.

Where did you get your start with your mixtapes?

It started a while ago. I had an idea to put mixes out, to have music available for people at any given time. At first, I was doing 20-minute mixes for websites, making it easy for someone to listen to music while they're reading somebody's blog. Then I started thinking I could go all-out with it and have themes. There was hiphop, old school, all break beats, house, '80s, mainstream, dance hall. Since I was doing one every other week, I had to keep coming up with new shit. After I ran through all the typical joints, I had to start getting more creative. This past January, I did one with all Aquarius artists, people born in January. I'll think of something that may be of interest to people, or something that will sound good, or something that I haven't already done.

How long have you been putting these out?

The last year and a half, every other week. There's like 40 mixes up right now.

Every other week, that's an undertaking. Do you feel like that forces you to find music and be creative with it in different ways?

Definitely. And it keeps me up on stuff, keeps me on my toes. I'll also get feedback from people on what they like and don't like.

Where do you find your music?

I have a lot of music. I did one mixtape that was independent and underground artists, lots of unsigned people who might have made their music on Pro Tools at their house. I put that one out. I did one that was all covers, like a band doing a cover of a Bob Marley song or a Beatles song. It's research. It's songs that I have that I think people will want to hear. It's a lot of digging. Sometimes I'll do samples or rare grooves, so I'll do the originals. And those are songs that you may hear. I've been DJing since 1992, and I've been a music fan my whole life. When you hear artists come out today, you may hear something that they've sampled that you just know, and you think, "I know the original for that; the original is way better." The source of my music comes from being a music fan and from collecting music for the last 30 years.

What do you use to put it all together, gear wise?

I group up a bunch of records and record them straight into Serato Scratch Live. Or if they're MP3s, I'll just DJ with it on Serato and record it into Scratch Live, put the drops in with Garage Band, bounce it down, and upload it.

You're 40 mixes deep now. From the time you started doing it to now, do you find yourself listening to music differently?

I don't think I listen differently, I'd say I listen and look for stuff more, or I'll analyze it more. If I hear something I really like, and I haven't already put it onto a mix, I'll think about where I can fit it in, or if I can do a category just based around that. Sometimes I'll group stuff together in my head. I listen carefully. I'll listen to stuff to include in my mixes, yeah, but I wouldn't say I listen differently. I just think about how and where I can group good music.

It seems like that's easier said than done—to make a mix, a good mix, to do it smartly.

Clearly. The main reason I do it is to give back. And when I'm giving back, I like to give people something that they're going to like. I want to give them something with some amount of consistency. It is easier said than done. It takes a lot. Not only do I have to come up with a fresh design for the cover, I gotta record it, I gotta put it out, I gotta add a blog to it, I gotta e-mail it to everybody. Mostly, I have to piece it together in a way that's cohesive and that people are gong to listen to and think, "Oh shit, this makes sense." All these things play into each other. It's work, but I'm giving back, so I don't mind doing it.

What DV One mixes will we see in the future?

I'm doing a '90s one. I've done a '90s R&B one, but I'm doing a '90s hiphop one. It's going to take a little longer, because I want to do it right. I want it to sound super fresh. I'm gonna do a disco one. It'll be soul disco, the disco they were playing in New York in the '80s, like the real shit. It's not gonna be cheesy disco, mainstream pop candy. It's gonna be Larry Levan and stuff like that. I'm also doing another '90s R&B one. People keep crying about hearing one of those. And my new thing is I'm going to do a "vs." putting artists versus each other. Who's better? Michael vs. Prince. My buddy did one that was Erykah Badu vs. Sade. They go song for song, you let the people judge, you just mix them together and put it out like that. I'm thinking about doing a Stevie Wonder one. I've been on my Stevie listening and I'm like, "Holy crap." So amazing. I just did a show with DJ Spinna in New York, and he has a night that they dedicate to Stevie. And Spinna plays live with Stevie. I'm gonna try and collabo with him and do some things.

Stevie Wonder is God. Or Moses. Or something.

He's on some prophet status for sure. It's like, "How are you so good? And how have you been so good for so long, and so relevant?"

What's the craziest mix you've made?

The guilty pleasures one. It was all mainstream. I did it on Christmas. The only time I play mainstream is if I'm DJing a mainstream club. So it was weird to be DJing and playing Soulja Boy and Soulja Boy remixes, and Keri Hilson, and Ester Dean, and all the stuff that my daughter would see in videos.

What's been the most difficult mix?

Probably the Michael Jackson one. I wanted it to be done the right way. It was a tribute to Michael, and it had to be done right. You gotta have it all on there—the hits, the early stuff, his soulful stuff, obviously my favorites. Then I tried to tie it all in and make it like a story of his life, where you hear him as a child, you hear him as an adolescent, you hear newscasts and TV shows. I really put a lot of work into it. There's going to be a million of those Michael dedications, and there all going to play "Beat It" and "Billie Jean," you know, all the popular ones. They might mix them together okay, or they might not mix them together at all. I wanted to make mine so that you could put it on at any given point in time and it's going to be emotional.

You have another skill set: gambling. Specifically, roulette. What's your process?

Well, 31 is definitely the number you want to play. You also want to play the numbers that make up your birthday. It's guaranteed to win you at least your rent.

Is there luck involved?

I'd say on the roulette wheel, it's 51 percent luck. The rest of it is how much money, patience, and heart you got. And how much A.1. steak sauce you've had. This column is now sponsored by A.1. steak sauce. Everyone that reads it gets one steak knife. Seriously, it's about heart. If you want to lose your money, play blackjack. The odds in that game are phenomenally in favor of the dealer.

People can pay their rent by getting on the DV One A.1. Roulette System. For $19.99, you get the instructional booklet, a steak knife, and a handy wipe.

And a DV One collectable poster. It's an action shot. I'm throwing my hands in the air after winning huge. And there's one of me looking at the roulette wheel in suspense, wondering where the ball will stop.

But we all know it will stop on 31. Because that's part of the DV system.

Consider your rent paid.

DV One spins Friday and Saturday nights at the Tulalip Casino in the mpulse Lounge. He'll be at Neumos on Thursday, Sept. 2nd as part of the Red Bull Big Tune Tour

This story has been updated since its original publication.