Bandier student DJ Amplitude’s ‘pure positive energy’ skyrockets fame
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By day, Dylan Steele is a Syracuse University sophomore studying in the Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries.
By night, he’s DJ Amplitude, a rising DJ who’s played in front of packed clubs in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, California, working on projects for big-name artists like Doechii and launching his own music career.
“My goal is to be a guy that influences tens of millions of people through my music,” Dylan said. “My motto is pure positive energy.”
In the nine years he’s been DJing, Dylan’s developed a style that blends genres and music from different eras to create something distinct. He’s known for posting mashups (like the Kahoot theme song x “Poker Face” x “SexyBack”) on social media, where he’s gained over a million followers across several social media accounts.
Growing up in Leesburg, Virginia, Dylan was a sporty kid. His mother, Connie Steele, thought that he should have something to call his own, so Dylan tried everything from soccer to baseball to, eventually, music. At 9, she convinced him to sign up for free DJing lessons with music company Bach to Rock’s Lansdowne branch.
“I would have done that if I ever had the chance to do that,” Connie said. “I had no idea he would be a complete natural.”
Though Dylan was initially skeptical of his musical capabilities, his tutor, LJ Diseale, recognized he had real talent for the art of the mashup. After the first few sessions, Dylan harnessed his curiosity and began learning the then-analog audio workstation’s controls.
“He picked it up really quickly,” Diseale said. “He came in with really good musical knowledge, and he had a ton of great energy.”
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Dylan credits Diseale for his rapid progress. It was Diseale, he said, who noticed his talent early and encouraged him to keep developing his skills. Over time, Diseale went from Dylan’s tutor to mentor; Dylan began to rely on the more experienced DJ for advice about business decisions.
After a few months, Dylan had honed his skills enough to start playing for crowds. Through his music school, Dylan booked a few unpaid gigs at his local community center where he received a positive response from crowds. He placed second in a competition judged by career DJs at 11 years old and won a gear bag. This public recognition motivated him to keep practicing; he uses the same bag to transport his equipment today, eight years later.
The recognition kept him practicing, but his audience’s approval kept Dylan gigging. In his first competition, Dylan saw how people grooved to his mixes, which banished his pre-show nerves. Even now, he gets a thrill every time he sees a crowd go wild.
But Dylan wasn’t content with only mixing other people’s songs, so he set out to create his own music. His first rap song, “Where Them O’s At,” was released when he was 10, complete with a zero-budget music video shot with Diseale’s help in a local grocery store’s cereal aisle. Despite only being shared with friends and family, the video quickly amassed several thousand views on Youtube and became a hit among family and friends. Even General Mills took notice, sending him a custom box of Cheerios with his name on it.
Just as he was gaining broader recognition, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. With his town locked down and no crowds to play in front of, Dylan started drifting away from DJing. Sports had started calling his name again, particularly golf. Connie helped him keep his eye on the prize.
“I was like, ‘I’m just going to throw you a bunch of things, and I want you to create a half-hour mix,’” she said. “We’re going to set up a Zoom DJ dance party and invite friends.”
A packed crowd dances to DJ Amplitude’s beats. What began with free DJing lessons grew into a music career and a large social media following. Madison Cox | Staff Photographer
Dylan used the Zoom shows to push his musical boundaries in a controlled environment, creating longer mixes blending disparate genres (one of his first was a mashup of Post Malone, Queen and House of Pain) and getting audience feedback in real time. The meetings also got Dylan his first paid gig, when a dance party attendee booked him to play their daughter’s birthday party. His first paycheck, $100, made Dylan realize DJing was a business and an art form.
Never one to waste an opportunity, Dylan released his first rap album in 2021. Songs discussed quarantine blues and school during the pandemic, among other topics. It received more than 300,000 streams before being taken down by Spotify.
By then, Dylan had begun building a reputation as a DJ at his high school. Limited to only playing at birthday circuits, only a few of his peers had actually heard him DJ. That changed when the school booked him to play a pep rally during his junior year. Dylan recalled the palpable energy in the room.
“It went absolutely insane,” Dylan said. “It was 2,000 people screaming, they were dancing, it made people realize, ‘Oh my God, he’s actually a really good DJ.’”
After the pep rally, Dylan’s stage name started bouncing around the school, and the shows came rolling in. Soon after, he played to 300-person house parties, weddings and packed Washington nightclubs. Things accelerated when he upped his social media game, posting mashups on TikTok to spread his music even further. He recalled posting his first viral video, a mashup of Drake’s “NOKIA” and “Hotline Bling” before going to bed with no expectations.
“I wake up the next morning, and it has a million views,” Dylan said. “My mind is exploding, ‘Whoa, I’ve never seen this before.’”
Every subsequent video broke new personal records. After his success on TikTok, Dylan began expanding his presence across platforms, building a sustainable career while gaining new in-person opportunities. He’s since built an audience of over a million followers across all social media accounts, including 613,000 on TikTok and 370,000 on Instagram.
Dylan said he considered the Bandier program since high school, recognizing the program’s focus on making industry connections as vital to his growth as a performer. When he got his acceptance letter from SU, his choice was already made.
“He didn’t know if he would get in,” Connie said. “He knew how competitive it was.”
Nowadays, you can find Dylan DJing house parties and clubs all over Syracuse. He hasn’t given up on his original music either, having teased new releases on Instagram.
It all came from a split-second decision to sign up for free music lessons.
“This was something I never thought I enjoyed,” Dylan said. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
