Senior Gunnar McKenna knows how to bring energy to the Greek houses on Saturday nights as he puts his own spin on the parties – literally.

When McKenna began making music after his high school graduation, he had no previous knowledge of the mixing technology.

“I taught myself through trial and error,” McKenna said. “I used online sites for technique.”

McKenna thinks that the Greek community has been largely supportive of his hobby, and he is thankful for the memories he’s made so far.

“I think the social aspect of DJ-ing is my favorite part,” McKenna said. “I get to see all of my friends every night.”

Owen Lewis, president of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, has known McKenna since he was a freshman and enjoys his sets.

“He does very cool work and you can tell when he plays that he’s spent a lot of time and worked really hard,” Lewis said.

Lewis believes that McKenna has the skills and ability to be successful in the DJ industry. He said that if McKenna keeps working as hard as he is already, Lewis sees no end to McKenna’s success. A part of that, Lewis said, is McKenna’s interaction with the crowd.

“He’s very much crowd involved,” Lewis said. “If someone wants a song played, he at least gives it a shot.”

Sophomore Liz Stover, who is currently dating McKenna, is also really fond of the crowd reaction to his sets. She said McKenna uses his “energizing set mix” to pump the crowd up.

Although a crowd of students, friends and partygoers might make someone nervous, Stover thinks McKenna is normally pretty calm before he goes on. Her favorite thing about McKenna’s hobby has nothing to do with his sound or the audience.

“My favorite part is getting to see him do something he really enjoys doing,” Stover said.

Though he began playing mostly house music, McKenna’s style has changed over time based on the reactions he’s received from crowds.

“When someone came up my first time DJ-ing and told me I needed to change some of my songs, it was a real lesson for me,” McKenna said. “It taught me that you have to be patient with crowds.”

Though for the past three years he has mostly DJ-ed at Greek house parties, McKenna has also performed his sets at a sorority formal for Delta Delta Delta and has had deals in the making with larger gigs that, for one reason or another, did not work out.

Although it is still just a hobby at this point, McKenna hopes to try his hand in the music industry in the future. Regardless of whether or not it is his career, he still intends to continue mixing on the side.

“I hope to get more into producing music with newer software,” McKenna said.

At this point, McKenna intends to continue pursuing his hobby and hopes to expand his work on SoundCloud and sharing his sets at BU parties.