“It’s pretty fun when you get a lot of people there and a great atmosphere,” he said. “It’s fun to have a bunch of people out and dancing and having a good time.”

Patten began DJing during the summer because of his love of electronic music and decided to bring his talent with him to college last semester. He said he takes inspiration from other electronic and dubstep artists, such as Skrillex and DeadMau5.

“I like that it has a constant beat to it, and it really gets people pumped up and ready to dance,” he said. “It’s a new generation kind of thing.”

Steve Ward, who attended high school with Patten and also DJs in the area, said he helped Patten get started.

“I sent him in the right direction (and) told him what would be good to start with,” the mechanical and biomedical engineering freshman said. “He has done his own thing from there.”

Ward said in the beginning, Patten seemed nervous and lacked confidence when DJing, but recently, he saw Patten perform at a house party, and the rookie’s improvement clearly was noticeable.

“He was doing his own thing, (and) I could tell just by the look on his face he was having the same feeling I do when I DJ,” he said. “Everyone was loving his performance.”

Patten said he doesn’t charge a set amount of money for every party he plays at, but as he has gained more experience, he said he is starting to raise his price per show.

“As I did more (performing), I started charging more because I got better,” he said.

But developing a high self-esteem and booking gigs didn’t always come so easily to Patten, who started out playing at his brother’s house free of charge.

“It’s been a learning process,” he said. “It’s taken a lot of practice to get everything down and acquire all my equipment that I have.”

After playing a few parties and establishing a good reputation, Patten said people started talking about his work and referring him to others.

“I don’t usually try to contact people,” he said. “Most of the time someone will put my name out there, and I’ll end up getting a call, so there’s definitely a demand.”

Criminal justice senior Chris Pizzo, who hired Patten to play at a house party he had, said he enjoyed Patten’s performance, and he thought it improved the overall environment at his event.

“It’s a lot better than just having an iPod play on shuffle,” he said. “Compared to what we’re used to, it’s professional-grade entertainment.”

Pizzo said Patten’s evident enthusiasm while performing excited his guests — especially when Patten jumped up on a table and started dancing — and made him an entertaining artist worth rehiring.

“He did a great job,” he said. “He was really energetic and really interactive with the crowd. He was just a great time.”