Originally from Canada, DJ Mack was inspired by his father to start collecting records, later discovering Toronto’s DJ community and eventually bringing his collection to Amsterdam.

We spoke to DJ Mack about learning to DJ, preparing for a crowd, the pleasures and difficulties of collecting vinyl, and why a visit to a record shop has become an essential part of every trip he takes.

DJ Mack played at Amsterdam Vinyl Club on:

• 30 July 2026

Meet DJ Mack on Instagram, @mackbrowne

An interview with DJ Mack

First, tell us a little about yourself.
My name’s Mack and I’m originally from Canada.

My first introduction to vinyl probably came through my dad when I was a child. I started taking record collecting seriously around 20 years ago, while I was still at school.

After graduating, I lived in Toronto and did a little bit of DJing there. That gave me my first real experience of being part of a DJ community.

How did you discover Amsterdam Vinyl Club?
When I moved to Amsterdam, I started looking around for music events and came across Amsterdam Vinyl Club. I immediately thought it seemed perfect.

I’d already attended around three AVC events before playing. I really like the variety of DJs and the opportunity the club gives different people to share their music.

What originally made you want to DJ?
The first thing that attracted me was scratching, although I quickly discovered that I was terrible at it!

By then, I already had a fairly large record collection. What I didn’t have was the equipment.

One day, I was browsing Craigslist – which is the Canadian equivalent of Marktplaats – and found a very good deal on a pair of Numark TTX turntables and a mixer. I had some money from a summer job and couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Things developed naturally from there.

What do you enjoy about sharing music with a crowd?
I enjoy seeing how people respond to the music and adjusting what I play accordingly.

I normally prepare around twice as much music as I actually need. I’ll choose a group of tracks that I think work together and suit the party, but I keep the final set fairly loose.

That gives me enough structure to feel prepared while still allowing me to react to the room.

How did you decide what to play at Amsterdam Vinyl Club?
Before the event, I asked what kind of music I should prepare. The answer from AVC was basically, “Play whatever you want!”

That freedom was great, although I also found it slightly stressful because there were so many possible directions I could take!

Eventually, I settled on a mixture of funk, hip-hop, R&B and soul. They were simply some of my favourite tracks.

What keeps bringing you back to vinyl?
I studied engineering, so I’ve always been fascinated by the technical side of vinyl – how the sound is cut into the record and how the whole process works.

But sound quality was probably what attracted me before I understood any of that.

Around 20 years ago, we were listening to a lot of very poor-quality MP3s. Vinyl felt like a way of escaping that, before I discovered better lossless digital formats.

I was also introduced to high-quality headphones at a young age. Once you’ve heard how good music can sound, it becomes very difficult to go backwards.

Collecting vinyl became part of my search for the best possible way to hear the music I love.

How much of your collection came with you from Canada?
It’s probably around half and half.

I moved to Amsterdam during the pandemic, when I was buying a lot of second-hand records through Discogs. I’ve added quite a few records since arriving, but a substantial part of my original collection is still in Canada.

Whenever I travel home, I take an empty suitcase and return with it filled exactly to the weight limit!

What is the most difficult thing about owning records?
Moving them. I love vinyl, but I hate transporting it. Even moving a collection from one house to another within the Netherlands can be a huge job.

There’s the weight, but you also have to worry about damaging the sleeves and covers. Records are wonderful things to own, but they’re not always practical.

Are you careful about protecting your records?
Someone introduced me to the thick plastic outer sleeves people use to protect record covers.

A lot of my records were already looking slightly rough, so I started using plastic sleeves. Now I sometimes feel like somebody protecting collectible Pokémon cards – carefully putting everything into sleeves and trying to keep it in perfect condition.

Is the physical artwork also part of vinyl’s appeal?
Definitely. The sound quality matters, but so does the album artwork.

With streaming, you might only see a tiny thumbnail on Spotify. With a record, you can properly explore the cover and all the details that went into it.

That visual side of the experience is something you don’t really get in the same way from digital music.

Where do you normally buy records?
Everywhere. I buy second-hand records through Discogs, visit record stores, and pick things up at events. I even bought a house remix of ‘Do the Bartman’ at an Amsterdam Vinyl Club event, which I was very excited about!

One thing I love about the Netherlands is that record shops seem to be everywhere. Whenever I visit a new town or city, I have to see what record stores are there.

Do you also look for records when travelling abroad?
Always. Records have become my souvenirs.

Whenever I travel somewhere new, visiting the local record shops is an essential part of the trip.

I went to the enormous Tower Records Shibuya store in Tokyo and had an amazing experience. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much luggage allowance, so I could only buy one D’Angelo album.

I brought that record back to Amsterdam and planned to play it during my AVC set.

Is there a particular holy-grail record you are still searching for?
Ten years ago, I’d probably have chosen records by some of my favourite Canadian punk bands.

Death From Above is one example. Some of their music wasn’t repressed until around 2015 or 2016, so the original records were difficult to find for a long time.

These days, though, most of the music I want eventually becomes available. There are so many represses and reissues that the elusive €80, €90 or €150 records I want are becoming slightly less common.

There are still some expensive film and television soundtracks that haven’t been repressed, but I don’t have one single holy grail record that stands above everything else.

Has the growth of vinyl changed the way you collect?
Yes. I’m now less likely to spend a huge amount on an expensive record because there's a good chance it will eventually be reissued.

As long as I can own the music on a good-quality vinyl pressing, I’m not particularly concerned about having a rare or original edition.

The growing popularity of vinyl means many of the records collectors once waited years to find are now becoming available again. In that sense, I’m almost getting all my wishes granted.

Have you ever accidentally bought an unofficial pressing?
Yes. I’ve bought records without realising they were bootlegs or unofficial copies.

What surprised me was how good some of them sounded. You might expect an unofficial pressing to be poor quality, but that isn’t always the case.

I don’t know whether some are mastered from CDs, digital files or even directly from another record, but a few of the ones I’ve heard have sounded excellent.

For me, the important thing is still the music and whether the record gives me an enjoyable listening experience.