The crowd on the dance floor at homecoming this year was the talk of the town. William Hyde ‘27, known on and off campus as DJ Hydeaway, left the crowd chattering with praise.
With his upcoming DJ set at winter formal, Hyde is proving that bringing people together through music is not just a hobby for him; it is a dedication he has been refining for nearly a decade.
“It started when I was in third grade,” Hyde said. “I was really into a DJ named Marshmello. I eventually bought a small deck, and I would mix on there.”
The original equipment sat tucked away for a few years while other interests took over, Hyde said. That changed with his younger brother.
“He found my old board, and I was like, ‘This is sick.’ So I bought myself a bigger board.”
His first real public performance came during his sophomore year, though he admits, “There were ten people at the party; that was more like a hangout.”
By the end of his sophomore year, however, the scale of his performances expanded dramatically. He and a friend performed as a duo, playing sets for crowds exceeding 100 people. Then, living in Miami, he began booking paid gigs across his local area, learning how to handle professional gear, coordinate with event organizers and manage crowd expectations.
When taking the stage for a large high school or campus event, Hyde’s main focus is reading the room and maintaining the energy. He understands that a successful DJ set requires setting aside personal bias in favor of shared excitement.
“When I’m playing for a crowd,” Hyde said, “I’m trying to cater to what they want to hear.”
He tends to focus on popular anthems that instantly ‘click’ with the audience to keep a dance floor packed. Tracks like Nicki Minaj’s “Starships” or Zedd’s classic electro-pop anthem “Clarity” are some of these. His signature event sets usually are a mix of genres, combining tech house, afro house, indie dance and nostalgia-heavy 2010s pop hits.
Away from the audience, Hyde’s relationship with music is more profound. In his basement, he spends hours blasting tracks, studying song structures and digging through music forums to source unreleased tracks and underground edits. His favorite artist lately: Brunello.
“My favorite song from him is ‘Illusions,’” Hyde shared. “It calms me down, and it’s deep but also relaxing – you just zone everything out and feel the music.”
Despite a current focus on house and electronic subgenres, pre-DJing, eighth-grade playlists contained almost exclusively mainstream indie rock.
By now, his music taste has expanded greatly, in part he credits due to living in Miami, a city known for its vibrant music scene.
This year, though, Hyde left that scene behind when he moved to Illinois. In South Florida, house music and electronic beats are integrated into daily life, playing everywhere from local shops to large venue spaces. Adapting to a different mindset required a recalibration of expectations.
“People have different music tastes, and there’s less of a dedicated party culture,” Hyde said.
The move also meant leaving behind friends and routines back in Miami. But rather than leaving his roots behind, Hyde sees his position behind the decks as an opportunity to close that gap and introduce something fresh to Lake Forest Academy, especially during the long winter months when outgoing social activities tend to slow down.
“I’m trying to bring the ‘work hard, party hard’ culture here,” he said. “Maintaining balance is really important. You need that equilibrium between academic work and having fun. In the winter, people tend to stay trapped inside. I’m trying to give people a reason to come out more because the winter season here is so long.”
Hyde has clear ambitions for where he wants his deck to take him. When asked to name his dream performance locations, his bucket list contains Factory Town Miami, Savaya Bali and Playa Padre Marbella.
Now, LFA students do not need to book a flight abroad to catch a set. They just need to keep an eye on the lineup as DJ Hydeaway prepares to bring his energy to winter formal.