Dance-music divas rarely carry an actual opera pedigree on hand, nor do they throw down Chicago house on a weekly basis. So when DJ Colette Marino steps up to the plates to sing atop her sets, she’s striking a pose altogether different from clubland’s norm.

“It’s just about free-forming, freestyle,” says the Los Angeles-based DJ Colette. “To me it’s like experimenting back when people would play jazz, and they’d all go up there and free-form together, hoping it works out. I try to incorporate what I think with where I think the audience is at and then move around the few different styles, still keeping within the same genre of house music, but traveling around to communicate different moods throughout it.”

Colette got her start in Chicago, coming to the clubs from the rarified world of opera. Colette reports that she initially had to unlearn a lot of opera techniques that made her vocals sound “stiff.” But after a while, she was singing atop local DJ sets by Lego and her current boyfriend, Angel Alanis. Eventually picking up the DJ trade for herself, she also co-founded the female DJ collective Superjane with DJ Heather, DJ Dayhota and Lady D, who toured as a team across the country last year as part of the Camel-sponsored F.I.R.E. tour. Now that she’s relocated to the West Coast, she recently released her second mix CD, Our Day (Nettwerk), and is pursuing a weekend mix show in the L.A. radio market.

When Colette plays out, she prefers a Pioneer DJM-500 or 600 mixer. “[I like] the internal effects that it has,” she says. “And I add effects to my voice while I’m singing. I’ll use delay or echo. Sometimes I won’t use that much of the effects, but sometimes I’ll actually really explore, so it’s more just about sound. It’s not just about singing a song. It’s almost like when you’re seeing DJs play with three turntables. So I’ll be using two records, but using the voice as another sound to layer on top, to just abstract it even more, which is what is so great about singing anyway. It’s all abstract.”

As for current producers she favors, she raves over Peace Division, Trevor Rockcliffe and Mr. G, not to mention, of course, Alanis. He’ll help produce Colette’s upcoming artist LP alongside Chris Penney and Tim Shoemaker. “I don’t produce, actually,” says Colette, whose album will mix pop and dance styles. “I write songs, and I sing, and I work with different musicians, and I work with different producers. So I’ve never been a producer… But I love working with other people. It’s like when you’re in a band and everybody can focus on something that they’re really good at.”

Colette reveals a certain homesickness when mentioning that her residency at Chicago’s Smart Bar is her favorite gig to play. Still, she’s glad for the lessons she picked up in her hometown. “Chicago DJs are really into blending,” she says. “It’s not so much about cutting song to song, even though I think that’s just as important to do as well. I don’t plan out my sets, so sometimes I’ll mix in a record that’s not in key, and that to me sounds really awful, so I’ll want to cut out of it very quickly. There’s something about blending two songs for a lengthy period of time that Chicago DJs are known for all around the world, and that’s what makes them so sought-after—because that’s really what DJing is about. It’s not just about featuring a song. It’s about creating a new song from two other tracks and that will always be with me. Even coming out here [to L.A.], I was wondering if my style of music will ever change. And I don’t think it ever will. I think it’s too ingrained, already.”