To begin, can you tell us a little bit about how you started out and what gave you the idea to pair a live audio visual show to electronic music?
Sure. I come from a DJ producer record producer background from Brisbane, Australia and it was about four or five years ago that I went from DJing and making tracks, playing out, to wanting to integrate the visuals to what I was doing at that point. Basically the reason for that was that the technology allowed me to do it the way I wanted to do it which was really work two turn tables and a sampler and integrate what I was doing in terms of that but instead of DJing with audio I could DJ with both video and audio at the same time. And in terms of what content I was using that comes onto the screen – basically there’s no rules at all; I can use stuff from movies, tv shows, internet. There’s a lot of my own kind of illustration style stuff through the set.
Yeah I saw a bit of that in the trailer.
Nice, yeah so that’s the main thing I’m doing at the moment, that I’m kind of known for with my touring and stuff. The best advantage about doing the video sets I’ve found is that there are absolutely no rules.
And how do you pick what visuals you pair to the music; do you have sort of an idea beforehand what you want to put in or do you do it on the fly?
I usually wait for weird or stupid ideas to pop into my head at really random moments. Wether it be like I’m up really late working on music, I’m completely sleep deprived or I’ll get some idea pop into my head while I’m just watching a movie or a tv show or something on the internet and I think ‘’Ah it would be funny if this went with this” and kind of maybe juxtaposed this video with this bit of audio or visa versa. My favorite bits in the visual set at the moment are the ones I’ve come up with at weirdest times. It’s kinda like I find this funny or intriguing or I think it would be cool and the second thought is if people would like it as well as usually it’s the things I like the most that translate the best to crowds.
And who do you listen to, who do you like, who do you aspire to be like…
Ah, producers at the moment…Hudson Mohawk. Um, I don’t know. I come from a reggae background as well.
I wanted to ask you a sort of technical question. What kind of DAW do you use, what’s your favorite plug in when you’re producing and what kind of hardware do you use?
Well I come from a hardware background very much so in terms of MPC sampler, lots of analog synths, but my main PC software is Logic. I use Ableton as well. Plug in wise I don’t actually use that many plug ins because I’m more using my analog synths and either recording them straight in or recording them in and chopping them up and rearranging stuff.
So do you bring all of your equipment with you when you’re touring or do you have to sometimes adapt to the equipment other venues have that is preexisting?
I bring everything except for the two turn tables which is provided. When I’m on the road I use a lot of plug ins and stuff to make music and then when I get back to the studio I’ll finish it off with synths and stuff like that.
And how long have you been on the road so far as part of your Stimulation tour?
I’m kind of in the middle of the Australian tour so I’ve kind of come over here and then I’ll finish off the dates in Australia. I’m kind of always touring. But I’m usually back in my creative bubble in Brisbane during the week and then I head out during the weekends.
Do you have any insane tour stories you can share, any crazy things that happen when you’re on tour, missing planes…or?
Well recently on the Stimulation tour because the visual sets I do are usually themed, I do a themed set, I like random stuff coming together in a crazy way but I found it’s cool to do a themed set where stuff flows from one thing into another thing and theres some kind of theme running through it. The theme at the moment is Stimulation so it’s very raunchy, sexual, deviant but in the best possible way. Nothing too offensive or anything like that of course. But at a recent festival I found out after the show that two people were having sex after the show, in like a dark area.
What else do you have planned, aside from Dim Mak tomorrow?
I’ve already hit Amoeba because it’s about a ten minute walk…
That was going to be my next question! What did you buy at Amoeba?
I spent four hours there, bought lots of stuff. I bought the new Lone 12 inch who is a producer I really like from the UK. I bought a Mark Pritchard 12 inch. The rest was random stuff I like the covers. I look in all sections of the record store for stuff that I like.
Is it very different from the record store you worked at in Australia?
Yeah there is lot more Latin music here. I like to take advantage if there’s more of one style of music in one area. Like I’m going to India to play some shows in a couple months and I’m a huge geek on 70’s Bollywood Soundtracks.
Sampology – Live in Concert + Interview from Arts Queensland on Vimeo.
r refers to Sampology, a DJ unlike anything you’ve seen. His own brand of audio visual DJing and his Stimulation tour incorporates music as well as a visual component put together for an experience that you must see live. EdmTunes had the pleasure of sitting down with the Brisbane (do not pronounce it Bris-BAYne guys, trust me) import prior to his show at Bardot to ask him some questions about being an AV/DJ, his current tour, and much more.
To begin, can you tell us a little bit about how you started out and what gave you the idea to pair a live audio visual show to electronic music?
Sure. I come from a DJ producer record producer background from Brisbane, Australia and it was about four or five years ago that I went from DJing and making tracks, playing out, to wanting to integrate the visuals to what I was doing at that point. Basically the reason for that was that the technology allowed me to do it the way I wanted to do it which was really work two turn tables and a sampler and integrate what I was doing in terms of that but instead of DJing with audio I could DJ with both video and audio at the same time. And in terms of what content I was using that comes onto the screen – basically there’s no rules at all; I can use stuff from movies, tv shows, internet. There’s a lot of my own kind of illustration style stuff through the set.
Yeah I saw a bit of that in the trailer.
Nice, yeah so that’s the main thing I’m doing at the moment, that I’m kind of known for with my touring and stuff. The best advantage about doing the video sets I’ve found is that there are absolutely no rules.
And how do you pick what visuals you pair to the music; do you have sort of an idea beforehand what you want to put in or do you do it on the fly?
I usually wait for weird or stupid ideas to pop into my head at really random moments. Wether it be like I’m up really late working on music, I’m completely sleep deprived or I’ll get some idea pop into my head while I’m just watching a movie or a tv show or something on the internet and I think ‘’Ah it would be funny if this went with this” and kind of maybe juxtaposed this video with this bit of audio or visa versa. My favorite bits in the visual set at the moment are the ones I’ve come up with at weirdest times. It’s kinda like I find this funny or intriguing or I think it would be cool and the second thought is if people would like it as well as usually it’s the things I like the most that translate the best to crowds.
And who do you listen to, who do you like, who do you aspire to be like…
Ah, producers at the moment…Hudson Mohawk. Um, I don’t know. I come from a reggae background as well.
I wanted to ask you a sort of technical question. What kind of DAW do you use, what’s your favorite plug in when you’re producing and what kind of hardware do you use?
Well I come from a hardware background very much so in terms of MPC sampler, lots of analog synths, but my main PC software is Logic. I use Ableton as well. Plug in wise I don’t actually use that many plug ins because I’m more using my analog synths and either recording them straight in or recording them in and chopping them up and rearranging stuff.
So do you bring all of your equipment with you when you’re touring or do you have to sometimes adapt to the equipment other venues have that is preexisting?
I bring everything except for the two turn tables which is provided. When I’m on the road I use a lot of plug ins and stuff to make music and then when I get back to the studio I’ll finish it off with synths and stuff like that.
And how long have you been on the road so far as part of your Stimulation tour?
I’m kind of in the middle of the Australian tour so I’ve kind of come over here and then I’ll finish off the dates in Australia. I’m kind of always touring. But I’m usually back in my creative bubble in Brisbane during the week and then I head out during the weekends.
Do you have any insane tour stories you can share, any crazy things that happen when you’re on tour, missing planes…or?
Well recently on the Stimulation tour because the visual sets I do are usually themed, I do a themed set, I like random stuff coming together in a crazy way but I found it’s cool to do a themed set where stuff flows from one thing into another thing and theres some kind of theme running through it. The theme at the moment is Stimulation so it’s very raunchy, sexual, deviant but in the best possible way. Nothing too offensive or anything like that of course. But at a recent festival I found out after the show that two people were having sex after the show, in like a dark area.
What else do you have planned, aside from Dim Mak tomorrow?
I’ve already hit Amoeba because it’s about a ten minute walk…
That was going to be my next question! What did you buy at Amoeba?
I spent four hours there, bought lots of stuff. I bought the new Lone 12 inch who is a producer I really like from the UK. I bought a Mark Pritchard 12 inch. The rest was random stuff I like the covers. I look in all sections of the record store for stuff that I like.
Is it very different from the record store you worked at in Australia?
Yeah there is lot more Latin music here. I like to take advantage if there’s more of one style of music in one area. Like I’m going to India to play some shows in a couple months and I’m a huge geek on 70’s Bollywood Soundtracks.
Sampology – Live in Concert + Interview from Arts Queensland on Vimeo.
