GEARED’s JAKEB SMITH talks to Melbourne DJ/producer BEXTA. The ex-Queensland Conservatorium student is rather chirpy considering her profession and the fact that it’s still morning.

So when did you take the plunge and decide to buy the equipment to be a DJ?

Well, initially I started off producing and then it was about three years later that I started to DJ, so initially my interest was in writing the music. So my first equipment was a keyboard sound module, Cubase, from there I kind of built up a studio and added decks to the repertoire a couple of years later.

So it was a hands-on songwriter sort of approach; you have a bit of a traditional music background don’t you?

Yeah, I was classically trained and learnt piano for many years before. I was interested in producing and that sort of thing towards the end of high school, and then pursued a music technology degree after that. I was always into the technology of it and the behind-the-scenes engineering and production and that sort of thing.

So that led you to more modern sounds in that way, rather than sticking with producing classical sounds and traditional instruments?

Yeah definitely, I think one of the main reasons was I absolutely loved writing. It was the writing, the composition, that sort of thing, which I’ve always done, combined with the technology aspect, which is a great marriage of the two I think.

I found playing and listening to music myself that all of the new technology really does start to open up new ways to write music and new ways think about music, did you find that was the case?

Definitely, I mean, I think back to my first little set up and I was running a Macintosh with a 40mb hard-drive and 4mb of RAM. Now it sounds funny, it’s like: what can you store on a 40mb hard drive? And the capabilities of the programs have obviously grown and grown and grown and well now I use Ableton Live for writing, producing and doing DJ sets. Well actually I don’t play out live with the Ableton anymore, I use CDs, but I have done live shows with it.

So how do you find Live 7?

I haven’t got it yet!

So what are you running?

Umm... 6 point something, 6.7 or something?

Well, apparently if you go to their website, they will upgrade it fairly cheap if you have a legitimate version of 6.

No, yeah yeah I do! I’ve been meaning to actually.

You didn’t find it was as malleable or as easy to play, as CDJs are live?

I found as a live show it was great because you have so much flexibility as a DJ, unless you are incorporating a sort of live element to it in terms of playing other loops. If you are just playing tracks as a DJ I think its kind of boring, its boring to watch someone just standing up there with a computer, unless they have got their whole keyboards and stuff going on, it’s visual, I found I felt like a bit of a nerd. I guess vinyl is a bit more theatrical than CDs as well, in saying that. If I am going to play out with a laptop I’ll make sure I’m doing the whole thing with the keyboard, the performance rather than just DJing.

Some really theatrical mouse clicks…

Yeah I know there’s only so much you can do with a mouse isn’t there!

Some have the infrared lights in the bottom you could swing that around a bit?

Well you know the problem with that is that if the club has a strobe it sets off the infrared lights in the mouse. I found out the hard way unfortunately, I wondered what was going on, all these things had been being triggered in Ableton and I’m like what is it? I worked out it was the infrared mouse.

Would have mixed up your set a little?

Yeah it did, it did, I thought I was going crazy

You mentioned vinyl, I assume you must have started out on it, what do you find the greatest limitations of it were and which led you to digital?

I found eventually I was sourcing less and less music on vinyl, the amount that’s been pressed now compared to the music that you can download is greatly diminished with vinyl.  I’m still a fan of vinyl, I love the organic-ness of it you can see the structure of the track and the groove. CDs have little icons that show you the structures, but it’s a lot more organic. And I guess the only other thing is a record box is 20kg, which for me carrying that up a couple of flights of stairs... I find that as well with DJing with Ableton or CDs I can take the tracks in and add stuff to them and edit them and then burn them off again and manipulate them a bit more than vinyl I guess. You can’t add stuff to vinyl!

If you do add stuff to vinyl, you have to add it on the fly, every single time.

Yeah that’s it; with CDs obviously you know I’ve got samples and loops and that sort of thing that’s thrown in as well. That’s another creative way to manipulate CDs I guess.

I’ve watched people use CDJs before, they don’t seem to have much of a tactile surface.  Do they feel weird? Do they feel somewhere between turntables and a computer?

Umm... Well as long as you don’t expect them to feel like vinyl I think. Most clubs have CDJs, which I’ve gotten used to, but at first you are thinking it’s a vinyl substitute which it’s not, it is its own instrument. So after getting used to that I think you are okay.

BEXTA launches her new VIP single (feat. Amii) at The Family on Saturday March 29. Her music can be downloaded directly from www.mixologydigital.com

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