Posted date: January 2007
What’s Old Is New Again; What’s New Is Interference
Interview by: Marla Warrington
In an industry dominated by males, Sandra Collins is the DJ’s DJ. Her trance and progressive house sets have made her the toast of clubland, from her beginnings DJing in Phoenix in 1989 to her rise on the LA scene through the ‘90s, leading to her international status as one of the world’s top DJs. All the while her sound has been described as refined, delicate and beautiful; demonstrating carefully crafted and well executed sets on her non-stop tour schedule. Sandra Collins continues to leave her mark, now by teaming up with VJ Vello Virkhaus for their Interference audio visual show. Onbeat had a chance to sit down with Sandra and Vello, during a recent stop in Miami.
Onbeat: How has dance music changed since your experiences back in the day?
Sandra Collins: Well, I’ve been spinning since ‘86 or ’87 and I’ve actually watched everything come right back around. It’s weird because it’s kind of like when your mom tells you, “you’re wearing something that I used to wear when I was your age.” It’s like that now but with music. I have actually seen it come full circle from the acid house days - it’s definitely a progression. They didn’t bring back the original sound, but they started remixing the ‘90’s music and adding more techno to it.
I heard that things come around in twenty years cycles.
Exactly, I’ve been DJing for just about twenty years now. I started when I was seventeen.
You have been recognized around the world for your artistic gift as a DJ. Can you please tell Onbeat about your newly incorporated visuals? How is the VJ an extension of the DJ?
A decade and a half of watching a DJ play music is fun, especially if you do this after hours and in little ghetto places. I love to listen to music like that, but as far as the shows go, there was definitely a need for something bigger. I watched Rabbit in the Moon play Ultra every year and always thought “that is exactly what I want to be doing.” It just took me telling Vello “You are playing with me on May 7th” and then I knew that I was kind of bound to it. I think a lot of people are heading in that direction. Vello definitely set a lot of standards in different countries around the world. Once he brings a show in, the promoters are going out buying half a million dollar LED screens. People are very excited.
I’ve seen quite a few shows and it seems lately that visuals play a large factor in making an ordinary show a much more memorable experience.
We are not going to become a live band. [laughs] We can only justify our payment by making something that great.
How was the concept of your Interference Live Visual Show conceived?
I really like doing random shows but I’ve been touring for so long that I thought it be a lot better if we had some kind of name. The name “Interference” almost sounds negative, but it’s exactly what we are doing. We wanted to have a name but I didn’t want to go under my name and Vello to go under his, instead together as something else, it just made sense.
We are just now coming up with tour concepts. So we tour for three months and then not tour for a while. Kinda like a Cirque du Soleil. So there’s a reason for touring instead of just random shows, because that is just going to run us into the ground and could go for another twenty or thirty years.
How involved are you in the Content Creation aspect?
It’s funny because I caught myself in front of Final Cut Pro the other day when Vello was teaching me how to log and capture material. I suddenly thought to myself, “wait a minute,I don’t even do this with Logic or any other music software that I work with, and should I be doing this?”
I feel that it’s pretty much I get out of it what I put into it. Vello is open to all my creative input as well as if I didn’t like something and vise versa. He also play’s a lot of audio; he used the Korg KAOSS Pad, which is live audio. For me to DJ for twenty years and to now let somebody - who never really used live audio before - jump right in without me being controlling, well let’s just say that we have been learning by trial and error. He’ll have all the sound running through this little box and I’ll ask him, “Hmm…are you sure we should be putting this Funktion One system through this little box? After two shows, we realized that it wasn’t really what we should have been doing, but we didn’t know what was going to work until it is actually up on the screens.
Where do you get your ideas for images and also do you synchronize the music to the visuals?
We take each song and get an image of what it may seem like. Sometimes it’s a show all together and not each song individually. The show all together is an idea as well. What was the second part of the questions? [laughs]
How do you synchronize the music to the visuals?
We use the DVD turntables by Pioneer - that’s the base player. In which every track that we put into those players is a video, so that’s one aspect. Vello also has a few more layers, maybe five or more. There are no limits if we have enough power. Vello is doing all that manually; a lot of things are triggered through…[turns to Vello] what would you call as far as the audio interacting with some of your programs?
Vello Virkhaus: Oh the Modul8 takes input as well as the Edirol’s CG-8 Visual Synthesizer - it also takes audio input.
SC: There is also like a virtual….
VV: Yeah the KAOSS Pad.
SC: No, not the KAOSS Pad, the CG-8.
VV: That one is totally generated.
SC: That’s kind of crazy. We also like to create tracks that have beats going to one thing and every little sound is attached to a visual.
What challenges have arisen in doing this VJ DJ show?
SC: I’ll tell ya, every challenge is a new challenge to me. When I was touring as a DJ, I would fly the day of, unless it’s far - then I would fly in the day before to try and relax from jet lag. Now, if we are traveling far, it’s two days before. And if it’s domestic, sometimes a day before. With sometimes even up to nine hours of set up. Where before it never used to take that long for sound check.
Sometimes I don’t even get to the sound check. Vello has been very helpful in doing some of these things by himself, and then of course I’ll come along and jump in. Sometimes it runs into the show performance time and people are starting to come inside of the club and I had just got off the plane. As far as the work goes, it’s trying to not only listen but to visualize and hear and try and come up with something that we think is going to be great as far as presentation. We also carry cargo, a lot of cargo.
What techniques do you integrate into your live performances?
I’m using Pioneer’s whole setup. Their DJM800 mixer, DVJ1000 and 2 Edirol Video Switchers. Pioneer and Edirol are considered prime and KORG too, because the KAOSS Pad has become helpful with Vello doing the audio.
What is your vision in uniting the universal platform of visuals and music?
I believe that from the beginning I was never afraid to share the stage and collaborate. I know that in the past they tried to make some video art and art movement but I don’t know if it has really stuck. I really think that this is the perfect time, because VJs are doing the same thing, but they are stuck in some corner and I absolutely think that is ridiculous.
I think every DJ has a choice as to what they have on their stage. I think it is awesome to collaborate because I don’t think a lot of VJs get a chance to tour or even get paid what they are worth. Unless there is a DJ that makes the money and can have a say as far as having the VJ on their stage, the VJs not going to get those things because that’s just the way that it has been.
Do you have a message that you would like to share with inspiring artist interested in starting out in the visual music industry?
Have the VJs get more content. The DJ’s can always go and get other people’s records but sometimes the VJs do not have enough material. Unless you have an animation studio or something like that, it’s hard to do this. Maybe all the VJs can put something out there that is available to other VJs, because you run out of material really quick sometimes.
If I had limited music, I would think “oh no, what do I play now?” As an artist, when you get tired of playing or performing the same thing over and over you can feel it, you feel blah. I think we should create something more media friendly as well as put more content out there. Also know that you are worth more than what anyone is offering. I’ve seen it happen time and time again where there will always be someone out there that will do it for less. So to the guy that is doing that, I say “Stop it!”
For more information visit : www.sandracollins.com
