three updates this month, damn I’m getting busy :p Here’s my latest chart & also an interview I did for inthemix.

Stuart McKeown July Chart (in no particular order)

Gurtz - Sum
Bond & Blomme - Control Your Soul
Someone Else & Mistake - No Catfish
Boris Brejcha - White Snake
David K - Boul De Nerf
Gurtz - Nagoya
JPLS - Green (Skoozbot Remix)
Lee Curtiss - Trip To The Woodshed
Martin Buttrich - Well Done
Neyen - Mirror Maze (Soz Adams Remix)
P.Toile - Return of the Birds (Format B Baltimore Remix)
Gui Boratto - Atol (Hardfloor Remix)
Paul Ritch - Murder
Sweet N Candy - Act Up
Chaim - Genesis
Robert Babicz - Sin
Sarah Goldfarb - Sport Billy
Polder - Strange Ways

Given the Teutonic nature of your sound, how is it that you’ve ended up in Melbourne rather than Berlin, as seems the on-going trend?

I’d always loved darker sounds, initially I was drawn to Melbourne by the talents of guys like Gab Oliver and the number of consistent releases those guys were putting out on the Zero Tolerance label. Melbourne feels like home for me now. Initially most of the events I attended were on the progressive tip, but guys like Gavin Keitel and Lance Harrison pioneered the more German techy sound and the rest is history.

Has the apparent diversity of the Melbourne dance music scene served to influence your development as a DJ and producer?

Melbourne has such a wide range of musical talent. I feel there’s much less production coming out of the city than what it’s initially renowned for. With production I’d never ever tried to copy any particular artist, and since I wasn’t musically trained the process of learning was a bit of trial and error. I normally get out to events almost every weekend, so that helps me get a feel for what works on the dancefloor as well as network and talk shop with some of the more well known producers.

Do you take a more traditional approach to DJing, preferring to use the time proven decks and FX combination, or do you prefer the openness of a laptop based sequencing setup ala Ableton?

I’ve always been against the idea of sequencing an entire mix on Ableton before a show, unless it’s your own material. It’s like doing a live mix then recording it to a CD. I guess the downside to approaching mixes from that perspective is that you’re already trying to guess the mood of the room and what they want to hear without really being there. Whereas if you’re composing the mix on the fly you can really react to the crowd and what they want to hear.

What are your thoughts on the obsessive, borderline puritanical vinyl DJs that are becoming increasingly vocal in defence of their chosen medium?

There’s always going to be purists in any area. I’ve never really come across many that are overly obsessive with vinyl, although each to their own, as long as they play good music I don’t care how they do it. I used to spend a lot of cash on vinyl, to get all the new releases quicker than anyone else. My credit card is now a good bit lighter that I buy most of my tunes on Beatport.

The label you’re released on, Proton, has been gaining huge momentum for some time now with a string of fantastic releases. How did you come to be involved with the label?

The Proton guys are fantastic, I’ve known Jason there since about 2004 when I did a featured artist mix – that mix also helped me meet guys like Dean Milson in Melbourne. Initially I entered the Digital Witchcraft – Fingerpaint competition with my housemate Michael Napora and I came third. Darius Bassiray and I then entered the Blake Jarrell – Okoboji competition and won, after that it was only natural that we’d both want releases to be on Proton to take advantage of not only their listeners but the exposure the Radio Station has.

I’ve noticed that you release a podcast in addition to previous internet radio shows with Proton. Is the ‘Stucast’ better or more effective exposure for you than radio and how does programming for both differ?

Since I release the shows on my own site (www.stuartmckeown.com) I decided that a Stucast could be a short monthly/quarterly type podcast that would give people an idea of what I’m digging & possibly tunes that I’m working on. I’ve had some great responses from people asking me to do them more often. I’d definitely recommend branding your mixes into something that will keep the listeners coming back rather than just a once off name like Stuart McKeown – July Mix 07. There’s some great software for interfaces like Wordpress that allow you to integrate a podcast and stream it right from your website.

What is your opinion of the electro-house-centric mainstream Aussie dance music scene?

I’ve never been a fan of electro house, too many unfiltered basslines and characters from Streetfighter for me. I prefer the underground.

When you get in the studio to produce are there any toys you couldn’t live without?

Ableton Live, Battery 3 and Reaktor 5 are my token weapons of choice. Ableton for sequencing, Battery 3 to load up and mess with any samples and Reaktor to mangle the sounds.

Is there anything that usually has you gravitate towards a particular way of writing music or are you an ‘anything goes’ type in this regard?

When I start a track I normally keep it pretty loop based using Ableton’s Clip View, once I’ve build up perhaps 32 bars of a track with 6-8 different elements I’ll then start sequencing out in the track view. From here you can then start tweaking this & adding in more effects and sounds to mix things up. If I could give any tips to anyone it would be to learn your sequencer and equipment inside out, it’s real easy to get all these new effects and plugins, but if you don’t know everything about them you may be missing out on some amazing sounds.

Are there any Stuart McKeown projects in the pipeline readers ought to keep an ear out for?

I’ve got a single coming out on Proton in July called ‘I’m all Thumbs Today’ which is aptly named after one of the scenes in the movie ‘Waiting.’ Moonbeam and Limbo have both turned out some rather tasty dancefloor monsters whereas the original is much more stripped back. You can check it out on my myspace (http://www.stuartmckeown.com/myspace), and I also run a web forum (http://www.idmforums.com) that focuses on production and tune talk. That takes up a good bit of my time at the moment.