Joni Ljungqvist on The Virtual Sessions presented by The DJ Sessions 6/25/24

In this inspiring Virtual Session, Darran Bruce speaks with Swedish DJ, producer, and label owner Joni Ljungqvist about his evolution from small-town musician to internationally recognized trance and ambient artist. Starting his career as a teenager producing in his basement, Joni quickly gained recognition when Tiësto featured his track “People I Used to Know” on the iconic In Search of Sunrise 4 compilation—an honor that launched him into the global trance scene.

Joni shares stories of early collaborations with Marcus Schulz and Ferry Corsten, his foray into diverse genres including techno, house, drum and bass, and his current focus on ambient and cinematic music. He discusses Deep River, his collaborative ambient project with Jason van Wyk, and how remote production has allowed them to bridge Cape Town, Stockholm, and an Oakland-based label.

The conversation also dives into the founding of JPL Music, his independent label born during the pandemic to give him full creative control and a home for both ambient and dance productions. Joni explains the benefits of producing sample packs, the gear and software that inspire him, and the importance of maintaining authenticity over chasing trends.

With reflections on AI in music, the narrowing gap between DJs and producers, and the value of stepping back to overcome creative blocks, Joni offers practical wisdom for emerging artists. His passion for music’s emotional power—and his openness to explore new sounds—cements his reputation as a versatile and dedicated creator.

Host: Darran Bruce
Guest: Joni Ljungqvist
Location: Virtual Studios, Seattle WA & Stockholm, Sweden

Overview:
Darran Bruce talks with Swedish DJ, producer, and label owner Joni Ljungqvist about his early career break with Tiësto, his genre-crossing productions, and his journey toward creative independence.

Topics Covered:

• Early Career Breakthrough: Tiësto selects “People I Used to Know” for In Search of Sunrise 4.
• Notable Collaborations: Work with Marcus Schulz, Ferry Corsten, and Jason van Wyk.
• Deep River Project: Ambient partnership connecting South Africa, Sweden, and the U.S.
• Genre Versatility: Trance, techno, house, drum and bass, ambient, and soundtrack work.
• JPL Music: Independent label born during the pandemic for full creative freedom.
• Sample Pack Creation: Inspiring others and fueling personal creativity.
• Production Tools: Cubase, Omnisphere, freeware synth Surge, and selective hardware use.
• AI in Music: Viewing AI as a creative tool while maintaining unique artistic identity.
• Creative Resets: Stepping away from the studio to overcome blocks.
• Defining Success: Joy in making and sharing music over commercial benchmarks.

Call to Action:
Visit jpl-music.com for new releases, news, and updates.
Explore more interviews at thedjsessions.com

[Darran]
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the DJ sessions presents the virtual sessions. Hi, I’m your host Darran right now I’m sitting in the virtual studios in Seattle, Washington and coming in all the way from just outside of Stockholm, Sweden We have Joni and Joni you’re gonna have to forgive me. I’m gonna let you pronounce your last name for our DJ sessions fans Jodi, how do you pronounce your last name man?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Oh, yeah, Ljungqvist Okay Yeah, that was great. That was great.

[Darran]
Awesome. Jodi. Thank you for coming on the DJ sessions today, you know It’s a pleasure having you on board, you know, the wonders of technology and you know What happened a few years back of getting people?

you know Familiar with streaming live online and and babies basically knowing how to zoom properly Microphones and lighting has made it It’s been an advancement over here at the DJ sessions because now we can talk to people from all over the world They’re kind of ready. They’re brief. They’re a little bit more comfortable being on camera now.

So it’s awesome to have you on the show today Thank you so much for inviting me.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
It’s great.

[Darran]
Yeah, you know, we’re gonna jump right into some questions here and let our DJ sessions Fans get to know you a little better here. Yeah, what you know, tell me tell us about You know, you’re in search of sunrise tracks. What is what is that series all about?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Yes, right basically when I started Making music so I grew up listening to all these these trance trance music tracks, basically and Naturally for me DDA Tiesto out of the Netherlands was was like the thing And I started making music in my basement back when I was like 15 16 listening to Tiesto and all these Dutch guys doing it and I come from this really small town in the south of Sweden as well So there was really no one else Making music the way I was doing it there or or that I could listen to And I always loved the in search of sunrise series with DDA Tiesto I but basically grew up listening to those CDs And Yeah, when so basically When I when I was I turned 16 17 I was starting to get some traction I had some tracks signed to this like different Dutch labels Armada black holes, of course, which was Tiesto’s label at the time And And also this other small small label in Holland And I think I was 17 at the time. I did a track as L&Q called people I used to know and I Remember the label was there Misha Dutch DDA as well Called me one day and he was friends with Tiesto and he said basically that hey Tiesto wants your track for in search of sunrise for and I I think I was 17 at the time and Yeah, yeah, I can’t I was yeah, I can’t imagine like the feeling I had Yeah, it was it was amazing For someone that you know that you’ve looked up to that you’ve listened to all your life and it’s for them to put like your track Onto their mix compilation that that I loved so much. Yeah Amazing what an honor.

[Darran]
I mean, that’s just you know, obviously I go back to the days of listening to oakenfold Tiesto back, you know, my first Album first, I think electronic music album that I ever bought. Yeah, it was the global underground 007 one with Paul oakenfold.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Yeah Collection.

[Darran]
I mean those are just classic and I then I ended up buying the Sasha one Danny Danny Tandelia, you know digweed one those guys are just so such a momentous Step for me into electronic dance music. I don’t use the term EDM very often But electronic dance music or DJs, you know curated a mix and just you know to have I’d be at seven I couldn’t imagine what that would be like being 17 years old and having somebody at Tiesto just like we want your track on my Compilation, you know, or what my track is mix. What an honor.

That’s awesome. Yeah.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
No. Yeah, that was great And I remember especially like my my mom like I obviously I live with my parents at the time and they would be on me every time like hey, you know, like most kids were Finding summer jobs or whatever at the time But I I had this feeling that you know, things are gonna happen soon, hopefully And I remember telling my mom. Well, she didn’t quite understand The the impact of this but I was very happy to say that I yeah, you know, I Don’t think I need to find a summer job for now anyway and Yeah, no, no, that was a great thing Yeah In addition to you know having that kind of helped launch your career who are some of the other artists you’ve worked with in the past I Back in that back in that time.

I was on I also I also released a bunch of stuff on like Ferry Corsten’s Label at the time I did some stuff on our mod arm and label Marcus sure. I actually Marcus Schultz. What’s the one who?

Really the first track I ever got released what it was a track with a Norwegian guy called tell you when we were 16 We did a track called fanatic that he Marcus Schultz used to do this thing on electronic elements called they he had like a selection series that he put up on put out on vinyl and And he he signed our track fanatic to be released on that vinyl series Back then so that’s that’s how I actually got my my first ever signed track and I remember that then Armin also playing that track on a state of trance and I remember I was in high school back then so I I listened Yeah, I remember listening to the estate of trance episode over and over and I

[Darran]
Yeah, I couldn’t believe it, you know Marcus is coming to Seattle here in the near future I really may have run up to him and say hey Joanie says what’s up?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Yeah, yeah, definitely. No, he was a great support When I was starting up and giving me a ton of Advice as well But back then we would use the MSN chat service Yeah, so everyone was kind of talking to everyone there and yeah, no good times if you could describe your music in three words How would you describe the music you produce? Lush melodic and Yeah, the last words where it’s hard but I Would say uplifting probably or emotional emotional

[Darran]
Yeah, and now are you are you strictly just a trance music producer that your forte your genre

[Joni Ljungqvist]
No, I I actually before I started with trance music actually played in in a lot of bands and Well on a high school kind of level I play I played in a lot of bands and then I kind of fell in love with trance music, but also Like you said EDM in general techno house and I’ve I’ve always even though I basically released mostly trance music I’ve always been into producing and The maybe not in official DDN gigs, but gigs where I’ve had a bit of more freedom I’ve definitely played techno house even drum and bass sometimes And in recent times, I will also ventured into more like ambient music Soundtrack kind of music piano music Yeah When it comes to music, I’m very open-minded.

[Darran]
I Love that you do ambient. I listen to a I’ve been listening to him since I was in college back in you know When I was I found him I think in late somewhere around 2003. It’s an internet radio station that based out of San Francisco I always try to give him shouts and props when I can because there’s always my background If you know Darran you come over to the studio you’re in his car driving with him He’s gonna be listening to one internet radio station and that’s Soma FM’s groove salad out of San Francisco I don’t know if you’ve heard about him or not.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
I Haven’t but it will shake them off now.

[Darran]
Yeah, I mean, they’re one of the top live streaming downtempo ambient stations groove salad by Soma FM You’ll thank me, but they actually have Classic Soma FM, which I listened to for years and years and years So they’ll play all those classic tracks and then they have the new some of them Well, they’ll mix some of the classic tracks and then they’ll put in some of the newer downtown by ambient So and you you will talk about your own label here in a few moments. Yeah. Yeah your ambient side projects You’re working with deep river.

You’re working on this project called deep river with Jason van wick Can you tell us a little bit about that project?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Yeah, definitely. So Jason and I actually we we met through the D-trans the trans world kind of we were both signed to black hole recordings And Jason is based out of Cape Town in South Africa and Like I’ve met a lot of people but but something really clicked with Jason and we kind of kept in touch over the years And we’ve actually done a few trance releases together And he was kind of heading into he was doing kind of more soundtrack music more ambient music a lot of piano based off And sending some of his music over to me and Like me myself, I really love that music as well So I think we kind of got talking but I think originally wasn’t really an ambient music project This was something we were shipping back and forth.

It was kind of trip hop at some point and Electronica and I don’t know And we yeah, so we basically had actually a completed album That I thought was quite nice sounding Unfortunately, when we tried to demo this for our people, you know, they they had some they they weren’t always fully into it and And it was kind of stayed like that We had the name deep river already at this point and it kind of stayed like that and I don’t know we you know life goes on and then a few years later, we kind of picked it up again and I Can’t exactly remember why but we we said like what what if we make this an ambient project instead? we kind of like strip away all the we strip away all the drums all the bass there was quite a lot going on in these tracks and Then we we kind of figured like Okay, these these ones kind of work as they are and maybe these ones we need to like Take out and replace with some new music instead and I think once we had it figured out It kind of took a few months sending back and forth and then Jason knew this guy at I Think they’re bait. The label is based in Oakland And they listened to it and they were really into it and they said yeah, let’s put this out and So we got our first release actually about a year ago Last summer they put out our first volume one.

We call it because we’re Certain there’s going to be a volume 2 and at least a volume 3 as well.

[Darran]
Yes It’s it’s in progress But yeah, it might take a few years Hopefully not but some of these things do but you know with like we were mentioning earlier in the beginning of the show The ability to collaborate online obviously over the last 15 years 20 years. I mean, I Don’t know when it really I’m probably once high-speed internet became available for everyone Rather than obviously dial-up, you know, but you know even be able to video work Collaborate, you know you working with somebody you’re in you’re in Stockholm They’re in Cape Town. You’re working with a label over in and in Oakland, you know, I mean just be able to collaborate That’s what I love about, you know now, you know previously I used to have to wait for DJs producers to come to Seattle and I interview him like on a red carpet kind of basis And I make up 10 minutes with them You know when they show up to play a gig and then I get 10 minutes backstage in the green room with them And then I’m then they’re out here now using technology, you know, I can sit down with you Do an hour-long save it really get to know you find out what projects you’re up to find out who you’re working with It’s not a in-out puff piece kind of thing And you know, I just really love technology is how it’s advanced in it You can kind of do all that working together and then share it to multiple different platforms Like, you know, we use restream to share. I got I’m sharing a Facebook LinkedIn X our website our virtual reality nightclubs You’re sharing it to your site, you know to your yeah, you know, so this is really awesome Now you you work with other labels when did you decide to create your own label? Tell us about that label and and what made you want to kind of say I’m doing this on my own and do my own label Was that something that was done later on or earlier or along with all the progression of what you’ve been working on with other people?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Definitely it kind of came later on actually during the pandemic times which which is By chance kind of when I also got into making ambient music as well, so so I was kind of making I was making trance music and dance music and then I Together with my partner we moved to Bogota in Colombia 2019 yeah, and And then the pandemic hit early 2020 and you know, there was the full lockdown and and yeah everything and I had like a ton of projects Which somewhere, you know with time I kind of grew into like these different tracks and and Kind of different sounding maybe than than the usual stuff I would do And also ambient music and I had a lot of like these kind of old projects in different folders And I was kind of trying to organize them all together and listen. Is there something cohesive here? Is there something that makes sense?

and So I worked on that during the pandemic Put together some rimmed which is is the Swedish word for space And it was kind of like ambient track soundtrack II tracks that were centered on theme of space and I thought like okay, so I Say I I hadn’t really been into ambient music at that point. That was 2020 and I’ve always played with the idea. I would like love to put something physical out on my own And to do that I need a label So I decide I basically decided I talked with my partner and I said like I want to put this out I want to do it myself.

I want to design the cover and Handle everything myself. I just want to try it once and So basically, that’s how you APM music also became a label And I bet yeah, I created a cover I Sent masters to be mastered and got the pressings done in the in the EU since we were gonna move back to Sweden And then basically set up the label for it And that was the my own Ambient album then was my own first release and then I decided I might as well use this as well for Dance tracks that maybe you know, like maybe they’re not quite the same trance that I would do Normally, but now I have this own outfit that I can use something just like there’s no creative What we call like there’s no one telling me like no, maybe this is not quite what we’re looking for. It’s For for better or worse.

It’s just me kind of quality checking myself So if this you know freedom and as you said with the internet basically you have access to everything now You have all these streaming service and everything So you just felt the right thing to do. It doesn’t mean I will stop releasing music for other labels or or so, but but You know when when I feel like it. Yeah, I’m I’m definitely enjoying it I I do realize there’s a lot of work, especially with when you do a physical release.

I Have a lot of Respect and understanding of people involved in the label business After doing that but No, it’s it’s just nice to have my own outfit where I can kind of like, okay Where where does this fit or do I just want to put it up myself directly to my fat?

[Darran]
I mean, that’s great And what’s what’s the name of that label?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
It’s JPL music.

[Darran]
So Oh JBL music.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Okay, JBL hyphen music Yeah, but Not for the label name, but for the for the web website.

[Darran]
Yeah, but if people want to find out more information They can go to JPL hyphen music calm music calm right right down there. Check it out right down there Yeah, get that back in the show a little later on. Yeah, that’s awesome.

You know, are you looking to take on other artists?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
I Have thought about it. I I’m not sure. I’m not convinced yet.

If that’s something I’m gonna do I Think I’ve I feel like I need a few releases on my own still to get like under the belt, but can I I do want to get kind of a profile going with the label and When I have that kind of set down, I guess we’ll see where things go

[Darran]
So in addition to the label your ambient side projects trance stuff that you produce You know, you also do sample packs tell our DJ sessions fans about that and and why sample pants? Sample plants sample packs are really a good way to get started What’s the advantage of using sample packs rather than just you know, trying to create things on your own?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Well, I I think it’s a like I think it’s a great starting ground kind of like Some sometimes you’re really stuck. I don’t know. It’s it’s different for different people obviously how you start a track basically, but I I always found that you you can listen to a loop or You can hear this melody that kind of like, okay It doesn’t mean you have to use that exact melody to get started or or use that exact melody in your track It’s a great kind of starting creative ground, I mean, I’ve I’ve had times when I found this loop and I feel like okay, I can do something with this and You know You start building a track from it and you might even pull that very loop out in the end and that’s not

[Darran]
Yeah, yeah, yeah Listen to it

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Instead who knows who knows right? So I mean but Yeah, it’s really I and and for me as a producer myself I think it’s really inspiring to make sample packs as well because you can kind of push You can challenge yourself to do stuff that maybe you normally would not do and and maybe have more fun with it play with it a little and See where that inspiration goes And I mean, I’m really happy. Sometimes I have people Saying like hey, I really like this like this sample or Whatever and and I kind of got my creativity going with it.

And I mean Yeah for me, that’s awesome I’m really happy to hear those things and and I think it’s a win-win because I enjoy doing it and As I said, it’s it sparks creativity in me as well It’s good to challenge yourself.

[Darran]
I think yeah Well, I mean you’re out there and you know, you’re you’re sharing your knowledge with the world and helping people you know and that’s kind of a really noble cause rather than just like You create you only create for yourself to release your own stuff, but you’re helping others Inspire others to say. Oh, wow. I really like that put it in I mean, I have you ever had a time where you’ve like heard somebody’s track and go Hey, that’s my sample.

They used does that happen quite?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
I Yeah, I’m not gonna say any any titles or names, but I I know I actually I did I was asked back in the day to do a sample pack for a company basically that put out sample packs and I did some I did some samples for them and I had a Track going that I wasn’t getting anywhere with and I thought well these these kind of pieces are going to work for this sample pack and then I heard a track come out on a Label Basically, the whole track is built.

It’s basically a finished version of of the track I had going built on those samples, but I mean Hey, that’s that was that’s what the use case is for so I Don’t know. I maybe I should feel flattered that I did do something good there and you Someone was able to do like a full track from it Yeah Now, are you a hardware or software producer or both? I’ve I’ve been I would say both but as I said when I used to have a bit of hardware and we lived in Stockholm and then we moved to Colombia and Before moving I sold basically all my gear Yeah, it was just I didn’t see a point in like shipping it over there and Then you you know, yeah It was just this big project to get that done And so I kind of I got rid of all the hardware I had but I was I was to be honest Kind of in the box working With mostly software anyway, but I I am also like a synthesizer nerd. I I love getting nerdy with hardware with Jason for example I have the deep river project with we love talking about since and and new sins and old sins and And these days I do have I recently just bought a synth again Just to have some hardware, but otherwise I am completely software these days Awesome, and you know, what would be some of your favorite?

Pieces of gear and or programs that you use when you’re when you’re creating tracks and or sample packs Yeah, so I I do work in my my door is Cubase that I work in I do use Omnisphere I love Omnisphere. It’s amazing. It’s so versatile.

There’s I Don’t know there and that software There’s nothing you cannot do with omnisphere I would say And I also one of my favorite like go-to pieces of software is actually freeware So this is a tip as well. If you’re on the lookout for a for a good free synth and it’s called surge Surge Yes, and and that’s completely used to be a You used to have to actually pay for it back in the day, but it is Freeware and I use it on almost everything Okay, almost everything I do There will be something made by surge on that track as well and then as I Think for a hardware. I’m not quite as loyal.

I will do I Usually buy a synth. I test it. I use it maybe for something and then I sell it and get something else Are you I when I when I grew up?

I I used to love them There’s a synth called JP8000 by Roland which was kind of got famous for the super saw sound which is very like trance and amphemic trance and I I could never afford it. I was very young when that came out and then I did I did buy it secondhand, of course When mid 20s, I think and I kind of played with it and then I didn’t yell with it and then I got rid of it and then 10 I don’t know 5-10 years after I bought it again for some reason and then just kind of sat there and I’m Trying to force myself to love it, but I I don’t know it didn’t click I think it was you know, these things they have so much nostalgia in them as well But yeah hardware wise very unloyal But with software definitely check out search. I think only sphere. I think most people have heard of but Search, I love it.

[Darran]
Awesome. Want to take a pause here really quick and give a shout-out to I hope I say the last name Correctly, but it’s Martin Bullhawk Yes, JPL Heartside See if I can let’s see if I can do something really cool here and I can I can uh, yeah Let’s see if I could do this really quick. There’s there’s some really cool like I can go.

Oh, oh It’s not showing up. Oh, there we go. Martin.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Oh nice.

[Darran]
Give it a give it a shout out for you right there for Martin Thank you Martin for tuning in today You know, do you feel the line between DJing and producing has gotten smaller? As technology has advanced I Don’t know.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
It’s it’s it’s tough. Like I I have freedom like basically I was always the producer I was kind of moved into the DDA area by necessity or or rather that you know, you started getting noticed and You start getting bookings and then it was kind of like the way to the way to do things was to to DDA But I don’t know me maybe that’s I think it’s a hard question to To answer I do think you have the tools more available to you today to do both producing and DDA And I think I don’t think it’s very common today to be a DDA without being being a producer as well or or even the other way way around as well, so Probably they are yelling kind of Yeah, no, I do think I do think the lines are getting thinner

[Darran]
They are definitely and you mentioned earlier in the interview, you know, you started the very young age you were in bands I assume that was it. Well, do you start as early as grade school or?

You know middle school. I don’t know of how it how it works Yeah, we have we have like kindergarten through fifth grade and we have sixth grade through ninth grade Then we have you know, our sixth grade through eighth grade. Then we have high school is ninth grade through twelfth grade Where did you start and and what was your strongest?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
motivation to pursue a career in music Well, I I mean I’m gonna I’m gonna kind of go through it brief my whole life background But but I can start like I remember hearing My dad or my parents had like this synthesizer cassette like a cassette tape with synthesizer music And I was just like taking it back when I heard that and I was we’re talking now Like I was like maybe seven eight years old. I got a What is this 95 maybe So and then I got this keyboard, you know the kind of keyboard where there’s a bottom you press and it plays like this conga music or You know Yeah, exactly exactly so I got that and and that was kind of how I how I learned to to play somewhat so but Actually like making music. I Think when I was 11 or 12 There was this piece of software Made here in Sweden actually called rebirth, which was basically this fairly fairly basic but also pretty advanced like it was a 808 and a 909 like drum machines and then the 303 like the acid Two of those and that’s all you had to make music There were mods for this program as well to get access to different sounds, but we would sequence Kind of music with this when I was 11 or 12 and we would then put these projects on floppy disks Very old-school and then like come to school and we would like hey, I did this last night you want to well Maybe maybe not last night. We weren’t we weren’t allowed to stay up that late, but Kind of kind of doing this music and we would change floppy disk and then you could import the projects Into rebirth and kind of play each other’s music and that’s that’s my first like kind of proper Making dance music and Then he then he just kind of went from there and you know Then I got actually I used to listen to all kinds of like I would I would get this German happy hardcore Album compilations from like 95.

I was into that when I was early teenager And then then eventually I ended up at kind of trance music We as I said with Tiesto and and all of that stuff and then then I was just this is this is what I’m gonna do So yeah, so I I never had I don’t think I ever had like a motivator that was like I’m gonna release music and but I did actively try networking back then like I remember You would try actively to to find DDAs on on MSN To push your demos through and I would just bombard Send emails to everyone and I got reacted a lot like for two years. I got nothing but reactions Until Marcus Schultz picked that track up and then then once like the doors kind of opened And that’s the way it goes

[Darran]
Yeah, you know, I mean, it’s always funny you look back and you know, I Look back and I’ve been doing film and television production I mean people trip when I I’m turning 50 in August and When I say I’ve been producing and working with video since the age of six, you know I have 44 years of playing with video cameras Yeah started out kind of same like you did with the Casio keyboard But I was playing with my dad’s video camera that I wasn’t Yeah as a kid because it was like a thousand dollars back then Yeah, I took a thousand dollars in the 80s and looked at what it would cost now, you know It’d probably like four thousand dollars of what you know, yeah, I’m a six-year-old kid making these home movies and stuff You know, I walked right out of high school and walked into public access television and then a few years later Started producing shows the broadcast network shows and then got into podcasting got into live streaming and all that fun stuff But you know of a huge motivation for me pursuing a career This is meeting artists like yourself getting to you know, tell your story We I’ve morphed and done not a number of different genres of shows, you know Like you said you started in happy hardcore then switched in the trance and now you’re going to the ambient You’re kind of a natural progression I wonder if that’s kind of an interesting progression that you start with the harder stuff when you’re younger But then as you get older you kind of like I want that. I want the stuff. I’m gonna go kick back Bathtub it’s you and relax there’s so much going on You know if that happens Martin just chimed in again Baki and Joni Bali.

This track is still amazing. Oh That’s nice to hear.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Yeah, that’s that’s from 2006 I think so. Yeah, that’s almost 20 years ago.

[Darran]
Almost 20 years. Let’s see We’ll pop it in. So there’s there’s Martin coming in again Cool they’re awesome.

Thank you Martin for tuning in again, you know What if you could give one production insight to new producers out there? What would that what would that tip insight be one want like the top number one?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
I Think maybe this is a cliche, but yes do basically as do your own thing. I Do think I Think what When always when I myself had like kind of issues and creativity blocks and and And kind of got stuck with doing music myself it was always because I was I was too concerned comparing my own music to Someone else’s music or I was like listening on the side to how does my track sound next to this track? And I really do think just like believe in your own thing if you do this thing and it sounds good to you then do it and just Like keep pushing whatever ideas you have no matter what how weird they might seem or you know Maybe it’s not strange or weird at all.

And and and you know, sometimes that’s great as well.

[Darran]
So No, if there’s just one tip, yes, just do your thing and keep pushing for that You know, that’s that’s what I hear a lot of artists a lot of producers come to the show and say, you know Don’t follow the trends because by the time you get something out there and it’s published and other the trends are gonna shift do your own stuff and try to Rank for those genres do what you feel is good. Don’t chase the Oh Tech house is the awesome genre right now. So I’m gonna start making tech house tracks But then I’m ready to go You know progressive trance could be the style or drum and bass or dubstep could be what’s hitting hot?

So you just make it a stuff that you’re making go with that and push that out there and you know Obviously get it master You know, yeah.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Yeah. Yeah.

[Darran]
Yeah, of course make it Understand that it isn’t just about getting you know, fruity loops or Ableton or logic and making tracks, you know, you really Collaborate talk with people. I mean, I think oh Gosh, what’s his name Bob Bob of itch? Let me get his name really quick here You know, there are people that you can go online and they’ll host They will host, you know sessions where I’ll get his name in a second here You can submit your track to him and he’ll do a live stream with other people on and he’ll basically dissect your track And I’m writing some pointers and say yeah, you know This is what I think you should do.

This is what I Would recommend and give you that kind of free feedback Let me see if I can find his name here. It’s on the front of our site at the DJ sessions calm Robert It’s Robert Robert Robert came on my Robert I always pronounce his last name wrong as the Bob was it Robert Robert BAB I CZ Robert BAB I CZ Bob B C Babisa, I don’t know. I can’t pronounce.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Sorry Robert.

[Darran]
Please don’t murder me for it But you can find him on the DJ sessions calm or you can find him online. And yeah, he’s a really cool guy Been producing for decades and you know, you get that free input and network with people and you know Collaborate with other artists, you know to help Yeah, you know people don’t understand that really the entertainment game can be it’s a money game, you know It takes yeah, you really want to get out there. You want to publish?

I mean people understand you you might have to you know, you’re gonna work with the label You’re gonna get maybe a PR person depending on what you want to do Do you want to produce and put tracks out or do you want to be a DJ and get bookings? You know You got to build your name up to be something because you know You look at it and if I’m in Seattle and I want to play San Francisco What am I bringing to the table if I say go down and play in San Francisco? Am I gonna draw an audience when they got 500 DJs they can pull from?

Yeah that are local that might have 50 people they can bring and friends are gonna come to the club Why are they gonna be me or my are my socials up there? Are they up to par him? I am I getting some of the in the beat port top ten for tracks and DJs are playing my music And I’m building an accolade there, you know lots of different things that angles that when it goes into this entertainment realm and you know, I can I can empathize with other other Musicians when we’re talking about hardware, you know everything video cameras are hardware video switch Yeah, I’m almost hardware centric and there’s software I can use to do stuff with but you know Mainly, it’s a lot of hardware gear that you have to invest in and then yeah He’s got to distribute and get your name out there and market, you know Not one stuff gonna pause here for a second give a shout out to Jonas Wimmerstrom coming in and saying amazeballs Jonas give me a shout out there.

Thank you for tuning in today. Really appreciate it So, you know going back to the interview here, you know producing Dance music or even ambient music, but you I can dance to ambient music It stands synonymous to spending countless hours behind the computer Screen sculpting your beats. Where do you find your free time to stay fit?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
So Yeah, well you take here and there you make time for it’s about prioritization right like Making time for for things and I think well for me personal right now. It’s kind of like Yeah, it is a puzzle getting everything together making sure there’s enough time for Well for staying up to date for staying with the music and I Became a father as well last summer So obviously I’m I’m my great focus right now is actually being a a dad But yeah, it’s definitely about like a prioritization Making time for for things and Find the time for it.

[Darran]
Definitely Yeah, I mean even in regards to you know, when you’re sitting down You’re sitting in front of the computer view there eight hours a day You know, I had a job once I think I put on 20 pounds because I’d go down to the cafeteria If I work, but I had a desk job and I’d eat at my dad’s, you know Recently, I just dropped, you know last year this time. I weighed 187 pounds and now I dropped and I’m down to like 161 and healthy and looking people see me from a year and a half ago in their interview me like oh my god You’ve lost so much weight. Are you okay?

And I’m like, yeah Good Jonas is saying give a give us a look at those abs Joanie No, I don’t think I Used to yeah, I used to I used to do do the gym But I think I think it at least I I do have a pull-up bar I should put back up.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
So when I pass it, I’ll do a few pop Maybe that would be a way to it get it going again.

[Darran]
Yeah. Yeah. No, I I hear you I have a gym upstairs in my building and I all right or often but you know, I like it because I work from home I do everything from home office But when I get on the phone, I usually I walk around when I’m on the phone I could probably be on an hour-long conversation be walking around.

Yeah full time for that hour Yeah, but that I do that three or four times a day, you know, that’s kind of my I should track my steps and see Yeah There’s probably a workout. Yeah But you know, we have a cardio gym upstairs, it’s nice a beautiful rooftop here if you ever make my Seattle I love to love to get you on the show Um, you know, do you ever get fed up with making music and what do you do to deal with that? When you may hit a roadblock, what is your insight or what?

What do you do to kind of get re-centered?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Yeah, you know, I definitely do I Hit several times when like through since I started making music it has happened that I like kind of felt like oh I’m completely I don’t know drained with inspiration and and you can sit you can sit like and trying to force it For like an hour or two, but I really doesn’t feel natural. And so yeah, it does happen. It happens quite frequently as well and sometimes for longer periods and sometimes for shorter, but I think Basically a step away from it do something else Sometimes do something that’s not creative at all.

I don’t know go for a run take a walk read a book, you know, there’s There’s probably everyone probably has a ton of things going on in their lives as it is So, I think just stepping away from it usually helps to to kind of freshen up your mind and maybe you can come back to it or sometimes like for me it also works sometimes to I said before you shouldn’t compare yourself to to, you know, your own music to other people’s music but sometimes it also helps listening to To other people’s music or Letting someone else listen to your music and kind of give feedback Like you said before as well, like hey this worked, but how about you do this here? Or yeah, you know, there’s there’s an endless Possibility today with the internet as well to get in touch with with people So, yeah, I guess those or or make a sample pack That always works. Oh, yeah.

[Darran]
Yeah, you know, it’s it’s um, you know I think you know I know that sometimes I’ll be working on something and I’ll be so into it for three four hours Trying to figure it out and then you’re right just taking that step away doing something else making dinner Whatever come back the next day and I’ve spent 30 seconds on it. I go Whoa Yeah, you know you’re just so into it you’re focused you can’t see it yeah break you walk back and go oh Click what? You know, that’s kind of a very interesting, you know way things can happen and then help your foster your creative process Just taking that step back step away.

Yeah, definitely and up All that fun stuff, you know if you could go back 25 years and music is knowing what you know now go back 25 years of music history or go forward 50 years of music future Which way would you go and why I I think I would go

[Joni Ljungqvist]
I’m super curious about what’s what’s coming up because I think like what’s fun about the music Business and music in general is it’s it’s so ever-changing And it’s so tied to you know, you can be tied to two people but also like Culture and and what’s happening in the world? So I think I would definitely go forward 50 years Just out of curiosity to see like what are those guys doing then that we we couldn’t even dream of now As an example, I remember when I was studying and and I had a teacher say that they couldn’t even imagine like cell phones They they were think like how are you gonna like have how long is their wire gonna be for you to bring that phone? everywhere and and I think we have these limitations kind of that Makes us almost blind to To what what is possible and what can happen in the future?

So I I would love to see what’s what’s up there in 50 years

[Darran]
What’s your take on AI in the music landscape You know, I know people using for pictures and creating NFTs Yeah, it is now entering into the music landscape I’ve used it a few times for writing copy for websites or yeah I was at my mom’s house the other day and hanging out with my friend and my mom and they didn’t know much about chat GPT for and I said I typed in Make me a bio no less than a thousand words about Darran Bruce the executive producer of the DJ sessions in Seconds, it whipped out over a thousand words. Yeah me and my bio and I was like that sounds really good.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
I think Yeah, yeah What’s your take on AI and the music scene I Like I I I don’t maybe I haven’t formed My opinion were well, I would say like AI is still fairly fairly new, but it’s an exciting feel and I think I Think yeah, why not like as a tool? I think for me AI is a tool tool that that you can use to to produce or do things and I Really I I don’t have a problem with using it as a tool to achieve your goal, and if that goal is to make music or Yeah, or use it as part of your music I Don’t know. Why not?

I? I as I said, I’m not I probably haven’t like thought about this well enough but No as as a tool Yeah, why not? I mean There I mean, I’m sure back when arpeggios and sequencers and stuff came out people were like but you’re not playing this live like you you are programming and then pressing a button and it plays it for you and Yeah, so I don’t know.

I I think as a tool, I don’t see a problem with it. I think You might you might be part of what leads like the the future of music and shapes Shapes how music will be made and sound in the future.

[Darran]
So yeah Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how it comes out because you know, I was in Amsterdam the last couple years I think last year AI was kind of a big topic and you know Or maybe it was in the year before that and a lot of the people say, you know You might be able to say I want a trance. I want a trance song 132 beats per minute melodic uplifting Four and a half minutes long, you know and you know and And put that in but they say it would lack the soul of the creation, you know But as you know right now, I think chat GPT only goes back to 2021 or 22, but it’s just gonna keep getting better and better all day. Yeah You know what?

I don’t think we’re ever gonna see a Skynet kind of thing go on No, it’s it’s it’s just pulling data from the internet and aggregating it, you know, it’s not like I’m thinking it’s just pulling data in writing Yeah, a user-friendly Format with tone, you know, I’ve seen programs out there with you know, I add programs you can choose the different tones you know that you want and like you can say right that like I there was somebody said You could take AI and let’s say use physics.

For example, you say Explain to me physics as I was a third grader Okay, explain to me physics explaining physics if I was eight years old explaining physics if I was 12 years old explaining physics If I was in college You know a set first-year student in college. Okay, explain to me physics if I was a Had a master’s degree in engineering, you know, I write it all different Each of those different people, you know, so it’ll be interesting to see how music creation kind of unfolds with that I’m kind of excited for that, you know going back to the original question I’d asked you earlier about you know, you’re creating your own label during pandy, you know We’ve been talking about creating a label over here at the DJ sessions as well Some of our our DJs our resident DJs our producers, you know, and the question is is what genre do we go with? Do we only take internal submissions?

Do we you know, or do we take external submissions? You know, how does that deal look for an artist like if we put a bunch of money behind that artist? And I know this has nothing to do with a I kind of shifted back But what happens if we sign an artist and they’re AI producing music?

You know, yeah, or at least using it as the base for the music Are they like you said the arpeggio the arpeggio and the you know, those kind of tools you’re like, well You’re not really making it, you know, or you know, you have the quantize and you know, you’re switching, you know Yeah doing all that you like you’re not really doing that tweaking of the music the computers doing it for you Yeah Okay, you know, yeah, what are you I I

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Yeah, I do. I do see like the kind of Issue in that sense. I think I think what I would be.

I Think I would use it to kind of if there was a way to use it as a tool as I said to to kind of add or put stems in that you Could then use I mean For Example loops or or whatever or give you an idea to start with but I think if someone listens to my music There’s something there that kind of sounds like okay. This is the APL or this is Yoni Because he he kind of makes music that kind of sound. Oh, you know, there’s something there’s an identity to it.

That is me and I think everyone kind of Going back to the soul part that you you spoke about that there’s there’s that kind of thing in In the music and then yeah, then there’s the other Issue, of course, like if someone just uses that to As a prompt and it just spits this track back out and you send it out What happens if someone Prompted for the exact same thing and suddenly have you know, these a fairly identical tracks floating around Yeah, I don’t know.

I’m sure we will see a ton of discussions on this Yeah in the future as this becomes more and more and more of a thing as well

[Darran]
What’s interesting is you know, I was doing some research and I built a website the other day and I went to put the copy I put I Was for our silent disco company said hey write me some copy for on silent disco headsets, and it came out short I mean I was like, whoa, this is awesome because we do silent disco events and then I was researching and you know The SEO world is kind of up in arms because people are creating websites based on you know, I want to make a website I’m a this kind of business write me 500 words of copy and use my keyword once every hundred hundred and fifty words and this is what’s all about and You know, it’s the it’s out there that that Google is monitoring AI created content You know, they’re monitoring it. They’re not discounting yet, but they’re looking for is false content You know if you use chat GPT and it’s actually informational content that is true and accurate about it right now Google will not Down rank you down for doing that But if you’re posting false information or creating just junk garbage AI post Google will rank you down So the official word is Google isn’t sanctioning that right now, but there’s tools out there You can take and copy and paste the website text into a thing and go this was 100% generated by AI Or nope, this has a human element to it.

We can tell it was human I was playing around with that last week on if somebody raked my site, but I looked at me go everything in there is completely 100% accurate so with Google and this is Google stance now They might take a harder stance in the future and everyone created their websites with AI it all of a sudden You might be ranking page one and it goes who you wonder if they would be able to say Hey did AI produce that track or not?

You know, how would you know? You know that that was a track that was pretty and you like you said what happens if somebody does type in? 132 trance uplifting Soulful and it pops out a track for me, but then you do it it pops out a track for you We got almost the same track It’s like whoa What happened there, yeah Kind of make it unique But you know even if you could say make it for me in stems and then you can take stems and then alter that stems and add the Human element into it.

That would kind of be cool. I guess.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Yeah. Yeah, that’s that’s what I’m saying It’s kind of like using it as a sample pack or like just drawing inspiration or or parts from it But yeah, it’s a it’s a super interesting field Yeah, I think Now, how would you define?

[Darran]
Success as a DJ producer, but that’d be a beat more top 10 hit Sold out tour. What are your thoughts on this? It’s like when you say I’m attaining to this goal or I’ve made this many albums or that is it always ongoing and there’s always another bar to hop to or is it you know, I Think I think when I I started out that was very concerned with like I Should have this many bookings or you know Kind of like that.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
I always have a tour going or or I’m playing this many gigs and my music is always popular Maybe not like a short like a top 10 or or such in Specifically but I think as I Grew older and I continued making music. I think what I realized is you kind of go back to Why did I start making music like I kind of had that thing where I lost Which we talked about before with inspiration like where where you kind of lose your motivation or You kind of struggle to find like The enjoyment of doing it because I was finding I was doing it too much for Reasons that At the end maybe did not really click or Or so I kind of went back went back to why did I start making music because I love making music I think it’s fun making music and I love sharing the music with other people And I think that kind of took my Bar way down to to success for me is when I make a track I’m happy with that track I’m able to share with people and people enjoy it with me and Once you once you come to that kind of or that I came to that anyway when I stopped kind of Trying to be this and that I I kind of felt that okay now I enjoy Making music again. It’s fun to make music. It’s fun to be part of Part of it and then everything else like it’s kind of a bonus if a track does well DDS played great, but And I mean that’s I still have to have as well But but it doesn’t have to be it doesn’t always have to happen for me to to feel that Okay, this was a successful thing.

I did here And I think for me that that is important because that made me actually like making music again Which I I had a period when I kind of lost that and I became kind of like why why am I doing this?

[Darran]
Yeah I’ve had that burnout a number of times. I just kind of went through that myself in 2023 Where you know, I moved after living in a place for nine and a half years. I only moved half a mile away But I made myself a promise that I wasn’t gonna start doing anything till I got settled into my new place The studio was built out the office about that.

I felt comfortable. So I almost had like the first five six months of 2023 I just really wasn’t doing much because I just wanted to feel comfortable in my new place Feel I had things going which then turned into you know, a few months over the summer Time to take a break came in that you know ADE came up I love going to Amsterdam every year and networking over there kind of rekindled things again for 2024 and now I’m just getting back in the saddle of almost a year of not really go go go go go go go go and Let’s get everything back up and ramp up production get us back up to our hundred hours of content that we’re producing a month our Events that we do Interviews guest mixes all that fun stuff, you know But sometimes you just got to take that hiatus and that’s the one good thing about being your own boss when it comes to these Things, you know, nobody’s pulling your strings or saying like nobody’s telling you I mean unless you maybe are in a contract to say you have to produce four tracks a month for us and knock that out Otherwise, you’re gonna lose your contract. It’s like yeah Release what I want.

Oh, you know, yeah, I can have fun with my kid if I want to go play, you know And then take exactly and do those kind of things. I’m a foodie I like to travel so, you know It kind of benefits me that I can go to different cities and and you know find something there in the electronic music world But also take some time off if I want to and have some yeah Well, Joni, you know, we’re definitely gonna be following up with you here You know as a kind of rule of thumb on the DJ sessions We like to stay in touch with the artists and the producers and the DJs and electronic music industry professionals that come on the show We’ll follow up in here in the next six months.

Check out what you got going on It’s super excited and thank you for coming on the show Is there anything else you want to let our DJ sessions fans know about before we let you go?

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Just keep an eye out on Jpl-music.com because there’s more music coming up and I will be posting updates there.

[Darran]
Yeah down there All your socials and everything as well It does.

[Joni Ljungqvist]
Yeah.

[Darran]
Yeah, awesome Well people you heard it here right from Joni himself coming to you from stock outside of Stockholm Sweden go to Jpl-music.com for all the info deets socials new releases. Just go follow him He’s a good producer, you know, he’s backed by some of the best in the industry, you know those names I don’t even drop them go check him out. Jpl-music.com.

Thank you again for coming on the show, Joni It’s pleasure having you so much On that note don’t forget to go to our website the DJ sessions calm where you can find over 600 news stories Exclusive interviews exclusive mixes from DJs and producers and more at the DJ sessions calm All of our socials are there subscribe to the shows our podcast series and automatically download you got iTunes We got all we’re everywhere out there But the best place to go is the DJ sessions calm check out our store get some merch you buy a piece of merch You can get a guest appearance on the show ask some guest questions as well But all of that and more is at the DJ sessions calm I’m Darran coming to you from the virtual studios in Seattle, Washington And that’s Joni coming in from just outside of Stockholm Sweden For the DJ sessions and remember on the DJ sessions the music never stops