Q01. How did you become interested or involved in writing music / DJing?:
I've always been interested in music. I think I had three piano lessons and that was enough, I hated it! I much preferred experimenting on my own with piano. My first experience with synths was with a Roland JX3P and an old analogue mono synth. The sounds amazed me, I would just sit and press buttons and twiddle knobs for hours. I've had a passion for computers since my introduction to them when I was about 10, so it was kind of natural to merge music and computing together. I had bought an old Amiga 2000 second hand to do graphics with and discovered that there was a sequencer/sampler program on the hard drive as well. I started using that until I got into midi, soon after which I bought a PC and it's all gone on from there. My older brother has always been musical too, which was definitely influential.

Q02. How would you describe your style of writing music / musical policy?:
I always start an idea with beats. Getting those right by themselves is really important to me, beats have to be able to work on their own. I'll play with different patterns and juggle hits around until all they all sit well with each other. Using mathematical rules on beats can yield interesting results, experimentation with hit placement and velocity creates interesting rhythms that can kind of roll over each other.
After beats I'll start working on bass, getting something solid down with a sound I like, then working on variations of the main line. Once beats and bass are done, I start considering lead sounds and by this stage I'm beginning to get a feel for where the track is going and the vibe of it. I also start thinking of how I'm going to use these sounds - what I start with, introduce, go into/out of, how sounds will 'talk' to each other and how I want the track as a whole to sound and feel.
Sampling and previewing sounds takes about 80% of my production time. 10% would be coming up with basslines, leads, etc. and 10% would be hard disk recording/mixing. Finding the right sounds is most important. When selecting sounds I consider texture, frequency range, brightness and contrast.

Q03. Any favourite artists, influential DJs or must-have labels?:
It's difficult to pin one person down and and say 'They're my favourite artist'. I like most of the Reprazent stuff, Guidance Records, Wicked Beats Sound System, Luke Slater, Freq Nasty, LTJ Bukem, Blueboy, Photek, Thievery Corporation, Curtis Mayfield among heaps of others.

Q04. Want to name-drop any other peoples' names???:
Really helpful people musically? Lo-Key Fu and Jase From Outta Space - two good friends of mine. Paul Gamblin who dj's here in Perth has always been supportive, too. Big respect to him. Also Audio Cephlon, Smoulder, B-Jam, Sardi, Krank, Greg Packer, Echoic, Static, The Sirius Project, Elemental - all quality Perth producers as well as everyone else too numerous to mention.

Q05. Where can we see or listen to you playing?:
Every now and then I'll do a live set somewhere, but not that often. My most recent tracks can be heard or downloaded from www.mp3.com/scope1 which is my website. I get rotation on RTR-FM, a Perth community radio station which supports underground music.

Q06. What excites you now?:
Slower, clean cut breakbeat made from fresh, tight drum sounds and quite minimal in content. I don't know what it's called but it's really focused. Literally every sound has kind of like a function, there's nothing extraneous except for the occasional vocal going into a breakdown.

Q08. Which directions do you think your style of music will take in the future?:
The one thing that will be certain about dance music is that it will always be made for the dancefloor. It seems to be mostly accidents that end up spawning new sounds and genres, which is exciting because it means it can't be predicted. Who can predict the result of an accident? The constant flow of new equipment and technology will I think continue to play a part in how and what is made. Elements of different styles will continue to be fused together to create new styles.