RBMA Takeover at Studio 301: Studio Time with Nina Las Vegas

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. That's cool! We get it :)
You can support us by sharing this story or following us on Facebook.

Back to Top

RBMA Takeover at Studio 301: Studio Time with Nina Las Vegas

[Vic Mensa and Nina Las Vegas in the studio – photo by Life Without Andy]

Part of the beauty of the RBMA takeover at Studio 301 is the conversion of creatives, artists and generally funky people. Following a launch with a host of talent from last year’s academy – RBMA has opened the doors of 301 for collaboration mayhem. With some of the finest Australian and global artists jamming out from studio to studio – day 2 of the takeover seemed to be going strong.

Taking the afternoon to check in on the studios, we ran into Australia’s most esteemed dance music personality Nina Las Vegas. Having just spent the day working on tracks with Melbourne producer Swick, we found her sharing her sounds and having a good old chat with American rap superstar Vic Mensa. Standard.

We managed to have a quick sit down with Nina in between her insane engagements to talk about her involvement with RBMA, collaborating and the situation of Australian dance music on the global spectrum.

RBMA: So tell us about what you’ve been working on today?

NLV: Me and Swick and Lewis, who was in RBMA last year, have been here today. Swick and I want to finish our tracks. We usually work in our own studios –  we have one in my bedroom and one in his garage – so just to have different speakers is a plus. Today we got tracks ready for remaster so we got a lot done. The studio has a lot of synths so we kind of went a bit ham recording sounds – enough for about 8 songs….

RBMA: That’s insane! So how did you get introduced to the RBMA?

NLV: Well being a DJ and being in music you just know that Red Bull Music Academy– it’s become bigger than the brand, it is the brand. When you look at who’s doing it each year – and then when I started making more music and not just curating stuff I started reading the profiles of every act on the academy bill – watching the lectures – reading more about it. Its hard to avoid.

RBMA: Do you have a favourite lecture?

NLV: I’m in a really lucky position where I get to have a lot of discussions with artists who come through via Triple J. I loved a few of the Japan ones. I knew this girl called Laura Martin who presented a lot of different lectures so I was kind of watching her as a journalist. She interviewed Fatima and it was incredible.

RBMA: So how did you find these guys t work with?

NLV: Danny (Swick) has been making music for years and years and I’ve been playing it. So when I started doing more stuff I just wanted to do it with someone. It’s hard to do it by yourself especially if you’re new to it – it takes years sitting there just going over the same noise. I’m used to it in a mix sense and in a listening sense – but sitting at your computer all day it’s just about pushing yourself to find new sounds. So I wanted someone to do it with. He was making really cool shit and I reached out. We had a session together about a year ago – about 6 months ago and we’ve been making music together since then.  So we’ll finish this EP then do our own thing but write together. Maybe Lewis will be involved with that aswell and we can work off each other- it’s so much easier to treat it like a band situation.

RBMA: Where do you see the entire project going?

NLV: I have to go to America in march and then Europe in april. Danny has an EP coming out in February. I just wanna keep writing and then juggle radio and just keep prioritising so it. Stuff like this with space and time – you have to set it aside. So that’s something great about RBMA because you clear the time aside and say ‘I have to do this’. With multitasking you say I have to use this day for that and this day for that.

RBMA: On the topic of travelling and having your stature in the community – how do you see Australian dance music on the global spectrum?

NLV: Europe started it, then Australia started getting into it around the same time that America got into it. I think we’re on the same tip as America – we do cooler stuff because we have a lot of distance from the world. I think that we’re here, we’re noticed but maybe need to move more forward. I don’t want people to relax and think that we’ve made it because there’s so much more to explore. America wants to sound beatsy or whatever but they’re always a little bit behind. There’s a real high right now but everyone has to continue to work on it. There’s more people in America but the minorities are smaller – there’s more of a movement in the US. I think we’re also really lucky here because we have an emphasis on Triple J and fBI, radio which you just don’t have in the states. There’s also no celebrity culture here. There’s no desire to be like famous like Katy Perry and be massive – nobody wants that and it changes stuff. We have different goals. We don’t have a Vegas – there’s no where when you can get to a point and then play for in a club for a million dollars. No matter how famous you are it’s not going to happen, which means that you can do more.

RBMA: Where do you see your personal sound amongst all of this?

NLV: I’m still kind of working out what it is but I’d say its like girly club music – its club music and I want to be able to play it. It’s trappy in a sense but I also like double time – it’s fast. I’m really into Grime at the moment.

RBMA: Is it hard to think in terms of transgressing genres?

NLV: I don’t really worry about it, You just have to be open. If you’re going to be closed minded then you’re going to rule yourself out.  If you say ‘I only make beats music’ – why would you say that? Everything’s going to change in five minutes. That’s the era. It’s not like we grew up with a disco mentality – that’s certainly not what my upbringing was. My upbringing was listening to indie bands and rap music but am I going to stick to that my whole life? No. Also I’m a DJ so I can happily say yeah my taste has changed. I just want to enjoy it and listen back to it and enjoy it.

This piece originally appeared on Red Bull AU.

Comments

Related Posts