Music producer and DJ mredrollo (Mr. Ed Rollo) started DJing in the early 2000's "amongst the thriving Sydney house party scene."
"I was putting on a lot of parties of my own and music always played a big part," he says. "But I didn’t know how to DJ. Back then I was listening to a lot of Indie Dance music like Bag Raiders, Cut Copy, Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem and slowly started to teach myself how to DJ. The only thing is I didn’t have any decks. So, my first attempts were with 1 x CDJ I’d borrowed from a friend, a PA mixer and a DVD player. It was an awful set up, where beat matching was near impossible, but I’m proud of that set up and it got the job done! It wasn’t long before I invested in a decent set of DJ equipment and started taking things a little more seriously."
"In parallel, I was introduced to Ableton Live and the wonderful world of music production," he continues. "This is where my obsession really started. It was a ‘penny-drop’ moment where I finally understood how all this music I’d been DJing over the years was made. I grew up playing drums in bands, so I knew a lot about the flow, feel and structure of music, but I didn’t know anything about the electronic side of things, so this world was really new and exciting for me. The many years to follow had me experimenting and obsessing over just what was possible with a piece of computer software. I was truly hooked!"
"In 2012 I went solo travelling around the world and ended up in Hong Kong where I spent the next 8 or 9 years living, DJing and also teaching music production. It’s in Hong Kong where I really developed as a DJ and when I decided to start taking music more seriously. This led to me self releasing my debut EP called ‘Circles’ which were 3 tracks I felt were a good entry point into the scene. It’s not always easy taking that first step to release music, but I’m glad I did."
Regarding his sound: "Someone once described my sound as 'beyond progressive,'" he says. "I kind of like that description, because it’s really not progressive, it goes further than that. My music generally falls into the Organic House genre on Beatport, which I don’t tend to agree with, and it’s not super important, but If I were to give it a genre I would say Melodic House. My music is very melodic, uplifting and can evoke some pretty serious emotions. I’ve had many messages from people telling me my music has made them cry! It’s never my intention, but I suppose that's good?? I’m always trying to further my sound into something more interesting than 'just another generic Organic track.' We have enough of that music already and it’s easy to make. I like to push myself further and go deeper to satisfy myself but ultimately to create a better track for the listener."
mredrollo's latest release is "Funkinmusic."
"My latest release ‘Funkinmusic’ is a track I’m really proud of and is my first release on All Day I Dream," he says. "I started this track at the beginning of the year and it came together after many, many hours working and weaving all the melodic elements together. It was a tirelessly long process, but really worth it. I love how the song develops and comes together for the big drop. When I first sent this track to Lee Burridge he loved it, but wanted to road test it for a weekend of gigs. It was clear from the crowd responses that the track had something special and in Lee’s words, 'It’s a bomb,'"
As for gear: "I recently moved my studio to a little beach town on the Central Coast of Australia. The studio space is small, but now all under the same roof as my home. I have a couple of CDJ2000s and a DJM900NXS. They’re great to have in the studio for testing out new tracks in DJ sets and also to practice. I don’t perform nearly as much as I used to, so practise is key, but that’s mostly due to the fact that I’ve been focussed on writing music more than anything."
"My main set up is Ableton Live with a few nice hardware synths. The moog Mother 32, moog Slim Phatty and the Korg Minilogue XD. I also have the Ableton Push 3 at the center which is great for jamming and controlling Live. I mix and master entirely in headphones as it seems to garner the greatest results. My go to are the AIAIAI TMA-2 Studio."
Looking ahead, mredrollo has plenty planned for the coming months.
I’ve just wrapped up a remix for Anonimat and am currently working on a remix for Raw Main," he says. "I also have collaborations in the pipeline with Double Touch, Nathan Katz, Artic White and Obbie. There are also a couple of EPs I haven’t finished, which I’d like to release next year, so let’s just say I’m pretty busy at the moment! In November I’ll be heading across the Tasman for my debut in New Zealand. As an Australian with New Zealand parents, I have a lot of ties to NZ so I’m pretty excited for this one."
