Rana Sobhany: iPad DJ Interview Part Three

Last Sunday I traveled to London to meet Rana Sobhany who has risen to fame recently for being the “iPad DJ”.

To listen to the first part of the interview click here

To listen to the second part of the interview click here

This is the third part of my interview with her.

In this section of the interview we talked about:

• Rana’s favorite bands and music
• How she sources music for her iPad DJ’ing

Rana: My favorite band is the Police. Andy Summers is like a god to me. At that moment when I was getting into rock music and understanding who I was as a person at that age, I also picked up guitar.

So that was a really important part of my life. Around 16 years old I had finished high school already, I had graduated very early.

Next to my university was a guitar center where I would go every day at 8pm because it closed at 9pm. I’d go in for an hour, I would play with all the gear and look around everywhere.

At 9pm when the store closed I would do a barter with the management and say “I know you guys don’t like cleaning and merchandising, I will help you with those things if you teach me ProTools and Reason”.

So that’s how I got into production. I was on a Mac, I was using Logic and Protools. I had my little M-Box and I took it everywhere.

During my college courses I would sit in class in some course I wasn’t interested in and I would secretly be making music.

What happened then was that I finished school and I started working in technology and it just never really came up.

However I always had subscriptions to music magazines, I have always had a studio in my house and I am really geeky when it comes to music technology.

I love synthesizers and I love guitars.

When I was younger I used to build guitars with a friend, it’s just something I have always had a passion for.

So when I start doing the iPad DJ’ing, people were like “That’s random”. It’s like “No, not really I have been doing this for most of my life.”

Josh: When you were younger what was the definitive music you were listening to?

Rana: It’s split between two camps, 80s music and emo music. Each had a really significant and profound impact on what music I like now.

I listened to The Police, Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears. Those bands were really impactful.

If you think about it, in the 90s and early 2000s that was older music.

So I could listen to full discographies, that’s something I think is really unique as a teenager to be able to discover a band you love and then discover 20 years of their music.

Also, this is something I don’t think I have ever admitted to. I love listening to pop music.

I don’t buy the records and listen to them at home, but I can listen to the radio for like 24 hours straight.

There is just something so fascinating, when I listen to music on the radio it’s such a social commentary. That’s how I look at it, it’s not because I enjoy the music necessarily.

It’s just that I think there is something really important about understanding what the commercial audience wants.

It’s more like positioning, positioning your music to make it consumable by the audience. Even if you aren’t going to be played on the radio, I think that is something musicians kind of lose sometimes.

You still have to make music that people are happy to embrace and you can learn from pop.

I am not saying emulate it but you can definitely pull some of those ideas. We call it in technology “best practices”.

So that was then. Now I listen to a lot of avantgarde, industrial rock and electronic music.

Josh: Wow, there was me thinking I had an eclectic mix of music!

So it is interesting that in the initial video you did with Robert Scoble, you mentioned you were using other people’s songs. Where were you finding them from?

Rana: In the beginning every single thing I was doing was through an iPad app. For instance in Looptastic someone else preloaded those loops into the app, it wasn’t my music.

It was my manipulation.

What happened was there was a point about four months ago, I had been doing it for two months and realizing I wasn’t connecting with the audience.

I realized that it was the content that they couldn’t connect with. I made a conscious effort to start incorporating more of a DJ element into it, where it was a vocal sample from a pop song or I used JayZ drums.

When you are creating your own stuff if people aren’t familiar with the music, it’s a huge barrier to entry.

Josh: It’s interesting really that this is so readily available to anyone. It’s not as though it is just you who has these exclusive deals to use these samples.

Rana: Exactly! That is the one thing that  I am so passionate about.

You know there a lot of people out there who are like “We don’t like this, this is not that impressive.”

I am not trying to say I am the best musician on planet earth.

I am just trying to say there are loads of people who would love to try making music and have always felt like it was out of reach.

It’s not. There are 120 million “i” devices out there. Anybody can download an app and learn how to play an instrument.

That’s something that somebody needs to be talking about.

I am trying to be an evangelist for this idea,. I have always felt that if I built an app someone could easily “You are only doing this iPad stuff because you are trying to make a buck”.

That’s not it. I just really believe in the space and I really want to demonstrate the technology.

That’s why you will notice in all the videos I have done I have been so transparent about exactly what I am doing. I am not keeping it proprietary because that doesn’t help anybody.

Here’s a case study that I like to reference.

My niece is 12 and music programs in schools all over the world are getting cut because of budgetary restrictions.

What happens is I get worried. When I was 8 I had an amazing music program that I was involved in. My elementary school wasn’t even a music school.

I just worry about this next generation coming up.

If the only people that are able to play music are the ones whose parents can afford to put them in lessons, I just think that is going to be really horrible for everyone.

So if there is a way where you can take these tablet computers and rather then buying a laptop where you have a mouse input, you get a touchscreen computer and it becomes your word processor, your book reader and your piano app.

Why can’t you learn basic music theory with the app and then move it into advanced music if you like it.

Rather then going and buying a $400 violin and then realizing you don’t even like it.

To listen to the final part of this interview click here.