A Sit Down With DJ Ace Ventura
15:26 Apr/10/2018
Ace Ventura is one of the leading and busiest DJs & artists on the progressive and psytrance scene. His music has been topping the charts and he has been touring constantly all over the globe playing in every possible venue and headlining all major festivals. He is well known for his highly popular mixes and long massive DJ sets.
Your father is a famous Israeli composer. How much does he understand or appreciate trance music or in fact electronic dance music in general?
He really doubted the longevity of the genre when I was just getting into producing and leaving my previous work on sound post-production. But this was in the late 90s and he admitted to his mistake a few years after. He appreciates it for sure but doesnt know many names past Infected Mushroom or Skazi I reckon. What he also appreciates though, is my project name As his original family name was Ventura before he changed it to Oshrat. Sometimes I get to jam with him in the studio and make some weird electronica good times.
At what age did you start mixing or producing?
I was a DJ since a very young age, around 15 or so, playing first at birthday parties for kids, then moving up to playing in clubs for teenagers, and when i was around 19 i started to produce, together with DJ Goblin - we started a project called Children of the doc, which in time changed to Psysex. in 2006 we both split Psysex and i started working under the name Ace Ventura.
Quite a few full on artists made the transition to progressive. Do you think its quick rise in popularity lead to watered down releases from artists trying to ride the wave?
You are right on the money. At the moment progressive music is anything but. You can still find a few artists who are still loyal to the original progressive vibes but they are a handful. Like every few years we are apparently in the end of a musical cycle the genre has peaked, but can still take a while until it resets.
What does the global PsyTrance scene need more of?
More festivals! Hands down its the best part of the global scene, where everyone from everywhere comes together! Fun fun fun. Oh and more cowbell.
Do not you fear that by becoming popular, the community loses its essence?
Psytrance is unique in the electronic music scene, but it has more to offer than music. As new people discover this culture, it is natural that it becomes more popular. Personally, it does not cause me any problems that the tribe welcomes new members. I think that no matter how popular this genre may be in some countries, it will always remain underground. Psychedelic culture is something that can not please everyone, it will never reach the massive proportions of other musical genres.
What is one of your favourite tracks that you currently spinning at festivals around the globe? And what other music would be on rotation back home when Ace Ventura kicks back for some timeout?
There`s a lot of good music going around. Good stuff from Astrix, Symbolic, Zen mechanics, Ritmo, Vini Vici and so on. At home i kick back to rather chilled sounds compared, such as Tipper, Boards of Canada, Isan, Liquid stranger, Hedflux and if i wanna kick it harder i turn to Zenon records, my favourite psychedelic label.
Which track proved the toughest to complete?
There were no specific tough tracks to complete, but the track with LOUD for example, was something we started years ago and scrapped it cos we thought it wasnt good enough. Then last year, as a goodbye present for me when I moved from Israel to Switzerland, Eitan Reiter decided to open the project and give it another spin and we saw there was something in there worth exploring again, so we finished it and it became one of the hotter dancefloor tracks on the album.
Which are the artists who gave you the inspiration to make music ?
There were many, When i started to make psytrance in the end of the 90's, i was inspired by names such as Pleidians, Hallucinogen, X-dream, Oforia, Deedrah, Juno reactor, Chakra & Edi Mis, Total eclipse and the long list goes on.
When looking back across your career as producer, your style has very much evolved and matured since the early days of Psysex, do you see it evolving again anytime soon?
I hope it will keep changing otherwise people will get bored with it. I wish i had more hours in a day to make all kinds of electronic music alas, time is short. But as a perfect stranger once said, Learning equals change.
What advice would you give any aspiring DJ or producers wanting to play on the same line ups as Ace Ventura?
I remember holding a Transwave vinyl album in my hands, with an epic pic of Christoph and Dado during a live set and really wanting to be in their shoes. Next step was hanging with a pal and trying to do it ourselves. So the advice would be a simple just do it. You never know where it will take you.
https://soundcloud.com/schatsi/ace-ventura-mars-red-planet-mix-free-download
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Ace Ventura is one of the leading and busiest DJs & artists on the progressive and psytrance scene. His music has been topping the charts and he has been touring constantly all over the globe playing in every possible venue and headlining all major festivals. He is well known for his highly popular mixes and long massive DJ sets.
"The only way to stand out is to try and be original "
Your father is a famous Israeli composer. How much does he understand or appreciate trance music or in fact electronic dance music in general?
He really doubted the longevity of the genre when I was just getting into producing and leaving my previous work on sound post-production. But this was in the late 90s and he admitted to his mistake a few years after. He appreciates it for sure but doesnt know many names past Infected Mushroom or Skazi I reckon. What he also appreciates though, is my project name As his original family name was Ventura before he changed it to Oshrat. Sometimes I get to jam with him in the studio and make some weird electronica good times.
At what age did you start mixing or producing?
I was a DJ since a very young age, around 15 or so, playing first at birthday parties for kids, then moving up to playing in clubs for teenagers, and when i was around 19 i started to produce, together with DJ Goblin - we started a project called Children of the doc, which in time changed to Psysex. in 2006 we both split Psysex and i started working under the name Ace Ventura.
Quite a few full on artists made the transition to progressive. Do you think its quick rise in popularity lead to watered down releases from artists trying to ride the wave?
You are right on the money. At the moment progressive music is anything but. You can still find a few artists who are still loyal to the original progressive vibes but they are a handful. Like every few years we are apparently in the end of a musical cycle the genre has peaked, but can still take a while until it resets.
What does the global PsyTrance scene need more of?
More festivals! Hands down its the best part of the global scene, where everyone from everywhere comes together! Fun fun fun. Oh and more cowbell.
Do not you fear that by becoming popular, the community loses its essence?
Psytrance is unique in the electronic music scene, but it has more to offer than music. As new people discover this culture, it is natural that it becomes more popular. Personally, it does not cause me any problems that the tribe welcomes new members. I think that no matter how popular this genre may be in some countries, it will always remain underground. Psychedelic culture is something that can not please everyone, it will never reach the massive proportions of other musical genres.
What is one of your favourite tracks that you currently spinning at festivals around the globe? And what other music would be on rotation back home when Ace Ventura kicks back for some timeout?
There`s a lot of good music going around. Good stuff from Astrix, Symbolic, Zen mechanics, Ritmo, Vini Vici and so on. At home i kick back to rather chilled sounds compared, such as Tipper, Boards of Canada, Isan, Liquid stranger, Hedflux and if i wanna kick it harder i turn to Zenon records, my favourite psychedelic label.
Which track proved the toughest to complete?
There were no specific tough tracks to complete, but the track with LOUD for example, was something we started years ago and scrapped it cos we thought it wasnt good enough. Then last year, as a goodbye present for me when I moved from Israel to Switzerland, Eitan Reiter decided to open the project and give it another spin and we saw there was something in there worth exploring again, so we finished it and it became one of the hotter dancefloor tracks on the album.
Which are the artists who gave you the inspiration to make music ?
There were many, When i started to make psytrance in the end of the 90's, i was inspired by names such as Pleidians, Hallucinogen, X-dream, Oforia, Deedrah, Juno reactor, Chakra & Edi Mis, Total eclipse and the long list goes on.
When looking back across your career as producer, your style has very much evolved and matured since the early days of Psysex, do you see it evolving again anytime soon?
I hope it will keep changing otherwise people will get bored with it. I wish i had more hours in a day to make all kinds of electronic music alas, time is short. But as a perfect stranger once said, Learning equals change.
What advice would you give any aspiring DJ or producers wanting to play on the same line ups as Ace Ventura?
I remember holding a Transwave vinyl album in my hands, with an epic pic of Christoph and Dado during a live set and really wanting to be in their shoes. Next step was hanging with a pal and trying to do it ourselves. So the advice would be a simple just do it. You never know where it will take you.
Does the solitude of being a DJ affect you?
Not at all, i have a family at home so i don't have much free time, so when i travel i have time to watch movies and listen to music, plus i always meet friends and people from all over the world. i have no problem flying or traveling alone, its easy for me.
https://soundcloud.com/schatsi/ace-ventura-mars-red-planet-mix-free-download
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