SlamCast

Welcome to SlamCast, where your hosts Neil and Brea chat with creatives about their process and how they navigate the grind of promoting themselves. In this episode of Slamcast, we sit down with Mike Rat, a bass music producer, DJ, and instructor at Slam Academy. Mike shares how he found his way into the Slam Academy community. From witnessing a performer lose themselves in the music, Mike was inspired to create his own electric sounds and samplers, eventually discovering his passion for teaching through private lessons. Teaching, for him, feels sacred and has become a significant part of his life, especially as the in-person Ableton instructor at Slam Academy, where each class takes on its own unique life.

Mike also opens up about his personal journey, including learning about his birth family's creative roots after being adopted and how moving to Minneapolis quickly led to shows and opportunities. We discuss the challenges of self-promotion for talented individuals, the supportive, community-driven music scene in the Twin Cities, and the incredible sober community that has helped Mike enjoy more shows and channel his creativity into his music. He shares insights on the importance of consistency, habitual practice, and collaboration, including his new project "Skavi," which embraces the spirit of teamwork. Don't miss this deep dive into the mind of an inspiring artist and teacher.

Welcome to SlamCast, where your hosts Neil and Brea chat with creatives about their process and how they navigate the grind of promoting themselves. This episode features Virtual Riot, a music producer and YouTuber, who shares his journey from moving to Minneapolis to teaching advanced music production classes, all while navigating sobriety. We explore his beginnings on YouTube, the serendipitous gig that boosted his career, and his rise in the electronic music scene through EPs, collaborations, and remixes.

Virtual Riot opens up about the importance of falling in love with your craft, the role of vulnerability in connecting with fans, and his approach to creating and finishing tracks. From childhood ghost hunting videos to playing piano at age six, he reflects on the diverse inspirations that shaped his artistry. Tune in to hear about his passion for video animation and how it enhances his live shows. Don't miss this insightful conversation filled with personal anecdotes and valuable advice for any creative.

Welcome to SlamCast, where your hosts Neil and Brea chat with creatives about their process and how they navigate the grind of promoting themselves. This week they sit down with Lady Midnight, an electro RnB artist, performer, and educator.

On this episode of SlamCast, we begin with Lady Midnight taking us through her upbringing around salsa and compas music. These genres were very formative for young Midnight. She grew up surrounded by a lot of music and received ample support for her artistic endeavors. Despite the challenges of being a female in the music industry, Lady Midnight is determined to become more self-sufficient by learning Ableton Live here at Slam Academy.

Her most recent project is centered around water. Midnight spent a month in Costa Rica recording water sounds and footage for her upcoming project. Lady Midnight expresses her passion for using her voice to be a protector of water. “Without water, there is no life,” says Midnight. With her recordings and connections made around water, there is no stopping the force that is Lady Midnight. Make sure to watch the full video to soak in all of her wisdom and passion.

Welcome to SlamCast, where your hosts Neil and Brea chat with creatives about their process and how they navigate the grind of promoting themselves. This week they sit down with Mickey Breeze, a highly accomplished DJ, artist, and educator.

We get into the origin story of Breeze to learn how his family support and their background led him to being a DJ at the age of 10. We chat about what keeps him motivated as an independent artist.

We also get behind the scene tips about Breeze’s performance setup. It’s a mixture between Ableton and Serato. In a seamless combination of both of these softwares he uses Rane Twelve turn tables with a 72 mixer to send digital signals to his computer. He also incorporates a Midi Fighter 64 using midi clips from Ableton.

Lastly, Mickey Breeze gives us his top tips and tricks to be a “successful” artist on social media and in real life. He tells the audience to expose as much of the process as you can. People want the whole package. Listen to the full episode to find out more!

Welcome to SlamCast, where your hosts Neil and Brea chat with creatives about their process and how they navigate the grind of promoting themselves. This week they sit down with Stefon Bionik Taylor. He is a composer, producer, & multi-instrumentalist from the Twin Cities who strives to contribute to the community through creation, collaboration, and teaching.

Like the part-human, part-machine allusions of his nickname, Bionik is at one in both acoustic and electronic realms. Bionik has composed, arranged, and collaborated on countless records with classic and contemporary artists ranging from Lizzo to Phil Collins.

In this episode of SlamCast, Bionik gives us a run down of his start into music production in the Early 90’s. We get into his inspiration to switch from Pro Tools to Ableton production and how it lead him to Slam Academy. We talk about his career as a whole and how creativity comes in seasons. Following these cycles in your own growth is a crucial part to enjoying the process and flowing naturally through it. We also talk about the progression of technology and promotion. Bionik’s key advice is to never get stuck in one lane. Always evolve & put your work out there for people to hear. You’ll be happy you’ve left yourself a trail of progress breadcrumbs for future you to look back on.

Welcome to the first episode of Slamcast, where your hosts Neil and Brea chat with creatives about their process and how they navigate the grind of promoting themselves. This week they sit down with James Patrick, the owner and co-founder of Slam Academy.  He is also a sound artist, music producer, and educator.  He has been creating original electronic music and preforming live since the 1990s.

We get into the background story of Slam Academy and how it’s success in the industry helps foster growth for musicians at any stage of their career. Slam Academy was made for playing and having fun. JP believes this is the fastest way to growth and “success”. We also dive into sound system culture and how connecting with humans on a vibrational level is so essential to relationships. We discuss the connection to musicians and people on some sort of spectrum. Slam Academy has helped countless non-traditional learners find their own journey down a non-traditional path. We chat about finding happiness alongside of the “grind” and how important it is to find your third space. For majority of the staff & students at Slam, this third space is music.

Welcome to Slam cast where hosts Neil and Brea chat with creatives about their process and how they navigate the grind of promoting themselves. Slamcast is produced at Slam Academy, an online and in person music production school based in Minneapolis Minnesota. Let’s get into it.