interviewmentorshipsound
“Say it with your chest.”
A conversation with a mentor, on trusting your own ear.
By iZØ·January 17, 2026·6 min
The following was reconstructed from a conversation on 10.12.25. Quotes lightly edited for length and signal.
Q
What’s the first thing you do when you open rekordbox now?
A
Delete. I deleted my whole library six months ago and I rebuild every three months. If I haven’t played it in ninety days it’s gone. What’s left is what I’ll actually play out.
“I know me and I know my music. If you have something to say — say it with your chest. And it looks like you have a lot to say.”
Q
What did that advice actually change for you?
A
I stopped trying to read the room. I started trying to transmit the room. That’s different. Reading is reactive; transmitting is generative. The set tells you what’s coming next.
Q
What’s the hardest part of the rebuild?
A
Trusting your ear after years of serving other peoples’ ears. You have to re-calibrate what a “good” set even means to you. Once that’s calibrated, everything else is easy.