Sara Simms

Sara Simms

Sara Simms captivates the world as an innovative musician, DJ, turntablist and electronic music producer. She's a multi-instrumentalist who's known for her love of music technology. Sara makes her mark in the music community by crafting diverse sets with styles ranging from pulsating techno to house. She balances technical skills with a refined musical sensibility and her approach to DJing focuses on improvisation through multi-deck mixing. Her passion for music has led her to tour through North America, Japan and Europe. Recently, she's played sets for Allen and Heath's live broadcast at the Amsterdam Dance Event, on Detroit's 313.FM and on Toronto's CTRL Room. Sara has an intriguing background as a jazz guitarist turned turntablist. She's competed in DJ battles in both Canada and the US, and was a runner in up the 'Scratch' – The Ultimate DJ Contest. Sara's DJ career began in Toronto with residencies at venues like This Is London, The Courthouse and The Ritz-Carlton. She's now focused on studio work and has founded her own label, Simmetry Sounds to release productions and collaborations. As an artist who stays on the cutting edge of new technologies, Sara has worked together with brands like Arturia, Casio, Fender, Genelec, Pioneer DJ, Mixed in Key, Moog Music Inc, Native Instruments and Roland. As a DJ, Sara has played events for legendary brands like Dior, Guess, M.A.C. Cosmetics, Victoria's Secret and Volvo. Sara's career highlights include: playing at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, opening for the Friendly Fires in Cannes, France, appearing on DJ QBert's 'Skratch University', a US tour with Melleefresh (Play Records), judging the Canadian DMC Championships, playing at AIR (Tokyo), W Hotel (Miami and Seattle) and performing at Pride Toronto.

Articles by Sara Simms

/ 163 Articles

Review: Roland DJ-707M

Review | Aug 13, 2019 by Sara Simms

In this world-first exclusive review, Sara Simms puts the new Roland DJ-707M through its paces and discovers there's lots to love in this sleek, feature-packed 4-channel Serato DJ controller.

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Review: Allen & Heath XONE:96

Review | Jul 28, 2019 by Sara Simms

Sara Simms gets hands on with the Allen and Heath XONE:96 mixer designed by DJs for DJs. But just how useful is it in the real world? Read on to find out more.

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Review: Drastic DFX Quad

Review | Aug 18, 2018 by Sara Simms

DFX Quad from Drastic Music is a multi-FX module for Ableton Live that lets you mangle and process your sound in some cool ways - and all for just $20. Sara Simms fired it up...

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Review: AudioThing Outer Space Reverb

Review | Jul 20, 2018 by Sara Simms

Buying and maintaining a hardware Roland Space Echo is little more than an expensive dream for most people. Luckily, AudioThing's Outer Space Reverb might just offer an alternative...

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Review: Denon DJ SC5000 Prime

Review | Jul 07, 2018 by Sara Simms

Denon's pro-level DJ player has a 7-inch HD display with multi-touch gestures, '¨8-inch rugged metal jog wheel and much more besides. Sara Simms put it to the test.

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Harmonic Mixing Tips For DJs & Musicians

Tutorial | Jun 16, 2018 by Sara Simms

Learning the secrets of harmonic mixing can be the key to unlocking even better DJ performances. Sara Simms explains the concept, and how to use it in practice.

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Review: DJ Tech Tools Chroma Cables

Review | May 11, 2018 by Sara Simms

The interconnects you use can be just as important as the gear at either end of them. Here, Sara Simms checks out two great-looking sets of cables - but how do they sound?

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How To Use (Almost) Any MIDI controller With NI Traktor

Tutorial | Apr 07, 2018 by Sara Simms

By creating custom MIDI maps or using a pre-mapped MIDI controller you can get great hands-on control of your DJ performances from hardware. Sara Simms shows you how to set it up.

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The Future of Electronic Music Performance

Tutorial | Mar 16, 2018 by Sara Simms

The technology and methods used to perform electronic music live have changed immeasurably over the last couple of decades. But as Sara Simms explains, there's much more still to come.

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Review: Mixed In Key Captain Chords

Review | Feb 06, 2018 by Sara Simms

Need help making chords or getting compositional ideas? Sara Simms checks out Mixed In Key's Captain Chords plugin, which aims to let you do just that.

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Going Modular: My First Eurorack Experience

Tutorial | Jan 19, 2018 by Sara Simms

If you've ever wanted to get into the world of Eurorack but not known where to begin, Sara Simms is here to share her own experience of diving in at the deep end, and what it taught her.

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Review: WMD Arpitect Quantizer & Arpeggio Eurorack Module

Review | Dec 29, 2017 by Sara Simms

Arpitecht is a voltage controlled quantizer and rhythmic arpeggio generator for eurorack systems. Sara Simms fired it up and found out what it could do.

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Getting Started With the Roland TB-03 Synth

Tutorial | Nov 25, 2017 by Sara Simms

Roland's Boutique TB-03 synth is great for making acid bass sequences that evoke classic EDM tracks. Here's how to get started and make your first sequence.

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Review: Roland DJ-202

Review | Nov 22, 2017 by Sara Simms

2 channels, 4 decks and even a built-in sequencer. Could Roland's DJ-202 be the ultimate portable controller for DJs and performers? Sara Simms finds out.

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The Benefits Of Adding An FX Pedal To Your DJ Setup

Tutorial | Oct 25, 2017 by Sara Simms

Adding live effects to your DJ setup can bring an added level of dynamics to a performance. And if they're foot controlled, your hands are free to scratch! Sara Simms shows you how it's done.

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