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: Slate Digital Virtual Preamp Collection

Review | Mar 11, 2016 by Sara Simms

The Slate Digital Virtual Preamp Collection aims to bring authentic tones of two vintage microphones to your DAW using Slate's modelling tech. Sara Simms puts this collection to the test.

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5 Essential Tips for Composing Melodies for EDM

Tutorial | Feb 28, 2016 by Sara Simms

When it comes to creating melodic parts for electronic dance music productions don't be left scratching your head, or feeling uninspired. Here's 5 essential tips to help you create better melodies.

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Review: Pioneer DJM-S9

Review | Feb 14, 2016 by Sara Simms

Pioneer DJ's DJM-S9 is designed and built for turntablists and especially those who use Serato. Sara Simms puts this DJ scratch mixer to the test to find out what good things it offers.

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Programming Electronic Drums with Heavyocity DM-307

Tutorial | Feb 12, 2016 by Sara Simms

Heavyocity DM-307 is an impressive Kontakt instrument packed with modular synth drums and analog drum machine sounds perfect for the EDM conscious producer. Here's how to use it when producing beats.

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Review: Genelec 8351A SAM Studio Monitors

Review | Feb 10, 2016 by Sara Simms

The Genelec 8351A SAM studio monitors winners of a NAMM 2016 TEC award have some innovative features designed for accurate monitoring. Sara Simms gave them a good listen to in this in-depth review.

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Review: ModWheel The Bends for Kontakt

Review | Feb 07, 2016 by Sara Simms

Imagine a Kontakt instrument where all samples are struck, scraped and bowed while immersed in water. That's what ModWheel's The Bends is. Sara Simms dives in to review this intriguing instrument.

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Review: Deckadance 2.51

Review | Jan 27, 2016 by Sara Simms

Now that Deckadance is part of the Stanton DJ brand we took a fresh look at the latest update of this DJ app designed to satisfy pro and bedroom DJs alike. Sara Simms looks under the hood.

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Review: Odesi from Mixed In Key

Review | Jan 26, 2016 by Sara Simms

Mixed In Key aren't content to sit on their laurels. And Odesi is an app that allows users to create melodic and rhythmic parts quickly and easily that will be in key with the song you're working on.

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Future of the Rave/EDM Scene: Where Do We Go From Here?

Editorial | Jan 23, 2016 by Sara Simms

The rave and dance scene has exploded into mainstream culture over the past few years. Sara Simms explores the possibilities for the future of the scene now that it is back in fashion.

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How to Make an Acid House Jam with Roland AIRA TB-3 and the TR-8

Tutorial | Dec 18, 2015 by Sara Simms

The Roland AIRA TR-8 and TB-3 demand to be played, tweaked and performed with. In this tutorial for beginner users, Sara Simms shows how to create an Acid House beat and bassline using these machines.

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10 Tips for Producing Dutch House

Tutorial | Dec 03, 2015 by Sara Simms

So you want to produce Dutch-style House music? Here's some tips from DJ and producer Sara Simms to get your big room sounds jumping.

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8 Ways to Get the DJ Gigs You Want

Tutorial | Nov 13, 2015 by Sara Simms

You have the tracks, you have the skills, now all you need are the right bookings. In a world of thousands of talented DJs, how do you get the gigs you want? Sara Simms is on hand to help.

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Review: edjing 5 and edjing Pro

Review | Oct 30, 2015 by Sara Simms

edjing 5 (free) and edjing Pro have been on our radar for some time. DJ Sara Sims puts both these mobile DJing app solutions to the test and looks at how viable iPad is as a DJing platform.

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How to Make a Deorro-Style Lead Sound in Sylenth

Tutorial | Oct 26, 2015 by Sara Simms

Whether you're inspired by Deorro or you just fancy delving into some sound design using Sylenth, this tutorial by Sara Simm is designed to get you close to the distintive lead sound from Flashlight.

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8 Tips to Consider When Arranging Electronic Music

Tutorial | Oct 15, 2015 by Sara Simms

So there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to arranging music, there are helpful pieces of advice that stand the test of time. Sara Simms shares 8 electronic music arrangement tips & video examples.

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