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: Pioneer DJ Kuvo

Hey DJs, interested in an app that can broadcast your playlist to an audience in real time? Could Pioneer's KUVO be the next step for connecting DJs, clubs and fans together?

How to Create a DJ Podcast, Part 2: Get it Online

Once you've created a DJ mix for your podcast it's time to get it uploaded to iTunes. Sara Simms shows you how in this step by step guide.

Review: Jim Dunlop Il Torino Overdrive

Are you looking for a guitar pedal to help you recreate the sound of classic tube preamps? Sara Simms puts the Jim Dunlop il Torino Overdrive to the test.

Review: Black Lion Audio B173 Compact Mic Preamp

Taking cues from the classic Neve 1073, Black Lion Audio's B173 half rack microphone preamp is put to the test by Sara Simms. Find out if it delivers on Neve like sound at a reasonable price.

How to Create a DJ Podcast, Part 1

Nobody will promote your DJ mixes for you. If you want to reach out to a wider audience and engage with your fans creating a DJ podcast is an effective solution. Sara Simms shares the knowledge.

Review: Pioneer DJ XDJ-1000

The latest DJ player from Pioneer looks similar to the popular CDJ-2000s. However, the XDJ-1000 does away with the CD drive and focuses to future-looking, rekordbox users and more.

Review: MONO Guitar Sleeve

The MONO Guitar Sleeve is the latest addition to the MONO family. Featuring modern, minimalist design for those who only want to take the bare essentials with them on the road safely.

Review: Black Lion Audio Sparrow MKII White

Black Lion Audio's Sparrow MKII is a snug-sized analog to digital converter with Word Clock and great sound quality. Sara Simms finds out there's lots to like here.

How to Create a Jimi Hendrix Inspired Guitar Tone

With an insight into the gear used to create his signature guitar sounds, Sara Simms delves deeper to demonstrate how you can re-create tones inspired by the one and only Jimi Hendrix.

How to Use Maschine in a DJ Set

Integrating Native Instruments' Maschine into your DJ sets might be a lot easier than you think. Whether you want to use it as a controller for Traktor Pro or to control Ableton Live, here's how!

UDG Review: Creator Digi Hardcase, Urbanite MIDI Controller Flight Bag, Laptop Stand & Digi Trolley

If you want to take your DJing laptop in a safe and sturdy bag or want to protect your Maschine, Mixtrack Pro II, APC40, Pioneer DJ-S8 or other DJ hardware on your next flight, UDG have you covered.

Review: Casio Trackformer XW-PD1 Groove Center

We caught up with Sara Simms playing Casio's Trackformer XW-PD1 Groove Center at NAMM 2015 (see video) and she'd been in a privileged position to test it out fully and give it an in-depth review.

How to Make a Dutch House Style Lead in Sylenth

Do you use Sylenth? If you'd like to make a Dutch House style lead in the style of producers like Afrojack or Martin Garrix, then this tutorial-article by Sara Simms is for you.

Review: Vandalism SoundSets for Massive and Sylenth

If you're looking for sounds for Sylenth, Massive, Spire, FM8, Serum and more synth, then Vandalism should be on your list. Sara Simms checks out their latest soundest for Sylenth and Massive.

Review: Mixed In Key 7

The new version of Mixed In Key 7 looks clean and has some innovative new features, but how does it perform in the real world? Sara Simms takes it for a spin to find out.