DJ Prana Bio

On History
I have always been into electronic music. My parents had record called "Switched on Bach" by Walter Carlos and it was recordings of Bach concertos performed on a Moog Synthesizer and as a kid I loved it. After that it was Devo that played incessantly on my Lloyds stacking record player. From there it was Tangerine Dream, Herbie Hancock, and New Order that captured my ear and drove my parents nuts. I guess I always wanted to be a DJ too. I remember my best friend and I tag team DJing at a party in junior high in Ohio with cassettes. After college, when I moved to San Francisco, I discovered the "rave" scene and was blown away by what the DJs were playing. It has been a serious hobby ever since, and given me immense pleasure.

On Why He Loves to DJ
For me the best part about being a DJ is sharing my favorite music with people. Their reactions to the music and how I mix it are what motivate me as a DJ. When I am behind the decks, I like to take the crowd on a journey, exposing them to sounds they didn't know existed and uplifting melodies they never could have imagined, then I like to bring them back home with something familiar and welcoming.

On Genres
My favorite genre is Progressive House but I like to move around in different musical spaces depending on what the vibe and the venue is like. The common thread through all my music is a sense of space and atmosphere with lots of layering. Whether I am spinning Lounge Downtempo, Dub, House, Breaks, or Ethnotronic, these qualities are always there in my music.

On Being a Digital DJ
I recently switched over to digital in my spinning. It is absolutely the wave of the future. I was always a big believer in vinyl, and I do still spin it, but whenever I can I acquire music as a high quality MP3 file (320 kBS) and throw it down with Serato Scratch Live. It's an amazing program, one of the best pieces of software I have ever used. Super simple, yet with enough capabilities to allow you to be as creative as you want to be, it has never let me down. I was reluctant to spin off a computer, but it hasn’t crashed yet, and in addition to not having to carry tons of vinyl, it allows me a great deal of flexibility in how I acquire and play music. I love it!

On His Influences

This is a tough one for me. I don’t listen to a lot of DJs, I mostly listen to streaming audio to hear new music. I love the selections from www.di.fm. The Progressive House and Chillout. They really have it together with high quality sounds and the mix it up with single tracks and DJ sets. For Ethnotronic, I love Six Degrees records www.sixdegreesrecords.com/. They get it right every time for me with beautiful fusions of music from all over the wolrd elegantly fused with electronica.