Sound Advice: DJ_Dave

Join DJ_Dave on Sound Advice, the weekly interview series covering artists’ journeys and their creative process. In this episode, we discuss the Los Angeles-based live-coding artist’s approach to making music, how she invites fans into her creative universe, her forthcoming album and much more.

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Welcome to Sound Advice, the series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into everything SoundCloud offers to elevate their sound, get heard and catapult their careers. Sound Advice is now available in audio format on the SoundCloud Stories profile.

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Our guest on this episode of Sound Advice is part of SoundCloud's Ascending 2026 class and someone who has been blowing people’s minds by using live coding to craft high-energy hyperpop and infectious emotional electronic music: DJ_Dave. 

We talk about what got the Los Angeles-based artist and producer obsessed with music making, why the true/false logic of code finally made music production click, and how she turned samples and key commands into ravey 8-bit-tinged tracks. We also find out about how she uses SoundCloud as a sketchbook and a community hub, more about her recent collaborations, and how she lets fans into her process through comments, streams, and more.

Dave also dropped some info about her forthcoming album, where slower, more dramatic songs sit alongside club weapons, and she shares what to expect from her upcoming headline tour and her dates with horsegiirL. DJ_Dave is one of the most exciting artists to emerge in the last couple years, and we can’t wait for you to hear this inspirational interview.

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LISTEN TO THE AUDIO EPISODE OF SOUND ADVICE FEATURING DJ_DAVE

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LISTEN TO “NEXT TO U” BY DJ_DAVE ON SOUNDCLOUD

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Things We Talked About In This Episode of Sound Advice

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DJ_Dave on Getting Started with Live Coding and Making Music

• We start the conversation with DJ_Dave’s story of learning music production through live coding. As she reflects, she found software like GarageBand unappealing, but when she found the live coding environment Strudel, she knew “this production tool was made for me.” 
• Elaborating further on her process, she explains that live coding “feels like the least digital way of making music,” because there’s “no user interface to get in the way.” 
• The producer talks about the live-coding environment Sonic Pi, and breaks down the fundamentals of how it works: triggering samples, specifying synth parameters, all through keystrokes.

DJ_Dave Breaks Down The Sounds That The Live-Coding Process Lends Itself To, and Shares Insights on Collaboration

• Detailing more about how live coding informs her sound, DJ_Dave explains that live coding is especially good at giving random outcomes. “I know it's really good at doing random vocal chops, random arpeggiators and randomizing when it jumps an octave,” she tells us.
• Knowing what it’s good at also helps get past “blank canvas syndrome,” she says. “It feels like a collaboration between me and my computer.”
• Although DJ_Dave loves working alone, she shares that she also loves working with other live coders. “We’re speaking a language,” she says.
• One collaborator she loves working with is Switch Angel, who is also one of the developers of the program, Strudel. DJ_Dave shares more about what she’s learned from Switch Angel, from navigating the ins and outs of Strudel to creative problem-solving.

More on DJ_Dave’s Journey, From Attending Art School to Using SoundCloud as a Sketchbook

• Here, DJ_Dave shares a bit more about her background, and her journey so far. She went to art school, sharing how that experience has a big influence on her creative output. “I need to be proud of what I make, even if there are mistakes. Even if I don’t like it,” she explains. “It’s important to have a place where I can be like ‘I made this’ and it doesn’t matter how polished it is, or anything like that. And that place was SoundCloud”
• She recalls how she uploaded her first five “sketches” using Sonic Pi to SoundCloud as a way to share her early music work, calling the platform a “low-to-no-risk place to upload.” Elaborating further, Dave explains how SoundCloud gave her the encouragement to share her works-in-progress: “Not having to worry about it being a finished product, really helped my artist development early on; not being scared to do that.”

DJ_Dave Discusses the Art of Making Social Media Content and Live Streaming

• When it comes to sharing her music, DJ_Dave tells us that she’s found success on social media making 10-second clips of her process, with fans encouraging her to link to the full tracks on her SoundCloud. 
• “[SoundCloud is] where community congregated for me. I don’t even know where else it would have,” she says. She also expresses surprise at people’s interest in her live-streaming her process, especially given how detailed and niche it can feel, exclaiming, “Turns out people wanted to see it!”
• DJ_Dave also shares how she uses live streaming to gauge reaction to tracks in progress, “tabling” the ones that receive a muted response, and developing the ones that get a more enthusiastic reception.

DJ_Dave on Preparing for Her Upcoming Live Shows and What’s Next in 2026

• For live shows, she shares she takes inspiration from Grimes, Imogen Heap, Aphex Twin and Autechre.
• For her upcoming shows, she’s emphatic that she wants everything on stage to serve a purpose, and wants to lean into the transparency of showing her live code as she’s making music — an important feature for the live coding community.
• She also shares a trick for smaller venues she learned from fellow live coder, Lil Data: turning your laptop around to show the audience your screen if there isn’t another way to project your computer. While that DIY approach has been helpful in engaging audiences, the big production of bigger venues is something she’s excited to explore further.
• In fall 2026, DJ_Dave is joining electronic artist horsegiirL as a supporting act on tour, and is gearing up to release her forthcoming album. You can learn more about DJ_Dave’s tour dates here. 

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Links and Extras

Follow DJ_Dave’s journey on SoundCloud.
Press play on DJ_Dave’s July 2026 single, “Next to U.”
Learn more about DJ_Dave in her Ascending 2026 profile.
Follow horsegiirL, who DJ_Dave is supporting on tour this fall. 
Hit play on Switch Angel’s remix of DJ_Dave’s “Cycles.”
Go back to where it all began with one of DJ_Dave’s earliest tracks, 2021’s “Easy.”
Explore some of DJ_Dave’s wide-ranging influences, including Grimes, Imogen Heap and Phantogram, to name a few. 
Listen to the Experimental Indie Electronic playlist on SoundCloud.
Never miss an episode and follow the official Sound Advice playlist on SoundCloud.

Getting The Most Out of SoundCloud

Learn more about using DMs to connect with fellow artists and potential collaborators.
Learn more about how to make a custom playlist on SoundCloud.
Learn more about unlimited uploads, available with an Artist Pro subscription.
Learn more unlocking access to unlimited distribution, available with Artist Pro.
Learn more about getting heard with SoundCloud’s updated algorithm, available to Artist and Artist Pro subscribers.

To discover additional features a SoundCloud Artist or Artist Pro subscription offers, visit here. To catch up on past installments of Sound Advice and make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes, visit here.

_{CREDITS Host: Vivian Host, Executive Producer: Mike Spinella, Producer: KC Orcutt, Audio Engineer: David “DibS” Shackney, Coordinator: Trevor McGee, Editorial Associate: Lauren Martin}