Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque!
It's been a little while since the last post - and to make up for it - today, in the virtual ATD hot seat is someone very, very special - Ontario based electro-house / bloghouse producer SHPESHFTR, who is making waves on the scene right now for his incredible original productions and daring, fantastic remixes.
Without further ado, let's get to the interview!
For those who don’t know you – who are you, and what music do you make?
I'm Josh! I make electro house music under the moniker SHPESHFTR.
Let’s start this off well – when did you start making music, and who inspires you the most in your work overall?
I started in 2012 when I was in 5th grade - Skrillex, deadmau5, Knife Party and Monstercat were major influences on me and I got started trying to make dubstep and any other sub-genre of EDM without knowing how to use FL Studio.
I didn’t have much patience for watching tutorials and learning things manually, I always took more to just doing it and letting myself learn over time. My style has changed around a lot and before SHPESHFTR, I was making more synthwave and progressive house, then I wanted to stop making electronic all together to expand my capabilities.
Not too long after, I’d casually start making generic EDM to laugh at ironically with my friends. But it didn’t take long to realize that I was falling back in love with making electronic music again, and now we’re here.
As for influences now? I think it's always changing. I listen to a lot of stuff outside of electronic as well, so I'm sure somehow those are also influencing me whether I'm even aware of it or not.
Can you tell us some secrets of the production process behind your latest single, Swiss Army Knife?
The jittery, super chopped up section of the first drop is actually just the trance gate preset in the free version of Guitar Rig 7 on the bass and sample chains. I initially put it on the master track to see if I could spark some inspiration, but I liked the way it changed up the entire loop that I made a whole section of it and even incorporated it into the bridge/buildup.
If you could release a collaborative album with one artist of your choice – who would that be, and why?
I'm always looking for a sense of creative synergy in a collaborator, even if they're not necessarily within the "Bloghouse" sphere. Honestly, I don't really categorize my sound as strictly "french electro" or "bloghouse" either. I think that approach makes it easier to be flexible experimenting with different sounds, especially when it comes to samples.
A full album would be pretty ambitious for me. I've got a few unreleased projects with artists I've loved working with sitting in the vault. I'm hoping to carve out more time to revisit them soon, once I can give each one the focus they deserve.
Going to your remixes – what’s your personal favourite of them, and can you tell us about the creative process behind that one?
My remix of Duo. I do think I have surpassed it, and it might not be the best technically, but it pushed my sound farther than anything I had done up to that point, and completely rendered an entire project I was working on at the same time unreleasable. It was my first release since my first single, and helped me get the confidence back to release music more consistently. Crazy to think it was nearly two years ago now.
What programs and hardware do you use to make your beats?
I've been ride or die FL Studio since the beginning.
As for hardware, I don’t use much except MIDI keyboards to play out patterns. Even then, it’s not common that I record with my computer/laptop keyboard. I use a lot more freeware than I think might be expected too. Of course, I do have plugins like Massive and a bunch of vintage synth emulations, but the bulk of the sound is really in the sampling.
If you had the chance to do a tour around one country in the world – where would that be?
Well, I do like travelling in general, so the added bonus of touring would be a great experience. I might just have to go with Canada, since it's where I'm from and would love an excuse to travel across the country.
What’s the process behind your sound design – it’s incredibly unique – and no-one else in the game sounds like you!
Thank you! I think you’d be surprised how far sampling, layering and processing can really take you.
Over time, I have streamlined parts of my process that do make things less tedious, but the general approach has actually been the same for well over a year now. In between working on tracks/projects, I’m adding to an ever-growing sample library.
I cut and render out each sample, and I assemble them together like LEGO when I’m generating ideas. It definitely is a bit of trial/error, but it’s also opened the door to entire songs I would’ve never made if it didn’t take one spark from simply sequencing two or more samples together.
Here’s a tough question – what’s your favourite album from Ed Banger?
This is the kind of question where I wish I had a sleeper pick but I’d be lying if I didn’t say Cross. Many of my favourite songs ever are on that album, so there’s really no debate for me personally. But Total is pretty stellar, and A Fine Collection of Remixes is also pretty iconic.
What particular albums have you got on repeat right now?
Getting Killed by Geese. I’ve been following them for a while now but they had a pretty major 2025. I also caught them live back in October so a lot of the album clicked for me after that. The new Sam Gellaitry album is also great and has a bunch of my favourite songs of the year on it.
If we’re talking electronic music though, MELBOURNE’S DEAD! by Normal Pleasure. Some of the most forward thinking stuff I’ve heard lately. I did just find out it’s been taken off of streaming, but it’s still on SoundCloud. Insane stuff.
What are your plans for 2026? Is there anything we can look out for?
I’m always trying to push my sound further and further, and I think this year is going to be no different. I do love working on remixes, but I think I’m currently in a place to work on original material. Whether it be on my own, or collaborating with people in the scene. I don’t like to make grand promises, but my standard for my releases has always been to deliver something that pushes the sound further, and I plan on continuing that in new and exciting ways.
Do you want to give any shoutouts to anyone?
Definitely a bunch of people within the scene! Wire One, broken embraces, sayntt, Cliffhanger, 187runts, cay, skuz, DRI3NN, I could go on. Any one of these guys are killing it.
There you have it, everyone!
You can find SHPESHFTR on all good streaming platforms - but for now, I'm going to link his Bandcamp.
As always, keep enjoying your stay at the discotheque.
wwwww
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