Hi my name is Joel in this episode of complex at so predominant oil man Dominik is one of my favorite DJs and producers in the electronic music scene as a DJ Dominik has been playing all over the world in the last 15 years there is something very special about Dominik he is not only an electronic wizard is also a part-time forester all this music is nature inspired to me Dominik is an amazing example of living your purpose this is why I visited Dominik in the beautiful region of Western rock Germany where I got to see

his house and studio we went bird-watching and talked about many things including his music nature existence the thing he is trying to achieve and of course is life as a DJ so where does it start for you and you make a new track are you inspired in some kind of way or you just sit behind your equipment where does it start mmm I never have master plan because I try not to copy myself always try to go new ways but for me nature is always my main inspiration sauce because nature is greatest artists of all in my opinion

when you look at all the colors and forms of butterflies and but it’s pretty amazing and also it’s all about wipes and about vibrations and which are feeling the nature and what is music music is oscillating it’s vibration and nature it’s also only vibrations because we know today there’s no material unlike when you take a closer look at a molecule ah you see its currents consists out of atoms and when you took a little closer look at the atoms like you have a proton a neutron it’s like a walnut in the middle of a

football stadium and around the electron it’s like a Zen koan so it’s 99% nothing but then we took at the walnuts and say now we have materia and it’s like you open the room and there’s also nothing inside and only small walks and we say and now this material but also quacks is not material we know today it’s only super strings and like like a string on a guitar it’s generating a tone so super strings are generating something we call a materia so music in nature for me it’s the same and I try to simulate those vibrations

in nature and translate it into music like painters painting a picture of nature I try to do with my melodies and my music and yeah because I love to paint colorful pictures I decided to do electronic music because an electronic music you don’t have limitations I can also use the piano or a guitar I can use any sound I want amazing so when you start with its rector you have a certain vibration in mind or certain piece of nature or you just start and whatever comes to mind you create as most of your

tricks they have a specific bird name yeah for example if you think of the names afterwards because then it feels like that or do you start with it yeah that’s a good question no I always start with the concept first it’s very interesting because the cover the artwork of the record I will release this finish before I finish the music or I started to do the music because what what is music what is making music making music is nothing else and selecting between infinity of options I can play this tone or then after this I

can play this tone system disease or this synthesizer or this synthesizer so I can really get lost so I always have protagonists of nature from flora or fauna or mushrooms because mushrooms are neither flora not fauna and then I have something in my mind it’s like a blueprint for myself which helps me to get a clear message and metric because otherwise you can get lost and you clear the message in the trick is then it’s more easy but for people to understand because music is nothing as an a communication medium for

humans because we know today that people were able to make music before they were able to speak everything is music like as I said there are no there’s no materia we know today everything is strings it’s frequencies and music is only frequencies so we are music so in the creation of the universe is a sound it’s probably the sound of silence then you get free and also in the Buddhism says in the beginning there was the sound mmm yeah and you can pray get down out of this it’s and this is what music is all

about the most important things in music dead they are not in the notes it’s between the notes mm-hmm that that’s what what is really interesting because I told you I don’t mean much I only need a telescope or binoculars and I’m happy and because they’re everywhere birds everywhere something to detect and the variety of the colors and the sizes it’s amazing like the smallest bird here it’s waiting only for second cramps as much as a pan and the biggest one it’s waiting 18 thousand cramps it’s like the few thousand times more on

this variety you don’t happen any don’t have any other group of animals yeah so how often a week are you out here I’m every day here every day every day I’m going out for bird-watching because I’m also doing the the monitoring of the nature reserves and I’m taking care of them do you everyday feel like going here or you always see always feel the urge to be in nature yeah I really love to be here because it’s really really big adventure that’s always exciting what will be years I don’t know maybe some rare species and

it’s always like gold sticking digging for gold or like searching a treasure and I always say there are three states of bird watching you are on ecologist you’re on it to a manic and you are only to Patek now what is the difference on it’s a lot on eight ologist is when you are interested into it when one is to manic is when you are crazy about it and only to Patek when you are sick about it and you are I’m only two manic but I know people that are only two patek then the difference is sometimes I had times

where was on the way to getting on it to Patek we’re getting be sick because I had to go out every day but then you are not doing the decision anymore the on ecology is doing the decision and this is kind of illness to come like a better and yeah exactly this kind of an illness so of course it was never such as bad but there were times in summer like when they saw this burden just but as a packer I have to Jesus Burt now and I could not do my work any more no like I had to finish the master for my pee

and say but this world is round here and I could not finish to make my music and but yeah now it’s getting more into literally [Music] so all the music I’m doing I’m doing with some very intrinsic impetus I’m doing for myself you don’t have your audience in mind no never never I all the music I do it has to I have to like it so I’m never doing music for the aim I’m always doing music for the way so with people you have a large following if your music would change because you felt differently and your following

would diminish that would be okay for you I will never feel differently because I’m really settled hmm because I learnt very early to release from fears and patterns I studied very early to work on my psychological feeling I also did master in hypnosis I can hypnotize people okay not only with your music but also yeah yeah I also did it today I worked as a therapist so and I also worked on my own emotions and patterns because a lot of people are slaves of their fears and their patterns but it’s very

important that you are free and authentic that Dominic has to live an authentic Dominic life and a truthful life so I really have to know what do I lack and what don’t like and I really found this out so what was the trigger for you to look at yourself and get rid of your parent it was my socialization my had very liberal parents so I didn’t grow up with any television no medical media influences I was only in the woods for the first 14 years and it on my homework in the woods and so I could really found myself Who

am I and what to alag and what don’t like and then I had a second very important key experience in my life after my study I studied biology with ecology and nature reservation I worked as a national park ranger and I did a project where I did researches on crane breeding places and I was doing researches on the succession of woods supertyphoon like when you cut all the trees how long will it take to get back to the climax stadium and I was doing this researches and then the National Park they had no more money

the the country had no more money it was in mecklenburg-vorpommern and I said Dominic we’re sorry we cannot pay your project anymore and I came from University I was very poor guy I had no money at all so because I had no I could not save any money and as and I said but I cannot stop this project because I had really connection to the cranes because they were very social birds and I decided to continue it and then I was living in the woods for half a year without water and without energy and I was so happy like to be odd to be and to

say to be honest and never was so happy then in this time I was part of the nature like I was feeling the animals were losing the fear of mine I was washing in the river and I don’t know the flex talk was coming and the author the fish water was swimming around and was a the deers where we’re screaming on a place beside where I was living and after some months they were not reacting on me like a human so they maybe they thought I was a pig or something like this though they were just walking around me and I had so many

create feelings and emotions and I was really feeling like a piece of Mother Earth of nature and I was so happy and then I promised myself I will never never ever do anything out of money because that’s a problem a lot of people make it’s a mistake they tapping in like they think they need money to be happy because you’re only happy when you have a good car when you have a good massage when you have a five-star hotel but then you have a shitty life you’re working working working you’re in a hamster in

the wheel and you’re not happy but this is the main time you are doing so I only wanted to do things I really love for myself and if nobody likes what I do okay I’m living in the water and I only need classes and the window whispered in front of it and I’m happy so I really knew this and just really gave me the strength and the power to do what I really love and so I started to do music at this time and music only the way I liked I didn’t was following any way any jaws if it’s hip or not and I was naming

the the tracks with German because German is my mother language and of course and no a lot of people don’t understand my titles but it’s me so I don’t want to screw myself there and I was naming them after animals I liked like about red-bellied toad or any birds and people in the beginnings that you’re crazy you can name techno records like this nobody will buy it then I said okay that nobody will buy it but it makes me happy that’s amazing and yeah but interesting this thing is when humans are all group animals and when

there’s one animal in the groups in which says and know where the water is or where the food is they find it very attractive when when you’re strong and when you’re tough and your prey and you go own ways other people find it very attractive and they say wow this guy is doing is very own stuff and then the success is coming by itself so that’s very easy just just trust yourself and be brave and do your own stuff and then you will be successful but when you when you think I want to be successful and

you do things out of the success you will never be the other way around yeah I totally agree with him [Music] yeah and from me being from me being in nature is also kind of meditation like what I really like is to do contemplative bird watching so I just watch it without valuing it and without willing to change it just let it just let it work on myself and this is kind of a meditation like when you just City and use waves to the wind watch the birds put off your mobile phone and after half an hour you’re really aware

you’re really in they’re here now it’s really great stayed off of consciousness of being awareness and that’s what I also like and and what I also like it’s it’s great entertainment program because always something new to detect it’s wicked to answer ah you don’t need television or so and it’s in and so real life is real stuff it’s much more for me it’s much more fantastic than a Playstation or something like this I mean when you take a caterpillar and its cocooning and the butterfly is getting

out wow that’s that’s a really magic for me it’s this miracle this is really miracl I could watch for hours this when butterflies coming out of a cocoon and that’s what I really love about it and what they did what you also feel when you watch it because this is real this is real we’re watching you in this for free and this is a gift for us this is a gift made by mother nature for us to watch it and to to be happy about it nature’s all won on nature all came from one one being from one living with all

has one source and beauty is here to say other livings life is beautiful enjoyed so it has like a bigger meaning that the beauty of the beautifulness of nature when you understand this one you really get it [Music] when you start making a trick where do you start do you start with the note should we start with what is in between the notes or with what do you start with because you have the concept you know what you want to create for example yeah I have a barrette in my mind for example the bee eater

I had this colorful bird you know this and then I of course it’s something subjective I feel inside myself what what is it doing in me what what do I have which feeling I do have inside me then I try to subscribe his being his how is living and yeah sometimes I start with melodies I start with melodies sometimes I record some sounds first which are very characteristic for this animal and I start to make risen who is so I never have a master plan I always start from zero I never used the same samples or the same synthesized us

because then your copy yourself a lot so can you show me how you start creating a track yeah I have a project here at it recently so I’m always making music for me is like cooking and you need different ingredients to generate something when you want to have some spiciness you use chili or pepper so I always use three ingredients it’s I use analog synthesizers I can show it to you later which analog synthesizers I used for warmness I use digital synthesizers they are much more cold but it’s good

for pride pets for example and I always use acoustic sounds I record in the nature because this is giving you a third dimension and I I’m programming my melodies here in the computer I’m working with da W called Cubase using it since 25 years now really into it and I’m also Co evolving it with them like I always thinking about what what could be better what we what can we improve and then I go and wizard Steinberg in Hamburg and tell them already don’t do that and like this so I’m really good friends of them so and

that’s a good place to be if you want to have your way yeah exactly so this is how I’m programming my melodies sometimes I’m starting to play a bit first and then I’m adding it and I’m like stone myths I would say somebody who was knocking on stones to get a sculpture yeah I’m doing it like this I’m not a pianist I cannot play piano like when you say play how did you learn to play this I didn’t I did not like I did not learn at the door I and the funny thing is I don’t want to learn it at all because a lot of people

who learned to play piano there are slaves of Monica conventions and I want to be as free as possible and I had a lot of studied musicians and my student as how did you do this melody and I could never do it because it’s very unconventional to do it and then you are not free so I don’t want to learn it I cannot reach even notes like when you see play and play in a I have to look we’re so easy a when when I do the melody then I start to think about which kind of Schaller I’m doing because I’m I don’t want to limit myself into any

drama like sometimes I want to do techno sometimes until I want to do ambient but I don’t care about any drawers but here and this track it’s not not fertile to floor kick it’s a protein beat because I thought this melody fits much more better to prop meat and so as all I can you show it show you the beat [Music] where’s the beat [Music] I’m always working differently the right way the right way is always the way which what your heart says what with our mind we this is very endless because a lot of stuff we were never we will never

never understand because our brain is limited even we are only seeing flooding from 200 to 650 nanometers of sunlight a lot of for example fishes like Pharrell they can see to 1100 nanometers so as they are seeing different colors and I ask you think about this color imagine this color and can you do it no you can’t yeah because your brain is limited you can only think and imagine things you already yeah with your sense with your senses detected with your sensitive which you saw or smelled or here so

there’s a very big limitation and a lot of stuff we will never understand what was before the Big Bang what is out that the universe and so on a lot of things we will we can’t solve with our mind so it makes no sense to think about a lot of things and you have to really have to stop thinking this is it’s one way a road you have to stop thinking you have to be have to do a lot of thinking to get a big horizon to understand anything but then you have to switch it off because then when you are feeling and

your wants with life with the flow of life there’s a intrinsic flow of life called Pantera when you heard about this and the more you are hearing on that the better you are you don’t have to put so much effort into things just to a little touch in the right way and then go with the flow that’s the best way so be be be brave to be what you really laughs and everybody knows it like when you’re really that is what is meditation meditation is for I’m meditating a lot meditating is not to get calm or get the blood pressure down

or to get another state of consciousness no it’s there for that you wake because in the meditation you really feel who you are because you are in a transcendent room far away from any influences and you really really really feel in this motion who you are what you want and you should follow this when you follow this you will have the best default on all the others around you I always try to be authentic as I am lot of people say oh Beck he’s crazy with this but watching some people you say he’s crazy every day watching Bert

what’s wrong with him but it’s okay but BS you are okay you know you think I’m crazy no problem then then nothing can happen to you yeah and also with music I’m doing I always try to do what I really like because no matter what you do if you’re doing it for yourself or you do so much for it inside it that everybody will like it there will be always three parts of people one part they like what you do one part they don’t like what you do and one part they give a what you do so no matter if you do it for itself or you’re doing it

for to be very popular there will be always those three parts so it’s kind of stupid to do something what’s not really you to screw yourself so I always try to be authentic and as I am so do you see it as one of your personal goals to create more awareness for the importance of nature because for example on your Instagram you put a lot of posts that are pictures of nature and you reach a lot of people because you have a large following because of your being a DJ but do you see it as one of your personal goals to create awareness

of course it was always my main aim to create awareness my main impetus this is why I studied ecology in Nature Reserve and making music it just happened I released my first real records in 2003 and they’ve got really successful I won some awards like best producer and German dance award and then a lot of people wanted me to start teaching to DJ or to make music because till this date I only was playing in small clubs or illegal raves or in Caffey for 15 50 euros and I said why not it’s I mean it

was kind of lucrative and very easy and I was a chance to see the world to play to see Japan and South America and I thought okay I’m doing it but I only do it for one year or maybe two years this was my district tyrion said just just to make a experience but then I mean now it was 15 years ago but now I’m still teaching because they then I found out mmm it’s perfect it’s a perfect instrument to make awareness for a lot of people because with my music I have a lot of people a reach like when I would work in

a national park I would reach only 20 people they may be and when I do project like the bird quartet I just did I reach in one day 100,000 people or 200,000 people and they could generate much much much much more awareness and this is something I wanted to do more and more this is why I write a book at the moment part nature and I’m also doing a cinema movie with Yun halftee is one of the most famous German nature famous and I’m also doing for Naboo it’s German nature organization I’m doing kind of a

television show we explain always a bird song I play in a phenomena which is outside nature at the moment and I’m always explaining something it’s more – more logically so why animal is called leg it’s called so and it’s very interesting you learn a lot about this yeah and I’m also an ambassador for bats and what I really do and what I read it when I’m playing on festivals or doing club shows I’m doing guided back to us I have bet detectors with me and I explain people about secret and hidden life of

the bats because they’re everywhere but people are not aware of them at all because you can’t see them and you can’t hear them you only hear them with a special bed detectors frequencies where they where they do the calls yeah you see this what I also do a lot and I’m also doing a Bharat sing that song CD at the moment where I’m explaining bird songs so you used the reach you have as DJ to create more awareness for nature but you still like the DJing after more than 15 years yeah of course I still like it otherwise I would not do

it anymore because the good thing about teaching is you can always refresh as a very quick like when I when I bought off my set I can select totally new music and play music I never heard before the same evening so it’s much more difficult when you only play live so this is why I don’t play so much life but because I cannot do 20 new tracks a week and you get more and more bored but of course I still love it and allow to travel and to see so many countries and I always try to combine it like to do some bird watching in the

countries I am for example last weekend I was playing him by out Lebanon and now there were a lot of desert animals like birds like the old its back or oiler and I don’t know the English name a lot of rabbit birds and then I was flying the same died to Sweden and then I was doing bird-watching the same died in Sweden and I had a lot of sea birds like the sea eagle and I don’t know that helps each fiber I don’t know and this was this is really paradise for me to do bird-watching of so many different words in one day it is

amazing it’s a real gift yeah and I also laugh teaching because it’s I can release some tension and emotions in this and because it’s very balanced way for me I’m quite happy with this because when I would do only bird watching here in silence and only writing books where I have too much power inside me and this really unheard you can get cancer of this so I really really have to release the power and to do a proper rave and to drink some champagne and party hot this is really good to to wash it away and after weekend when I come

home on Sunday I really am down to earth and I’m really in my middle and it’s perfect and then I love to go out in the nature on Monday Tuesday and on Thursday I’m getting nervous again because I need some proper technical [Music] you