Berlin Electro DJ Oliver KoletzkiGets Club Feelings With ADAM S5X-H Monitors

Oliver Koletzki In An Interview With ADAM Audio

Make no mistake: Oliver Koletzki means business. He’s one of those fearlessly creative producers of German electronic music who changed the way Berlin is perceived in the world, who built its reputation for a different kind of musical inventiveness, a raw anarchism that found its expression in some of the best techno and dance music produced anywhere in the world.

In this interview with ADAM Audio at his Berlin studio, he explains that his output as a DJ has been formed by his history as a band member and instrumentalist. Having played in indie bands and German hip hop groups since aged 13, studied music theory and even had a The Doors cover band, Koletzki finally engineered his breakthrough with 2005’s Mückenschwarm.

He has since settled into his own style of electronic music, developing a niche within Berlin’s ferociously inventive electro scene. His latest LP, The Arc of Tension, is built on evolving structures that provide a stage for organic sounds, acoustic instruments and wistful textures that vie with pounding beats and crackling percussive ephemera.

“I’m producing music for hours and at some point I’m forgetting that I’m in a studio, I’m really feeling like being in a club or at a festival.”

Koletzki’s studio is sleek and functional yet also contains playful elements such as pink neon overhead strip lights and a wide wooden desk. Visibly old school, the desk houses a laptop, one main screen, an interface and one bit of 19” rack gear, with the odd keyboard or small synth dotted around its surface.

But it doesn’t have any monitor speakers on it. That’s because his ADAM S5X-H midfields are mounted several metres away. Overkill? “It’s really important to me to have the same feeling as when I’m standing in a club, on a dancefloor. I need the music really loud,” he admits. He switched from Genelec to ADAM Audio S3X-V before upgrading to his current monitoring set up, which he never runs above half volume. “I’m producing music for hours”, he says, “and at some point I’m forgetting that I’m in a studio, I’m really feeling like being in a club or at a festival.”

Find out more about Oliver Koletzki at his official website.