We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Johan Yardan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Johan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The Kinetic Audio project is the culmination of over a decade’s worth of musical passion. We recently launched Kinetic Audio in March of 2023 as a way to realize our idea of fusing music and visual arts.

I’ve had incredible experiences as a DJ; I’ve played festivals, I’ve supported world class artists and I’ve met some of my closest friends. I’ve always felt something was missing though. I realized that as an individual, there was only so much I could do to achieve the overall event atmosphere I sought. I desired a heavily curated flow of music across several hours that would take listeners on a journey. I wanted people to view themselves as an active participant in the musical experience rather than a bystander. This required creating and curating my own artist lineups to the point where I leave myself off if I don’t fit into the musical direction.

Integrating visual arts was another driving force in creating Kinetic Audio. Lighting is crucial to facilitating the energy of a party. I was dissatisfied with what I felt was lazily applied and obtrusive visual elements at some local shows. The visuals, whether it be projection mapping, lasers or LED effects must integrate seamlessly with both the physical space and music, otherwise it serves more to distract than entice. We put a great amount of thought into how color theory can be applied to our events to the point of building our own lighting fixtures to achieve the right atmosphere.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started producing music in middle school and started DJ’ing in 2018, the first couple years of which were pretty aimless as I refined my style. Over the years I settled into a circle of people I felt shared my values and work ethic, learning the back end of event management along the way. This year, my idea for Kinetic Audio was solid enough to take action.

We curate electronic music shows spanning genres from beautiful, organic house to riotous warehouse techno. Our musical direction and visual design is what separates us from other local groups; we want to capture the production value of a festival while maintaining the intimacy of your local mom & pop restaurant. Without sounding arrogant though, we’re not looking to cater to the taste of the crowd. We have a very specific visual and sound design that not everyone will resonate with.

We’re most proud that we’ve been able to maintain our quality across multiple events of different genres. We strive to be a little better every time, and it’s important that our passion is conveyed though our production value.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Seeing the laughs and smiling faces from the crowd fills my soul. The hugs, the small talk of friends reconnecting, it’s a magical experience. The excitement from people who never knew there was something like this in their backyard is infectious. We’re a very self-driven group of people, but the positive affirmation is always welcome.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

We’re adamant about building an organic following. We don’t use any “hacks” to buy followers, and we don’t like blowing smoke up people butts or pressuring people with FOMO. Building trust is far more valuable than a quick buck.     

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/kineticaudio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kineticaudio_nc/