I.T. Radio: Shawn Rudiman

One of Pittsburgh’s most respected and influential gear heads brings a horde of hardware to Detroit studio for an episode-length live set.

Pittsburgh is about the farthest east you can go while still having a foothold in the Midwest, which makes it fertile ground for BMG and Erika’s continuing exploration of the region’s sounds. Few have done more to put the city on the dance music map than Shawn Rudiman, a master of electronic live performance. Rudiman approaches his synths and drum machines the way DJs approach their records – the vast majority of his live shows are improvised, and every moment is reactive. He plays with enough gear that it requires a six-foot-long power strip (“the wizard’s staff”) and a stand that allows him to stack machines across two layers (a master carpenter, he designed it himself). On this episode of Interdimensional Transmissions, Shawn simply shows us how he does it, building up a set from scratch over the course of a two-hour broadcast from our Detroit studio.