#ProducersCorner – Cornelius SA

Cornelius Mashilane, better known in music as Cornelius SA is a self-taught DJ, Producer and Re-mixer from Soshanguve – a tight knit township in the North of Pretoria. Born into a musical family his ears were sharpened early. As a child he was intrigued by house music; this led to a deepened love affair with deejaying, production as well as honing his skills on the 12 inches of steel and CDJs in his tender teen years.

It’s been a few years since you’ve been in studio last. How have you evolved as an artist since you’ve last been at the RedBull Cape Town studios?

It’s been a journey, a really difficult journey. I’ve been trying to find myself, find the right sound that defines me. It’s been an interesting, difficult journey. Last year I managed to sit down in studio and work on sounds that really resonate with me. The change is really massive. Sometimes I listen to my music and I’m like ‘woah!’, it doesn’t sound like me because this sound is bigger than I am. It’s been the music all the way. I’ve been spending a lot of time in studio messing around with different sounds.

I don’t stick to one sound, I try out different sounds every now and then. So that’s what I’ve been doing for the last year-and-a-half and I have a bunch of tracks that I really love and I think people are going to love them to. It’s just been a process of trial and error. Learning, finding new sounds, listening to what other guys are doing and trying to incorporate that in studio.

You attended the Red Bull Music Academy in 2018. How did you find it and what effect did it have on your music?

As they say, it’s a life-changing experience. It’s fun at the same time it’s very educating. It’s very beneficial for an artist like me that’s trying to break into the international market, especially the European market. I was really excited that I was selected for the Berlin 20th anniversary of the Red Bull Music Academy and I’m really sad it’s not there anymore but it was a life-changing experience with different artists across the globe collaborating, learning new things. I wasn’t able to use Ableton, I was working in FL, but now I can make the two work together. I really learnt a couple of things.

I met some icons like Nina Kraviz, Kevin Saunderson, Damo Suzuki, all the lectures were really educating. It wasn’t just about the music but also helping us as young artists find direction. It was a really nice and scary experience. They only select 60 participants, so for me to get an email that says I’m going to be part of the 20th anniversary, that’s was huge for me. I never thought I’d get to that point where I’d fly to another country with regards to my music. So it was a really nice experience.