Meet Darren Kramer | Music Producer, Educator & Host of STX Podcast

We had the good fortune of connecting with Darren Kramer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Darren, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Sonic Tonic Experience is a music collaboration and wellness podcast with world-class musicians. In fact, it is much more than an just a recorded interview! Each weekly episode is a 60-80min video documentary that includes a musician biography, a songwriting/music production masterclass, a health & wellness seminar, and an environmental awareness event— all in one! This powerful Sonic Tonic Experience is intended to inspire and educate people all around the world to each become a fundamental ingredient in the global recipe to heal the planet – by learning to be present and live in harmony with the earth, as well as with one another.

I’ve been a musician my entire life, and I still love music as much today as I ever have. And being from Colorado, I’ve always loved the mountains, and nature, and just being outdoors to explore, or exercise, or just to have fun taking vibrant photos of landscapes and wildlife.

For the past few years, and especially in 2020, I’ve taken some time to self reflect and really contemplate my life’s purpose. And I’ve finally discovered that my life’s purpose as a musician, and as a happy healthy human being, is actually as simple as doing the things that I love, and then sharing them with the world. So recently, I’ve decided to combine all my favorite ingredients from my own life’s recipe and distill them down into something I call a Sonic Tonic Experience. It’s my life recipe from a musician’s perspective – I’m the composer of my soundtrack, the mixologist of my own healthy tonic, I’m the creator of my own experience. We all are — and so I decided to collaborate with other musicians, to not only create new music together, but to also learn about their unique sonic tonic experience and share it with you. So I hope this unique podcast is something that will enhance YOUR life experience in some way, so that YOU will become inspired to share your gifts with the world.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m an Electric Trombone DJ! A unique and innovative path which started when I began playing the trombone at 8 yrs old. I’ve always loved music, and piano, and composing, and improvisation, and electronics, etc. After a lifetime of performance and world travel as a trombonist with artists such as Rob Thomas/Matchbox Twenty, Tom Jones, Garth Brooks, Marc Anthony, Duke Ellington Sophisticated Ladies, Tommy Dorsey Orch, Disney World, Cruise Ships, etc I finally found a way to combine all of my musical passions into one “instrument”. This innovative performance setup is centered around Ableton Live on my MacBook Pro and allows me to create, record, loop, slice, perform, and mix in realtime using a wide variety of audio and DJ effects on my trombone. I’ve self-produced six full-length CDs in the past 20 yrs on my own label DKO The Darren Kramer Organization, and the last two have morphed to feature my love of electronic funky jazz. In fact, I have a brand new group called “DKO ElektroHornz” and we are releasing a new EP this summer “The DKO Remixes”. As a lifelong student and educator of music, In 2020 I decided to further encompass my passions into the podcast medium in order to reach a global audience of sharing music and promoting wellness so we can all begin to heal ourselves, as well as the planet.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Great question! Well, seeing that music and wellness are my passions, and the fact that I just returned from SW Colorado, I would do the following…

Spend a casual day driving from Denver thru the beautiful Colorado Rocky Mountains to perhaps one of the best places on earth…Telluride/Ridgway/Ouray! The sights and sounds of that area are simply breathtaking and compete with most any place like New Zealand, Scandinavia, Switzerland, etc. Of course, quality fresh food and fun creative music would compliment the driving trip. Not to mention the numerous photo stops that are necessary to both enjoy the scenery and to preserve/document the experience. (I’m an experienced avid nature photographer) Some other favorite nature activities would have to include natural hot springs and spa massage 🙂

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents! I am so grateful for growing up in a loving musical family that encouraged creativity, promoted the great Colorado outdoors, respecting nature, showing empathy for plants and animals, quality communication and working with others for the greater good of the entire community (just like in a band!) My life couldn’t have taken the musical direction it did without the love and encouragement of my parents. In fact, May 3 was just the 40th anniversary of completing the 1981 Denver Marathon with my dad when I was age 11 and he was age 41! perseverance, dedication, commitment to a worthy goal 🙂

Website: https://www.djdko.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/electrictrombonedj/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/electrbdj

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElectricTromboneDJ

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ElectricTromboneDJ/videos