When a young Benoit Heitz saw a friend’s computer running Reason he had an epiphany: “His computer isn’t better than my parent’s computer. That means I could be making music.” He started out not knowing the first thing about drums or music in general. Three years later he was touring the world as an international DJ.

Surkin’s style is based on inspiration from classic House music, French Dutch house acts like Daft Punk, and his own brand of Surkin “cutups.” Relying heavily on the slicing power of ReCycle and the Dr. Octorex loop player in Reason, Surkin’s sound is chaotic juggling of samples which come together into something undeniably danceable.

We sat down with him in his Parisian studio to check out some of his tricks.