Aaron Suiss on Why Balance Outside the Booth Matters Inside It

Aaron Suiss has built his career through movement, discipline, and a clear emotional point of view. Raised between the suburbs of Washington, DC, and the energy of Baltimore, and now based in Thailand, he has developed a sound rooted in progressive melodic house and techno, with a strong focus on feeling, intention, and connection. That perspective carries through his work as an artist and behind the scenes as A&R and Label Manager for Outta Limits Recordings, the imprint of Stan Kolev and Matan Caspi.

Recent releases like “Legend,” which reached No. 2 on the Progressive House chart behind Boris Brejcha, and his remix of DJ SAN’s “Forest Skyline” show how that instinct is translating into real momentum, and that momentum is carried into his latest release with us at Magnetic Magazine Recordings with his single ‘Relayered’.

What makes this conversation useful is that Suiss speaks about DJing with a level of honesty that goes past performance. He talks about grounding yourself outside the booth, building a life that does not depend entirely on shows or chart results, and creating the kind of balance that actually protects your creativity over time.

Cooking, exercise, nature, friendship, and stepping away from a track when needed are all part of that picture for him. The result is a perspective that connects his music to a bigger idea, one where emotional clarity, health, and consistency matter as much as what happens on stage.

Interview With Aaron Suiss

What keeps you grounded outside of music?

I think this is an important topic to discuss. I personally identify so much with my career and my music and how not to? This is my life, a way of life, a lifestyle, and it must be that way for the ones who want to make it or make a difference, influence, inspire, motivate, and actually make a living out of it. But how do you separate yourself from your music or art or career?

How do you not take it personally when you have a “bad show” or if your new EP doesn’t chart or get support? How do you stay grounded? So what I have been doing and what’s been helpful to me is to make sure I do other things, find other hobbies other than music. Find things that make you happy and most important of all, exercise. I love music and I love to create music, but I also love to cook, I love to grow veggies, I love to go to the gym, to the sea. I try to do other things with my life and myself, especially when I am stuck on a track and I cannot seem to crack it.

You can either get stuck in the loop of doing nothing and going nowhere and start to feel like your whole life is stagnant, or you can go jump in the ocean, go on a hike, invite some friends over and cook dinner. Get out of your mind, get out of your head. Go back in 2 days, 3 days, even a week.

You may find that the track is actually good as it is and you were overthinking or not satisfied. Sometimes you need time or space between the sittings to actually hear from a different perspective.

Have you ever felt your self-worth too wrapped up in gigs or visibility?

Sometimes I play shows and the vibe is not right at all.

The promoters may have pulled the wrong crowd, the warm-up DJ may have played 130 driving techno, there may not be enough people to contain the energy or the vibe. There could be so many reasons. In the past I used to take it very personally when my shows didn’t go as I expected or wanted them to go, but how can things ever really go as expected? You cannot know the future in any part of life. You can only take an educated guess based on what the bookers or promoters have told you. When you know your worth and believe in yourself, it doesn’t matter what happens out there in the world, you will always prevail.

You will always wake up the next morning and go to the studio and keep working and keep making music. Sometimes it is hard to believe in yourself, sometimes you suffer from imposter syndrome, but work through it. Work on yourself. Once again, exercise, meditate, put good things in your body, and don’t forget to breathe. When I have gigs I usually make 2 playlists, one for the way I think it will go and a backup for another way it could go. More often than not I use the backup folder.

One time I played at Coda Toronto and there happened to be a blizzard on that night. The streets were empty, it was freezing, and people were advised not to leave the house. I was sure the club would be empty. In the end we had the club at 1/4 of capacity maximum. It could have been even less, but the vibe was right and people were grooving and ready to rock.

Most of the time you do not know what will be, so be prepared for anything and everything.

How do you build friendships that exist beyond the DJ world?

I think it is important to have friends in the music industry and out of the music industry. Firstly, having friends that do the same or similar things as you is a great way to get out of your head and also have interesting conversations about things that stimulate you.

Maybe you learn that you go through similar struggles in your life. Now making other friends is also extremely important, and how do you do that when you are so invested in your career? It’s simple, by doing other things like going to the gym or going into nature or even going to a party and dancing. It is also important to do other things with your friends, not only sit in the studio, even if you are producers. M

ost everyone has multiple hobbies or passions in life. Find out what those are and do them. I think healthy and powerful connections with friends are about balance, and when you are 98% in the studio together and 2% doing something else, that doesn’t seem balanced to me.

So do wholesome things, do new things. Spend time with non-musicians or non-DJs. It is also good to know that when you see your non-DJ friends on the dance floor moving and grooving, they are actually enjoying the music and not analyzing it like your DJ friends may do.

Generally, it’s all about balance.

Has life outside the booth ever taught you something that improved your work inside it?

Totally, actually life outside the booth has been very helpful for me in my career, even life inside the booth. Of course you get all the technical experience inside the booth, which is necessary, but the most important thing in my opinion is the mental side. The tricks and games your mind plays with you in the booth.

Yeah, you can keep powering through it, but talking to people, talking to friends, meditating, exercising, all that wholesome stuff you do outside the booth really helps you calm your mind, and I must say that a calm mind in the booth will help you a lot more than a chaotic one.

What does a healthy relationship with DJing look like for you now?

A healthy relationship with DJing for me looks like balance. What do I mean by that? When you are not DJing, do you go out and party often? Do you do drugs and drink alcohol every day? That is not balance and that is definitely not a healthy relationship with life or with your work.

To me, a healthy balance is going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, eating healthy food, swimming in the sea, or going into nature. I am all for partying and having fun, but in moderation. Don’t burn yourself out. Don’t feel like you must go to that party to network so they book you. Get booked for your music, get booked for you. Do not overexert yourself and hurt your body to get bookings or whatever.

Healthy is key.

Think to yourself, am I being healthy? Do I feel healthy? If you are partying 3 or 4 times a week, most likely you are not exercising 3 or 4 times a week also, so find your balance, find what works for you, and find the way that keeps your mind clear and undistorted most of the time.