Community Highlights: Meet Josh Shirt of Shirty Mastering

Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Shirt.

Hi Josh, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
It’s a pleasure to chat with you. I am based in Fort Collins, Colorado, and this is where I run my business Shirty Mastering.

At the age of 15, I became passionate about music and DJing, and it changed the course of my life.

Today, I am a professional mastering engineer, an instructor of all things sound and music, an inventor of electronic instruments, and a DJ.

I began DJing in the early 2000s. Since then, I’ve DJed at hundreds of private parties as well as at some of London’s biggest nightclubs.

Over the past decade, I’ve invented and built electronic instruments to enhance my DJ performances.

My most well-known invention is my Laser Drum Kit, which is essentially a laser-based sampler.

I come from a family of engineers and my grandfather was a brilliant inventor. He taught me how to solder in his electronics workshop, which to me as a child, was an Aladdin’s cave of wires, components, lights and whirring motors.

I built my first Laser Drum Kit in 2013, and from 2015 it became a popular feature at parties and events – as an interactive musical instrument which guests could experience. I presented it around the UK at a series of events hosted by the science museums, and I showed it twice at The Science Museum in London where it fit well with their themes of light, sound, music and STEM. In 2018, I presented the Laser Drum Kit at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

When I install the Laser Drum Kit in these settings, I often put it into a large space or an entire room. Event goers then enter the room – which is dark – and see a grid of laser beams which they can interact with to trigger sounds and samples. The challenge for participants is to play the laser beams in a certain order, to recreate the catchy parts of well-known pop songs.

Here and now in 2025, I have just developed a version of the instrument specifically for DJing, aka Version 5. Because the lasers are highly visible in dark smoke-filled rooms they bring a neat visual element to my DJ performances, where I use them to play samples and remix music in front of audiences.

Version 5 of the Laser Drum Kit receives instructions from a hacked Super Nintendo (SNES) controller. The SNES controller can change the pitch of the notes on the laser beams, as well as the musical key of the instrument. I used a SNES controller because classic video games often inspire me as an inventor, and the classic SNES game Street Fighter 2 inspired the configuration of this ‘DJ Laser Drum Kit’: In Street Fighter 2, a sequence of button presses executed in the correct order allows your character to perform special moves. With this Version 5 kit, breaking a sequence of laser beams in the correct order unlocks new sounds – for example, breaking beam one and beam two, simultaneously, gives access to a new sound/sample, as does breaking beam two and beam three, simultaneously. This configuration essentially turns three laser beams into five, allowing the player access to a full pentatonic scale.

When performing with the laser drum kit I have a homemade loop pedal on the floor. I use it to loop what I’m playing on the laser beams, to remix music in real-time in front of audiences.

At the heart of my setup is Ableton Live. All of the above instruments and devices interact with it via custom code.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As a business owner, I could answer this question from a few different angles, but when it comes to inventing electronic instruments, refining the design is usually the hardest part. To help with the design process I create a number of prototypes. These prototypes allow me to reiterate different elements of the instrument – such as the layout, the components and the features – until everything feels just right.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I help people all over the world get a great sound from the music they’re making through my business Shirty Mastering.

I am a 5-star rated Professional Mix and Mastering Engineer with over 20 years studio experience. My mastering services are designed to teach musicians how to improve their mixes. After a musician sends me a song, I share specific advice on how they can improve their mix in order to make it ideal for mastering.
I also offer an Advanced Mastering service, where I gain additional depth of control over the sound of the finished master. Through this service, I work with the vocals and music separately – adding pro-EQ, compression and natural pitch correction to the vocals, and finessing the sound of the music, to achieve the best result.

Through Shirty Mastering, I also share my knowledge with clients. I instruct on all things related to sound and offer sound recording lessons, music mixing lessons and music production lessons. I teach DJ lessons, too, and I help people configure live sound setups and home studio spaces. Most of my services are provided online, or in person in the Front Range. See www.shirtymastering.com for full details.

Any big plans?
I have recently started offering my DJ services to weddings and events and I’m looking forward to DJing at more parties across the Front Range!
I can be booked as a DJ at www.shirtymastering.com/wedding-dj-and-events-dj-fort-collins-and-denver/

Shirty Mastering will soon start offering Live Sound Consultations, giving advice to bands on how to build great live rigs, how to get the most out of Ableton Live for live performances, and how to best connect existing music gear for the best live sound and ease of setup.

On the horizon, I’m planning to release my musical instrument inventions for sale as kits to musicians and makers around the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shirtymastering.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/shirtymusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shirtymastering
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShirtyMastering
• Other: https://www.shirtymusic.com/inventor/maker.html

Image Credits
Chris Lorensson