Snapped: Smirnoff Sound Collective Artist Retreat, Joshua Tree, CA

At the end of November, Smirnoff came together with Mixmag to announce the beginning of a new project called the Smirnoff Sound Collective, focused on promoting greater visibility in dance music across gender, race, genres and beyond.

As part of the initiative, Smirnoff and Mixmag made an emphasis to find new and exciting ways to bring these artists face-to-face with one another to create together. A handful of both artists and mentors were brought out to the beautiful desert setting of Joshua Tree in California to Rancho V, a space equipped with studios for artists to collaborate and get creative.

Bringing together artists from different backgrounds and across different identities proved to be a success as Amtrac, Shigeto, Gina Turner, Nina Dioz, MK and Joe from NERO came together in individual, paired and group studio sessions across three days to create some truly magic productions, inspired by the desert spirit.

Mornings were guided by The Divine Movement's Gina Turner and Tim Rothschild with relaxing meditation and yoga sessions before heading into undisturbed studio hours. In between, the group broke out for a special desert Lab session helmed by Amtrac and MK during the sunset hour. Watch the full sets below and look out for some epic drone footage.

[Photos: Get Tiny Photography]

Valerie Lee is Mixmag's US Digital Editor. Follow her on Twitter here