[4] Olsen issued a range of work from experimental to film and television soundtracks, pop and dance music, installation projects and established record labels.

Ever the experimentalist, Olsen's eclectic career in avant rock took him from the Reals, one of the original Melbourne punk combos of the late 1970s, through to the acid-house/techno/trance outfit Third Eye.

[1] Australian music journalist Clinton Walker described this band as having "inner-city 'supergroup' status from the outset and helped pioneer post-punk rock in Australia.

[8] The duo formed the Beast Apparel, which later became Hugo Klang, and released a single, "Grand Life for Fools and Idiots", in 1982.

[1] Olsen returned to Australia in the following year and continued Hugo Klang[9] with Alan Bamford, Tom Hoy and Laughton Ellery, before this group split up in 1983.

He re-recorded material by Whirlywirld including two singles, "Win/Lose" (April 1987) as a solo effort, and "Rooms for the Memory" (February) by the film's star, Michael Hutchence (of INXS).

And the great thing about Ollie [Olsen], and one of the reasons I asked him to do so much in the movie, is that his songs have always had a feel to them, a kind of mood that fitted in with what we were doing.

[16] Olsen lectured on and taught electronic music at various universities and symposia, and also performed with a wide variety of international artists.

[citation needed] As of 2006, Olsen was working on a number of recording projects—mostly electro-acoustic pieces—with artists from Australia, Japan and South Africa, for performance and release in 2006.

Simulated was composed, performed and engineered by Olsen, between 1999 and 2006, mastered by Simon Pool at LGM studios, in January 2006, and the album artwork was, again, produced by Maro Kassoti.

[19] In May 2020, Olsen announced publicly online on making a return to music and the release of the Whirlywirld Complete Discography 1978-80 LP on HoZac Records due out in June 2020.

[21][22] In January 2023 music journalist Jane Gazzo, singer Adalita and producer Nick Launay re-recorded Olsen's 1978 composition "Rooms for the Memory"—originally a top 20 solo single for Hutchence in 1986 and also used in the associated film Dogs in Space.

[22][23] Olsen's MSA was announced in June 2023 and the new rendition featuring Mick Harvey, Andrew Duffield and Mat Watson (Taipan Tiger Girls) was due for release in July with proceeds in support of his ongoing medical expenses.