Music
Is Technology Helping Or Hurting DJs? Our New Video Investigates
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Richie Hawtin, Laurent Garnier, Ellen Allien and Steffi all feature in our new documentary.
Without technology, DJing would not exist. The ability to record and play music is a relatively modern invention, and the art of mixing two records together is even more recent. Consider for a moment that many of the things we consider normal today were once the high-tech achievements of their day: amplifiers, turntables, speakers, mixers, CDJs and even vinyl were all once interpreted as paradigm-shifting developments for music fans.
And yet, even though DJing has always been about technology, there is an equally-long tradition of people fearing change. Artists who use new tools are viewed as inauthentic fakes or cheaters who, in some cases, were able to use technology to bypass years of manual training—we are, of course, referring here to the endless autosync vs beatmatching debate.
For today’s video on our YouTube channel, we have something a little different than the norm. This time, we wanted to create a round table discussion with some of the biggest and most progressive artists on the subject of technological change in DJ culture. Those artists include Richie Hawtin, Laurent Garnier, Ellen Allien, Steffi and Rebekah, many of whom have been featured on Electronic Beats before. Watch the video above, then scroll on to see a classic Electronic Beats video featuring Richie Hawtin speaking about technology.
And for more great videos like this, be sure to check out our YouTube channel every Tuesday.
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Read more: These 8 new technologies might change DJing forever
