A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon an Instagram post by Pheek, a producer and sound engineer from Montreal.
In his post he states that “Techno Tracks Are Built to be Mixed (They´re incomplete on Purpose)”
And that´s “why producers feel their music is empty and incomplete”
Furthermore he says that “Techno isn´t meant to stand alone” and that “the original idea of techno was to be layered by DJs in a high-energy context”
He sums it up by claiming that “tracks are tools, not performances”
Pheeks post seem to struck a chord in the techno community as his post gained above 4k likes and most of the commentators approve his point of view.
I’m afraid I have to disagree.
Even though I understand his argument, to me he is only describing one of …
Two schools of thought
On the one hand, there are tracks that take the listener on a journey.
Tracks that build up over minutes and then perhaps take a surprising turn.
Such tracks are therefore “complete.”
Does that make them harder to integrate into a DJ mix?
I don’t think so.
How well a track fits together with others depends much more on how well the piece is arranged and mixed.
The art is to produce tracks that, although simple or sparsely instrumented, can stand on their own as well as work in a mix with other pieces.
One does not exclude the other.
Which tracks do DJs prefer?
In my opinion, there is no general answer to this question either.
Because there are at least two philosophies in DJing:
DJ Type 1: The Curator
On the one hand, there are those who see themselves more as curators.
You can recognize these DJs by the fact that they don’t need more than two decks to perform.
Their mixing style is also not particularly spectacular.
Their focus is on playing the right track at the right time and taking the dance floor on a journey.
With tracks that stand on their own. Even if you were to just listen to them from start to finish.
They have little interest in adding further elements or layers to the tracks they curate.
Prominent examples of this school of thought would be Sven Väth and DJ Hell.
DJ Type 2: The Performer
On the other hand, there are DJs who want to shape their sets more actively.
They are not satisfied with simply creating transitions between deck A and deck B.
In the past, masters of this craft, such as Jeff Mills, played with three or sometimes even four turntables and managed to keep them all in sync.
To this day, Jeff Mills integrates a 909 into his setup to add additional drum elements to his sets:
DVS1 usually plays on four CDJs and, according to his own statement, picks out the frequencies from each track that he needs or wants to hear in his mix at that moment.
Richie Hawtin’s hybrid setup essentially looks like this:
“Traktor is running four decks and simple effects, essentially mimicking the function of the 100 kilos of vinyl he used to carry.”
But there’s more:
“Bitwig runs in the background, adding an extra layer of drums and effects, similar to the 909s and effects he once brought on the road.”
Five layers at once? Jesus…
Tracks vs Tools
I think it’s clear who prefers one over the other.
The curator wants tracks that can stand on their own, that are “complete” – to use Pheek’s terminology.
Performers can easily work with tracks that don’t tell a story, don’t take the listener on a journey, and don’t have any ups and downs.
They may even prefer incomplete tracks for their style of DJing.
In other words, they prefer to work with tools, not tracks in the traditional sense.
They don’t leave it up to the producers in the studio to create suspense.
They prefer to do this job themselves just in time.
Performer DJs tend to get bored in the role of curator.
They want to do more with and to the music than just select it and present it in the best possible way in the club.
Every DJ has to find out for themselves which role they feel more comfortable in.
Why I am a curator type
I realized relatively quickly that I am more of a curator type.
Because as a listener, I have a soft spot for epic tracks, as I have already explained here.
For tracks that tell a story.
As a producer, I love creating suspense.
Building up and releasing energy in a track.
Even when I make more minimal pieces, I would never release a track if it were incomplete or couldn’t stand on its own.
But everyone has to decide that for themselves…
Listening recommendations
Here are a few releases that definitely stand on their own…
Canavezzi – Ascension
Format: Vinyl
Label: Manjumasi
Genre: Tech House/Progressive
Year of Release: 2026
Favorite Track: Outsider (B1)
What I like about this release:
Four fantastic tracks that create a mystical, dark atmosphere with their powerful sound… I enjoy listening to the whole EP. My current favourite is ‘Outsider’…
Fedo – Nuke Hook EP
Format: Vinyl & Digital
Label: Modeight
Genre: Minimal
Year of Release: 2026
Favorite Track: Madam from Athens (A2)
What I like about this release:
Minimal, just the way I like it: groovy, pared down, yet playful. It’s hard to pick out any particular track on this EP. But ‘Madam from Athens’ really stands out with its weird vocal cuts …
Martin Buttrich – Fire Files
Format: Vinyl (see Discogs) & Digital
Label: Desolat
Genre: Minimal/Tech House
Year of Release: 2011
Favorite Track: Rocket (A1)
What I like about this release:
An old classic from my all-time favourite producer: Martin Buttrich. I stumbled across ‘Rocket’ recently while listening to the early Desolat catalogue. Such a good track…
Nat Wandall ft. Robert Owens – Easy (Kaidi Tatham Remix)
Format: Vinyl & Digital
Label: Eclipser Chaser
Genre: House
Year of Release: 2025
Favorite Track: Easy (Kaidi Tatham Remix)
What I like about this release:
I’m not the biggest fan of vocal house, but Robert Owens’s voice is simply in a class of its own. “Easy” is a beautiful track, and the Kaidi Tatham remix is especially good music, not just for the dance floor.
Various Artists – Coalescence
Format: Vinyl & Digital
Label: The third room
Genre: Techno
Year of Release: 2026
Favorite Track: Claudio PRC & Luigi Tozzi – Onirica (B1)
What I like about this release:
When it comes to techno, René Wise is one of my favorite producers. But on this EP, I was particularly drawn to ‘Onirica’ by Claudio PRC & Luigi Tozzi with its dark mood.
Magasine Updates
First of all I have a new track released: Pressure.
There are two mixes of the track, one is called “Stardust Mix”, the other “Redux Mix”.
I´m curious to hear which one you like better …
You can have a listen here.
I recently recorded a series of hardware jams on video for my YouTube channel.
Based on the jams, I then produced a total of five finished tracks and sent them to two labels where I would like to release them.
Then I came across a video warning about the following scam:
Nowadays, it’s no longer safe for producers to post snippets of their work in progress online.
That’s because some douchebags take these snippets, upload them to AI tools, and have an entire track produced based on them, which they then release under their own name.
If you, as the actual creator of the track, want to release it later, this can be problematic because the track has already been released by the AI douchebag.
Great, right?
The only safe solution is therefore to only post work-in-progress videos online once the corresponding release is already signed and sealed and therefore secure.
So unfortunately, I can’t post the videos on YouTube for the time being …🤷🏻♂️
Take care, Magasine