DJing is a simple business and anybody who tells you otherwise is talking rubbish. You don’t need to complicate things unnecessarily. It’s the same with anything, business, great footballers, they make things look easy. You don’t need to blind people with science; you just need to play good music in a well thought out way that gets people dancing. So that’s a combination of mixing, programming and most importantly - music choice, it’s the same as it’s always been. Whether you use a laptop with Ableton, cdjs and edits, lots of outboard gear or plain old two decks and a mixer to do that, that’s up to you. Don’t let what you use get in the way of the music.

Having said that, there’s no doubt if you keep it in its proper perspective there’s a lot you can do these days that you just couldn’t do in earlier years. Like many DJs I create my own edits of most things I play, and occasionally make full blown remixes using just little parts of tracks I like. I make a lot of use of CDJs, samplers and EFX. I’m yet to go down the Ableton Live route in a live setting although I have used it here in the studio. It’s a great piece of kit, very intuitive although I think its time stretching still needs a bit of work for production use.

Who do I think gets my vote? People who play diverse and interesting stuff. Lee Burridge has a panache that’s fantastic; he’s been a big influence and a good friend for a few years now. Desyn Masiello, another friend but someone who has a real ear for a tune. Danny Howells energy is infectious. I also like Josh Wink, Craig Richards, Mazi, Mark Farina, Terry Francis, Francois Kevorkian, Derrick Carter, Nic Fanciulli, James Zabiela, Laurent Garnier, Ritchie Hawtin, John Digweed, Sasha.. Anyone that puts a bit of thought and effort into their performances really. I also enjoyed listening to a mix from ALT-CTRL, a London electro act recently - and people like Neil Quigley always have my ear too.
Paolo Mojo