Annotated Bibliography

EDM Research Sources

Durkin, Regan. Interview. 1 Mar. 2016.

            “Its so accepting, there’s no rejection, and everyone loves each other, the feeling is really hard to explain, but that feeling is what makes me keep going to raves.” This was said by Regan Durkin, a rave goer of 4 years now. I decided to interview a friend of mine who is a true fan of EDM and try to understand more about the culture which will better my research for this topic. Regan also has experience in the business side of raves too, as she’s a promoter for HTG Events, which promotes electronic music events. I started off the interview by asking her what encouraged her to go to her first rave/festival. She told me that EDM had a huge presence in her town that she grew up in and one of her best friends introduced her to it during her freshman year of high school. She wasn’t too into it at first because she thought it was a little intense, but after listening to it a few times, she started to see why people liked it so much. “EDM serves more as entertainment and it makes people go crazy, which I think is why I like it so much”. Her first festival was “Life In Color” in Miami, and ever since then she’s gone to festivals all over the country. Her favorite and “life changing” festival was EDC Las Vegas. “It sounds ridiculous, but I teared up several times during it. It was just so beautiful. The love between my rave fam was so strong during it, and the lineup (the list of artists performing) was insane.  Just thinking about it makes me miss it so much, I would do anything to get that feeling back.” I asked her if she didn’t have those people in her “rave fam”, if the experience would be the same if she went alone, and she responded no. “I have a huge squad of probably around 20 people, that I go to mostly every festival with. Those people are what make raves so special because everyone is experiencing this love for music together. I’m sure if I went alone I would still have fun because there is so much love in the crowd, but it wouldn’t be the same because my rave fam is amazing, and we all go so hard together I love it.”

"East Coast Rave Community." Facebook. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.

In this community's Facebook page, people post about new music, new remixes to songs, and events (such as festivals, shows, and raves) going on in the east coast. People also ask questions to fellow ravers about anything going on in the EDM world. I analyzed the data by scrolling through the discussion page and putting each post into a category, and writing down patterns that I see. I noticed that a lot of people are asking if people are going to events and posting event information. Also, there is a lot of people posting pictures and videos of sets and saying good things about shows. There is barely any negativity in this page of 12,000 people and I can tell that people are bonding over this music.

I plan on using this information so that I can better understand the community and display who ravers really are and if they fit the typical raver stereotypes. Even though this page is just a small percentage of the people who rave, it gives a good sample of the different type of people who do. The main idea I got from looking through this page was that ravers from anywhere on the east coast will support one another and connect over sets and shows. They also try to avoid conflict, as I saw an example of someone posting something negative about an artist, and the people responding where not fighting his opinion, but respecting it, and voicing their own thoughts.

"How To Make EDM - The Beginners Guide | ESA Records | EDM." ESA Records. N.p., 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.

One of the major parts of my research was understanding how electronic music is made, and to be knowledgeable about how much talent goes into making this type of music. From this source I learned a lot, which will help me come up with a defending statement on why EDM should not be considered “trashy” music.  

There is a lot of terminology and prior knowledge that goes into learning about any type of music. For example, you have to know what a beat and bar is, bpm, keys, chords and chord sequences, and how they all relate to each other, and much more. The first major thing that goes into making EDM is the program that you use on your computer. There are many different types of programs that can be used and the majority if not all cost money and sometimes can cost close to a thousand dollars. On top of having the program itself, you must buy another tool, which is known as a synthesizer. Any DJ/producer that wants to be successful has to buy this tool as it acts as an electronic instrument that plays a wide variety of different sounds.

Just buying the different software and tools isn’t enough. A lot of practice and time goes into making these tracks. Artists can spend months, and even years just making one track. Producers must create their own signature sound, which can be hard to do since its so easy to access other producer’s music through the internet. A lot of engineering goes into the making of songs and tracks as you have to fit all of the different beats and drops together to make it flow nicely without it sounding too harsh. Research about how to make beats and how to use the programs are crucial, and is why not just anyone can create this type of music. It takes patience, and a good ear to create a hit.

"JMC Academy Audio Student Talks about the History of Electronic Dance Music, Electro and    Dubstep." JMC Academy Audio Student Talks about the History of Electronic Dance Music, Electro and Dubstep - JMC Academy. JMC Academy, n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.

In the 1980s and 1990s, as technology was advancing, the disco movement faded out and electronic production consumed the music industry. The EDM community has grown tremendously since then, as EDM is becoming more mainstream. EDM is a very unique type of music. The definition of EDM is constantly changing, but I like to think of it as a genre of music that is typically used at music festivals, raves, to pump up the audience and make them excited. It contains hard beats and sounds generated by a computer, and contain “buildups” and “drops”, that make EDM so unique. DJs use computer programs to put together these types of songs, and the majority of the songs are electronic sounds engineered together to make it sound good. EDM has many sub-genres including trance, trap, house, dubstep, techno, grime, and many more. Each sub-genre is different from the next, but all fall under the electronic music category. Some genres contain lyrics, and some do not. It all depends on the producer of the music and the song, and each DJ has a unique sound. This is why there are so many different types of EDM because each producer has their own twist on how they produce songs on the computer, and this creates many different genres.

EDM is typically related to the rave scene, because that is the type of music being played at raves. Raves are huge gatherings of people all coming together to an event, all for one reason: to listen to good music played by DJs and to have a good time. There are many different festivals/raves held across the world every weekend. These events are essentially concerts, but instead of one artist playing, it is typically many different DJs playing back to back at stages. Sometimes there is more than one stage at bigger festivals, to account for all the people that attend these events. Usually each stage will have a different type of EDM genre, so depending on what genre people like they can go to the stage accordingly.

PBWorks. "What Is PLUR." Ravers Guide / What Is PLUR. PBWorks, Jan. 2005. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.

There is a term that most ravers know, it is “PLUR”. It stands for peace, love, unity, and respect.  To go to a rave, you should follow these guidelines, as it gives the rave a sense of community. People wear “kandi” to raves, and they basically are bracelets with colorful beads on them and often have words on them such as PLUR, or any other words that the person connected to. At raves people trade kandi, and when you are trading kandi you do the PLUR handshake. First you put two fingers up and touch them to the other persons, then make half a heart, then intertwine your hands, then move the bracelet from your arm to the other persons. After that you typically give the other person a hug and say thank you.

            I found this to be a very different culture than the typical concert scene, as not that much interaction usually goes on in between concert goers. This specifically made me understand the difference between a rave and just a typical music concert.