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The lifeblood of electronic music and a genre that’s still omnipresent today, the intense energy of techno holds a hypnotic allure. Over the next few pages, we dig deep into the workings of this essential genre, and show you how to craft club-ready future techno classics
From the foundational DIY sounds of its Detroit-based origin story to today’s slickly produced floorfillers, techno is one of the most pivotal genres within the electronic music sphere, defined by stable four-to-the-floor rhythms, squealing leads and throbbing, impactful bass. Within the following pages we’re going to explore modern techno and highlight how you can get your footing in this most colorful of genres. To grasp techno’s centrality to the modern scene, it’s important to get a little context on the genre’s birth.
The genre was invented by The Belleville Three – Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, and ’80s Detroit culture had a profound influence on these three innovators, whose early compositions may have been influenced by a fascination with futuristic ideas and machines. Juan Atkins formed a group called Cybotron and their first single Alleys of Your Mind sold 15,000 copies on the independent Deep Space label in 1981. Shortly after, Atkins began a solo project under the name Model 500. In 1985, Model 500 released No UFOs on Juan’s own label Metroplex. It’s a record considered by many to be the first techno production.
The technology and hardware that was becoming available in the early ’80s influenced the burgeoning sound of techno. New drum machines and synthes
