Dance music is created and produced to inspire and facilitate the popular art of dancing. You may not realise this, but dance music has been with us for decades now and has evolved over the years into the hugely successful style of music we know today as "electronic dance music".
Dance music can be heard everywhere from pubs and clubs, on the radio, even in our homes and on the TV. Dance music is so successful today that it has become a huge industry that turns over massive profits each year. Professional DJs that play dance music in clubs all over the world also make substantial amounts of money and can even achieve a certain amount of celebrity status depending on how well known they become.
There are many forms of electronic dance music which include styles such as house, Euro dance, jungle, hip house, trance, techno, funk, garage, and many others.
The rise of Electronic Dance Music
It was back in the 1980s when the personal computer was invented that electronic dance music was first created. These computer systems incorporated such things like synthesizers, sound cards, samplers and drum machines which then enabled us to use electronic instruments to compose and put together rhythms and baselines to form tracks that would achieve the full synchronization of sounds.
Electronic dance music is typically composed using computers and synthesizers, and rarely has any physical instruments. Instead, this is replaced by digital/electronic sounds, with a 4/4 beat. Dance music typically ranges from 120bpm, up to 200bpm, with techno, trance, and house being the most widespread.
The rise of DJ's and Producers
As technology continues to advance the more affordable music making equipment has become. The result has seen an explosive growth in wannabe DJ's and producers, who are constantly bringing more talent and fresh inspiration to the scene.
The number of artists and DJ's working within electronic music is overwhelming and with the advent of hard disk recording systems, it is possible for any home computer user to become a musician, and hence the rise in the number of "bedroom artists and DJ's".