“I can teach a kid that is 10 years old how to beat match in a couple of hours”: David Guetta says that he’s never played a pre-recorded DJ set, and can’t understand why anyone would think that he has

David Guetta has been answering the internet's questions about the art of DJing, and has expressed bafflement at the idea that anyone would think he would play a pre-recorded set.

The accusation that sets are prepared and recorded in advance - so that all that’s really required is to press play - is one that’s been levelled at many famous DJs down the years, but Guetta suggests that, with today’s technology, there’s simply no reason not to play live.

“I never played a pre-recorded set,” he tells Wired. “I hear so much about those stories of pre-recorded sets - I think it's absolutely ridiculous, because beat matching is so easy. Like, I can teach a kid that is 10 years old how to beat match in a couple of hours, because today it really became easy. So, I don't know why people are talking about this.”

David Guetta Answers DJ Questions | Tech Support | WIRED - YouTube

Watch On

Guetta goes on to say that, although he does prepare what he calls the “skeleton” of his set, he’s always ready to switch things up if it’s not going down as well as he’d hoped.

“Let's say I'm playing my set that I prepared, but I see that when I play an underground record, they’re really into it,” he suggests. “So, I have my underground playlist, I'm gonna add some of this.

“Or let's say I play an underground record and it's a disaster, they only want hits, and singalong and feelgood music. OK, no problem.”

But although Guetta is keen to stress that he’s definitely selecting and mixing the music ‘as it happens’, he does admit that there can be a certain amount of “bullshit” going on in the booth.

Take the flicks of EQ knobs, for example, performed in a way that implies that the controls are red hot to the touch.

“If I'm totally honest, some of it can become like a trick to do that, and some of it is a little bullshit part of the show,” Guetta admits. “I put the EQ straight because you have the craziest engineers that are coming into the club. So, unless the club sucks, you don't need to do all this show with EQ.”

Elsewhere in the Q&A, Guetta gives a demonstration of just how easy it is to beat match these days, and goes on to say that what impresses him more is when a DJ shifts a track’s key so that it matches harmonically with the one that’s being mixed out of.

“If I hear a DJ do that, I'm like, ‘OK, this guy is good,’” he says.