ABSTRACT
This article examines the creative workflows of electronic dance music producer-DJs who use Ableton Live software, proposing a problem-solving perspective on Diplo and Skrillex’s collaboration on Justin Bieber’s “Where Are Ü Now?” and Kieran Hebden’s (aka Four Tet) remix of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The production workflows of these producers are broadly representative of how Ableton Live is used as a self-contained techno-musical system to compose through sampling, sound design, loop- and beat-making, and arrangement, showing creativity in contemporary electronic music production as a recombinant art whose elements are modular and perpetually fungible.
