Disco: Encyclopedia II - Disco - DJs and Producers

Disco - DJs and Producers

Disco music diverged from the rock of the 1960s, elevating music from the raw sound of 4-piece garage bands to refined music composed by producers who contracted local symphony and philharmonic orchestras and session musicians. For the first time in three decades, orchestral music became the preeminent sound in the popular-music scene. Top disco music producers included Patrick Adams, Biddu, Cerrone, Alec R. Costandinos, John Davis, Gregg Diamond, Kenneth Gamble, Norman Harris, Leon Huff, Sylvester Levay, Ian Levine, Mike Lewis, Van McCoy, Meco Monardo, Tom Moulton, Boris Midney, Vincent Montana Jr, Randy Muller, Laurin Rinder, Richie Rome, Warren Schatz, and Michael Zager, whose roles involved every aspect of production, from composing the arrangements to conducting the 50- to 100-member orchestras from Los Angeles to New York, from Chicago to Philadelphia, from Detroit to Miami, from London to Berlin, from Vancouver to Montreal, from to Paris to Milan.

With as many as 64 tracks of vocals and instruments to be compiled into a fluid composition of verses, bridges, and refrains, complete with orchestral builds and breaks, the mixing engineers became an important fixture in the production process, and, as a result, were most influential in developing the "sound" of the recording through the disco mix. Record sales were often dependent on, though not guaranteed by, floor play in clubs. Notable DJs include Jim Burgess, Walter Gibbons, John "Jellybean" Benitez, Rick Gianatos, Francis Grasso (Sanctuary), Larry Levan (Paradise Garage), Ian Levine (Heaven), John Luongo, and David Mancuso (The Loft).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "DJs and Producers", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki