Having made his name as a true heavyweight of the techno scene with a string of seminal productions to his name, Christian Smith is undoubtedly one of the best-respected names in the genre. Often collaborating with his long-time studio partner, John Selway, Christian’s work has set the benchmark for quality techno; as his releases with Josh Wink’s ‘Ovum’ imprint, John Digweed’s Bedrock, Steve Lawler’s ever-innovative Viva Music and of course, Renaissance, attest. Over the last few years Christian has developed his relationship with Renaissance, with two EPs under his belt. Now he launches the new series ‘Platform’, which has been designed to allow the freshest talent from the scene to shine, and there is surely none more deserving to kick things off.
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Q: A friend of mine saw you play in Miami and said it was one of those special shows that will stay with him for a long, long time (and he is not easily impressed). What do you try to bring to a live set?
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A: It’s not about what you bring to your gig, but how you use what you have. I often see DJs bring 2 laptops, multiple controllers etc, and they barely do anything besides using a reverb effect here and there.
I used to be a battle DJ back in the day so I appreciate having 3 decks (CDJs). I still mix with 3 decks and try to layer my music nicely. I also use a lot of effects, but I do not overdo it. There is nothing worse than a DJ that just scratches and uses effects the whole time. I try to bring a lot of energy into my sets. It’s a party after all and people want to get rocked.

Q: You have quite a history collaborating with John Selway. What changes dynamically when you are working alone?
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A: First of all I have to say that John Selway is a super musical talent and a great engineer. I worked alone before I started collaborating with Selway and I have learned a lot from him throughout the years. I have started working alone again and it’s great fun but also challenging to get the right sound. Thankfully I have produced enough records to know when something sounds right and when it does not. It takes me a little more time than when I work with John, but it’s coming together pretty nicely. The end result is what matters and I am very happy with the way my solo productions have been going. I will still collaborate with Selway as we are good friends, and let’s face it, we work well together and make successful records, but you will see more and more solo productions as well.
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Q: In an interview with Progressive Sounds, you said, in reference to Total Departure, “It’s not often there are tracks that everybody from Digweed to Cox to Hawtin and even PVD play”. Looking back upon a project that elicited that kind of response would suggest that you were definitely doing something right. What has that experience taught you? Was there something special about that release or could the same thing have happened with other releases, and Total Departure just turned out to be the one?
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A: It’s funny you mention this. Total Departure is actually not our first track that totally crossed over into many people’s DJ boxes. We had a big record called “Move!” which came out on “Intec”, Carl Cox’s label 10 years ago. That track crossed over from Sasha (who licensed it for his GU Ibiza comp) to Jeff Mills to Danny Tenaglia and many others. It’s still a classic today and I’m really happy it stood the test of time. I think the key reason why (more…)