Music Festival

Ryan quickly shook his head. "No need for all that trouble."

He explained that his vocal sample was just a simple "3, 2, 1, go!"—nothing irreplaceable.

"Great!" Deadmau5 visibly exhaled in relief, then grinned. "If I couldn't hear the full version, I wouldn't be able to sleep. This is too cool, man."

This time, Ryan completed the drop section under the watchful eyes of Deadmau5, his VJ, and his assistant.

"Isn't the heavy bass too strong? It sounds like it's off-beat." Deadmau5 quickly noticed what seemed like a beginner's mistake in Ryan's drop.

"That's what makes this track special." Ryan clearly had no intention of changing it; he'd planned it that way from the start.

Deadmau5 helped Ryan find a new female vocal sample. Ryan then took only half an hour to finish the section from the drop to the second break, pasted an extra copy of the drop, crafted an additional outro, and polished all the transitions.

With that, the final version of Tremor—clocking in at 4 minutes and 54 seconds—was officially complete. This time, Ryan added parentheses after the track title and wrote "Original Mix" inside, marking it as the original mix.

The song title, obtained through déjà vu, already carried that character, so Ryan copied it verbatim. At this point, his recreation of the original track in his mind had reached ninety percent, with only a few minor, harmless details left—essentially the "complete form" of the song.

"In other words, there are other versions, like a radio edit or an extended mix?" Deadmau5 immediately said.

A radio edit typically had only one or two bars of intro, getting straight into the song, and was meant for radio play as the name suggested.

An extended mix was the opposite, featuring a long intro of 12 to 20 bars, designed to help DJs blend tracks on CDJs during live sets.

These three versions, plus remixes from two other DJs, could form a maxi single with five tracks—or a single album. In the past, seven-inch records would have different single versions on the A and B sides. In the digital age, this sales format sat somewhere between a single and an EP, priced between $2.99 and $4.99.

After finishing all the production, Deadmau5 and his two assistants became the first listeners of the Tremor Original Mix.

"This song doesn't sound like the house music I've heard before," Deadmau5 said.

"It has stronger heavy bass—it's Big Room House," the VJ chimed in, recognizing it.

Deadmau5 grew excited. "If this single gets a good response at the festival, we can definitely release it commercially in Canada!"

The next day, Ryan and Deadmau5's group arrived early at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami, the main stage location for this year's Ultra Music Festival. South of the park was the Miami Heat's home arena, the American Airlines Arena—a great location.

The stage's main framework was already assembled. Two metal towers, several feet high, stood upright, their fronts wrapped in semi-transparent black gauze printed with Ultra Music Festival's logo, shaped like a computer's power button. Through the black mesh, a matrix of large sound systems hanging from the metal frames was faintly visible. Between the two "towers" was the main stage, where workers were still making final adjustments.

Ryan followed Deadmau5's group directly onto the stage. From this angle, he could see a stretch of tents already pitched in a corner of the park, meaning the most hardcore festivalgoers had already arrived.

Ryan also spotted many people in bizarre outfits—huge furry boots in turquoise and neon pink, ballet tutus around their waists, and tops that were either bikinis, body paint, or nothing at all.

Some wore giant "fairy wings" on their backs, as if they'd just returned from the world of The Wizard of Oz, or had artificial flower decorations shaped like daisies on their heads.

If a normal person saw someone dressed like that, they might think they were tripping.

Clearly, most of these people were indeed in a "tripping" state. Ryan noticed several staff members in reflective vests handing out some kind of item, with "DanceSafe" printed on the back of their vests, along with a free hotline number below the logo.

"The bags they're handing out probably contain a few condoms, a pair of earplugs, and a safety guide on 'how to take drugs without risking your life,'" Deadmau5 said, shaking his head, long used to the sight.

"Every year, minors die from overdoses at these events. That's why you're here. No tattoos, played football in school, don't smoke, and even auditioned for a country music singer show—you represent a new kind of DJ image."

"The whole industry needs to distance itself from 'rave culture,'" Deadmau5 continued.

"That won't be easy." Ryan looked at the oddly dressed crowd in the distance.

"You're right. In the early '90s, rave parties were popular in the US for a while, but back then, they weren't held openly in parks like this. They were illegal parties. Molly and HIV spread like wildfire among adults and teens."

"The landmark event was Rave America in 1993—over 17,000 people gathered at Knott's Berry Farm in Los Angeles. After that, throughout the '90s, states and cities across the US passed all kinds of restrictive laws. At the strictest, in Chicago, people at private parties could be fined $1,000. In New Orleans, party organizers could even be prosecuted as drug dealers," Deadmau5 explained.

"That's one reason US radio stations rejected electronic music, but it wasn't the deciding factor. The real reason was that record labels couldn't figure out how to turn electronic performances into professional artists who sold albums. No label would invest radio promotion resources in musicians with no visible returns."

"But all that's quietly changing with the rise of the internet. People stream DJ mixes on YouTube, discuss them on social media and message boards. More and more people are attending offline electronic music events like Ultra Music Festival. And last year, Daft Punk's perfect performance at Coachella—that massive, glowing, split pyramid—set a template for live electronic music shows!"

"So I'm more confident than ever that electronic music will rise worldwide. Maybe before long, DJs will become the rock stars of this era." Deadmau5 grinned.

Ryan, however, couldn't get excited. He thought it was better to rehearse for tomorrow's performance than to dwell on that.

Deadmau5 shook his head. "A DJ is more of a performer than a musician. The more prepared you are, the less you have to do during the show—you could even just hit play! I don't think that's right. I prefer to show the audience my true self, and that includes you."

What kind of twisted logic was that? Ryan, unable to convince him, said he needed to head back to the hotel to prepare, and parted ways with Deadmau5.

Left with no choice, Ryan returned to the hotel to rehearse the "live PA" segment he'd need to showcase tomorrow, and also uploaded the complete Tremor Original Mix to several paid download platforms, including Beatport.

On the way back to the hotel, Ryan happened to rescue someone. The person had been parasailing when something went wrong, drifting to shore and getting tangled in a not-so-tall palm tree. She was stuck at the top, wrapped in the parasail's ropes and unable to move. Ryan climbed up hand over foot, told her to hold onto him, cut the ropes, and successfully brought her down. Unusually, she was tall—taller than Ryan—with long blonde hair. Once down, she was surrounded by her companions, and Ryan quickly slipped away.

Ryan felt unlucky—trouble followed him everywhere. But then he remembered this was Florida, and everything made sense.

The next afternoon, the 2008 Ultra Music Festival officially began.