Dimitri from Paris

It was DJing that gave 36-year-old Dimitri his start more than a decade ago, when the European radio station CFM hired him to mix records on the air. Because of what he describes as a lack of dance remixers in France, his career in radio led to his being asked to rework tracks for various artists, among them Björk, New Order, and the Brand New Heavies. Along the way he was hired by chic fashion designers like Chanel, Gaultier, and Lagerfeld to put together soundtracks for runway shows and boutiques.

“What happened was that I started DJing and then there were more and more tools — technical tools — available to us DJs that would allow us to make more creative things and eventually to make our own music without actually knowing how to play a particular instrument. With the advent of samplers and other machines at a budget that made them accessible in the mid ’80s, we started making our own tracks. I was also learning the process of how a track is constructed by doing remixes for people. Finally, I was able to produce my own tracks.”