Since their start in 2009, Canadian bass music duo, Zeds Dead, has earned themselves a world renowned reputation as one of electronic music’s most credible pacemakers due to their diverse production style and electric, bass heavy live DJ performances. Within the last six years, they’ve performed for well over a million people, allowing them the flex their technical skills and hone in on the craft of DJing.

After hearing a story where a woman had worn a fitbit during sex, the boys of Zeds Dead were intrigued and wanted to put their DJing skills to a similar test, one that produced tangible, scientific data regarding how well they were able to connect with the emotions of their fans during a live show. And that’s just what they did at an intimate, sold out show at Vulcan Gas Company in Austin.

Before their Austin show, Zeds Dead asked a few of their fans to wear heart rate monitors that would record rising heart rates and the spikes of activity. They recorded their set, captured all the data from the heart rate monitors, and overlaid the rhythm patterns on the progression of the recorded set to see how people really felt and reacted to their music, to see what songs their fans particularly loved, and more specifically, the different parts and beats of these songs. And, to ensure accuracy, Zeds Dead limited their participants to ones who agreed to be entirely sober during the whole set. The result? While people’s hearts all went along their own paths, there were a few points in the night when everyone’s heart rate shot up in unison.



6 Biggest Spikes

Zeds Dead — Hadouken

Zeds Dead — Lost You

Zeds Dead — Adrenaline

Dodge and Fuski — Positive Vibe

Zeds Dead & Megalodon — Wit Me Dub

DJ SKT — Take Me Away ft. Rae (Andy C Remix)

As Zeds Dead explained,

“In electronic music, the beat is everything. As an artist, your goal during a set is simple: take the crowd on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. How do you do this? There are countless mechanical elements, of course, things like the pace of songs and the tension and tempo, but the paramount thing is reading the crowd with as much focus as you can. You need to intuit what they’re feeling and thinking, read what hits and what flops, and then fine-tune along the way and in future sets. It’s not an easy thing to judge with accuracy: Your best guess at what the crowd is feeling comes in the form of yells, fist pumps, or that all-important but ever-elusive ‘vibe.’ Subjective? Sure, but it’s all you’ve got.” “But it’s what separates a mediocre DJ from a great one: their ability to absorb the crowd and work them.”

Source: Boing Boing