Starting from next Tuesday 27th July and running all the way until Friday 30th July is the Detroit Electronic Music Conference online event. Amongst other things being held are tutorials for those who want to start making their own music.

And when I decided to blog about this, I already had a man in mind who could benefit. A local to Detroit and a man who has always loved his city. It’s none other than so-called techno legend Derrick May!

Because believe it or not, he doesn’t know how to make music either. Several of “his” productions are actually someone else’s work. For example, “Strings Of Life” is actually based on a sample from an unnamed work by Michael James. From what I understand, the maximum May actually did was remix the work.

And I mean the old definition of remix as edit the song slightly, extend a few bits and add one or two extra elements. Not the modern interpretation of the word remix, which is typically “here’s the vocals to the song, now good luck!”. It’s the same with much of “his” work.

This is May’s chance to learn to make his own music. He doesn’t have to show his face anywhere. He can do it online, and I suspect the organisers won’t care if he uses a fake name either. And then he can surprise the world, Swedish House Mafia style, with new tunes.

Go on, Derrick. Sign up. It’s not like your diary is exactly packed with work at the moment…