A disco edit extends and resequences the most dance-friendly sections of a track, historically made with tape and scissors

Disco edits (also called re-edits) emerged as disco appeared in the early 1970s, when DJs wanted to make records easier to mix. A disco edit modifies the original master to lengthen the most playable sections (bass, percussion, breakdowns) and downplay the less DJ-friendly parts (old-school vocal riffs). Early edits were physical tape edits — literally cutting tape with scissors and splicing. Some edits became more popular than their originals. An industry of DJ edit services and labels grew around the practice (Disconet 1977, Hot Tracks, Razormaid), which went underground when copyright enforcement increased in the first half of the 1990s.

Examples

Todd Terje’s edit of the Bee Gees’ ‘You Should Be Dancing’ downplays the old-school vocal riffs in favour of driving bass and lively percussion. Walter Gibbons was an early editor who earned a studio career from the work.

Assessment

Explain the practical DJ reason disco edits were made and describe the two-step historical arc: (1) why a commercial industry arose around edits in the late 1970s-80s, and (2) why that industry went underground by the 1990s.