The EDM Dictionary: VIP Mix (n.)

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Definition

A VIP mix is a special edit or remix of a song made to be played as part of a DJ set. VIP stands for “Very Important Person,” meaning it has been designed for DJs to use, not for fans to listen to at home.* Because of their nature, VIP mixes are usually not officially released for mass distribution online, and copies of these songs therefore may be only available as bootleg recordings. However, some VIP mixes do see official or semi-official releases. For instance, Valentino Khan gave away his VIP mix of “Deep Down Low” on SoundCloud “to celebrate the love [fans] have shown” for the song.

Explanation

VIP mixes are first and foremost a special treat for fans who come out to a live show. Plus, like any remix, they add new life to a song whose original mix may have gone stale.

*Source: Skrillex and Valentino Khan, OWSLA Radio, Episode 3, discussing the VIP mix of “Deep Down Low”. Skrillex: “This is the VIP mix, though. What does VIP mean?” Valentino Kahn: “That means Very Important Person.” Skrillex: “That means only DJs used to only be able to play this record. It’s a little bit different. It’s for the live ****. But he decided to put this out after the video dropped.”

11 thoughts on “The EDM Dictionary: VIP Mix (n.)”

    • Thanks for the feedback. “Variation in Production” is a common alternate theory, but in researching this post I couldn’t find any evidence supporting that claim. If you can find a legit source, I’d be happy to include it in this post.

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    • “Variation in Production” is a retcon, that somehow came into use in the EDM scene, maybe as a deliberate redefinition because VIP mixes are no longer used the way they were originally, or because people didn’t understand the original meaning. VIP mixes have been around for much longer than anyone came up with the term EDM, an especially this new meaning. Back in the rave days of the early 90s, maybe even earlier, when EDM still stood for Electric Drilling Machine, the VIP tag definitely stood for “Very Important Person”, as this article says.

      Some interesting additional trivia is that for many of those mixes, VIP didn’t refer to DJs in general as those important people, but one specific DJ that the mix was made for. Producers used to cut exclusive one-off dubplates of their releases, sometimes months or years ahead of an official release, to give out to specific DJs as an exclusive. Often, an MC would even mention the name of the DJ the VIP dubplate was cut for over the track. Recording the DJs name over it was both an honour for the DJ – you go through the effort to record a specific version for them, in turn they get to play out version of the tunes that call them out by name – and also as a way to discourage copying. Because if you nicked that track and played it out, everybody would know that you just somehow managed to swipe it *from the guy whose bloody name can be heard on it*, and that you’re obviously not the VIP it was meant for.

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      • Misinformation. It stands for variation in production regardless of the genre of music. If another DJ’s name is included, it simply means that variation was created specifically for them – you’re not calling them a very important person.

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      • @MrGerbik Maybe, but I’ve been around this stuff since the late 90s and I’ve never ever heard anyone use the term “Variation in Production”. I only started hearing this fairly recently, maybe starting 10 years ago, always on some Internet forums where someone asks the question “what does VIP” stand for.

        So yeah, I don’t have conclusive evidence that producers and labels explicitly meant “Very Important Person”, either. I don’t have an industry jargon dictionary from the 90s saying so. It’s just anecdotal, but still pretty compelling in my view, because I don’t remember anyone ever even questioning whether VIP, which is such an established abbreviation in every other context, would mean something different in “VIP Mix”.

        Especially since, as I pointed out two years ago, it fits so perfectly to explain what was special about those mixes. They were the ones you didn’t get to buy as a regular punter in your local record shop, but which the label sent to you directly for promo in your DJ sets, if you were “important” enough to get that kind of treatment from them. It may be used across many genres now, but I’m pretty sure it originated in the jungle, drum and bass and breakbeat scenes. The old Fabio & Grooverider shows used to have playlists made up of about 50% VIP mixes, which you couldn’t buy anywhere. And F&G were definitely VIPs in the scene 😀 I’d also say that if an artist has a special mix of a track pressed on vinyl with your name on it, that automatically makes you a “very important person” in that context.

        My other anecdotal clue is that “variation in production” just sounds so clumsy and grammatically awkward as so many retcons do 😀 might as well just call it an “edit”, then, no? It just sounds made up. If someone really had that in mind when they were pressing a VIP Mix, then at the very least they must’ve knowingly alluded to the common meaning of VIP.

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      • I just had an idea – why not ask someone who produced one of the earlier “VIP Mixes”? 😀 I’ll post again if I hear back.

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      • Sorry for spamming 🙂 but I may not even have to ask anyone. I decided to just do a little research on Discogs, which is as complete a source of record release information as any.

        The earliest records I can find in the database containing “VIP” mixes are from 1993. And, as I suspected, it all started in the UK Hardcore, Breakbeat, Jungle scenes. All the “VIP Mix” records I find from that year are from those genres.

        For example, there is the “Wax Doctor – A New Direction (Grooverider VIP Mix)”. Here’s what the release notes say about it: “Wax Doctor – A New Direction VIP was a remix arranged by Wax Doctor & Pascal as a special one off version for Grooverider. It is commonly known as the Grooverider VIP because only he played this version, but he didn’t have any hand in the making of it. This version remains unreleased.”

        It’s funny, I mentioned Fabio & Grooverider above as an example for DJs who had a lot of VIP mixes tailor-made for them and their sets. Turns out they might have been among the very first to get that honour!

        For another one, there’s “Unit 1 – Theme (Dubplate Mix)”, saying: “also known as the Bukem VIP (as he seems to be the only Dj that played it)”

        So it *does* seem that when the term “VIP Mix” was first starting to be used, it was to designate a mix that was produced for specifically a certain DJ to play in their sets.

        To compare, I did some Google searching for the earliest mentions of “Variation in Production”. The very earliest reference I could find where this is claimed to be the explanation for “VIP Mix”, is on Urban Dictionary, in the entry for “VIP” by Laurie57, from May 26, 2009.

        Leaving aside the fact that Urban Dictionary is not exactly known for reliable information, as anybody can make up anything there – that’s still a full 16 years after the first documented VIP mix pressings that I could find. I’d think that if anyone before that Urban Dictionary entry truly thought that’s what it meant, it would have been mentioned somewhere online before 2009. If you find an earlier reference, please post it, I’d be curious about it!

        You need to keep in mind that these terms were used back when 99% of electronic music was released on vinyl only, Digital music stores and file sharing weren’t a thing, and labels often cut limited dubplates of tracks many months before their official release, for exclusive distribution to professional DJs. It was very, very rare that a VIP mix would end up getting a public release, and then usually only as a bonus after the general release, which would be a long time after the VIP mix had done it’s job of serving as an exclusive for selected DJs. I just don’t think that anyone before the digital music revolution had any reason to question that VIP stood for something else, because you truly had to be part of an exclusive inner circle to get access to them.

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    • I think you have a good point – when I wrote this I was trying to track down the definition based on its original use, but given that so many people understand it to mean variation in production these days, I think that is also a valid definition.

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