- Berlin club taxes, dance music in the United States and mastering: It's our second critics roundtable.
- One of the things largely missing from electronic music, in our opinion, is a bit of discourse. Pictures and the written word only go so far in telling the story of what's happening after all. So, in early 2012, we decided to inaugurate a new series in the RA Exchange: the critics roundtable. Our first edition was held in London, and our second comes to you from the studios of Manmade Mastering in Berlin. RA staffers and freelancers Todd L. Burns, Will Lynch, Philip Sherburne and Jordan Rothlein tackled three topics. First, we quizzed Lutz Leichsenring, the press spokesman of Berlin's Club Commission, about the role of his organization in the city's vibrant scene and what impact—if any—the recent news of an enormous tax bill might have on them in the future. Next, we talked about the recent popularity of electronic music in America. Finally, we got a bit geeky with Christoph Grote-Beverborg from Dubplates & Mastering and Mike Grinser and Tim Xavier from Manmade Mastering about the often misunderstood process.