Abstract
Format theory is aimed at investigating the relationships between technological formations and infrastructures, codes, protocols, regulations, industrial standards, companies on the one hand, and musical practices, transactions, discourses, representations and ideologies on the other. Hence, format is intended as industry, set of practices, aesthetic field and expression of one or more media (Sterne 2012). A critical analysis of EDM performers and practitioners shows that the format has implications that are not only technical, but also aesthetic, cultural and economic. In fact, the aesthetics of the format and the conducts that it validates respond to external conditions, which in turn relate to broader phenomena, such as the development of the technological market, access to knowledge and the organisation of labour, and which can constrain the field of experience of DJs and the other social actors involved. In this regard, I will show how the format shapes the activity of mastering engineers in EDM production.