Pretty Lights is an electronic music duo from Colorado consisting of Derek Vincent Smith and Adam Deitch. Since July 2010 Adam Deitch assists during live performances. Smith's music is the byproduct of digital sampling and crosses many genres, forming a combination of "glitchy hip-hop beats, buzzing synth lines, and vintage funk and soul samples."
In high school, Smith focused on producing hip-hop beats, but was introduced to the rave scene by artists like Aphrodite. After high school, Derek attended The University of Colorado at Boulder, but decided to drop out during his freshman year and focus instead on his music. In the summer of 2009, under the moniker Pretty Lights, Derek Vincent Smith and Cory Eberhard played at many major American music festivals such as Bonnaroo, Rothbury, the Electric Daisy Carnival, Camp Bisco, and at the 10KLF. These shows were followed by a multi-city tour of the United States in the fall of that same year.
Pretty Lights' sound is generated by synthesizing samples and organic beats using the monome and the Akai MPD32. Smith programs these digital controllers with the music production software Ableton Live 8.
In 2010, Pretty Lights played at the 2010 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, the 2010 Marchone Music Productions Illumination Show in Nashville, the 2010 Evolve Festival in Nova Scotia, and at Movement 2010 (the Detroit Electronic Music Festival).
In 2010, Smith replaced Eberhard with Adam Deitch as drummer, debuting at Red Rocks on August 7, 2010.
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