since the beginnings of recorded sound  in the late 19th century, certain people have enjoyed the ability to rearrange the normal listening experience with technology. with the advent of easily editable magnetic tape in the 1940s and 1950s and the subsequent development of multitrack recording, such alterations became more common. in those decades the experimental genre of musique concrete used tape manipulation to create sound compositions. less artistically lofty edits produced medleys or novelty recordings of various types.modern remixing had its roots in the dance hall culture of late-1960s/early-1970s jamaica. the fluid evolution of music that encompassed ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub was embraced by local music mixers who deconstructed and rebuilt tracks to suit the tastes of their audience. producers and engineers like ruddy redwood, king tubby and lee "scratch" perry popularized stripped-down instrumental mixes (which they called "versions") of reggae tunes. at first they simply dropped the vocal tracks, but soon more sophisticated effects were created, dropping separate instrumental tracks in and out of the mix, isolating and repeating hooks, and adding various effects like echo, reverberation and delay.at the same time, djs in early discotheques were performing similar tricks with disco songs (using loops and tape edits) to get dancers on the floor and keep them there. one noteworthy figure was tom moulton who invented the dance remix as we now know it. though not a dj (a popular misconception), moulton had begun his career by making a homemade mix tape for a fire island dance club in the late 1960s. his tapes eventually became popular and he came to the attention of the music industry in new york city. at first moulton was simply called upon to improve the aesthetics of dance-oriented recordings before release ("i didnt do the remix, I did the mix"—tom moulton). eventually, he moved from being a "fix it" man on pop records to specializing in remixes for the dance floor. along the way, he invented the breakdown section and the 12-inch single vinyl format. walter gibbons provided the dance version of the first commercial 12-inch single ("ten percent", by double exposure). contrary to popular belief, gibbons did not mix the record. in fact his version was a re-edit of the original mix. moulton, gibbons and their contemporaries (jim burgess, tee scott, and later larry levan and shep pettibone) at salsoul records...wtf??? blablabla... check the remix of idoleasts "katastrofa" by air j!!!