Join Charlotte de Witte on Sound Advice, the weekly interview series covering artists’ journeys and their creative process. In this episode, we discuss the Belgian DJ/producer’s eponymous debut album, staying true to her deep techno sound and more.
Welcome to Sound Advice, the series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into everything SoundCloud offers to elevate their sound, get heard and catapult their careers. Sound Advice is now available in audio format on the SoundCloud Stories profile.
Techno sensation Charlotte de Witte is our guest on this week’s Sound Advice. Over the last 15 years, Charlotte has built her career from the ground up, starting in Belgium’s underground scene. She’s since gone on to headline the world’s major festivals, expand her KNTXT record label and produce some of the genre’s biggest hits. While other DJs chase styles and trends, Charlotte has focused on staying true to her own sound, weaving in touches from the 1980s, ‘90s and early ‘00s, across techno and electronic body music (EBM) alike.
In this exclusive interview, we talk about Charlotte’s entry point into dance music, from the clubs and raves of Ghent to the formative sounds that continually inspire her. We also talk about the art of DJing, some of her first big breaks, her creative process and the making of her self-titled debut album, which is shaped by her journey in electronic music and fueled by her love of the club. Charlotte talks about finding your sound and staying true to it, and gives us insight in how she uses SoundCloud to find new artists. She also has some great advice about what up-and-coming DJs and producers should focus on to further their careers. For techno fans, this one’s a must.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO EPISODE OF SOUND ADVICE FEATURING CHARLOTTE DE WITTE
CHECK OUT EXCLUSIVE VOICE NOTES FROM CHARLOTTE DE WITTE
LISTEN TO CHARLOTTE DE WITTE’S SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM ON SOUNDCLOUD
Things We Talked About In This Episode of Sound Advice
How Charlotte de Witte’s Belgian Techno Roots Inform Her DJ Style
- We begin our conversation by going back to Charlotte’s roots in the Belgian techno scene. As a teenager, Charlotte found inspiration and excitement in the Ghent underground rave scene. As she recalls, when she was 16 years old, the sound of electro — led by acts like Crookers, MSTRKRFT and The Bloody Beetroots (who you can hear more from on Sound Advice here) — inspired her to start DJing.
- After making mixtapes for herself first, and uploading them to MySpace later, her now-manager reached out to encourage her DJing journey. In these formative years, Charlotte says, the rich history of Belgian dance music was a core influence on how she plays and makes techno music today. Here, she gets into more detail on that heritage.
- In every artist’s career, there’s an early turning point that creates a wider path to success. For Charlotte, that was when she entered a DJ contest and won a chance to play the opening slot of the main stage at Tomorrowland. Back in 2011, the festival was a key event in the European dance festival circuit, and playing that slot gave her her first taste of playing major stages. Here, she talks about the DJ contest, how she worked her way around local bars and clubs as a budding DJ, and how her weekly slot on Ghent radio station Studio Brussel sharpened her skills and led to more bookings.
- Since that opening slot at Tomorrowland in 2011, Charlotte has gone on to play the biggest, most prestigious stages in electronic music, and become a techno fixture in the wider EDM festival circuit. So how does she like to prepare herself, and her sets, for those main stage moments?
- Here, she gets into details about how to balance staying true to your sound while being aware of how massive crowds respond to music, and keeping their energy and enjoyment front of mind. For Charlotte, it all comes down to track selection and making people dance.
The Deep, Hypnotic, Acid Grooves of Charlotte’s Debut Album, Record Label and DJ Sets
- As a DJ who typically plays peak-time night slots, Charlotte has honed a style of techno DJing and track selection that speaks to those moments. Her recent single “The Realm,” taken from her 2025 debut self-titled album, is a track of hers that taps into that energy. Here, she talks about the track, and how it connects to an important point for other DJ/producers to consider. The key to understanding what clubbers want from a DJ is to be a clubber yourself, she says, so stay in that mindset, imagine yourself in that crowd, and try to speak to them through what music you play.
- Charlotte has been releasing a steady stream of music for over 15 years, and releases more music through her record label, KNTXT. After dozens of EPs and singles, Charlotte is ready to release her debut self-titled album. Here, she talks about the differences in making EPs and albums, how she likes to get in the mindset to produce a longer body of work and how the album represents her sonic identity.
- Over the years, Charlotte has honed in on a peak-time sound that blends raw, deep and hypnotic grooves with ambient and vocal elements that bring a human touch to the machine funk of techno elements. Here, she explains how her debut album is a mirror of an all-night DJ set — with “trippy, mental, overlapping acid lines,” instead of her previously more “clean, well-defined and less complex” style — and how the tracks seek to “honor and respect club culture, because it made her” who she is today.
- The creation of her debut album took years. Here, Charlotte talks about the making of new tracks like “The Heads That Know,” “After The Fall,” “Meridians” and “Domine,” and the artists that she chose to collaborate with on the album, such as XSALT, Comma Dee, Lisa Gerrard and Alice Evermore.
Balancing Tour and Studio Life, Using SoundCloud and Advice For Fellow Artists
- One of Charlotte’s big, recent hits is her collaborative remix of the trance classic “The Age of Love,” with fellow DJ/producer and romantic partner Enrico Sangiuliano. Here, Charlotte talks about the circumstances that led to the creation of the remix, how its Belgian-Italian genesis mirrored her romance with Enrico, and how the “timeless masterpiece” of the original track drew them to releasing the remix on its original label. The runaway success of the track reflects one of Charlotte’s core musical beliefs: that music made from the heart will always succeed.
- As a busy touring DJ and producer, Charlotte has gradually refined her processes in order to balance both sides of her creativity and schedule. Here, she offers advice on the “million dollar question” of how to make time and space for both touring and making music.
- For Charlotte, it’s less about being in the studio every day — which is impractical for her — and more about spending her free time listening to music, compiling ideas and thinking about musical concepts. That way, when she does hit the studio, she can work quickly, with greater focus and greater results.
- In the studio, she works off a variety of analog and digital gear. Here, she talks about the importance of the Roland TB-303 drum machine in her techno sound, as well as reveals which Native Instruments plug-ins she likes to use to achieve ambient vocalizations for her groovy tracks.
- From almost day one of her music career, Charlotte has been an active SoundCloud user. Here, she talks about how she likes to use the platform to receive demos for her KNTXT record label, organize her demos, collaborations and works in progress through private tracks, share those tracks with others and discover new talent.
- As a DJ who’s played thousands of sets and counting, Charlotte is always thinking about what track to play next. Here, she talks about how she likes to structure her DJ sets, where she gets her music from, and how she likes to strike a balance between unreleased, new and old tracks. In order to strike this balance, Charlotte insists that the key to a successful set — and career as a DJ overall — is to be as organized as possible. Here, she talks about what that organization looks like and means to her, and why it not only keeps her on track as a person and artist, but respects the crowd and their commitment to supporting her career.
- That advice extends to fellow producers who may be keen to pitch their demos to Charlotte for release on KNTXT, or more broadly, to any record label. For her, naming your files properly, sending as a .mp3 and making the files downloadable are all non-negotiables if you want to get replies and a good result from your pitching efforts.
Charlotte’s Take on The Techno Scene and Staying True to Your Sound
- Over the last 15 years, Charlotte has seen a lot of dance music trends come and go. As the techno scene gets bigger every day, she reflects on what’s inspiring her sonically and where she thinks contemporary techno culture succeeds and fails. For every trend or sound that pushes through to dominate the mainstream, she says, there will always be a counterbalance push back from the underground — where her heart really lies.
- Here, she talks about what sounds she’s been drawn to lately, and how she’s been digging back into her older records for new inspirations — including one of her all-time favorite tracks, the Len Faki Podium Mix of Dustin Zahn’s “Stranger (To Stability).”
- When it comes to looking back throughout her career, Charlotte shares that she’s always inspired by her teenage days in the Ghent rave scene. A rich phase in her life, where she went to illegal raves in forests, warehouses and more, she heard techno, hardstyle and psytrance among the electro she was first into. Now, she’s aware that her wide appreciation of electronic music stems from that diversity. Above all else, her Ghent roots affirmed for her that the perfect environment is a “dirty, sweaty warehouse, with no VIP and the DJ close to the crowd; that’s the essence of techno,” she says.
- As a parting bit of advice to up-and-coming DJ/producers, Charlotte shares some pearls of wisdom: Do something that makes you happy first, because you can’t convey real artistic messages to others, and remember that while nightlife is wild and tempting, being a great DJ means treating it like your profession. That way, you can enjoy the kind of longevity that Charlotte does.
Links and Extras
Follow Charlotte de Witte’s journey on SoundCloud.
Follow KNTXT, Charlotte de Witte’s record label.
Listen to Charlotte de Witte’s debut self-titled album here.
Check out Charlotte de Witte’s upcoming tour dates here.
Hit play on the first single from Charlotte de Witte’s album, “The Realm.”
Press play on Charlotte de Witte’s collaboration with Comma Dee, “The Heads That Know.”
Listen to ‘One Mind,’ the 2025 collaborative EP between Charlotte de Witte and Amelie Lens.
Go back to where it all began with one of Charlotte de Witte’s earliest tracks, “Weltschmerz (Melodic Theme).”
Listen to the New Era Techno playlist on SoundCloud.
Never miss an episode and follow the official Sound Advice playlist on SoundCloud.
Getting The Most Out of SoundCloud
Learn more about using DMs to connect with fellow artists and potential collaborators.
Learn more about how to make a custom playlist on SoundCloud.
Learn more about unlimited uploads, available with an Artist Pro subscription.
Learn more unlocking access to unlimited distribution, available with Artist Pro.
Learn more about getting heard with SoundCloud’s updated algorithm, available to Artist and Artist Pro subscribers.
To discover additional features a SoundCloud Artist or Artist Pro subscription offers, visit here. To catch up on past installments of Sound Advice and make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes, visit here.
CREDITS Host: Vivian Host, Executive Producer: Mike Spinella, Producer: KC Orcutt, Audio Engineer: David “DibS” Shackney, Coordinator: Trevor McGee, Editorial Associate: Lauren Martin
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