I'll say this about Mr. Hawtin -- he's no dummy. He talks a lot about the concepts he's trying to implement in his music. I've been left cold by a lot of his output, and my suspicion is that when he's alone in the studio, the concepts rule over the emotion. I've seen him rock it live, getting into the positive feedback loop with the audience, and when he's in that groove the smile on his face indicates he's feeling it rather than thinking about it.
It's always difficult to find emotion when you're working with machines in a room by yourself. A techno producer is like an old school photographer -- you make the music, but don't see how it develops until you see how a dance floor reacts. Similarly, a good producer -- or photographer -- knows what will work, even though they don't see it work in real time. A great producer can by instinct and practice make music that's genuine and moving when it is eventually presented to an audience. It's beyond what works -- every crappy trance producer can put together a 64 bar breakdown/buildup in their sleep -- to what moves people's hearts. The best of UR tracks come in my opinion out of the fact that they're often cut live with several players working together -- they aren't alone and can feed off each other's energy.
