Sven Väth is a German DJ and electronic music producer from Obertshausen, Germany. Born in 1964, he works in electronic music across techno and trance, and is associated with electro and minimal as well.

He begins his career in the 1980s with the single “Electrica Salsa” by OFF, released in 1986, which helps establish his profile. He later becomes one of Germany’s best-known pop figures in the 1990s while remaining closely connected to underground club culture.

Väth wins the DJ Awards three times. He founds Cocoon, a company that includes a booking agency, a record label and an event management branch, and he is associated with Cocoon Recordings and Eye Q Records. He also establishes two nightclubs in Germany.

Projects and aliases

He records and performs under or alongside several names and projects, including Mosaic, Astral Pilot, Metalmaster, Barbarella, Off, The Essence of Nature and 16 BIT.

Club culture and DJ practice

Väth has a strong reputation in the underground electronic scenes in Germany and Ibiza. He holds a regular night at Amnesia for 18 years and also hosts after-parties in unusual locations across the island. He is known as “Papa Sven” by fans and is a strong advocate of vinyl, performing long DJ sets with two decks and a mixer. His longest set lasts 30 hours.

Albums

His studio albums include Accident in Paradise (1992), The Harlequin, the Robot, and the Ballet Dancer (1994), Touch Themes of Harlequin - Robot - Ballet-Dancer (1995), Fusion (1998), Contact (2000), Fire (2002) and Catharsis (2022).