Don’t call Lorin Ashton a DJ. The man behind the popular musical project Bassnectar considers himself to be a “bass scientist” and has the education to prove it.

Ashton earned a minor in electronic music from the University of California-Santa Cruz and will be spinning and mixing different musical genres “scientifically” and “methodically” tonight at the Georgia Theatre as the headliner to the fourth Baller’s Ball.

The Baller’s Ball was started as a subset of local company Music Matters Productions as a “celebration of urban music and art” and to satisfy a growing Athens electronic music scene.

“The Baller’s Ball is really an opportunity for us to bring in a ton of production and put on a huge electronic dance party in Athens,” said Michael Smalley, owner and project manager of Music Matters.

This year’s event will be the first held at Georgia Theatre, a necessary venue change after the shows became too popular and crowded for Farm 255 to hold. Tonight’s show will feature Bassnectar as the headliner and Eliot Lipp and the previous Baller’s Ball headliner DanceFormers as openers.

Music Matters will handle all of the lighting and sound for the show, a job that Smalley considers to be a special creative project for himself and his production team.

He describes the company’s vision for the show to be like a relaxed party with friends.

“We want to generate a different vibe than most other electronic shows,” Smalley said. “I want everyone to be able to look at the stage and hear cool music and see cool lights and then turn around and talk to your friend and that be OK.”

Smalley not only wants to put on shows for people who already like electronic music, but also strives to introduce the Athens community to different types of electronic music such as trance and house music.

“I want people that think, because it’s the Baller’s Ball, it doesn’t matter who is on the piece of paper because it is going to be good no matter what,” he said. “We want to educate people that this music is here and it’s good – we want to get them used to it.”

By next summer, Smalley hopes the Baller’s Ball will be able to line up an entire calendar of shows and be able to offer some local Athens DJs a chance to play in front of a crowd for the first time.

“Bassnectar will be the Baller’s Ball’s first non-Atlanta artist,” Smalley said. “He is one of the premier cross-over acts that meld jam band with DJs.”

This eclectic quality of Bassnectar’s music is what he considers one of the major differences between him and what people would normally consider a DJ.

“I try to defy all rules and blend all genres to make something that is totally different than what people expect,” Ashton said. “I rip out elements from all styles and combine and unify it with the beats and basslines.”

Although Bassnectar, a native of San Francisco, has never been to Athens, he heard about the music scene and chose to come here to perform after having great fan turnouts at both Atlanta’s music festival Echo Project and Florida’s Langerado festival.

“There has been a lot of support from down South,” he said. “People have been blowing up my MySpace page telling me that they are going to drive three or four hours to come to this show.”