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Interview (with Armin van Buuren)
Voila, waarschijnlijk hebbe de meeste dit al wel gelezen, ma t'is toch altijd fijn wa meer achtergrond te kenne van die manne he  Voor wie toch geïnteresseerd (ik vond't alleszins e chique interview) zou zijn, véél leesgenot!!
Not only is he one of the most successful Djs in the world ranked at number 3, but he just released two killer albums and his head is still on his shoulders and not up his- - well, you get the idea… And he’s got a law degree, too! At 26 years old, Armin van Buuren can pat himself on the back a bit…
Just before the closing votes in the DJ Mag Poll were tallied up, Armin sat down with Trance.nu along with NYC trance producers Filo & Peri at the posh Tribeca Grand Hotel. We arrive only to be greeted by Armin, bearing gifts: copies of Filo & Peri - Elevation vinyls, Universal Religions CDs and 76 CDs for us all! “Last time I came to New York, you guys gave me a demo; now I come back to New York, and you get a record!” Armin said of Filo & Peri’s fresh Armada record deal through their debut release, Elevation.
Hanging out in the plush bar at the posh Tribeca Grand Hotel, Armin lounges on a couch somehow bursting with energy, even just after a flight from Holland. As soon as I set the tape recorder on the coffee table, he jumps up, grabs the recorder and says in a mock-serious voice: “Anything you say can and will be used against you.” Armin’s like the Jim Carrey of DJs. Always laughing, smiling, he’s got an elastic face that contorts and makes funny faces with each anecdote he shares…
So without further adieu, here it is: The Armin van Buuren Interview.
The DJ Mag Poll Top 100 DJs
“It’s like winning the Oscar.”
Taken from Armin’s Diary: 2003 has been an amazing year for me and last night I
got the incredible news: I'm DJ Mag's number 3 DJ of 2003. For me this is the ultimate recognition from clubbers and my fans for my sound. This is what we've worked for years and years with a giant team. My radioshows, productions, sets, remixes and my work as A&R to our labels have paid off. It's a dream that comes true…On to number 1!
While Armin does believe the DJ Mag Poll is a popularity contest, he still thinks it bears a lot of significance. It’s not just a frivolous thang. “Yeah! It is a popularity contest,” Armin affirmed, “but I think it’s good that people talk about DJs and music. If you look at it from that point of view, I think it’s great. Obviously it’s my dream to be Number 1. The support I’ve been getting so far has just been immense. But the fact that I’ll do it just for love of the music is even more. Seriously, I’m not in this industry for the money. This is something I really love. It’s a passion. I’ve been very grateful that I was number 5 last year; it opened a lot doors for me. Trance is huge at the moment and that’s great. It’s something I’ve been fighting for since ‘96, since I made Blue Fear and X Marks The Spot, and all those tracks. I really believe in A State of Trance and I really believe in all the tracks that I play and the records we bring out and it’s a fantastic response from the audience. But it’s not something that will determine my sound. If I will drop to number whatever, I will not change my sound. This is something that I stand for. I stand for my sound, I stand for what I do. Of course it’s a dream for me to be number 1, and I think if I keep supporting the records I have been supporting, and people will keep supporting me, then, you know, maybe one day....
It’s like winning the Oscar, it means a lot but seriously, whatever place I win, I will continue my way, I will not do anything else.
Law School
“I think my dad would have been upset with me if I didn’t get my law degree.”
“18th of December last year I got my degree.” Yea, from Leiden University— you knew that, right? But here’s what you didn’t know:
“It was really funny the night before I got my degree because I had to play in Denmark for 2,000 people. I got my degree at 10 o’clock in the morning, so I played 12-4, went straight to the airport, flew at 6, arrived at 8, and drove straight to the meeting, putting on my suit in some bathroom!…Never a dull moment!” [Laughs]
And another thing a lot of people think is that did my degree during my DJ career but that’s actually not true. I started studying it in 1995 and in 99, I already almost finished it- I had a year to go. So from 99-2002, I did one year in three years. The only problem was my working experience: I worked at a law firm and I was the lowest, lowest guy, even below the coffee guy! And on the weekend, I played for a full English club. Once, every weekend I had a booking, for two months straight: At 5 o’clock on a Friday afternoon, I drove back from Amsterdam to the airport, my girlfriend would meet me there with clean shorts and a cool shirt and a cool record bag, I would fly to the UK, only to get back on Sunday in the afternoon and Monday morning at 7 o’clock I’d be the first to be at the law firm. And they even didn’t pay me! But I enjoyed it. They want to hire me now, I can work as a lawyer there now!
What Armin’s going to do with this lawyerdom: Well, I may sound like a nerd but I really like it. I specialized in everything about music business law, especially copyright law. I can tell you everything about sampling; people say you can use 8 seconds of record without getting caught-- that really interested me. Pretty boring, but I like it!
Listen up: Bashing and Trance.nu
“Just tell them: Ow, that hurts.”
That’s right, Armin reads the forums on Trance.nu everyday and he sees all the bashing that goes on. He grabbed the tape recorder and spoke into it clearly: “Just tell them one: ‘Ow, that hurts! And two: it’s really hard to make a show that’s interesting for you guys. I know I’ve been flamed on Trance.nu before because people have sent me links, but I got so much support from people at Trance.nu so, to the few people who don’t like the show: you don’t have to listen! And on the other hand, there’s so much work into ASOT- it’s crazy. To find new records every week, especially now with the state of the industry, it’s impossible. And plus, I also want to do a little bit of techno, a little bit of progressive. I still want to keep it fresh. It’s just about the music; not about the politics. Of course I’ll support any producer who deserves it and in the end, it’s only the music that counts for me- not my personality or my DJ status. Seriously, I go through fire! I know what responsibility I have towards Trance.nu and I respect the opinion of people… People follow the show religiously- it’s the biggest compliment you can get. But I would really appreciate it if they [the members] could help me with doing the show. Send me emails, send me suggestions, tell me what they like about the show, what they don’t like about the show, be honest. Just to put on the board ‘I hate State of Trance because he played that track that he played last week as well’-- that’s not helping the show. I want people to know that I put a lot of effort in. It takes me a day to make A State of Trance. If you don’t like the show, then fine. If you do like it, then you can help to make suggestions.
A State of Trance
“Into a regular State of Trance show, there’s goes more work than a DJ set or production.”
Who is that guy who does the ASOT voiceovers anyways?
The guy with the really low voice, I always forget his name. Apparently, though, it’s a guy with an alcohol problem and he just travels to all the casinos with his little IDN decoder, sometimes his agent calls him to do voiceovers for a club or whatever! Crazy life!
By the way: Everything on ASOT is done by Armin. No engineer, no announcer, just Armin in the ID&T radio show. “I do everything myself, no engineer, no nothing...I don’t get any money for the show.” He spends loads of times every week planning out the show, and according to him, “Into a regular State of Trance show, there’s goes more work than a DJ set or production.”
So why did ID&T stop relaying the ASOT stream to other servers? Put simply, it’s just the politics of dancing, you might say. “That’s a very political question. I’m not an artist of ID&T, I just signed a contract to do radio shows and that’s it. I have a very good relationship with ID&T, they’re the biggest media company in Holland and they’re a great company to work with. I do the radio show and that’s it.”
P.S.: “We’re working on a really big thing with A State of Trance at the moment.” But alas, Armin won’t indulge on what it will be. Blast!
Universal Religion
“When all the DJs start to do the double compilations, they put their heads on the cover first; I’m going back to the anonymous compilation.”
“I had this idea of the Middle Ages,” Armin said as he pointed to the Universal Religion original cover art, “the Universal Religion as religion, churches…when you go into churches you see all those windows, the stained glass- it’s an extension of that idea. Something different. When all the Djs start to do the double compilations, they put their heads on the cover first (like I did); I’m going back to the anonymous compilation,” Armin chuckles.
“The little story here (Armin points to the inside of the CD sleeve) explains everything, I don’t think I need to add anything to that. Although Armin won’t go into detail on how many U.R. series he will put out, he confirmed that “There will be a second Universal Religion, definitely a second. I will be doing double ones as well. A lot of people told us that a double one is too expensive and most people listen to just one. But this CD is pretty cheap to buy,” he added. There was a lot of demand for a compilation since I did ‘004’ and I had the Universal Religion concept since I did the remix of Aria - Dido.” And for those of you who haven’t purchased your copy of Universal Religion yet, here’s a quote from the sleeve:
“I’ve always been fascinated by what music can do to people. It can be emotional, funy, or energetic, has the ability to make people forget and reaches beyond any border or belief… It has the incredible power to bring all kinds of people together…There’s nothing more personal that a person’s taste in music, but I think there’s something universal in our experience.” –AVB 9/03
Armada History
Ar = Armin; Ma = Maykel; and Da = David Lewis.
In case you were wondering and if you weren’t: Armada has a triple meaning as the name itself consists of its three owners: Ar = Armin Ma = Maykel and Da = David Lewis (his manager). Armin actually met Dave through Tiesto, during their production of Major League - Wonder Where You Are. “We were sitting in a snack bar and I asked ‘Hey, can you hook me up with Dave?’ and he said ‘Sure!’ And the rest is history.. So I owe Tijs a lot. Tijs helped me a lot, he’s a great guy.”
With the shutting down of many smaller scale independent music labels worldwide due to MP3s, the discontinuation of the single and the minority of trance music buyers, Armin commented on Hooj Choons closing: “It really shocked me, it’s not a good development at all. I would love some more competition. The more labels we have, the more music we have as well. Ben is a great guy he really knows what’s going on, I just really hope that Lost Language will do well. It’s a shame really, it’s really sad…And I thought they were doing really well! I mean, my mix of Seven Cities even entered the Top 40 in the UK. We are cautious [with Armada], we know that times are difficult, but still we are selling a good amount of records because people like Trance.nu support us and we need that support to help keep the industry alive.”
Armada [& Armind imprint] Upcoming Releases:
November 2003:
Empirical Labs - Turtle Beach (+ Outback Remix)
Envio - Touched By The Sun (+ Airbase Remix)
Mr.Sam vs. Tim Coltrane pres. The Tribute
Origene - Sanctuary (+ Harry Lemon Remix)
Scarab - Vagabond (+ Miika Kuisma Remix)
December & 2004
Cern - The Message
Mark Otten - Mushroom Therapy (+ Armin van Buuren Remix)
Mark Otten - Tranquility
Markus Schulz - Clear Blue
Octagen & Orizona - Starburst / Profound
St. John vs Locust - Mind Circles
Armin’s Original Artist Album 76
“I’m working on the second album as we speak…I’m playing it in some of my sets…”
Each time someone says something nice about my album, it give me shivers. You know why? Because the album touches me. And if it didn’t touch me, I wouldn’t have released it. Before they [the tracks on the album] get sent to the mastering, it goes in my car and I just go drive, I drive somewhere in Holland, I just vrrroooooomm!!! and drive really fast, especially when the sun goes down- I just listen when it hits me. When you listen to it in your car, it sounds so different than when you listen to it in the studio. I want my music that I created to sound good on a very shitty radio. I go to my mom’s house, she has a mono radio in her kitchen with a very old and cranky CD player. All I do is press play and if my mom says ‘Yeah!’, then I’m like ‘Yeah!’ …It has to sound right in a very cheap stereo. It has to be music for the streets!
“The reactions have been amazing from music-minded people. Even Mixmag gave it a good review! Even the most difficult press media in Holland gave it 4-5 stars! I’m really happy with the album and I’m working on the second one as we speak. I’ve already finished some stuff and I’m playing it in some of my sets but not in the radio. Just testing out- it’s basically a process of going back and editing it.
“So far, nothing!” Armin commented on whether any of the singles on 76 would see remixes. “I tried to Blue Fear but it didn’t work out. So I just did an updated version, not a remix.”
The name behind 76, has pretty apparent meaning by now: “Actually, the album took 76 minutes. We had a few titles but they were all very obvious. I also thought about ‘Yet Another Day’ as the title but 76 was the year I was born as well.”
There are a lot of tracks that didn’t make the album. Some tracks were just made for fun. Some tracks on 76 were made just for the fun of it, the essence of the idea was made in a few hours. With 76, I have been able to accomplish my dream. Having an album out in the US, that’s a dream. And it doesn’t matter how many people buy the album. I mean, 76 is out in 8 or 9 different countries. That’s amazing.
Behind the Scenes: Burned with Desire
“She had a one night stand with a guy…”
Justine and I started in the studio with Justine with the idea: I’d just met with a friend of mine who was back from holiday. She had a one night stand with a guy and they agreed on not falling in love with each other. And in fact she did. She fell in love with the guy and when she went back to see the guy, he already had another girl. And that was literally it: it was rainy day the day after…She was trying to find him and she saw him with another girl and she burned with desire but he left her in the rain. So if you think about the lyrics ‘For each forgotten kiss, for all the memories…You played your part so well, your modern Romeo, You came on Cupid’s wings and then you flew away’ it’s about the empty feeling we all have at some times.
“English is not my native language so we had some fun in the studio; sometimes I say something really stupid. I would find something and I’m like ‘Alright, I want to say this-and-this and she [Justine Suissa] would say ‘uh, right Armin, but you have to word it like this!’ The ‘But you left me in the rain’ was my part, I kept using it-- Justine would sing “Burned with Desire’ and then I would sing ‘but you left me in the rain’ and she’d be like ‘No, no!’ - but finally at the end we added it in”, Armin told us as if telling a good joke. “It was actually written in a few hours. I did the finally chill out mix, we wrote the tune on 138bpm, but I did it half tempo, so it was easy to the Rising Star Remix.”
The Story Behind: Yet Another Day
“Ray said ‘I’m gonna send you a song, it’s about a friend who killed himself.’”
I met Ray at a club in Scotland called Room At The Top. Ray said I’m gonna send you a song, it’s about a friend who killed himself. So I gave him my card and never expected anything…That same week I got a envelope, took a listen to the CD and it was very deep. It’s so weird though- I was kind of ashamed of that track, actually. Then I made a first version, which is actually the Sunday 5PM mix. I got the accapella on Saturday and finished the mix on Sunday 5pm. We went back to the studio to tweak the lyrics. That was a few weeks before Sensation, we decided quickly to do a live performance, which was amazing. My younger brother (Eller) did the guitar live.
Origins of: Krezip “Stay”
“Was just a last minute thing for the album.”
Stay was just a last minute thing for the album. Our management found each other. Maykel worked with Warner Brothers and he asked me if I would like to do something with Krezip, so I said ‘Yea!’. They’ve always wanted to re-record their biggest hit in Holland because they weren’t happy with the vocals back then. So we rerecorded their first hit and ended up putting it on the album! It’s something different. We’re not allowed to put out the single though.
[Click Hereto read the Trance.nu review of ‘76'.]
Production
“When I want to do something, I want to do it right, I’m a perfectionist.”
Armin’s currently using a Mac, among many other pieces of equipment with albeit, complicated names, to produce: “The first thing I bought was an AK-1 machine that had 8 samples on it and cost 1000 Euros! You can now buy it for like, 25 Euros.
But back then, you know, you didn’t have any soft synths. And then I had an Atari too, an old 1040 with a cracked version of Cubase! But now, I love plugins in ProTools and MKII version. I use everything- but everything in a nonconventional way. All the sounds on 76 are either samples that are modified and all the presets are edited- everything is ‘Arminized’. Also take into account that I engineer all my own music…an engineer takes the idea and puts it into reality.”
The Ultimate Remix
If Armin could remix one, any track, who, oh who would it be? “I think it would be a track by Enya, I don’t know which one yet. Or a track by Pink Floyd track-- That would be a great idea, to remix a track by Pink Floyd, they’re my heroes!” ...And people think Pink Floyd is music for old men with beards-- beer-drinking old men with beards. My dad is a beer-drinking old man with a beard, haha!
Last laugh:
Armin trainspotters are everywhere these days, lurking the forums and dancing in the clubs. But people will stop dancing in the middle of the dance floor, scratch their chins to somehow give them an answer to their industrious trainspotting: “It’s like a game! I love it but I usually lose!” Armin said admittingly.
Armin’s Top Tunes:
“As The Rush Comes is too obvious,” Armin said with a giggle.
Firewall - Sincere [Pulser Mix]
Markus Schulz - Elevation
Annie Hayden - Anything (Gabriel & Dresden Dub)
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