Interview with Armin Van Buuren

Interview with Armin Van Buuren

13 June, 2008 | 9.31PM

• Written by: Plastic_Angel
• Filed under: Music News: armin van buuren, ultra

Voted “World’s Best DJ” in 2007 for DJmag, Armin Van Buuren talks to Beatportal about his new ‘Imagine’ EP, which charted in iTunes’ top 20 in the States.

How do you feel that trance is being received these days?

In my opinion, trance is still very much alive and at another peak, it just sounds different.

It’s all about how you label things I guess.

Some people call ‘The Beauty of Silence (Inpetto Mix)’ trance, others call it melodic techno, others might say it’s progressive etc.

How has the sound progressed in the last two years?  In other words, what is the current “state of trance”?

What I see is that the trance sound of now is totally different than five years ago due to the influence of electro and minimal productions.

How so?

The tempo has gone down from 138 to 134.

Basslines have become more important and the peak of a track is no longer a snare roll but an automated hi pass filter or noisesweep.

The cool thing is the melodies and euphoria are still there, and I still consider that trance.

What’s the concept behind your new album, ‘Imagine’?

The strong message is the power of imagination.

It has created art, science and several different types of music.

What music does to people is fascinating to me.

It can make people cry, laugh, dance, create unity among different ethnic groups and all sorts.

We are different than animals because we can create things by imagination.

Does ‘Imagine’ work well in a live setting, as with your recent ‘Armin Only’ tour dates?

I’m playing at least half of the tracks of my new album in my current sets.

‘Going Wrong’ is definitely a crowd favorite at the moment.

‘Fine Without You’ and ‘Unforgivable’ are most requested and ‘Imagine’ works great as opening track.

At the “Armin Only” shows I bring a lot of the vocalists and other artists to do everything live.

You just wrapped up a US tour. What’s the most recent hotspot for live gigs?

My gigs in Orlando, Boston, Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco were amazing!

Beta in Denver has my favorite sound system in the US now.

What’s the primary difference to you between DJing and producing an album in the studio?

When I DJ, I try to look at the crowd and interact—they decide where I go with my set!

When in a studio, I don’t have a crowd in front of me so they can’t decide where I go with a track.

But when I make new music, I listen to the tracks I like a lot or the tracks that worked really well on the dancefloor.

What’s your studio set-up like these days? Digital or analog or both?

Full on digital with a few exceptions.

Some tracks I still mix analog as that sometimes works better.

Also, nothing beats tweaking a Moog voyager. :)

Do you truly feel that music is the international language?

The good thing about most of the tracks I play is that they are instrumental, which is more easily accessible than music with words for non-English speaking countries.

Also, the internet has changed the world!

When I play a set on my radio show, you can find it anywhere in the world on the internet the next day.

Music is no longer territorially restricted, which has made it possible for the dance music sound to spread fast.

Having started with music at a very early age, what was it in particular that made you want to focus on it 100%?

A thing called “passion”.

It’s more than just a “hobby”; it goes beyond “liking”—it’s essential to my life.

I was just producing and DJing on the side because I loved it so much.

From 1992-1999 I didn’t make any real money from my music or DJ sets, I was just focusing on having fun in the studio and re-invested all I had in my studio again.

You’ve been quite savvy with your remixes. Is there any singer you would really work with in the future?

Yes, but I focus more on the song than on one particular big name.

If a song or idea touches me I want to work with it.

A good voice can make a whole difference though, like Enya or Bono.

Without which artist would you not be inspired today?

Kraftwerk, Enya, Klaus Schulze, Speedy J., Ben Liebrand, Underworld and all the dance producers in the world at the moment.

There’s a lot of good stuff out at the moment!!

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• Check out 'Imagine' on Beatport