Speaking of new albums, you’ve said before that what makes trance so brilliant is that it doesn’t stick to one style, it can pull from many different things. How does that translate to Embrace and what we can expect from the album?
Armin: Well the idea behind Embrace was to embrace different cultures, different views, different styles, and different instruments, quite literally. So all those things are incorporated in the album quite literally. So if you look at the album cover which was already revealed, you can see that I’m sitting in a car, and on the car are different instruments. All those instruments are literally on the album. Spanish guitar, trumpet, real drums, you know, all that kind of stuff. Which is unusual, especially the trumpet.
The opening track, “Embrace,” features a jazz trumpet player called Eric Vloeimans. He’s one of the best trumpet players in the world. And I’m super excited about this track, because it’s the first time a jazz musician has ever worked with a trance artist. And I think it’s a really great track. It’s still a trance track, it’s 134 bpm, so it’s pretty bangin’ and it has a drop, but it has a trumpet as sort of the lead instrument. And this is one of the things with “Embrace” is it’s an experiment. I don’t know if people will like it, but I hope so! I love the track, but it’s a very different and new thing and this also goes to the rest of the album. There’s a lot of experimentation with different styles and genres and yeah, I’m just super excited!
I mean, one of the things for me – I understand that some trance artists try to stick within their own safety zone, and I’ve done that for years as well, and there’s nothing wrong with that! I’m not criticizing at all. But just for me, I found out – I’ve been making records for 22 years. And I want to venture out, I want to learn. And I now understand how little I actually know about record producing, because there’s so much to learn! About working with, you know, a full band, working with a jazz musician, working with Spanish guitar, how to record that. It’s so inspiring, right? It’s so cool to be in the studio and come up with an artist that you normally would never work with. “Hey man, let’s just try and work together, let’s create something beautiful.”
And I know that the outcome will always be weird, because I’m working with a jazz guy! Heck! You only live once, let’s just try it! And I think it’s awesome. I’ve done the trance thing, and I will always keep doing the trance thing. This year alone, I produced like four or five 138 tracks, a few of ‘em still have to come out. But on the other hand, I’ve been producing with a lot of different styles and genres. So I’m moving forward and I hope that the people that listen to the album will appreciate the steps forward that I’m making. The experimentation, going out of my safety zone, all without losing my sound of course.
That Mr. Probz track you did was the first time you worked with real strings too, right?
Armin: Yup! I was actually conducting a string orchestra. Because I wasn’t hearing what they were playing. First, I was in the studio with Benno, my production partner, and we were playing the marcato strings from a sample player. And it just missed that human touch. And I was like, you know, if I’m gonna work with Mr. Probz, and we’re gonna do this track, I’m gonna go all out. I want to go to the most expensive studio in Holland, and I’m gonna rent a string orchestra!
So there I was, a few weeks later, spending a lot of money on hiring this string orchestra. And it was so fun to do! I called up my mother and she said, “are you sure you want to spend this amount of money?” I said yes, because I don’t care how the track does, it gives a soul to “Another You.” Just the fact that they’re not completely on time, and that you can really hear the wood, you know? And that’s the beauty of it, you start to understand why people use real instruments and what that does to your hearing. And that taught me so much, man!
Learning about microphone placement, learning about how to mix that in your final track, and you know, it gives soul to things. Trying to find the soul in music and not just – anyone can program a kick drum and press quantize and do a bassline, “bookabookabooka,” I’ve done that for years! It’s not exciting for me anymore. But what is exciting is trying to work with new plugins, new sounds. Mr. Probz coming in with a hip-hop voice, Eric Vloeimans playing a jazz trumpet, you know… It’s exciting.
Can fans expect another Armin Only tour to follow Embrace?
Armin: Well, we haven’t announced it yet. We’re currently investigating the possibilities. The problem is: A) My time and B) the availability of the artists that I’m working with. Because this is a little bit of a… higher league with the artists that I’m working with on Embrace. And they all have their own diaries, you know.
On Intense, it was a little bit more easy, but I’m looking into doing a couple of shows. I don’t know if I really want to do another 30 plus show tour again, because financially, it was the worst year I ever had, last year, believe it or not. Because you know, to put 35 people on planes and in hotels, that alone… There goes my fee, “pfff!” But I don’t really care about that, as long as it benefits my fans and if the fans – I mean the show we did at Madison Square Garden, the show we did at The Forum, and a couple of other cities in the U.S., are probably the shows I’m most proud of in my whole life because everything came together. I had 16 singers, I had a full band, we had a full production, everything. And that made it so special, because everything came together on that point.
Money for me has never been the main focus, never. Of course it’s nice to make some money, I mean everybody wants to make money, right? But, that’s not the main focus. Having said that, if you cross out the money, it’s still down to the availability and who you’re going to work with, who’s going to direct the show. I mean, it’s such an enormous amount of work to do an Armin Only show. Not only playing the sets, but working with the different artists, making sure everybody’s there on time, makeup, food, transport… Logistically it’s a complete nightmare! (laughs)
But it’s great, the reward that I got from watching the fans that had never seen a show like that before, that’s what – I think everybody that bought a ticket to come and see Armin Only, may buy a ticket again, and that’s what makes me really proud. And again, I don’t want to do it just to do another Armin Only tour. I always said that Intense might be my last Armin Only show, I don’t know. And if I do an Armin Only: Embrace tour, which we’re currently investigating, then it’s going to be – financially it will be another worst year for me. (laughs) I’m not complaining, but it’s all about reinvesting into your fan base.
Anything else you’d like to say to your fans?
Armin: From the bottom of my heart, my fans mean everything to me. I wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for my fans.
That concludes our interview, but we’d like to thank Armin Van Buuren very much for taking the time to talk with us.