DJ Ron: What are your biggest records when you play that have the best response?
Armin van Buuren: At the moment my remix of "As the Rush Comes" from Motorcycle.
DJ Ron: The Gabriel and Dresden track?
Armin van Buuren: Yes. That's getting really good response. On the progressive side, I really like the Roland Klinkenberg track "The Melting Point" which is on DJ Remy's label Taste Records and distributed through Combined Forces. There's a lot of good records out at the moment. The new Marco V is really good, called "The Relooped", Marco V versus Jens, I like that a lot. The tracks on my album are really working. I did an up tempo mix of "Burn With Desire" which is obviously working on the floor, so there's a lot to chose from. I'm actually really glad at the moment that I've got a really good filled record bag with lots of new stuff that's really pumping.
DJ Ron: Do you prefer playing the shorter sets and having many DJs in a night, say like in a festival? Or do you prefer to do the more journey thing a playing at longer sets?
Armin van Buuren: I like them both actually. I don't like to do long sets more than four or five times a year, because I want that to be special and I want to create an atmosphere which takes a lot of time like I said before. Doing shorter sets is a big advantage sometimes because you can just play the best that you've got in your create. But that has a disadvantage as well because if you're in a festival and the festival takes let's say eight hours and every DJ plays his best tracks, then you're very likely to hear Motorcycle more than once in an evening and I don't think that's good, because I think every DJ should play a unique set. But, on the other hand, it can be interesting for the atmosphere to see what happens when that happens. So I don't know, I don't have a preference really, I really like both.
DJ Ron: Your group that you are part of, United Recordings, has some of the most amazing people in it - Signum or Riva - how did you become part of that grouping?
Armin van Buuren: Now actually the situation is like this, my album is something I did for United Recordings. This year I've set up Armada with two of my best friends. That's a totally new company and we have several labels like A State of Trance, Armind, which is my personal label, and Bandung which is a label with Harry Lemon. We signed artists like Signum, Harry Lemon, and Motorcycle, in just a period of four months.
DJ Ron: Looks like it has been very successful. Speaking of success, what was your reaction when you found out that you were ranked number 5 on the DJ poll?
Armin van Buuren: Oh man! That was an amazing experience. I knew I did well with the poll, and then a friend of mine called me to say I was number 5 and I just couldn't believe him, it was just incredible. Since then, a lot of doors have opened. But I've really tried to stick to my sound and whatever position I may end up this year, it doesn't really matter. I'm really grateful to all the people that had voted for me and I know they voted for me because I've worked the way I work. So I don't want to change that, I want to try and stay loyal to the music and the sound that I've been bringing the people and the audience. I think that's the most important thing to me.
