Ron: You released it and through Eric (Subliminal) it came out, how did the vocal version come about?
Robbie: Sony in the UK wanted a vocal mix so Eric did the vocals in New York. He got the singer and the lyrics, then gave it to me and I put it all together and it took off from there. Some people don't like the vocal mix, but I like it a lot.
Ron: It's a different flavor.
Robbie: Yes, it's very different, yes.
Ron: "The Hum Melody", how did you come up with that one?
Robbie: That's another sick one. I did that soon after I did "Funk-a-tron." To tell you the truth I did Funkatron in one keyboard, I didn't use the computer or anything like that. Everything was sequenced on one keyboard and mixed down to one Mackie board and that's it. Because I found to hold the way it sounds, I couldn't get it from the sequencer so I did it in one show, six or eight tracks on the keyboard and I just mixed it down to a CD. "Hum Melody" was exactly the same thing, I was playing it as an instrumental for a while and it needed something. So I gave it to my songwriter that works with me from England, his name is Ned. He did a bunch of vocal hooks and one of the vocals was that one and I was like people are going to like this.
Ron: You work with lots of great people, I think last year in Miami one of the big buzz tracks was that Billy Paul song, the "Sex" song.
Robbie: Yes, "Sex". It actually was a great year for me because I had Funkatron, Hum Melody and Sex.
Ron: Three great things to have - humming, sex and the funk.
Robbie: Yes. Yes, Sex was really big in Europe, it really opened a lot of doors over there. In fact, I was in Germany like four weeks ago in a hotel waiting for my driver to pick me up for the gig, and I was watching TV and they played the video, I was like wow.
Ron: With the videos, do you have a lot to do with those or the labels put those together mainly?
Robbie: No, actually the labels mainly put them out. I mean they show me the script to make sure I approve it, but if I can't be in the video then they'll go ahead and do it. I'm supposed to be in the video but sometimes I just can't make it. I'm really surprised "Sex" didn't blow up here in the States that much.
Ron: It's the US, what are you going to say?
Robbie: Yes, but it's changing. I mean I at least I've got one song playing on the radio now, or at least in Miami Florida.
Ron: Which one's playing down there for you?
Robbie: "Girlfriend". It's playing a lot, like forty plays a week.
Ron: Who's the singer on that track?
Robbie: Justine Suissa She does a lot of vocal trance with Armin Van Buuren
Ron: Yes, I knew that name. The first time I head it I thought it was a Dubstar track.
Robbie: She's done lots of stuff, I know she's done stuff for like a lot of big producers. Maybe I should ask for her bio, find out who it is.
Ron: On "Girlfriend," which came first the track or the lyrics?
Robbie: The track, I had that track for a while. I wanted to do a track that had a tough beat and a hard sound, but had like a big naughty something like Underworld. I got inspired by Underworld, and then it came out. If you hear the original on the video it's not that, you know, it's more tougher actually. Then I gave it to the same guy who wrote "Hum Melody" and he wrote that one in like one week, and we did it.
Ron: I want to ask you a few things about your remixes. Like two years ago, it felt like every week I was getting two or three records that had Robbie Rivera remixes on it. How do you maintain you sanity with a work schedule like that?
Robbie: Yes, I was going a bit crazy. Because I love remixing, I just started accepting everything, I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do. Also the money came in handy, but between that, DJing and then doing my own stuff, I just work hard. I work everyday like everybody else and on the weekend I chill or DJ and that's it. But now I've slowed down a lot in the remixing, now I only pick the stuff that I like. Some labels send crap to remix and you're like blehhh, why are you remixing this? Are you playing it out? But yes, right now I'm chilling on the remixes, I've only done a few lately.
Ron: The Sarah Brightman record was amazing, how did you approach remixing an opera track?
Robbie: Actually they contacted me to remix that record and I was like wow, Sarah Brightman. I mean, I know who she is but when I heard the actual, it had like this little string melody…
Ron: It's a Portuguese song called "Cancao do Mar."
Robbie: Yes, and I knew I loved it and so I said let's just give it a shot. It was a hard one to do, I did like six or seven takes. I was surprised it went number one on Billboard, that was cool.
Ron: You've worked on lots of big name projects - Kylie, Sonique, Madonna - is there anyone you'd like to work with but haven't yet?
Robbie: I'd like to remix Britney Spears.
