RS: How did you handle such major commercial success with your roots in the underground dance scene?
Kalmani: We never gave our records away for free, so I guess that makes us "commercial" from the start. Besides that, we never claimed to be underground, we like being mainstream.
RS: After the Alice Deejay album, you built your own studio. What was the most challenging part?
Pronti: Getting the acoustics right. It was a huge challenge, but we managed to get the sound the way we like it. Our studio has always been our second home; it's great that it finally sounds right!
RS: What effect has having your own studio had on your music?
Kalmani: Having your own studio is a privilege and for us it was a dream come true. Now we can work whenever we want to without being disturbed by anyone. That has had a very positive effect on our music. Our new studio is also completely digital compatible, which saves us a lot of precious time, especially when recording vocals. It has made our productions more interesting. We use a lot of tricks that were not possible in our old analog studio.
RS: How did the "Janeiro" song come about?
Pronti: Our old studio was next to the guys from Solid Sessions in the record company Combined Forces' building. I had heard their "Janeiro" track and I absolutely loved it right away. I did feel it could use some extra production and I wanted to write vocals for it. I asked them if I could work on their song together with Kalmani, with the guarantee that we would respect the beauty of the original and if they did not like the result we would not release it. Luckily they were very enthusiastic about the idea and even helped us out with providing all the instruments used on their original. It was a very special collaboration, which resulted in a very special song. I believe it is even re-released as we speak.
RS: How did you hook up with Armin Van Buuren?
Kalmani: Armin is one of the DJs that put Holland on the map. As fellow Dutchmen we are of course very proud of his achievements. We know him via a mutual friend of ours and we made a radio edit for one of his tracks once. He himself has produced a wonderful remix for the "Janeiro" track.
RS: Do you approach remixes any different than original productions?
Kalmani: Yes, when we are doing a remix we are inspired by the original elements of the track and therefore it will always sound different from what we do ourselves. Remixing is one of our favorite things to do.
RS: You remixed one of my all time favorite records - "Calling Your Name" by Anomaly. How did you get involved with remixing such a classic?
Pronti: This track has always been one of the reasons I wanted to make trance music. It was one of the first records I heard that touched me very deeply on the dance floor. A friend of mine had licensed this track for his label and I basically asked him if we could do a remix. We got the parts and it felt very nostalgic working on it. Let's hope that BT likes what we did to his song.
RS: Do you DJ out a lot?
Kalmani: We've seen most of the world thanks to being a DJ. We are now on a DJ break, because we are working in the studio on the Candee Jay album. As soon as there is more time, we will start touring again.
RS: Do you spin as a team or individuals? As a team, how do you DJ together?
Pronti: We spin as a team but not record for record. I like to begin with some trancy stuff, while Kalmani usually ends the set with some harder tracks. Like for instance the tracks he produces with DJ Isaac.
