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 Just last week, yours truly visited Cor Fijneman in the Magik Store to ask him some questions about his DJ Career, his records, and above all, his first artist album which is to be released next month... Want to know all about this Dutch DJ? Then hop in to find out everything about him!
i:Vibes: According to your biography you have been spinning since 1993. It also says that in that time, you were searching for a style that fitted you, and that you eventually decided to go on with trance. Which other styles have you spun, and why did you choose for trance at the end?
A: I first started with hardcore. I had two choices: the more mellow stuff or the more hard side of the genre. I ultimately went on with the latter, because that just appealed a bit more to me. After this period, I started doing some big beat, but that didn’t really work either. In the end I started doing trance because of several reasons, with the main one being the fact that I used to listen a lot to synthesizer-music. And that’s exactly what I recognized in trance! It was all very melodic, and I liked that a lot.
i:Vibes: OK cool! Of course we’re still at the beginning of the interview, so time for some more introductory questions. Before 1993, you must have been busy with other things as well. Could you tell us something about that? And do you have other hobbies next to DJ’ing and producing?
A: Well, let me think… Back then I was about 15/16, so I guess I was still going to school! I first finished my school, had some sidelines, but eventually started being busy with music full-time.
i:Vibes: And just a few years later, you got your residency at the Spock…
A: Yeah, that was around ehh.. let me think, 1998? That’s it. I stopped spinning there in 2001…
i:Vibes: By the way, your bio says you had completely put a halt to DJ’ing for some time. When exactly was this?
A: That was more in between the hardcore and the big beat. I thought, meh, this just doesn’t suit me! But eventually I picked it up again as you can see.
i:Vibes: All right… so do you listen to music other than dance as well?
A: Definitely, loads of things… My favorites are bands like Keane and Coldplay.
i:Vibes: OK, on to the deeper stuff… Trance has been evolving a lot since the middle of the nineties. Productions techniques started to become more advanced, which resulted in what some call the best years in trance during the period 1999-2001… Do you agree with this statement?
A: Well, trance was a big hype in that time, mainly because it started to become successful in England as well. At all of a sudden, everything was so big! A lot of records were being released, giving trance a real name in the scene… Of course it was a style before that time as well, but 1999 was the year in which it became hugely popular. This popularity weakened later on, but that’s just because something that large just can’t go on forever. I do find today’s productions a lot better than tracks from that time. OK, they were good for that time, but nowadays everything just sounds plain better!
i:Vibes: That could be mainly because tracks were structured in a somewhat different way back then… a rather simple percussion being backed by a highly uplifting melody was just enough for the crowd to go nuts on. On the other hand, quite a few of today’s trance records seem overproduced. There’s just too many synthesizers, FX, percussion samples etc. in a few tracks.
A: That seems to be exactly the thing that people want at the moment. I think a lot of labels out there would not even want to release your stuff if it weren’t a bit like that!
i:Vibes: Another noticeable thing in modern-day trance is that everything is becoming just a little harder. While ’99-’01 was more orientated towards the big melodies, we can see that a lot of tracks from 2002 and later tend to be more ‘techy’. This resulted in a new sub style called ‘techtrance’ to be born, which was being hyped by DJ’s like you and Marcel Woods. Do you think that this style will remain effective for the time to come, or will it soon fade away a bit and make place for something totally different?
A: Hmm, I wouldn’t really know. There has always been and will always be a lot of variety in trance. There’s the more melodic stuff, but also the somewhat harder stuff like the techtrance you just named. But I guess this will change again as well, everything changes some time! Though a lot of ‘big name’ jocks play a bit harder these days, it is also very noticeable that there are also a lot of ‘soft’ productions, like the ones on Markus Schulz’s label. And oh yeah, one other thing that I’ve noticed is that there’s kind of a big hype around the, what I call, xylophone-trance! You know, it has them ‘ploong ploong ploong ploong’ melodies in it, quite hard to describe really. Melodies with very short sounds etcetera might be the best description. But anyway, trance will change more and more, but it definitely won’t disappear! A lot of people say that I spin ‘techtrance’, but I’m more like, hey, I play a lot of styles! So I like to just describe my style as trance, you know. And above all, a whole set filled with techtrance will bore the public anyway.
i:Vibes: Do you ever read forums on the Internet? One thing I notice as a regular surfer is that the overall atmosphere on these boards is very straight to the point in a lot of occasions. There’s always one person who just totally disrespects a producer, flaming on a track like it’s worth nothing. Do you care about this?
A: Well, I used to read them earlier. But all is just a matter of taste in the end. There might be someone who likes me, while some other guy just doesn’t like what I do. Of course you can care about this, but this all gets compensated when you see a packed club going nuts right in front of you. That makes you think that there must be at least sómething you’re doing right (laughs). And, compared to the whole scene, them forums are very small. They are certainly very popular, but they’re just a small fraction of, for example, people on a party. But, sometimes when I’m browsing these sites, I think, ouch, that’s harsh. One funny thing I notice concerning this is that a lot of these guys with big mouths on forums are really shy in real life. All they can say to you then is a very timid ‘HHhhiii…’, and that’s about it!
i:Vibes: One notable tendency in today’s trance scene is the fact that there are a lot of productions coming out that just don’t seem to have the right ‘X-factor’. Uninventive build-ups, simple melodies, it’s all out there. Do you also notice that there’s a lot of bad tracks coming out these days?
A: Yeah, but that has always been the case. It’s been like this since 2001, there is so much crap being released. If I take a pile of, let’s say, 50 records, there’s just 5 in there that I like. In the end, all is of course a matter of personal taste again! But sometimes I do think, how could they ever release this? Does this sell?
i:Vibes: OK, and now about your radio show ‘Outstanding’. You recently started with this on ETN.fm, an online station that carries loads of radio shows from DJ’s all over the world. How are you planning to distinguish yourself from all the other shows?
A: I’m trying to bring out my own style with ‘Outstanding’. People can hear and see that it’s coming from me, I can let people hear my music. And that’s the most important part of it. Of course it’s nice promotion as well, but it’s also cool for people to know that there’s a weekly Cor Fijneman set being broadcasted. Before, they just had to wait until something appeared on the radio.
i:Vibes: Allright, and now it’s time for the biggest cliché question of the interview: what do you think about mp3?
A: Well, it could come in handy when people actually started paying for it! (laughs). I do like the legal download shops that are popping up now, I think they have a prosperous future ahead of them. But it’s definitely a shame that a lot of records are being put on the internet wáy before the releasedate, it’s just plain bad for the overall sales. The whole internet thing just became so simple, everything knows how to use it. Some people compare mp3 with the tapes from a few decades ago. But that’s not really comparable I think, the sound quality on these tapes is just soo bad. MP3 does sound loads better, but I’m still not too sure about it. Illegal downloading is bad, but there’s just not much you can do about it. I think that in a few years, recordshops will just totally disappear and make place for internet sales. You lose the cost of shops, personnel, etc. then, enabling the product to become a lot cheaper.
i:Vibes: Your last two singles ‘Don’t Break My Heart’ and ‘Healing’ both included vocals by Romy and Anita Kelsey, respectively. How did this work out? Did they sing the vocals and then send them to you so you could arrange a track around it? Or did you have influence in the lyrics as well?
A: No, I don’t really get involved in that. I’m kind of really bad at that kind of stuff. For example, considering ‘Healing’ I made an instrumental version of it first, then sent it to Anita so she could start working on writing an appropriate text for the tune. Of course I could tell her to slow down a bit here, or do it just a little something else there, but all I had to do then was rearrange some things in the studio. ‘Don’t Break My Heart’ is quite a different story; Romy had already finished a complete track, which was a bit R&B influenced. She brought it to me, and I found that it definitely had the potential to be a dance record as well! So I first had the voice, and then built a complete track around that.
i:Vibes: And now about your new album: a while ago, you posted a nice little article on your weblog containing some information about it. This included a picture of the front cover as well, and this made me think about a certain computer game… (see the picture below)
A: Really? (laughs). Yeah, it’s based on GTA: San Andreas a bit. The original pictures are ‘real’ photo’s, but they have been copied and spiced up with cool colors and shadows in order to create that special effect. It doesn’t have much to do with Photoshop or something like that: it’s just drawing the contours from the original, then scanning it and at the end filling it with colors. I didn’t want this ‘standard’ cover that you always see nowadays: guys looking very seriously and sturdy with some headphones on… But I did want something that corresponds with me on it, so we thought, why not use some drawings? I hadn’t really seen that before.
i:Vibes: It is already known that your album will contain a new version of ‘Healing’. What style is this new interpretation in?
A: Well, it’s become a breakbeat track! I wanted to do something else than usual. Because I had already spun big beat, I always wanted to do something with breakbeats as well. In some way, it’s easier to make than a dance record: with a trance track, you constantly have to think about the fact that this will have to work on a dancefloor. It needs the right feelings at the right time, you know. With breakbeat, you can just do what you want and experiment a bit.
i:Vibes: In one of your latest radio shows, you spun two tracks from your album: ‘Monologue’ and ‘Valle Ocultado’. They are both leaning a bit towards the more techy side of trance…
A: Yeah indeed. Though I find ‘Monologue’ kind of unusual: the middle has a sort of classical piece which I already had, and I created a whole track around it in just one afternoon. So the arrangement was done in just a few hours, all I had to do then were the final steps like mastering etcetera.
Though we have talked about the vocal and techy things on the album now, it will also include a few real trancers. I’m trying to bring forward the sound that I also spin during my sets, it’s really a wide range of styles. Plus it only includes tracks by myself, no collaborations or something.
i:Vibes: You have made loads of records during the past few years. Which one are you most satisfied with, and why? And do you have records about which you know think, how could I ever have made this?
A: (laughing) The best one is always the last one I’ve made! With older records, you always start to think hmm, I could have done this differently… I could have changed this, etc. But ‘Venus’ is a record I still spin during my sets. I am particularly fond of it because people kind of know me because of this one; I wouldn’t spin it for myself, but people just expect me to play it you know.
About the second question: well, whenever you finish a record and release it, you are perfectly satisfied with it at that time. But I think the ‘worst’ thing I have made is my remix for Major League – ‘Wonder’. It’s just not really good. But there have been people who even spun it back then, so perhaps it’s not that bad ;-).
i:Vibes: And are there records of yours which you did finish, but never release officially?
A: Oh yeah of course. This usually happens when they remain on my desk for too long, they just start to sound a bit dated. But there are two records which fall in this category: ’10 PM’ (featured on ITWT 6) and ‘Benedictus’ (on the Maxim CD). These two have never been brought out, I didn’t do anything with them anymore really.
i:Vibes: All right! We already talked about Miller & Fijneman – ‘San Andreas’ a bit, but how did you come up with the name of the other side of the vinyl, ‘San Pedro’?
A: Hehe, that’s a quite funny story. ‘San Pedro’ was actually the first one that we produced. When I showcased it to the guys here (at the Magik Shop), one of them told me that the first few chords of the main melody sounded a lot like the Madonna track ‘La Isla Bonita’. And if you listen to it carefully, you will notice the similarities, though we did not use this track as inspiration or something, it’s just a coincidence. But anyway, one if the first sentences in Madonna’s track is ‘Last night I dreamt of San Pedro’… So then we chose that as the title! One really freaky thing was that Jochen (Miller) was on holiday in a city called… San Pedro! Isn’t that coincidental?
By the way, the two follow-ups for San Andreas and San Pedro have already been finished as well, and will be put on the second CD of my album. This will be a mix-CD in radioshow style, with special remixes like a Jochen Miller remix of ‘Monologue’. There will be three special vinyl releases as well, all including one ‘main’ track and two other tracks. These will be called Act 1 to Act 3, and could be compared with Marco V.’s V.Ision series.
i:Vibes: About the different mix compilations you made: how long does it take you to select the tracks? Are these always pure vinyl mixes, or have they been altered and edited using a computer program as well?
A: Considering the tracklist, I always just take the records that do the most damage for me at that time. I also get sent a lot of course, but on a mix-CD everything needs to be brand new. Then you have to start licensing the tracks, after which the actual mixing starts. I never mix using a computer because I feel that you just lose the essence of a mix-CD. It has no feeling, I just want to mix the CD ‘by hand’ completely. Of course you make errors every once in a while then, but if that happens you just redo the mix and do some copying and pasting later on when finishing it on the computer. I always have the idea that the mixing goes a lot faster when you do it yourself. The continuous editing, arranging etc. on a computer just takes ages!
i:Vibes: In today’s time of computers and high tech software, VST’s (software synthesizers) are being used more and more by loads of producers. Do you use these yourself as well, and what do you think about the quality of the sound compared with hardware synths?
A: Nope, I don’t really use softsynths at all! The only software I use is Cubase for the arrangements. I have a lot of hardware equipment which I still use, so for me there’s no need for the software things yet. Of course vocals are always audio, as well as the beats because it’s just a lot easier than doing all the work with a sampler. But for the rest I just keep everything as analogue as possible! About the sound of the VST’s, I still think hardware synths sound a lot better. Especially when you throw these sounds through a huge sound system you will notice it.
i:Vibes: One thing that I do notice is that more and more starting producers use the Reason software to create their tracks. Everything like synths, samplers etc. are implemented in this program. Can you hear the difference between productions made in an entirely digital way and ‘normal’ productions?
A: Yes, definitely. The digital ones just sound more ‘thin’, I don’t know how to describe it.
i:Vibes: Together with Tiësto, you have worked on his singles ‘Theme From Norefjell’ and ‘Sparkles’, for which you have created the main melodies. Didn’t you find it a pity that these tracks were not released as ‘featuring Cor Fijneman’? A lot of people don’t know you cooperated in the productions of these two singles…
A: Well, to be honest I don’t really care that much about it. I love producing, so it doesn’t really matter whether it is released accompanied by my name or not. Working together with Tiësto was just really cool to do!
i:Vibes: People who do not like dance music always have the tendency to describe dance as very simple, and that they could produce a hit in a matter of hours as well. What do you say to this kind of people?
A: First of all, of course I can’t pick on them because they don’t like my music. But saying stuff like ‘dance is simple’ is of course just plain bullshit. Some even say that people who make trance are ‘not musical’ and have ‘no musical knowledge’. Let me compare dance with rock: your usual rock / punk track is about three minutes long, while the duration of trance records is around 7 minutes most of the time. In a sense, the structure of dance and other music is comparable; there’s different layers, small buildups and so on. Because most dance is produced with a computer and synths, some say that the musicality of dance producers leaves to be desired. But, just like other styles, dance also includes melodies with a lot of thought behind them. In lots of rock tracks, I hear the simplest guitar riffs going ‘Pling-plong-plong-pling’ all the time using just three notes. That’s not really musical either, is it? At the end, it’s all just a matter of taste again, but saying that dance is ‘simple’ is way out of line.
i:Vibes: It has recently been announced that some leading DJ’s like John ‘00’ Fleming have changed over to digital media like CD’s and MP3 in stead of the usual vinyl records. What’s your opinion about this? Will vinyl completely disappear from the market? Which format do you prefer yourself, and why?
A: Well, if vinyl disappears a lot of problems with people’s backs will disappear as well I think! (laughs). Anyway, in time I think recordstores will just completely vanish. MP3 is a very useful format if its being used for the right purposes. Distribution is a lot cheaper, so music will become cheaper as well. I for one do think that the overall quality of MP3 leaves a lot to be desired: it’s OK, but it misses the dynamics a vinyl has. I also thinks that playing with vinyls just looks a lot more natural, you’re constantly busy with it because of the direct contact you have with the medium.
i:Vibes: Question by Lieke Holtus: A while ago, you said that you find techno just a bunch of clatter. What has changed your opinion on this? You spin a lot of techno in your sets these days…
A: At that time, I found techno a very simple style. It seemed like all was just made out of loops: a drum pattern, some FX, another drum pattern, etcetera. Modern-day techno is a lot more advanced, and that’s why I started liking it. Loads of tracks use very nice filtering techniques, and even incorporate funky melodies from time to time.
i:Vibes: During a gig, loads of things can go wrong. What’s the biggest blunder you’ve ever had? And could you perhaps tell us about one of your better experiences during a gig?
A: Well, of course there are some standard things that just happen to everyone: picking the wrong needle from a record so that the sound just completely stops, lowering the wrong mixer channel and so on. But the worst thing that happened to me is that, when I went to the bathroom for just a minute, the needle picked up so much dust that it started to crack and pop like a madman. Eventually it even fell of the record, so that was quite disappointing (laughs).
My best experience, hmm… I was playing in the Amnesia in Ibiza two years ago, together with a guy who I had the utmost respect for during that time (and I still do): Paul Oakenfold. First a warm-up DJ was playing some cool house, and then Paul started to play. It seemed like he didn’t have his night; the crowd did dance, but Paul was looking a bit worried and did not like what he was doing. So he stopped early, and wanted the warm-up DJ to take over again. I thought that wasn’t such a good idea because the crowd would lose all their energy then. But, when I started playing, everyone started to cheer up again and go nuts! That was a really great moment: playing successfully after the big Paul Oakenfold is just an amazing experience.
i:Vibes: You have a lot of gigs coming up in different countries like Belgium, Poland and Rumania. Are you a real traveler, or do you see the travels more like ‘business trips’?
A: I do like traveling, but there’s always a lot of time pressure on me when going to a gig. It’s nice when the promoter / clubowner takes you with them, but most of the times there’s just no time to do these things!
i:Vibes: Being a well-known DJ, you of course get sent a lot of records. As you said earlier, you just use about 5 out of 50 in your sets. So do you still buy a lot of records? And how many vinyls do you have, approximately?
A: There’s loads of amazing tracks out there that I don’t get sent, but that I just have to buy like everyone else. I still buy a lot of stuff, so I guess my record collection has grown to about 15.000 pieces now!
i:Vibes: Favorite record at the moment?
A: Jochen Miller – ‘India’
i:Vibes: What’s your favorite record ever?
A: Age Of Love – Age Of Love (Jam & Spoon Mix)
i:Vibes: Which record would you like to remix?
A: I’d like to remix one of Jean Michel Jarre’s tracks once. They’re amazing!
i:Vibes: Fav label?
A: Black Hole of course!
i:Vibes: Any upcoming collaborations?
A: Yes, I’m heading in the studio with Mark Norman and Ton TB soon.
i:Vibes: What do you drink during a gig?
A: Water when I have to drive, beer when I don’t ;-).
Thanks a lot to Cor for taking time to have this interview with us! Big shout-out to Hugo de Graaf at Black Hole as well for arranging several things :-).
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