Armin van Buuren

Armin van Buuren (b. December 25, 1976) is a world renowned trance music DJ and producer hailing from Leiden, the Netherlands.

Biography

Born in Leiden, the Netherlands, Van Buuren was fascinated by music at a very early age. This was largely due to his father, who had an eclectic taste in music. Besides his love for music, Van Buuren slowly gained more interest in technology and computers. At the age of 14, he bought his first sampler, took his father's synthesizer and started to make music.

During his adolescence, he always rode his bicycle to school while listening to music from Jean Michel Jarre and Ben Liebrand's minimixes through his headphones. Having a great deal of respect for Ben Liebrand, Armin sent him a demo that was received enthusiastically. Liebrand taught Van Buuren a great deal about producing and mixing the following year.

Van Buuren's passion for mixing progressed. He started working as a DJ in a local club called Nexus, finished high school in 1995 and went on to university to study law. Meanwhile, he moved his studio equipment from his bedroom to a 'real' studio. The first tracks he produced in his new studio were, among others, hits like "Touch Me" and "Communication". Not liking to be confined to a particular style by labelling his music, the tracks that followed had varied feeling. Van Buuren has been quoted as saying, "Don't be a prisoner of your own style." He has described his musical style as euphoric, uplifting, melodic and energetic.

Van Buuren's ambition has driven him to have many undertakings at the same time: studying, producing, and working as a DJ. He says that the only way to be able to do so is by enjoying the work that you do. He claims that his ultimate dream is to do what he loves most and have as much fun as possible doing it.

As a producer

Armin has always had his own studio and works alone the majority of the time. He has never employed an engineer, claiming he does not want the music to be influenced in any way.

Since 1995, Armin has released many tracks on different labels with increasing success. His first big success was "Blue Fear" on Cyber Records. This 'Euro Trance blueprint' made it into the UK Chart. "Communication" was released on the same label, and had a huge impact on Ibiza, Spain in the summer of 1999. After being signed to AM PM Records, this track entered the UK Chart at #18 in 2000.

In the beginning of 1999, Armin started his label Armind together with United Recordings. The first release, Gig - "One," was well received. The second release "Touch Me", under the name Rising Star was signed to Ministry Of Sound in the UK, before the record was released.

By the time the third Armind release Gimmick - "Free" was signed to R&S Records, Armin had managed to make his label popular very quickly. Under the surname Gaia he released "4 Elements" on Captivating Sounds, a sub-label of Warner Brothers. Teaming up with DJ Tiësto, two new projects were born: Major League - "Wonder Where You Are?" was released on Blackhole and Albi - "Eternity" was released on Armind. "Eternity" received club and chart success and was signed to Paul van Dyk's imprint Vandit Records. Another major collaboration followed this. Together with Ferry Corsten, Armin recorded a riff-classic titled "Exhale" for the System F. album. Released as a single, this track reached gold status in less than a month.

In 2000 Armin started his own AVB compilation series. He managed to find the perfect balance between progressive, techno and trance music styles. AVB001 - "A State of Trance" (not to be confused with his weekly ASOT radio shows) sold more than 10,000 copies and contains Armin's well known remix of Moogwai - "Viola." AVB002 "Basic Instinct" featured a new track: Perpetuous Dreamer - "The Sound Of Goodbye." This track entered the Dutch charts in June 2001 at number 26. Later in the year the track hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. AVB003 - "In Motion" was released August 6th 2001. This album contained the real trance sound and was very popular in the US. AVB004 - "Transparance" followed in 2002.

Armin remixed several long tracks, such as Wamdue Project - "King Of My Castle", Madison Avenue - "Don't Call Me Baby" and Gouryella - "Walhalla" (all in 1999 and 2000). His recent remixes are Solid Sessions - "Janeiro" and Shane - "Too Late To Turn." Due to the success of these mixes there is a high demand on his remixes but he has recently turned several requests down in order to focus on his own artist album.

In March 2001 Armin started his own radio show on ID&T Radio. In this weekly two-hour show, entitled 'A State of Trance', he plays the latest popular trance music tracks. His show and the artists he features are popularized by publishing the artists and track titles on his website. This radio-show/website combination has proven popular internationally. Many fans -- while listening to the radio-show -- will converse in the website chat-rooms and forums, such as DI.FM, over the playing tracks. When ID&T Radio changed genres in 2004, Armin left and took A State of Trance with him. It is now a weekly feature on Fresh FM, a Dutch radio station, and DI.FM, an online radio station. An entire list of stations that broadcast ASOT can be found at his website, the ASOT section of Armins website. In June 2005, the 200th episode was celebrated in Amsterdam and subsequently aired on radio. The 250th (8 hour!) anniversary epizode was celebrated in Astra Club, Neitherlands, featuring Armin, Jonas Steur,M.I.K.E.,John Askew, Rank 1 and Menno De Jong.

He has also worked on remix projects involving tracks by Japanese superstar Ayumi Hamasaki.

Aliases: Amsterdance, Armania, Darkstar, E=mc², El Guitaro, Gaia, Gimmick, Hyperdrive Inc., Major League, Misteri A, Perpetuous Dreamer, Problem Boy, Rising Star, The Shoeshine Factory.

As a performer

Van Buuren began his DJ career at club Nexus in Leiden, where he learned to play long DJ sets, which were regularly six to seven hours per set. During school holidays he played more than four times a week. In 1999, he met Dave Lewis who introduced him as a DJ in England and the United States. His DJ career accelerated, entering the DJ magazine Top-100 in November of 2001 at Number 27. He has played in more than 25 different countries and can often be found on the main stage at big summer festivals. Recently, Van Buuren played a record-breaking nine-hour set for Dancetheater in The Hague (Holland). In the United Kingdom one can see him perform regularly at Passion (resident 2002), Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Slinky, Peach and Golden.

In the United States, he has a residency at Glow in Washington D.C. and has played in Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, New York City, and Los Angeles. He has also regulary appeared at Godskitchen on the island of Ibiza. In October 2002, Van Buuren was voted Number 5 in the DJ Magazine 100 top DJs. In 2003, 2004 and 2005 he was voted number 3.

Lately, Van Buuren has been working hard on his DJ career, performing an average of more than two performances per weekend. According to him, "The fans and the public are the most important thing for a DJ." Because he strongly believes in the importance of his fans, he can be seen signing his autograph on virtually anything: vinyl records, flyers, t-shirts, body parts, and mobile phones.

On April 12th of 2006, Van Buuren began a Canadian tour with a performance in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This was his first appearance in the centrally located Canadian city. Despite a Wednesday booking, the venue was filled to capacity with fans eager to see Armin perform. Throughout his set Armin could be seen signing autographs for his eager fans.