True House Stories® Youtube & Spotify Video Podcast
TRUE HOUSE STORIES W/ BEN LIEBRAND (GRANDMIX)
Ben Liebrand (Grandmix) interviewed by Lenny Fontana for True House Stories™ # 024
‘True House Stories’ of Ben Liebrand with Lenny Fontana gives a fascinating insight about how the music scene has advanced since the 1980’s and the reasons why.
Ben Liebrand grew up in the Netherlands and played such a huge role in the way the music scene advanced and continued to build over the next 4 decades. Learn in this interview about how Ben’s fascination for technology and amazing ear for music and why it was so pivotal in the advances in DJing and music production.
Ben’s passion for technology and belief on creating his music from scratch without the involvement of external input is the reason he is so creative and has led to over 800 incredible productions and remixes.
This is a truly fascinating interview about Ben’s input in changing the entire music scene helping it to progress throughout the last 40 years and still be pivotal to today’s sound.
Discover how Ben Liebrand’s career started by chance in a club in 1978 and how he progressed very quickly to playing peak slots in clubs in Holland due to his discovery of beat matching which is still how DJs play today.
Discover how Ben worked on remixes with amazing bands such as Salt n Peppa, Pet Shop Boys and Human League. Lenny Fontana uncovers the story of how Ben Liebrand’s skill for beat matching led to DJing on Dutch radio and how this new technique was so pivotal to how music is played on radio and in clubs to this day.
Ben explains the differences between producing original tracks versus remixing, and his stance on different genres of music throughout his lifetime.
Ben fully embracing digital progression and gives his about his opinions about analogue versus digital evolution. Such a huge instigator due to his never-ending excitement for advances in technology and equipment, Ben explains his excitement about why he embraces this.
Ben Liebrand has been working in the industry for 42 years now and it is clear to see how he played such a huge part in the evolution of music taking us through 4 decades of multiple musical genres and hoe he adapted to these changes but has also experienced many pitfalls along the way. Tune in to find out all about these tough times and how Ben is still such a huge leading figure in the industry.
Ben Liebrand YouTube Video Part 1
Ben Liebrand YouTube Video Part 2
Biography Ben Liebrand (Grandmix)
Ben Liebrand is considered to be one of the European pioneers in mixing of dance music. His early mixes inspired an entire generation of DJ’s. Armin van Buuren, Olaf Basoski, Ferry Corsten, DJ Dano and Tiësto mention Ben Liebrand as their main inspiration to become a DJ.
The Golden Harp, received at the Buma Awards in 2020, acknowledges Ben’s contribution and influence on the Dutch Music industry. It was presented to Ben by Armin van Buuren, who stated on many occasion seeing Ben as his Jedi-DJ. Armin dedicated his first no. 1 DJ award to Ben in 2007.
Ben himself was greatly influenced by producers and artists like Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder, Gino Soccio, Mauro Malavasi, Trevor Horn and Nile Rodgers
Live DJ, from Classics to House, to the latest in Dance. Ben spins on no less than 4 decks, blending multiple songs live, to perfection.
Ben has found the perfect balance of performing at a high technical level whilst holding the attention of all those who simply came to dance. Ben has DJ-ed in Amsterdam, London, Paris, Many venues in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Toronto, Calgary and all important venues in The Netherlands as main act on main stage. He also played the closing night in Vancouver at the Winter Olympics as well as several DJ sets at the Summer Olympics in London.
Ben Liebrand was the first DJ to have a non-stop mixed radio show on Dutch National Radio in 1983, called In The Mix. This show still runs each Saturday on Radio 10. The Minimix, a short mix that has yielded remix hits for Sting, Phil Collins and Bill Withers, runs during the Gerard Ekdom morning show each Friday. In The House is another show, exploring the latest House and featuring many mashups, running since 2019 These radio shows are syndicated to FM stations internationally.
Ben Liebrand is considered to be the very best in megamixes, earning him the name “Master Mixer”. A name given to him by colleagues and business professionals. His Grandmixes are regarded as the absolute benchmark in mixing. So many years down the line, the Grandmixes are still charting at solid #1 positions in iTunes as well as the regular sales charts.