Did the coronavirus change Armin's career?

Julian Del Agranda

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Jul 3, 2020
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Next year it's going to be ASOT 1000.

I personally have thought for the last couple of years that Armin would quit after ASOT 1000. I don't mean quit altogether with music or deejaying. But at least with ASOT, and with busy schedules. I have a feeling Armin's pretty much done with it. He has seen it all, he doesn't need money or fame. And of course he has a family now. And now that the thousand comes close, I stand by my theory, that he would stop after ASOT 1000.

But...

Thanks to the coronavirus, the plans for massive ASOT 1000 events are pretty much down the drain. It's very likely that there won't be an ASOT 1000 festival at all. And that's not a way he wants to stop. And besides that, he has had a lot of time at home with his family now. So that urge is probably a lot lower now too. He got to refuel his energylevel too. Ready for another journey being a superstar deejay.

And that raises the question, did corona affect Armin's plans for the end of his career?
 
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Archon

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I don't know. Makes sense, but at a certain level that's what makes him (more) famous and relevant in the trance scene.

I can imagine him quitting, but I can also imagine him changing format.

Don't see why he's gotta end with a party, a 1000th episode is enough in and of itself, but I imagine a lot of people depend on the money the party generates. Same as with ASOT.

Depends on who's the real "owner" of the show. If Armin has that power to shut it down, there's a chance we might see it ending. Otherwise, as long as it's generating money, it's gonna stay alive.
 

Hensmon

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I saw someone mentioned that Ferry had been hosting the show recently, and for multiple times in a row. They reckoned it was a sign that Ferry was about to take it over and that would make sense I guess if Armin was considering 'retiring' from that.
 

Sleepy Robot

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I don't understand why he didn't change formats earlier. We all know that trance is not the main genre he's playing anymore. Maybe a break would do him good so he can cime back with new life to his productions. Assuming he still likes to create music.
 

marcopm

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In the latest ASOT episode he finally cleared the air: he'll keep doing the first hour, while the second hour will be hosted by a different producer/dj each week, with the exception of Ferry corsten who's a monthly resident.
I think this is a welcomed change, some similar tests have already been made in the past (e.g. when Armin took some time off, or with the XXL format) with success. We'll hopefully have a bit more variety (tbh I found the second hour with Armin more and more stale) meanwhile Armin will avoid burnout.
It's not a revolutionary concept, some other shows already have regular guests. Like ABGT: 1 hour and half A&B, and the last 30 minutes a different guest every week.

It's quite clear to me that at the moment what Armin likes to do the most - besides his side-projects like GAIA, Rising Star, etc. - is targeting younger crowds by producing EDM/pop-like music in collaboration with other artists (with debatable results, but this is another story...) and touring to live festivals. Well, the latest until Coronavirus...
All the discussions about the busy schedules, lack of sleep, etc. are true, but in the end the real question is: does he enjoy touring? I personally think that he likes it a lot, and I think he's really suffering because of the Coronavirus situation. Yes. sometimes he needs some time off with his family, and since some months he finally has plenty of it; but at the same time, he's very ambitious, hard-working, he loves being on a mainstage and receiving that energy from the crowd.
 

Archon

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Good post @marcopm. This sums up quite good what I think of him now. I bet he enjoys it. He wants to be the best. It's still extremely stressful, but he wouldn't be doing it for more than 10 years now if he didn't enjoy it.
 

Gijs

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Ferry on ASOT is just weird.

Agreed. He's definitely not doing a bad job, but when I think of ASOT I solely think of Armin. Plus, Ferry already has a show himself (Ruben has too, I also had a hard time getting used to hearing him too on the show despite not being a bad presenter at all).
 
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I havent heard anything good from him since 2004 so good riddance. Wild Wild Son was enjoyable as a commercial pop track but thats it. He should be ashamed of himself for selling out. I seriously doubts he even enjoys the dogshit he plays or produces, its just about selling a brand.
 

s3baman

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I think that having Ferry as a resident is just the first step. I would not be surprised if in the somewhat near future (i.e. 1-2 years) Armin hands the keys to the castle to Ferry to host the show. As much as I would love to have Ruben as the host, he doesn't have the star power to keep the brand alive. Ferry is arguably the best producer of all time, heavily respected by all of his peers, and would keep the spirit of ASOT alive instead of letting go down a commercial path
 

dmgtz96

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I havent heard anything good from him since 2004 so good riddance. Wild Wild Son was enjoyable as a commercial pop track but thats it. He should be ashamed of himself for selling out. I seriously doubts he even enjoys the dogshit he plays or produces, its just about selling a brand.

It looks like someone is speedrunning any% get temporarily suspended from the forum
 

dmgtz96

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Eh, I think Oliver Lieb and Laurent Veronnez have always been way better, more consistent and less controversial than Ferry, especially the former one.

Ferry Corsten.. controversial? I guess that Punk was pretty controversial at its release lmao.
Oliver Lieb is awesome and was the best trance producer for a while, but in a 2020 context that's not true. He switched over to minimal/deep techno a while ago.
It's either Airwave or Ferry. Both have their pros and cons and a wide range of styles. Airwave stayed true to his sound and rarely produced something commercial (except for his Fire & Ice project). Ferry from the beginning was more commercial-friendly - just look at Galaxia. However, Ferry pioneered "electro-trance" and supported many artists with his label Flashover recordings. Ferry then revived the Gouryella project, which whether you like it or not is truer to the original anthem trance sound than many of Airwave's post-Atlas Winds productions.
I know it sounds like a stretch, but from a 2020 context it's safe to say that Ferry is the best trance producer. Airwave is close enough, but his deep intellectual Egyptian cinematic dark progressive trance leaves a lot to be desired IMO. Also, many of his post-Atlas Winds productions have little variation among one another.

Now, you could claim Ferry appealed to nostalgia... but isn't that what everyone raves about, and why many people like trance in the first place?

For what it's worth I am not a Ferry fanboy. Far from it - my favorite trance track of all time, after all, is L.S.G.'s Netherworld. I just think Ferry is a great candidate for the best trance producer in a 2020 context.
 
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Oliver Lieb, Airwave, Push, Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk are all better then Ferry.
None of these producers apart from Airwave has done anything good since 2005.
I wouldnt put Ferry even on my top 10, most of his tracks were to cheese.
 

dmgtz96

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Oliver Lieb and Airwave: see above
Push: great producer, quality went down significantly around 2010-2011 and never really recovered
Tiesto: You can't be serious
PvD: another great producer, but the breadth of his skill is lacking. Many tracks even during his most productive years sounded very much the same.
 
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Ferry Corsten.. controversial? I guess that Punk was pretty controversial at its release lmao.
Oliver Lieb is awesome and was the best trance producer for a while, but in a 2020 context that's not true. He switched over to minimal/deep techno a while ago.
It's either Airwave or Ferry. Both have their pros and cons and a wide range of styles. Airwave stayed true to his sound and rarely produced something commercial (except for his Fire & Ice project). Ferry from the beginning was more commercial-friendly - just look at Galaxia. However, Ferry pioneered "electro-trance" and supported many artists with his label Flashover recordings. Ferry then revived the Gouryella project, which whether you like it or not is truer to the original anthem trance sound than many of Airwave's post-Atlas Winds productions.
I know it sounds like a stretch, but from a 2020 context it's safe to say that Ferry is the best trance producer. Airwave is close enough, but his deep intellectual Egyptian cinematic dark progressive trance leaves a lot to be desired IMO. Also, many of his post-Atlas Winds productions have little variation among one another.

Now, you could claim Ferry appealed to nostalgia... but isn't that what everyone raves about, and why many people like trance in the first place?

For what it's worth I am not a Ferry fanboy. Far from it - my favorite trance track of all time, after all, is L.S.G.'s Netherworld. I just think Ferry is a great candidate for the best trance producer in a 2020 context.

Yes, of course Ferry Corsten is controversial, the moment someone claims that he was downright responsible for the somewhat dumbification or even death of Trance Music as a whole, of course he is controversial and this are not even my words and no, "Punk" was not the problem, om the contrary, it was actually a nice idea, in general, the problem is that when he led Epic Trance to its golden era boom in the late 90s, he was also largely responsible for pretty much giving a stereotype of what Trance Music should be, leading many to boycott the genre as a whole and others to try to make something different out of it like the Tech and the Neo-Micro Trance stuff.

Yes, it's true that the Gouryella revival is truer to the original Epic Trance sound than the Airwave post-Atlas stuff but that's because Airwave has a whole wants to go as further as possible with the genre and if you actually go by the actual sense of the word Trance, you will actually notice that Airwave's most recent material is in fact, way Trancier than anything Ferry Corsten has ever released. You also claim that many of his post-Atlas releases have little variation among on another and that they leave a lot to be desired but to be honest, Ferry Corsten is in no way different, just because he revived an old project and a somewhat oldschoolish sound, doesn't mean that all of a sudden he's some sort of King of Trance music, the problem is that you're weren't even talking from a 2020 context, you were single-handedly considering him the best producer of all-time when that's pretty much far from the truth, at least, in my opinion.

Yes, it's also true that Oliver Lieb left the scene and Airwave's most recent material may not be as exciting as his earlier material but their legacy is sufficiently large and undeniable that yes, they will forever be seen as two of the most influential and quintessential Trance producers that any Trance fan should know and should be able to appreciate their tunes, way more than Ferry will ever be, if you ask me.

As for the whole nostalgia thing, actually no, I mean, I won't deny, Epic Trance was, for the most part, what really got me into Trance and I still have a lot of good memories with so many tracks coming out of that subgenre in particular but at this point, the whole genre is stale and out of ideas and its formula has become so trite that not even I can take that seriously anymore, plus, even though his most recent material is trying to sound as oldschoolish as possible, the fact is that it really isn't because the production values have change massively over the years and this kind of stuff really differs a lot soundwise than what it was released along the same lines back in the late 90s/early 00s.

Oliver Lieb, Airwave, Push, Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk are all better then Ferry.
None of these producers apart from Airwave has done anything good since 2005.
I wouldnt put Ferry even on my top 10, most of his tracks were to cheese.

Oliver Lieb has given up on Trance as a whole so it's not really fair to say he hasn't done anything good since 2005 since he's no longer on the scene, although he did produce some Trancy releases recently, check out L.S.G. - Whiteout, for example, released in 2017, that's quite Trancy, in my books, way more than the whole Epic Trance subgenre, if you ask me.

Oliver Lieb and Airwave: see above
Push: great producer, quality went down significantly around 2010-2011 and never really recovered
Tiesto: You can't be serious
PvD: another great producer, but the breadth of his skill is lacking. Many tracks even during his most productive years sounded very much the same.

The problem with Tiësto is that he was never really a producer in his own merits, maybe in his Hardcore years but that was way too many years ago. But even excluding the whole "fake-producer" thing, most of his post-2002 material was actually rather questionable and I'm not even going to go further with this except that his version of "Adagio" is easily one of worse things Trance Music has ever seen and an actual offense to the original Samuel Barber's composition which was never really meant to be a club track in the first place, it was meant to be a funeral track which makes any Trance version, including Ferry's remix of Orbit's version quite ridiculous but Tiësto's version took it to a new level of stupid, that's for sure.

M.I.K.E. Push used to be better, yes but he still has it from time.

Paul van Dyk is just as overrated as Ferry, in my opinion, although he is somewhat forgiven for creating one of the biggest and most quintessential masterpieces Trance Music has ever seen, which is his "Love Stimulation" remix from 1993, now, that's a track that will never really age no matter how much time will pass by.
 
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dmgtz96

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Yes, of course Ferry Corsten is controversial, the moment someone claims that he was downright responsible for the somewhat dumbification or even death of Trance Music as a whole, of course he is controversial and this are not even my words and no, "Punk" was not the problem, om the contrary, it was actually a nice idea, in general, the problem is that when he led Epic Trance to its golden era boom in the late 90s, he was also largely responsible for pretty much giving a stereotype of what Trance Music should be, leading many to boycott the genre as a whole and others to try to make something different out of it like the Tech and the Neo-Micro Trance stuff.
I call those elitists. We've seen a lot of indirect references to people like that even on the previous version of the forum, "for some of you this might not be real trance" in a thread about a popular late 90s trance anthem.
This is coming from the person who made the thread about pre-95 trance and embraced the lack of supersaws in that style.

Yes, it's true that the Gouryella revival is truer to the original Epic Trance sound than the Airwave post-Atlas stuff but that's because Airwave has a whole wants to go as further as possible with the genre and if you actually go by the actual sense of the word Trance, you will actually notice that Airwave's most recent material is in fact, way Trancier than anything Ferry Corsten has ever released. You also claim that many of his post-Atlas releases have little variation among on another and that they leave a lot to be desired but to be honest, Ferry Corsten is in no way different, just because he revived an old project and a somewhat oldschoolish sound, doesn't mean that all of a sudden he's some sort of King of Trance music, the problem is that you're weren't even talking from a 2020 context, you were single-handedly considering him the best producer of all-time when that's pretty much far from the truth, at least, in my opinion.
Airwave's work is "trancier" in the sense that it is more entrancing, and he looked forward rather than looking backward, but innovation and quality don't necessarily come from reinventing the wheel. You can make great things based on what people have done in the past.
Ferry's revival of Gouryella alone didn't make him the "king of trance music," and I never claimed that was the case.

Yes, it's also true that Oliver Lieb left the scene and Airwave's most recent material may not be as exciting as his earlier material but their legacy is sufficiently large and undeniable that yes, they will forever be seen as two of the most influential and quintessential Trance producers that any Trance fan should know and should be able to appreciate their tunes, way more than Ferry will ever be, if you ask me.
I definitely agree that trance listeners should hear Airwave and Oliver Lieb. They're two of the best producers, and they certainly left behind a large legacy of classics. However, Ferry also has a large volume of quality work that will only grow with time. If there is any producer that can match those two, it's him.
 
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Jul 20, 2020
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I call those elitists. We've seen a lot of indirect references to people like that even on the previous version of the forum, "for some of you this might not be real trance" in a thread about a popular late 90s trance anthem.
This is coming from the person who made the thread about pre-95 trance and embraced the lack of supersaws in that style.


Airwave's work is "trancier" in the sense that it is more entrancing, and he looked forward rather than looking backward, but innovation and quality don't necessarily come from reinventing the wheel. You can make great things based on what people have done in the past.
Ferry's revival of Gouryella alone didn't make him the "king of trance music," and I never claimed that was the case.


I definitely agree that trance listeners should hear Airwave and Oliver Lieb. They're two of the best producers, and they certainly left behind a large legacy of classics. However, Ferry also has a large volume of quality work that will only grow with time. If there is any producer that can match those two, it's him.

Elitists or not, they kinda have a point, I mean, no one in their right mind would have liked to see something they created so dearly being turned into something so vastly different that it no longer or barely represents what it once was, in that regard, you kinda have to understand their point, even if you don't necessarily agree with it.

In some way, yes, I do agree that Ferry's revival of Gouryella brought a considerable amount of great tunes like Anahera, Neba and Venera (Vee's Theme) and in some way, some Trance producers are still trying to sound as "pure" as possible without delving into schlock, like M.I.K.E. Push, Solarstone, The Thrillseekers, Orkidea and a few others but I also think that Trance Music in general needs to go a little bit further than the usual epic breakdown-build-anthem formula because let's face it, that formula is quite played out as we speak. It was nice when it came in, it created quite a great amount of timeless classics that we, trance lovers, cherish to this day and age but as we speak, in the year 2020, that specific formula is already quite played out because pretty much every EDM subgenre or at least, a vast amount of them is using it to a certain degree which makes this specific formula way less interesting than when it once was and that this specific formula actually managed to survive for this long is actually a miracle, because had Epic Trance suffered the same fate German & Dream Trance suffered in the late 90's, this specific subgenre that we all love and cherish and tend to see as the "ultimate definition of what Trance Music is supposed to be" would have been on its way out by 2003, so, to a certain degree, I can say that Epic Trance as a subgenre of Trance Music has alreay overstayed its welcome by quite some time by now.

I'll have to disagree with that, while I do admit that from what some people like to call "The Big 4 Of (Epic) Trance Music" (Tiësto, Armin, Ferry & PvD) , Ferry is probably the most consistent out of all of them, even though PvD had a fantastic run from 1992 to 1997, initially with his Melodic Oldschool Trance sound and later with his very high-driven Progressive Trance sound, I can't really put him at the same level as Lieb or Airwave, I mean, Lieb was just so important for the creation of so many subgenres of Trance Music and has such a great catalogue that I can't really consider anyone to had been as influential and as pivotal for the creation and growth of the genre as he was, even if he had left the scene for quite some time by now, his legacy will always live on and it's something that I don't think anyone will be able to replace it. And Airwave is Airwave, he's such a prolific producer, has produced so many classic and underrated gems under so many alias that I don't really think I'll be able to listen to all of them before I die, I just don't think it's possible but in any case, he has yet to produce a failed track because even his less remarkable material is still worth listening to, while on the other hand, while Ferry Corsten did a pretty decent job in the 00's mostly with his Electro-Trance stuff which was loved by some and hated by others, he still managed to delve into schlock more than once with tracks like "Feel It", "Check It Out", his Justin Bieber remix, "Hyper Love", "F The Bulls!t", his New World Punx stuff with Markus Schulz and a considerable amount of other quite unremarkable and highly questionable tracks come to mind and that's why I can't really consider him to be at the same level as Oliver Lieb or Airwave. In fact, there is a considerable number of Trance producers that I consider to have been more influental and more consistent than Ferry himself. M.I.K.E. Push was already mentioned, Simon Berry a.k.a. Art Of Trance, extremely underrated. Airbase, used to be one of the champions of Epic Trance for way longer than many and Mirco De Govia who I consider to be quite overlooked in the Trance scene, even if he hasn't produced anything since 2011, from what I checked out on his Discogs page.