GAIA Talk Production Techniques on ‘Moons Of Jupiter’ and ADE – EDM Identity

We sat down with GAIA to chat about the importance of an alias, how theyve approached their past performances, and explore the Moons of Jupiter!

The duo comprised of Armin van Buuren and Benno de Goeij, better known as GAIA, continues to wow audiences worldwide with trance anthems and the unique black robes they don during live performances. Together, theyve combined they produced some of the biggest dance anthems over the past three decades and just a few months ago GAIA unfurled the map to the Moons of Jupiter.

If you are unfamiliar with Gaia, dont fret. First, swing by the history piece we wrote earlier this year before the album dropped where we acquaint you with the first Gaia tune, 4 Elements, and bring you up to speed with all the majesty before Moons of Jupiter. If you missed out on reading the review for Moons of Jupiter, we recommend reading that as well.

After a year of experiencing the journey GAIA brought with their first album, we were fortunate enough to receive the chance to sit down and explore how two icons of the industry continue to make waves. So stream theMoons Of Jupiter below or on your favorite platform, and read on as we dive intothe realm of GAIA and grow deeper in the lore of trance legends.

GAIA boils down to our roots as producers, and the sound of GAIA is the sound that inspired us to start producing music ourselves. And thats also how we decide if the music gets released under the GAIA alias or not. It has to fit a certain mold, our mold. It has to be GAIA.

I think its a good tool to redefine creative boundaries and to manipulate peoples expectations. Fans will always tie a name to a certain sound, and its hard to change that idea once it has settled in. An alias could help artists venture into a different direction without having to revoke the music they created before.

Definitely more creative freedom, although it rarely is as anonymous as people may think. In this digital age, people can find practically anything on the internet, so keeping an alias secret is next to impossible. But even if people know whos behind an alias, theyll still (somewhat) regard it as a different entity.

As an artist, it can help you step off the beaten path without actually having to do start the entire journey from the beginning again. And nowadays, were openly doing interviews as GAIA. So even though people know that its us who are behind GAIA, theyre still ready to accept that the sound is different from the music wed play or create under other monikers.

It should always be about the music. Especially with all the big festivals around, where its almost more about cool show elements and sick stage production than the music itself, I think its great when theres less focus on WHO is playing and more focus on WHAT the performer is playing.

The music is always the most important part for me, both as a performer and a fan, and I think that should always take center stage. Choosing a more sober approach to performing is a great way to shift that focus, I believe. And its not easy because the robes are very HOT..

During this week, Amsterdam is packed with tens of thousands of music lovers, ranging from devoted fans to those looking to build a career in music themselves. The city streets are oozing with passion for music during these days, and I love that. Im always looking to show my face whenever I can, and Ive got some great projects running myself as well. I even launched a limited-edition escape room to celebrate the release of my seventh artist album, Balance.

To be honest, I was a bit nervous. It was the first time for us to take the stage in this new setting and there was no knowing how the crowd would respond, especially since they were used to somewhat trancier stuff being released under the GAIA alias. In hindsight, I had no reason to be nervous at all. The crowd was phenomenal, and we had an amazing time on stage.

We first did the live show in Paradiso and then did the album arrangement. We could then take the crowds reaction into consideration when arranging the album. Limiting ourselves to one plugin was simply for a practical reason: we didnt want to drain the CPU of theMacBooks.Especially in a live environment, these can get very hot.

Also, I felt it was liberating in a way to have just one plugin. We really had to dig under the hood of the software to get the most out of NIs Massivesynth. But that had anotheradvantage: we got to know the plugin in and out!

To us, its what being an artist is all about. Were always looking to do (and create) what inspires us, and to discover new sounds to work with. Its a very exciting process and one that gives me the energy to do what I do. The world of music is much more magical than people believe it to be. You just have to be willing to see beyond your own box.

I think we both wanted to make an album inspired by the sounds we love as electronic music lovers. In a way, Moons of Jupiteris more the result of letting go of pre-set styles. We just made music. Letting go of any expectations or pre-determined styles was liberating. In a way, I think it serves as a testament to the heroes that inspired us to become electronic music producers ourselves, like Daft Punk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze, Jon Hopkins, Speedy J., Chris Liebing, Oliver Lieb, System 7, etc.

Thats actually a tough question to answer. Well be doing more live shows in the future, and keep experimenting in the studio to see how we can further the sound of GAIA. I cant really predict iftheres going to be another album soon, but who knows. The universe has so much more to offer than just the moons of Jupiter.

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GAIA Talk Production Techniques on 'Moons Of Jupiter' and ADE - EDM Identity