I did an interview for Space Dance Radio, here you can read the transcript of the interview.
A link to the interview on Mixcloud is provided below.
Interviewer: Alan Makarov
1. How would you describe spacesynth style to someone who never heard of it?
I would say that it is a mix between Italo disco and more modern trance maybe.. It is an instrumental and very melodic version of Italodisco, with driving basslines and heavy Linndrum beats.
2. Why did u choose to create this type of music?
When I was young I listened to some illegal radio stations in the Netherlands (Radio Stad Den Haag was one of them). They played all the nice music that wasn’t played on the normal radio stations. And so they also played lots of import music from Hotsound Records, a small music shop in Rotterdam. Erik van Vliet was the owner of Hotsound Records, and he also was the executive producer of Laserdance, and of course the radio stations loved to play this new and exotic style of music they made!
In the nineties I made house music, but I stopped making music when I got my first house and daytime job. About ten years ago (after changing jobs) I had more free time on my hands and decided to make music again. And so I choose to make the music of my youth.
3. How did u choose name for your space project Neospace?
People already knew me as Chris van Buren of course, but as I learned to make better Spacesynth music, I wanted people to know that the project had changed into a new and better style. It is Spacesynth music but new, and NEO means new in Latin, so NEW SPACE MUSIC resulted in Neospace.
4. What are your future plans for this music and music in general?
My new Neospace album “Flying to the Stars” will be released in February and so I hope the Spacesynth fans will like it again. I don’t really know what comes next yet, but I like to produce music in the spirit of different artists. I have made music for Syntech and also for the new Powermachine project by Erik van Vliet, so maybe I will produce music for other renewed Spacesynth projects as well.
I would also have loved to participate in the Koto – Return of the Dragon project, but unfortunately I didn’t got asked for that.
5. What do you use of hardware and software for creating music and why?
Well I use an Apple iMac computer with Logic Pro X, and I love to use old synthesizers.
Together with Anton Eriksson (Spacehawk) we always try to find the sounds that were used in the old Spacesynth productions from the nineties. We look into old interviews and articles, and study pictures from the old studios that the old producers used. And then we try to find the same synthesizers as they used.
Sometimes I am lucky and find it for cheap, or sometimes I buy a broken one and repair it myself. Lots of guys produce music with only a computer nowadays, and although it is perfectly possible to do that, I find lots of inspiration in old hardware synthesizers and I need them to get the old analog sound we all love.
There is a list of the gear I use on my website for the people who are interested in the exact brands and models I own.
6. What are your opinion on new generation spacesynth and do you have favorite space projects?
I think it is very nice that new artists still choose to make this music. I love this music-style and I am pleased that new producers keep the music alive. Michiel van der Kuy is also making new music again, so of course he is my favorite artist. I have been in his studio and we talk quite often, so yeah…
Other new music projects I like are Spacehawk by Anton Eriksson, Cosmix by Corbyn Lowers, and from the last Space Holidays compilation I liked Mindvision, Asteryon and Cyberman very much.
7. For the end do u like science fiction movies and what are your favourites?
Oh yes, I like science fiction movies very much. The old movies like Terminator, Oblivion, The Abyss and The Matrix are my favorites. But I also like some new series on Netflix like Lost in Space and Salvation. I have never really liked the Star Wars and Star Trek movies though, I am sorry.