We talk to Bert & Maarten, two Belgian brothers, who have done it all. Playing Live at I Love Techno, remixing all the big names (like Bedrock), and much much more.

Hi guys, let’s get down to business, shall we? :)



[i:Vibes]: First: tell us all about yourselves… hobbies, pets, girlfriend, … whatever you want to share with us.

Let’s see…anything we want to tell about ourselves...not really... ;-)
Except maybe…all female fans can send their pictures to info@filterheadz.com.
Something like that? J

[i:Vibes]: Filterheadz are two guys: Bert & Maarten, two brothers. How hard is it to work together with your brother?

No it’s not hard, not at all…we have very similar taste in music. We come from the same musical background and been through the same influences over the years. And hey, we are brothers, we love eachother. Bounded by blood as they say J

[i:Vibes]: How do you influence eachother?

We warn eachother when there’s a new Kylie video on tv…?

[i:Vibes]: You produce very different stuff: progressive, techno, … Where does all the inspiration come from?

From just about everywere! I wouldn’t really call ourselves die-hard dance, trance or techno fans. You get the best ideas when listening to all kinds of music. For instance, the remix we did for Bedrock “Emerald” was really inspired by nu metal bands like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit. No kiddin’ ! Luckily Diggers loves the mix. There’s tons of stuff out there we like. I think the Fisherspooner stuff really rocks and the Scumfrog dude is absolutely on top of things. We dig everything from Nu Metal to Country…but to be honest I’m really a sucker for pop music…

[i:Vibes]: The latest I Love Techno theme was done by Tomaz vs Filterheadz, which was Tune Of The Week on [i:Vibes]. It turned out to be something extremely good, tribal techno in my opinion.
How did you go about producing the song?

A lot of people have asked us that question. “How was it to do a track on demand?”. Well for us it didn’t make any difference at all. We had a very clear idea of the track from the beginning. We really wanted to capture the vibe of a big festival, so it had to sound somewhat “epic”. I think we succeeded rather well, if I say so myself.

[i:Vibes]: On I Love Techno, you guys did a live performance. Was that your first one?
How did it feel doing your thing in front of thousands of people?

It felt really good I must say! Always fun to play to such a large crowd…It wasn’t our first gig, but it was one of the first in Belgium. At this moment we’re trying to set up an Asian tour and we have a few more gigs in Sweden planned. We’ll see how that works out. I guess it’s a lot harder to get live gigs than it is to get dj gigs, but we’re working on it.



[i:Vibes]: Are there any plans for other cooperations?

We have a few freaky ideas, but nothing definite…(mysterious laugh)

[i:Vibes]: And an album in the future perhaps?

Definitely! We already have quite a clear view of where we wanna go. We really want to take our time working on new material…It’s gonna be different, that’s one thing I can say… We hope to have the first results ready by the Winter Music Conference in Miami.

[i:Vibes]: Now a question for the producers: what equipment do you use? Synths, mixers, samplers, drum machines, the works…

Our studio is based around a ProTools system. A Mix3 system plus 3 extra dsp cards. We have 40 inputs, we don’t use a mixing board as we mix everything inside the system.

Synths : Waldorf XT and Q, Clavia Nord 2 and Modular, Kawai K5000 (the bass machine!) Korg TR-Rack and Wavestation, Ensoniq TS 12

Softsynths : Emagic ES2, Virus, MCDSP Synth One, Spectrasonics Atmosphere

Samplers : S5000, S3000XL, Emagic EXS24 II softsampler

Emagic Logic Audio with Logic Controls and just about every plugin imagable…

And tons of vinyl…

[i:Vibes]: You are currently remixing a pure uplifting song, DT8 – Destination, how hard is it to remix a song like that? How much input do you have in the remix?

What can I say, Darren Tate is definitely out there with the big boys! It’s a brilliant track, but that didn’t make it any easier on us. We have all the input we want in a remix. It happens that record companies request for a certain type of remix. We had quite a few people requesting “something similar to the mix you guys did for green velvet”. So we try to take that into consideration, but in the end we always go for what we think will take the track into a new world.

[i:Vibes]: MP3’s: pro or contra?

I am still thinking of a decent answer…I’ll keep you posted…

[i:Vibes]: How would you describe yourselves as producers?

You tell me…we tend to think of ourselves as melodic, rhythmically in the pocket, always an ear for nice harmony. But that’s only what we think… J

[i:Vibes]: Which country has the best trance/techno in your opinion? And why?

I think there are talented people all over the world, so no particular country.

[i:Vibes]: Can you concurr with the DJMAG results? DJ Tiësto being the best DJ in the world? Which DJ should have gotten it?

I've only heard Tiesto once in Ibiza and that was really really good. Which dj should have gotten it? I have no clue...So many good jocks out there...I guess Sander Kleinenberg is still our favorite. We've seen him six or seven times now and always top notch...

[i:Vibes]: What's the best song out there at the moment?

"Blue Song" by Mint Royale is brilliant, "Emerge" by Fisherspooner is still a favorite and the "All that mattered" song by De Nuit really got to our romantic side....
Any more? : "The Switch" by Planet Funk and "Pray" by Syntax...Ok, let's trow in the latest Kylie and Aguilera singles in there for good measure...

[i:Vibes]: Which remix of your own, do you like most?

Probably Bedrock "Emerald"...



[i:Vibes]: Anything you want to share with us? Future remixes, future productions, or some secret stuff we can’t know about, but that you are willing to share with us :)

Do you know anything that you shouldn’t know? ;-)
Remix wise, we did a rather freaky remix of the new Sylver single. Next we did the new Minimalistix, we just finished the Darren Tate track and we have a couple more to finish before the end of the year.
I can tell you that we have a new side project coming up named “Orange 3”. “In your eyes” is the title of the first single. We signed it to Black Hole Recordings.

[i:Vibes]: How does Orange 3 sound?

Let's see, it sounds a lot more vocal and it comes with a full-on trance mix. Can we say "more commercial"? maybe, it surely has a lot more pop influences.

[i:Vibes]: And why did you decide to go with Blackhole with that project?

We didn't think a strict trance or strict progressive label would do the project justice, so Blackhole fitted that bill rather well...plus the fact that Tim Binns is now involved in Blackhole UK. Tim was the first person to give us a break in the UK and he's been a big fan of "In your eyes" since the first demo version about a year ago. And hey, he is about the coolest bloke in the bizz... :-)



Thanks a lot for your time Bert & Maarten, and I hope to see a lot more quality productions from you guys.