Red Robin: The Vinyl Harem

A DJ and his vinyl. Red Robin was one of the resident DJs at the world famous Bar 25 in Berlin before the open air club was closed in the summer of 2010. He gained international popularity in the electronic scene with his 2007-hit “Snap Dragon”, and is also famous for his unique mixing style, where he perfectly blends one vinyl record into another. Being a musician first, his musical background is wide. So this man lives on the plastic plates and has a lot to say about mixing and music, and why vinyl records are like women…

Red Robin & Jakob Hilden: “Snap Dragon”

When was your last release?

I’ve been pretty lazy. Those two and a half records I did with Jakob Hilden on Trapez Limited opened enough doors. Basically I live off it without asking too many questions. Not enough to put something on the side, but enough to get new headphones if I would loose mine. That way I was really comfortable with travelling and playing, because DJing is – I like producing too – but DJing is what I like most.

What do you like about it?

It’s a mixture of everything. Basically it’s where you can act spontaneously. Because DJing techno is technically not difficult. It’s just beat matching, that’s like circular breathing with saxophone players. Someone who doesnt know about it would say “oh wow”, but someone who knows about it would say that’s the basis and from there on you can develop. So techno is about feeling for the crowd on the dancefloor, feeling for the whole context of the situation, if it’s in the morning, at night, during good weather, bad weather, whatever – you have to feel and understand the situation, read the situation, feel the crowd and know which compromise of what you like and they like might be the best for the situation. And that’s where it gets interesting: when you start mixing records, and not play one song after another, but mix them almost entirely to create something new.

So what’s special about your mixing technique, could you please describe it?

I wouldn’t say that I’ve got a special mixing technique. Every DJ has his own moves, and every DJ has his own approach to getting two records together. Most of the DJs I know that come from hiphop into electronic music, like Shir Khan, they actually first put the record in and then touch the pitch, because they are able to correct the tempo of a vinyl record in such a short time, that they can put in the record first, so you hear it and then they adjust the tempo, which has a really rough, but energetic thing about it in the club. And then there are those people you don’t even realize that they are already mixing when they do it, because they come so neatly and with such tiny little EQ-movements, that it’s almost impossible to realize where they start mixing and where they end. Many people have told me that when they are in the next room of a club, or are somewhere where they can’t see the DJ booth, they can still hear that I started playing. After the first record. I cannot really explain it. Let’s call it mixing technique style. You can hear more clearly that it’s me who is actually playing by how I mix one record with another, than by the style of music that you are gonna hear. Because what I always try is to keep any kind of electronic club music that is in between 120 bpm and 130 bpm, anything that’s tempo-wise playable, in my record bag. It’s not like “Oh, this is Red Robin, you have to book him at 9 o’clock in the morning on a sunny day, because otherwise his music is gonna suck.” It’s like: you never know what you gonna get.

So when you DJ, you only use vinyl?

No, I also use CDs, but I haven’t switched to Traktor Scratch. I am planning to do it, and actually I have the program and the hardware since it came out, because I did some graphics for them. But I never got a laptop, I spent my money on records! I dont feel like someone who is gonna entirely switch to a Traktor Scratch, but I think the possibilities the program is offering are more than interesting. I talked about it to Danny, one of the founders of Bar 25, just one day ago. My dream set up is playing with vinyl and adding stuff from Traktor Scratch on top like really minimal percussion lines, just to add a little more groovy stuff to what you are already mixing. I am enough of a nerd to also really like to have the original vinyl record at home, and to touch it and feel it and it sounds better.

So you think vinyl sounds better than digital formats?

Yes. It just sounds better. Always. There is a technological part about it, like there are frequencies that are transported by vinyl that you don’t have on mp3 or CD files. You might not hear them, but you still feel them. I like to compare it to pheromones. Like a girl is passing and you don’t know why but you instantly turn your head. It’s lot like that with vinyl also. And besides that if you have a vinyl record in your hand, you really have something in your hand. And also using records, acting behind the DJ-booth with your records – that’s sexy. And almost falling into the display of your computer because you cannot read the files names is super-unsexy!

Now as a DJ you have to buy records to be able to work, are you still collecting records? Do you buy records that you are not gonna play on a DJ set?

Yes. Actually even more than before. Because finally making some money, it allows me to buy an entire album for instance, for only one track. What formerly was just luxury, because you just did it for yourself, has become a working tool at the same time. We were making fun of this the other day – I shouldn’t say this, but vinyl records are a little like women: you should really love them but sometimes you have to use them. Thats a little bit how I look at my vinyl collection.

So you take good care of your records, always treat them right – what exactly do you do?

As soon as you’ve got them as a working tool, you don’t take care that there is no… basically once you’ve played it at a beach, or some other dusty sandy location, you know about an entire bag full of records being a lot less clear after the gig. Because the dust and sand just kill your records. You only need a tiny little bit in your bag, and all of your records are gonna sound a lot less clean. But on the other hand, once you play a gig on the beach with the sun down, you gonna know that it’s totally worth it. That’s why I compared it to the woman you love that you sometimes also have to use. I didn’t wanna be a sexist, I was more trying to say that even though you know, that this might scratch the record, you still do it, because you know that it’s worth it.

What do you think, what will the music industry be like in 2030, will there still be vinyl around?

I don’t know. I was surprised to see how many people DJ with CDs now. Instead of Scratch and all that. There are still a lot of people who don’t really like to rely on a computer. And I can understand that. If your computer systems fucks up then you’re done. You can go running for the next DJ. But if you have CDs or a scratched record, everyone is still gonna yell “Yeah” because they there is a person, and not a machine. I think the next step will be that all the clubs and party organizers will agree on maybe two systems for DJing with a computer, I think it’s gonna be Serato and Traktor Scratch, they will all gear up with this. So you don’t have to bring your own Traktor Scratch each time. It’s really annoying for someone who plays with records if the guy after him is playing with Traktor Scratch, and starts plugging his damn Scratch and changing the needles if you are still playing, especially if it’s the end of your set and you want to close the story you’ve been telling and someone is just basically in your way. It’s really annoying. And I am really looking forward to that moment when everything is always already there.

Where do you dig? in record stores?

Yes. I do. I was once asked if I didn’t find it annoying to go to this damn record store and stay there for hours – I love it! Each time it’s a new adventure. Each time I am going to a record store, even if it’s bad day, I come out and have at least two really nice new records. And also I think going to a record shop is pure luxury. Of course, if you use files it’s a lot less expensive to buy them. But when I go to my favourite record store, when I go to Space Hall here in Berlin, they know me for about 7 years now, they know exactly what I like. And they know exactly how much I have understood so far of this music, because I only started with techno like 7 years ago. So I didn’t grow up with the music. They know very well how far I am and what my ears are able to understand. Then I search my 10 records I have put down on my note because I heard them in a club or whatever, and while I listen to them, Sascha, one of the guys from Space Hall, is coming with a huge pile of at least 100 records. And then in the end I don’t know which ones to leave in the record store.

Would you buy the biggest record collection in the world?

I don’t think so. Because I have discovered for myself that I shouldn’t buy too many records at a time. Because then I don’t get to know them. I keep on playing those that I know already. I have to go step by step. I remember the first time I could buy as many records as I wanted to. For the first time in my life I had enough money, I just earned enough money the weekend before, I had 4 gigs, and I was like “I am gonna buy everything I want to buy!” And I came home with like 30 records maybe. That was a lot for me at that time. But I realised I became a bad DJ because of them. Because 30 records, that’s almost half of my record bag. And then you go DJing with records you don’t really know, and you have really uncomfortable surprises like that really annoying sound that comes in after 3 minutes. Everyone looks at you like: “Oh… alright… what’s this about?” And you are like “Uh… OK, I am gonna play one of those I know. Oh damn it! I left it at home because there was no space.” You really have to go step by step. So no, I wouldn’t buy one million records at a time.

Especially if you love them like women: 1 million would be too much!

Imagine a harem with one million women, that’s far too many!!

Listen to Red Robin’s exclusive Vinyl-only mix HERE

Photos by Sebastian Marggraf.