T.H.E Interview – Ferry Corsten & Ruben De Ronde

Following his recent exploration in sound on recent singles, Ferry Corsten recently teamed up with Ruben De Ronde for his latest output, ‘Bloodstream’.

With a longstanding history of exciting collaborations under his belt, this team-up was a perfect storm, as the pair come together following Ferry’s monthly residency on Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance, co-hosted by Ruben.

We caught up with Ferry Corsten & Ruben De Ronde to discuss working together on “Bloodstream”, plans for 2021 and more.

T.H.E – Hey guys! Welcome to T.H.E – Music Essentials. How has 2021 kicked off for you?

Ferry Corsten – Good! No tours obviously but music wise it has been very productive. I’ve released a few singles, some remixes of my own classics done by Matt Fax and Mat Zo and I just released a ReWork under my FERR alias of ‘Rain’ by Armin van Buuren and Cathy Burton. And of course I have my radio show Resonation every week!

Ruben De Ronde – It has been a strange year so far, like Ferry mentioned there hasnt been any touring, while normally you follow a certain patern of countries you visit in the first part of winter and spring.

Musically wise, I have been quite productive luckiky. I did a massive production for Team Liquid, creating the soundcapes for their Liquid+ platform launch, where they sent their mascot into space. Besides that, several new productions are on the way that I am excited about and we have had a ton of amazing live streams on my Twitch channel.

T.H.E – You guys have known each for a long time, but Ferry’s residency on ASOT has definitely gotten you guys closer. Would you say that, that decision may have expedited the process for a collaboration between you two?

Ferry Corsten – It definitely has expedited the process. I have toured with Ruben many times throughout the years, but it’s undeniable that we have started working together a lot more closely since my A State Of Trance residency. During these shows we’ve had many conversations about music and what genres resonate with us. I’ve always liked Ruben’s take on the deeper sound but now we really took action and hit the studio together.

Ruben De Ronde – 100%! I think in the last year, during the take overs and the many shows we did together we had a lot of musical discussions. I didn’t know we actually had a lot in common taste wise. I think Ferry is one of the most versatile producers in the whole scene, and he has proven many times already that he is ahead of the pack. Most of all, besides the musical click, we had a good time making this tune as well.

T.H.E – Each of you have unique styles. How did you go about bringing the best of both worlds, on “Bloodstream”?

Ferry Corsten – We really wanted to go for a blend of both our sounds, so we went for a deeper and darker approach which represents Ruben, but with a big melodic hook which is more my departement.

Ruben De Ronde – I remember the first time playing it for my community, and later when it was premiered in A State of Trance, people really said they could hear both of our styles in there. I think that was really what we aimed for.

T.H.E – How long was the collaboration in the works, and what does the name signify?

Ferry Corsten & Ruben De Ronde – We were physically in my studio for one day and then both in our own studios working on this track individually and finally finished the track through connecting on Zoom. We worked on this track for about a month or so with pauses in between. Besides the music, we also were in touch with David, the singer, for fine tuning the vocals.

T.H.E – Lastly, what can you tell us about your plans for 2021?

Ferry Corsten – I’ve got so much new music scheduled to come out this year. There are some new FERR singles on the horizon, a track with Tom Staar to come out later this month, many other collaborations are finished as well and keep an eye out for the new Gouryella single. I’m also very busy planning some shows in the summer and onwards, so fingers crossed that these will happen!

Ruben De Ronde – Loads of new music as well, which I am mega excited about! Up first is a new track with That Girl, which is part of the launch of my partnership with esports organization Team Liquid. It comes with a beautiful cover art, painted by Alice X. Zhang. She was the artist behind the ‘Last of Us’ video game cover, and did the Doctor Who covers. There are some shows being confirmed, but we have to how the world will be in the coming months. For the rest, I am keeping up with my livestreams on Twitch! Soon I will be partnered for 6 years in the platform, and I continue doing so.