In Depth With…Lluis Ribalta

Hi Lluis, how are you

Very well thanks!! It’s a pleasure to be able to do this interview

We love the latest release on Gate Null. What’s your relationship with the label? How did you come to release on it?

Thank you very much for your words!! I’m so glad you like it. The truth that I´m also very happy with the result of the EP, are two of my best songs without any doubt, and they are working incredibly on the dance floor

Well, my relationship with the Gate Null label dates back to the end of 2012 when I published my first track with them, “Alone”, which was very well accepted and there I met the boss of the label, Andrea Frisina, that besides being Sound engineer, great artist and producer, is a great person. He has helped me whenever possible and with whom I have a very good friendship. Since then, Gate Null, trusted in my music and I have been publishing several tracks, with special emphasis on my track “Belial” that became No. 2 of the top 100 Techno world for months and artists like Deadmau5 among others, were playing all year 2014 all over the world …. there was the point of great union between Gate Null and Lluis Ribalta … I give thanks to the label and Andrea for betting on a young producer like me, without just published releases … I will always be grateful !!

The second answer, I think, is already answered by itself after what has been said. I had not published anything in Gate Null for a long time because I have been busy with the creation of my own label LR Recordings, Gigs, trips, other productions, etc … until finally creating 2 very good tracks and Which fit perfectly into the Techno style of Gate Null, I sent them to my friend Andrea, liked them and decided to publish them.

How would you describe your sound?

I think this is the question that scares an artist more, haha!

I grew up immersed in the golden era of the Techno, from 93 onwards, having the luck to live 20 minutes from the mythical Club Florida 135 in Fraga Spain, which in those days was the national and international mecca of Techno. At a stone’s throw, I could see in a month sessions of youngsters Sven Vath, Laurent Garnier, Carl Cox, Richie Hawtin, Acquaviva, Jeff Mills, and a long etcetera, teaching us the most classic techno with spectacular sessions and a very close treatment. Then I went for the most industrial techno of the early 2000s, and later for the sound more German Minimal, Deep and Tech hous.

I believe that all this learning has greatly influenced my musical style. I would define my sound as quite powerful but at the same time very cheerful, always oriented to the dance floor, and with a marked line of the most classic Techno of the 90s old school.

Aside from Techno, I play many different styles like Deep House, Tech House, Dub, Chill Out, etc … but in all my dj sets I print my very danceable style.

Were you always musical growing up?

Always!!! Every day I listen to new music of any musical style, and with it I discover new things that make me learn and apply to my productions. I´m also very much a consumer of live music…I love watching live performances of new artists, new clubs, and how people react to music. All this is very valuable when it comes to evolving in my live performances .

Also, every day that I experiment in the studio with my synthesizers, plugins, whatever … makes me discover new configurations, tricks, etc, that increase my creativity and me therefore makes me grow as an artist.

The growth is continuous, never stop growing and learn. Whoever says the opposite is that he doesn´t know that this is going

What inspired you to make techno?

What makes me feel. I lived the golden age of 90’s techno and on the dance floor, Techno literally gave me goosebumps. I didn´t understand how I could feel so much, I could make

dance, smile, travel, be happy, Disinhibited….and of course, I had to take all this feeling and translate it into music, that’s why I do Techno

Tell us abit about your workshops for upcoming Djs and producers

Well, teaching is a facet of my life that I’ve been in since before I was a DJ and producer. I obtained the professor title in 2003 but I never exercised as such. So when I started to reap success as a DJ and producer, the city council of my city through a youth association for the diffusion of new trends and multimedia art, Am +, proposed me to do workshops and courses for young people.

That was when, for many years, I spent part of my time teaching music production and djing to the young people of my hometown. Last year, without going any further, I spent a whole year teaching as a Dj teacher in an institute, because in Spain now there is regulated training for it and obtaining an official degree.

Tell us a bit about your workshops for upcoming Djs and producers.

Well, teaching is a facet of my life that I’ve been in since before I was a DJ and producer. I obtained the professor title in 2003 but I never exercised as such. So when I started to reap success as a DJ and producer, the city council of my city through a youth association for the diffusion of new trends and multimedia art, Am +, proposed me to do workshops and courses for young people.

That was when, for many years, I spent part of my time teaching music production and djing to the young people of my hometown. Last year, without going any further, I spent a whole year teaching as a Dj teacher in an institute, because in Spain now there is regulated training for it and obtaining an official degree.

How does it feel to give back to such a community in that way?

I´m one of the people who believes that if you give something good (craft, talent, etc.) you must teach others that they have your own passion. For me it´s an honor and it fills me much to be able to teach everything I know and everything I have learned during these years, since I was totally self-taught without anyone to teach me. I always try to help friends or people who start in this musical world or who evolve further.

I also believe that it is a necessary work to maintain this and make this beautiful work of dj and music endure….Besides, I love doing it !!!

Tell us a bit about your own label LR Recordings. What inspired you to create your own imprint?

My label “LR Recordings” was born in November of 2015 with the idea of providing perfect tools for djs that focus their dj sets to the dance floor, with a very purist style influenced by the Techno of the 90, from detroit Techno to the most current Techno.

And above all, this label is born as a platform for the new talent of the national electronic scene, combining launches with first line artists.

This last was what inspired me to create my label. To give the opportunity to young talents local and national (also some international) that by their own means don´t have the ability to publish their first tracks in known labels or labels that can give you visibility. This same thing happened to me with Gate Null Recordings. Andrea and teh label relied on my music when I started, just I had 3 tracks published….and since then my career as artists has been going up without stopping.

For this first aid, which I believe is essential in this musical world that is governed by contacts, acquaintances and business, is what I offer to young talents with my label. I take advantage of my visibility as an artist to introduce the new tracks of the people that start. The truth is that it´s working very well thanks to a good promotion. Our LR Recordings tracks, in just one year, have already been played by artists like Umek, Sam Paganini, Fatima Haji, Spartaque, Xpansul, etc., we have entered a couple of times in Beatport’s top

100 sales and we are having very good feedbacks from top artists such as Chris Liebing, Luigi Madonna, Slam, Bart Skils and many more…..Awesome!!!

You’re a very versatile DJ. Do you base your sets around different locations and clubs and the music people love there?

Yes, the truth is that I´m passionate about all kinds of music and thanks to this I can play many different music styles from chill out, dub, minimal, deep hous, Tech Hous, Techno, Hard Techno. With all this, it´s true that I adapt quite to the place where I will act. I investigate about the club, about their events, about the dj’s that have played, about the dj’s that make me warm up and the residents, about the dj’s play after me, about the musical culture of the City where the event is, etc. Tthen I adapt my music to all of this but without losing my identity or my taste, making my sessions potent, danceable and cheerful as always.

All this also serves me to always keep learning new things about new events, clubs, artists and cities.

What is your favourite place to perform?

It’s a difficult question to answer. I grew up in clubs, no doubt they are my favorite for the atmosphere that is often created thanks to the darkness, lights, sound, people dancing at the same pace, energy. I Felt and lived spectacular things in clubs that many times you can not imagine that could happen.

But there are also the Open Air Festivals in which you feel like you’re in a Hollywood movie. The immensity, play for thousands of people in the open, see sunrise while you’re acting…they are also incredible sensations. That you really don´t realize until you live them.

I also think there are two types of seasons, the winter is more for clubs and the summer is more for festivals….I like both of them!!!

What has been your most memorable gig?

Buff…there are enough and for a thousand different things, but I would choose 3-4….

Where I felt the goose bumps is in Argentina the two years that I have gone to the promoter Involved parties. The Argentine public is, but the best, one of the best in the world. The energy that It breathes and detaches itself there is indescribable.

Another one that I will remember all my life was my performance in the Mainroom of the club where I learned what was the Techno, Florida 135, was special, there were times when, literally, I got goosebumps, and play in the club where I I grew up and surrounded by your people and friends, it’s brutal.

And I can not fail to mention the memorable performances in the “River Club” of Lleida, surrounded by the public of my hometown, my performance in the mythical club “Moog” of Barcelona where a huge energy is generated, my performance in “Club Ozone” from Hong Kong another very special audience, in” Kremlin Club “in Lisbon,” Pacha la Pineda “, and a few years ago in Xofars Flix Festival becoming day…..and I left hundreds, but these were Special.

What does the future hold for Lluis RIbalta?

It’s the question that all artists would like to know, jejeje!

Well, I have many releases to come out in the coming months on techno first line labels and several releases on my label. I’m also working on a new project with a much more personal with another name, with analogue instruments, with a more quiet, melodic, ambient style, without being such a dance floor. I hope that by the middle of the year I can start to see the light. I also have several gigs in sight in Barcelona with my friend and great artist Marc Marzenit, the party of my annual Bday and preparing the summer season.

But in general I believe that in this profession can not be predicted what will happen in the future as it is very changeable. One time you can be up and another time to disappear from the map….the only thing you have to do is to continue working without rest while waiting for your moment and that moment you catch yourself prepared.

Thank you very much for your interview.

Dulce Base is out on the 27th March 2017 on Gate Null recordings!